Been sat on this track for a month or so and a timely reminder by way of Dicky Trisco's "For the love" guest spot reminded me to drop it on my player again and turn the volume up to 11.
The thing I've always liked about the Idjut Boys is the sleazy nature of their house tracks. Sure they can do the live disco sound "roll over and snore" is a prime example, but I've always felt they were at their best when doing really stripped back simple looping tracks with copious amounts of effects, and "One for Kenny" is exactly that.
An obvious head nod to the sadly departed Legend Kenny Hawkes it's slow dubbed out and bass heavy, and that's before the beat has even kicked in, then just wait for that piano to arrive and switch the track up.
I'm going to leave the chat there as it's a truly stunning track, and it's a real shame I needed a nudge to get it back on my player and on the blog.
Insanely good, possibly my track of the year so far, enjoy.
Playlist Friday 18th May 2012
In the craziness of moving I've had little time to change the music on my player, so I settled in for my journey by listening to the Dicky Trisco mix I referenced above. It's a nice mix, moving from deep sleazy house to spangley hands in the air feel good party disco, and was a perfect listen for a morning journey in which i missed my train. Still gave me more time to listen to the music.
The opening track is the Idjut Boys track referenced above – which i grabbed from, and you can still get on, E-music – do so now.
Like any music genre there is good and bad stuff under the banner electronica, glitchtronica etc, and even IDM. And while some music in this genre can struggle to stand out, perhaps due to the equipment employed (although this charge can also be levelled at many guitar bands), I guess it is down to the people working the equipment. As always there are tracks that stand out and stick with you over time. This track by Lama is one of them – this morning I was wondering what to post up but then this came on and it was pretty much all over.
I got my hands on this track back in 2007 and I still play it regularly. At the time, I remember trying to find out more about the people behind it and failing miserably. Lama is made up of Nils Martin Larsen (he did a short stint in Jaga Jazzist) and as far as I can tell (for this track) Goran Obad. I hadn’t really come across much else until I had a look again today and found a few bits on his myspace pages (under his own name and Lama). Well worth checking out as there is some nice stuff on there. There is a clip of them performing this on Youtube which is well worth checking out.
It’s a beautiful track. It’s got that double time glitch action at its core but what makes this stand out are the elements they add as the track builds. The main addition is the simple, but beautiful slide guitar that Larsen plays, that comes in pretty much from the off. It just adds a warmth that takes over the electronic elements just enough. As the track progresses the backward track comes to the fore, a deep harmonic vocal starts to surface more and more and the beats get a bit more aggressive, building the track to a final drop. It really is phenomenal stuff, simple in its structure but the layers of sound offer real depth. You can maybe pick it up for free on some old blogs or Amazon does offer it as well.
Playlist Thursday 17th May 2012
Just me driving in today, so on went shuffle and up went the volume. As mentioned on Tuesday, I haven’t changed my music for a while so wasn’t sure what may come on that I would want to post about. It opened up with ‘East Harlem’ by Beirut and took left and right musical turns via Deloran, Efterklang past the excellent hip hop track, ‘Grown Up’ by Danny Brown. The beauty of Lama was smashed by the driving tech disco of Turing Machine’s ‘Slave to the Algorithm’ (like Lindstrom & Prins Thomas in overdrive and almost the track of choice today). The indie class of Oberhofer preceded the mutated rave dubstep of Sepalcure who I am sure I will post about at some point.
Playlist: Beirut – East Harlem, Postprior – Titbar, Delorean – It’s All Ours, Efterklang – Him Poe Poe, Danny Brown – Grown Up, Vetiver – Faint Praise, Lama – Innocent Bystander, Turning Machine – Slave To The Algorithm, Oberhofer – Heart, Sepalcure – Don’t Cry
Regular followers will know that sometimes I take the easy option and recommend a DJ set or Mix, and today is one of those days.
Late last year a small two track EP came out from the impressive Kobra Audio Labs project on Dumb Hero Records. I say EP but it was in fact a cracking little package on a C50 mixtape with equally interesting packing but even more interesting music. Two huge vast and sprawlingly complex pieces of music that have caused quite a stir within the beat-centric instrumental hip hop scene.
The release was strictly limited and if you bought the physical product you also got a CDR of the two tracks, and an unofficial mixtape from Mark Scanlan the man behind KAL. The mixtape was a collection of music Mark had been enjoying during the process of putting together the Two Blue Towers project and is a lovely listen. Sadly and much to my regret I didn't pick it up at the time but thankfully you can buy the last few over at KAL's bandcamp page.
The tracklisting for the mixtape is a veritable who's who, and rather large, but I'll leave it there as it's certainly one of those occasion when the proof is in listening to it, but if you're a fan of alt hip hop beats ala Anticon, Ninjatune, Bully and the likes then both the mixtape and KAL's output is for you.
It's an incredibly easy listen, and with the music used it could so easily have been a very difficult listen, and it's a testament to KAL's talent that it's one of the most refreshing mixtapes I've heard in a long time. It came back to my attention and my player due to a friend posting it on facebook the other day, and it's been locked in the player for a few days without me getting the chance to properly sit and listen to it, which thankfully i did today.
There are days when you just can't get any momentum and today was one of those days, up with the larks and puffy eyed and barely able to think from lack of sleep I opted to let someone else do the selecting for me.
I squeezed my way past the other commuters to grab that empty window seat I dialled my Player into the excellent Two Blue towers mixtape from Kobra Audio Labs and let it play from start to end, and as the sun started to break through and the fields passed by i closed my eyes and soaked it in.
I read an article a while ago, on the BBC website, about whether or not guitar music was dead. They quoted loads of sales figures etc for rock albums and documented the rise of R&B/Hip Hop pop etc. They then discussed new bands like Mount Kimbie who were utilise guitars but in a non-traditional way…i.e. sampling them, chopping them up (not literally) or putting them through so many affects that you couldn’t really tell if it was a guitar or not (they are a top band by the way).
For me the question is, is it still relevant and can it stay fresh/important. With it being easier now to create music and get it out into the world (just like you can say that it is easier to get your opinions about music out into the world via blogs like this) quality sometimes gets lost in the volume. The Talking Heads track I posted on Friday, although over 30 years old, was a nice little reminder that guitar led music can still sound innovative and fresh. That sort of jolt happened again this morning when the Akron/Family track came on.
I came to their work a little late – the fist thing I picked up was the tremendous ‘Set Em Wild, Set Em Free’ from 2009. The track I am posting up is from the album that followed – Akron/Family II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT which is another beauty that was released in 2011. If you have never heard them before, well, their sound and style is hard to pin down. Like White Denim who I have posted about before there is a psych rock element to what they do, but rather than being anchored to a garage styled rock these guys seem to have American County/Folk rock at their core, bringing in flashes of world music where required. But the thing about them is the absolute freshness to what they do – as you listen through their work you forget the components and get sucked into their soundscapes and songs. They are masters at managing the dynamics and melodies of a track, taking it out there but always holding it together. The track I have gone for ‘Another Sky’ is a perfect example of this. When it came on this morning it was like a slap in the face (in a good way)…it is loud and if you like that sort of thing then brilliant, but if not, give it a chance, you will be well rewarded. They are a really interesting band – the way they swap instruments, the myths they create around themselves and their work, the experimental elements of what they do – they do all of it oh so well. I certainly recommend you check their stuff out. Tremendous stuff
Picture from last fm.
Playlist Tuesday 15th May 2012
For the first time in a while I was on the train into Leeds this morning. Having struggled to get out of bed I ended up getting a later train. Once sat down the ritual commenced – the Independent news app and shuffle. It was a beautiful morning and the music fit nicely. I did find it hard to pick a track today as so many little beauties seemed to come on. Started out with Darlings post punk stylings on ‘We’re Not Going’ and then past tracks by artists and albums I have posted before (need to change my music a bit more regularly). The hip hop class of Dilated People ‘Work The Angles’ was almost the track of choice, but then each track that followed had me going..’oooh no, I’ll go for this. Tracks by Ero Johannes, Braids, First Person Shootr, Destroyer, The American Analogue Set and even the Grateful Dead almost made it. As I approached work the legends that are Guided By Voices came on – it was a track off their comeback album ‘The Unsinkable Fats Domino’ – A great track, with a great name, by a great band. A great way to go out.
Playlist: Darlings – We’re Not Going, Octavcat – Beetroot Beat, Anni Rossi – Candyland, Youth Lagoon – Ghost To Me, Dilated People – Work The Angles, Ero Johannes – Lipton Service Boy, Braids – Little Hand, First Person Shootr – You New Web, Akron/Family – Another Sky, Destroyer – Chinatown, Delorean – Stay Close, The Grateful Dead – Friend Of The Devil, The American Analogue Set – The Kindness Of Strangers, Guided By Voices – The Unsinkable Fats Domino.
Back in 2001 I picked up a fantastic disco tinged Deep House track purely by chance. Having fallen in love with it I proudly, and stupidly, played it to my friend Peter who upon one listen also fell in love with it. Figuring I'd be able to buy another copy the next day I let him keep the 12" only to get to the shop and find it was sold out. I waited almost a full two years to then pick up the Album so I could get the track again. This was 2001 and the 12" was Metro Area 3 and the track was "Caught Up"
It was a rare find for me at the time as I’d drifted away from buying Deep House over the preceding 4-5 years and I was predominantly listening to and spinning hip hop, rare groove and soul. At the time I was working in London and, like most music people, in my lunch hour I would mooch around the record shops of Soho looking for a bargain. Mr Bongo, Sister Ray, M&V Exchange, Reckless Records sometimes even HMV and Virgin on Oxford Street and purely by chance I happened to walked into a now closed shop on Berwick Street Market. A shop I'd never really paid attention to, and a shop I can't even remember the name of, looking for classic era hip hop, heard this track and walked out with a bag full of Deep House and a resurgent love of the Genre.
I can totally understand why this track might not be for everyone, although I am still to meet someone who doesn't think it's the Bees Knees, as it takes a very long time to get going. The track starts out very vanilla in approach, with a typical house beat, programmed percussion and disco effects gradually layering in as the intro chugs along. It almost seems to be going nowhere when the bass line and Synth hook kick in and switch the track from being routine to inspirational in less than a bar.
From there it just soars, grooving along with Kelly Polars strings bringing an immense sense of emotion to the proceedings.
The track appears on the Album, Metro Area – Metro Area, and is the last track but the whole album is very good and a must have for anyone into dance music. Geist and Jesrani nail the disco/house feel of early Chicago and New York clubs and expand on it using analogue gear and bringing in key players from the scene to add instrumentation and vocals. It's pure unadulterated sleazy house, and it's no surprise it was voted second best album in the 2000-2010 decade by Resident Advisor.
Amazing stuff, enjoy.
Playlist Monday 14th May 2012
No journey today, so I'm just going to pick a great song by a great band, Metro Area – Caught Up.
Talking Heads are pretty much my favourite band of all time so it is nice to be able to post something by them – plus I wanted to end the week on as happy a tune as possible. Obviously they are very well known and their popularity had a surge with the renaissance of post punk/punk funk via bands ranging from Franz Ferdinand to Friendly Fires who, on their first album, sound like they were heavily influenced by ‘Remain in Light’ era Talking Heads. Recently bands like Local Natives, MGMT and The Arcade Fire have covered their tracks proving that their stuff continues to be relevant.
Yes, their well-known tracks like Psycho Killer, Once In A Lifetime, Burning Down The House, Road To Nowhere etc are brilliant, but the thing about their back catalogue is that, in my view, it is one of the most consistently brilliant and original there is yet some of their early stuff is maybe over looked and not that well known by most. They have always been ahead of the curve, covering many genres and incorporating world music into their work from as early as their first album. I think that their later albums – Remain in Light through to Little Creatures – have always got the most attention due to the hits they contain, but I think that their first 3 albums can at least match them and at times betters them.
The album I was listening to today, 77, is one of my favourites and was their first release (it contains Psycho Killer). What I find interesting about this album is the context in which it was released. While there are some similarities between their work and that of say Blondie, of the well documented CBGB’s scene that they were a part of, to me they were very different, even down to their prep school clothing – perhaps, if you were there, there may be less of a discrepancy. When you listen to 77, on tracks like ‘Tentative Decisions’, you can hear the influence of other music going on in New York at the time such as disco, (see the almost house like piano ending). At the same time, more classic influences, such as soul, find their way into other tracks. Considering the core of the album is drums, guitar, bass and vocal (the lyrics are brilliant) and that the album is 35 years old it is amazing how fresh it still sounds. I do believe that if you had never heard of Talking Heads and were played this album you could absolutely believe that it was brand new.
The track I have gone for is ‘Uh-Oh, Love Comes To Town’, which is the opener. I love the lyrics, I love the soul guitar riffs, the funk bass and to finish it off, the calypso steel drums. It always gets a few plays and always has me smiling and strutting along. I think it is a perfect track to start the weekend.
Picture from LastFM
PlaylistFriday 11th May 2012
Today was just me and my son storming in to work and nursery. As I left the office I grabbed the above album to play in the car as I had nothing else. Plus, i didn’t want to be fumbling through my MP3 player as I drove and didn’t fancy shuffle. Also, my son has been getting into this album. He is a bit obsessed with cd players and music (they have one at nursery) and when mucking about with an old cd player at home, this album was to hand, so I stuck it on and he had quite a boogie. So, on it went this morning and he chuckled away as his father sung most of the album very badly indeed. A good start to the weekend.
I love Bleep.com. I don’t always manage to stay up to date with the new music they are either putting out or promoting through their store, but when I do pay a visit or check out their newsletters I always find some beauties. Recently I purchased the ‘Filtered’ album (mentioned very briefly in a post last week) which is a conclusion to a project Bleep started last year in conjunction with a number of other partners such as Warp Records and Soundcloud. The aim of the project: to trawl through undiscovered music makers across the many genres in existence today and give them some coverage. The final output – a simply superb comp of electronic music from start to finish…a couple of artists such as ImagineIAM I have actually heard of or have the odd track by but most are very new to me indeed. Whatever you are in to: ambient soundcapes, to storming breakbeats, to chopped up electronic hip hop, you will not be disappointed.
Ahhhhhhhhhh….picking a track to focus on is ridiculously difficult. I was all set to plump for Move by Gidi which is an absolutely awesome track – a drum heavy, deep, busted up beauty that (as I am an old git) reminds me of old school tracks like Papa New Guinea by Future Sound Of London and Babylon by Meat Beat Manifesto, but brought bang up to date. But my love of all things melodic made me change course when the truly beautiful, off kilter house of ‘Happy Jazz’ by Super Magic Hats came on – plus that is a great name. My vocabulary is not sufficient to explain how good this track is. Have a listen and see.
So, after staying in London last night, my commute was a short DLR ride to work. Feeling slightly rough, not from too much drink, but from eating my body weight in Mexican food (awesome stuff) it was nice to get out of the hotel and into the fresh air. A grey day but a really nice temperature and the rain held off as I made the short stroll to the DLR.
It was an early start and I wanted something to ease me in; something that I could put on, leave and get into. So on went the Filtered comp. Perfect and got me to just the right side of awake and happy as I hit work.
While aapie awaits a connection to the world in his new home, i will be holding the fort on the blog for a few days. Today has been all over the place with no real commute but a quick dash into the office in the north and then down to the office in the south. While doing that i listened to as much music as i could and thought that i would post up a pick of the tracks to keep things ticking over. Due to my travels this post is coming to you via the wordpress app for Android (my first time) hence a different type of image and no track streaming. But there is a link to rcrdlbl.com where you can download the track for free.
Elephant & Castles self titled ep has been doing it for me for a while and it got quite a few plays today. If you haven't come across it before it its well worth checking out – a collection of electronic tracks that covers a myriad of styles – moving from intricate hip hop to busted up soul and jazz – there is real ingenuity about every track that keeps it interesting. But a stand out track is the tribal, jazz chug of 'Altered Scones', a great track that leads beautifully to another track by Elephant & Castle not on the ep – En Memoria – a track that features the tremendous Merrill Garbus, she of tUnE-yArDs who i have posted about before. Her vocals fit the sonic style beautifully, in fact the track wouldn't be out of place on a tUnE-yArDs album but not just because of the vocal.
So, below is a link to where you can download the track and make sure you check out the rest of Elephant & Castles work. http://rcrdlbl.com/2012/01/31/download_elephant_castle_en_memoria_feat_tune_yards_
So it is a strange start to the week. Bank Holiday in the UK and Aapie is taking on house moving duties, so, the fist post of the week is today’s. And today I worked from home and so no commute = a freebie. But what to choose? Today has been one of those peculiar ones where I just couldn’t seem to settle on any thing. Nothing was springing to mind. Then I remembered an email conversation with my friend Anthony (he of DJ T fame) and decided to go for his recommendation of a possible track to cover on the blog. The great thing is I also know that this is one of Aapie’s favourite tracks as it was he who played it to me when it first came out back in 1994. The track is New Jersey Deep by Black Science Orchestra.
This is one of the times where it’s best if I let the track do most of the talking. Most people know the classic label Junior Boys Own, Black Science Orchestra and the main man behind it Ashley Beedle. Over time he has put out so much quality work, but this is at the top of the tree. I have great memories of seeing him play in the back room of Basics in Leeds, where the aforementioned friend and I lost it a bit when he dropped this and other tracks like Patrice Rushen – ‘Haven’t You Heard’ (which provided the main chunk of another disco house classic, Daddy’s Favourite – ‘I feel Good Things For You’). Most also know that this track is built on samples from the awesome Wood, Brass & Steel’s ‘Funkanova. I must have heard this track thousands of times and I still get goose bumps when the main break with that awesome guitar drops in at about 23 seconds…..”Yeah, BLACK SCIENCE GOT IT GOING ON”. Phil Nomenal
After hearing the very sad news of the death MCA from the Beastie Boys I have decided to not post a track from my daily playlist instead opting for a classic offering from the man himself. Drum Machine by MCA and Burzootie
I'll hold off any further emotional outpourings, and just say this record was a huge influence on me growing up. It is RAW, it is simple, it's one of the best Hip Hop records ever made.
