Now then brothers, I have thrown together a mix of some of the tracks that have been doing it for me out and about on the 1’s and 2’s over the last few months.
Tracklist:
Ornette – Crazy (Noze Remix Extended Club Version)
Daniel Bortz – Rescue Me
Digitaria, Funky Fat – You Bring Me Down
Karmon – Turning Point
Adriatique – Body Movin’
Karmon – Wowshit
Nice7 – Time To Get Physical
Christian Burkhardt – Delight
Chopstic & Johnjon – Listen
Jaxson & David Keno – Save Yourself
Burnski & MANIK – You Know What It’s Like
Tiger Stripes – This Man (Adana Twins’ Thursday Disco Vox)
New track from Tom Demac, a massively underrated producer with a new EP on Hypercolour’s sister label, Glass Table. There’s not much more to say about Obstructing the Light other than that it’s an example of what a great electronc producer gets to make when he’s let off the leash. Let him off more, I say.
Come on. There’s an elephant in on the room blog. A certain album. You know, the ones that every publication, from The Daily Telegraph to Pitchfork, is wetting themselves about. You know, the one that gets mentioned in the same breath as mid 70 Stevie Wonder, early 70s Marvin Gaye and early 80s Prince.
Come on, guys. Let’s talk about Frank.
I saw Nolan recently and he said he and Joey had been chatting about it. That they liked it but it just felt a bit standard R’n’B noodley for them. I did my best not to splutter indignantly. After all, I’m one of those for whom I’ve listened to very little else since I bought it. It has blown my mind, nothing less. Hell, I think it’s probably even living up to the hype.
So why’s it so good? Well, he’s got a voice like honey. It’s not autotuned to fuck. It’s classy and it draws from the past while sounding incredibly contemporary. I love how it has the veil of hiphop hanging over it, but really it’s an out and out soul record. I’m not even sure I’d call it RnB.
Nolan, I know that maybe you feel it sounds a bit samey to start with, but stick with because my god the songs come to life. Oh my, the songs. Those SONGS. And those lyrics. He’s a fucking smart songwriter. He captures the loneliness and narrow lives of the rich, of crack addicts, he questions himself, his sexuality, his life, his relationships, and then he goes and sings a 9 minute epic starting in ancient Egypt and ending with a pimp now being forced to pay the woman he pimps to have sex with him. This is ambition turned up to 11, if you’ll excuse the Spinal Tap-ism.
But in the end, it comes down to that thing we’ve been talking about since we started this fine endeavour: authenticity, attitude, songs – and MEANING IT. The guy has got it all. He really has. Give him your time. There’s a reason this is getting praise: because it’s, hands down, the album of the year. I haven’t even heard the next 5 months releases and I’m telling you, the game’s over.
Thought I’d drop in some quick pithy reviews of recently bought stuff.
Passion Pit – ‘Gossamer’: I like Passion Pit. Loved the last album though considering that its synth based pop I never found it a constant presence, but when I had it, I love it. This one is a definite forward step. It is pure pop. The whole album. All big pop songs. All pretty darkly lyrically mind. There are pure synth pop tracks, a couple of pretty good R&B variants on synth pop + the best song that ABBA never wrote (seriously). It sounds like it would be all over the shop but for me it works. Nice album. Good driving music … and my daughters name (Silvia) pops up big style in my fave track.
Dirty Projectors – ‘Swing Lo Magellen’: 2010 was a great music year, Bitte Ocre was a great album from that year (as was Manners by Passion Pit). This is better. Yes it could be accused of being a bit too clever for its own good but here the songs are strong enough to pull it off the length of the album. Good work. The girls voice is incredible too (remember the Major Lazer track?) she should get lead vocals on more tracks
Purity Ring – ‘Shrines’: I’ve waited for a while for this one having heard the singles a while back. I really like this. Odd electronic, post dubsteppy kind of thing with a cute vocal and some tight songs. Its a bit Fever Ray. A bit Knife etc etc. Have a listen.
Listen, I know I’m *really* late to this, but good god WHAT a song this is. Just cannot stop listening to it. LOVE the coyness of her vocal and the Mickey Mouse jumper mixed with the absolute filth coming out of her mouth. What a statement.
Whether or not it’s intended as a diss to Nicki Minaj, it’s one hell of a way to say you’ve arrived on the scene. Reminds me of Get Yr Freak On era Missy Elliot, with that housy vibe going on. Influenced as much by club music as hip hop.
Basically, I’m completely addicted to this song. You?
We’ve done a full 4 month cycle. Congratulations. No one has fallen out, no blood has been shed. We have agreed. We have disagreed. This is good. Now, cycle 2;
I have chosen ‘Past Life Martyred Saints’ by EMA (Erika M. Anderson) a lady not a band. That’s her there on the cover with the magic finger. She used to be in a band called Gowns who apparently performed ‘Noise-Folk’ a genre I am neither familiar with nor interested in being familiar with. The album was well received by critics but made no commercial impact as far as I can tell. It ended up in loads of 2011 ‘Best of Lists’. I think it is a very ‘Pitchfork’ type of album so it was no surprise that it made their top 50 albums of 2011 but also made SPIN, Popmatters and BBC Music lists placing as high as 4th. But hey, critics liked Alabama Shakes too and that proved not to meet this blogs standard.
So why have i picked this? A number of reasons. I like it. I’ve always had a soft spot for emotionally unstable talented young women. I like albums that pour out raw & real emotion with little disguise or metaphor (this maybe the reason that you don’t like it, who knows). This emotion is well-done-emotion ‘I wish that every time you touched me left a mark’ a repeated refrain that feels as if addressed to you.
I also chose it as I thought it would be totally new to you. I know there is a temptation to read reviews before you listen but its as new as I could muster as it seems none of you have heard too much about it.
Another reason is that I find it quite difficult to place genre wise. The closest comparison for me is that she is like a contemporary Patti Smith. Maybe listen to this then ‘Horses’ for an intersting double bill.
Where and how do you listen to music? Silly question? Or important element of if/how we enjoy music? I’ll try not too bang on too much about having kids or not having a tv cause you’ve heard it all before … BUT ….
2 years ago I listened to music on my home system first thing in the morning till I went to or started work (at home). I used to drive long distances for work. This was 50% music time 50% podcast time. Evenings were then editing photos / webbing next to Stacey while listening to music. Basically, loads of time to listen to new things. When I was working at home I listened to instrumental or foreign language tunes as lyrics distract me massively. Hip hop being the worst culprit in the distraction stakes, lyrically and skit related.
Now I have a child, a TV and a new job with less long distance driving, much less. This means I have to fight to have music in the morning vs. Igglepiggle and Makapaka searching for the pinky ponk. I still struggle to listen to vocal music when I work and evenings are often catching up with work of flaking out in front of the TV.
My point is that this change has had a big impact on my music listening. Most of my car journeys are about 20-30 minutes long. This takes away my main showcase for listening to whole albums in one go, a real luxury these days. Trying to keep a calm relaxing environment at home means that child-unfriendly hip hop has almost disappeared completely. My main stay is instrumental or ‘vocals low in the mix’ (which admittedly represents about 80% of my CD collection) music which I can listen to while I work.
I have found myself making similar critical comments across the board on this blog and think the above is largely responsible. The Issues i have with First Serve can be largely explained by the issues above. When will I listen to it? When will I choose to hear 2 grown men pretending to be teenagers in the basement while ‘sweary mamma’ curses them? The tracks I would normally listen to in the car or perhaps while exercising.
I was in London for a wedding at the weekend. I have 5 albums that I always listen to on headphones while walking around London. This is not planned, its always the same 5!
My environment/lifestyle has a huge impact on my listening / critique of music. Does yours?
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