If you’ve been following any of the slowed down disco that’s been in alot of peoples ear you usually hear about talented Europeans like Prins Thomas, Todd Terje, and Lindstrom. Well, California has its own trio in my eyes Hatchback and Sorcerer who make up Windsurf and Rollmottle who is part of Project Sandro with Tony Watson. Alot of their music comes out on the wonderful “California Soul” imprint Sentrall Records where it feels like windsurfing and collecting original vintage synthesizers have become 2 hobbies that are inseparable. I first heard about all this music thru my favorite group Broker/Dealer which have been doing music similar to this for awhile now, they were making these kind of tracks in the early 2000’s. I hope you can enjoy these spaced out jams while you go about your day today. As for the art above i grabbed it from Sorcerer’s myspace and there is plenty more where that came from on Dream Chimney’s Sleevery section which Scott loves to grab from.
Just djed in Kentucky last night and now i’m winding down with some old favorites. Ulrich Schnauss‘ “Stars” off his latest LP from last year was a great listen always on roadtrips. He recently just collaborated with A Shoreline Dream on a track called “Neverchanger” but I posted one of their older tracks that first caught my ear. They have a very nice old Verve sound to them, with all the shoegaze essentials like swirling guitars and wall-after-wall of sound.
As for Farben(aka Jan Jelinek) and Mujuice, I don’t think these could be any different from the other two tracks. The cover above is from a Farben 4x vinyl boxset called Starbox which included 4 photos of different bank robbers from the 70’s, i think they were all German but I may be wrong. I loved the layout of the whole package, if you get a chance to ever see one at the record store, pick it up and open it.
As for Mujuice i having nothing else by him but this track, I found it on a Russian internet radio station called deepmix.ru which I highly recommend if you like this track.
Here are 4 pretty guitar focused musicians that i think have nothing really in common that i’ve always shared with people in the past on mixtapes or as new music to get into.
Christopher Willits i don’t think could of made a fuller sound than this, usually known for his 12k glitched out guitar pieces before this release on the album Surf Boundaries. All the way thru he just packs in the drumming like Caribou and the guitar at 3:26 couldn’t be anymore insane and lovely, it really comes down to the detail in this track, i can’t imagine recording it all.
Ricardo Villalobos usually known for his 14+ min South American influenced minimal techno puts together one of my favorite tracks on his Alcachofa LP which is the artwork shown above and also a nice change up for techno fans and really opens the door to having new fans of the music. You can find more Villalobos on the Erlend Oye DJ Kicks compilation and his remix of Depeche Mode.
As for Sun Kil Moon, it’s a side project for Red House Painter’s Mark Kozelek, i’m not a good follower of lyrics but i think its about a true story of a boxer that died in a match named Duk Koo Kim, this song is a must have, it might be abit intense like most Mark Kozelek songs in an emotional way but even at 14:33 i end up pressing rewind to hear it again, make sure you have a nice upbeat track to follow it up.
The Boats barely have a guitar in this song but i’m guessing there’s a bass guitar and a harp sample in there thru most of it. This song always reminded me of if Portishead had to play unplugged or if Matmos and Bjork came back together for another release.
Christopher Willits – Medium Blue
[audio:willits.mp3]
Ricardo Villalobos – Waiworinao
[audio:villalobos.mp3]
Sun Kil Moon – Duk Koo Kim
[audio:sunkil.mp3]
The Boats – And There are Stars that Fell from The Sky
I always wondered how much of an influence the music i grew up listening to had on the sort of stuff I gravitate towards now days. I hope some of these “oldies” are a nice change of pace for everyone, hey i might even link this post to my Dad.
All the tracks today are remixes, all in which i feel stand strong comparable to the original track.
This Burial remix of Bloc Party is by far a favorite of mine in the last week, also i can’t find a digital version of it anywhere. I think what attracts me to Burial’s sound is the softening and quietening of that UK Garage low end, its done so well by him.
The Erol Alkan remix of Midlake sounds like a Fleetwood Mac cover to me but i just can’t put my finger on it. I’m glad its not this club bomb or noisy edit, he actually does add a great fullness to the track that is riding a thin line to being an AM Gold/beard and tinted glasses/amber lit wooden studio jam which isn’t a bad thing at all (puts on a Gordon Lightfoot LP and watches this commercial on mute).
Praveen does wonders with the track Pinconning, the resonance from the kick drum and accordion makes it sound like your listening to it while your underwater.
I was hoping with this last one that i could find an Album Leaf song that Album Leaf fans didn’t have, hopefully i did for some of you. As for the song it makes me jealous that i don’t have a xylophone or vibraphone to play on everyday but if i did have one i’d probably never get anything done.
Bloc Party – Where is Home? (Burial Remix) – purchase
4 unique music groups here that i really appreciate their outgoing styles. Ratatat really did a great take on what you can do with the slide guitar sound and removed it and put it into a song that i’m not thinking “oh here comes a slide guitar country song”. Instead, i have this relaxing and colorful performance in my head that makes me picture some Central American theatre.
This Chap song when i first heard it flipped my world upside down(side note: for the typography fans out there have you noticed you can spell the word upside down like this using other letters of the alphabet: umop apisdn) i was shocked on the pushing and pulling i was going thru to just listen to a song, from a guitar melody thats accompanied with this heavy low end to just them whispering over a casio. The second half they just throw everything at you like “what were you thinking? you think we were just gonna make a cute alittle song for you?” wrong, they were just messing with you like that Simian vs. Justice video when everyone wakes up and soo much craziness is going on.
I can’t believe i didnt use my Mu-ziq posting for his remix of Aphex Twin – On but this album cover above will always catch my eye and it was favorite of mine when i was getting in IDM. First, the beginning of this song FORGET ABOUT IT it’s from another planet, just so you know Radiohead i love you but that’s how a spinning plate sounds times a thousand and 300 meters in diameter. Second, that breakdown with the synth melody going back and forth with the drum programming, pssssh what a genius then the last 30 seconds i’m in a hip hop track, i don’t know how to tell people what we just listened to but honestly Mike Paradinas brought it proper.
After those last 2 tracks i need a constant track that warms up and fades out. Type’s Khonnor i think made this song when he was 16, it’s if Dntel collaborated with Fennesz.
Since its mid summer i wanted to put up a few songs that have a good feel to them, some are songs that friends have given to me to check out this week and a few are older songs that needed to be dusted off and listened to again. You should be able to buy either of these tracks on Amazon MP3 except i think Air France(who is pictured above) isn’t available yet.
Caribou – Sundialing
[audio:sundialing.mp3]
Air France – No Excuses
[audio:airfrance.mp3]
The Avalanches – Since I Left You (Cornelius remix)
