dreaming wide awake: 09.2005

9.23.2005

Warren is Burning

Is it really so bad? Is it?

M.I.A. - Fire, Fire (follow link)

Something to chew on til Monday.

The weight is a gift guys. That is why the weight gets lifted today, that's right, it's Friday. So, Friday is as Friday does. I'm feeling good today. Although sometimes it feels like Groundhog day in this town, today has been better in some respects. The one thing that I can't seem to shake is the fact that there is a gap, yes a gap, between the bottom of my door to my bedroom and the floor. My roomates cat utilizes this nearly every morning between his awful meowing to stick his paw under the door and pull on it, rattling it and waking me, and sometimes, my roomate up. Clearly, this has to stop. Plans are being made and action will be taken. Keith, if you are reading this, you will no longer be able to do these things. Sense will be made of it and you will be put away for your evil acts of waking us up on weekends. What else can I say before getting to the music? Ah, yes. Hotel Rwanda. What a film. I watched it last night and was struck by it. It really made me realize how utterly selfish as a country the United States can be in some cases, but what really struck a chord was how over 500,000 people were slaughtered and yet very little was made of it. Anyway, enough of all that.

This first guy is a total mystery to me. His website offers very little info on him and isn't very useful at all. Some cool remixes are posted for your download - but word is release on his new album called Pale Glitter has been delayed. Miwon is this guys moniker - who doesn't have one these days? It's the latest thing! Anyway, totally reminiscent of Loscil - which is one of my fav background electro/glitch type groups Miwon spans from very minimal to more in your face but keeps a good beat going throughout the album. Look for it early 1st quarter 2006. Until then though, enjoy this track.

Miwon - Semafora (follow link)

Another guy that I have been really into over the past year is MF Doom. Another great blogger put together an awesome feature discussing his history and his motivations. Basically, back in the early 90's he was part of KMD, a rap group - not awesome, but signed to a major. In the end though, the brother of who now has become MF Doom was killed and Doom was wronged by the label (dropped). He always wears a mask, which is ultra fucking cool and has collaborated with many of todays coolest artists Four Tet, Koushik, Madlib and now Dangermouse of Grey Album steez. Don't fuck with MF Doom - don't do it. Enjoy this track off of the new album, this track features Talib as an added bonus.

DangerDoom - Old School (follow link)

Last and not least is the awesomeness that is Explosions in the Sky. I think that they may have been featured in the football movie with Billy Bob as the coach, Friday Night Lights. Pretty alright movie, if you are into that kind of thing. Calls into question what the hell Billy Bob is doing with his career. Anyway, these guys are that kind of instrumental group that really moves you. Take Sigur Ros and take out the crazy made up language - add touches of The Album Leaf and you may start to sound like Explosions in the Sky. I have never seen them live, but would love to. Enjoy this track - high recommend, now go buy it.

Explosions in the Sky - First Breath After Coma (follow link)

9.22.2005

French Jackson

Warp is the mother of all electronic labels, and Jackson Fourgeaud is their lastest signee, which makes Jackson and His Computer Band’s debut, Smash, a point of interest in certain circles. The mark of a significant first album (think Rufus Wainwright, The Strokes, or Interpol) is when an artist emerges with a distinct identity and a sense of self already in tact. That’s definitely the case with Smash which, about halfway through its 46 minutes of tweaked chaos, you realize has a “sound” – a hard, slurpy compression that is like flabby mice claps amped to the point of distortion and the hard funk effect of gated soul divas crashing in bright, indeterminate gusts. It's what Jamie Lidell's first solo record might have sounded like if he had followed through on any of the hundreds of fragmented ideas he was throwing down. Even though electronic music has lost a lot of the novelty it held for me 4 or 5 years ago, the two most exciting albums this year for me so far (this and Four Tet’s Everything Estatic) were electronic-based.

Jackson and His Computer Band – Utopia

Jackson and His Computer Band – Fast Life

9.16.2005

Friday Fridge

This is the fridge:

This is my Fridge (and now yours as well):

Fridge is the side project of that special someone Kiran Hebden also known as Four Tet. Sam Jeffers and Adem Ilhan join him apparently they have grown up together and are friends. The release which I suggest you pickup at the Domino Site is a heady, beat-infused lovely soundtrack to living type disc. A few of the tracks hit that familiar Four Tet groove of acoustic beat and jangley tones that his fans love, but it borders on the jazz influence that was on some of his pre-Rounds stuff.

It's rainy and fall has finally staked it's claim here in Michigan in mid-September - making it feel more and more like mid-October. A lot of change is taking place this year after a relatively calm time in my life - but all for the better. So I think that this song fits both of those things very well - something to listen to as you sip a coffee and watch the rain fall.

Fridge - Long Singing (follow link)

9.09.2005

Windex

The emotional scope of the song "And Then So Clear" by Brian Eno was like spiritual calibration for me. I listened to it on loop one morning at work and almost quit my job – that’s how much it made me crave change and filled me with confidence in life. It was given to me by the most eccentric person I know; It played this summer while I made a new friend and was still playing when I lost that friend; It’s about change, and fear of change, and razor mountains, and rain smearing across the sky like a massive windshield like you’ve got a god’s eye perspective and the earth is your SUV.

This was year I got an mp3 player and rediscovered my forgotten love of public solitude – the intimacy of daydreaming with headphones on and watching the world go by. I had forgotten how important all those little details are that get blurred by road-sounds when you listen to music on car speakers. This was also the same time I was first discovering Eno, having much of his back catalog donated to me by a friend. It was a perfect way to get into Eno’s music. Quietly, privately, attentively. I came to see him as the true father of modernity in music.

I immediately preferred the ambient stuff, particularly with Robert Fripp, to his glammy song-based material. So I was surprised this spring at how much I loved his new, song-based release Another Day On Earth (it cracks me up how all his album titles manage to sound the same. It’s kind of like Zombie films: Day of the Dead, Night of the Dead, Day of the Night of the Dead of the Living Dead, and on and on) from which this song is taken. I’m not sure why, after all these years, he decided to start writing songs again, but I’m glad he did.

Windex your windshield:

And Then So Clear

9.07.2005

The Secret Handshake!

The Secret Handshake is Luis Dubuc. I dig his stuff. At least, the single that he has put out from the forthcoming EP. (The Secret Handshake's 6-track EPThis is Bigger Than You and I will be released in September) It's kinda guilty pleasure type music, but nonetheless worth listening to. (and driving to for that matter) The label - Dollhouse Recordings says: "His music is centered around his honest lyrics and creative ability to incorporate piano melodies and electronic backbeats." It's almost cliche now to have the piano or guitar meets electro backbeat.

The Secret Handshake released his debut full length Antarctica with a first limited pressing of 1000. I haven't heard that - but hopefully soon....anyone out there heard it? Anyway, get to know The Secret Handshake - yes - you are in the club.

The Secret Handshake - Coastal Cities (Demo) (follow link)
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9.06.2005

Fogger

I came across this great track on my iTunes today from the self-titled Fog debut record, on Ninja Tune. It showcases how technology can serve music best when it’s approached in an almost amateur way. In this case, Andrew Broder is not really a pro turnatbalist, but he uses them in really interesting, childlike ways.
Later Fog releases kind of turned me off because Broder, like a lot of bedroom electronic guys these days, insists on singing. His singing style is not for me, but Fog was a brilliant debut.

Fog "Truth and Laughing Gas" (Follow Link)

I'll take a large plate of akwardness please.

Wow. For those of you who haven't heard of my boy Kanye going off on national tv, well, you should really check it out. Literally it was one of the most akward moments I have ever seen on TV. EVER. Way worse than Ashlee Simpsons "vocal track" on SNL, this video just makes you squirm. Kanye and Mike Myers were on a show on NBC raising money for hurricane relief and Kanye decided to deviate, and by deviate I mean completely ignore the script. He went off and said that they were giving the national guard the right to kill black people. The issue of the media describing blacks as looters and whites as "food finders" I can certainly agree with - Yahoo issued an apology - check it out. But, the last bit of the video - oh man - George Bush does not care about black people. Statement. Cut to Chris Tucker looking scurrrrrred.

Kanye West - George Does Not Care About Black People.

9.02.2005

A Little Bit Mo'

Introduction:

My name is Daniel and I’ll be tag-teaming on Max’s blog as the Rainbo Wasp from time to time. But who are we kidding? Max only finds out about crisp new music from me anyway, so you could say I’ll be here full-time in spirit.
I kid…
I guess there’s no other way to do this than to just start posting the music that has been fishhooking my ears this year.

Jamie Lidell
A little backstory. I went through a big Warp Records phase about five years ago where I was buying anything they’d put out. I bought the first Jamie Lidell album, Muddlin Gear blindly during this time.

It’s unlistenable in the best way. It is the single-most twisted piece of modern music I own, which makes it a jewel of my collection. It’s a slice of pervert pie. Robotic, cut to shreds, disembodied glitch funk that, though completely electronic based, refuses to even quench the ear's thirst with the occasional full-fledged beat. It's like free jazz by R2-D2 freebasing cleaning products... Then, suddenly, there's the 9th track, “Daddy’s Car”, which is brilliant, oily r'n'b, like Motown if Motown had happened in the 2060s. I just assumed they’d brought in a black soul singer for the song, since there was no way it was a white Englishman I was hearing. I was wrong, it was Lidell. I was confused. If you could sing like this, if you could make pop tracks this shit hot and state of the art, why would you only put one of them on your solo debut, and bury the thing at the end of the record?
I have these moments occasionally where I realize I’m hearing a piece of music that is both uncompromisingly grounbreaking and completely accessible enough to be a huge hit single if someone would just market it – and I lament the squandered power of the radio today. This was one of those moments.
Years later I would go through a painful stretch in my life where the doors of great, useless knowledge and spiritual adversity were opened to me for a short while – the only thing approaching a religious experience I’ve ever had. During this time I suddenly perceived the taint of artifice in all but a few of the CDs and books I owned. The only music that I could bring myself to listen to at this time were a handful of classical pieces, Miles Davis’ “Bitches Brew”, and Jamie Lidell’s collaborative project Super_Collider.

Daddy's Car (Follow Link)

This spring, Lidell's second solo album Multiply, again for Warp, was released.

I was alittle ataken aback – to say the least. It’s retro! A little Otis Redding, a Little Stevie Wonder, but not really much of the sci-fi soul he's been dishing out. I mean, his solo act is like Tom Waits Japanimated: completely frentic and apocalyptic, wearing garbage bag suits, camera helmets and surrounded by a giant spider’s nest of wires, samplers, bots and outboard gear.
Look at this guy!:

There is almost no connection between the fruitcake Lidell of this picture and the sunny, pristine soul music he just released. Anyway, I don't know how I feel about Multiply yet. I love Lidell because he works in present and future tense. I’m not interested in what he has to say in past tense though. But I’ve been told by my friend Rod, who's mind is as perverted as they come, that you have to keep listening to appreciate this one. Even so, there's one track that grabbed me immediately. “A Little Bit More” is another one of those moments where I think, THIS would be a radio hit in an ideal world. In an interview, Lidell said this is the closest thing on the record to his live show. It's just him riffing in the studio over quickly sampled mouth beats. He said it took him like a half hour to record. It's genius.

A Little Bit More (Follow Link)

9.01.2005

I Love You, But....

In what could maybe one of my favorite band names ever - I give you: I love you, but I've chosen darkness. Hard to describe the sound that they bring to the table - this song is kinda mellow - with a twinge to it -something that doesn't sit quite right. pleasing to listen to, check out their website - they have one of the coolest t-shirts ever and sadly it's all sold out in anything but an XL. Who even orders XLs anymore? I dunno. maybe they will re-issue it threadless steez. other cool tidbits - this came off an EP that was produced by fellow austin-ite britt daniels from spoon, they have been signed to secretley canadian and have a new disc due out in early '06 and lastly the evil empire gave them a 7.3 which means that it has to be great. anything given a 7-ish rating usually means amazing-ness is brewing.

I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness - Your Worst Is My Best (follow link)