What the fuck John Talabot, you make this stuff and I can't get a picture with your face in it?
Listen, my love of John Talabot is well known around here. He has the Midas touch. Well, him and Jamie XX right now have the Midas touch. Maybe they are the same people? I'm starting that rumor right now. Until you can prove to me that John Talabot and Jamie XX where not in the same place at the same time, they are the same person.
I have a theory that there are certain rap beats that are so good that it doesn't matter who you have rap over top of them they are still going to be awesome. Remixes kind of have the same thing, if you pick the right song to start with it is going to be sweet. The original of this song is not a dance tune though, what makes this song worth remixing are the vocals. What? You think you did something wrong and now you feel bad? And you think you could make it better with the lights turned off? And you are going to sing it like you mean it? That is a home run folks, someone is going to knock that out of the park. In this instance it was John Talabot.
Some people are going to be like 'But everyone is remixing this song, it's an easy one to pick. It is the low hanging fruit' And I'm going to say stop your whining. You are right, there are a ton of remixes of this song. That isn't John Talabot's fault. That is everyone else's fought who tried to remix this track and did it wrong.
At least , that is what I 'm going to try and do. The office over/under bet on how many days that is going to last is 4.5 days., -115 on each side. We are taking all bets through close of business on Friday.
I think I'm a little late on the hype with this guy. How do you pronounce this guys name? What the fuck? Why can't we just get one cutting edge musician with a name like Bob Smith. This is Bob Smith's new album and it is called, 'Album Number 1'. Instead we get Balam Acab and this track 'Apart' from his forthcoming album 'Wander/Wonder'. Electronic musicians by and large are the worst when it comes to crazy names.
I'm going to be honest, I did at first want to listen to this guy because it had all the signs that it was going to be some sort of Brooklyn hipster/chill-wave/ghost house group. And some days I just can't take it. Some days I don't want Pitchfork telling me what is good. But, I'm willing to say I'm wrong when I'm wrong because this track is pretty great. In fact I first heard it last week on The Fader's podcast and I was hooked from the start. You put some weird haunting vocals pitched all over the place with a heady beat it's fucking cat-nip for me.
Now don't let me down Balam Acab! That new album of yours better be bitching or else I'm just going to be pissed at myself for falling for hype again.
Ohhhhhhhh fuck conference calls. I can't wait until we can all put on helmets that let us telepathically communicate with each other. That is going to be a lot more fun.
I just had a call that went almost two hours so my brain feels like how this song sounds. Like if this song was an ice cream cone it would be at that stage where the ice cream is just a river of ice cream going down the sides and the scoop on the top is about to fall off onto the ground. And then I cry because these conference calls ruin my ice cream cones.
I was reading this piece yesterday about why people right about baseball and included in it was a review of a book by George Orwell about why he writes. Basically, Orwell's point was that he could read old pieces of his and if they sucked he knew exactly why. He had determined that when pieces of his failed it was because it lacked a strong, critical, political voice. I took it to mean that when he writing and it failed to get some strongly held view across he felt that his writing was lacking then.
Not only did Orwell discuss why he thought his pieces were weak but he also thought about why people write in general. Which, in turn, got me thinking about why people write about music too. If writing is the act of observing things and trying to convey actions, events, facts, feelings, and emotions experienced into words for others how does writing about music fit into this? Outside of writing about the physical act of music being made, what are you writing about? They is no action that one can see, there are very little facts involved, it is mostly a subjective project by nature. You are left with trying to describe sounds which at this point I can't say is much easier than trying to describe feelings and emotions. How do people write about what something means when you can't see it, touch it, taste it, or feel it? Fuck.
We are going to start you guys off with a LONG mix from Molly Mollz. Clocking in at a little over an hour Ms. Mollz does a tremendous job weaving together some blistering house, detroit sounds, minimal sounds, balaeric sounds, all into a fantastic tapestry of summer tunes. I was listening to this the other day at work and all I wanted, more than anything else in the world, was to be on a beach and drinking a cocktail.
I don't know how I really came upon this, I think she is DJ-ing at Chicken and Techno here in Columbus sometime in September. (Right now, this name has a commanding lead in the 'Best Name for a Show/Album/Song' of the year category.) I hear they are going to have cocktails, which is great, because I like cocktails, chicken, and techno. It's going to be great.
You know what makes Saturdays even better? Finding new Joy Orbison tracks. Fuck and Yea. I think I like his tracks for the same reason Orwell knew when his writing was good - all his tracks feel like they have a purpose. A purpose that is so strong and central to the track that you can't ignore it while listening to him. I would also say, that right about now, Zomby's album "Dedication" is doing the same thing for me.
What the fuck?! Why the hell hasn't anyone already done this?! Of course the Beach Boys need to be taken and rammed through the hazy, chill-wave world we have come to inhabit. The Morning Clouds are really doing the people's work here. We all owe him a beer.
Chill-wave: Is this just the music form of the passive aggressive hipster culture. Don't get me wrong, when it is good, it is really good. But, sometimes I just feel like something is missing. Like I want to yell at them and tell them to stop hiding behind layers of re-verb and just get to the god damn point. (This rant does not apply to this tune. Just, FYI)
Also, H/T for Katie Finch directing this toward me and knowing my music tastes all too well. She calls it elitist I call it eclectic.
Fantasy football starts in two weeks, I'm on two teams. One of which I'm sharing with a friend and we are in a league with friends back in Akron. I'm just warning you now. Also, our team name is in this song. Fuck....GBV is so good.
And if you have made it this far, you are in for a real treat. An Aaliyah mix-tape. Fuck! Yes! Sadly, she passed away 10 years ago this week but we still get to enjoy this.
Also, H/T to the gents over at Keep on Repeat, I'm stealing this straight from their website. Hope they are ok with that.
I read today that James Blake and Bon Iver have or were going to do a project together. The first thing I thought when I saw this was that we already know what this is going to sound like. There are a couple songs off of James Blake's album where he really really really sounds like Bon Iver. Like he could do a mean Bon Iver impersonation. So, what exactly are we going to get out of this?
Ok, that is two times this week I have brought up Bon Iver. That is two times too many, he doesn't need me hyping him.
I am going to hype these dudes though. I wrote about them a couple weeks back about there bitching track "Hipbone". This track is courtesy of the fine fellows over at Keep On Repeat. They have a much nicer looking website than mine, and they seem to be actually trying at this music writing/blog thing because they tracked down actual information about these guys. Word on the street is that this track comes from their second EP that was released on R&S records last month. (Also, home of Jame Blake's earlier catalog......prior to him wanting to sound like Bon Iver. That's the last time. I swear.) I also learned that they are from England. See, not only do you get some sweet sweet beats over at their site but you also just might learn something.
I'm only going to say this once, don't let anyone talk about how summer is over in front of you until at the very least after Labor Day Weekend. If someone does that you direct them to this video immediately and then ask them what the fuck so great about winter? In the winter you can't talk girls into wearing piano-key shorts and dancing on the roof like a fool. "Ohhh, well I get to wear sweaters, and I have so many more options on what to wear." Don't give me that garbage, that is just clear evidence that the capitalist structure has rotted your mind into thinking that you like seasons because you get to buy new cloths. Don't let the capitalists win! They have already ruined everything else in this god damn county, don't let them ruin summer as well.
Oh my god, fuck you allergies, fuck you cats, fuck you rag weed, and fuck you nasal sprays. You can all go to hell.
I was told over and over again that I needed to check out some Tobin Sprout solo albums. Sprout played on some of the most critically acclaimed Guided by Voices albums and I heard his solo albums were just as good. So, when I saw a link to a Prefab Sprout album called "Steve McQueen" I downloaded it thinking it was Tobin Sprout. I shit you not, I listened to this album for two days thinking it was Tobin Sprout until I realized I had been drunk the entire time and the two were not the same.
I thought something was wrong because this album is really 1980's British rock. I think the first five songs are amazing, just totally kick ass. The second half of the album sees them sort of trying out their more unusual song structures and time signatures. There is one song called 'Halleluah' which is just atrocious. But, the first five songs are so good that it doesn't matter - this half album is better than 90 of full albums out there.
I fucked up but it seemed to have worked out.
Also, I'm at cup'o joe which has been over run with flies and the internet connection is shitty, so I have no idea what these videos are like because I can't really watch them.
Holy crap I have been on this conference call for over an hour now and I am officially giving up on it. People are just showing up and leaving at their own pace and I don't know what exactly we are even talking about. Maybe I should have paid more attention.
So, there are a good 10 to 15 albums that have come out this year that have gotten a lot of good coverage and that I just have not had time to get around to. But, Oh. My. God. This Destroyer album is fucking amazing. I wasn't kidding when I tweeted this yesterday, but I haven't heard the new Bon Iver album yet but I know for a fact that this album is better than it.
This guy has been underrated for years. Besides being apart of Canadian super-group The New Pornographers he is a prolific solo artist and has put out a ton of material over the last ten years. This is the strongest effort yet though. Horribly heart felt, witty, bruising-ly honest, god damn addicting to listen to. I want to hang out with Destroyer and stay out all night and get drunk and listen to him tell stories. That is my dream date.
Sorry, I was moving last week, and my new job is kind of busy (read: conference call that is still going on). I'm going to do my best to keep updating this everyday. Here is another Destroyer song for your troubles.
Sometimes I think I type too fast for my own good. I'm going to start making a conscious effort to slow down.
Funny story, last night I woke up at 2:30 in the morning thinking that that someone was singing "Africa" by Toto in my dream. Instead I woke up and found my roommates sitting in a car outside my window singing along to it very loudly. It was weird.
Galaxy 500 always came off as being very dream like music to me. I think it the sort of shoegaze-y feel to it that does it. Is this was the original chopped and screwed sound was? Was My Bloody Valentine and Galaxy 500 the original codeine infused music? Maybe I have been wrong all along - maybe this movement of R'n'B/hip-hop musicians adopting druggy qualities is nothing new. Think about it, instead of codeine and cough syrup My Bloody Valentine just did heroin. You get the same result I assume, it's just one is much more hardcore than the other.
Speaking of, my brain is fried from this week. To be continued...
Holy crap, we actually made it. Today is Friday. My god, I never thought it was going to come. It's beautiful out, why do I feel like I could sleep for a million years. We are going to turn this around right now.
I suppose I should have some sort of working thesis on the difference between electronic music, dance music, electro-dance music? I don't. I really don't know. Is this a dance tune or this a electronic tune? I don't think I could dance to it right now, but I think I could dance to it late at night after some drinks. Right?
I wouldn't put myself in the camp that one day we are never going to have genres, because we are. We are always going to have country music, hip-hop, pop, and metal. Those sort of dividing lines are always going to exist, but will there be artists that straddle genres? Yes, or course. That is the odd thing about electronic and dance music; those lines are a) not clear from people looking in from the outside and b) probably not worth the effort to erect. Besides filling the human need to put things in clearly designated boxes, what is the point of trying to catalog every piece of electronic and dance music into their own micro-genres? With that said, I'm sure I end up changing my mind on the subject come next week.
Also, how the fuck is John Talabot the only person on the planet without a Wikipedia page? I demand to know more about this person otherwise I'm going to write my own Wikipedia page about him and he probably isn't going to like it.
This two tracks are nice lessons in sun soaked house jams. His music has a clear shimmering element that I really like. It is fantastic summer music that you would want to hear outside on the beach or late night in someone's backyard. I am especially impressed with the vocal track on this tune. I can see some people not liking it but come on, he takes a females voices, screws the hell out of it, and tunes it in to so sort of mysterious vocodor instrument. It's great.
Ummmm, I found this song while flipping through some John Talabot live videos. He played this song at Sonar and someone had video of it. This is all I can say, imagine that bass line but about 1,000 times louder. Yea, it was fucking awesome. Come about 2:45 in you start to understand where this is going. Kind of has like a 90's acid feel to it, I don't know, I might just be making that comparison up.
This song is clearly all about the bass, and if you can listen to this on a stereo with a bitching sub-woof I would recommend it and then invite me over to join you.
Its been all electronic music all week, time to mix it up. I'm still on an Akron rock kick so this is what you get....mother fucking Houseguest! Akron's most underrated band. I once saw these guys play for three albums in a basement with no A/C in August. I thought someone was going to die. It was a show that I will never forget.
Holy shit, listen to those lyrics...."Tonight I cried to an episode of Empty Nest/ I've never felt such emptiness". You can take your Fleet Foxes and Bon Ivor's of the world and shove it.
My new favorite band in Akron, mother fucking Duunes! Garrrrrrrr I love them so much, prog-metal, who the fuck knew I would ever like that. Soooooo good! Please go to their myspace page and check them out.
Listen guys, I understood last week when no one told me that there was a new Air France single. I mean it had been out for like 12 hours, I apologize about how I acted. But, you guys kind of f'd up on this. You-Tube tells me this song has been posted since September of 2010. Why am I just hearing this? Hmmm? You all got some 'splaning to do.
As Nick put it, it seems that Jamie XX is the brains behind The XX. This is another amazing Jamie XX track. God damn he knows that he is doing. We should probably have a conversation some day about that XX album and A) see if it stands the test of time and B) who was responsible for making it as good as it was.
It helps that he has a fantastic vocal track to work with. He does a fantastic job in this song of framing it properly between these sort of house-y beats, a little two step drums, and the right amount of tension built up around it all.
Damn, it has been an excellent week for summer jams. Wait until tomorrow.
This is what I did today: 1) I researched a jail break at a for-profit jail in Youngstown from 1998, 2) I tried to find how many sex offenders there are in Ohio (I still don't know) 3) And researched further into the connections between the ultra right-wing group ALEC and Ohio state legislators.
I have nothing funny to report to you today.
A honest to god fucking summer jam. Holy crap, does everything John Talabot touch turn to gold layered with more gold on top of a mountain of gold? I think so.
I saw John Talabot walking down the street the other day riding a unicorn and having sex with a mermaid. It was amazing.
Don't give me any of that crap about how this tracks starts slow, I don't want to hear it. You gotta have some patience with this stuff. Let it build. Wait for it...wait for it....wait for it...there it is. When the 'you and me's' kick in. That's some good stuff right there.
Holy crap it is nice outside today. These are the type of days when we all need to work on tearing down this capitalist structure that is holding us all back. Yea!
Or not. It's kind of just up to you.
Ummmm, you might not realize this but the world is kind of on fire in London right now. I'm normally all for the youth fighting back and demanding things to get better but from what I can tell this just seems to be random violence. That doesn't mean anything. What's the point? I haven't read enough about it but based on some of the artists, labels, and record stores that are based in England no one seems to be happy with what is going on.
Don't get me wrong, I believe that there are legitimate complaints that the youth have over there. In fact, last year when the English government raised tuition by 10% kids rioted in front of the Department of High Ed. That was awesome. I totally supported that. In that instance the bailouts of multi-national corporations were being paid for by forcing the youth to pay more to go to school. That is clearly not fair. But what is going on right now seems less justified. There was a young father who died by the hands of the cops this weekend, that is tragic. Citizens are well within their right to protest and show their disapproval of current climate. That does not give them the right to attack and destroy the private property of businesses and individuals who have nothing to do with what is going on.
And now I'm getting of my soapbox. Enjoy the tune, I heard it on a Beats in Space mix today, I thought it was pretty bitching.
Most underrated band of the last five years or in the last 10? Akron's own. You might know them because the drummer from The Black Keys is in the band and he released the album on his own. Fucking awesome.
There is a lack of pretension in Akron and that is what makes it unique. Somehow, this rust belt town has a generation of kids who are fine with experimenting and throwing things against the wall to see what sticks. My brother and friends in Akron are every weekend going to see some sort of different type of band play. They are going to bars, to house shows, to abandoned buildings to see these bands perform. Every time I go home, and I have an opportunity to check out these bands, I'm amazed by the sense of community there. There are bands taking the building blocks left over from bands from yester-year, stacking them on top of each other, adding their own elements, and seeing what happens. There aren't indie rock bands, or metal bands, or pop bands in Akron. There only seem to be Akron bands in Akron.
There is a sense of urgency in the sounds coming out of Akron. It sounds something like this: things need to change, we might not know what things need to change into, but we can't let the status-quo continue. If the world isn't going to change then F-that we are going to do it ourselves. There is a sense of don't tell us what we should or should not do, we can figure it out ourselves. This is important, this is how things progress, this is what progress looks like. Only when you know you are free to do what ever you want are you free to become different.
This is what makes Akron different from Columbus. Too many times I have sat through shows here in Columbus only to walk out the door thinking, why did exactly nothing just happen? Why does that band sound like every other band in Columbus? What is this clear lack of urgency in the Columbus music scene? Can't these bands see that the world is kind of fucked up and the last thing we need is another indie rock band doing their best twee act?
I'm not saying that every band in Akron is doing this. I'm also not saying that there aren't any bands doing this in Columbus, because I'm sure there are. I'm just saying when I compare these two cities and the music coming out of them, the music coming out of Akron is much more adventurous. They are taking risks, they are morphing into new sounds. Of course it doesn't work every time, nor should it. It simply matters that the risks are being taken.
This is the first weekend in a month that I don't have to some sort of wedding related thing. You have no idea how excited I am for this. I like weddings because they involve free booze but it also involves a lot of other bullshit that I'm not really into.
Also I'm sitting next to this fucking cat right now that just ate through another pair of headphones. That brings the total to three pairs of headphones ruined by said cat. I'm going to put it outside to teach it a lesson.
What the hell is wrong with you people? It is nearly 8:00pm and not a single one of you told me there was a new Air France track out today. I'm disappointed in all of you.
Holy shit, Air France couldn't make a song that doesn't sound like summer. I really don't think it is possible. It has been over two years since they released their last track so this is big news for me. I have their first two EPs and they are better than 90% of the garbage put out in the last year.
As for this track, I'm digging it. It might not be the best thing they have ever put out but the last half of the track is really strong. Listen to this song and then read this quote from them:
“We are very good at geography and nature, botanical things and so on, but we are completely useless when it comes to music. Joel has no sense of structure at all and Henrik doesn’t know how to start or finish a song…We’ll sit half a day in front of YouTube thinking ‘how the hell did they do that?’ We have many questions for George Harrison that will never be answered.
That makes total sense really because I don't understand how they make their songs. These songs could probably go on forever and I would never grow tired of them. Summer just got a lot better.
Let's just start from here - I have the worst crush on Katy B. I don't even know why. There isn't anything I can point to and say 'Look, that is why I have a crush on her'. You can't explain love.
Like the songs a lot, but this video is really dumb. Whoever thought this song needed some garbage, high concept music video should stop making music videos. You have a hot 20 something girl with an awesome voice. We don't need distractions from her....you are ruining it.
If the American public had any sense of taste she would be a huge hit over here and Katy Perry would be out of a job.
Tim suggested I put this up today. I have never heard this song, this album, or any substantial amount of Genesis. I'm still trying to figure out what to make of this. If I start to like this song does that mean I have to start listening to Prog Rock?
I'm told that this album has Brian Eno on it, which I'm a huge fan of any album he is on and reminds me - we haven't done a random strategy in a while. Let's correct that. Drum roll.......
Bridges -Build -Burn
F. Yea. I can totally get behind that one.
What the...Well hello there. How are you? I'm doing well thanks. Can I get you anything; a drink, a cocktail, anything? No, you sure? Come on, you know you want something. A cocktail it is.
What was that? Yes, yes, I do believe you are one bitching tune. I know, I feel really bad that I had no idea you existed until today. What can I say, I've been really busy. I'm sorry, I just hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.
Tell me something, why am I just learning about you now? Why haven't you been on every mix this summer. Lord knows people put out enough mixes that you should have found your way onto one. Crying shame if you ask me.
I don't know what happened yesterday, there was a long third point that was suppose to be included in yesterday's post but for some reason it disapeared.
Lil' B, Lil' B, Lil' B, what are we going to do with you? You are the Bob Pollard of the indie rap world. You release an album/mix-tape at rates not seen since Lil' Wayne circa 2006-2007. Whereas I think Bob Pollard releases so many albums every year because he probably needs the money, you are in your 20's and you don't seem to be that hard up for cash. The frequency of your releases seems to be tied more to the fact that you a) don't have an editor and b) probably just like putting out a bunch of shit. Lil'B is like Bob Pollar - if you were to take the best songs from all the albums he releases every year and make one album, it would be a classic.
With all that said, I'm really digging this track. This is one of those songs that would be on that yearly greatest hits album. It helps that he has a killer beat on the track but Lil' B actually doesn't sound like a complete goof-ball, which helps a lot. That was one of the reasons that I have had a hard time taking Lil' B seriously, I can't tell if he is purposely trying to be a weirdo, or if really is a weirdo, or can he rap without being a weirdo at all. I'm going to point to this song as evidence that if he every took care of shit he could be amazing.
Sampling of some of the best lines:
I'll eat you for the motherland
Man I'm so hungry/bones showing through my face
I don't say homo because I'm a fucking thug
I these other rappers getting boo'ed like O.J./I respect O.J./A fan of the juice man
Man, it's going to be a cold summer/ Only got one friend Coyote and Road Runner
And it goes on and on....
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
1. Awesome fucking cover art. I want that on my wall in my living room.
2. Awesome record title, "Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light". So good.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
I don't know if this is a new or previously released track from Zomby, but it is pretty great.
Zomby's music doesn't remind me of most electronic music coming our right now. It doesn't sound like you would hear it in a club somewhere, or would even want to hear it in a club. That is probably the point though - this is all just a lesson in what we think should and should not be played in a club. I know there are countless artists out there doing this exact thing, trying to push the line between what is expected and what isn't. In electronic music I feel like the line is drawn somewhere between this gets played in a club and this gets thrown into the avant-garde bin. I could be totally wrong though, there may be clubs in Europe that are packed listening to this stuff. If so, I want to go too.
The more I listen to this new Zomby album the more I think of the last couple Pantha-du Prince albums. Those albums were very dark, atmospheric, and had a sense of place about them - the same feelings are brought up with this album. It is dance music moved into some sort of other territory - one foot in the beat world and another in the more experimental.
I should probably say more about this video because it is totally mesmerizing. Quit stunning really.
I'm sooooo sorry. I just ran out of time on Friday. I swear. I felt bad all weekend that I left you hanging. Thursday I told you I would have songs for you for the weekend and I dropped the ball. I'm sorry. Let's just forget about that happening, sit back and enjoy these tunes.
These songs go out to the three clowns talking very loudly in the coffee shop about politics. You don't know what you are talking about. Please stop.
Wolfgang Voigt walked out of the club onto the dark streets of Cologne. It was late July and the air was dry and stale. He was the only person on the street as he walked toward the middle of town. He walked and walked through the hot summer night until he got to his apartment. It was 1996, minimalism was just starting to get on its feet and he was at the center of it. He climbed the stair well up to the roof of his apartment building that over looked the city. Even though it was four in the morning he could still see countless buildings lit up all around the city. It was hot, humid, and it was late summer - no one was sleeping tonight.
He stood on the edge of his building and looked down. He thought to himself, 'The summer is hot, it can suck the will to live out of even the strongest man. I am only one man, but I will break the stranglehold the heat has on the city my producing the coldest minimal beat this town has ever heard. It will fall upon ears dying for the coldness that is reserved for nights in January - it will set them free'.
For a bitching reggae track their really isn't much going on here. Besides some guitar work, some bongos, and midi strings, it is just an excellent example of well produced vocal tracks. The vocals make this track work and it pays off. Is this minimalism for reggae - why can't there be more tracks like this?
I can't tell you how obsessed I was with this album when it came out. This track was the first song I heard off of the album and two years later it has aged really well. A great example of late 00's electro/disco adventure. If you heard of this album it was because it was the brainchild of one of the clowns from Vampire Weekend. It probably never got the recognition it deserved because it sounds nothing like Vampire Weekend and that is why it is great. This guy, who was in a huge band at the time, went out off and made an album that he didn't need to make and made it sound like nothing else. I truly believe this is one of the most underrated albums in the last five years. It holds up with some of the best albums of that time and two years later it is still fresh.
Fucking Arthur Russell. God damn it. Tooooo good. Uggggggggg.
