Friday, July 06, 2007:
Receiving a transmission, captain.
--Onscreen.
[Onscreen: a trio of Japanese travelers in a steampunk spaceship, stars and planets floating distant in the viewport behind them, contextless and serene. They begin to speak. Their words, constellations of sounds, also float: unmoored, drifting, supremely calming. They are not cosmonauts but monogatarinauts.]
--Ensign, decode.
The computer can not understand it fully, captain. ... CRM 114 ... C57D ... 1701 ... Baratu.
[The transmission ends. Captain raises his eyebrows.]
I will attempt to reestablish contact.... No response, sir. Records indicate the transmission arrived from Audiogalaxy.
--I wish to know more, ensign.
I'm sorry, Captain, there is no further information.
--Then let us hear it again.
[Anyone know anything about this band? Please post it in the comments.]
9Seven for IV 121 -- Before Finish
9Seven for IV 121 -- Before FinishReceiving a transmission, captain.
--Onscreen.
[Onscreen: a trio of Japanese travelers in a steampunk spaceship, stars and planets floating distant in the viewport behind them, contextless and serene. They begin to speak. Their words, constellations of sounds, also float: unmoored, drifting, supremely calming. They are not cosmonauts but monogatarinauts.]
--Ensign, decode.
The computer can not understand it fully, captain. ... CRM 114 ... C57D ... 1701 ... Baratu.
[The transmission ends. Captain raises his eyebrows.]
I will attempt to reestablish contact.... No response, sir. Records indicate the transmission arrived from Audiogalaxy.
--I wish to know more, ensign.
I'm sorry, Captain, there is no further information.
--Then let us hear it again.
[Anyone know anything about this band? Please post it in the comments.]
Labels: electronica, indie, is fiction
posted by Tuwa @
00:18 | permalink |
4 comments
|
Friday, June 01, 2007:
Le Tigre -- After Dark
Is it a hyperacute critical sense or a complete lack of critical sense that leads to judging everything harshly, to watching a brilliant film or listening to a complex and demanding album and thinking it mildly interesting? What changes to cause a reassessment, to allow a three-year-old album or an eight-year-old album to register as what it is rather than what it was seen as needing to be? And why is that, in all the characteristics a work of art can be judged by, fun is typically considered the least pressing or, by some dour critics, even something to be merely tolerated? Why honor this Puritanical streak insinuating that only the unpleasant has merit, that life is duty and nothing more? Wouldn't (couldn't) humanism serve as a useful antidote?
A constellation of questions, all ones I don't know the answer to and put to myself more than to anyone else.
Which is by way of saying I've only just discovered I very much like these two bands, and I'm sad that Le Tigre is on hiatus but I'm happy they've left behing some discs worth listening to. And there are more from Komeda to search out.
[What Makes it Go?]
[This Island]
I don't know if anyone is still reading this site, especially given the sporadic nature of posts lately. I'd like to blame it on a new job and moving, but the truth is that I've become unsure of what I'm doing with the space or why. I remember having a clear purpose when I started (way back in the 13th century internet days of 2004)--to put together the kind of playlist I'd like to hear on the radio--and that still holds, but more and more I find I don't know how to write about the music I like the most. And so I find myself gravitating towards approaches which might not make any sense to anyone else, which leads back to fundamental questions about art and communication. I'm not ready to pretend solipsism.
Readers, what do you want from this site? Why do you read it? Which posts did you like and which did you dislike?
Swedish pop and riot grrrls: in celebration of fun
Komeda -- BinarioLe Tigre -- After Dark
Is it a hyperacute critical sense or a complete lack of critical sense that leads to judging everything harshly, to watching a brilliant film or listening to a complex and demanding album and thinking it mildly interesting? What changes to cause a reassessment, to allow a three-year-old album or an eight-year-old album to register as what it is rather than what it was seen as needing to be? And why is that, in all the characteristics a work of art can be judged by, fun is typically considered the least pressing or, by some dour critics, even something to be merely tolerated? Why honor this Puritanical streak insinuating that only the unpleasant has merit, that life is duty and nothing more? Wouldn't (couldn't) humanism serve as a useful antidote?
A constellation of questions, all ones I don't know the answer to and put to myself more than to anyone else.
Which is by way of saying I've only just discovered I very much like these two bands, and I'm sad that Le Tigre is on hiatus but I'm happy they've left behing some discs worth listening to. And there are more from Komeda to search out.
[What Makes it Go?]
[This Island]
I don't know if anyone is still reading this site, especially given the sporadic nature of posts lately. I'd like to blame it on a new job and moving, but the truth is that I've become unsure of what I'm doing with the space or why. I remember having a clear purpose when I started (way back in the 13th century internet days of 2004)--to put together the kind of playlist I'd like to hear on the radio--and that still holds, but more and more I find I don't know how to write about the music I like the most. And so I find myself gravitating towards approaches which might not make any sense to anyone else, which leads back to fundamental questions about art and communication. I'm not ready to pretend solipsism.
Readers, what do you want from this site? Why do you read it? Which posts did you like and which did you dislike?
Labels: electronica, indie, swedish pop
posted by Tuwa @
12:16 | permalink |
12 comments
|
Tuesday, October 31, 2006:
The Orb -- Ghostdancing
Neko Case -- Ghost Wiring
Kwaidan is a quartet of ghost stories directed by Masaki Kobayashi based on Lafcadio Hearn's adaptations of Japanese legends. Often classed a horror film, it's not especially horrifying: the stories are simple, the pacing deliberate, and for a gaijin audience the resolutions are predictable (whereas for a Japanese audience, there's less need for prediction: people in the audience unfamiliar with the legends would still know that the film's title means "ghost story").
In the first segment, "The Black Hair," a samurai leaves his devoted wife to marry a woman from a prestigious family, then realises both her selfishness and his own and returns to his first wife. In the second, "The Woman of the Snow," a woodcutter sees his companion killed by Yuki-onna, the spirit of winter; she spares him on the condition that he never tell anyone what he's seen. In the third, "Hoichi the Earless," a blind biwa player is approached by samurai ghosts and ordered to play for a long-dead audience. In the fourth and final segment, "In a Cup of Tea," a samurai finds that whenever he pours himself a bowl of water, it always reflects a man who isn't there.
Though the film fails to terrify, its pleasures lie elsewhere: Kobayashi gifts the stories with a painstaking visual sense, favoring bold composition:
He films in the studio and uses blatant backdrops in outdoor scenes:
He makes use of theatrical lighting:
Colors are carefully controlled, often dominated by neutrals, and with only a few accents outside the dominant color scheme:
The Criterion Collection's essay on Kwaidan
[The Orb -- Cydonia]
[Neko Case -- Blacklisted]
The Orb, Neko again, Kwaidan
The Orb -- Ghostdancing
Neko Case -- Ghost Wiring
Kwaidan is a quartet of ghost stories directed by Masaki Kobayashi based on Lafcadio Hearn's adaptations of Japanese legends. Often classed a horror film, it's not especially horrifying: the stories are simple, the pacing deliberate, and for a gaijin audience the resolutions are predictable (whereas for a Japanese audience, there's less need for prediction: people in the audience unfamiliar with the legends would still know that the film's title means "ghost story").
In the first segment, "The Black Hair," a samurai leaves his devoted wife to marry a woman from a prestigious family, then realises both her selfishness and his own and returns to his first wife. In the second, "The Woman of the Snow," a woodcutter sees his companion killed by Yuki-onna, the spirit of winter; she spares him on the condition that he never tell anyone what he's seen. In the third, "Hoichi the Earless," a blind biwa player is approached by samurai ghosts and ordered to play for a long-dead audience. In the fourth and final segment, "In a Cup of Tea," a samurai finds that whenever he pours himself a bowl of water, it always reflects a man who isn't there.
Though the film fails to terrify, its pleasures lie elsewhere: Kobayashi gifts the stories with a painstaking visual sense, favoring bold composition:
He films in the studio and uses blatant backdrops in outdoor scenes:
He makes use of theatrical lighting:
Colors are carefully controlled, often dominated by neutrals, and with only a few accents outside the dominant color scheme:
The Criterion Collection's essay on Kwaidan
[The Orb -- Cydonia]
[Neko Case -- Blacklisted]
Labels: alt country, electronica, horror, movies
posted by Tuwa @
15:50 | permalink |
5 comments
|
Monday, October 23, 2006:
Allmusic.com tells me that Roscoe Shelton was in the Fairfield Four before joining the spinoff The Skylarks. I'd never heard of The Skylarks, though I'd heard of the Fairfield Four--I saw three of them in O Brother, Where Art Thou? (a Coen brothers joke, since there are five members in the group. Speaking of, the Radio Four also have five members. Is that some peculiar counting system specific to gospel groups?)
I can't help thinking The Skylarks were probably misnamed; Roscoe Shelton's voice, at least, is a trained falcon, snatching notes from the underbrush and soaring away until it's a speck in the sky.
Bloody writhing metaphors aside, this is a very nice soul track that I'm glad to be introduced to.
[Remember Me Baby @ iTunes]
[Remember Me Baby @ eMusic]
The African Brothers -- Practice what you preach (MP3, 192kbps. Left-cllick download.)
Righteous political reggae taking some preachers to task for being hypocrites and leading children astray. Can I hear "amen."
[Want Some Freedom @ iTunes]
[Want Some Freedom @ eMusic]
Embee -- Send Someone Away (feat. José Gonzáles) (MP3, 192kbps. Left-cllick download.)
Embee is the Tin Man and José González is the heart. The producer is the Wizard, one of the few who can magic warmth into electronica.
[EP @ iTunes]
Pierre Ardene -- Cristalina (MP3, 192kbps. Left-cllick download.)
This track has such a warm and effortlessly welcoming feel to it that it puts me in mind of an infinitely generous host with a cozy house, the kind of place that in your weaker moments you might wish you lived. But you know it's absurd; you can't overstay your welcome, so you just thank the host, and mean it, and go on your way.
[Casa de Praia @ iTunes]
[Casa de Praia @ eMusic]
These four are all from IODA/Promonet, the site I mentioned a couple of months ago that lets mp3bloggers poke through their catalogue for tracks to post.
I'm not getting kickbacks (or getting paid for anything I'm doing here); I just like the service more than most of the PR firms that send me tracks. For starters, I get to pick the tracks, rather than having them foisted upon me (most of the ones I get sent are ones I'd never have any interest in posting), and the site's interface is good: the embedded Flash players give a brief sample so you don't have to download an entire track just to find out if you like it.
Speaking of usability, I reworked this site's HTML and CSS recently so that the main column appears before the sidebar in the source but the visual layout is the same. The result should be that the posts appear before the sidebar on PDAs and cellphones, as well as in Lynx and text-to-speech browsers. I've also tried to simplify the site's CSS for handhelds but I notice that Google's and MSN's mobile proxy both serve up the images that the stylesheet instructs it to strip. I'm still trying to figure out why it's done that; I think I have an idea but don't know how to get around it.
I'm still debating whether to strip the sidebar altogether from the information sent to handhelds; if you have one and use it to access the site, I'd love your feedback on it. I probably wouldn't use all my fingers counting the number of times I've used a cell phone, but I'm interested in making the content as accessible as possible.
Even if you don't use a PDA or cellphone to access the site, if you've noticed any bugs in the layout or behavior, or if you have any other suggestions, please send them along.
And now for some politics. Keith Olberman on The Military Commissions Act and the death of habeas corpus. And again. The reaction to this law among the general population seems to have been a protracted yawn, and I can't imagine why. The points in brief: Congress has decided, and Bush has agreed, that people can be thrown into jail, without ever facing charges, and with no legal right to challenge their jailing. Since this new law states that people in jail under the law have no right to challenge their jailing in court, there is also arguably no standing to challenge the law's Constitutionality. Yet the new law goes against our entire history of legal precedent and also is blatantly un-Constitutional since it destroys the balance of power set forth in the Constitution, exceeding the legislative authority and the Presidential authority both also set forth in the Contstitution. It's a stupid, dangerous, reprehensible law, the kind of thing that absolutely must go before the Supreme Court anyway and be defeated.
End rant, climbing off the soapbox.
IODA , usability, habeas corpus
Roscoe Shelton -- Worry (1962) (MP3, 192kbps. Left-cllick download.)Allmusic.com tells me that Roscoe Shelton was in the Fairfield Four before joining the spinoff The Skylarks. I'd never heard of The Skylarks, though I'd heard of the Fairfield Four--I saw three of them in O Brother, Where Art Thou? (a Coen brothers joke, since there are five members in the group. Speaking of, the Radio Four also have five members. Is that some peculiar counting system specific to gospel groups?)
I can't help thinking The Skylarks were probably misnamed; Roscoe Shelton's voice, at least, is a trained falcon, snatching notes from the underbrush and soaring away until it's a speck in the sky.
Bloody writhing metaphors aside, this is a very nice soul track that I'm glad to be introduced to.
[Remember Me Baby @ iTunes]
[Remember Me Baby @ eMusic]
The African Brothers -- Practice what you preach (MP3, 192kbps. Left-cllick download.)
Righteous political reggae taking some preachers to task for being hypocrites and leading children astray. Can I hear "amen."
[Want Some Freedom @ iTunes]
[Want Some Freedom @ eMusic]
Embee -- Send Someone Away (feat. José Gonzáles) (MP3, 192kbps. Left-cllick download.)
Embee is the Tin Man and José González is the heart. The producer is the Wizard, one of the few who can magic warmth into electronica.
[EP @ iTunes]
Pierre Ardene -- Cristalina (MP3, 192kbps. Left-cllick download.)
This track has such a warm and effortlessly welcoming feel to it that it puts me in mind of an infinitely generous host with a cozy house, the kind of place that in your weaker moments you might wish you lived. But you know it's absurd; you can't overstay your welcome, so you just thank the host, and mean it, and go on your way.
[Casa de Praia @ iTunes]
[Casa de Praia @ eMusic]
These four are all from IODA/Promonet, the site I mentioned a couple of months ago that lets mp3bloggers poke through their catalogue for tracks to post.
I'm not getting kickbacks (or getting paid for anything I'm doing here); I just like the service more than most of the PR firms that send me tracks. For starters, I get to pick the tracks, rather than having them foisted upon me (most of the ones I get sent are ones I'd never have any interest in posting), and the site's interface is good: the embedded Flash players give a brief sample so you don't have to download an entire track just to find out if you like it.
Speaking of usability, I reworked this site's HTML and CSS recently so that the main column appears before the sidebar in the source but the visual layout is the same. The result should be that the posts appear before the sidebar on PDAs and cellphones, as well as in Lynx and text-to-speech browsers. I've also tried to simplify the site's CSS for handhelds but I notice that Google's and MSN's mobile proxy both serve up the images that the stylesheet instructs it to strip. I'm still trying to figure out why it's done that; I think I have an idea but don't know how to get around it.
I'm still debating whether to strip the sidebar altogether from the information sent to handhelds; if you have one and use it to access the site, I'd love your feedback on it. I probably wouldn't use all my fingers counting the number of times I've used a cell phone, but I'm interested in making the content as accessible as possible.
Even if you don't use a PDA or cellphone to access the site, if you've noticed any bugs in the layout or behavior, or if you have any other suggestions, please send them along.
And now for some politics. Keith Olberman on The Military Commissions Act and the death of habeas corpus. And again. The reaction to this law among the general population seems to have been a protracted yawn, and I can't imagine why. The points in brief: Congress has decided, and Bush has agreed, that people can be thrown into jail, without ever facing charges, and with no legal right to challenge their jailing. Since this new law states that people in jail under the law have no right to challenge their jailing in court, there is also arguably no standing to challenge the law's Constitutionality. Yet the new law goes against our entire history of legal precedent and also is blatantly un-Constitutional since it destroys the balance of power set forth in the Constitution, exceeding the legislative authority and the Presidential authority both also set forth in the Contstitution. It's a stupid, dangerous, reprehensible law, the kind of thing that absolutely must go before the Supreme Court anyway and be defeated.
End rant, climbing off the soapbox.
Labels: electronica, politics, PR, reggae, RnB, world pop
posted by Tuwa @
01:36 | permalink |
0 comments
|
Friday, October 13, 2006:
[camarades et amitié]
Matthieu Chedid -- Belleville Rendez-Vous (French Version)
Kraftwerk -- Tour de France (French Version)
A young boy grows up to become a cyclist whom the French mafia want to kidnap to use as a power source. Yes. This is a common problem.
A few points about the French mafia:
1. They are better-dressed than the American mafia.
2. They are less interested in practicality than in the je ne sais quoi of an idea.
3. They tend to be broad and squarish and so thin they nearly disappear when they turn to the side. For this reason, they could be lurking anywhere.
Childhood events exercise a curious power over the mind (whether human or canine). Yes. They are called "formative years" for a reason.
A few points about The Triplets of Belleville:
1. It's quirky (you guessed that).
2. It's visually innovative.
3. It has sparse dialogue.
Benoit Charest writes, and Matthieu Chedid sings,* warm organic music with real instruments. Kraftwerk makes cold computerized music with circuits and knobs and switches.
A few points about Belleville Rendez-Vous (French Version):
1. acoustic guitar, muted strums.
2. classical guitar with the fingers breakdancing down the frets.
3. the voice. the voices. the harmony.
A few points about Tour de France (French Version):
1. drum machines, bike chain, grunts of a cyclist up a long hill.
2. the guitar, sounding like steel drums, with an unlikely melody.
3. the harp suggesting that might be the warmest Kraftwerk get.
[Triplets of Belleville]
[I think the French version is the same as the Francois K. remix on this disc but I'm not sure, as I only have the LP EP.]
...
If you don't read Girish's site you probably missed the notice, and even if you do read it, you might have forgotten about it, but I'm calling for a horror film blogathon on October 31st. (And today is a bit late to make the announcement, yes; suffice it to say that organizing movements is not one of my strong points.)
The blogathon is an idea Girish cooked up: bloggers write about one topic and all post on the same day; all you have to do to be a part of it is to post on the topic and say you're a part of it. In the past people have written on Showgirls, avant-garde film, Abel Ferrara's films, Hayao Miyazaki's films, Michelle Pfeiffer's films, and Code Unknown. If you decide to take part, please send me the URL once you've posted so I can link to it.
Elsewhere:
Soulheads, don't miss Darcy's post on The Ohio Players, Dan Phillips' post on Bobby Rush, and Soul Sides' post on Johnny Otis.
...
The House Next Door with a Jonathan Rosenbaum interview.
...
Fast Film, an animated movie mashup short. I've seen this before, though I can't remember where.
...
For the sidefills, can we have two great big enormous things please, of a type that might be venerated as gods by the inhabitants of Easter Island, capable of reaching volumes that would make Beelzebub soil his underpants, and driven by amplifiers that could provide the power for a Monster Truck Rally.
Iggy Pop's concert rider
...
Free Hugs: much better with the sound off. I like it with Ernie K-Doe's "Te Ta Te Ta Ta."
...
one-dimensional Tetris.
*Thanks to Vincent for correcting me on the attribution.
Pédaler en grand braquet
[camarades et amitié]
Matthieu Chedid -- Belleville Rendez-Vous (French Version)
Kraftwerk -- Tour de France (French Version)
A young boy grows up to become a cyclist whom the French mafia want to kidnap to use as a power source. Yes. This is a common problem.
A few points about the French mafia:
1. They are better-dressed than the American mafia.
2. They are less interested in practicality than in the je ne sais quoi of an idea.
3. They tend to be broad and squarish and so thin they nearly disappear when they turn to the side. For this reason, they could be lurking anywhere.
Childhood events exercise a curious power over the mind (whether human or canine). Yes. They are called "formative years" for a reason.
A few points about The Triplets of Belleville:
1. It's quirky (you guessed that).
2. It's visually innovative.
3. It has sparse dialogue.
Benoit Charest writes, and Matthieu Chedid sings,* warm organic music with real instruments. Kraftwerk makes cold computerized music with circuits and knobs and switches.
A few points about Belleville Rendez-Vous (French Version):
1. acoustic guitar, muted strums.
2. classical guitar with the fingers breakdancing down the frets.
3. the voice. the voices. the harmony.
A few points about Tour de France (French Version):
1. drum machines, bike chain, grunts of a cyclist up a long hill.
2. the guitar, sounding like steel drums, with an unlikely melody.
3. the harp suggesting that might be the warmest Kraftwerk get.
[Triplets of Belleville]
[I think the French version is the same as the Francois K. remix on this disc but I'm not sure, as I only have the LP EP.]
...
If you don't read Girish's site you probably missed the notice, and even if you do read it, you might have forgotten about it, but I'm calling for a horror film blogathon on October 31st. (And today is a bit late to make the announcement, yes; suffice it to say that organizing movements is not one of my strong points.)
The blogathon is an idea Girish cooked up: bloggers write about one topic and all post on the same day; all you have to do to be a part of it is to post on the topic and say you're a part of it. In the past people have written on Showgirls, avant-garde film, Abel Ferrara's films, Hayao Miyazaki's films, Michelle Pfeiffer's films, and Code Unknown. If you decide to take part, please send me the URL once you've posted so I can link to it.
Elsewhere:
Soulheads, don't miss Darcy's post on The Ohio Players, Dan Phillips' post on Bobby Rush, and Soul Sides' post on Johnny Otis.
...
The House Next Door with a Jonathan Rosenbaum interview.
...
Fast Film, an animated movie mashup short. I've seen this before, though I can't remember where.
...
For the sidefills, can we have two great big enormous things please, of a type that might be venerated as gods by the inhabitants of Easter Island, capable of reaching volumes that would make Beelzebub soil his underpants, and driven by amplifiers that could provide the power for a Monster Truck Rally.
Iggy Pop's concert rider
...
Free Hugs: much better with the sound off. I like it with Ernie K-Doe's "Te Ta Te Ta Ta."
...
one-dimensional Tetris.
*Thanks to Vincent for correcting me on the attribution.
Labels: blogathon, electronica, soundtrack
posted by Tuwa @
15:03 | permalink |
4 comments
|
Monday, August 21, 2006:
As a child she saw her uncle kill her father: argument, handgun, collapse. After that her life was marked by bouts of rage, depression, and spontaneous causeless joy snatched away by the slightest morbid thought: cut grass bleeding water in the hot sun, a leaf seesawing to the ground, apple seeds rotting unplanted.
[Simple Things @ amazon.com]
...
A Girl Like Me, an impressive and affecting short documentary about skin color, expectations, identity, and self-perception.
...
Explaining things through simple diagrams on index cards. (via metafilter)
...
A police report about a missing car and a car that seems subtly different. I did this once, with what I'd thought was the company van. It had several bins of computer parts inside, providing a clue that something was not right.
...
Mahnamanah (via boingboing)
Zero 7 -- This World
Zero 7 -- This WorldAs a child she saw her uncle kill her father: argument, handgun, collapse. After that her life was marked by bouts of rage, depression, and spontaneous causeless joy snatched away by the slightest morbid thought: cut grass bleeding water in the hot sun, a leaf seesawing to the ground, apple seeds rotting unplanted.
[Simple Things @ amazon.com]
...
A Girl Like Me, an impressive and affecting short documentary about skin color, expectations, identity, and self-perception.
...
Explaining things through simple diagrams on index cards. (via metafilter)
...
A police report about a missing car and a car that seems subtly different. I did this once, with what I'd thought was the company van. It had several bins of computer parts inside, providing a clue that something was not right.
...
Mahnamanah (via boingboing)
Labels: electronica, personal
posted by Tuwa @
09:43 | permalink |
2 comments
|
Thursday, August 17, 2006:
The Big Three Trio -- Till The Day I Die (MP3, 192kbps)
This is an early R&B group put together by Willie Dixon. I like the song for the background vocals, the alternating leads, and the anachronistic melody. The piano doesn't hurt either--it's very simple, because sometimes simple is perfect and complicated is not.
[The Best Of Delta Records @ eMusic]
Spot Barnett & Friends -- Fence Walk
Latin soul/funk that tiptoed out of the 1960s all the way to 2006. You'd think that after a walk that long it must be tired, but no. It wants to stay up all night and plan heists. It has the suit, it has the fedora, it has the unfiltered cigarettes and strike-anywhere matches.
[Soul Diggin' @ eMusic.com]
Innerstance.Beatbox -- Helium Disco
Turntables, thick distorted bass, RJD2's soundbanks, a modem connecting, and a whimsical arrangement with looped lyrics encouraging you to dance. What can I say? The song bakes a pineapple-carrot cake and gives it a cream cheese frosting. Who can argue with that? Why would they want to?
[Your Eyes Are Like UFOs My Darling @ iTunes]
IODA || Yoda eta pi
Three tracks today from IODA/promonet, a new service to promote independent musicians, allowing use of certain mp3s on mp3blogs and in podcasts. I poked around a bit, found some things I liked, look forward to returning in a few weeks to see how the selection has expanded....The Big Three Trio -- Till The Day I Die (MP3, 192kbps)
This is an early R&B group put together by Willie Dixon. I like the song for the background vocals, the alternating leads, and the anachronistic melody. The piano doesn't hurt either--it's very simple, because sometimes simple is perfect and complicated is not.
[The Best Of Delta Records @ eMusic]
Spot Barnett & Friends -- Fence Walk
Latin soul/funk that tiptoed out of the 1960s all the way to 2006. You'd think that after a walk that long it must be tired, but no. It wants to stay up all night and plan heists. It has the suit, it has the fedora, it has the unfiltered cigarettes and strike-anywhere matches.
[Soul Diggin' @ eMusic.com]
Innerstance.Beatbox -- Helium Disco
Turntables, thick distorted bass, RJD2's soundbanks, a modem connecting, and a whimsical arrangement with looped lyrics encouraging you to dance. What can I say? The song bakes a pineapple-carrot cake and gives it a cream cheese frosting. Who can argue with that? Why would they want to?
[Your Eyes Are Like UFOs My Darling @ iTunes]
Labels: electronica, funk, PR, RnB
posted by Tuwa @
15:35 | permalink |
2 comments
|
Monday, May 29, 2006:
X-Wife -- Ping Pong
I was sent this track in mid-March and, just to prove that I don't always know a good thing when it comes around, I didn't start listening to it much until a couple of weeks ago.
On their MySpace page, they self-identify as "post punk electronic rock power trio," which is a good start to a description that continues on into "funky neurosis crossed with retro-technolust, catchy verses, and clubhopping joie de vivre."
*Bandwidth is tapped at dot-mac, which decided to start sucking once I signed up to it (they switched from unmetered bandwidth to 20GB/month, which isn't nearly enough even for this site). So this track is at box.net and the earlier tracks don't work at the moment.
[X-Wife's site]
[X-Wife @ Myspace]
...
As you may know, reggae/rocksteady legend Desmond Dekker died on May 25. Plenty of tracks floating around the blogosphere, for instance "007 Shantytown" at Retrobabe, "Pretty Africa" at Music for Robots, "Bongo Gal" and "Pickney Girl" at Number One Songs in Heaven, and "Unity" and "Intensified '68" at Can't Stop Won't Stop.
...
Neil Gaiman tries to call his daughter, and MCI gives some unusual customer service.
...
An awesome post pointing out "Beatles moments."
...
And don't miss two AskMe classics, "I just started dating this really awesome girl, and we spend the night together often, and I want to know how long I have to wait before I can fart in bed" and "What does it mean when a man shows an anal sex video on the first date?" I love the range of human conduct shown on that site....
X-Wife -- Ping Pong
X-Wife -- Ping Pong
I was sent this track in mid-March and, just to prove that I don't always know a good thing when it comes around, I didn't start listening to it much until a couple of weeks ago.
On their MySpace page, they self-identify as "post punk electronic rock power trio," which is a good start to a description that continues on into "funky neurosis crossed with retro-technolust, catchy verses, and clubhopping joie de vivre."
*Bandwidth is tapped at dot-mac, which decided to start sucking once I signed up to it (they switched from unmetered bandwidth to 20GB/month, which isn't nearly enough even for this site). So this track is at box.net and the earlier tracks don't work at the moment.
[X-Wife's site]
[X-Wife @ Myspace]
...
As you may know, reggae/rocksteady legend Desmond Dekker died on May 25. Plenty of tracks floating around the blogosphere, for instance "007 Shantytown" at Retrobabe, "Pretty Africa" at Music for Robots, "Bongo Gal" and "Pickney Girl" at Number One Songs in Heaven, and "Unity" and "Intensified '68" at Can't Stop Won't Stop.
...
Neil Gaiman tries to call his daughter, and MCI gives some unusual customer service.
...
An awesome post pointing out "Beatles moments."
...
And don't miss two AskMe classics, "I just started dating this really awesome girl, and we spend the night together often, and I want to know how long I have to wait before I can fart in bed" and "What does it mean when a man shows an anal sex video on the first date?" I love the range of human conduct shown on that site....
Labels: electronica, pop
posted by Tuwa @
01:10 | permalink |
3 comments
|
Tuesday, January 31, 2006:
Some time ago I got an email from Spoilt Victorian Child mentioning the Victor Scott release on the SVC record label, and I've been remiss in mentioning it. I've listened to it a bit; and if it took me awhile to warm up to it I think that's more my fault than the music's--sometimes I'm immediately taken with music I later hate and sometimes I'm immediately guarded towards music I later love. Scott's music falls in the latter category: it's bold, it strikes out in all directions, exploring, experimenting, poking and prodding, finding things and turning them over and giving them a vigorous shake to see what falls out. There's hip-hop, mariachi instrumentals, folkish pop ballads, soundtrack stylings with dialogue samples, the ghost of Antonio Carlos Jobim, and brassy butt-shaking dance music with bawdy double entendres.
I've gone with the freaky thumping joie de vivre here because it's what I'm feeling most at the moment.
[Victor Scott's site]
[Buy the CD at SVC records for 3 quid and get a free B-sides CD]
The Vogues -- Five O'Clock World
The Vogues were popular in the 1960s and 70s and "Five O'Clock World" was their biggest hit. They had some other good ones (including ones that charted, like "You're the One" and "My Special Angel"), but this one's just the one for me right now: lyrics about the daily grind at work presented with an easy melody, backing harmonies, yodelling, and yips. It's just a very confident, accomplished, and comforting sound; the song is concise and perfect, a bullseye.
[The Vogues -- Greatest Hits]
...
Voice of experience: if you are, say, changing from one DSL company that sucks to another that takes over your line days before even shipping the modem, thus rudely ending your internet connection while claiming that they haven't and claiming also that they can't help you, you can get back online through the new company without waiting for their modem. So if you're ever tempted to spend most of a day on the phone talking to a number of tech support people--from the concerned and helpful to the deeply confused and helpless--taking their advice, rebooting the computer when it doesn't need it, checking drivers that are uncorrupted and firmware that's current, swapping cables like thumb drives and tapping the reset button on your modem enough to send a sonnet in Morse code, don't. Just go to 192.168.1.254 and change your login from x@y.z to a@b.c, and don't forget to change over to the new password. And, as long as both services support the same connection type (e.g. PPPoE), that's that, you're in business, good to go, connection clipping along like normal. It doesn't matter that the modem's user interface says it's a modem for "y.z" service or that after you log in with the other company it tells you you're logged in with the previous one. It's just cosmetics. When the new (unnecessary) modem arrives you can unwrap it and use it as a geeky paperweight, or leave it in the box in case the older one fails sometime later.
Which leads to the assumption that DSL companies make a big to-do about contract lengths and charging $150 "for the modem" if you cancel before a year is up because the modems really don't cost all that much, but they do serve as a handy way to sell you a cheap plastic box you don't need at a markup they don't deserve.
One positive that emerged from the 8+ hours of fruitless phone conversations was a bit of sympathy with the tech support workers (even the incompetent ones): it must be daunting trying to solve problems that have six trillion possible causes, and there must be long stretches of boredom mixed in with the frustration as they sit waiting for some unseen computer to reboot and log on and let them continue.
Gotta Go / Five O'Clock World
Victor Scott -- Gotta GoSome time ago I got an email from Spoilt Victorian Child mentioning the Victor Scott release on the SVC record label, and I've been remiss in mentioning it. I've listened to it a bit; and if it took me awhile to warm up to it I think that's more my fault than the music's--sometimes I'm immediately taken with music I later hate and sometimes I'm immediately guarded towards music I later love. Scott's music falls in the latter category: it's bold, it strikes out in all directions, exploring, experimenting, poking and prodding, finding things and turning them over and giving them a vigorous shake to see what falls out. There's hip-hop, mariachi instrumentals, folkish pop ballads, soundtrack stylings with dialogue samples, the ghost of Antonio Carlos Jobim, and brassy butt-shaking dance music with bawdy double entendres.
I've gone with the freaky thumping joie de vivre here because it's what I'm feeling most at the moment.
[Victor Scott's site]
[Buy the CD at SVC records for 3 quid and get a free B-sides CD]
The Vogues -- Five O'Clock World
The Vogues were popular in the 1960s and 70s and "Five O'Clock World" was their biggest hit. They had some other good ones (including ones that charted, like "You're the One" and "My Special Angel"), but this one's just the one for me right now: lyrics about the daily grind at work presented with an easy melody, backing harmonies, yodelling, and yips. It's just a very confident, accomplished, and comforting sound; the song is concise and perfect, a bullseye.
[The Vogues -- Greatest Hits]
...
Voice of experience: if you are, say, changing from one DSL company that sucks to another that takes over your line days before even shipping the modem, thus rudely ending your internet connection while claiming that they haven't and claiming also that they can't help you, you can get back online through the new company without waiting for their modem. So if you're ever tempted to spend most of a day on the phone talking to a number of tech support people--from the concerned and helpful to the deeply confused and helpless--taking their advice, rebooting the computer when it doesn't need it, checking drivers that are uncorrupted and firmware that's current, swapping cables like thumb drives and tapping the reset button on your modem enough to send a sonnet in Morse code, don't. Just go to 192.168.1.254 and change your login from x@y.z to a@b.c, and don't forget to change over to the new password. And, as long as both services support the same connection type (e.g. PPPoE), that's that, you're in business, good to go, connection clipping along like normal. It doesn't matter that the modem's user interface says it's a modem for "y.z" service or that after you log in with the other company it tells you you're logged in with the previous one. It's just cosmetics. When the new (unnecessary) modem arrives you can unwrap it and use it as a geeky paperweight, or leave it in the box in case the older one fails sometime later.
Which leads to the assumption that DSL companies make a big to-do about contract lengths and charging $150 "for the modem" if you cancel before a year is up because the modems really don't cost all that much, but they do serve as a handy way to sell you a cheap plastic box you don't need at a markup they don't deserve.
One positive that emerged from the 8+ hours of fruitless phone conversations was a bit of sympathy with the tech support workers (even the incompetent ones): it must be daunting trying to solve problems that have six trillion possible causes, and there must be long stretches of boredom mixed in with the frustration as they sit waiting for some unseen computer to reboot and log on and let them continue.
Labels: electronica, pop
posted by Tuwa @
13:14 | permalink |
1 comments
|
Monday, December 19, 2005:
A few days ago I got a Christmas gift from my sister overseas: a small box of German chocolates. In a show of restraint, I didn't open them for at least five minutes.
I'm heading out tomorrow and will be away until early January. If past experience is any indication, I'll be able to pull a camel through the eye of a needle easier than I can find an internet connection, so this is it till 2006.
I know you'll do the right thing and leave these unopened till Christmas. Or at least pace yourself. Or maybe not. I won't blame you if you don't.
Little Johnny Taylor -- If You Love Me (Like You Say)
Milk chocolate with almonds. You have to snap pieces off and eat them quickly, else they melt between your fingers.
This is a somewhat atypical Little Johnny Taylor tune; most of what I've heard by him is a grittier blues.
[Little Johnny Taylor's Greatest Hits @ amazon.com]
Keb' Mo' -- Am I Wrong
Dark chocolate/jalapeño cake. You can't decide if you love it or hate it, but you keep cutting another thin slice. It's hot, feisty; it wants to kick your ass; you're not sure if it is.
Keb' Mo's first CD is brilliant; the second is okay; the third is bad; the fourth rocketed past bad into sonic Ed Wood territory. I haven't listened to any after that. But damn what a good album that first is. ... I sent Sean a track from this CD a year ago, but here's another. That self-titled debut is just amazing, and why he fell off is just as puzzling.
[Keb' Mo' @ amazon.com]
Blind Gary -- You Got To Go Down
Chocolate-covered peanuts.
Public domain track I found somewhere ages ago. (One of the older file stamps on my system: late 1990s.) Early blues here, and great stuff. I love the clear, catchy guitar, and the man's scratchy voice, and his long bit in the middle about not making assumptions about drinkers.
Skylab -- Seashell
Chocolate with a high minty taste that lingers.
Most of this Skylab CD is so minimalist as to make me question my definition of music. This one's one of the more, er, ornate tracks, insofar as anything in a monastery might be called ornate. Drums, bit of keyboard, waves on a beach, and a bit of dialogue. Aural opium.
[Skylab -- #1 @ amazon.com]
Dead Can Dance -- Black Sun
Chocolate-covered caramel nougat.
I love it when this singer cuts loose from the emoting a bit and belts one out with his giant wodden sledgehammer voice. Which is not to say I don't like the rest, but this is better. Sock it to me.
[Dead Can Dance -- Aion @ amazon.com]
Pharoahe Monch -- The Light
Chocolate toffee.
Most of this disc is thuggish posturing, or maybe not posturing, but definitely not my cup of tea. Then there's this one, which is a very welcome change.
In retrospect it seems this disc was in and out of print as quick as a sneeze.
[Pharoahe Monch -- Internal Affairs @ amazon.com]
Talib Kweli & Hi-Tek -- Expansion Outro
Dark chocolate. Bitter but so good.
A reprise/commentary on Nina Simone's "Four Women," which I described in September 2004 as a lacy silk sock pulled over a brick. Nina Simone is awesome and so is this Talib Kweli/Hi-Tek CD. Very impressive work all around.
[Talib Kweli & Hi-Tek -- Reflection Eternal @ amazon.com]
Albinia Jones -- Give It Up Daddy Blues
Hot chocolate on a cold morning with fuzzy bunny slippers.
Another public domain track. I've no idea who Albinia Jones is, or what else she's done, but she's awfully saucy here. Apparently she played in the 1930s and 1940s (which doesn't prevent her works from being in the public domain, contrary to popular belief--prior to the 1970s in the U.S. the requirement was to list something as copyrighted, either with the full word or the c in the circle, then to list the year and the rightsholder, plus the statement "All rights reserved," for the copyright to be valid. Too bad that was changed so the legislators could have a land of copyrighted grocery lists on the backs of envelopes.)
Cheb Mami -- Yahamami
Chocolate wafer cookies that snap apart and leave crumbs everywhere.
Algerian electronica, complete with string section, flute, and birds.
[Cheb Mami -- Delalli @ amazon.com]
Domez M -- Born Again (Cycle Mix)
Chocolate chai that steams and burns your tongue, but you keep blowing on it and trying again.
Actually, no; if this one were any more chill it would give you a Slushee headache.
[Arabic Lounge compilation @ amazon.com]
Baaba Maal -- Senegale Ngummee
Orange chocolate with a shaved coconut center.
Baaba Maal steps up to the plate, swings, crack!, walks around the bases. His album with Mansour Seck is just as good; those two CDs are a force of nature.
[Missing You (Mi Yeewnii @ amazon.com]
Sukhwinder & Sapna Awasthi -- Chaiyya Chaiyya
White chocolate and ginger with ground cloves and chopped pecans.
There are a number of different mixes of this floating around, of different lengths. This one's from the Dil Se soundtrack, logically enough. Great scene, that, with them all on top of the train singing as it chugged along--something you'd see in the U.S. with a bad bit of bluescreen.
[Dil Se soundtrack @ amazon.com]
Charles Mingus -- Theme For Lester Young
An empty wrapper breezing down the street, and all the stores are closed and you're out of cigarettes.
Melancholy work from an irascible genius.
[Priceless Jazz @ amazon.com]
Happy holidays: Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hannukah, whatever celebration of light and companionship you gravitate towards in the coldest months.... Peace on earth and goodwill towards men, and other unfashionable wishes from a bloodthirsty nation. I'll be back with some vinyl finds in early January.
So this is Christmas
Very brief writeups today, because my planned holiday posts aren't finished.A few days ago I got a Christmas gift from my sister overseas: a small box of German chocolates. In a show of restraint, I didn't open them for at least five minutes.
I'm heading out tomorrow and will be away until early January. If past experience is any indication, I'll be able to pull a camel through the eye of a needle easier than I can find an internet connection, so this is it till 2006.
I know you'll do the right thing and leave these unopened till Christmas. Or at least pace yourself. Or maybe not. I won't blame you if you don't.
Little Johnny Taylor -- If You Love Me (Like You Say)
Milk chocolate with almonds. You have to snap pieces off and eat them quickly, else they melt between your fingers.
This is a somewhat atypical Little Johnny Taylor tune; most of what I've heard by him is a grittier blues.
[Little Johnny Taylor's Greatest Hits @ amazon.com]
Keb' Mo' -- Am I Wrong
Dark chocolate/jalapeño cake. You can't decide if you love it or hate it, but you keep cutting another thin slice. It's hot, feisty; it wants to kick your ass; you're not sure if it is.
Keb' Mo's first CD is brilliant; the second is okay; the third is bad; the fourth rocketed past bad into sonic Ed Wood territory. I haven't listened to any after that. But damn what a good album that first is. ... I sent Sean a track from this CD a year ago, but here's another. That self-titled debut is just amazing, and why he fell off is just as puzzling.
[Keb' Mo' @ amazon.com]
Blind Gary -- You Got To Go Down
Chocolate-covered peanuts.
Public domain track I found somewhere ages ago. (One of the older file stamps on my system: late 1990s.) Early blues here, and great stuff. I love the clear, catchy guitar, and the man's scratchy voice, and his long bit in the middle about not making assumptions about drinkers.
Skylab -- Seashell
Chocolate with a high minty taste that lingers.
Most of this Skylab CD is so minimalist as to make me question my definition of music. This one's one of the more, er, ornate tracks, insofar as anything in a monastery might be called ornate. Drums, bit of keyboard, waves on a beach, and a bit of dialogue. Aural opium.
[Skylab -- #1 @ amazon.com]
Dead Can Dance -- Black Sun
Chocolate-covered caramel nougat.
I love it when this singer cuts loose from the emoting a bit and belts one out with his giant wodden sledgehammer voice. Which is not to say I don't like the rest, but this is better. Sock it to me.
[Dead Can Dance -- Aion @ amazon.com]
Pharoahe Monch -- The Light
Chocolate toffee.
Most of this disc is thuggish posturing, or maybe not posturing, but definitely not my cup of tea. Then there's this one, which is a very welcome change.
In retrospect it seems this disc was in and out of print as quick as a sneeze.
[Pharoahe Monch -- Internal Affairs @ amazon.com]
Talib Kweli & Hi-Tek -- Expansion Outro
Dark chocolate. Bitter but so good.
A reprise/commentary on Nina Simone's "Four Women," which I described in September 2004 as a lacy silk sock pulled over a brick. Nina Simone is awesome and so is this Talib Kweli/Hi-Tek CD. Very impressive work all around.
[Talib Kweli & Hi-Tek -- Reflection Eternal @ amazon.com]
Albinia Jones -- Give It Up Daddy Blues
Hot chocolate on a cold morning with fuzzy bunny slippers.
Another public domain track. I've no idea who Albinia Jones is, or what else she's done, but she's awfully saucy here. Apparently she played in the 1930s and 1940s (which doesn't prevent her works from being in the public domain, contrary to popular belief--prior to the 1970s in the U.S. the requirement was to list something as copyrighted, either with the full word or the c in the circle, then to list the year and the rightsholder, plus the statement "All rights reserved," for the copyright to be valid. Too bad that was changed so the legislators could have a land of copyrighted grocery lists on the backs of envelopes.)
Cheb Mami -- Yahamami
Chocolate wafer cookies that snap apart and leave crumbs everywhere.
Algerian electronica, complete with string section, flute, and birds.
[Cheb Mami -- Delalli @ amazon.com]
Domez M -- Born Again (Cycle Mix)
Chocolate chai that steams and burns your tongue, but you keep blowing on it and trying again.
Actually, no; if this one were any more chill it would give you a Slushee headache.
[Arabic Lounge compilation @ amazon.com]
Baaba Maal -- Senegale Ngummee
Orange chocolate with a shaved coconut center.
Baaba Maal steps up to the plate, swings, crack!, walks around the bases. His album with Mansour Seck is just as good; those two CDs are a force of nature.
[Missing You (Mi Yeewnii @ amazon.com]
Sukhwinder & Sapna Awasthi -- Chaiyya Chaiyya
White chocolate and ginger with ground cloves and chopped pecans.
There are a number of different mixes of this floating around, of different lengths. This one's from the Dil Se soundtrack, logically enough. Great scene, that, with them all on top of the train singing as it chugged along--something you'd see in the U.S. with a bad bit of bluescreen.
[Dil Se soundtrack @ amazon.com]
Charles Mingus -- Theme For Lester Young
An empty wrapper breezing down the street, and all the stores are closed and you're out of cigarettes.
Melancholy work from an irascible genius.
[Priceless Jazz @ amazon.com]
Happy holidays: Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hannukah, whatever celebration of light and companionship you gravitate towards in the coldest months.... Peace on earth and goodwill towards men, and other unfashionable wishes from a bloodthirsty nation. I'll be back with some vinyl finds in early January.
Labels: blues, electronica, hip-hop, jazz, rock, world pop
posted by Tuwa @
23:07 | permalink |
4 comments
|
Wednesday, November 02, 2005:
Walter Meego -- Usually
Sometimes you get an email that makes it feel like Christmas. Sometimes that email comes from Walter Meego.
Said email might start off like this: "Hello. Will you listen to this track?" (which, if you're me, prompts the mental response "I don't know. Maybe. Keep going"), and might follow that up with a mention that the song will be released soon and that if I like it I can post it. Direct and to the point. So I go to the URL and download it and give it a listen. It starts off with some fragile percussion, an approaching warbling noise, a rumble of conversation, and what sounds like a young Jimmy Stewart (is that right? I can't place the dialogue)--then up with the distorted guitar, the bouncy drumbeat, the delirious horns. At 1:25, the filtered vocals: a feel of old-school jazz (think 1930s and 40s) melded with electronica and shoved out onto the dancefloor.
Walter Meego is (or "are," depending on your location) a band consisting of Justin Sconza, Colin Yarck, and Jarrett Spiegel. Davis Jones (the band's manager) tells me their press agent describes the song as "about yearning, about brand new love and butterflies in stomachs," which is a better description than I'd had, so I'll thank them and lift it shamelessly. The band has had some press already (coverage on German radio) though I can't work out from their "news" page where they are or are from ("Chicago," says their Myspace page. Also, "We're a three-headed monster of musical mayhem. We're a freakish, axe-slaying, beat-crushing pack of disco ninjas.")
The Walter Meego website has an acoustic version of the track offered (ripe for additional remixes? I think so) as well as other tracks for download. It's a well-designed site and, thankfully, it's too damn sensible to use Flash for everything. No. It is like that email: simple, direct, and clear.
Walter Meego's Myspace page
...
Then, sometimes, you get an email that you don't know what to do with.
I've been informed by someone who works for a PR firm that I am a "reputable influencer"; following through to the link in the sig I see that the firm is looking to start "grassroots marketing," claiming it places products in the "hands of influential tastemakers and trendsetters" and "develops and manages groups of 'Brand Loyalists' that become micro-marketing armies."
All of which gives me roughly the same feeling you might have when eyeing the dinner meat just after watching Leolo or reading Portnoy's Complaint. Which is to say, an instinctual revulsion. I'm not sure I'm a tastemaker, or a "reputable influencer" (or, for that matter, a reputable anything), but this PR firm thinks so, and wants my help, and after pondering it a bit I decided I shouldn't shoot the messenger for the delivery. The DVD they want mentioned looked cool, so I'll mention it. I've often enough been in a situation where I didn't understand all the social conventions, so I shouldn't hold it against anyone else when it happens to them.
I've emailed some other musicbloggers to get their take on it and there are a range of reactions, from the gently amused to the purely pragmatic, but one reaction that I didn't see was an agreement with the PR firms that we are or should be "tastemakers." If anything, I think people like what they like and sometimes just haven't yet been exposed to. I remember the first time I heard Sister Rosetta Tharpe, A Band of Bees, DJ Shadow, The 5.6.7.8's (and, earlier, The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Cure....) Some bands take warming up to; others you like immediately. No one made you do it; if anything, it was a pleasure to find something new, something that hadn't been dumped out of a can and heated until it was lukewarm.
Where I am, at least, Clear Channel is the tastemaker--lukewarm canned spinach, day in, day out, then the music industry wants to act surprised when people say something like "damn! but I'm sick of lukewarm canned spinach." For someone who loves music, starting a musicblog is only the natural response to boring redundant monolithic programming. If it's the carrot and the stick, fine, so be it, and if I've got the carrot, that's because Clear Channel chose the stick.
I think we musicbloggers mostly just post what we like, and if others like it too we're always stoked about it, but sometimes there's not any response, which can leave you wondering if anyone gives a damn. Of all the musicbloggers I know, I think John Seroff consistently gets the most comments, and that's because he posts questions each time. Even a huge site like Said the Gramophone will sometimes get only a few comments. That's a microscopic percentage of their visitors, so it's hard to know what anyone thinks--silence could mean any number of things. We all love comments; we sometimes ask for them, or write about them, or pose questions to provoke them, but for the most part they don't happen. Which, coupled with just doing what we love anyway, even if it doesn't get a response, gives rather a different impression from that of a PR firm telling us how important we are.
Which brings me back to the uneasy feeling, the instinctual revulsion, the uncertainty how to respond. I won't speak for all musicbloggers because I'm only one of them, but I'm posting here because I love music. The songs might be ones I've known for decades and ripped from an LP that's out of print; they might be digitized from a movie playing on the VCR; they might be from an email I got early this morning. The source is entirely incidental to the music, and if any certain product goes up amazon's rankings, that's great, but it's not my primary concern. I'm happy to help out musicians who put out music I like, but first and foremost I need to like it. Which is by way of saying, for me at least, flattery is not required. Show me something cool instead.
As for the "marketing armies," if I wanted to be part of someone's "army" I would have, well, joined the Army, and I'm fairly certain that I'd rather be spoken to plainly than to be eyed like a pawn on a chessboard.
...
In [cough, cough] completely unrelated news, The Concert for Bangladesh DVD (the celebrity musician concert held in the early 1970s with George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Ravi Shankar, Klaus Voorman(!), and Billy Preston) has been re-released. There's the older release with some details in amazon.com's catalog about features and then a new deluxe edition which I would assume has more features than the earlier version, though there's no evidence of it in the item description.
Walter Meego -- Usually. and reputable influencers
Walter Meego -- Usually
Sometimes you get an email that makes it feel like Christmas. Sometimes that email comes from Walter Meego.
Said email might start off like this: "Hello. Will you listen to this track?" (which, if you're me, prompts the mental response "I don't know. Maybe. Keep going"), and might follow that up with a mention that the song will be released soon and that if I like it I can post it. Direct and to the point. So I go to the URL and download it and give it a listen. It starts off with some fragile percussion, an approaching warbling noise, a rumble of conversation, and what sounds like a young Jimmy Stewart (is that right? I can't place the dialogue)--then up with the distorted guitar, the bouncy drumbeat, the delirious horns. At 1:25, the filtered vocals: a feel of old-school jazz (think 1930s and 40s) melded with electronica and shoved out onto the dancefloor.
Walter Meego is (or "are," depending on your location) a band consisting of Justin Sconza, Colin Yarck, and Jarrett Spiegel. Davis Jones (the band's manager) tells me their press agent describes the song as "about yearning, about brand new love and butterflies in stomachs," which is a better description than I'd had, so I'll thank them and lift it shamelessly. The band has had some press already (coverage on German radio) though I can't work out from their "news" page where they are or are from ("Chicago," says their Myspace page. Also, "We're a three-headed monster of musical mayhem. We're a freakish, axe-slaying, beat-crushing pack of disco ninjas.")
The Walter Meego website has an acoustic version of the track offered (ripe for additional remixes? I think so) as well as other tracks for download. It's a well-designed site and, thankfully, it's too damn sensible to use Flash for everything. No. It is like that email: simple, direct, and clear.
Walter Meego's Myspace page
...
Then, sometimes, you get an email that you don't know what to do with.
I've been informed by someone who works for a PR firm that I am a "reputable influencer"; following through to the link in the sig I see that the firm is looking to start "grassroots marketing," claiming it places products in the "hands of influential tastemakers and trendsetters" and "develops and manages groups of 'Brand Loyalists' that become micro-marketing armies."
All of which gives me roughly the same feeling you might have when eyeing the dinner meat just after watching Leolo or reading Portnoy's Complaint. Which is to say, an instinctual revulsion. I'm not sure I'm a tastemaker, or a "reputable influencer" (or, for that matter, a reputable anything), but this PR firm thinks so, and wants my help, and after pondering it a bit I decided I shouldn't shoot the messenger for the delivery. The DVD they want mentioned looked cool, so I'll mention it. I've often enough been in a situation where I didn't understand all the social conventions, so I shouldn't hold it against anyone else when it happens to them.
I've emailed some other musicbloggers to get their take on it and there are a range of reactions, from the gently amused to the purely pragmatic, but one reaction that I didn't see was an agreement with the PR firms that we are or should be "tastemakers." If anything, I think people like what they like and sometimes just haven't yet been exposed to. I remember the first time I heard Sister Rosetta Tharpe, A Band of Bees, DJ Shadow, The 5.6.7.8's (and, earlier, The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Cure....) Some bands take warming up to; others you like immediately. No one made you do it; if anything, it was a pleasure to find something new, something that hadn't been dumped out of a can and heated until it was lukewarm.
Where I am, at least, Clear Channel is the tastemaker--lukewarm canned spinach, day in, day out, then the music industry wants to act surprised when people say something like "damn! but I'm sick of lukewarm canned spinach." For someone who loves music, starting a musicblog is only the natural response to boring redundant monolithic programming. If it's the carrot and the stick, fine, so be it, and if I've got the carrot, that's because Clear Channel chose the stick.
I think we musicbloggers mostly just post what we like, and if others like it too we're always stoked about it, but sometimes there's not any response, which can leave you wondering if anyone gives a damn. Of all the musicbloggers I know, I think John Seroff consistently gets the most comments, and that's because he posts questions each time. Even a huge site like Said the Gramophone will sometimes get only a few comments. That's a microscopic percentage of their visitors, so it's hard to know what anyone thinks--silence could mean any number of things. We all love comments; we sometimes ask for them, or write about them, or pose questions to provoke them, but for the most part they don't happen. Which, coupled with just doing what we love anyway, even if it doesn't get a response, gives rather a different impression from that of a PR firm telling us how important we are.
Which brings me back to the uneasy feeling, the instinctual revulsion, the uncertainty how to respond. I won't speak for all musicbloggers because I'm only one of them, but I'm posting here because I love music. The songs might be ones I've known for decades and ripped from an LP that's out of print; they might be digitized from a movie playing on the VCR; they might be from an email I got early this morning. The source is entirely incidental to the music, and if any certain product goes up amazon's rankings, that's great, but it's not my primary concern. I'm happy to help out musicians who put out music I like, but first and foremost I need to like it. Which is by way of saying, for me at least, flattery is not required. Show me something cool instead.
As for the "marketing armies," if I wanted to be part of someone's "army" I would have, well, joined the Army, and I'm fairly certain that I'd rather be spoken to plainly than to be eyed like a pawn on a chessboard.
...
In [cough, cough] completely unrelated news, The Concert for Bangladesh DVD (the celebrity musician concert held in the early 1970s with George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Ravi Shankar, Klaus Voorman(!), and Billy Preston) has been re-released. There's the older release with some details in amazon.com's catalog about features and then a new deluxe edition which I would assume has more features than the earlier version, though there's no evidence of it in the item description.
Labels: electronica, indie, personal, PR
posted by Tuwa @
11:57 | permalink |
6 comments
|
Monday, October 31, 2005:
Marisa Monte -- Segue O Seco
Marisa Monte -- Para Ver As Meninas
Marisa Monte is a Brazilian singer who tends to combine traditional Brazilian rhythms and instrumentation with modern pop tendencies: keyboards, electric guitar, light friendly melodies.
Barulhinho Bom is a two-disc set, the first disc studio recordings with a pop bent; the second disc is live recordings with a more traditional sound. Both of them have some great tracks. I'm hard pressed to say which I like more, though I think the pop disc might be more immediately accessible to people unfamiliar with Brazilian music. Memórias, Crônicas & Declarações De Amor continues Monte's experiments in combining traditional and pop instrumentation; it's also an interesting and accessible CD with some great tracks.
"Para Ver As Meninas" is a samba off Memórias, Crônicas & Declarações De Amor; it's not so typical of the album it's on, except maybe in the cello and the addition of bits of distortion, but it's compelling work and well worth sharing.
"Cérebro Eletrônico" has a funky guitar and bassline, bouncing thumping drums, and the occasional vocals through a megaphone. Plus it's fun, which is always a plus.
"Segue O Seco" is more traditional and subdued but no less impressive; it's an Afro-Brazilian tune, which would have been my guess based just on the harmonizing background vocals. Lovely work.
Monte has a number of other CDs that are well-regarded but that I haven't yet heard; I first heard her on a mix CD a friend made for me and immediately added her to my (already too-long) list of musicians to look into. It's an ongoing process.
Allmusic.com biography
[amazon.com]: Memórias, Crônicas & Declarações De Amor (allmusic review)
[amazon.com]: Barulhinho Bom (allmusic review)
Marisa Monte
Marisa Monte -- Cérebro EletrônicoMarisa Monte -- Segue O Seco
Marisa Monte -- Para Ver As Meninas
Marisa Monte is a Brazilian singer who tends to combine traditional Brazilian rhythms and instrumentation with modern pop tendencies: keyboards, electric guitar, light friendly melodies.
Barulhinho Bom is a two-disc set, the first disc studio recordings with a pop bent; the second disc is live recordings with a more traditional sound. Both of them have some great tracks. I'm hard pressed to say which I like more, though I think the pop disc might be more immediately accessible to people unfamiliar with Brazilian music. Memórias, Crônicas & Declarações De Amor continues Monte's experiments in combining traditional and pop instrumentation; it's also an interesting and accessible CD with some great tracks.
"Para Ver As Meninas" is a samba off Memórias, Crônicas & Declarações De Amor; it's not so typical of the album it's on, except maybe in the cello and the addition of bits of distortion, but it's compelling work and well worth sharing.
"Cérebro Eletrônico" has a funky guitar and bassline, bouncing thumping drums, and the occasional vocals through a megaphone. Plus it's fun, which is always a plus.
"Segue O Seco" is more traditional and subdued but no less impressive; it's an Afro-Brazilian tune, which would have been my guess based just on the harmonizing background vocals. Lovely work.
Monte has a number of other CDs that are well-regarded but that I haven't yet heard; I first heard her on a mix CD a friend made for me and immediately added her to my (already too-long) list of musicians to look into. It's an ongoing process.
Allmusic.com biography
[amazon.com]: Memórias, Crônicas & Declarações De Amor (allmusic review)
[amazon.com]: Barulhinho Bom (allmusic review)
Labels: electronica, pop, world pop
posted by Tuwa @
12:25 | permalink |
0 comments
|
Monday, October 17, 2005:
The Avalanches -- Run DNA
The Avalanches -- Thank You Caroline [Andy Votel remix]
The Avalanches -- Frontier Psychiatrist
The Avalanches are an Australian turntablism group that everyone seems to want to call quirky. For lack of a better word, I'll call them quirky too. It's not a bad thing, though; I consider them deliciously off-kilter, in much the same way as many of the Miyazaki films: quirky/endearing/intriguing, not quirky/creepy/alarming. Their work varies a bit depending on the outing (I guess it's to be expected with anywhere between two and ten people in the group); some of it is simple, repetitive dance music, good for background noise while you're working on some task; other tracks are more aggressive and catchy, forcing you to pay attention. What's on offer today is a range.
"Run DNA" is dance/hip hop/turntablism with a rocking electronic organ riff; it's a bit of lightweight fun with some silly lyrics. "Stylus in my jeans? It's in my backpack."
"Thank You Caroline" is more in the background/chillout grouping; it's a fine track to listen to while organizing LPs or, I don't know, writing an overdue post for an mp3blog. This is the Andy Votel Remix, and I don't think I've heard the original so I have no grounds for comparison. What I like about this one, though, is the chimes with distorted synth, the bassline, the stringed instrument (is that a cello? I can't place it, but I like it), the way the song seems to sprawl out in impossible positions like a sonic cat.
"Frontier Psychiatrist" is pretty far afield in their work, perhaps the wildest and best thing they've recorded. Great things about this song:
The Dexter's Lab Polyester samples ("it is the opinion of the entire staff that Dexter is criminally insane" / "He was white as a sheet / And he also made false teeth");*
the drumbeat (grooved like a cart-road from the 16th century);
the oohs and ahhs (ghostly oohs and ahhs, I learn from watching the video);
the scratching;
the horse;
the horns;
"I promised my girlfriend I'd pick up the violin";
the violin;
the cuckoo;
"sometimes a parrot talks";
and then the parrot talks.
I'm curious, though, why it's just a random scream in it and not a Wilhelm scream (see also: this radio program). This scream is pitched too low for it, and with their love of kitsch, pop culture, and whimsy, I find it hard to believe The Avalanches didn't know about Wilhelm and consider dropping him in.
9x: Does anybody in the band ski or has anyone been in an avalanche?
RC: No.
Other pressing questions answered here.
"Frontier Psychiatrist" video
Avalanches' official site
[Amazon.com]: At Last Alone [IMPORT]
[Amazon.com]: Since I Left You
[Amazon.com] El Producto seems to have gone out of print.
...
Yes, I'm still with this running mix that started with Big Bill Broonzy, a jog I was ill-prepared for, and dreams of trains. I'm about to start walking, though, and we'll soon be home. And then I'll post these other things I've found lately.
* Thanks to the anonymous poster for setting me straight on the source for the "criminally insane" quotations.
The Avalanches: Run DNA / Frontier Psychiatrist / Thank You Caroline
The Avalanches -- Run DNA
The Avalanches -- Thank You Caroline [Andy Votel remix]
The Avalanches -- Frontier Psychiatrist
The Avalanches are an Australian turntablism group that everyone seems to want to call quirky. For lack of a better word, I'll call them quirky too. It's not a bad thing, though; I consider them deliciously off-kilter, in much the same way as many of the Miyazaki films: quirky/endearing/intriguing, not quirky/creepy/alarming. Their work varies a bit depending on the outing (I guess it's to be expected with anywhere between two and ten people in the group); some of it is simple, repetitive dance music, good for background noise while you're working on some task; other tracks are more aggressive and catchy, forcing you to pay attention. What's on offer today is a range.
"Run DNA" is dance/hip hop/turntablism with a rocking electronic organ riff; it's a bit of lightweight fun with some silly lyrics. "Stylus in my jeans? It's in my backpack."
"Thank You Caroline" is more in the background/chillout grouping; it's a fine track to listen to while organizing LPs or, I don't know, writing an overdue post for an mp3blog. This is the Andy Votel Remix, and I don't think I've heard the original so I have no grounds for comparison. What I like about this one, though, is the chimes with distorted synth, the bassline, the stringed instrument (is that a cello? I can't place it, but I like it), the way the song seems to sprawl out in impossible positions like a sonic cat.
"Frontier Psychiatrist" is pretty far afield in their work, perhaps the wildest and best thing they've recorded. Great things about this song:
The Dexter's Lab Polyester samples ("it is the opinion of the entire staff that Dexter is criminally insane" / "He was white as a sheet / And he also made false teeth");*
the drumbeat (grooved like a cart-road from the 16th century);
the oohs and ahhs (ghostly oohs and ahhs, I learn from watching the video);
the scratching;
the horse;
the horns;
"I promised my girlfriend I'd pick up the violin";
the violin;
the cuckoo;
"sometimes a parrot talks";
and then the parrot talks.
I'm curious, though, why it's just a random scream in it and not a Wilhelm scream (see also: this radio program). This scream is pitched too low for it, and with their love of kitsch, pop culture, and whimsy, I find it hard to believe The Avalanches didn't know about Wilhelm and consider dropping him in.
9x: Does anybody in the band ski or has anyone been in an avalanche?
RC: No.
Other pressing questions answered here.
"Frontier Psychiatrist" video
Avalanches' official site
[Amazon.com]: At Last Alone [IMPORT]
[Amazon.com]: Since I Left You
[Amazon.com] El Producto seems to have gone out of print.
...
Yes, I'm still with this running mix that started with Big Bill Broonzy, a jog I was ill-prepared for, and dreams of trains. I'm about to start walking, though, and we'll soon be home. And then I'll post these other things I've found lately.
* Thanks to the anonymous poster for setting me straight on the source for the "criminally insane" quotations.
Labels: electronica
posted by Tuwa @
13:02 | permalink |
2 comments
|
Monday, May 23, 2005:
k-os -- Crabbuckit
I got this email from Touch and Go / Quarterstick advertising some new songs (one from !!! and embedded in an e-card, which I didn't arse myself with visiting, and the other linked below). It's a little more, er, danceable than most of what I post here, very radio-friendly, but that's okay. It is, most importantly, good.
And then, also on the joie de vivre tip, there's this from independent hip hop/R&B artist k-os. Yes, I missed the train on this one. You might remember him from Said the Gramophone's post in September 2004; and I'm sure Sean writes about him better than I do; and then We Eat So Many Shrimp knocked on him but their Google cache always forwards to the current page so I'll skip the linkage there.
At any rate, I like the bass line, the claps are hopping, the sax tears it up, the piano gives that je ne sais quoi. It is fun, and fun is good. (Yes, the song just ends suddenly--it's from a mix.) The CD as a whole is solid, confident work, worth a listen (unless you're all tough and shit; if so, then skip it).
[k-os: Joyful Rebellion @ Amazon.com]
Touch and Go Records for the Supersystem.
In other news, I'm looking through some crates for more gems. Even forksie gets just a few comments a post, so I hope somebody out there is actually listening to these and liking them.
k-os and Supersystem
Supersystem -- Everybody Singsk-os -- Crabbuckit
I got this email from Touch and Go / Quarterstick advertising some new songs (one from !!! and embedded in an e-card, which I didn't arse myself with visiting, and the other linked below). It's a little more, er, danceable than most of what I post here, very radio-friendly, but that's okay. It is, most importantly, good.
And then, also on the joie de vivre tip, there's this from independent hip hop/R&B artist k-os. Yes, I missed the train on this one. You might remember him from Said the Gramophone's post in September 2004; and I'm sure Sean writes about him better than I do; and then We Eat So Many Shrimp knocked on him but their Google cache always forwards to the current page so I'll skip the linkage there.
At any rate, I like the bass line, the claps are hopping, the sax tears it up, the piano gives that je ne sais quoi. It is fun, and fun is good. (Yes, the song just ends suddenly--it's from a mix.) The CD as a whole is solid, confident work, worth a listen (unless you're all tough and shit; if so, then skip it).
[k-os: Joyful Rebellion @ Amazon.com]
Touch and Go Records for the Supersystem.
In other news, I'm looking through some crates for more gems. Even forksie gets just a few comments a post, so I hope somebody out there is actually listening to these and liking them.
Labels: electronica, indie
posted by Tuwa @
23:04 | permalink |
0 comments
|
Thursday, November 04, 2004:
Terranova is (are) a German trip-hop trio; their DJ Kicks release had remixes of "Tried by 12" and Junkyard Band's "The Word," pepping it up quite a bit, as well as tracks by Jungle Brothers and DJ Spooky and a number of others.
This track is off a Terranova single, or you can find it on a pricey import compilation. It's a remix of "Chase the Blues" that, along with a restaurant special on Foster's, is helping do just what it claims. (A stopgap measure, to be sure, and it will take a bit more to convince me that the U.S. public is more good than vengeful--but I expect that that will be the last I say about politics for awhile.)
In other news: looking at my CD and LP collection, I'd say I can carry this on for another two months or so, maybe less, before I run out of artists tracks I'm over the moon about. So the ride stops then. I'd rather not do an Emmylou Harris week and a Nina Simone week and a Cesaria Evora week--most people will either like them or not, and get the point about it rather soon.
And, in other news, I've been poking through the access logs and I can't figure youse out. Some tracks that I've posted have gotten almost no response; others get an overwhelming response. And it doesn't seem to go by name recognition. So: what makes you decide whether to listen to any certain song?
[Amazon.com] (single)
[Amazon.com] (import comp)
Chase the Blues (away)
Terranova -- Chase the Blues (Cameron McVey mix)Terranova is (are) a German trip-hop trio; their DJ Kicks release had remixes of "Tried by 12" and Junkyard Band's "The Word," pepping it up quite a bit, as well as tracks by Jungle Brothers and DJ Spooky and a number of others.
This track is off a Terranova single, or you can find it on a pricey import compilation. It's a remix of "Chase the Blues" that, along with a restaurant special on Foster's, is helping do just what it claims. (A stopgap measure, to be sure, and it will take a bit more to convince me that the U.S. public is more good than vengeful--but I expect that that will be the last I say about politics for awhile.)
In other news: looking at my CD and LP collection, I'd say I can carry this on for another two months or so, maybe less, before I run out of artists tracks I'm over the moon about. So the ride stops then. I'd rather not do an Emmylou Harris week and a Nina Simone week and a Cesaria Evora week--most people will either like them or not, and get the point about it rather soon.
And, in other news, I've been poking through the access logs and I can't figure youse out. Some tracks that I've posted have gotten almost no response; others get an overwhelming response. And it doesn't seem to go by name recognition. So: what makes you decide whether to listen to any certain song?
[Amazon.com] (single)
[Amazon.com] (import comp)
Labels: electronica
posted by Tuwa @
13:04 | permalink |
0 comments
|
Monday, October 04, 2004:
Outside -- To Forgive But Not Forget
[Amazon.com]
Aphex Twin is the stage name for Richard D. James, a British electronic musician who began making a name for himself in the 1980s. His work ranges from acid techno to symphonic works with little discernible beat at all; his biggest hit was probably "windowlicker," whose video featured a number of women in bikinis, dancing with grotesquely distorted faces, James himself driving around with a computer-distorted mug. The music was good: weird, fun, and danceable, as are his remixes of various video game soundtracks such as "Power-pill Pac-Man" and "Tetris." That he can make such catchy tunes makes it all the more confounding when he releases albums so experimental that it's hard to find a footing to approach them from--but, obviously, musicians do the most inspired work pursuing whatever they find most interesting.
James is inclined to jettison anything about music he takes a mind to, including melody and rhythm or, in his remixes, everything about the original song. (His 26 Mixes for Cash famously included remixes of Nine Inch Nails songs that he had never heard; James couldn't resist adding that he didn't want to hear them, either). The man strikes me as nihilistic and pissed--in the American sense--very talented but also blunt to the point of unkindness.
So here's a slice of warm, friendly musical brilliance. I got this song on a strange but interesting mix CD a friend made me; apparently the album it's from (Mix) is out of print. Amazon.com doesn't have it; allmusic.com hasn't heard of it; discogs.com hasn't either.
The track starts off melodic and unchallenging: a violin solo that must have been recorded in some empty high-ceilinged room, and is soon joined by programmed drums and a bass. Towards the end, it breaks down into a frantic mess that at first struck me as jarring and later struck me as perfect. The least you can say about the man's work is that it's consistently provocative.
Outside / Aphex Twin
update: aurgasm informs me that the reason I can't find this CD (or even the song on a compilation) is that it's not, in fact, by Aphex Twin. I've changed the file name and the link below but left the rest of the entry as it's 2:00 a.m.; I have class tomorrow and no time to research Outside, whom I know nothing about; and I'd like to leave this bit of evidence to show both the strength & weakness of internet research. Anyway, thanks a million to aurgasm for solving that--it's been puzzling me for a few years now.Outside -- To Forgive But Not Forget
[Amazon.com]
Aphex Twin is the stage name for Richard D. James, a British electronic musician who began making a name for himself in the 1980s. His work ranges from acid techno to symphonic works with little discernible beat at all; his biggest hit was probably "windowlicker," whose video featured a number of women in bikinis, dancing with grotesquely distorted faces, James himself driving around with a computer-distorted mug. The music was good: weird, fun, and danceable, as are his remixes of various video game soundtracks such as "Power-pill Pac-Man" and "Tetris." That he can make such catchy tunes makes it all the more confounding when he releases albums so experimental that it's hard to find a footing to approach them from--but, obviously, musicians do the most inspired work pursuing whatever they find most interesting.
James is inclined to jettison anything about music he takes a mind to, including melody and rhythm or, in his remixes, everything about the original song. (His 26 Mixes for Cash famously included remixes of Nine Inch Nails songs that he had never heard; James couldn't resist adding that he didn't want to hear them, either). The man strikes me as nihilistic and pissed--in the American sense--very talented but also blunt to the point of unkindness.
So here's a slice of warm, friendly musical brilliance. I got this song on a strange but interesting mix CD a friend made me; apparently the album it's from (Mix) is out of print. Amazon.com doesn't have it; allmusic.com hasn't heard of it; discogs.com hasn't either.
The track starts off melodic and unchallenging: a violin solo that must have been recorded in some empty high-ceilinged room, and is soon joined by programmed drums and a bass. Towards the end, it breaks down into a frantic mess that at first struck me as jarring and later struck me as perfect. The least you can say about the man's work is that it's consistently provocative.
Labels: electronica
posted by Tuwa @
01:07 | permalink |
3 comments
|
Saturday, October 02, 2004:
Banco de Gaia is a British fellow named Toby Marks who's released a number of ambient/trance albums since the early 1990s. His site is a bit cagey about biography, making you select answers until you pick the right combination (London --> heavy metal --> Beatles in Portugal --> Maxwell House), but since Marks has at various times claimed that his stage name comes from Mussolini's gay lover and at others that it's from the most boring opera ever written (about a day at work), you might want to take that biography with a grain of salt. As for the name, personally I like to think it's just a wry or wistful reference to a very different kind of World Bank.
At any rate, "Sinhala" is a slow-building track, like much of Marks' work; it puts me in mind of the chugging steam engine on "Last Train to Lhasa"--steadily making its way up a mountain, all good things in due time, no sense rushing.
The track starts with a bit of looped electrical hum and crackle, joined by the barest melody, an echoey American voice buried in the mix talking about spirituality. It's thirty seconds in before the drums start; nearly a minute later the bass and a backbeat start to propel the song, a guitar beginning its dubbish punctuation. This song is not out to dazzle you, it's out to paint a picture of a strange and sedate world--one that's intriguing, dream-like, and totally foreign.
For some reason, reviewers on Amazon.com like to recommend that people put Marks' music on while driving. I've never tried it, but I wouldn't recommend it--the music is oddly hypnotizing, something I'd very much prefer to listen to when I'm not in a car interacting with other several-thousand-pound vehicles at 75mph. It's perfect for listening to at night, in the dark, when it's cold outside and you're snug under the blankets.
Official site (with RealAudio samples)
[Amazon.com]
And now for something completely different
Banco de Gaia -- SinhalaBanco de Gaia is a British fellow named Toby Marks who's released a number of ambient/trance albums since the early 1990s. His site is a bit cagey about biography, making you select answers until you pick the right combination (London --> heavy metal --> Beatles in Portugal --> Maxwell House), but since Marks has at various times claimed that his stage name comes from Mussolini's gay lover and at others that it's from the most boring opera ever written (about a day at work), you might want to take that biography with a grain of salt. As for the name, personally I like to think it's just a wry or wistful reference to a very different kind of World Bank.
At any rate, "Sinhala" is a slow-building track, like much of Marks' work; it puts me in mind of the chugging steam engine on "Last Train to Lhasa"--steadily making its way up a mountain, all good things in due time, no sense rushing.
The track starts with a bit of looped electrical hum and crackle, joined by the barest melody, an echoey American voice buried in the mix talking about spirituality. It's thirty seconds in before the drums start; nearly a minute later the bass and a backbeat start to propel the song, a guitar beginning its dubbish punctuation. This song is not out to dazzle you, it's out to paint a picture of a strange and sedate world--one that's intriguing, dream-like, and totally foreign.
For some reason, reviewers on Amazon.com like to recommend that people put Marks' music on while driving. I've never tried it, but I wouldn't recommend it--the music is oddly hypnotizing, something I'd very much prefer to listen to when I'm not in a car interacting with other several-thousand-pound vehicles at 75mph. It's perfect for listening to at night, in the dark, when it's cold outside and you're snug under the blankets.
Official site (with RealAudio samples)
[Amazon.com]
Labels: electronica
posted by Tuwa @
05:45 | permalink |
0 comments
|
Friday, September 24, 2004:
I've long thought that that "dancing about architecture" quotation was stupid: obviously the person who coined the phrase hasn't paid attention to many buildings. There are hundreds of buildings that deserve a good dance, whether designed by a modern architect or some Mayan fellow who's been dead for 800 years; and writing about music is as appropriate as writing about love, or death, or hope.
Except sometimes it's damned hard.
Which brings me to today. What can I say about this song? Bass, piano, drums, children playing in the background, a woman in the foreground singing in a language I don't recognize; a woman singing in support, also in a language I don't recognize. The structure of the song is nice: natural but not overgrown, with an easy lazing-on-a-Sunday feel to it. The echo on the background voice puts me in mind of a cavern: the piano a soothing wave, the percussion reflecting shimmering light along the ceiling. The song urges me to lie back and float, let the world drift away.
This song is from a soundtrack I bought to a documentary I haven't seen. Synthetic Pleasures--anyone seen it? Recommended?
[Amazon.com]
Cantamilla
Tranquility Bass -- CantamillaI've long thought that that "dancing about architecture" quotation was stupid: obviously the person who coined the phrase hasn't paid attention to many buildings. There are hundreds of buildings that deserve a good dance, whether designed by a modern architect or some Mayan fellow who's been dead for 800 years; and writing about music is as appropriate as writing about love, or death, or hope.
Except sometimes it's damned hard.
Which brings me to today. What can I say about this song? Bass, piano, drums, children playing in the background, a woman in the foreground singing in a language I don't recognize; a woman singing in support, also in a language I don't recognize. The structure of the song is nice: natural but not overgrown, with an easy lazing-on-a-Sunday feel to it. The echo on the background voice puts me in mind of a cavern: the piano a soothing wave, the percussion reflecting shimmering light along the ceiling. The song urges me to lie back and float, let the world drift away.
This song is from a soundtrack I bought to a documentary I haven't seen. Synthetic Pleasures--anyone seen it? Recommended?
[Amazon.com]
Labels: electronica
posted by Tuwa @
05:32 | permalink |
2 comments
|
Tuesday, September 14, 2004:
I first encountered Kruder & Dorfmeister by making an offhand comment to a friend about how good jazz, dub, and triphop sounded together. I don't remember what it was that provoked that comment--a shoutcast station, probably--but my friend insisted I buy the K & D Sessions. It's a two-disc set of DJ mixes; it's immediately accessible, but the longevity is good too. I've listened to the discs countless times over the last few years and I haven't grown disenchanted with them or curious about what I saw in them.
Kruder & Dorfmeister are two DJs from Austria, and though they've got a couple of their own numbers on the discs, their bread and butter is remixing others' works. It's a bit disappointing, maybe--their songs are as strong the remixes--but when the remixes are this good, what's to complain about? I would have been happy posting nearly any song off the set, but I decided on this one because I think it captures the general mood and approach of the discs. (Though some of the more exuberant songs were tempting, especially Peter Kruder's "Donaudampfschifffahrtsgesellschaftskapitänskajütenremix" of Rainer Trüby Trio's "Donauschingen.") This is one of two songs that appear on both discs but in different forms, so that it's something of a pleasant surprise to hear them again.
It's apparent that Kruder and Dorfmeister have listened to a lot of dub, but there's plenty I like about this song aside from the delay, the panning, and the sound effects. There's the low bass for starters, and the guitar, the lyrics and their delivery, and then the song's structure. What intrigues me about K & D mixes is just how loose they make them: they let out the tension until it's so slack the song seems almost to have stopped, then something comes along and gives it a kick: the vocals, the guitar, the bass.... It's a popular technique and I'm not saying they invented it, but with some bands it strikes me as gimmicky but all throughout this set it just seems organic to what the music is.
The set as a whole is strong; it has a warmth and richness to it that keeps bringing me back. It's pleasant to let play in the background, but it also rewards more careful attention. It's a solid purchase.
update: I just read the pitchfork review, and wow.... Obviously a difference of opinion. The line about Ginsberg makes sense if you hear "Howl" instead of "Al," but whatever. I get the feeling I'm not hip enough to hang with the pitchfork kids. Still, it's a useful site.
vegemite
Amazon.com
Bug Powder Dust
Bomb the Bass -- Bug Powder DustI first encountered Kruder & Dorfmeister by making an offhand comment to a friend about how good jazz, dub, and triphop sounded together. I don't remember what it was that provoked that comment--a shoutcast station, probably--but my friend insisted I buy the K & D Sessions. It's a two-disc set of DJ mixes; it's immediately accessible, but the longevity is good too. I've listened to the discs countless times over the last few years and I haven't grown disenchanted with them or curious about what I saw in them.
Kruder & Dorfmeister are two DJs from Austria, and though they've got a couple of their own numbers on the discs, their bread and butter is remixing others' works. It's a bit disappointing, maybe--their songs are as strong the remixes--but when the remixes are this good, what's to complain about? I would have been happy posting nearly any song off the set, but I decided on this one because I think it captures the general mood and approach of the discs. (Though some of the more exuberant songs were tempting, especially Peter Kruder's "Donaudampfschifffahrtsgesellschaftskapitänskajütenremix" of Rainer Trüby Trio's "Donauschingen.") This is one of two songs that appear on both discs but in different forms, so that it's something of a pleasant surprise to hear them again.
It's apparent that Kruder and Dorfmeister have listened to a lot of dub, but there's plenty I like about this song aside from the delay, the panning, and the sound effects. There's the low bass for starters, and the guitar, the lyrics and their delivery, and then the song's structure. What intrigues me about K & D mixes is just how loose they make them: they let out the tension until it's so slack the song seems almost to have stopped, then something comes along and gives it a kick: the vocals, the guitar, the bass.... It's a popular technique and I'm not saying they invented it, but with some bands it strikes me as gimmicky but all throughout this set it just seems organic to what the music is.
The set as a whole is strong; it has a warmth and richness to it that keeps bringing me back. It's pleasant to let play in the background, but it also rewards more careful attention. It's a solid purchase.
update: I just read the pitchfork review, and wow.... Obviously a difference of opinion. The line about Ginsberg makes sense if you hear "Howl" instead of "Al," but whatever. I get the feeling I'm not hip enough to hang with the pitchfork kids. Still, it's a useful site.
vegemite
Amazon.com
Labels: electronica
posted by Tuwa @
03:15 | permalink |
0 comments
|
XML
