Mayer Hawthorne has been rocking it everywhere recently, both Justin Timberlake and John Mayer have said over twitter that they love the record. The funny thing is that its on Stones Throw and I think it was just suppose to be a fun/joke record at the beginning. All the smaller hype started when he released a clear red 7 inch heart shaped record that was a great unique merch piece that definitely caught my eye then the major hype hit when iTunes picked him up as the free single of the week and then everything just spun out of control for him in a good way. Don’t get me wrong, I love it and I love this “Maybe So, Maybe No” song, its so catchy and I can probably sing it after only hearing it 3 times, just such a ballsy record to make, I can’t even imagine making a whole motown record today, definitely takes some guts and Hawthorne couldn’t of done a better job in my opinion.
The man behind Midwest Product and PostPrior has kept the torch lit for us instrumental electronic indie rock fans by making music under the name Ben Benjamin. The sound of his song Sideways Cerebus is pretty fascinating to me because the beginning sounds like Midwest Product or an electronic version Mercury Program to me busting thru the ceiling of what they use to do and taking it to another level when the piano comes in, it almost has this Telefon Tel Aviv feel after awhile but without the huge lovely whale sized synths surrounding you, just for the record “huge lovely whale sized synths” are a good thing I just couldn’t think of a bigger sized object, i’ve already used Ocean liner recently.
I probably will never stop posting IDM on this blog, it always takes me to a fantastic and aesthetically pleasing place in my head. One of the guys that I do keep posting about is o9, he was a pretty big unsung hero even among the IDM followers, probably because he never released on a netlabel which was a pretty popular thing to do for an IDM producer back then which was just a label giving your music away for free on their site. Notice the precisely placed static in this song, is that intentional?
What a name to pick Porn Sword Tobacco, its like he was choosing his name out of a hat that contained key words from an old Monty Python script, if you like this song collaboration of piano and guitar than check out older Bibio or Canyon Country.
I know i’m not the person that should be writing this since some of you who follow the blog sometimes have to snowshoe/pull your hair/wade through my odd writing style, but I just need to get all this off my chest. It started off with this Facebook post I wrote because I was just so bothered after putting on MTV for the first time in I don’t know how long:
“Took a peek at the MTV’s music video awards tonight to see if pop music has stepped it up but still no luck at all especially instrumentally, christ! What do they do with their money? Big time creativity/musicianship/entertainment fail. Let’s just hope people like Fever Ray, Matthew Dear, Atlas Sound, SVIIB, Erlend Oye, and Benoit Pioulard keep pushing forward because that was embarrassing to watch.”
I keep seeing all this among friends kind of “press” on Memory Tapes and a ton of remixes by him so I bought his Seek Magic LP to see if I could find something I like and i’m not so surprised I found a couple great tracks. The one that stuck the most with me is Swimming Field, its full of airy slow melodies and builds to an outro with these huge lo-fi drums, woodwinds, and a fantasy spaceship sound, I know it doesn’t sound that good of a description of something you’d want to hear but i’d suggest you give it a listen.
The Beat Konducta needs to do a soundtrack stat, give the man a cool mill., what are you movie directors doing not hounding this guy for music daily.
Reggie Dokes was brought to my attention by Tom Croose a few weeks ago and I just got around to listening to his catalog. The sound of Chicago Pimp might actually define what I love about calssic sounding House music, it has that militant kick that has a ton history behind it from the Detroit and Chicago original heads, a looped key melody thats stripped down, these stretched out open ride cymbals and hi hats, and this gradual feeling that the song is taking over the space you’re in. All these together is a recipe for what makes a huge Detroit crowd lose their minds without yelling, pure body music.
Okay I can’t get enough of Bradford Cox as you can tell if you follow any of the recent music posts but there’s nothing wrong with that, I mean listen to this song from his upcoming Logos album, holy crap its like he’s serving me my nostalgia in a glass and its thick as syrup, I feel i’m just lost in a stare while watching large amounts of pink taffy being made, so lush, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
I just came from one of the most delightful shows I could ever even dream of seeing and hearing which was a small show with Kings of Convenience live with about 15 people in the crowd. To be honest I can’t even describe how good this album is going to be in October, if you have tickets to the Bowery Ballroom tomorrow then you’re in for an amazing time, i’m still soaking in what I just heard. Erlend even came up to me and told me “hey look its you” and pointed to his shirt of a drawing of a boy with glasses on and I kinda laughed since I KINDA have pink glasses similar to his. At one point there was this high pitch sound coming from the walls or piping in the room and KoC just decided to take the private show into the staircase and played an encore in the stairs which sounded really good for some reason for how huge this stairway was.
Sorry for the fanboy post but it had to be done, i’ll never lose that star struck part of me when it comes down to true talents.
The Ghostly Discovery App has been garnering all sorts of praise and even more downloads since it’s July launch. When we first posted on it a lot of you had noted that it was not available overseas. Well the announcement just came down that with the release of version 1.05, the app is available internationally. The best part is that it’s still free! Get yours now
I’m almost certain that everything Bradford Cox from Deerhunter does turns to gold, the guy is so kind and unreal, even on Vox Celeste 5 which sounds like such a simple song laid out but his tweaks and additions are what set him apart from the rest of the pack of rock bands out there.
I’m sure many of you remember a label called Eastern Developments, it was run by Prefuse 73 and they put out a lot of talent like Eliot Lipp, Daedelus, etc. back in 2003 and 2004. One album that I still listen to today is Instrmntl by Dabrye, the song “Won” is my go to, that clap with that low muted synth bass always gets my head nodding.
I ran into David Byrne this weekend at Warp’s 20 year anniversary during the Battles show, he might be the best dancer in New York no joke. I pretty much stood there for about 10 minutes until my friend Danny was like “just standing next to David Byrne, no big deal.” Man! you really got to hand it to him he’s a musical genius, all that I spit out to him was “The Catherine Wheel soundtrack might be the best musical piece of work ever made, will you take a picture with me?”
I’m always on the hunt for new or old Dubstep, when I first heard Skream I wasn’t a fan but I must of heard the wrong songs because he’s throwing down some of the best elements I love in dubstep on Rutten, i’m even down with that flute right now.
We all have our dance mixes from friends stacked to our ceilings so instead of posting a mix of music to listen to while your getting ready to go out tonight I have dug up this mix by a good friend named Rob Theakston that made a mix for people to listen to for the morning after the rowdiness or New Year’s day. The beginning of Lee Ritenour’s “Is It You” is pure gold, definitely worth letting that song ride out. I’m sure i’ll be playing this tomorrow morning after tonight’s Warp 20 year party that i’m heading to now.
“Made this mix the other night, just a bunch of yachtness to help you get back into the swing of life…” – Rob Theakston
TRACKLIST Bobby Caldwell – Down For The Third Time (Clouds, 1978) Steely Dan – Black Cow (MCA, 1977) The Crusaders– Marcella’s Dream (MCA, 1980) Lee Ritenour– Is It You (Discovery, 1981) Larsen Feiten Band– Over (Warner Bros, 1980) Greg Phillinganes– Lazy Nina (Planet, 1985) David Sanborn – Let’s Just Say Goodbye (Warner Bros, 1980) Rickie Lee Jones – Night Train (Warner Bros, 1979)
The backing rhythms remind me of listening to early Kompakt out of a hand radio while being completely occupied with blowing a 100 dandelion tails out a car window with the members of the Cocteau Twins. After hearing this album by A Sunny Day in Glasgow I might have to say they maybe the torchbearers of softy dream pop in 2009 and I have no problems with that. After hearing a few songs I was thinking this could be what Stereolab would sound like if it was reborn and cared for by Slowdive and a giant gentle shoegaze educated moth that flew the band members around and cultured them with magical sound like Falcor from Neverending Story? Could I name drop anymore band names in this post? no one will ever know unless a band member from A Sunny Day in Glasgow approves this post.
Please note: that the photo of the Dandelion Tails is by John Corney, perfect name for the perfect picture.
A Sunny Day in Glasgow – Passionate Introverts
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A Sunny Day in Glasgow – Starting At A Disadvantage
