Knxledge - "LoavHurts"

Holy shit this thing beats. I can't stop listening to it. I like it so much that it made me go and look up the Musiq Soulchild version of "Be Friends" that it samples, and you know what? That is also a pretty sweet jam.

Seriously though, it is amazing what the internet will bubble up to the service some days. Before today - I had never heard of Knxledge. Ever. By 7:30 tonight - I can't tell you how much I like his stuff so far. It's great. Listen, I'm having a hard enough time trying to learn how to talk about electronic music without sounding like an idiot so when it comes to hip-hop producers I'm still sort of at loss for words. And, to be honest, the reason I'm probably as in to this song right now as I am is because its funky. It's got some boogie in it. A sweet fucking bass line, some catchy, melodic courts, and I've always been a sucker for chopped and screwed vocals. And, those fucking horns. God. Damn. Stop it already.

Also, if you can't relate to this song you probably have something wrong with you.

I fell in love with some boogie...

OK, follow me here...earlier this week Dam-Funk was on Beats In Space, and, well, it was the shit. It was an awesome hour of boogie, funk, and just some nasty songs from him. Some new ones, some old ones - just an amazingly solid hour of music. Can't recommend it enough. Anyways, that got me going on like a funk boogie hunt. Next thing I know I'm watching this video of Wolf + Lamb on Beats In Space from earlier this year and someone in the video was talking about how this Franklin Thompson album Anniversary was his favorite album of the year so far. So that is how we got to this gem. Again, I can't thank the world enough for the existence of YouTube. If it wasn't for YouTube I wouldn't have this album in my life right now.



Those vocals, that guitar, that bass. This just isn't fair. I may be like four years late to the boogie party but I don't care. I'm hooked.

I read an interview with Dam-Funk talking about the reason people like boogie and funk is because people want to hear funky bass-line, synthesizers, and melodic chords, and he is god damn right. Both of these tracks have a repetitive state in them that force you to pay attention to what is going on but then it's too late. He's sucked you in and kinda of just want it to go on forever.



Also, as I said, I'm moonlighting over at Keep On Repeat and a little something for them as well. Come check out my review of the new Kuedo album Severant. Not to give anything away, but I kind of dug it.

King Midas Sound

On a scale of 1 to 10, how excited are you for the King Midas Sound remix album?

- I don't know who that is?

What?! What is wrong with you girl! This shit was the shit like two years ago. You know, bass thumping dub about god knows what. It sounded like someone had broken into a reggae studio, decided to play all the records in it slowed down by one-third, and turned the bass up to 11. It would have made Lee Perry blush.

Here watch this.



(Editor's Note: Yes, I'm well aware that it is just a picture of weed. But pink weed?! Who knew!)

Oh my god it is going to be awesome. I can't wait. Normally, when I hear someone is putting out a remix album of an album they had previously released I would never even think about picking it up. But, it is Hyperdub material and the people working on it are awesome. So, let us rejoice and wait in nervous anticipating like a group of school girls.

Also, got a new post up over at Keep On Repeat. Don't hate. Come over and join the fun.

Guess what one half of The Knife is up to these days

It's amazing what you can learn on the internet. Remember the electronic duo The Knife? Well, one half of that crazy duo, the male to be exact, tours Europe as a DJ under the name DJ Coolof. More intrestingly, he has a secret side project that he bills himself as Oni Ayhun. So, to recap, one half the secretive electronic duo The Knife is traveling around Europe secretly DJing and has another secret project that he is putting stuff out under the name Oni Ayhun. You have to wonder if this guys really wants anyone to hear the stuff he is putting out because he is making it really fucking hard to stay on top of this.



I believe Shangaan is some sort of South African electronic, dance, music craze. And, the song sort of sounds like it as well. All I can think about when I hear this song is those fucking horns everyone was blowing into during the World Cup games in South Africa. They created like this constant, low level, drone - as if the crowd was hoping that the power of their drone would somehow wake the dead or cause the earth to cave in on its self.

Instead, what we have here are some wild fucking horns over top of what, in all honestly, could be a beat production from a discarded Knife track. This one of the most interesting, wild, and fun tunes I have heard in a long time. I can see some people being turned off by it at first, but I really think there is something here. It's a grab back of electronic beats, of sorts. Off-setting, but if you give it enough time, you end up coming around to it. One of the premier songs released this year I think.

New Burial track - just in time for Halloween

First things first, come check out my inaugural effort over at Keep On Repeat. Chris, the founder of the site, was nice enough to invite me to come join the team so plan on a lot more signature half thought through thoughts on music. Possibly even some interviews, and/or some original mixes and podcasts. Its going to be a blast.



Ummm are we certain that Burial isn't some type of crazy scientist that spends 10 months a year secluded in a dark, dang lab somewhere trying to produce tracks to melt peoples' brains? No, we can't say that for certain.

This is going to sound lame, but I have been a huge Burial fan for years. Untrue is not only in my top ten albums of all time, but its mood, feel, and sound define a long period in my mid-twenties. His influence has been felt through multiple genres of music, and whether you like him or not he is a force to be reckoned with.

This post isn't going to be about how I wasn't all that into some of the things he has done since that album. I can't fault him, he needed to make some cash on his new-found fame, try some new stuff out. Can't hate on that. But this is the first track since Untrue came out that got that hair on the back of neck to stand up again. And I think it was probably somewhere around the 8:30 mark where it happened. It was that horribly distorted vocal sample that is less of a person and more like a ghost that did it. Don't get me wrong, the entire song is blindingly awesome, but it was hearing that strongly warped female(?) vocal that brought it all racing back. It was the vocal sample, the rain like feel, the dark mood, and the synths that sound like they could be cold winds. God. Damn. Is he good.

Please, please, please come out with a new album soon.

Oneohtrix Point Never and a rant on 1) music critics and 2) chill-wave

(Editors note: I fucking love Oneohtrix Point Never. Can't wait for the new album. Just, had to make sure that was clear.)



So, there was slight to-do over a record review today on the inter-webs. Or, at least, I made a to-do about it in my mind. The review was of Real Estate's new album Days and can be found, here, in the on-line publication Dusted Magazine. Another music critic, who will remain unnamed seemed to have taken offense to this portion of the review.

Days will be called chill, but in reality it is a powerful narcotic that is built to simultaneously desensitize emotion and incite nothing in its place. In many ways, it is the most dangerous kind of album that can exist at this time.

 In response the unnamed music critic sent just the bolded section of the review out in a tweet today and, in classic reviewer fashion, seemed to discount the comment because it was insufferable navel gazing. Is the above review the classic case of a music critic taking themselves and their work too seriously, yea probably. But, it wasn't like the critic who sent out the tweet isn't the exact same type of critic who loves navel gazing but only if it isn't about anything too serious, we would hate to ruin anyone's vibe about the new Real Estate album.



Its not that the unnamed tweeter had an issue with this guys review of the new Real Estate album. I don't give a shit about that. The problem is that in less than 140 characters unnamed music critic wanted to discredit the review because of once sentence that he either disagreed with or thought was too far reaching. If you think the guy is wrong then it is on room to prove to me why you think so, otherwise, Mr. Pot, please meet Mr. Kettle.



Last, the review is correct, all this chilled-out stuff needs to be taken with a grain of salt. At what point do we ask a fad to stop being a fad and start adding something of substance to the conversation. Bands like Real Estate and Washed Out aren't doing or saying anything wrong, but they aren't pushing anything forward it seems either. If you can honestly tell me that in five hears you are still going to want to be putting on those albums you something is wrong.

I Went To the Hospital

Holy shit fall is laying it on thick. Have you seen a tree recently? They all look like they are on fire. Seriously, on fire.



I want to be famous for falling love.

This seems like some appropriate Sunday, hangover listening. I don't think my brain could really handle anything more intense right now. This isn't about me though, this is about you.

Fall listening at its finest. Have you noticed how if you stare at a group of trees in the fall all the colors of leaves kind of look like the milky way? It's just a trail of reds, yellows, and oranges clustered around each other all looking like they could explode at any minute. They all just hang there in the trees, tenuously, waiting for either a strong breeze to take them to the ground or a light to cause them to catch on fire. That's what Cass McCombs is like - you don't realize he as is good as he is until about 15 mins later when you are walking around doing something else humming "I went to the hospital/They put me in a bed/And I always do/What my mother says". Yea, you just don't realize it until it's too late.

Desire is made to listen to at in the dark

It's my Birf-day.



Special Saturday post for all you'll - trying to make up for the posts we missed earlier this week.

Desire, I want to live in the world that Desire sounds like. It sounds super sexy and super awesome. I imagine it's a world where woman whisper their desires in sultry voices in the back of crowded clubs. Lots of neon, probably. I like to think I would have some sort of leather jacket and a motorcycle. Yes, I know this is lazy, but I think it might be the world from Bladerunner. I of course would be charged with hunting down robots disguised as humans.

Happy birfday to me.

The Rapture

Holy Crap! What a horribly busy week. I would like to thank my micro-economics professor for taking the stress level from 5 to 10. Couldn't have ask for more out of you



Slow. It. Down. Always a good idea if you are looking to maximize that groove. Damn.

I don't know if this is suppose to be some sort of religious thing, but according to some comments on the YouTube page it seems that some people don't like the new album for its religious references. I don't know what they are talking about. Either way though this track is totally bitching.

Cass McCombs - the best dressed man in show business?

Besides being a musical genius, Cass McCombs also has the satorial style of a man who knows what the fuck he is doing.

Really, just look at him in that photo. God damn, I want that shirt, I want that suit, I want that hair. The worst is that he looks like he isn't even trying. In fact, chances are pretty good that he may not be trying. He may in fact have slept in that suit last nigh, but it doesn't matter, that is how that suit is suppose to be warn - its suppose to be lived in. 

If you research Cass McCombs the reoccurring narrative is that he is a wreckloose, a vagabond, a man without a home. He songs sound like. His songs are are places to live to in with him. He sounds like a man who given this ultimatum before - meet me here at dawn and I'm leaving whether you show or not. 

"Meet Me Here at Dawn" is chalk full of little spaces and crevices to crawl into and feel the space around you and see what he is talking about. They are between the sloppy guitar playing,the beats between the snare drums and the pauses in his breath. You get inside of them and you try them on for size. They feel like flannel shirts on a brisk fall day. 

I want McCombs to tell me stories of adventure and loss, and I want to hear them around a campfire with a strong drink.

I'm going as this guy for Halloween

When ever we talk about music that is dark, forebording, or ominous, the review at some point always compares it to either Blade Runner or makes the analogy that it could be the music from a dystopian future. I know, because I do this all the time. This new Andy Stott album will inevitably be compared to the soundtrack of some future where the sun doesn't exist anymore and all or our brains have been replaced with computer chips. Yes, this is a dark album. For sure. But that does not mean it doesn't beat.

Honestly, you know what this reminds me of? Mid to late career Tom Waits sort of. Tom waits would take dark sounds made from unrecognizable instruments and place them in songs where they were surrounded with just as many other unrecognizable instruments to create song that was one part carnival and one part haunted house. Andy Stott's songs are not nearly as playful, but listening to a track like Bad Wires you can hear how this guy is on just a different wavelength than other electronic musicians. This is barley an electronic song. It is going to be classified as an electronic track, but I think that is sort of missing the point.

This machine kills Fascists

It's been a long day. This is going to be short. If you don't like it, then don't click on the link. But, if you think people should stop being exploited for the rich few, then maybe you should click on it.

Occupy Wall St.

My detailed calculations on how much codeine one should sip

There is a special place in hell for microeconomics, shitty written microeconomics textbooks, and microeconomics teachers that confuse entire classes. I'm just saying.

Just saying.

Some clown decided to take this song and do a chopped and screwed version, which is just absurd. Who would ever listen to this and think, "you know what, this track just is not slow enough. If only he had slowed it down by enough third. If only he had drank even more syrup, maybe then I would like it more." Whoever did that probably needs to stop drinking so much drank.




As you can see, the 'Big' in Big Moe was simply a declaratory fact. He, literally, was big. Besides the damage carrying all that weight around will do to your heart, being addicted to drank probably doesn't help a whole lot. But it will possibly make you an awesome rapper. It is a true cost/benefit analysis. You could not drink drank and be an average rapper or you could drink drank and have a bad ass hoe from the south side, just sitting on the bar, and stunning like a star. But then, you might get attacked and your heart may explode. If I knew what was happening in my econ class I might be able to graph this for you. Sadly, I don't, so my suggestion would be drink drank until you are sitting at the bar stunning like a star, at that point you probably don't need to drink anymore.

Mark McGuire is greater than Slash

Fall is here in full force, I finally get to walk down the street and buy a Yuengling tonight, and this Mark McGuire song is the shit.



God. Damn. Do I love Mark McGuire. He solo album from last year was amazing and some how this one is even better.

He is a man using his guitar to fight the forces of evil. A man with a single mindedness towards laying waste to all that stand in his way. He decided years ago to use his guitar shredding skills to shine the light of justice in the crevices of society where all things evil and unjust reside.

He woke up one day and said, "no longer will evil and tyranny spread its poison across this land. I will hunt each and everyone of them down and use my own hands to bring justice upon them. I will strike them down with my ax and dip my hands in their blood and spread it into the ground where darkness once was. Anywhere there is evil I will be in search of it to level justice upon it. Anywhere there is tyranny I will find it and destroy it. You will know me by the dead I leave in my wake."

He seems like a pretty intense dude if you ask me.

Clams Casino? Clams Casino! Clams. Casino.

No, this is technically not "new".

Yes, my love of all things Clams Casino has been disclosed previously.

No, I'm not going to stop posting Clams Casino tracks. It's my internet and I do what I want.

Seriously though, album of the year? I need a compelling reason to not make it that, and as of early October I don't have one.

It amazes me that these tracks were originally suppose to be used for rappers to rhyme over. No one looks at a Andy Warhol piece and says, "you know what this looks like a good place to start my painting, I'll just start painting on top of this." This isn't an attack on Lil' B for his version, I don't know who out there is going to jump on this track and make it better. Why take something that is already totally fucking awesome and muddy it up with something else. It only distracts the listener from what is already perfect. Great jazz musicians use to talk about how the absence of a note is just as important as the presence of a note - there is an instance where we have the perfect amount of notes, we really don't have to add anymore.

Rarely do producers beats do much for me. Of course you have the outliers, but rarely do I want to just listen to the producer's beats. Clearly, Clams Casino is different than most other producers out there right now and I would venture to say it is because of the space or atmosphere he creates with his songs. "I'm God" is a perfect example of a track that is this mixture of ethereal and airy-ness. When I use the term space I mean it in a literally way - you can feel and hear the spaces in the track. The little moments of silence and hiccups between beats and the vocal track break up the continuity of the the track and add another dimension of depth. The song reminds me a lot of the album cover. What seems to be a close up picture of black marble is really just a visual of the sounds on this album. The cracks in the marble reveal shades of white and gray while the disjointedness of the production breaks open previous ideas of beat making and creates whole new ways of looking at it.

Or I'm thinking about it way to hard and it is just a totally bitching album.