André Obin is similar to what I heard coming out of the UK in the late 90’s like the usual names that might make you a little less interested like Sasha or Underworld but he puts a refreshing twist to it that might be more stiff and cuts out the cheese and dishes out the vocals and synths more upfront.
Royksopp’s Night Out keeps up a great pace and offers such great dynamics, its such a crowd pleaser with elements of DJ Shadow and The Avalanches but dips into really nice psychedelic parts and the breakdown towards the end which reminds me of Pink Floyd and it fits right in without any interruption.
Now we get to probably the catchiest song of them all of 2008, Empire Of The Sun, I must have listen to this song 20 times already today. I didn’t know what to think of it first time(kind of like an episode of Tim and Eric on Adult Swim) around but now I catch myself trying to stop singing it so just be warned before you listen. The video looked like so much fun to make, looks like they had a nice size budget and plenty of freedom.
DFA has a newer signing Runaway who DJ quite often in Manhattan, a lot of distant disco guitar noodling and keeping it simple and dark, a nice way for a DJ to keep a late crowd from leaving.
School of Seven Bells’ full-length debut, Alpinisms, is best introduced with a little etymology: Mercurial French author Rene Daumal defined “alpinism” as “the art of climbing mountains.” Art, of course, means many things: the perfection of craft, the transcendence of spirit, the physical world and the truth found beyond it. Alpinists, then, are both athletes and mystics. They practice “pure” climbing, hands gripping the cragged incline sans rope or guide, forcing their bodies ever-upward in the name of earthly enlightenment. “Alpinisms,” says Daumal enthusiast and guitarist Alejandra Deheza, “are mountain-climbing songs.”
Alpinism is an electronically enhanced pop record of dizzying highs and claustrophobic lows, whose painstaking conception shows in its detail-laden crevices. On the album’s best tracks – the polyrhythmic dream-pop of “Face to Face in High Places,” the nervous shimmer of “My Cabal,” the menacing lilt of “Iamundernodisguise” – Benjamin Curtis constructs layers of shoegazing, moire-patterned guitars, while sisters Alejandra and Claudia Deheza intertwine their near-identical voices like the fingers of praying hands. Throughout, the whole heavenly affair is tethered to the ground with a glitchy, tribal thwomp.
In Alpinisms, technology collides with cryptic religious imagery and airtight songcraft; knowledge begets action; and School of Seven Bells master an alien climate with effortless artistry.
Matthew Dear has a new 10 inch record coming out Tuesday with a few different style remixes from DFA’s The Juan Maclean for the Pom Pom single off his latest album Asa Breed. The 10 inch vinyl can be picked up on his tour dates with Telefon Tel Aviv. The guitar is pretty gnarly in the track but what I love about it is the breakdown and the build back up. Since I put up the pretty downtempo psychedelic cuts from Harmonia(which i can’t get enough of) and DJ Shadow I had to pair up the Pom Pom track with an old favorite of mine which is this Skatebaard track who recently was on DFA’s Supersoul compilation. Enjoy.
I just got home from Terrabyte after a nice drive today; LA > Sacto > SF, needless to say I am exhausted so I’ll keep it short. Terrabyte was amazing as usual; thanks to everyone who came out and made it a success and thanks to the Arboretum and Kyle and Ryan from Subtractive for making it all happen. I also want to apologize for the delay getting started, as some of you noted, we had some technical difficulties starting out, but things smoothed out once things got rolling. I was pretty busy most of the time so didn’t get many good photos this time around, some of the few I got are below. Bijan has also posted some photos from the show here.
Somewhere in the middle of the central California valley.
I found some early videos from the show on YouTube, below is a shot of some of the visuals. I didn’t realize this girl (video below) had been dancing in the visuals until after the show was over, pretty cool to see this now. There is also a video of the new single being played; the audio is really bad and you can’t see much, but it’s a small taste at least: link. There are a couple more from the same person up here as well.
My first interest into Krautrock beyond Kraftwerk. I found NEU! ’75(1975, duh) when I was 17 and have yet to stop listening to it eight years later.
NEU! was the brainchild of Kraftwerk’s Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother. Anything Rother touches, I like; which you will see in future posts.
This track is off of NEU! 2 (1973) and is a fine example of Rother’s melting guitar melodies, and (along with almost every other NEU! song) displays Dinger’s self-invented Motorik beat.
I have some new favorites to share, some unreleased but downloadable here and some that the original might of come out before we we’re born.
I know it says Alan Parson’s Project but don’t pass this up because there’s this talented musician that does amazing edits to songs called Pilooski. Almost everything i’ve heard by him is worth picking up. This one is my favorite, its a 8+ min slow burn.
I’m not sure if you’ve been in the record stores last week but the Wolfgang Voigt – Gas – CD+Book hit the shelves. It’s probably worth every penny plus it has unreleased Gas material on the CD. I bring this up because debuting his first release is The Sight Below which has a very similar feel except it’s more guitar/shoegaze based. He is giving away a 3 track EP for free, definitely worth downloading and each track features a different cover compliments of Michael Cina from WeWorkForThem. You can also see him debut Live with Tycho in Seattle in September.
As for this The Blue Nile track it’s a deep slow jam from 1989 that i heard this Friday night around 4 am at a bar in Brooklyn called Coco 66. I have a feeling this sound will be redone by DFA post Hercules and Love Affair maybe late 2009. Also, it reminds me of the tracks by Hatchback and Rollmottle that i posted earlier this month.
Alright, now something upbeat and catchy, Sweden’s Tennishero is in the same vein as maybe early Royksopp, the dangerous thing is how this vocal gets stuck in your head. One thing i love about the formula for this track is that its a dance track but he keeps it close to pop music length. If all this melodic dance music that i think is better than most top 40 ever wanted to get bigger people need shorter edits and it could probably make a great impact in the music industry but the versions that come out are usually 6 mins+ which is enough time to take a great melody and wear it out.
The Alan Parsons Project – I Robot (Pilooski Edit)
[audio:pilooski.mp3]
The Sight Below – With Her Kiss (I’d Pass The Sky)
I’m sitting in a friend’s studio and he asks me what would you love to hear really loud since he has an amazing setup and my first reaction is wanting to hear the guitar’s right after the intro of where Slowdive’s Souvlaki Space Station drops in. I’ve always wanted to hear this song live over anything in my life.
After that, i wanted to compare that sound to The Verve’s spaced out Gravity Grave so i can compare in my opinion the 2 ultimate shoegaze tracks. It was lovely, almost as good as it being live in a few parts.
Then, to really take it to a dark and heavy side we put on The Reflecting Skin’s (who is pictured above) Year of the Knife which is an absolute monster. You look at movie trailer’s these days and they end up using some weak heavy metal track or some bad sped up Orbital rip off electronic track from the mid 90’s, why not something with more of an emotional connection that people won’t forget? The latest trailer for the movie Watchmen was perfect, i think it sounded like Billy Corgan from The Smashing Pumpkins, it couldn’t of been a better pick for the footage shown, I still remember it now perfectly clear.
As for the last track, it’s an edit that Addled did for M83’s You Appearing, i felt like i couldn’t of posted these songs without an M83 track but needed a song that was exclusive for you guys, you can download the song on Addled’s myspace. The original is very similar to this but he added the perfect touch to the rhythm section so its a little more driving.
Alex Cornell is a student at the Academy of Art Graduate Design MFA program here in San Francisco and he also helps me out around the studio with various design and music related things (in addition to being a designer he’s also a ridiculously talented guitarist and a knowledgeable sound engineer).
Recently he brought over a project he was working on to get some critique. Since I never went to school for design it was great to get a glimpse inside the classroom through his project and also very interesting to hear what his professor thought of my input. I had a great time working with him trying to refine the project so I thought it would be nice to have him do a process piece for the blog. I think this serves an apt companion to the Making of Obama post; a good counterpoint written from the student perspective. I am sure many of you were/are design students yourselves so you can relate, seems to me like the professor does a pretty good job of impersonating a client. The following article is his account of the process of creating the piece and working with his professor to complete the project.
André Obin is similar to what I heard coming out of the UK in the late 90’s like the usual names that might make you a little less interested like Sasha or Underworld but he puts a refreshing twist to it that might be more stiff and cuts out the cheese and dishes out the vocals and synths more upfront. 
Matthew Dear has a 
