Friday, October 30, 2009

Sneaky side-blog plug

Check out me lastest review for Popwreckoning -- I went to see the Icelandic band Múm for them last Friday:

Friday, October 23, 2009

Atlantic Conveyor - We Are

I'm sick of looking at craigslist listings for furniture. Time for music.

I've really been feeling this track the last few days. I love how the bassline drives the whole tune. Check it out for some real funk and groove.

This is Atlantic Conveyor's Myspace.
Check out their website for more tunes.

Looks like they are doing a bunch of shows in London - London folks, check them out!

Here is the tune, "We Are"

This ROCKS:

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Oh, I say, you look so super!

Just read in the Guardian that Liam Maher, lead singer of Flowered Up, has died. Can't say I know much about the band but I do love the epic track "Weekender" -- 13 minutes long, captivating throughout, and one of those songs that might make you question your lifestyle. You can hear it at their Myspace page (they were trying for a comeback). More info on the band here, and a vid should be below.



Flowered Up - Weekender from http://stx.vox.com/

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Electric Dreams while handbrake skidding

I was listening to a Mike Skinner podcast the other day and suddenly had a mid-80's flashback. Was it? Could it be? Yes! He'd put on an extended version of "Together in Electric Dreams" by Phil Oakey and Giorgio Moroder! The last time I heard that song was in my cousin's car in Harlow, probably shortly before/after getting a hard slap on the thigh while in the passenger seat on the way to Muslim sunday school. For a few weeks there we'd hear it every time he gave us a lift, and something about the sadness of the song stood out even back then when I was but a wee fat lad dreading the mullana's cane. The cousin (actually cousin's cousin, an angry and terrifying teenager when I was under ten) had it on cassette and we probably heard it in his mum's VW polo with a cool cassette case carrier thing sliding around on the passenger floor (I always wanted one of those). I'm sticking in a link to the song as I only ever heard it, never saw the video until earlier today. You can see a vid of the extended version here -- check out Phil Oakey's hair! He didn't look like that in the Human League. It was nice to hear this song again and be reminded of those Epping-Harlow trips; in my mind Feraz is in the back seat, the weather is nice, and it's after sunday school, so there's no caning to be afraid of. Good times!

[Just a note: I'm pretty sure this was the first Human League-related song I ever heard, and I never did get round to seeing 'Electric Dreams' the film.]

[Note two: Imeem was being weird so I changed to a Youtube link:]

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Viva la house! via: Basement Jaxx

Here's a secret:
I love house music.

Ok that's not really a secret. But its rare to find fans of house music these days unfortunately. All too often house gets dissed - people think its about popping pills and glowsticks. Well, its not, trust me. I don't do those things.

But I won't be pretentious and pretend I'm an expert on house music, because I'm not. I'm just a really big fan, and I want you to hear what I love - maybe you'll get the itch too for house.

So this will probably be the first in a series of posts I will do about house music. Up first is Basement Jaxx, a group with a very long and famed history, who also have had a lot of crossover success. I'm really into their old stuff on their Remedy and Rooty albums - check them out if you want to hear some truly funky house with incredibly unique beats, and of course, lots and lots of good old bass. I find it hard to believe that Remedy was released 10 years ago! I remember sitting in my room and playing those tunes nonstop.

Here is "Samba Magic", one of the Jaxx's earliest tracks, before they released Remedy. I hope this track dispels the stereotypes the house haters have about house.




"Fly Life" is one of the Jaxx's biggest and earliest releases. Does my head in every time. MASSIVE TUNE




This is "Romeo" , the first single from their second album Rooty - I think this song is going to always be one of my favourites.




Put the volume up and enjoy.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Discovered: Harmonic 313

Alright, well, I might be a bit behind here but I came across Harmonic 313 recently thanks to all the hoopla surrounding the Warp20 release (which I'm sure is excellent). The name intrigued me as 313 is the area code for Detroit, but apparently that's not where the name comes from. Instead Harmonic 313 is the alias for one Mark Pritchard, one of a few aliases. He's based out of Sydney and does some nice bleepy 8-bitty dubsteppy stuff which I am likin'. There are some mixes up on the web that are readily available (see links below) but I recommend picking up the album When Machines Exceed Human Intelligence as it's quite excellent and is an actual album, meaning you can hear it evolve as it plays -- very nice. Oh, and 313 is apparently the frequency produced by planets turning on their axes, so there you go.

There's a mix here.
And another one here.
And here's the myspace page for Mark Pritchard.
Oh, and check out the Harmonic 313 homepage, which is fun and if you win the word game you can get a free track!

Think Doctor Who...

Not bothered about the video but I'm digging this track from Muse's new album:

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Cubic Zirconia - F*ck Work - Dam Funk remix

This is what I'm presenting for my first post here. I discovered this funky little track a few weeks ago. As we're in the midst of a deep recession and people are looking for work (some have just given up) - I think this song is appropriate for the times:








Enjoy!

Welcome.

(photo credit)


Welcome to anyone who happens to find this new music blog (or if you were forced to read it...)

We are three siblings with the last name of Ashraf.

This is our blog about music.

Read our posts and tell us what you think.



Who are we? Well -

Hena likes to create things with cameras and stories. She currently lives in the land of Brooklyn, after stints at the University of Michigan and London's East End. Hena's musical education began at the age of 11 and has been non-stop ever since. She likes to disappear into her headphones.

Fahad is a possibly misanthropic non-profit health-care provider with a life-long love of pop music in most of it's forms. He is inspired by John Peel and Joe Strummer, and proceeds to do very little with it. Fahad spent time as a college DJ with turns at the decks during frat parties and weddings; was a Muxtaper before it expired; and a blogger to blag free concert tickets.

Originally a massive Queen fan after Freddie Mercury's death, Feraz then got into Britpop after sneeking peeks at his brother's copies of the NME. Now in London, he anticipates to discover loads of new tunes after growing up on mid-90s British indie music.