Getty Funk

I heard a song today that caught my attention.  It's by the Belgian band Balthazar, who I don't know a whole lot about except that they're not particularly new, just new to me.  I like the laid-back but funky sound on the two tracks I'm posting.  I thought I was on to a good thing, but not all their stuff is as great.
New:

Old:


I also like the new Ghostpoet single, which showcases his "rock" sound a bit more.  I'm not really qualified to judge musicianship, but his band sound just OK to me;  I wonder what he'd sound like if backed up by a really great band, like Radiohead say.  They could really up the sonic experimentation behind his lyrics and increase the weirdness level.  As it is this song sounds good but the backing doesn't provide any surprises.


Have to keep it brief now, as I've go to go pick my kid up from daycare.  I came across this via Vice and then heard it on the radio on the same day.  William Onyeabor is a Nigerian musician from the 70's who I must hear more of!


A Dauwd mix at XLR8R led me to this remix of his, which is, as usual, great, though quite subtle (so's the mix by the way.  Great I mine, not necessarily subtle... I can't remember if it's subtle or not, but it is great.  Probably.  I heard it a few weeks ago!):


And finally, thanks to the wonders of Soundcloud's algorithm, that Dauwd track led me to this John Talabot one; I remember checking Talabot's album out a couple of years ago, cos it was topping some end-of-year lists, but I wasn't that into it.  I like this though:


Phew!  Hope that's enough funkiness for ya!

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':

Boogie Nights

Just links to dancey music, just because.  Turn it on and turn it up!  Yes, that was quite cheesy.









Also, here's a funny article on the upcoming re-death of house that I just read on Vice UK:

What's Going to Kill the House Revival?

Also read another interesting dance-related article on Shuffle.  Doesn't look like anything new to me, pretty sure Leeroy from the Prodge was doing this stuff in the early 90's.  Still, I like it, shame there's a movement against it really.  Check the article for more, and check out the videos too!

This Vice reading's got me looking forward to the Vice TV show on HBO coming up this Friday, I must say.

Lastly, continuing with my obsession on things UK, there's a good radio show on BBC Radio 2 right now that's going through the history of Britain via fifty records.  Newest one up is on Asian immigration.  Check out the whole series here.

A boring post about other blogs (and an article about XL recordings)

Just wanted to highlight some decent blogs I've been looking at recently. First up is Class of 808, a superb throwback blog about the old sounds of Acid House and early Techno when it first took over the UK back in the late 80's. It's very frequently updated and posts up lots of great mixes -- I thought the sounds might seem cheesy 20-odd years on but they actually sound pretty great. It feels a bit sad to be nostalgic about music that's supposed to sound like the future but it happens to every scene eventually.

The other blog I've recently added to my "must check" list is Platform. Also out of the UK, the postings are Vice-style musings on various things but mostly music and pop culture related. I've not looked into the background of the site as I can't be arsed, but I've been getting a lot of links to new tracks and remixes through them (such as the Adele x Jamie XX one from not too long ago). Worth a look-in, I think.

Lastly, the Guardian had a good article recently about XL Recordings and how they're doing pretty well while the rest of the music industry is tanking. To me, XL is still rave music from the early 90's, but moved on pretty far from there. It's a good read, you can check it out here.