I love to sit back and let melodic psychedelic rock play for hours if its good, Lie In Light by Cloudland Canyon is a pretty consistent record that I rely on for those occasions plus it changes up and has just enough diversity, I posted a few tracks from it to make that point.
Com Truise turned me onto 18 Carat Affair’s soundcloud. Most soft rock recorded on tape and slowed down gets my attention especially if it has gentle keys over it.
A new Lone record is coming out, I heard a few tracks on his last.fm page, sounds very promising, anyone ever see him live?
PART FOUR: KEVIN SAUNDERSON
This one might be a stretch for some people if you aren’t a techno fan but let me say this, its how you listen to it really. Some people only hear repetition but when I talk to them usually they only list off musicians that rely on repetition as what they like so I get a bit confused and obviously bored of our conversation and walk away. When I listen to these songs I have to sometimes get myself ready for the faster tempo material, once i’m comfortable the songs almost slows down and my head just has a great time listening to all the parts of the song that are working with each other. With that mind set you end up enjoying repetition more because you find that beauty in whats looping and the slight additions/changes. This usually never involves your full attention, it’s not like listening to the radio in the car where you’re searching for a song to lip sync to or something that you already know.
To be honest listening to the mix in full is a lot better, I only grabbed a few tracks that I thought were the highlights and all of them just cut out at the end.
Having spent my teen years in Michigan I was fortunate to have access to the best techno by a long shot which is Detroit Techno. When it comes to dance music it all comes down to this mix for me, it was the seed that was planted in my head that made me obsessed with melodic 4/4 material that ranged from deep tribal to that speedy Jeff Mills sound which is what I DJed when I was in high school. I remember buying this CD in Poland at a small music shop, I must have been 15 just visiting my Polish family. I remember the clerk playing the CD in the shop and I had to have it, I remember spending all the money I had for the trip on it. I still have the CD actually, I got it signed by Kevin and also had him sign a Technics shirt[mega nerd]. I’m just trying to be honest here and share some sort of story that ties in my obsession.
Other parts: Dntel, Caribou, Prefuse 73
After hearing this song by Austra more then 15 times day I feel like i’ve officially fallen in love with this song, I can’t believe we have to wait until May for the album, nice signing Domino.
I first heard this song when Machinedrum sent it to me on aim years ago but it was a radio rip so it was never worthy of a post, finally I found a solid recording of this Daft Punk-ish track by Fred Falke, its one of those New Years night dancefloor must haves.
I think Slow Hands debuted on ISO50, if I remember correctly this mix he did for us was a huge hit and his covers of Aphex Twin and M83 as Addled were definitely loved. Well I have exciting news he recently just released on K7 Records on the famous DJ-Kicks compilation series with this original track, so congrats Ryan!
This won’t be the last Craft Spells song i’m posting I promise you that, I want more of this for the summer, hear’s a taste though.
Just saw a Lincoln car commercial use a Kiln song soo well, it made me go back thru their huge catalog, soo glad I did since I love the song Templefrog. Can you imagine sitting down and composing this song? the guitars kind of sit in the back I love it.
Benoit Pioulard sent me this song by Jeans WIlder, reminds me of Pictureplane a bit, its almost too slow, it has that stutter on the release that makes me squint a little but the synth melody makes up for it.
Do you want to hear my favorite Top 40 cover? Courtship kills it here, FREE DOWNLOAD.
The cover art above is for this Pigon track on Dial, deep dub I can’t get away from it, I can’t believe I get soo excited about a closed hi-hat coming in, oh and the subtle breakdowns aren’t full of shitty sirens and coke infused trance piss streams just a perfect glide back into the song.
If you’re Banjo Or Freakout please tell me what the second to the last song you played in Brooklyn the other night, its killin’ me BUT on the other hand I found 2 amazing songs by you.
This new Forma uses these soft hypnotic synth sounds that I probably couldn’t imagine living without after hearing them the first time, I love the daze it puts me in.
Bvdub never fails me, he always delivers what I want to hear and feel when I sit down and put him on.
P. S. I can’t find a photo credit for this photo of James Dean playing Ping Pong.
I’ve interviewed Sam Grawe before, he’s the perfect fit for ISO50 in my mind, his slow motion synth work as Hatchback meets the Editor In Chief of Dwell Magazine.
ISO50 Just listened thru your new record Zeus & Apollo a third time, whats in the water in SF? you synth guys make it sound effortless, people don’t see how much a handful of you well put together 30 year old men (The Beat Broker, Sorcerer, etc) are changing the face of Adult Contemporary in the background into this finely widdled down masterpiece of a genre, can you explain yourself?
SG I think we’re just trying to make music that we would like to hear ourselves. I’m not really a part of any music scene out here per se—especially since moving north to Marin—so its all about making something that you would yourself want to listen to. We all work for a living, with wives and kids and mortgages and that kind of business, so all that helps you maintain a low profile. Last but not least, I’m not really ashamed of the fact that most of the music I listen to is from 1982 or earlier. I’m not saying that to prove how cool I am, but in fact the opposite. There’s a different attitude with music of that era, much less of a developed sense of irony—like, you couldn’t possibly put a sax solo on a track now, or sing about sailing—and I think its freeing just to get into music that comes from an honest place.
ISO50 You go from Editor of Dwell Magazine back home and do Hatchback, the emotion in the music is calming, your even comfortable with calling it New Age, can you explain how you keep yourself composed? because i’d be an anxious mess of excitement if I was in your position(job wise), i’m asking that because I respect you and your projects and most importantly your tone always seems to be relaxed, do you ever freak out over there on the west coast?
SG I think I release all my anxiety in my dreams. Every night while I sleep I pass through these incredible vignettes of stress—stressful situations spawning even more stressful situations, like trying to find your flight information before you realize you’ve lost your passport only to end up in a car that is skidding around like its on ice—so when I wake up, I am actually relieved to be where I am, and feel pretty good. So, that being said, I don’t really make mellow music to somehow unwind.
I’ve always liked “new age” music, so I don’t really have a problem with labeling it that—new age without shame! It’s much better than “Balearic,” which is a scene I have absolutely no connection to whatsoever. I remember listening to Music From The Hearts of Space (http://www.hos.com/) on Vermont public radio when I was a kid, and my mom had some George Winston and Enya and Windham Hill type of stuff that I would put on. As I got older and started buying a lot of old records, the new age bin was always the place where you would find the rad imports and synth records that the clerks had no idea where else to file. Even at Amoeba in San Francisco you used to be able to get the coolest records for $1 in the new age bin.
ISO50 What do you not like about New Age when you hear it done by others?
SG Celestial harps.
ISO50 Can you explain the Dream Chimney community? how did you get involved? what makes you keeping coming back and contributing on there?
SG I kind of come and go with posting tracks, but I’m a daily lurker. I’m usually just too busy to take the 20 minutes to sort out a post, and I haven’t had the energy to rip vinyl in a long time, but I feel a strong connection to the site, so it’s hard not to check in a couple of times a day just out of habit. Long before the word blog even existed there was The Dream Chimney, and it was so cool to get exposed to all kind of different music from all these great music dudes and friends. Back in the day it was largely made up of folks I knew from the music scene in SF, so it was like the place you all hung out during the day before you might see each other at a show later that night. If you were lucky maybe you would get schooled on some crazy synthy progfolk or CTI style beard jazz. There’s an element of humor to it that some people don’t necessarily pinpoint, like in the genre labels or the tags, that never really gets old to me.
ISO50 Can you suggest a Prefab home at an affordable price that you’d live in for more than 10 years?
SG Keep dreaming. But I did see this protohome just yesterday, and was fairly impressed.
ISO50 I noticed the percussion on the new album is almost non existent especially compared to your last record Colors Of The Sun, was that a conscious effort from the start?
SG Yeah, it really was. I think after the Hatchback and Windsurf albums came out I was glad that some people were into it, but it was also strange to get lumped into this cosmic disco nu-balearica movement and to get criticized for somehow hopping on a bandwagon you never even knew existed. So I started making tracks that were more ambient or new age thinking that it would be more fun for me, and wouldn’t have anything to do with what was going on in the music world. I had had this idea of a new age “band” called Zeus & Apollo kicking around so I just went for it, fairly consciously thinking of it all as a whole package. Honestly this is closer to my default setting. As much as I love funk, jazz, funky jazz, etc. when I sit down to play at a piano or electric piano, this is the kind of stuff that naturally comes out. Also when it comes to programming drums I usually think what I do sounds pretty horrible, and its really tiresome, so this was a bit of an easy way out.
ISO50 Something your fans might not know about you?
SG I have other fans.
ISO50 Dream gig (location, mood, pick a show opener or closer) and how important is it to you to have a live show? what would want your fans to see on stage for those 45 minutes if the sky was the limit?
SG i’ve been dreaming of doing a show in a planetarium. I’ve always been obsessed with a sort of total immersion entertainment—like an audio visual version of the Audium here in San Francisco; or actually a musical version of the tech in Brainstorm would be better yet.
But to really dream big, I think the most amazing place to play would be at St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota. It was designed by Marcel Breuer, and is quite simply, an amazing and inspiring piece of architecture. I love me some brutalist concrete.
ISO50 Do you collect anything other than music gear?
SG I have quite a few pieces by the Finnish designer Tapio Wirkkala. He was a total renaissance man—with one foot in the modern world and the other in primordial nature.
ISO50 Favorite newer band you’ve heard?
SG I really like the last two albums by The Alps—III and Le Voyage. I also like this guy Rob, who released the best two albums of the 2000s that no one heard (Don’t Kill and Satyred Love). He’s released five or six of these mini Dodécalogue eps, which are stunning. The only problem with Rob is that he’s impossible to google. My favorite new music of the last few years is probably 9dw. We became friends after doing a couple remixes for them and even did a short tour together in Japan in 2009.
ISO50 If you weren’t working with music or Dwell, where would you work?
SG A Vietnamese restaurant.
ISO50 Who would you want to take out of hiding and sit in the studio with,
even if it was just for one song?
SG I’d love to have Vangelis and his CS80 pop by for an afternoon. But I think I’d be pretty embarrassed by my shabby rig. My other greek option would be Iasos!
ISO50 Share a childhood memory that might relate to your new album?
SG One of the lamest things about living in San Francisco is that is so damn cold every single day of the year. Bye bye short sleeves. I grew up on the east coast, in Virginia, and even though it was muggy and crazy hot during the day, there’s nothing more pleasant that sitting outside in the evening and feeling that residual heat burn off in the night air. Hotaru, the fifth track on the record, is Japanese for firefly, and was inspired by a kawabata book I was reading and catching fireflies. There’s something really beautiful about fireflies—not only the iridescence, but also how they all start on the ground while its still pretty light out, but as it gets dark the float higher and higher into the trees; there’s this kind of gentle rising and dispersion, and then they’re gone. So sitting outside on the deck in Virginia, sipping on a cool drink, watching the fireflies. I think Hotaru would be a nice soundtrack for reliving that moment.
Hatchback – Zeus & Apollo is out on Lo Recordings next Monday.
