Recloose track & a walrus that is all dressed up

I look at this and can't decide whether I want to laugh or cringe.



House music from New Zealand via Detroit. I heard this on Beats In Space last week and it's stuck with me all week. It's no secret I'm kind of a sucker for a good vocal hook so I'm a fan of this one. Besides the obvious I like the super clean, precision to this track. I feel like it's made out of that brushed metal that is super slick and easy to slip on. Or slippery like a baby seal.  To be honest, they played a Carl Craig edit of this track on Beats In Space and that was also the shit.  Internet - Where the hell is that??!?!! I can find literally a million different videos of cats falling off of things but I can't find that one track? Jesus, what has this civilization come to.? Seriously.

I'm thinking about buying a fake German passport with a made-up name and date of birth on it. I'm going to start only talking in German and I'm going to go around to clubs and ask them in broken English if they will let me start playing there. And then I'll spend the summers in Tokyo and do the same thing there. I see no reason why this plan won't work.

To conclude, the first person who finds the Carl Craig edit of this track for me wins. They win something, I don't know what, maybe a kiss. A kiss from that guy in the picture. Get on it!

New Shlohmo track and directions on how to make pork cones

Putting animal heads on people in photos from the Edwardian age will never get old to me. Never.



A little chilled out glitchy tiddy for your Sunday. Are Sunday turning into a white person thing? Or do white people just do very specific things on Sundays that normally involve reading such things as the New York Times or Vanity Fair? For the record, I haven't read either of those fine rags yet today.

Things I've eaten in the last 24 hours:

1. A bagel with butter.
2. A Pork cone.

Yes, a pork cone. You want one? Here is you get your grubby little hands on your own pork cone. Step 1 - make a cone out of focaccia bread. Step 2 - acquire a massive quantity of pulled pork. Preferably from here. Step 3 - insert said pork into focaccia cone. Repeat until pork cone coma sets in.

Just, be careful. This isn't amateur hour people, we are talking about pork cones here. Tread lightly.

Masters At Work - The Nervous Track

When ever anyone tells me a track has some sort of Latin sound to it I have a knee jerk reaction to immediately hate it. I don't know what it is, I clearly need some sort of cultural training to beat this out of me but I can't help it. I also know I'm not the only one with this problem so before you judge just think about all the times you've been in a store and heard Carlos Santana and wanted to punch somebody.

I think I clearly have some world music issues I need to work out. It isn't just Latin music either. You know who is to blame for all this? Yanni. I lay this all at his feet. Growing up, no one my age liked Yanni. You would have been laughed out of Litchfield Middle School if you would of reveled that information. I don't hate the dude. I kind of liked him back then. Everything was Greenday and Nirvana and Pearl Jam. Three bands by the way that to this day I don't own a single album from now. I forced myself to conform and now what? I hate world music because I associate it with a dude blessed with wild flowing locks who happened to play his dreamy ambient music at the Acropolis and people ate it up with a spoon. It's probably not his fault but I'm going to blame him anyways.

Kai Alce - Dirty South Dirt (Anticipation Dub)

This one is over before it even starts. I'm getting way to use to tracks being 6+ mins in length so when I find a short track that I'm in love with I will listen to it a good four or five times in a row. Sometimes the shorter tracks are even more fun. The parts that you love hit quicker, it is a little bit more of an active listening experience, and you are force to suck the joy out of every little nuance more because it is all passing by so quickly.

Kai Alce is wayyyyyy into the beat on this one. Besides the weird, disjointed chords you get repeating through out most of the action is on the groove end. Some almost analog sounding hi-hats brought up to the front with this muffled snare riding right along next to it. Just the right size dollop of bass mixed in for shits and giggles - it's all so very groove based but not at the expense of having any soul.

Also, it came out on FXHE last year so this is just another reason to post something that has Omar's' finger print on it.

The Dead Rose Music Company - Come Closer

Sometimes you just gotta stop what you are doing, walk out of the room, and go have a beer. All that shit, all that work and stress, that stuff is not going anywhere. Most likely none of it is going to grow legs and walk away. Even if in some instances that would be the preferred, that isn't going to happen. It's all going to be there in the morning. Sadly, yes. In the meantime drink that beer. Listen to some music.

Here is some random deep house for said beer. The Dead Rose Music Company is a great name. I know nothing about these guys except that this has one of those laid back, summer time grooves that you could just get lost in. Before you know it you got your head bopping along to the beat and you are thinking about sun, patios, and sitting outside. It's a summer tease for your ears.

Pittsburgh Track Authority - Archipelago 6 (Dub Version)

Friiiiiiddaaayyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!! Whoooooo! F-you Monday through Thursday. You can just go suck it.

Seriously though, I've been bumping this Pittsburgh Transit Authority 12" all day. It single handedly got me through several hours of procrastinating at work today. And god bless them for that.

The whole 12" is amazing and this is the third and last cut from it which is the dub version of the first track. When this tune started playing it reminded me or something but I couldn't put my finger on it and then it hit me on the way home. It has this Kompakt, German, minimal flair at first that reminds me of soul crushing winters in central Ohio. When I hear these type of sounds it's like an old jacket that just goes right back on like I had never taken it off. It's got this minimal-ish kick to it but still has some balls on it which I like. (Balls are underrated in electronic music these days - gotta have some balls on track or else I'm probably not going to want to listen to it again. Some swagger, like you know what you're doing. As Jack Donaghy would say, "You're lion, you take what's yours.")

I was telling someone the other day that I want to find the people making electronic music underground in places you would never think it would exist. They make it not because they have some goal of making it big in a scene but because they just have to. I think I found my first candidate to back this year for this campaign.

Omar S and Kai Alce - Not Phazed

If you look closely you will notice that he has unopened boxes of Star Wars action figures on his wall.



Did you know that if you want to buy an album from Omar S's record label, FXHE, you have to email him personally and tell him what you want. Yea. On the website it tells you specifically to keep the message short and sweet too. Supposedly this is done to keep it underground.

This isn't technically new but it's brand new to me. I'm a pretty big fan boy of Omar S so I'm familiar with his story but I'm not so familiar with this Kai Alce character. The interwebs tell me he is a producer from Atlanta, which then helps explain the cover of this album.

What I love about Omar S is the effort of putting no effort into the releases. The art work and design are so haphazard that if feels like he took five minuets to put them together. Which is odd because the music is the total opposite. His songs are huge pieces that if you hung them up on the wall you would get a different story depending on where you were standing. I can listen to his tracks over and over again and hear something different every time. They are things to be lived in and moved around in. Listen to them with headphones on really loud, put them on the speakers really loud, or listen to them really low, it doesn't matter.

With that said, what makes "Not Phazed" such a standout track though is the more polished feel to it at points. The give and take between his quintessential 808 drum beats and analog synths which are woven between clear, shinny melodies that one doesn't normally associate with Omar S. It may be Kai Alce's doing or it may be due to another factor, but either way it is something great.

Also, I think I love the man because he reps Detroit hard and you gotta give him props for that.

Juicy Fruit - Mtume

Look at that mother fucker. If that isn't the best thing you have seen all day that means you probably haven't been sitting in libraries and classrooms all day.  Good for you. I want an extraordinary chickens calendar reallllllll bad.



YouTube tells me that Notorious BIG sampled this. Good for him, he has has a good ear. It makes sense really, this thing is ripe to be ripped off and sampled. Just find the break, speed it up and you got your self a damn fine track.

It's been a rough week music wise, I'm having a hard time finding anything to latch on to. I spent most of the day trying to avoid people so I listened to a bunch of metal really loud in the computer lab. That seemed to work on multiple levels - I got worked done and mostly no one really talked to me.

Ummm if you want to know anything about the internal validity of extraordinary chickens you should email me otherwise enjoy the tune.

Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice.

Lil' Wayne used it perfectly last year but in it's totality its still a pretty great song. Little island flair, a couple nice call and response vocal parts, and just a cool vibe. The last 30 second of the song is the best part though. Is there more Harry Belafonte out there that I have been sleeping on?

I was watching Beetlejuice a couple of nights ago. It was the first time I had seen it in at least 15 years and it is totally insane. I can't believe millions of parents took their kids to go see that movie. Enjoy the dinner scene from Beetlejuice, the game is about to start so I have to run.



Also, why were they stacking bananas in all through the night? What sort of job is that exactly?

UR - Transition

Before you hit play, fair warning, this is some dirty 90's Detroit techno. You've been warned.



If that motivational dude on TV had a banging techno track it would be this.

I probably do spend too much time thinking and not enough time doing. Man, it's even making me think about what I'm doing. Damn.

Was Detroit techno in the 1990's like the Black Sabbath of the its day? They both took existing elements of music and just sort of turned up the speed and volume. And why the fuck Detroit? I'm know I'm not the first person to ask this question but it would be interesting to know why Detroit was the hub for such an explosion of electronic music. I read an interview awhile back with a DJ from Detroit who said during the 70's and 80's the radio stations in Detroit starting mixing tracks in and out with each other and their pallet for what they would play on the air was far more experimental than what other cities had. There were DJ's who would play Motown, Disco, and Kraftwerk all in the same hour. That has to sort of fuck you up as a kid I imagine.

Also anyone who feels the need to sport a ski mask while DJing I totally support.

Sun Araw + The Congos - "Happy Song"

1 million blunts. Each.

Sun Araw, M. Geddes Gengras, & The Congos - Happy Song by RVNG Intl.

By my calculations that is roughly 8 million blunts total. That is the estimated number of blunts faced while putting this track together. This fact is 100 percent true by the way.

I was really into Sun Araw about a year ago when I was unemployed. I don't smoke weed but when I would listen to his albums I got it. Pschy/dub/drone, it has stoner music written all over it. Then someone had the brilliant thought of trying to see what The Congos have been up to and whether they would be interested it making an album with Sun Araw. Of course they would be and the world is a better place for it because of  it.

All kind of shit going on here. There is a GIANT bass sound going on here and it sounds like everything is built around that. If you turn your headphones up loud enough you can feel the bass reverberate in your brain. Putting the weed jokes aside, this is a really awesome and solid track. One of the best I've heard so far this year. This is just one track off of an whole album with Sun Araw and The Congos that will be dropping later this year. Can't. Wait.

1.Fernandito Villalona & 2. Floating Points

I Googled "Cuba Giant Chicken" and this is the photo that came up.



Three hours of sleep last night. Three hours. I think that explains how I spent most of the morning not being able to focus on anything at work and just listening to this tune. It's soulful man. I'm not immune to awesome world music. There I said it. Deal with it.

Seriously though, this track isn't all that far removed from some of the best disco/dance music tracks. The end goal is the same, they just take slightly different routs to get there. The basic elements are the same too - hooks, groove, kick ass vocals, etc..

What ever, it's sweet and I'm digging it.



Also, this one was a sweet surprise. First of all, you all need to start listening to the the Little White Earbuds podcasts, they are totally fantastic and the latest one was pretty outstanding. It started off with this tune and at first I wasn't too into it but it just kept growing and morphing into all of these different shapes and was just going all over the place. It was one of the more interesting tracks I've heard in awhile and it really just grabs your attention from the start. I honestly thought it was three different tracks mixed together. It's a super cool, jazz-ish way to start off a set and I think it works great.

Monday jamz

"Our love is strong."

 Jazzanova - Let me Show Ya (Henrik Schwarz Remix) by future classic 

This is the second remixed Jazzanova track I have posted. This one's got a little bit more of a dark streak running through it. Some weird synth arpeggio chords bouncing back and forth, layered with some ominous strings - it's dark but also reminds me of an R&B tune from the 1960s. I don't know why that is though. What really makes it interesting are the live drum parts layered throughout the mix with the "Ohhhhssss". Seeing how much electronic music I listen to every once and awhile I'll hear live drums on a track and realize I had forgotten how awesome they can sound. Granted, this track is a little bit more jazz based but the other day at the gym they were playing The Who and I just stood there in the locker room listen to the drums for a couple of mins. That's probably a little weird.

Also, good job on building the tension in this one. Really, you guys turned it up to ten in this. Something about the strings, and the bass, the live drums, and the vocals that just push this one forward as if we all got somewhere to be and we're 15 minuets late. A little unsettling but it keeps me interested and keeps me hitting play.

Also, fuck Tim Tebow.

What? I just said what you had been thinking. 

William Basinski - Disintegration Loops #6

It's a slow day around these parts. Just came up for air from my deep dive into all things fracking. Here's the scoop - keep an eye out for the report on fracking done by me. I know you are all dying to read it.

This is what I listen to when I'm doing the nerd work. They'll be more music in the coming days. I promise. Enjoy all 45 mins of this for now.

Virgo Four - It's a Crime (Caribou Remix)

"I'll Show You A God Damn Angry Bird"

It's cold, it's windy, wet shit is falling from the sky and it is early January in central Ohio. I can't think of a worse time of the year. 

This is a song about the 99%. 

I actually don't think that is true. I just made that up.

I don't know what to write. Ummmm I watched a video today of this dude mixing tea in a market in China and he was pretty wild. He was spinning around and shit and mixing the tea. It was rad. Then I went to class and learned about project evaluation and public organization management and decided that western civilization is totally F'd. But we don't know it because it has been hidden behind layers and layers of red tape. The end won't be a swift fucking kick to the balls. No. It's going to be a long torturous process that will involve lots of paper work, an appeals process, and some goal evaluating that will be topped off with a 15 question survey that asks you to rate your experience.

It's going to be bloodless but it's going to be the worst thing you can think of.

In other news, tomorrow is Friday. 

Swag Chicken.

"Swag"

 Rad Reef Presents-Clams Casino Live at SOM by RadReef 

It's been a minute since we posted some Clams Casino. Technically this isn't anything brand new from Clams but this is a live 35 minute set from the man with some nice live edits made throughout. I'm glad to see him paying homage to the motto around these parts - "Nothing But The Hits". Which according to Google Translate is "Aliquam nisi" in Latin. We may live in the most advanced civilization known to man, but it would mean nothing if I couldn't translate stupid phases from English into Latin without having to get off my ass and open a book.

What I really like about this mix is that it is heavy on the rap versions of his tracks. So you get the whole experience of having to listen to Lil' B and listening to some dark and brooding beats at the same time. It's a shame really, it would be like if the original version of "Thriller" had a soloing Kenny G throughout. Everyone would understand the awesomness that is the "Thriller" part and at the same time wondering why they had to put Kenny G over top of everything.

I'm not hating, but seriously, at least 50 percent of Tumblr is eaten up by black and white photos of girls lounging around half naked and the other 50 percent is nothing but photos of weird Lil' B tattoos. For those people, I'm happy we invented the internet so we can supply them with an outlet for this stuff. 

Johnny Jewel - SYMMETRY / THEMES FOR AN IMAGINARY FILM

 SYMMETRY / THEMES FOR AN IMAGINARY FILM by JOHNNY JEWEL

1) And we are back....Everyone needs a holiday break right? That's what we were doing. Drinking Natty Lights in a cabin in the back hills of Ohio. Recharging our batteries as the kids like to say. Or killing brain cells as the more honest ones will admit to.

2) Today's track is almost 2 hours worth of new Italians Do It Better material. Johnny Jewel, the brains behind all things cool, released this right around Christmas and it's been sitting in my inbox for a couple of days now. I don't see any reason why someone who likes Chromatics, Desire, Glass Candy, etc. isn't going to flip their shit over this one. It is a soundtrack to an invisible movie (the webpage says it is for a movie that doesn't exist, but what is the difference). Dark, sexy, wearing a denim jacket and smoking type of cool. I like to put it on while I drive between work and school pretending I'm the richest dude in town and I got a porpoise that I feed whole fish to in my backyard. F-you money cool.

3) Rick Santorum is going to win the Iowa Caucuses. I don't know what other sign we need that the end is only days away. My idea of karma - where ever Rick Santorum ends up when he dies is the gayest place in the afterlife. I think it is only fair.