No matter how much you might hate certain kinds of music you can always find something that appeals to you unless you have a one track mind or prefer a safe and conservative lifestyle. So you’re definitely not looking for trance, you definitely don’t want what’s playing at Crunch gym, and your sick of what your friends are suggesting because the vocals make you uncomfortable or there are too many spare rolls or it gets too cheesy dreamy sounding. Maybe you just want one dancey anthem for the week, well i’m gonna do my best to help steer you in the right direction before you have a bad club remix of Pet Shop Boys on your hands.
The MFA – The Difference It Makes (Superpitcher Mix)
Broadcast is back with a collaborative mini album with The Focus Group. Its a pretty psychedelic piece of work, this one song doesn’t give it justice, you might want to hear the whole thing. Look for them to put out the CD/LP on the October US tour with Atlas Sound.
Recent Pitchfork Media approved Volcano Choir should be a big hit among the bearded folk lovers and for the Bon Iver fans out there, yes that’s him singing. I love the gliding drive this song has, it makes me want to go back to the softer side of Broken Social Scene albums.
I don’t know anything about High Wolf but i’m glad I found them, this song alone could replace that Mum void that has been empty for about 5 years now. I can’t wait to wake up on a cold winter morning and have this be my alarm clock song.
Hemingway has fused 2 more genres that should be together and introduces us to Yacht-Funk, not bad I like the sound of that, loving the synth work, its nice to have someone remapping and adjusting this disco direction.
Broadcast & The Focus Group – One Million Years Ago
I always loved the feeling certain lounge songs made me feel, its funny how it always made me think of vintage furniture that I wanted to own or made me daydream about specific Verner Panton and Eero Saarinen interior architecture, its so 2002.
Neon Indian I love your music man but that name is just too hipster for me, its like adding an expiration date to the project, so nice to hear Au Revoir Simone vocals anytime I can, really nice track.
I saw The Drums for the 5th time in like 2 months last night, again one of my favorite live performing bands around right now. If you live in the UK, check for live dates, pure pop fun and probably the best and most entertaining tambourine player of all time.
How can you turn down more Washed Out? its like lo-fi AM Gold with an updated modern indie touch. I like what Toro Y Moi did in this remix by keeping the feel of the song within that family of musicians sound.
Alpha – My Things
[audio:mythings.mp3]
Au Revoir Simone – Another Likely Story (Neon Indian Remix)
[audio:likelystory.mp3]
The Drums – I Felt Stupid
[audio:feltstupid.mp3]
Washed Out – Feel It All Around (Toro Y Moi Remix)
I don’t listen to many lyrics nor do I rock out every week but these songs have been in my head, a nice little change up for a Tuesday. Some lyrics I think sound perfect with the song but once I look at them on paper they don’t look so special but here are few great moments:
“…I’ll keep you there / I’ll keep you there / So long…So long…” – Doves
My roommate brought up a good point, these guys should be bigger than Coldplay, after one listen of Rise I couldn’t agree more.
“…Shake shake / The clouds out / Shake shake / The stars down…” – Autolux
I saw these guys last week with some friends, they really brought out a diverse crowd, some frat guys, then also a few older vinyl heads, and shoegaze purists, either way they put on an amazing show, so much good guitar pedal work on the looping and echo.
Any sounds these guys make that aren’t words are great – Suicide
“…Maybe it’s not, oh who can say…” – The Horrors
The Horrors are the only band that I haven’t seen this year that I really want to see, I thing I want to know is if they can sell their look, its intense, I wonder if they break character?
Maybe only a hand full of you have this release marked on your calendar, maybe even less than that but I doubt it, this release no matter how good it sounds musically to anyone its a piece of electronic music history and one of the most thought out gestures you could ever give to your fans. As a record label owner this project is the pinnacle of all releases and especially during a time where digital sales have almost equaled the same amount as physical sales. The Warp20 (Box Set) contains:
– Warp20 (1989-2009) The Complete Catalogue (192 page book)
– Warp20 (Chosen): Double CD album (Ten songs chosen by you (Warp20.net), ten songs chosen by Warp co-founder Steve Beckett)
– Warp20 (Recreated): Double CD album (Twenty brand new cover versions of Warp songs by Warp artists past and present)
– Warp20 (Unheard): Triple 10” Vinyl (Completely unheard tracks by Boards of Canada, Autechre and Broadcast)
– Warp20 (Elemental): CD album (re-edits from Osymyso, made from sections, samples, & fragments of Warp music from the last 20 years)
– Warp20 (Infinite): Double 10” Vinyl (hand-picked locked-groove loops from Warp tracks)
One song that i’ve waiting to hear was Bibio’s cover of Boards of Canada, wow okay just say that out loud, now that just makes my ears smile. The man can do no wrong in my mind, he grabs the melodies from the original and I can tell from the start he has heard this song more than 100 times before, I can hear how this song is probably really close to his heart, its such a confident cover with such contrast in style and small amounts of unique character sprinkled lightly all the way thru it.
This piano piece by Leila covering Aphex Twin to me rips away at the original and gets to the core of it all, almost like a psycho analytical reinterpretation of how Richard D. James felt when he made the basic parts for the original song. One thing Leila did which is hard to match it that the tensity is almost matched to the original which would make any drill n’ bass fan fall to their knees and it was all done here by only piano.
Pivot was one of the highlights for me during the Warp 20 year show, their live show was consistently innovative and kept my attention. They picked a hard cover to mess up, its Grizzly Bear’s Colorado which has a great vocals in it, the synths they added at the 3 min mark are a complete treat and really takes this song to a new level compared to the original.
My boss/friend Sam Valenti IV is a big supporter of Gravenhurst and turned me onto them back when I worked in the actual Ghostly Office years ago, I think he’d fully support this cover of Broadcast, it has all the signature Gravenhurst elements of guitar picking accompanied by a soft voice.
Since the success of the first exclusive FREE EP that we did on ISO50 I asked for some musicians for more tracks of covers and edits.
Synth Pop guru D. Gookin takes our middle school favorite teen classic single 1979 by Smashing Pumpkins to a raw fantasy land of where Dan Deacon, Luke Vibert and Tortoise collaborate to do our bidding.
The Worst Friends duo take the gentler side of M83 and nudge it just enough to open up the track a tiny bit more, kind of like a bright break in the clouds to the originals cloudy day.
Everyone knows Snap, if you haven’t then go to a gym or club and give it about an hour during peak time and it will come on the speakers, I promise. Mux Mool switches gears and takes this roller skating rink classic and runs it thru the arcade and struts down the street with it while saying hi to all the ladies, a definite head nodder for the underground collectors.
Jerome Covington is new to the blog, a musician that I met at a bar while I was djing over a year ago, he did this cover for us at Moodgadget and its still a favorite to put on because it might be one of my favorite songs from when I was a little. The tempo of the original will always feel a bit too fast after you hear this, he added that touch that makes you want sway while you drive down the ocean coast.
If you brought your attention span today then this cover might be one of the more relaxing and rewarding ones, A Setting Sun aka Guardian does a number on Air’s Le Soleil Est Pres de Moi. The dusty howl gradually disperses while the recognizable sounds slowly creep in, it would make any Air fan smile.
Continuing our Dubstep Essential Series which has been exclusively for the blog we have part 2 from Guardian coming in at just over 54 minutes and about 37 tracks which keeps the flow of the mix really fresh.
I love the tempo of Dubstep even if I play it for a friend that doesn’t like electronic at all they always react in a positive/surprised way towards the tracks as something completely new, I mean who doesn’t like good heavy low end and dark spacey sounds that you’ve never heard before every once in a while.
Tomorrow a few friends and I are going for the first time to see BBC Radio 1’s Mary Ann Hobbs DJ some Dubstep at Dub Wars which should be killer. A little about Guardian, he is one of the best Dubstep producers I know, he’s from Detroit but lives now in Brooklyn, he is one of the best Dubstep DJ’s i’ve heard out too because of his range and he peaks out into rowdy tracks at perfect times but doesn’t rely on it and its more about track selection for him, hope to see him play around the US/UK this year.
TRACKLIST A Setting Sun – En el Mes de Agosto (Moodgadget) The Others – Hear Dis Style (Boka) James Blake – Air & Lack Thereof (Hemlock) Ramadanman – Blimey (Hessle Audio) Ike Release – Jenova (Infrasonics) Spatial – 90121 (Infrasonics) Millie & Andrea – Black Hammer (Daphne) Cyrus – Bounty (Tectonic) Loefah – It’s Yours (White Label) Pinch – Gangstaz (Tectonic) Headhunter – Prototypes (Tempa) Skream – Chest Boxing (Tempa) The Bug – Jah War (Loefah Remix) (Ninja Tune) The Bug – Jah War (Ninja Tune) Pressure – Money Honey (Hyperdub) MRK1 – Revolution 909 (Earwax) Guardian – Charm Dub (unreleased) Joker – Untitled_rsn (Tectonic) Martyn – Vancouver (2562 Puur Natuur Dub) (3024) TRG – Harajuku (Tempa) Ramadanman – Humber (Apple Pips) Spatial – 81012 (Infrasonics) Sully – Duke St Dub (Mata-Syn) Ramadanman – Carla (Soul Jazz) Martyn – Everything About You (Tempa) Pinch – Motion Sickness (Tempa) Martyn – Velvet (~scape) Untold – I Can’t Stop This Feeling (Hessle Audio) Ramadanman – Revenue (2nd Drop) Ramadanman – Revenue (Untold Remix) (2nd Drop) 2562 – Love In Outer Space (Tectonic) MRK1 – Borderline (Contagious) DJ Mujava – Township Funk (Skream Remix) (White Label) Pinch – Punisher (Skream Remix) (Planet Mu) Pinch – Punisher (Planet Mu) Pinch – Punisher (V.I.P.) (Planet Mu) Shigeto – Beat It Up (forthcoming Moodgadget)
I never know if the newer generations of music fans like The Police as something other than a drinking game song band. They’re my favorite band of all time, I even kind of have a small little shrine in my room involving Synchronicity vinyl, Sting shirts, DVDs/VHS’s, and 7 inch vinyl, I have no shame. The 1:09 intro in Secret Journey always grabbed me especially when it hit the 0:40 sec mark and I knew the guitar loop was coming.
Little Dragon’s song Feather has be this year’s most dark magic/fantasy sounding indie pop song of 2009, the girls voice has this early 90’s grungy girl voice that has points where she just sounds like she doesn’t care at all about anyone and it comes off almost cold then other times it sounds like she has David Bowie arm on her shoulder and she’s singing to make it on the Labyrinth 2 soundtrack which would be amazing!
Without ever hearing J Dilla or Dabrye things like Taken By Trees song structure would never make sense to me but now I love this kind of Jacob’s Ladder unraveling sound, if you need another visual then try this its like watching some vintage cartoon with a car driven by a hippo with a tiny hat with the X band-aid on the tire rolling over each rock on a bumpy road.
I’m not sure if the “dance mix” will ever go away in the indie world or if its even frowned upon yet, it definitely helps if you want to play a song that you like to a group of friends that want to go out but don’t want them to be bumped out by your good yet sad music.
The Police – Secret Journey
[audio:policesecret.mp3]
Little Dragon – Feather
[audio:featherdragon.mp3]
Taken By Trees – My Boys (Animal Collective Cover)
