Surfing on sine waves... or floating on soundclouds

Been hearing a lot of good stuff via Soundcloud recently so what better than to share it via this blog.  I'll keep 'em brief.

I came across Aurora Halal via a random visit to Resident Advisor.  I thought she was more of a party organiser and video artist, but then I came across her SC page and found myself getting into the techno tracks she's got up:



Lee Bannon I came across via the Vice journalist Clive Martin on Twitter -- I'm always intrigued when someone mentions jungle so I followed through from his link to Vogue (!) and liked what I heard -- good jungle sounds without much of a retro twist.  The track below is his latest effort and has shades of Aphex to it, at least before the main beat kicks in:

I'm liking his spooky Neneh Cherry remix too:


The Guardian has a preview of Cooly G's new album up, and I've managed to hack it and post it below!  No idea how long it'll work though.  I wasn't prepared to like this cos I heard a mix by Cooly G recently that I didn't like very much, but I'm liking this album.  I like the genre I'm starting to think of as digital-soul -- like Aaliyah but made by a wide range of artists today; I'd put the Neneh Cherry remix above into this category too.  The Guardian compares the new Cooly G stuff to FKA Twigs; I have to say I prefer Cooly G:


Lastly, Gorgon City, who I heard on Later with Jools Holland yesterday.  Poppy-dancey-housey music that seems to be well respected from what I can glean from their SC page (sets from Rinse FM and NTS radio are up there).  I heard them and thought "GTI music".  What's GTI music?  GTI music is music that'll sound good coming out of the speakers in my imaginary new VW Golf GTI.  All of these artists could probably go into that category, but these guys the most.  Quite like the chunky bassline they're putting in their tracks, but could it get too gimmicky after a while?  There's an album sampler up below; check out 'Ready for Your Love' and 'Real':

the News

Yes I know, I've used that title before, but it's OK because the News in constantly being... renewed.

I noticed recently that CD's have become really cheap to buy.  I went by Best Buy and almost everything new was $10 or under!  Depending on your age you may find this similarly shocking and pleasing -- I remember when the average CD was $16 and nothing new was $10 or less, ever, so the hunt would be on for promo copies of new albums in the used section.  But now CD's are cheap, and seem even cheaper thanks to inflation and the fact that I have a real job - hooray!  So I bought quite a few recently -- the new Daft Punk, like everyone else; AMOK by Atoms for Peace after hearing good things from musically-minded acquaintances; the new Yeah Yeah Yeahs, with the Garbage Pail Kids-like cover, after hearing them on Jools Holland and loving the performance; the new Tricky thanks to good reviews and the stream I heard on NPR; and, finally, the new Suede thanks to a combo of the above reasons (Jools peformance, Guardian stream, acquaintance opinions) + a love of the band from my youth.  I'm pretty happy, I have to say.  I still prefer listening to a CD, tape, or vinyl over an MP3.  Mostly cos I think that when I've properly bought the music I value it a bit more; also cos using these physical methods for listening doesn't involve sitting at a computer or using a computer in any way; and lastly because I've made a decision to listen to music that I get properly, repeatedly, instead of just getting it and barely paying it any attention -- involving money helps in that process.

Anyway, I'm gonna stick a few vids below of things I've heard (and by the way, I know most of this is actually not new music at all, but it is new to me) and liked from these CD's, as well as a video by Cornershop.  I went on a road-trip to New York recently and for that I actually bought this podcast -- part of a documentary series for BBC Radio 2 by Stuart Maconie that goes through the UK's history as told via pop music.  This particular episode was about the Asian experience in Britain and Cornershop were featured quite prominently, which led me to reacquaint myself with them; plus the wife liked Brimful of Asha.  I like this song, the video, and the fact that the actor from My Beautiful Laundrette is in it.  Good beat too:



I thought the Yeah Yeah Yeahs on Jools were great.  I never really paid any attention to them but I was in the mood for this type of rock I suppose:



I read some Tricky interviews recently and in one he mentioned how success doesn't necessarily change anything -- he still has the same issues, concerns, sadnesses, that he always did:



Lastly, I thought Suede did a great job playing live on Jools Holland.  Feraz reckons that Brett Anderson's voice doesn't have it any more, but I can't say I agree.  Sadly I can't find a video of it online, so here's a different performance which isn't quite as good: