Fer du dancing

Two completely unrelated tracks today -- one is one of my all time favourite dance tunes, another a new track by SBTRKT featuring Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend.

First up, Dirty Cash by The Adventures of Stevie V -- straight outta 1990.  A class, class tune that randomly comes back into my  head every now and then.  This time I decided to blog it, as I've a feeling it's a bit of a forgotten gem, and since TAOSV were British, perhaps it never really got that big here in the USA.


SBTRKT is one of those dance artists whose name I'm always seeing around but I never really checked him out until I heard this on the radio recently.  It's quite a funky track, and if you go to SBTRKT's soundcloud page you can hear a lot more of his new stuff -- sadly the other tracks didn't appeal to me as much as this one does.  Great artwork too.

1988

Hello!  1988 is on my mind today.  I had a good moment today, a moment that is harder and harder to come across in these days of music streaming, youstube, and the fact that basically every track that ever existed is available on the web.  Surprises are hard to come by, and only seem to happen when a track from the past that I've completely forgotten about randomly re-emerges and brings a smile to my face.  That happened today with the following track, which I probably last heard when it was originally out the in the late Eighties.  It's nice to be taken back every now and then.


But that's not the only track up today!  Oh no, Caribou's got a new one out so I'm going to put that here too. It's a cool track that switches things up halfway through, when a nice Inner City vibe comes in -- 1988 again!  Or thereabouts.  I think it'll sound great live.

Higher than a

Hmm.  FKA Twigs.  Eh?  FKA Twigs.  I'm in two minds to be honest.  I like elements, and usually I'm a sucker for hyped electronic-y anything.  Twigs is being hyped as the reincarnation of Aaliyah crossed with Sade, the current face of 2010s British r'n'b.  And I do really like the single 'Two Weeks'.  And she's coming to the 930 Club and the show, amazingly, isn't sold out yet (I think it just went on sale Friday and hasn't been advertised yet) -- shows by artists as hyped up as this one usually sell out immediately.  So I'm wondering if I should buy tickets to see her live, but I'm just not sure.  So far, the rest of the album doesn't live up to how good I think 'Two Weeks' is, but some of the live tracks online are still pretty good. I don't really get out much, so it would be something to do, and it's pretty cheap at $20.  It'd also be nice to feel like I'm on the cutting edge of something.  And it doesn't seem like she'd be as much of a let-down live as James Blake was (to be fair, it wasn't so much that he wasn't good live, it was more that I realised I didn't really like his stuff very much).  Well, the soonest I can get up to the box office to get tickets is probably Tuesday, so I guess that's when I'll decide -- and that's assuming there are tickets left.  I'll put the 'Two Weeks' video below -- the rest of the post will seem a bit stale in comparison.  And, umm, feel free to just listen to the music and ignore the video, it's a bit much really.


My other tunes are completely different.  First up a song from a throwbacky Brooklyn band who call themselves Lucius.  It's a pleasant tune, but, to my ears, it pales when compared to something as forward-sounding as 'Two Weeks'.  That's a bit unfair though, cos taken on it's own I still think it's a good song (music starts at 45 seconds):


Next one up is a bit more interesting.  It sounds like it's also from a throwback band, something akin to The Kills, or The Dead Weather, a bit dark and dirty.  But it's actually by a Dutch band and it came out in the late 60's -- so it's an original!  I don't know too much about Shocking Blue, but this track is surprising to me in that it sounds so modern, lyrically.  And it's heavy!

Another one that got away

I was listening to the radio yesterday when I came across BADBADNOTGOOD, a trio out of Toronto, Canada, who are new to me.  Their neo-trip-hop sound was immediately intriguing and reminded me a bit of early DJ Shadow.  The difference is that while DJ Shadow is/was all about samples, these guys are playing their tunes themselves.  While the track I heard (see below) may not be to everyone's taste, it was enough to get me interested; I liked the mix of sounds and genres, has a bit of a film soundtrack quality to it.  I recommend checking out their Soundcloud page as there's plenty of good stuff there.  They'd probably be pretty great live but, unfortunately, they already played here in DC at U Street Music Hall back in June, before I'd ever heard of them.  I hate it when that happens.


Gold Panda's got a new track he's giving away.  It also has a jazzy, filmy vibe to it.  I'm not a massive of the track to be honest, but I'm going to put it up anyway, for old times' sake.  Oh, and it's downloadable for free.


Lastly, another track I recently heard on the radio, this time by Simian Mobile Disco.  They seem to get a lot of respect, so I saw them live in DC not too long ago, but I hated the show and left early.  I probably wouldn't see them live again, unless their way of putting a show together has completely changed, but I do like this track, it has a nice analogue sound to it: