With the overbearing mass of paid musical promotion that surrounds our poor little lives, it’s quite easy to become lost among the clash between your own original ideas, and those which other force upon you. Think about it: Good, tasteful music certainly exists in more than just a few small corners of the world. Considering you’re reading this page, it’s likely that your hard drive is filled with it. But despite this, the majority of music that succeeds on a more grandiose scale (especially in the states) is, to say it nicely, worthless. The success of artists like Soulja Boy (and his unfortunate little dance) is a slap in the face to those who pour their heart and soul into the music they make, as well as a testament to the fact that the eye of the music industry continues to be money. Why pay a talented musician to tire over an album for months when you can make exponentially greater sums of money off of a talentless artist with a face, and the ability to spit out a track every other day?
Greed keeps the good music away. Or rather, greed has the money to put the crap in the eyes of the masses, while the more worthwhile music is left buried, and waiting to be discovered by the lowly few of us who truly care about the noise which our ears are subjected to.
Twiggy Frostbite
So is there any hope at all? A few months ago, I did a post on the breathtaking soundscapes crafted by the Swedish group, The Deer Tracks. In that post, however, I failed to mention that it was that band’s record label, Despotz, that initially clued me in to their nearly unbelievable work. Needless to say, having been hit with another email from Despotz, I was more than eager to find out what this update had inside; Long story short, I can finally sleep soundly, knowing that there are indeed ethics left within a few shards of our shattering audio world. The email was about Twiggy Frostbite.
The band might sound a bit familiar: It “ironically” features the same vocalist as does The Deer Tracks, however, that’s not to say that the sound is pushing a perfect parallel. Where her other works feature largely an electronic arrangement, Twiggy Frostbite captures its sound from more analog than electronic sounds. But the real beauty of the work stems from its thoroughly sentimental sound. The melancholy soundscapes created by the haunting vocals and reverbed strings couldn’t be farther from the “one song fits all occasions” structure that so many labels are forcing upon us. Rather, the sounds make for the fabrication of new doors to open, and new buttons to push, all within the confines of our own minds. As such, it seems an almost perfect anthem for the new year.
In all sincerity, I advise that you keep your eyes closed before venturing into such a curious new world.
If any of these tracks do happen to suit your taste, I'm sure the artist would greatly appreciate it if you were to kindly purchase his/her work, which can likely be found on Beatport, Amazon, or iTunes.
Times are clearly changing. Our fellow bloggers at Missingtoof have lost their way, and it seems their last lonely post has turned into an enormous mob of angry internet surfers holding their virtual picket signs explaining that “Nu Rave is dead”. Personally, I never much appreciated the term “Nu Rave”, but the turn of events is nonetheless something to think about. Have people already become bored with the genre that was so impossibly popular not even a year ago? Or are the die hard electro addicts simply frustrated at the fact that a more extensive audience has begun to latch onto the music that once belonged to a couple hundred Roxy regulars?
It was thinking about this that ended up throwing me into my own personal time machine through my collection of music from years ago. I’d almost forgotten that before 2006, electro, new disco, and “nu rave” were all simply lumped into the massive “techno” category, which basically served as the focus of all disrespect and contempt in the music industry. Such a reputation eliminated the possibility of fame in the industry, and certainly prevented the countless numbers of awful aspiring bedroom producers from drawing up a myspace and trying for success. It eliminated the fame, and the glory. And in its place, we saw producers who truly loved their music. To the point where every track was golden. In fact, flipping through this little collection of a time before Justice is making me nostalgic for a musical world that has, in the last three years, ceased to exist.
Seeing as I can’t seem to find any record of this particular artist ever having been blogged, I suppose it’s only fair to share with you, the musically cultured people of the world, the epitome of cool before it was cool, TV Eyes.
If any of these tracks do happen to suit your taste, I'm sure the artist would greatly appreciate it if you were to kindly purchase his/her work, which can likely be found on Beatport, Amazon, or iTunes.
So I can usually restrain myself from spewing burning hot electro all over the internet when I’ve only got one or two tracks to hold back, but somehow over the last couple of hours, I’ve been put in touch with more fire than any one non-Jesus person can handle. If you’ve ever experienced any kind of allergic reaction from saw-toothed synths, please keep in mind that these tracks may serve to exacerbate your symptoms.
As if his ridiculously infamous single “Let Me Back Up” wasn’t insane enough, Don Rimini (who’s name I still can’t quite figure out; It sounds Italian, but the guy’s French. Sometimes I wonder if electro names are designed to provoke confusion), has kicked the more melodic and smoother sounds, and locked the “I can’t figure out what the hell is going on”, loopy saw tooth synths into gear. Needless to say, this isn’t one to miss out on. Lets get ready to rummblllleee!
While this next piece of madness isn’t as fresh out of the studio as Don Rimini’s track, it certainly packs more than enough punch to preserve it’s longevity and ensure that its going to be responsible for many a sweaty night to come. Felix Cartal has added his signature, sharp and dirty touch to an already amusing collection of sounds, which should be good news for those of you that can never seem to get enough smash and thrash out of your night. Major props to you if you aren’t promptly reduced to your knees.
Here’s an interesting little twist in the business. I don’t know what the general feeling is on the pushing of dominant labels in the disco scene, but personally (despite the fact that they do support some of the best music in the industry), I feel that hearing from the same companies (Ekleroshock, Dim Mak, I Heart Comix) over and over again tends to bring a bit more uniformity to the industry than I’m comfortable with. As such, it goes without saying that I was entirely thrilled to be presented with the opportunity to sit down and talk with DJ Marlon Fuentes, founder and owner of the Los Angeles label, Jakk Mode. Hoping to create a stronger and more united party scene, Jakk Mode has its goals set to form a sort of bridge between the divided hip hop and electro scenes in Los Angeles. In support of the cause, Fuentes was even kind enough to hook me up with a couple promo boots, both of which have some serious dance floor potential. Do I sense an LA revolution?
If any of these tracks do happen to suit your taste, I'm sure the artist would greatly appreciate it if you were to kindly purchase his/her work, which can likely be found on Beatport, Amazon, or iTunes.
There’s a certain aspect of the indie electronic scene that I’ve never been able to understand: Why is it that (in a large number of cases), the country that an artist comes from has almost nothing to do with the language in which they do their work? For a genre of music that holds some serious power in a huge number of countries around the world, it seems we’ve developed an overabundance of English speakers. I mean, obviously, there’s some sense in a British, Canadian, or American artist putting out an English record, but look at Daft Punk, Justice, Digitalism, and The Bloody Beetroots; All huge names from non-English speaking countries, and yet all of their albums, lyrics, websites, and promos are done in English.
In a certain respect, I suppose there is a bit of sense in the concept of “appealing to a larger audience”, but who’s to say that English speakers would not buy it if they couldn’t understand it? Justice doesn’t seem to have much trouble making their way throughout the rest of the European countries. And I realize that some of your minds are likely filling up with fury at the fact that I would think to complain about having so much music written for me to listen to, but personally, I feel that though it is indeed nice to hear and understand words in my native tongue, that I have lost a part of music that’s even more important to me.
Think about it this way. Musicians (and don’t hold me to this, because I’m sure there are several significant exceptions), do not become musicians because of their overflowing need to deliver their poetry; They would otherwise simply have become poets. Musicians become musicians because they want to create, feel, understand, and live for the music, and as such, I don’t believe lyrics need to be understood for the message in a song to be delivered. Sigur Ros, for example, chooses to make use of their native Icelandic, a language spoken by less than 300,000 people worldwide, for most of their music, and this has allowed us as listeners to devote attention to the emotion in their vocalist’s voice, without the worry of being distracted by his words. Needless to say, the success of the band has, in no way, been hindered by the choice.
I suppose my goal here was to address this matter, rather than to provide an explanation. Considering I don’t have any real evidence with which to draw conclusions, I’d be delighted to hear from anyone who’s got anything to say on the subject, however, before you go commenting, I should leave you with my latest discovery to ponder…
Familjen
I’m entirely thrilled that a simple stroke of luck put me in touch with Familjen, a curious producer and vocalist from Stockholm, Sweden. His work, though it makes use of the expected driving kick drum like so many these days have come to know, captures a style that I believe its fair to say has not been heard before. His tracks develop in a fashion that could be considered highly simplistic, and yet the huge amount of invisible detail in them gives them a bit of a spark that moves them into an unusually satisfying dimension. The best part about it, however: His vocals (and just about everything else for that matter) happen to be composed entirely in Swedish.
If any of these tracks do happen to suit your taste, I'm sure the artist would greatly appreciate it if you were to kindly purchase his/her work, which can likely be found on Beatport, Amazon, or iTunes.
Despite the rumors, no, Uh Oh Disco has not taken a turn for the worse. There have merely been a few inconveniences, keeping an innocent blog behind bars for a short while. But not to worry, I’ve gone the way of the Arizona State Grad student, and strapped myself up for war. (Hilarious story for those of you who are finding yourselves confused) Let the music flow.
So up until today, all of us were convinced that electro was one of the most diverse scenes in the music industry. We’re always hearing about the ties between the Los Angeles grime and the Paris verb-house and the German techno, and as such, we lean toward assuming that we’re part of a worldwide phenomenon, however, thinking deeper into the issue, when have we ever heard of a major artist coming from anywhere in between? It’s almost always some sort of major city in either western United States, or Europe, and the sheer magnitude of the distances between these cities allows us to forget that we’re missing out on everything in the middle. Ask yourself: What might an electronic artist from Nashville, Tennessee sound like?
Interesting prospect, hmm?
Now I realize that your mind is probably swimming with ideas at this point. Would there be a country influence in there? Or perhaps a more bluesy rock style? Or maybe I’m just being stereotypical? Fortunately for you, I’ve got the solution to this little quiz right here, and now matter what you were thinking, you were wrong.
They’re called Jensen Sportag, and they sound like (and I quote) “Prince, Aphex Twin, and Wesley Willis all wantin ya, sayin ‘Baby I’m yours…’ and such.” I’d personally even go so far as to say they couldn’t deny a bit of a Michael Jackson influence on top of all that. Regardless, this is a sound quite close to, and yet extremely far from most everything you’ve become accustomed to in recent years, and you are thus, dangerously prone to finding yourself hopelessly, hopelessly infatuated. Chimooann-aaahhh!
If any of these tracks do happen to suit your taste, I'm sure the artist would greatly appreciate it if you were to kindly purchase his/her work, which can likely be found on Beatport, Amazon, or iTunes.
It’s easy to forget how constantly in motion the world of music is. With the surge in blog popularity and the newly established lack of dependance on the music industry for promotion, new artists are able to rapidly establish themselves as producers without the previously inevitable wait times, thus allowing for the constant influx of new artists that keep the so called “scenes” in a constant state of motion. Now, there are indeed multiple obvious benefits to this sort of system, the primary one being that it has become nearly impossible to find ourselves bored with our absolutely massive collections of beats and bangs, however, there is a bit of a problem (although I suppose not all would consider it truly problematic) that many tend to overlook: Since we’re all so occupied with the scrutiny of new artists, we seem to have become more than slightly prone, as well as ignorant, to the loss of the old.
Seriously, what happened to these guys? It seems as though they simply released Attack Decay Sustain Release, and then immediately gave up all aspirations for any future works. To be fair, yes, they have certainly been performing around the world, but their tours look to be quite poorly promoted, to the point that if I did not make the effort to see what the boys were up to, I’d have no idea that they even still existed.
Even further, I think it sent us all through a good scare when The Hype Machine saw the release and spread of two exceedingly sub par works under the Simian Mobile Disco name, and it wasn’t until I got my hands on their latest remix that I was even able to stop myself from worrying whether we were ever going to see those two Brits again. Fortunately, they’ve hit the studio with all the pent up ferocity from the last year and a half, and I’ve got a peculiar feeling that this could be a meer wink toward the future.
If any of these tracks do happen to suit your taste, I'm sure the artist would greatly appreciate it if you were to kindly purchase his/her work, which can likely be found on Beatport, Amazon, or iTunes.
I’ve come to a massive realization today. Over the past several months we’ve all likely heard everything one would think there is to hear about the now immortalized Justice. Their acceptance in the world of electro is about as controversial as America’s recent election (GObama!), and somehow, we all just can’t seem to agree on whether they are indeed still capable of causing further revolution within the world of electro, or if the success of Cross was a stroke of luck. I’ve heard people tell me they’ve gotten cocky with themselves, and no longer put effort into their work. I’ve heard even more people tell me that they’ve gone soft, and that they’re trying too hard to milk their album for all it’s worth. And I’ve heard the euphoric screams of the other half of the disco world who believe that there isn’t a man on earth capable of outdoing them. But somehow, I’ve never been able to fully agree with any of these theories. Well here’s the deal.
Last weekend I went to Dim Mak’s Hard Haunted Mansion festival in Los Angeles, (the rest of which I shall describe in detail later), and I was presented with the opportunity to see this controversial band once again, the last time being over a year ago. At first I wasn’t even sure if I’d take advantage of the opportunity; Their set overlapped with Boys Noize’s, and that choice proved itself to be truly difficult for poor old me. I was, however, able to convince myself that since there were so many other phenomenal acts in the house that night, that they would all be competing to stand out among the others, and that this would certainly provide for an incredible set, if such a thing existed. I figured I’d stay, at least for the beginning.
Soulwax took the stage before Justice (again, to be described in detail later…), and oh was it incredible. I was barely able to blink for the whole first half of half of the show, but then it happened. The incident that has finally allowed me to realize what it is that’s so disconcerting about Justice presented itself before me: A tall, bored looking guy pushed himself right toward the front of the stage, and started chanting Jus-tice! Jus-tice! Jus-tice! right during a particularly quiet part of Soulwax’s set. I stared at the guy for a while, essentially because I was altogether confused as to how someone could find a lack of entertainment in a live Soulwax show. There was nothing I could do to stop the guy, so I blocked him out of my mind as I made every attempt to try to get caught up in the rapture of the moment. As the band neared its finish, however, that became an impossible task: It was as though thousands of shirtless bros that can only be described by the perpetual “douchebag” stereotype had come out of nowhere and begun to wander forward in preparation for the coming appearance of Justice. But not because they actually care about the music. No, it was more because they’d learned through the stories of others that that’s what you’re “supposed to do”. When it came down to it, I stayed for Justice’s intro and early set (which was actually quite wonderful, now that I’m able to see clearly), but at 15 minutes in, I could no longer put up with a bunch of assholes that would rather take their shirt off and carry their girlfriend on their shoulders than have a good time, or even perhaps dance (gasp) to this strangely labeled “dance music”.
So here’s the bassline. Justice has not gotten worse. They’ve hardly wavered at all in their constant flux of solid remixes and danceable, as well as enjoyable tunes. The only thing that’s changed is the demographic of the people that listen to them. And I think we can all agree that it is rather difficult to truly enjoy an artist when you know that half of the world will also claim to be fond of them, when in reality, the sole reason that there’s a Justice folder in their computers is to FIT IN.
The Rest of Hard Haunted Mansion
With that out of my system, it’ll be quite a lot easier to express to you how ridiculously incredible the rest of Hard Fest was. With just about every artist I’ve ever wanted to dance to all gathered together in the same place, it truly required a decent amount of effort to simply contain myself, and to keep from running from event to event like a crazy person.
We started off the night listening to 2 Many Djs, and oh what a kick off it was. It was rather unfortunate that the first half of their set took place while I was still waiting in line, but fortunately, the line was directly adjacent from the stage, and I was able to hear everything loud and clear. Pardon me if this comes off as blasphemy to any of you with a more rigid artist agenda, but 2 Many Dj’s show went far and beyond any other DJ set I’ve ever seen in my life, coming to a fair and even tie against Daft Punk’s Alive 2007 show. Honestly, if they’d had the light show and the gear to make an experience out of their music, 2 Many would have taken the cake. Their mixing style is deliciously erratic, constantly jumping between transition noises and lick, and with an affinity to quick cuts, and they make sure to make full use of their plethora of turntables and noise making things. The number of different tracks and sounds that they are able to keep going at the same time pulls my jaw to the floor. Truly amazing. Here’s a couple tracks that I was particularly fond of.
From 2 Many Djs we decided to move over to the Hard stage and check out Simian Mobile Disco. Admittedly, these guys were the most unexpected and atypical artists of the night, especially for a Dim Mak event, but that had no effect on the thoroughly invigorated crowd. Simian started out with their classic Sleep Deprivation intro, and then proceeded to take things to another dimension altogether. The fascinating thing that sets these Brits apart from everyone else is their tendancy to improvise quite a lot during their sets. Their customized setup allows them to alter their tracks far enough from the originals that they become more interesting and curious to listen to than the average dj set. Their ending was an art of it’s own. Easily the heaviest, most intense composition of the night. They even left all their gear live and producing obnoxiously loud noises as the walked off stage, which (after more than three minutes of constant noise had passed), forced a dumbfounded roadie to walk out and attempt to figure out how to turn it off. Needless to say, it got the crowd chuckling.
I’d post a couple of Simian Mobile Disco’s tracks as well, but I think by now we’ve all probably heard Attack Decay, Sustain, Release, and the really hasn’t been much in the way of new material from them since then.
After Simian came Soulwax, the indescribable quartet (two of which make up 2 Many Dj’s) from Belgium. If there’s anything I can say about these guys, it’s that they know better than anyone how to build the energy. When Simian finished, I was flat out weary, and was almost disappointed that I would have it in me to really enjoy Soulwax’s set, but after less than five minutes of audio craft work (no pun intended), they had me going all over again. As a word of advice, if you’ve ever found yourself wondering whether paying to see Soulwax would or would not be worth the show, you need only watch their recent documentary “Part of the Weekend Never Dies” to be suffused with the ultimate passion and desire, not to mention disbelief that you might have failed to take advantage of such an opportunity.
Next was Justice, but I’ve already covered that above.
My final act of the night was the esteemed Deadmau5. I swear, he’s like the Dread Pirate Roberts from The Princess Bride: unbelievably scary, but in a damn cool way, and with damn graceful style. The show started like this: Deadmau5 (or so we believe) walks out onto the stage wearing his distinguished giant red mouse head, and turns on some bouncy, dancy, but light music, whilst starting to bob his head. Shortly after however, a black figure sneaks up behind him and taps him on the shoulder. As Deadmau5 turns around, his doppleganger another giant mouse, except with comically creepy jagged teeth, black fur, and red eyes, comes into view. The evil counterpart then plays some creepy funeral music, chokes the other Deadmau5 to death, and takes over the decks and drops (you guessed it) Ghosts N Stuff. Epic. Absolutely epic. If only I could describe the wreckage that ensued the intro of that gloriously Halloween themed track. Perhaps I’ll post a video…
As well as the track that’s been wreaking havoc on Beatport for the last week or so…
If any of these tracks do happen to suit your taste, I'm sure the artist would greatly appreciate it if you were to kindly purchase his/her work, which can likely be found on Beatport, Amazon, or iTunes.
I can’t say I’m not a little frustrated. The normal process by which I write a majority of my updates seems to have fallen through; In the past, my time was very rarely spent actively searching for new tunes to cover. In fact, the case was actually quite the opposite, in that most of the music I choose to share has found it’s way to me, simply due to the tendency of high quality music to spread rather easily through our tightly linked disco districts. Recently however, I’ve been lucky to encounter a track or two that I can even bring myself to listen to, much less love. Maybe it has something to do with this supposed “recession” we’re in. Maybe the contracting money supply is also contracting the creative pool of the many producers that most of us rely on to keep our spirits lifted. And yes, I can see how one might point out that my guess makes little sense, but how else should I account for the drastic change in the quality of music output? Seriously, check this out:
Two of my favorite artists of all time are Daft Punk and (to a somewhat lesser extent, due to their having not been around for quite as long) Crookers. Both artists have managed to put out works that far exceed the standard, to the point that they’ve created miniature revolutions within their respective niches, and both have done it on more than just a few occasions. After listening to their latest, however, I’ve found myself stumped (not to mention nearly brought to tears) as I wonder whether either will make a recovery from the extremely questionable tunes they’ve released.
Crookers have always kept their style plain and simple. Their clean beats are well cut, and feature an exceedingly minimalist nature, but despite this, they’ve always managed to keep their tracks progressive enough that upon reaching the end, one feels as though he or she has been taken through the song, and not simply exposed to a couple of bland beats for three minutes. Their remix of Isa Gt’s “Pela O”, however, turns their reputation upside down. Literally none of what’s mentioned above is present in this track. In fact, with random loops that simply repeat and alternate back and forth providing the sole bit of substance for the track, it’s hard to find anything interesting at all.
As much as I hate to say it, I think the Daft Punk track I’m about to include is even more of a failure. I’m actually banking on the off chance that perhaps some lonely bedroom producer discovered how to recreate the Rollin’ and Scratchin’ synth line, and then proceeded to use the Daft Punk name to promote his mix, because I find it incredibly difficult to accept the fact the both Guy Manuel de Homem Christo and Thomas Bangalter would find this take on Franz Ferdinand’s Take Me Out suitable to release.
Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out (Daft Punk Remix)
Please children… work your magic. Make me feel better.
Edit: I can’t explain to you how relieved I am to have discovered that this “Daft Punk remix” is, in fact, a counterfeit. As such, in an attempt to halt the spread of an undeserving bedroom producer’s pilfered track, I’ve removed the download link. The stream, however, will remain up for some time, in order to make an example of this unfortunate experience.
If any of these tracks do happen to suit your taste, I'm sure the artist would greatly appreciate it if you were to kindly purchase his/her work, which can likely be found on Beatport, Amazon, or iTunes.
It’s been a while since an incredibly well done disco track has been matched with an equally amusing video. I think it’s safe to say that a large portion of the time, lyrics and poetic meaning in house and electro music are (assuming they even exist) just so flat out awful that putting the time into making any kind of video would do nothing but shorten the artist’s life by means of wasted time (Honestly, no offense to the guy, but look at the original video for Benny Benasi’s Satisfaction. If either of them are an attempt to appeal to any of the normal human emotions, I’m clueless as to what that might be). This being the case, we find ourselves part of a world where a video itself is a rarity; a video of quality is essentially nothing more than a myth.
Taking the above into consideration, I’m sure you’ll see my reasoning in choosing not to waste a single moment in assisting this slinky little visual, courtesy of London’s Bodyrox, in corrupting our youthful eyes. Experience tells me it’s sure to get you feeling a little hot…
And since the sound of frenzied girls telling you to “push it in and pull it back” is likely to be cemented into your mind so quite some time (and because mp3’s tend to act in a similar fashion to morphine for many of us disco addicts) , it’s generally recommended that you grab a copy of this track to support your habbit and quench the cravings. I’ve included both the original, as well as a D Ramirez extended dub for those of you who like to see kids sweat.
If any of these tracks do happen to suit your taste, I'm sure the artist would greatly appreciate it if you were to kindly purchase his/her work, which can likely be found on Beatport, Amazon, or iTunes.
I realize the Lemur’s probably going to egg my home for saying this, but I feel I owe you all the deepest of apologies for having nearly disappeared from the blogging world for more than a week! *Cringe* Now, I could go on and spend a bit of time assuring both myself and the disco starved kids around here that my excuse is within reason, however, I feel that it makes more logical sense to simply satisfy the collectively lustful hunger for audio that I’m sure we’re all likely experiencing, as soon as possible. (My excuse would have been lame anyway) As such, I’m proud to present to you, without further ado, Roger… Seventytwo!
So I realize I’ve I’ve been doing quite a bit of genre classification recently, and I’m not entirely too proud of it. Genre’s tend to be based more off of the mathematical side of music (how many beats in a bar, different repetition styles, etc.), and it’s only thanks to my rediscovery of this particularly festive Rogerseventytwo track that I’ve been able to regain control over my mind, so that I might return to appreciating and grouping songs based on the way they make me feel, and not the title that iTunes assigns them.
You might ask why it was this particular track that jarred me back into reality, and I could definitely spend some time answering that question if I wanted to. I could mention the sparks that flew the first time it came on. I could mention the peak hour, euphoric feeling that only a certain few tracks have ever allowed me to feel. I could mention how it was instantly categorized in the holy archives of my mind among the likes of Daft Punk’s One More Time, and Voodoo Chili’s I Need, as one of those triumphant, blissfully sustained cries of joy where no matter how many times you’ve heard the same 4 second loop, you’re always disappointed when the track winds to a close. But in this case, I don’t think there’s any better way to experience the wonder that our humble little Dutch friend has fabricated than first hand. I would, however, recommend that a buddy agrees to keep an eye on you before you let this little kicker do it’s thing. You’re going to want someone to find you when you get lost in your head.
If any of these tracks do happen to suit your taste, I'm sure the artist would greatly appreciate it if you were to kindly purchase his/her work, which can likely be found on Beatport, Amazon, or iTunes.
