the Power

I still get amazed sometimes when I hear something cool that I've not heard before and it's all thanks to the whims of a radio DJ.  I don't know if online streaming services can be as eclectic as an actual DJ can be, since they supposedly cater to what they know of your tastes.  Hard to say really, but I came across some music on Radio 6 the other day that I'm pretty sure I'd never have heard otherwise.  It's a collaboration from 2003, so not even new, I just never knew about it.  The collaboration is between Terry Hall & Mustaq.  You may be thinking "who?".  Well, Terry Hall is a founder member of the Specials, a classic UK ska act.  I've liked Hall for a long time and I'm not sure if it started with the Specials cassette I bought or when I heard a song of his as a solo singer.  Mushtaq I'd never heard of but it turns out he's a member of Fun-Da-Mental.  Now, I could probably write a whole other post on Fun-Da-Mental, but I won't, I'll just keep it short, but looking into them for this post again also displays the power of radio to remind us of things we'd forgotten, and how it exposes us to massive amounts of random music.  Fun-Da-Mental are a multi-ethnic UK group who are anti-racist and quite pro-Islam.  They were using and singing about these topics back in the 90's, way before 9-11, when wearing  your Muslimness on your sleeve wasn't even a thing!  They basically started with a combination of Asian sounds and hip-hop, and their Asian/Muslim identity was pretty mind-blowing to me when I first came across them as a teenager in Wales (though not mind-blowing enough to get me to hear anything else by them for nearly twenty years).  Very interesting group, definitely worth a further read upon.  Anyway, back to the main topic; Terry Hall & Mushtaq put together an album called 'The Hour of Two Lights' which is a great blend of Hall's singing with Arabic instrumentation -- you can hear it all here.  It reminds me of a bit of some Gorillaz stuff, and it turns out that Damon Albarn had some involvement and put it out on his Honest Jon's label -- hmm.  The song I heard, and that  piqued by interest, is below:

something something ketchup

It's been a pretty long break since proper postings so here I am.  Not that the interim has been spent in an audio-less vacuum, not at all, just didn't feel like blogging for whatever reason, but there are many sounds and links that have accumulated during my time away.  I will attempt to summarise forthwith; please don't get annoyed at the length of the post, it's all good stuff.

First up, Daniel Avery, an electronic musician who's probably very well known, but not by me, not until now anyway.  I heard of him through this Guardian video and then looked him up and was pleased I did.  His sounds are excellent and I'm planning on picking up the album and the Fabric mix in one form or another.  You can hear loads of things on his Soundcloud page, including this:

Next, some video links, and I don't mean music videos.  I don't have the time or patience to really use Youtube to it's full potential, but there are definitely some gems on that site, including a couple of great documentaries I've come across recently.  One is all about Bjork, and I think it was originally on the BBC.  You can watch it here.  The other documentary is about dance music, a kind of general overview, and it's narrated by Idris Elba with his full-on, I'm-actually-from-London-mate geezer accent.  Here you go.  

Washington's version of City Paper had a good write-up recently on the 20th anniversary of a local music venue, the Black Cat.  I've been to the venue a fair amount of times (to see Mum, Ash, Bonobo, and M83 to name a few), and while it's not one of my favourites, it's definitely not the worst venue in DC (that honour is reserved for the Rock n Roll Hotel, which is the worst venue I've been to around here anyway), and they do have a great booking policy -- in fact, I'm going there tonight to see Mount Kimbie.  I found the write-up quite interesting, maybe you will too -- check it out here.  

Lastly, I really like this Arctic Monkeys track, it's got a great groove to it:

  

Only the Lonely

My sister just sent me a forward from Ben Watt's email list that linked back to his website and I came across an interesting little post he's got up.  It's him talking to a sound engineer about Vinyl vs CD's and the whole debate about which sound better, etc etc.  In the end it's a relatively minor concern but still makes for interesting reading if you're into that type of thing.  You can check it out here.  I would say I don't really have a real preference -- vinyl seems a bit cooler, and I like the size of it, but it's also more expensive.  I usually end up going for whatever option seems economically reasonable, but there are some purchases where the vinyl stands out a bit more to me -- the Smiths boxset, for instance, is something that, to me, just seems cooler to have on vinyl.  Or cassette.  Something about the object that is a CD just doesn't appeal.  Plus my main hi-fi doesn't have a CD player on it.  

Pop!

Most people wouldn't guess that I'm a fervent fan of (good) pop music.  Many think I'm just some sort hipster obscurist, but it's not true I tell  you!  I like a good pop tune as much as anyone, but perhaps my definition of good is a bit stricter?  Today, there are a couple of tracks I'd like to write about that I consider to be very poppy, but I'm going to start with a classic from the 80's.  In many ways, the 80's seem like the golden age of pop to me, but I think that's mostly cos the 80's is when I was a little kid.  It was a good time for synth-driven music though, and a lot the poppy music I like now also has a synth-fuelled sound.  Here's some Howard Jones:



Last night I went to see a far newer pop act, AlunaGeorge.  I was in two minds about going to the show, mostly cos I didn't have anyone to go with, it was on a work night, and the band weren't due on til 11.15pm.  I also wasn't sure how AlunaGeorge's pop sound would transfer to a live setting -- I was pretty wary of just watching someone press play on a computer and then have some singing over the top.  I ended up going though, and I'm glad I did, as it was a very good gig.  It was at U Street Music Hall, which has been a consistently great venue in my experience -- good sound, good acts, and a great crowd who are more than happy to get into things and dance.  There's always a good energy there and the acts really seem to feed off of it; last night was no different.  AlunaGeorge are Aluna Francis, singer, and George Reid, producer, but for their live act they also brought along a drummer and bass player.  I love electronic music, but I do think when you go to see someone live it's nice to have some more traditional musicianship on the stage too, and not just a lot (or even worse, a little) electronic equipment.  This way you know that some of what you're hearing is truly live, and you're getting a unique experience, different from what you'd hear just by listening to recorded music.  Of course, there are solo electronic acts who do a great job of transferring what they do onto stage, even while being all by themselves (Shigeto and Four Tet come to mind), but there also those whose "live" sound is so perfect that it's like karaoke (cough cough, Disclosure and Simian Mobile Disco).  Sorry, but a nice light show doesn't make up for that.  Back to the sold-out show -- again, it was a pretty great gig and I'm going to finally say that I'm impressed by DC crowds.  The kinds of electronic shows I like seem to consistently sell out here and at venues like U Street I can't say that the crowd is just full of in-the-know posers who want to be seen at the right place.  Last night's crowd, similar to the one at Bonobo a few months ago, was really into AlunaGeorge's music, so much so that the cliched act of holding the mic out to the crowd really worked well!  People knew the songs, the lyrics, and they really got down in a nice happy way.  Here's the track they ended the show with -- a show that didn't flag by the way, helped by the fact that is was only 45 minutes long, but that length actually felt perfect -- long enough to have a good time, short enough to not get tired or bored.



My last pop-post is by the very non-Icelandic-sounding but apparently Icelandic singer Emiliana Torrini.  Heard her on the radio, this track specifically, and liked what I heard.  A slightly different sound that is still very pop, I think.  I hope she comes to DC.

Close Call in The Suburbs

There are lots of popular bands that I've heard a lot about but never made the effort to listen to. One of them is Arcade Fire (who I keep confusing with Arctic Monkeys - shows you how much I don't make an effort to follow this stuff - if you're a fan of either of these bands I'm sure you're laughing at me, go ahead.) Earlier today I listened to the first Arcade Fire song I've ever heard, while ironing. It's their song "The Suburbs" which comes with a very interesting video, which I haven't been able to figure out yet:

I listened to some of the album via Grooveshark (a great site to stream music) and might pick it up someday, I put it on my list.

Another band I've heard a lot about over the years but never paid attention to is Rilo Kiley. I did see them play actually; back when I liked Coldplay, I went to a Coldplay concert many years ago and Rilo were the opening act. I wasn't impressed unfortunately. But things change. A few months ago my coworker was listening to some tunes and I asked what he was listening to. I was surprised he said it was Rilo Kiley, here's a track off the album he was playing:





This album Under the Blacklight is very country-ish (at least to me). I've listened to the album (again, via Grooveshark) a bunch of times now and quite like it and find the country tracks very charming, so this album is also on my list of CDs to get! That's right, CDs! I don't care what year it is.

Have a lot more indie stuff to post about soon.

How to

I sometimes get turned off by electronic music when it hits me that the tune I'm listening to could've been banged out in five minutes on a laptop.  There's good and bad electronic music, and it's not always possible to tell what's throwaway and what an artist really put a lot of effort into.  With the massive proliferation of digital tracks I'm sure that some of what we hear online was put together really quickly from some bog-standard samples.  I came across a couple of videos that, in their own way, attest to this.  One is obviously facetious, the other is more telling though.  The latter is of an artist called Huxley who's been challenged by Factmag to put a tune together in ten minutes or less, and he basically manages it.  He's definitely got skill and talent, and I'm by no means arguing that anyone could do what he does.  But there is also, I think, a meaningful difference between being able to put a house track together in a few minutes and really putting together something unique and musical that's worth going out and obtaining.  And not just obtaining, but that's worth spending your time on, and that doesn't have that cheap almost plasticky feel to it. I can't really define what that feeling is, but I think I hear it sometimes and it's definitely a turn-off.





Here's a real Deadboy track and, to me, it sounds like something that a lot of time, thought, and effort has been put into.  I hope I'm right:



Sidenote:  Noticing that a lot of "comedy" videos on youstube are basically repeating the same old traits, including the Deadboy video that starts this post.  It's getting old!  

the Wales, part 5, and more.

After a gap, some more Welsh stuff.  Gulp are musicians from a few different bands, but they stood out to me mostly because the drummer is from the defunct group Race Horses.  There's also a member of the Super Furry Animals involved, which reminded me of this guy, who I posted about back here.  I went to his record label's SoundCloud after remembering him (practically his whole album is up there) but decided I wasn't too impressed.  It's not that I don't like his music, it's just that it sounds just like 'Mother' era John Lennon, and I can never get behind anything that's too obviously indebted to an influence.

Anyway, back to Gulp.  They've got a single out called 'Play' and I rather like it:



On the Welsh tip, I came across this clip today from the film 'Human Traffic', which was about clubbing in Cardiff (something I got to do... almost... once).  Watching this got me nostalgic about record shop culture, and dance music record shops in particular.  A time, not too long ago, where all that was available was what your local shop carried, and you had to think hard before dropping some real money on a real object. Having the right tunes actually mattered!



Ok, heard this on the radio and thought it was pretty smooth.  It's from the forthcoming Elvis Costello and the Roots collaboration, and basically sounds like what I'd want that collaboration to sound like!  Although on second listen it's reminding me a bit of trip-hop...



On a side-note, why do so many promo pics of men involve them adjusting their ties or suit buttons or cuff-links??  It's bloody annoying, and this whole dressing-up thing is getting really old.  I've already made a partial return to jeans and t-shirts; I predict a more relaxed style of dress making a comeback very soon.

Last up, someone I'd never heard of til last week, Frank Turner.  Apparently quite big in the UK, and also apparently has some right-wing/libertarian views, but this isn't a political blog.  I heard this song on the radio and the motif of it stood out to me as something I'm very wary of too -- essentially time going by really quickly, speeding up, and years just passing by whereas days and weeks used to feel like forever before.