Adele x Jamie XX

Not sure about Jamie from the XX's Jamie XX moniker, I have to say. He's been remixing again; came across this at Platform last week. Wasn't too thrilled at first, but it grew on me after a couple of listens. I like the South American/Caribbean vibes and prefer it to his Gil Scot-Heron remix from last year. Haven't heard much Adele in my life, did look her up but wasn't too interested in what I found. This remix is good though:

Croonin'

Couple of artists I've wanted to cover for a bit and am finally getting round to here, plus one old tune that can be put under the crooner category (not really, but i'm gonna do it anyway). Ok, so, both James Blake and Jamie Woon have been getting tipped for big things in 2011. I've had them on my new-headphone enhanced mp3 player and do think their tunes are worth mentioning. Couldn't pick which version I liked so I'm going to put a selection up. First up is James Blake, who's getting the most buzz. This track is 'Limit to Your Love' and it's actually got a decent video. On initial listen I wasn't sure if he (skinny little white bloke) could be singing this song, but the vid seems to indicate that he is, which is pretty astonishing before you even get to the deep bass and use of space in the track. Check it (best heard with decent sound so you can actually hear the deep bass when things get shuddery -- it's there):



I'm going to put two version of a Jamie Woon track up. The track is recent single 'Night Air' and I'm putting up a live version and a remix. I think the live version is quite good as the song seems to hold up well in a basement club setting while actually sung live. The remix is by Deadboy; I like it on my headphones but it doesn't sound as good to me on the PC -- maybe you'll feel differently:





Last is an oldish Pulp track that popped up recently when I listening to something else by them. Had forgotten how well put together the track and lyrics are, and the high-production-value video seems a bit of a throwback when seen now -- can't imagine many bands having much of a budget for videos nowadays, and it's funny to think that Pulp were themselves big enough for a video like this. But this is post-'Different Class', when they were briefly massive and could probably do whatever they wanted -- including disintegrate:



BONUS:

Discodeine feat. Jarvis Cocker - Synchronize from Pschent on Vimeo.

two plus two

DP + TRON = 2 + 2



everyone said film is rubbish, but soundtrack is amazing. of course it is.

tune-age

Who knew that Jarvis Cocker had made a collab dance track? Not me, but I'm glad I heard about it as it's quite good. Jarv's voice is well suited to loungey crooning -- he could be a good Bryan Ferry if he tried a bit harder. His collaborators here are a French duo called Discodeine. I'm just hoping Jarv tries more of this kind of thing:



While I'm at it I'll put up some other dancey tunes I've heard and liked, some recent and one from a while back. First up is the recent Gorillaz single that wasn't on Plastic Beach, in case you missed it:



If you're in the mood, you can look up the official video for 'Doncamatic' and reflect on how much of a difference to the listening experience it makes to be able to see the artist -- perhaps just listening is better? I had similar feelings after watching a DVD about Belle and Sebastian -- I liked them better when I couldn't picture them. Same goes for the XX -- hard to take seriously when you realise they're almost still pimply teenagers. Perhaps Gorillaz had it right when they stuck to just being cartoons (though their guest artists have always seemed to appear as themselves). Ok, moving on, next is a remix of a Caribou track. I posted about Caribou not too long ago; this is a remix of the track Sun by UK-based artist Midland. It's quite tasty:



Last up is a song by Metronomy, who I heard a couple of years ago. I was reminded of them again while looking up Discodeine so here's a track by them. I've included the video here as I found it to be rather charming (it doesn't hurt that it features England with mostly nice weather):

Metronomy - Heartbreaker

The Mike Skinner Conundrum

The two videos below summarise what I think is the Mike Skinner conundrum. The first vid is the new official vid for what'll be the first single off the next Streets album, Computers and Blues. The second vid is something Skinner apparently threw together on a whim with collaborator Robert Harvey (see if you can guess what band he used to be in). To my ears and eyes, the first song and vid are kind of not-very-good -- the music isn't too great and the vid is just a Pop Video, and a pretty low concept one at that (this is on first listen and view). The other song and vid, though, is, I think, much better -- some funny lyrics, a pleasant tune, and some nice wintery imagery. It probably cost a tenth of the official single's video but it's much nicer to look at. Granted I've heard the song more than once so that repeat listening effect might play a part, but I just find the track to be much more likable. Anyway, so the conundrum is that Skinner can make some great tracks when he does it very fast and they are seemingly throwaway, while the stuff that gets worked on for ages and then sits around waiting to be released doesn't seem as good. I think a new release model is needed here, but sadly most of the tracks he puts on his blog aren't downloadable. He does deride the way release schedules work himself and perhaps this is one of the reasons he's saying that the next Streets album will be the last? If you can put out new tunes every day quite easily it must be annoying to put 12 together for an album and then let them get stale for months before they're out.





PS Just listened to 'Going Through Hell' again and it's already growing on me, but still think it has a slightly over-produced sound

High Tech Soul

Although it's not really very well made - some of it seems quite choppy and unprofessional, as a music nerd from the Detroit area, I was pretty much blown away by this one hour documentary from 2006 (you can watch the whole thing online HERE). First of, props go to my sister who recommended it to me. The rest of my thoughts are gonna go in bullet points:

• This thing has got some MAD beats! I like the original dark, menacing, dirty underground sound of Detroit techno.

• Can't help but feel some love for Detroit after watching this. I like the attitude of the place and the other-worldliness that you don't get in normal cities with tourists such as DC where I'm at now. There's definitely something REAL about Detroit. You don't end up there or go there if you're a faker.

• It's funny how Detroit techno made its first big moves in the music world in London, another place where I've lived. I never really appreciated that connection when I first moved to America. The popularity of techno music in London forever changed the music scene not just in the UK, but in the whole of Europe. The techno scene in Berlin looks wicked - I'd love to check that out one day.

• Have to check out some music from the pioneers of techno - Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson, and Derrick May.

Dentro De Mi Corazon

I'm changing it up on this blog by putting up this track in Spanish. I'm doing another backtrack again because I first heard this song quite some time ago. It's remixed by my man Jay Dabhi, a terrific producer and DJ from Queens who is also one of the regulars at my masjid. God knows how many times I've asked Jay annoying questions about dj'ing and producing...heh.

Check it out! Its a really fun house tune, and I especially love the last 2 minutes.

Moises Modesto & Tommie Nibbs feat. Tha Heights - Dentro De Mi Corazon (Jay Dabhi Club Mix) by jaydabhi