Berlin-based Alan Abrahams has earned a lot of attention lately. His albums as Portable for the Background and ~scape imprints have garnered near-universal acclaim for their deft fusion of tribal rhythms and a modern micro-house sensibility. For his first LP as Bodycode, The Conservation of Electric Charge, Abrahams focuses on the more dancefloor-oriented aspects of his style, yielding a gorgeous album born from the belief that the psyche can be unlocked via the body. Bodycode also came from necessity ? while on tour playing club dates, Abrahams was compelled to seek the most engaging sound for that environment. Remarkably adept at its task, Bodycode?s mesmerizing percussive arrangements and subtle melodic flourishes create an immediately engaging sound that lingers in the mind long after the club has closed.
I just saw Alan aka Portable/Bodycode play last night on a freezing rooftop outdoors right around Union Square in New York and he blew my mind. Alan makes pure body music that’s straight from his roots of South Africa, if anyone is doing any tribal house music properly its him. He also slowly falls into some beautiful droned out breakdowns that aren’t like anything else, so there is something here for the world music(sadly this genre has such a bad rep) and ambient fans as well.
Matthew Barney’s attention to detail and elegance has always grabbed me because I have always felt that he’s the man that can help the art world grow. The logo for the Cremaster Cycle series is gorgeous, if you ever get a chance pick up a copy of the book.
My friend Danny passed on a Glenn Branca EP to me tonight, one that I didn’t have and we started talking about him. Glenn Branca seems to be the poster boy for all the experimental guitar bands that want to do something new these days but they don’t understand that they can’t repeat the past and pretend like their doing something groundbreaking. I don’t think anyone these days would be able to put out music similar to what Glenn Branca did during the time he was doing it, you’d only be doing it for the wrong reasons. This new wave of bands in the past 8 years or so are enjoyable but in my opinion just come off as “I need attention but don’t actually look at what i’m doing because i’m actually not creative at all”. Sadly these musicians today can buy their way into sounding and mainly looking like they have some talent. Walking up and down the streets of Brooklyn you can almost smell and see the fake talent, at first you can fall for it but then talking to more and more people you end up finding out they aren’t offering up anything pure or willing to potentially going mental to perfect their technic and sound. I just want people like Glenn Branca to get more credit because listing him off as an influence only is almost saying that your similar to him but you aren’t you actually have to take any of the time that you’re getting any attention and use it thank the originator.
Addled is half of Worst Friends and he loves his Boston Red Sox, sharing what great good house/techno records come out on Tuesdays, and most importantly making a variety of music. Recently he’s worked on music that was used in a Prada video and in the past he made some of the music for The New York Times. His first EP as Addled is one that follows the footsteps of James Holden and Paul Kalkbrenner but touches a new level of listening since its less clubby than both and is more on the deeper side and melodic side.
I feel like I post a lot of Paul Simon but really I don’t actually if anything I don’t post enough Paul Simon.
I always thought I liked Sam Prekop more than The Sea and Cake but then I listened to some more Sea and Cake and realized I was thinking crazy things. Whenever I have to deal with the rock guy that thinks electronic music is too repetitive than I just have to share with him The Sea and Cake and say Its not that you don’t like repetitiveness because obviously this is amazing, it’s just that the person doesn’t care for unique sounds or can fathom the idea a synth playing more parts than their are people on stage and that just ticks him right off.
Eliot Lipp’s 2009 has been one of the more productive one’s out there, having released his new album Peace Love Weed 3D and organizing a 40+ date tour you wouldn’t think he’d have the time to head into the studio to record a live studio session. The mix features some of the more talked about names in Electronic/Hip Hop right now like Mux Mool, Nosaj Thing, Black Milk, and Michna. Some of the highlights in my opinion are Beamrider which is a live set favorite of mine and the ever so popular recent Warp track Overnight.
The record heads over at Kompakt have done it again by continuing to floor ambient lovers with one of the best compilation series of the 21st century. Pop Ambient 2009 has some jaw dropping moments, for example when you pick up the CD and find out that Tim Hecker, Burger/Voigt and Mint all make appearances then its an easy sell for any frequent ambient music buyer. The compilation starts out with what maybe could of been William Basinski’s original Disintegration Loops but with a layer of brass added by the ever talented Klimek. Popnoname comes in with one of the most gentle and entrancing melodic pieces. Freshman Sylvain Chauveau carries us into a more looped lo-fi laptop folk sound that seems to be a new branch that Kompakt has added under the Pop Ambient umbrella. The real show stealers are Burger/Voigt who really knock us back, the song Frieden gets me so excited that I almost become ill from my uncontrollable slow swaying, minute after minute I just think about how exciting it is to be able to own this song. For those who haven’t ever purchased a Pop Ambient compilation than this is a perfect one to begin on since its one of the more diverse and inviting collections because of its use of guitars and soft noise.
Minotaur Shock at first never caught my ear because I skipped thru the songs too quickly but the meat and potatoes of “Luck Shield” makes me so disappointed in myself that I didn’t catch this song before. The song sounds like a collaboration between Mum, Calmer and Final Fantasy because of the gentle melodies, the jazzier drum at times and its heavy on the strings in the main parts.
Niagara Fall’s americana lo-fi folk artist Joe Lapalgia only has a 5 track EP under his belt but that doesn’t mean his sound isn’t mature, with hints of Red House Painters and Bon Iver on the Day Behind EP I definitely see a bright future for this young man.
If you’re listening to song after song on this post then jumping from lo-fi folk to tech-house sometimes might be a bit of a stretch especially on a Monday but Josh Wink is a definite veteran in making some of the catchiest dancefloor tracks.
I’m still trying to figure out this song that Andy Webb “blended”, is it pieces from different songs by each musician listed? if so, is the song title also pieces of song titles as well? either way it sounds like an extended Cut Copy remix in my opinion thats done really well but pretty much anything Erlend Oye is on is gold so good choice(s) Mr. Webb.
Minotaur Shock – Luck Shield
[audio:shield.mp3]
Joe Lapaglia – Birds Flew By
[audio:flew.mp3]
Josh Wink – Everybody to the Sun
[audio:tothe.mp3]
The Whitest Boy Alive vs Mylo vs Cut Copy – Otto’s Golden Journey (Andy Webb’s Dreamy Blend)
I can always identify a Patrick Rocha illustration because of the strong angles on body figures or his style of drawing hair. One of my favorites is what he did for the JDSY – Adage of Known album cover which is a illustration of a women slowly turning into a deformed monster, another part of this drawing is the use of only red and blue colored pencil was always grabbing. My mother(professor at MIT for fine arts and portfolio preparation) always told me if I was going to get into graphic design then i’d need to relearn to draw again but that was 6-8 years ago because employers would want you to be an illustrator too, do you think that will ever came true?
Below is a song by JDSY that always floors me, it worth seating thru like a well composed classical piece that flows thru 6 different sections in the matter of minutes.
Berlin-based Alan Abrahams has earned a lot of attention lately. His albums as Portable for the Background and ~scape imprints have garnered near-universal acclaim for their deft fusion of tribal rhythms and a modern micro-house sensibility. For his first LP as Bodycode, The Conservation of Electric Charge, Abrahams focuses on the more dancefloor-oriented aspects of his style, yielding a gorgeous album born from the belief that the psyche can be unlocked via the body. Bodycode also came from necessity ? while on tour playing club dates, Abrahams was compelled to seek the most engaging sound for that environment. Remarkably adept at its task, Bodycode?s mesmerizing percussive arrangements and subtle melodic flourishes create an immediately engaging sound that lingers in the mind long after the club has closed.
