Sten aka Lawrence held my #1 spot on my Top 10 list of 2008 and his 12″ vinyl single Jill on Mule Electronics in 2009 will probably be in my Top 10 list of singles in 2009. I’m a sucker for these lush melodies over the well crafted rhythm sections Peter Kersten puts together. He uses delay so well and mutes notes perfectly like some gentle tribal lullaby if there was such a thing.
I’m not sure what synth it is but it almost sounds like a faint chime in the melody, I think I heard it in 80’s-early 90’s sitcoms, now that sound is just a killing me its so good. Here’s a big fake Pitchfork review rating of 10/10.
Daedelus and his friends started their new label FoF Music which features split EP’s by different aritsts as one release, clever idea if the artists don’t mind, only problem is if you’re not feeling the other music by the other musician on the same release but that’s not the case here since Jogger really delivers some good tracks too. One thing is that vocal sample Billy Corgan? or does Alfred just have a great voice and we didn’t know all this time.
10:32 is Tim Koch who you may know from the free Ghostly Swim compilation on Adult Swim or from the Merck label if you have followed the Tycho catalog follows up with a digital EP on Ghostly with integrating acoustic guitars, female vocals, and raw found sound in a pretty distant and perfect way.
I feel like I talk about Marumari a lot on the blog, he is definitely a favorite producer, this track called A Girl I Met At the Rest Stop was the first song I ever heard by him, its off the infamous IDM compilation series Bip-Hop Generation. The track sounds like a more up front live Selected Ambient Work track like Pulsewidth but way more calm and slower going.
Finally home after an eventfulweekend and it’s time to get back to work on the album. I want to thank everyone who made it out to the shows and Ghostly for making it all happen, it was a great time all around. banx_zor got some great shots of the SF show at Mezzanine (posted above). If you have any more of the SF or LA shows let me know! As you can see in photo 2 above, Dusty Brown made a rather animated cameo during the set, thanks to him for tearing it up on the keys. Our very own Alex Cornell also turned in a great performance on a couple guitar tracks (3rd picture down). For those who were wondering, the last 2 tracks I played in each set were new songs, the final one being a single due out shortly on Ghostly International. I’ll keep you posted.
These 3 songs by Bernhard Fleischmann, Wisp, and Departure Lounge are good examples of 3 completely different genres that I really wouldn’t know how to tag with a specific genre. Wisp on one hand sounds like he should be making all the fantasy video game music for any World of Warcraft game in 2010 specifically any epic winter levels. Bernhard Fleischmann sounds like a sped up Mum song that put the guitar and drums priority in the mixdown while Departure Lounge has more of a northern Midwest feel with layered finger picking and some gently placed feedback that’d probably drive a mastering guy nuts.
I’m not sure where I remember first seeing this La Serenissima video but it hit my nostalgia button right away, seems like the studio that drew the original G.I. Joe animated series must of done it, i’m not exactly sure though. I wish more cartoons we’re drawn like this, i’d probably watch them religiously.
My friend Danny passed on a Glenn Branca EP to me tonight, one that I didn’t have and we started talking about him. Glenn Branca seems to be the poster boy for all the experimental guitar bands that want to do something new these days but they don’t understand that they can’t repeat the past and pretend like their doing something groundbreaking. I don’t think anyone these days would be able to put out music similar to what Glenn Branca did during the time he was doing it, you’d only be doing it for the wrong reasons. This new wave of bands in the past 8 years or so are enjoyable but in my opinion just come off as “I need attention but don’t actually look at what i’m doing because i’m actually not creative at all”. Sadly these musicians today can buy their way into sounding and mainly looking like they have some talent. Walking up and down the streets of Brooklyn you can almost smell and see the fake talent, at first you can fall for it but then talking to more and more people you end up finding out they aren’t offering up anything pure or willing to potentially going mental to perfect their technic and sound. I just want people like Glenn Branca to get more credit because listing him off as an influence only is almost saying that your similar to him but you aren’t you actually have to take any of the time that you’re getting any attention and use it thank the originator.
Addled is half of Worst Friends and he loves his Boston Red Sox, sharing what great good house/techno records come out on Tuesdays, and most importantly making a variety of music. Recently he’s worked on music that was used in a Prada video and in the past he made some of the music for The New York Times. His first EP as Addled is one that follows the footsteps of James Holden and Paul Kalkbrenner but touches a new level of listening since its less clubby than both and is more on the deeper side and melodic side.
I feel like I post a lot of Paul Simon but really I don’t actually if anything I don’t post enough Paul Simon.
I always thought I liked Sam Prekop more than The Sea and Cake but then I listened to some more Sea and Cake and realized I was thinking crazy things. Whenever I have to deal with the rock guy that thinks electronic music is too repetitive than I just have to share with him The Sea and Cake and say Its not that you don’t like repetitiveness because obviously this is amazing, it’s just that the person doesn’t care for unique sounds or can fathom the idea a synth playing more parts than their are people on stage and that just ticks him right off.
The record heads over at Kompakt have done it again by continuing to floor ambient lovers with one of the best compilation series of the 21st century. Pop Ambient 2009 has some jaw dropping moments, for example when you pick up the CD and find out that Tim Hecker, Burger/Voigt and Mint all make appearances then its an easy sell for any frequent ambient music buyer. The compilation starts out with what maybe could of been William Basinski’s original Disintegration Loops but with a layer of brass added by the ever talented Klimek. Popnoname comes in with one of the most gentle and entrancing melodic pieces. Freshman Sylvain Chauveau carries us into a more looped lo-fi laptop folk sound that seems to be a new branch that Kompakt has added under the Pop Ambient umbrella. The real show stealers are Burger/Voigt who really knock us back, the song Frieden gets me so excited that I almost become ill from my uncontrollable slow swaying, minute after minute I just think about how exciting it is to be able to own this song. For those who haven’t ever purchased a Pop Ambient compilation than this is a perfect one to begin on since its one of the more diverse and inviting collections because of its use of guitars and soft noise.
First of all, i’m going over this Deodato(which is the cover art above) live version of Do It Again and I realized I heard the best thing ever which is just ONE guy whistling really loud in the middle a key solo like it was the only record he had at home. These 4 tracks have something in common other than just being old, you can file them all under Yacht Rock which is an amazing genre of music if you like your brass section epic, your bass guitar lines soft and smooth, your keys saturated like off white stage light glare and most importantly strings being played like your in a 70’s spy movie chase scene in speedboats. It’s an easy genre to rip on i’m sure for people that don’t dork out on the certain instruments that I mentioned before but if you take all the labels off of it or any bad memories then this music has a lot to offer in my opinion.
Just a quick update for the Ghostly 10 Year Anniversary Show coming up March 6th. Fellow San Franciscan Christopher Willits has just been added to the bill (see updated flyer above). In case you don’t know, Willits makes all sorts of dreamy, shoe-gazey, guitar electronica and also drops audio science all over the placein the form of his “What You Talkin’ ‘Bout Willits” series for XLR8R TV. The tickets are selling out fast so get yours now!
Anytime I start hating on living in Brooklyn it totally redeems itself within days. The other night I was searching for music to listen to and stumbled upon a post that said Beirut free show in Brooklyn and I looked at the clock and just grabbed a taxi and got there right on time for the first song. Beirut live is worth $30+ in my mind, the man has my full support, his voice was exactly what I wanted to hear after listening to a ton of instrumentals all day long.
I got into Sun Ra probably later than most people, every time someone tells me a story about him playing live its always really absurd which is great to hear.
Mike Dykehouse had an LP that come out a few years back that he attempted to make shoegaze via only using his computer and a guitar plugged into it. The LP came with a couple of these short interludes all the way thru that I really loved, maybe one day he’ll revisit them and make epic longer versions? I can only hope. The artwork for the Midrange LP was done by Deanne Cheuk which many of you may already know.
I saw Keith Kenniff play live a few months back as Goldmund hoping he’d maybe sneak in some of his Helios work in as well but there was no need, he did all these slower piano pieces that I really enjoyed. This track Evelyn off his new LP The Malady of Elegance I recommend as a nice introduction into his work.
