You had your fill on MGMT, Passion Pit, and Crystal Stilts or Castles in 2008 but its 2009 and you need that next big underdog party jam to get your friends to the bars and excited again. New Villager’s Rich Doors is exactly that track, the catchy hand claps with big stomps just scream out for your attention. All this week I’ve been saying the lyrics over and over in my head and out loud: “You got the right sound rich enough to take them down, your breakin’ new doors whatcha you think you lookin’ for!”.
I’m not going to lie but when friends early on in my music collecting career tried to play me Seefeel to get me to like it, I wasn’t really feeling it. I’m guessing they always played me the wrong song because I never bought a record once by them, even the Warp Records releases. This song from the Starethrough EP has me all the way though with its hypnotic vocals and rhythm, which leads me to where some of the Gang Gang Dance and OOIOO sound comes from.
I remember buying my first Christopher Willits songs that were on a compilation called E • A • D • G • B • E which had some minimal guitar sounds that i’ve never experienced. Here’s a guy that plays guitar daily like millions of people and it took this long to have someone make recordings this pretty and different sounding?
MF Doom over some strings and horns will never fail once and Ghostface being in the song doesn’t hurt the cause either. I picture this song “Angels” as the backdrop of a 50’s rainforest themed restaurant that offered ballroom dancing in the evenings(maybe i’m thinking of Casablanca?) but i’m sure it was used for Charlie’s Angels in some way, right?
Brooklyn’s Collin Palmer aka Calmer fuses psychedelic elements with Jazz influenced compositions in the most well constructed and exciting ways. In this song “Past is Present” Calmer offers up a real dreamy yet driving piece that will take you from having goosebumps to completely relaxing within seconds by dropping a wall of colorful sound in front of you. Calmer is known in Brooklyn for his unique setup on stage usually playing on custom shaped cymbals that he has cracked or bent himself and 60’s surfing documentaries playing in the background, well worth your time to catch live if you haven’t seen him. Head on over to XLR8R to pick up a free track of his called “Open Source”.
It’s Friday and I know you wanna hear some J Dilla since you haven’t probably put on Donuts in a month atleast and thats a shame.
I have to thank Praveen for sending me over a record that I would of probably never picked up unless I was bored in line at Starbucks. The CD would have be playing on the speakers and the CD case was the only thing within reach to read besides the menu. I’m not saying Bon Iver is playing at Starbucks but I wouldn’t be surprised, it has indie-pop singer/songwriter written all over it and everyone is talking about this record. I actually found 3 tracks on it that I really like, i’m actually looking forward to them popping up on shuffle. Bon offers what I like in acoustic guitar playing which is this slow repetitive drive but thats not what is grabbing, a lot of the simple background additions really make this song plus his voice doesn’t sound like some annoying kid from Austin or Seattle or David Gray.
I grabbed this Marius Vareid track from Tom Croose who’s mixes I sometimes post here and i’m pretty sure he got it from the talented crew on Dream Chimney. Guess what it is? yes some slow disco but this time more on the drumkit and guitar angle. I thought it would be nice jam to gradually head into the weekend.
First off, your going to have to excuse the cover choice but it was the best one out of the 4 songs for today. Let’s get right to it, there’s a new Animal Collective record coming out January 13th and from what i’ve read it sounds really promising. I listened to a lot of Animal Collective songs last night just to figure out what i’m attracted to in their songwriting and I noticed all the songs I do want to hear over and over like Leaf House, Grass, #1, Peacebone, Brother Sport and Visiting Friends all have either these driving low tom hits or have repetitive loopy melodies that I don’t mind hearing for minutes upon minutes. What I love about the new songs like “Bluish” and “Brother Sport” are the vocal styles though, like in “Brother Sport” the last 1:30 might be my favorite section of an Animal Collective song.
I found this Airiel song yesterday which i’m kind of on the fence about after I looked at their myspace. On one hand I wonder if this is the real thing meaning do they really love this style of music because their over stylized haircuts and upfront vocals make me think its just to get girls but the thought out catchy elements of the song make me love them, so I guess sometimes its best if I don’t meet the musicians and let myself just enjoy the songs.
I love The Juan Maclean, he doesn’t ever do anything that I dislike, from his remix of Matthew Dear to his classic sounding “Happy House” track to originals that put him on the map like “You Can’t Have It Both Ways”. This new remix for The Twelves has this unstoppable disco guitar and perfectly placed vocals in the mix because they’re never overpowering.
This A Sunny Day in Glasgow group out of Philly reminds me of Ulrich Schnauss at times but its like they only took a section of a song and repeated it unlike a growing shoegaze track. The mix of the song is a little rough too because the bassline that comes in is really nice but never really comes to life and that higher pitched synth note that comes in and out could be more drowned out. The girls vocal definitely has her moments 2 mins in and the overall dreamy effort makes me go back to it.
Animal Collective – Bluish
[audio:bluish.mp3]
Airiel – Cinnamon
[audio:airiel.mp3]
The Twelves – Be My Crush [The Juan MacLean’s Rio Mix]
Guitarist and electronic musician Christopher Willits continues his monthly series from SoundArts studio. In this episode, Willits proves the future is now by showing you how your iPhone can control Ableton and Max/MSP.
Tune in once a month as Christopher shows us some of the ways he produces his own music, as well as the many cool things you can do with recording software. According to Christopher, “I simply want to excite people’s imaginations and creative processes so they can more easily create the sounds and music and art they love.”
For more What You Talkin’ Bout, Willits? visit XLR8R TV
I hope everyone enjoyed a nice short time off, I definitely did by digging thru some older songs and found a few favorites that we’re hiding. It’s a tiny bit crazy that this blog has pretty much a list of all my favorite songs and posting 4 a day sometimes will really make you dig deep thru old mp3s and burn old cds onto the computer that weren’t on before. Scott is definitely working on a player for the blog and pretty much that will make me close my iTunes and Pandora and i’ll just sit on iso50 all day.
These 4 tracks today are all on the gentle tip but all different styles. The first song I remember buying it at a record store in Royal Oak, MI called Neptune Records, the clerks would suggest some of the best music and i’d end up going broke a few times. I found a great description of the song below on Boomkat out of the UK – “‘A Spire’ hits a more gradually rhythmic pace, a hypnotic banjo strum loops into infinity over which a developing cresta of vibraphone notes, guitar stabs and tonewaves congregate. By the midpoint all that’s left is a lonesome acoustic guitar and piano replaying a sublime melody before slowly all the other instrumentation rejoins taking the track to a deep blue finish”.
This Studio song is a favorite, this record is never left out of anything I do, everything from loading my iPod, DJ sets, mixes for friends, whatever you name off this is on it. It’s like Surf music served up for an eager disco crowd, each part brought in gives you more of what you’d be asking for if they were right in front of you and making it for you.
If you follow any Detroit Techno scene then you know Maurizio, its like stripped down hypnotic techno from a distance, I always picture a thick python slowly wrapping around its prey and squeezing tighter with every lap up the body that it makes.
We’ve all seen Crocodile Dundee and if you make music I feel everyone once in their life has tried to fit in a digeridoo in a song they’re working on, don’t lie and say you haven’t because you have because you wanted to make this exact song but i’m going to share this with you that it can’t be done because Peter Best killed it and it can’t be topped.
Today marks a day of variety, we put up a cover of an old Chemical Brothers track reworked by Japan’s Shinichi Osawa. One of my favorite label’s Delsin delivers a deep and soft house cut from the mysterious Newworldaquarium. Caribou goes in a whole new direction with a Kelley Polar track that hints at he has been listening to a lot of electronic music and not just The Beach Boys. The Mountains seal the deal at the end with a gentle sleeper filled with layer upon layer of guitar.
Also, at the end there’s the original “Star Guitar” video by Michel Gondry just so you can pick if you like the cover more than the original, personally I don’t but its a wonderful effort by Mr. Osawa and featuring Au Revoir Simone never hurts. Chime in on the picks today since they’re all over the place and i’d love to hear if there’s something you like more than the other.
Shinichi Osawa – Star Guitar (feat. Au Revoir Simone)
[audio:starguitar.mp3]
Newworldaquarium – Tresspassers
[audio:newworld.mp3]
Kelley Polar – We Live In An Expanding Universe – Caribou Remix
[audio:polar.mp3]
Mountains – Blown Glass Typewriter
[audio:typewriter.mp3]
Chemical Brothers – Star Guitar – Video by Michel Gondry
Before I start to gush about The Sight Below I think Alan Kellman from Allmusic Guide nailed the description perfectly: “The work of an anonymous Seattle-based producer with an evident affinity for the outer realms of shoegaze and somber ambient techno, Glider would have been an equally easy fit on Kranky, like label staple Loscil, or an idealized version of 4AD that has maintained the line running through the darker and spacier aspects of their early catalog. Alternately, this is just as likely to evoke the absorbing gray moods present throughout the Cure’s Faith and Seventeen Seconds as thaw-out techno like Yagya’s The Rhythm of Snow or Markus Guenter’s In Moll. Though heavily processed, caressingly foreboding guitars are a major component of the Sight Below sound, the root is Wolfgang Voigt’s Gas releases — whether or not a muffled thump is present, rhythm is paramount. Lesser producers would ride out these tracks for eight or nine minutes, rather than the six-minute average here; this producer keeps things tight and ever-developing, never straying into formlessness.”
Ahh the uphill battle that is releasing electronic music and trying to explain to uninformed fans and even friends that its not all the same 4/4 club music.
It is difficult to attract new fans to the hidden gems of the genre, there is so much good music that comes out weekly that gets buried under mediocre mainstream releases; the gelled up DJs, and the gimmicks that don’t age well. With “No New Enemies Vol. 1” we’ve assembled some up and comers that have strong melodic crossover tracks from the past, present, and future releases on Moodgadget. We think this is our finest attempt to date to show the diversity in this genre’s sound.
Slow disco edit experts Worst Friends kick the compilation off with a psychedelic rock/disco jam that begs the question “What if Pink Floyd made a dance track?” Charles Trees drops in with a dusty, heavy sample-laced track that is both soulful and upbeat; conjuring up the good times.
I know i’ve filled this blog with Benoit Pioulard but here he offers a serenade over a snowy Direwire’s song from the past, a real enjoyable headphone listening piece.
Tstewart’s, “What’s This Color” is new folk at its finest; with bouncy circular guitars, and samples warm enough to take the place of your winter coat in the coming months.
Also, not to be overlooked but Alex/HeadUp did the cover for the compilation and Scott was kind enough to let me take up a whole post to share these exclusive songs on the blog with you guys, I hope you enjoy.
You had your fill on MGMT, Passion Pit, and Crystal Stilts or Castles in 2008 but its 2009 and you need that next big underdog party jam to get your friends to the bars and excited again. New Villager’s Rich Doors is exactly that track, the catchy hand claps with big stomps just scream out for your attention. All this week I’ve been saying the lyrics over and over in my head and out loud: “You got the right sound rich enough to take them down, your breakin’ new doors whatcha you think you lookin’ for!”. 
Ahh the uphill battle that is releasing electronic music and trying to explain to uninformed fans and even friends that its not all the same 4/4 club music.