Sunday 27 September 2009

Sunday Selection


Hey everyone, hope all is well. There's been some good stuff lately but I feel I've had to filter through it as not all of it's postworthy. Maybe it'll grow on me. There's new material from Chromeo and Midnight Juggernauts which will always be worth checking out, 'sides I'm sure it'll hit the airwaves and tv screens soon enough and I have other things to show you.

In the summer, I did an internship at a music publishing company in London. I heard there was this guy, Pete, who was a DJ and had 'the best music taste in the building' - naturally I was curious to meet this person. There was also this guy I saw walking around the offices all the time handing things out to people so I thought he was totally average. Turns out this was Pete, who also produces innovative, atmospheric dubstep (if you have to label it). So, I'm in the record store on Friday afternoon I get given the latest releases, amongst them 'Joy Orbison - Hyph Mngo/Wet Look' and I'm told it's one of the best tunes around now. I'm gutted as I worked with him for a month and didn't meet him, but I'm pretty excited about his stuff. Here's the AA side, and I'm finding it hard to describe other than.. avant-garde.

Joy Orbison - Wet Look

So, elsewhere we have:

Fanfarlo - Luna
Not the newest of new tracks, but I like it anyway. Anyone remember Clap Your Hands, Say Yeah? Sounds a little like them mixed with The Magic Numbers. Good fun; I wasn't hot on this song at first but heard it on the Nike Store website the other day and was all like 'ooh, this is pretty cool'.

Bombay Bicycle Club - Magnet
The latest track from BBC's debut 'I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose'. As you would imagine, it's got a very catchy riff and those trademark wavering vocals from the lead singer, Jack. Funnily enough, Jack is also a DJ (and quite a good one, too) and the last minute and a half of this track transforms from teen indie rock to super-chilled-ambient-jam. I'm loving it.

Miike Snow - Black & Blue
Yes! More Miike Snow! This time, the latest single, which has already received the remix treatment from some big names, including Tiga and Caspa, but I'll let you guys find those for yourself. The track's got a cool, effortless energy about it that'll get you nodding your head sooner or later. Glitchy electronic beats mixed with some piano keys and an infectious chorus clearly makes for a damn good song. Good Job Miike Snow.

And we're done for the time being - enjoy the music.

Monday 21 September 2009

Sunday 20 September 2009

Fresh!


I suppose I didn't really need to specifically title this post 'Fresh!', as (I like to think) most of the stuff I post is pretty fresh; it's like an unwritten law of writing a music blog. Let's get to the exciting bits:

Okay, most notably, in the slow and steady stream of new music releases, Julian Casablancas solo effort has popped up out of nowhere. After 2006's 'First Impressions Of Earth', The Strokes have taken a break until recently, where they've been said to be writing new material. Still, in these past few years there've been solo efforts from the band, including Nickel Eye, Albert Hammond Jr. and Little Joy. Most recently though, frontman Casablancas has stated plans to release his solo album, 'Phrazes For The Young' in the UK on October 19th. They've been keeping the whole thing on the down low but the first single's out and it's sounding very tasty. So, I imagine you've got an image of a classic Strokes riff with maybe a few quirks here and there as a result of Casablancas fine tuning. You're half right. There's the best parts of The Strokes layered with '80s, bold Mr. Hudson style synths. Sounds like REAL pop music to me. Have a listen:

Julian Casablancas - 11th Dimension

Get ready for a tour people. Casablancas tells us he wants a 'series of over-the-top Disney style shows'.

In other news, Miike Snow are getting bigger and bigger, mixing, remixing and producing all over the shop. Here's the dark, buzzing, electro pop stomper (that's not a paradox, you'll see) off their forthcoming album 'Black & Blue':

And another band who I've found out about lately; The Clientele. These psychedelic, dream-popping brits have released many albums before (five, in fact), and their latest one, 'Bonfires on the Heath', promises to be 'denser' than the earlier work. This depth is more than apparent on their swirling, summer kickback of a new track, Harvest Time. 'Bonfires on the Heath' will be released on October 6th.

And there's your basic round-up of things I've been listening to/things that will be out soon. Enjoy!

Thursday 17 September 2009

Thursday Selection


Pretty much the same dealio as Sunday - there's nothing of particular interest that I wish to share to you. Kanye West makes a fool of himself.. Obama calls Kanye a jackass.. all in a week's work I suppose. Speaking of 'Ye, his new album will be called 'Good Ass Job', and I think he's dropped the autotune! Yay!

So, as I say, not much music news that I'm interested in. Here's some stuff I've been listening to as of late:

Jamie T - Chaka Demus (Toddla T Remix)
Not so much a remix as an edit. Nevertheless, Toddla T (that name is really cringy) delivers a pretty cool edit - keeps that jokey tone captured by the vocals whilst giving it some depth by messing around with the instrumental area.

Sleeping States - Gardens Of The South
So, I don't know much about Sleeping States other than they come from Bristol, and their new album, In The Gardens Of The North (thats right North), has received some critical acclaim worth checking them out over. This is slow, rolling indie folk with vocals smoother than butter.

Modest Mouse - Guilty Cocker Spaniel
Last but not least, I've got a track from Modest Mouse's latest EP: No One's First And Your Next. It's worth a listen, trust me :) This track's got an upbeat, zesty vibe until it progresses into some noisy cacophony near the end, whilst we've got some catchy riffwork the whole way through. A return to form, one might say.

Oh, and there's a song named King Rat that's been around for a while but Modest Mouse have put it on the EP. This video was directed by the late, great Heath Ledger and it's got a clever little message behind it. Check it out below:



That's all for today; hope you have lovely weekends.

Sunday 13 September 2009

Sunday Selection


So, I was thinking nothing too heavy on the ears today. Today is the day of rest. There's no real theme to this one, just a selection of tunes I'm playing more than the others for whatever reason - I'm sure you'll like them too:

Miike Snow - Animal (Mark Ronson Remix)
I've heard swedish indie-pop guys Miike Snow are going to hit it big sooner or later. They've got a pretty good sound going on and Mark Ronson delivers us a reggae version of one of their newer tracks; quite a nostalgic track.

jj - Ecstacy
Now I don't know much about jj, but I think it's supposed to be more about the music than the image. Ecstacy is an amusing little jam with a spaced-out version of the beat from Lil' Wayne's 'lollipop'. Good fun to listen to, and really quite catchy.

The Do - Stay (Just A Little Bit More)
The Do actually have a little slash in the 'o' but that causes so much havoc and I can't really be bothered. This song falls in a category of 'cute' songs with a million others thanks to a girl singing about guys in a quirky fashion over an innocent serving of ukulele with a bit of whistling thrown in for good measure. I find you can never have too many of these.

Thursday 3 September 2009

Man on the Moon: The End of Day


Soooooo.. Kid Cudi's latest album hits the shelves on September 15th and you should all be pretty excited because it's gonna be massive. The latest single's gonna be called 'Pursuit Of Happiness' featuring MGMT & Ratatat - you know it's gonna be good already. Cudi tells it's going to resemble movie scenes and here I give you the scene listing below:

ACT 1 - THE END OF DAY
1. In My Dreams (Cudder Anthem)
2. Soundtrack 2 My Life
3. Simple As…

ACT 2 - RISE OF THE NIGHT TERRORS
4. Solo Dolo (nightmare)
5. Heart of A Lion (KiD CuDi Theme Music)
6. My World Feat. Billy Cravens

ACT 3 - TAKING A TRIP
7. Day N Nite (nightmare)
8. Sky Might Fall
9. Enter Galactic (Love Connection Part 1)

ACT 4 - STUCK
10. Alive (nightmare) Feat. RATATAT
11. CuDi Zone
12. Make Her Say Feat. Kanye West & Common
13. Pursuit of Happiness (nightmare) Feat. MGMT & RATATAT

ACT 5 - A NEW BEGINNING
14. Hyyerr Feat. Chip Tha Rapper
15. Up Up & Away (The Wake & Bake Song)

Anyway I know you guys are all like hungry hungry hippos for the music as well as the news so here is some older material to keep you going for the next two weeks or so:

Cool? Get to know Cleveland's best a little better. See you soon.

Tuesday 1 September 2009

A Selection Of Electronically Crafted Tunes


So, for the past few days I've been away at Reading Festival. It's made me realise that, although I loved many of the bands there, my musical taste is slowly shifting away from your typical Reading/Leeds Festival bands. I was planning on doing a post on the highlights of the festival, but I'm sure you would have heard half the content or even been there to see it yourself. In light of that, here's a few Not-So-Reading-Festival tracks that I've been all over lately:

Boys Noize - Ja!
A fairly new track from the Berlin-based techno pioneers. It's a lot smoother round the edges compared to their older material and you'll get more of an emotive feel than their previous electro distortion.

Joakim - Spiders
Joakim now performs as 'Joakim & The Disco' as his live band. Spiders is a mix of effortless synth work with some chanting vocals. I found it to be a bit of a grower - just wait for that guitar riff to come in; you'll appreciate more every time.

Instra:mental - Watching You
Watching You is Instra:mental's own IDM/Glitch flavour of Drum and Bass with those unique vocals, courtesy of d-Bridge. A particularly original track; so much so that I'm finding it hard to describe the feel even as I'm listening to it now - I guess you'll just have to listen to it yourself.

Flying Lotus - Tea Leaf Dancers
There's a load of critical acclaim surrounding Flying Lotus, but not the kind that sends musicians so commercial that they can't top the hype. Perhaps it's because he's crafted quite a niche brand of fuzzed out, wonky, hip-hop influenced electronic which I'm in love with right now. Tea Leaf Dancers mixes a slow, sleepy drum beat with ghostly, ebbing vocals and synths - beautiful and very, very cool.

This track also comes with a great video, which is what I think first caused me to check FlyLo out. Apologies for the quality, it was the only real video on YouTube:


Maybe some of the chaps above will play at Reading Festival in the future, but I think I'll check out Creamfields or Bestival next year.