I should just post this whole new Benoit Pioulard record because its just that good. In the song Tower Benoit serenades but most importantly sets the atmosphere in the intro with plenty of details of him shuffling around and then the addicting guitar playing steps in, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, buy it here.
I found another track from the new No Age record that the blog couldn’t be without, its dizzying and noisy with simple additions, hard to not fall in love with it.
I remember when I first heard my first few albums from Schematic records, I couldn’t wrap my head around how long it would have taken to write a song like this one by Kiyo. I imagined many nights slaving over obsession on sequencing and glitching out every minuet speck of sound, I thought my mind would give up if I had to produce this, i’m glad someone stepped up and did it.
I needed to end this post on the upswing, the production on this Ellen Allien track is pretty breathtaking, so bubbly and inviting, each new part that floats in is like a smoke ring fully intact passing by your eyes, beautiful techno will have its day again soon.
Soon to be Soul-dance pop superstars Body Language has innocence, enjoyable stage presence, and danceability nailed down for a crowd any young crowd, download this free EP they’re offering.
Mujuice is a Russian producer i’m pretty sure, i’m guessing he’s kind of young too. He always hooks me in with catchy repetition, reminds me alot of Farben’sStarbox.
Fans of the label Kranky don’t need an introduction to Pan American, I personally prefer listening to most of their earlier material because of how calm it got me.
In my opinion the most dynamic and emotional Burial track, this song has helped me through long drives on this SVIIB tour.
I can’t find too much about Bill Baird but this song is a must hear for an ambient head. From front to back this light horn parts floats over the piece, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Luke Abbott’s new album starts over off with these amazing little flutters, I had to share.
Twin Shadow redeemed itself after I heard their new album, I love the Don Henley style guitar playing here.
I’m on a Anoraak kick because of his synth work but i’m not feeling these vocals, still a pretty solid listen, I can see alot of people enjoy this.
Rocking with the new Deerhunter record is fun but I hate wearing out a record too early so I started digging thru some Atlas Sound and pulled out this gem of an early EP.
Arp has some light synth work that takes some time to grow but that growing time is where you want spend your time listening, soo relaxing.
For those who bought the Matthew Dear album on CD you didn’t get this digital bonus from Matt. Its a new spectrum of that circular sound he does that grabs me.
I’ve noticed i’ve been looking for more tasteful piano music, Eluvium and Peter Broderick have been my go to’s, any more suggestions? I know its a huge can of worms to bust open, I don’t need any BS like Radiohead piano covers or dumb shite like that.
Pictured above are some shots of the various models in Access Music’s Virus TI2 line. Of all the musical equipment manufacturers out there, I’d have to say that the Recklinghausen, Germany based outfit are making some of the most innovative and powerful sound synthesis tools available today. But aside from that, they’re incredibly beautiful and well-crafted machines. I’ve owned several and have to say I’ve always been amazed at the build quality and attention to detail they put into their equipment. I love how they take subtle cues from the past — the perfectly measured application of wood is a perfect example — while still pushing the design forward. As I’ve said before, it doesn’t get any better than stainless steel and wood, and the TI2 KB features a stainless steel/wood sandwich on the endcaps. Sort of like the amazing Jupiter 6 caps, but with wood (I sold a Jupiter 6 once. Worst mistake ever). But none of this comes cheap, these are also some of the most expensive synthesizers out there (probably the most expensive VA’s). I’d have to say they’re well worth the money though, the sound is unmatched and they’re built to last.
What I really admire about what Access is doing is that they’re doing it all from within the festering pit of mediocrity that is the music technology industry, an industry dominated by bad taste and terrible interface design. I don’t know what it is that drives industrial design in music technology, but you’d swear every new keyboard was designed by the backup drummer from Ratt. So I really admire it when a company steps up and chooses quality design over gimmicky superfluousness and nonsensical hyperbole (Tubes? Really? I bet they’re not even in the signal path). Roland is the saddest example of a once great company committing egregious latter day design sins. This is the company that brought us the iconic 808, 909, MSQ-700, SH-5, and Jupiter 8. Music machines with incredibly well thought out interfaces which were also durable and aesthetically pleasing. The best they can muster now are bloated, plastic, messes that look like a cross between a dvd player and a karaoke machine. And they don’t sound any better than they look. Oh yeah, once in a while try to reclaim their former glory with a cheap knockoff of their own product (to be fair, Korg is just as guilty of this as Roland).
But I digress… If you’ve caught some of my posts on the studio or seen the live show you may have noticed that I’m quite fond of my Virus C synthesizers. Of all the VA (virtual analog) synthesizers out there, I’d say the Virus has the most warm and unique sound. When it comes to VA’s, I think it’s all about the converters. The modeling can be dead-on but if you’re running through some space-age, 24-bit converters, the sound is going to be cold and rigid. That’s the thing that (used to) set the Virus line apart from the rest, the converters. They were warm and gritty, you could really feel the sound, it was authentic. First came the Virus A, which many still consider the best sounding of the Virus line (I wouldn’t know, I’ve only used the C line and on). Then came the B, which I heard had a little cleaner converters (read: worse). And right around the time I became aware of the Virus they came out with the C line. I was sold the first time I played one. They come shipped with the bucket full of useless euro-trance trash patches that are apparently legally required to preload on a new synth, but once you get past those and start digging in and programming, you can make them sing.
A couple years later they came out with the TI line and I got a TI Polar. To tell the truth, I was pretty disappointed by the sound. It was just too sterile, too pristine. They had apparently implemented the new 24-bit converters and you could hear it. I ended up selling the Polar and sticking with my C KB and Indigo Redback. Which was unfortunate, because the TI’s are just so beautiful. And also because Access no longer makes the mainboards for the C models. One bad power setup at a show and my Indigo is toast, for good.
The new Deerhunter is everywhere, you probably already listened to it but its well worth posting, when Bradford starts singing slower in Helicopter it grabs my ear, probably my favorite moment in the record.
Seams put up a free download recently, its beautiful, Four Tet-ish with whirlwind kind of feel, highly recommend you download.
I’m always excited for new Apparat, I expect him to always deliver epic speedy melodic material tastefully and he did just that, everything thats underlaying in the song gorgeous too, needs to be heard more than once, I could go with out the marching band breakdown though.
I don’t need to file Copy under any genre its not worth the hassle to place him somewhere because its not going to help explain how much I love this tune.
CDM is reporting on a new iOS based Moog product called Filtatron, “an iPhone Filtering, Effects, and Sampling App”, basically Moogerfoogers on your phone. This is looking pretty amazing interface-wise; very true to the signature Moog aesthetic with the Little Phatty style rotary encoders and soft buttons. From a strictly user experience perspective this must have been a lot of fun to design. It will be interesting to see how it actually sounds compared to the real thing though — I’m going to take a wild guess and say it sounds nothing like a MoogerFooger. Software analog modeling is an imperfect art (or perhaps too perfect); it’s best to think of it as it’s own beast entirely than a faithful representation of the sonic characteristics of a true analog circuit. At any rate it’s interesting to see music technology makers pushing the capabilities of mobile devices. Software like this can may never replace analog hardware, but it would be nice to have the portability and power when you’re away from the studio, even if it comes with a healthy dose of compromise. See also: iRig
I’ve always liked how the singer of The Walkmen voice went along with the guitars and their conservative classic style has made it easy for them to be a big hit in the main stream. I listened to the album and thought it was really strong but I found this NPR Session of the song Woe Is Me to be what i’d love to put on if i’m going to listen to The Walkmen.
More Neon Indian remixes, this one comes from Anoraak from France, if you haven’t noticed yet i’m still a sucker for this gentle 80s sound.
Glasser takes a Fever Ray approach, nothing new here but its done really well. At times in this song I wish Ellen Allien took this approach I think by now she’d be doing big things. Also, one part that grabbed me in this Glasser track was the similarities in the intro with Matthew Dear’sDon’t Go This Way, which I loved, more of that sound please.
Hooray! style is all over the place, I can’t put my finger on it, crunchy kicks or sometimes even pianos, in I Guess… he flattens out simple noisy loops making them sound like the last new minutes of a No Age session that has died down.
