Metal

Heard some lovely, lovely, atmospheric and groovy music in the past week that I had to archive/share.  First up is this track by BadBadNotGood, who I've written about before.  Time Moves Slow is very soulful without sounding like a pastiche of the past; it's from their upcoming album IV:


I've also featured Bibio on this blog before.  I came across this track, Petals, earlier today.  The video is not official, but it's pretty good regardless, the kind of thing I wouldn't mind having a longer loop of to play in my hypothetical office:


Slightly moodier direction now with Can't Say No by Ivy Lab featuring Roses Gabor.  Makes me think of late nights in cities, shiny glass and concrete, reflections off cars driven slowly.  Kind of menacing.


Bonus Track: Rush by Roses Gabor


Dang, listening to this stuff is making me want to put together a mix tape!  

odd past

Not as impressive as I first thought

I'm in the midst of listening to a profound mix by Squarepusher.  I'm about halfway through and a distinct theme has emerged, a theme so specific that it's given me new appreciation for the art of DJing and the selector in particular.  The sheer musical research and knowledge that Squarepusher must have is quite amazing.  What's the big deal? you're probably wondering.  Well this mix focuses on a very specific genre of music.  You could call it early rap, but that wouldn't be specific enough.  You could call it early UK rap, but that still wouldn't be specific enough.  You'd have to go with early UK rap with a positive message and then you'd pretty much get there.  Every record so far is an amalgam of sampled beats, housey sounds, and strangely positive rapping!  Topics range from racial unity to standing up to the police to putting down drugs.  It's just so... strange!  Who on earth knew there were so many early UK rap songs that focused on these topics?  And who has access to them all, now, 25 or so years later?!  Squarepusher, that's who, and I must salute him.  Oh balls.  I just looked at the FACT mag page where this mix is hosted and realised that all the tracks are either by Shut Up and Dance or the Ragga Twins.  So basically he could have a couple of best ofs and that'd be that.  Oh well.  

HGHR GRND

I was in Michigan this past weekend and stopped by one of my favourite haunts from the old days, Dearborn Music.  It's one of the few independent record stores left in the area and even then it's about a 20 minute drive from my parents' house.  Went a bit nuts after having ample time to look around and bought way too much stuff, some of which is bound to be disappointing when I finally get around to listening to it (already put 'Jazzmatazz Vol. 1' and Motor City Drum Ensemble's DJ Kicks mix on my imaginary For Sale list).  If I remember to I'll update the blog when I listen to some of these new buys, starting now.

First record I listened to after my spree is the debut EP by TNGHT -- a duo I put on the blog not too long ago.  The EP was available and pretty cheap so I got it and it's pretty good.  Bugg'n is still a standout, as is the following track, which will sound crap unless you have good speakers or headphones:



I went to a concert a couple of weeks ago that I never got around to reviewing.  It was Bonobo with support from Shigeto at the Black Cat, and it was a great show.  I like live electronic music, especially when it's not just someone hitting play on a laptop.  A previous high had been seeing Four Tet live at U street music hall, and this show was almost as good.  The Black Cat is a decent venue in my opinion, even though it's pretty basic.  The nice thing is that the shows are cheap, and while this one was sold out I managed to buy tickets for slightly under face value just by showing up on the night and waiting for people who had spares.  That despite the fact that fools were trying to sell tix for $100 on Craigslist!  I'm still confused as to how Bonobo got so popular but apparently his last album, Black Sands, did very well in the States, so there you go.

Shigeto started up in a very discreet way -- I wasn't the only one to wonder when he'd come on stage and started playing as he just seemed to appear out of the haze, looking as if he'd been there the whole time, playing, while we thought we were just listening to pre-show music.  He's out of Ann Arbor, MI, and he's on the Ghostly label, and I like him already.  At first it seemed like he might just play from a laptop but he had more equipment up there and really got into what he was doing; after a couple of tracks he jumped onto a drum-set and accompanied the machines himself:



Bonobo were excellent.  They came with a full live band, played a lengthy set, and the crowd was really into it to boot.  Things slowed down a bit in the middle of the set but soon picked up again.  The show overall just had a really fun, energetic vibe to it, and I also felt quite cool being there -- like I was in a really good soulful loungey venue and not just at the Black Cat!

Every Tuesday Morning Comes...

Until it doesn't.

Was listening to 6 Music a little earlier while cleaning some teeth and heard a nice interview with an artist who goes by the name Bibio.  The interview itself was pretty interesting and was a good reminder of why I listen to 6 Music on the web and not some local DC station.  On 6 Music I get to hear new and different artists and when they're interviewed I get to learn more about them, their music, and the process and thoughts that go into making it.  You can't get that on normal DC commercial radio, or probably most radio in the US.  The closest widely-available avenue that compares is probably NPR, but of course that is not a station that's dedicated solely to music.

Anyway, Bibio mentioned being a one-man-band of sorts -- he plays all his own instruments, recording and layering them to come up with tracks.  He uses a lot of analogue equipment and instruments as well as a drum-machine, which I think gives his music a nice organic-electronic feel.  I came across this track while reading about him and really like it -- it's got a very pleasant guitar riff:



During the interview Bibio chose a song he'd like to hear on the radio, and it was this, which features a great organ loop:



Beach House are from Baltimore and get me thinking about my lack of engagement with local music scenes.  Beach House are big now, their shows get sold out in DC easily, but when I lived in Baltimore they were around and easy to see.  I never seem to check out bands without hearing about them in some way -- there seems to be some additional attraction to seeing a band that's been hyped up a bit.  My loss really.

Last up, these are Darkstar.  They were supposed to come here to play live and I was quite looking forward to checking them out, but then they cancelled the show.  Shame really, I'd gotten into their tunes -- hopefully they'll come at a later time.

TOWNSHIP FUNK

M.A.N.D.Y. were dj'ing at the Muse last week, a fairly new DC lounge/club, and were joined by the UK's Matt Tolfrey (actually it was only half of M.A.N.D.Y., the half known as Phillip Jung). They were there to help celebrate the one year anniversary of the Clinic night, one of the few parties in DC that attracts world-class DJ's that I know of. This night was nicely packed and everyone seemed to have a great time. I went over there right after checking out the film 'Berlin Calling' that was playing as part of a German film festival here. That was a nice way to prep for the night as it's about a German techno DJ who starts losing his mind cos of drugs. The film stars real-life DJ Paul Kalkbrenner, who also did the brilliant soundtrack. Walking down the street to see M.A.N.D.Y. (from Berlin) was a nice way to follow-up from the film (although no drugs or losing of the mind were involved for me, don't worry). I had a hands-in-the-air moment when 'Township Funk' came on towards the end of the night. I first heard it a couple of years back when it was getting a lot of buzz and was apparently big in people's setlists. Since then DJ Mujava doesn't seem to have been up to much at all, which is a shame, but this track still kills! Check out some vids below.

The interesting vid for Township Funk:



A great M.A.N.D.Y. remix, has me itching to scour the web for mp3s:



And a scene from Berlin Calling -- check out the dance move! Here, DJ Ickarus runs away from the mental hospital: