ISO50

The common misconception about 4/4 material mainly house and techno is that its waaaaay too repetitive, my reply to that is usually “oh really? i’m sorry, sooo you just listen to John Cage and experimental chamber music that doesn’t repeat one same note?”. If I share a 7 minute to 12 minute song to someone that doesn’t DJ there will be blank stares, that won’t change probably if you only listen to the radio.

Most of the long songs are made that long are that way because you’ll have time to mix them together, mostly a DJ tool for good DJs. Usually these producers are also DJs and have been for a long time so during song writing they prepare tracks that way. The actual meat and potatoes of these kind of songs usually last shorter than a pop song on the radio, its that opportunity to play it with another song together is why these tracks are that way….or there is just a great journey/sequence within the building up to something hypnotic to dance too.

Recently i’ve been working on a new Heathered Pearls mix for the ISO50 blog and tears came to my eye when I came across this gem from The Juan MacLean, the perfect marriage between Dub and Slow Disco and this perfectly adjusted daytime jam by Toby Tobias of one of the blogs favs Toro Y Moi < looks off into the distance proudly, single tear runs down my face >.

If this is your first taste of DMX Krew I suggest you get on iTunes, Insound or Boomkat UK and start grabbing up his work in the past, the man has an ear for one of a kind production, he always mashing together styles and synths sound you might never hear again.

The Seahawks take their turn on merging the sounds of our oceans and making them collide with what some of us have convinced ourselves space might sound like, the real magic sets in at 1:17 and on for the full effect, oh and happy new year everyone.

The more I listen to Clams Casino the more I hear what makes him special, Tom from Beacon turn me onto this track after playing me some ASAP Rocky and Lil B, this track stuck with me, couldn’t wait to go home and hunt it down. I love that the high hats aren’t just set at 64 notes but instead you get these waves of variation and the vox is almost like something from Deep Forest but feels refreshing.HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

This Floating Points track is a long one but a very rewarding listen. I’m amazed that the Detroit Techno influences feel so pure here, there’s no question this guy can produce and it comes from the right place and for the right reasons.

Kuedo made a lot of Best Of lists, I foolishly missed it somehow, i’m only human though, nice soft emotions attached to the synth parts.

Since this is the last music post of 2011 I wanted to end it with a classic, a must own from Dopplereffekt, see you in 2012.

Many of you I know that read this blog have a great knowledge of music, most of what I share isn’t new to you so I have to dig deep and one route I like to go is solo projects off bands I love. One thing I completely overlooked this year was this Steve Hauschildt record, it was under my nose all this time, he’s a big part of the group Emeralds and runs Gneiss Things and it came out on Kranky which means i’d gotten there eventually. Either way i’ve staring off into the distance and letting this beautiful album take its course and I haven’t had such a quality full album experience in months. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Xaver Von Treyer new album is a bit all over the place genre wise, almost like a collection of songs from over the years he’s made, one song that grabbed my ear was She Is My Virgo Supercluster which i’m guessing is an ode to Cluster?

Whenever I put on Raime I know what i’ll be getting mood wise, its a very precise passion project committed to darkness and the care for it all sound wise is impeccable. It makes me question a lot of the dark pop and goth music thats out there when this music begins.

Laurel Halo has had a great year and her sound has matured into trustworthy to go for the expansion of what New Age can fuse with and mold into, really excited to hear more from her.