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vexx-ation · 6 months

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12 Albums of 2023

The nature of my current job means that I have pretty long periods where I'm doing hands-on but mindless work. Since I'm working with samples that can't be contaminated, being able to mess with my phone to adjust my music is out of the question, and so I entered the world of Youtube playlists and full albums, giving me hours of uninterrupted jams. Because of that, I've widened my music taste quite a bit and found a ton of new albums, so I thought it would be fun to highlight some of my favorites from this year!

TECHDOG1-7: Patricia Taxxon

There isn't anything I can say about this album that encapsulates the experience of listening, except to assure you that about a third of the way in I could feel new neuronal connections happening in my brain. This album puts all of her talents on display, reaching an almost divine level of vibes. Drawing on all her experiences and previous work, this feels like a beautiful medley of all the things that made her previous albums so beloved. The lush quality of Taxxon's music is all-encompassing, stimulating the senses so thoroughly that I can't recommend anything but sitting back, closing your eyes, and letting the album itself guide you.

Note: Including TECHDOG1-7 is a bit of a cop out on my part, as this is a compilation of 7 albums released in succession by Taxxon. They're all great though, so you can't do wrong picking any one of them :)

2. Music for Animal Cafes: Nobonoko

Though I find Animal Cafes to be one of many absolute bangers in nobonoko's discography, there's something to be said about this album in particular. It has all the brightness and joy present in their other works, and vibes spectacularly throughout its hour runtime. The established mood is jazzy and comfortable, and serves as a great entry point into the rest of their music.

3. SEPPUKU: chocomilk-chan

At almost two hours in length, SEPPUKU is easily the longest album in this list (not including the TECHDOG compilation). It uses that time effectively, effortlessly changing timbres and textures throughout its run without ever losing its core. The harsh, almost crackly drum synths provide an effective foundation for whatever new components chocomilk adds on top, from lush chords to piercing chimes. This is an album that experiments with sound while focusing on maintaining momentum, smooth enough to chug along in the background and complex enough to intrigue anyone who wants to listen more deeply.

4. arc,regn: greenhouse (Halley Labs)

I don't think Halley Labs has ever produced anything but great albums, and this is no exception. Right from the beginning, you're met with lush chords and masterful use of panning, which continues throughout the entire album like a lifeline. Not only is the music rich with complexities, catchy lines, and musical talent, but there is an obvious mastery of the medium itself on display. The album creates a world all its own as it weaves through new sounds and arcs. I wouldn't bother putting this on as BG music, as the layers of sound here are more likely to draw you in like it did me!

5. Pawprint Panic!: Napcast

This album absolutely jams. Calling to mind indie DS-era titles, the bouncy and bright synths are kept moving by a groovy bassline and funky drums. Jazzy melodies soar overhead on toybox-esque synths and piano, maintaining a grounded but playful quality. Expertly unified, it truly feels like an OST dredged from the 00s golden age, imbued with an infectious rhythm and bangers that make you wonder how this isn't on every VGM playlist. Listen in an open room, because this album WILL make you want to dance.

6. anemoia: kurokocchi

This album is all about contrast. The piano melodies wouldn't feel out of place in a lofi jam or a music box, but thrashing beneath is a drumbreat that lends an almost manic energy to the songs. With simple, looping lines that encircle and chase the frenetic percussion, anemoia captures the essence of gleeful, uncontrolled anxiety. The bursts of sound and wild motion makes the album pass by in an instant, leaving you breathless with its memory when the final beat hits. Don't listen after a cup of coffee-- your heart might stop.

7. Mage's Cauldron for Sweet Dreams: Tottomori

And now for something completely different! A reprieve from the endless list of high energy beats and breakcore that I just recommended, Mages Cauldron instead creates an overwhelming sense of calm, relishing in the stillness and silence. With sparse melodies and long stretches of quiet, Mages Cauldron soothes and placates, seeming to slow down time itself as it constructs its ambiance. Building as the album continues, you can see the forest take shape in your mind's eye through the melodies. This is an album to sit by the fire with-- let yourself be invited to the world it creates and relax.

8. Lucky Tiger: Telenights

Ever listen to an album that just *vibes*? If you like that kind of music, Lucky Tiger might be your jam. With steady grooves, carefully placed pads, and a subtle yet confident mastery over sound design, Lucky Tiger creates an atmosphere like no other. The albums slides effortlessly back and forth between more ambient qualities and forward grooves, encouraging you to move along with it. Disparate elements from classical guitar to jazz sax to hiphop percussion hold hands, nothing overpowering the other as the album fuses these styles to create something all its own. Take a sip: it goes down smooth.

9. Sun Colored Eyes: Mabisyo

In the same (vapor)wave as Telenights, Mabisyo delivers expertly with snazzy beats and a concrete atmosphere throughout the mixtape. This album serves as a highlight to the refinement of their production process, expertly blending samples and making great use of their sonic toolkit to elevate the experience. Each song builds on the last, adding more layers and using samples in entirely new ways that form a melodious, cohesive whole of all the disparate parts. TLDR? This thing bangs.

10. music for bugs - camiidae

Light, airy, and with the cutest accompanying visuals I have ever seen, music for bugs wins my vote for most delightful album of the year. Laying the bells and piano with nature sounds gives the album a friendly and soothing ambiance, which carries the soft melodies and sparse chords. A great album for a nice walk

11. Meadow Theatre - Gumboot

In the same vein as music for bugs, Meadow Theatre creates a naturalistic, quiet ambiance accented by soft, hiphop beats. Drawing from a myriad of samples and mixing them with elegance, the album creates the ideal environment for quiet contemplation, settling into looping sections at the end of each track that know just when to change things up before they overstay their welcome. It's a nice album to settle down with

12. Seasons - Kate Short

Rounding out the list is the only non-instrumental album, which maintains a sweet and soft acoustic quality throughout. With poignant lyrics and a masterful understanding of space and silence, Short creates an album that glides along with poise. With lush instrumentals and a clear voice, this album becomes nothing short of transcendental

#music #album recommendations #long post

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secretradiobrooklyn · 3 years

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Radio Decameron |1.16.21 & 1.23.21

Secret Radio | 1.16.21 & 1.23.21 | Hear it here.

1. Sylvain Sylvain - “I’m So Sorry”

I never feel right saying “RIP” or “rest in peace” about an actual human being who is no longer with us. But I will say: I hope Sylvain Sylvain died content with the music he made and the life he lived.

2. The Honeydrippers - “Impeach the President”

And ideally, then we would never have to hear from or talk about that accursed criminal ever again. We recorded this section before the inauguration — may we never forget how ALL 50 STATE CAPITOLS plus the US Capitol itself were being guarded against attacks by American citizens on that day — and shit was tense there for many days. As of this writing, things are… unviolent. It feels like a lull to me, honestly, rather than, say, all that stuff being in the rearview. It is not.

But meanwhile, check that beat out!

I love how Roy Charles is trying to convince them to stop demanding, but they just keep insisting. This song is brilliant, and the playing is — c’mon now — unimpeachable.

3. Niagara - “Tchiki boum”

We heard this song in the film “Perdrix,” known as “The Bare Necessity” in the version we saw via SLIFF. They’re dancing in a club to this, and it’s just a really distractingly good song for the scene.

- C.K. Mann - “Mber Papa”

We just recently learned about Essiebons by learning that he passed just this August. He was a producer of legendary status to a lot of people. Listening around his music we came upon C.K. Mann and this righteous track, which Essiebons produced. I think this is a pretty ultra track, really. Every instrument really kicks it out. I hope Essiebons died happy.

4. Rocky Horror Picture Show - “Hot Patootie / Bless My Soul”

New president, feeling kinda upbeat and hopeful. Really just starting to feel the tips of my soul from where it’s been getting singed. It’s going to take a long time to scab over what happened to us all over the last four years. I’m so fucking glad he’s gone that it makes me really love that rock n roll!

5. Moon Unit & Frank Zappa - “Valley Girl”

Tell you what: we watched the movie “Zappa” recently as part of a film festival, and I highly recommend watching it at your earliest opportunity. It is absolutely for people who do, and for people who do not, love his music. He shows up as a really interesting character throughout his whole life. The film skips through his songs with amazing speed, which actually works really well in his case. This song is with his daughter Moon Unit, who actually slid a handwritten note under his door introducing herself by name and saying that she wanted to collaborate on a project. They did this, and while Zappa was in Europe, Moon Unit brought the acetates to KROC and the song became an instant hit for them. Meanwhile he was writing for multiple orchestras.

6. Jacques Dutronc - “Sur Une Nappe de Restaurant”

This is totally not how I tune my drums, but I love how Dutronc’s drums sound in every song. I mean, the whole band of course, but there is a physical space both in the drum part as written and in the recorded texture of the whole that is just deep and wide.

7. Nyame Bekyere - “Medley: Broken Heart / Aunty Yaa / Omo Yaba (Nzema)”

This is another discovery via Essebiens, who released it on Essiebons Enterprises. It’s such an intense track! The cover artwork is by K. Frimpong, who plays a crazy Cuban guitar style on his own albums.

8. Ros Serey Sothea - “Tngai Neas Kyom Yam Sra (Today I Drink Wine)”

This is a voice, and a cast of characters, I can’t stop thinking about. This is from “Cambodian Rocks Vol 1,” which is full of great recordings. Her voice could shatter glass, and it’s so skillfully wielded — I’d love to hear her in a face-off with Frankie Valli.

- There’s a moment from Paige’s phone archives of a little George and Isabelle aching to ride rides at the Millstadt homecoming.

9. Les Poppys - “Isabelle je t’aime”

These young boys singing collectively about their — collective? 17 individual? — love(s) for Isabelle is even more innocent in video format:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o618mlIaR7E

- more C.K. Mann - “Mber Papa”

10. The Jam - “In the City”

This song makes me miss the city so much! It sounds like everything we really can’t get up to right now. I feel like this song helps me feel like I’m walking fast under streetlights.

11. Bruno Leys - “Maintenant je suis un voyou”

This 7” from Born Bad is so incredible! Bruno Leys worked on just a few songs with a band that included a guy named Emmanuel Pairault who plays parts on an instrument called the ondes Martenot, a super early, very eclectic and ungainly electronic instrument. The fact that he could actually compose music of any kind on it was considered remarkable. The fact that he was able to write such incredibly expressive parts to thoroughly filigree the choruses is what amazes me.

This band recorded four songs, then Bruno Leys left for his military service, and when he came back it was all completely over — the catalog was sold, everyone was scattered. Four songs.

12. Sleepy Kitty - “Nothing = You”

I’m pretty sure this song was essentially our response to our own growing fascination with French pop. To me it sounds more French than American in texture. We played this song with the Incurables once at The Pageant in STL and it was especially glorious. I think of that moment — Kevin Bachmann harmonizing flawlessly with Paige, four different guitars ringing through the chords — every time I hear this track.

13. Plastic Bertrand - “Pogo Pogo”

I don’t know why or when “Ça Plane Pour Moi” became the one French pop song that Americans are likely to know, but it’s a total banger so I have no complaints. It turns out that pretty much all of his songs sound very similar — one-note melodies in the verse, cool vocalese hooks in the chorus, and super-driving guitar parts throughout. Turns out that’s a formula we totally dig!

14. Os K-rrascos & Vanessinha Do Picatchu - “Bochecha Ardendo”

For whatever reason, a variety of Brazilian music seemed to be the very hottest stuff to be found in Chicago’s art-school party nights, and I remember losing my mind to some heavy Brazilian rhythms that just kept folding over and over on themselves while staying so impossibly funky that the whole night just turned into a deep-green-and-dark orange smear of a late-night winter warehouse dancing and sweating and then way, way later, walking home steaming along a cold sidewalk on a tree-lined street.

- Eric Dolphy - “Hat and Beard”

15. Von Südenfed - “The Rhinohead”

I feel like no one in my zone talks enough about how awesome Von Südenfed is. I mean, we only know this one album, but it’s so fascinating — a band where Mark E. Smith is contributing but not in control, and on purpose. He shows off his pop chops and gets to be a whole different character in this one place, while the Mouse on Mars guys get to play new characters themselves. It feels like it’s related to “Extricate” in how it’s constructed, but the music doesn’t sound like something any version of the Fall has made.

16. Fischer-Spooner - “The 15th”

A friend of Wire is a friend of ours.

p.s. Paige here, they went to SAIC (before I arrived) but they were super famous to all of us in the dorms.

17. T.P. Orchestre - “Pourquoi Pas?”

The depths of this band just continue to amaze us. We’re waiting on some T.P.O.C. vinyl right now, featuring mostly songs we’ve never heard, and the everlovin’ post office is misdelivering it BACK to France even as I write this. It’s driving us totally nuts.

18. Nina Simone - “Mississippi Goddam”

The hardness of her voice, the hardness of her experience, the hardness of her words.

19. Fanny - “Blind Alley”

I don’t know who first put this in front of my eyes, but it was a few years ago. The video is so basic — they’re performing in front of a video-psych effect — but the performers themselves are just so absorbing. And the production is so heavy, it feels legendary.

20. Manmadha Leela soundtrack - “Kushalamena”

I think we first saw a colorful glimpse of this song before we heard it. Paige automatically starts dancing a little dance as soon as “Kushalamena” comes on.

This I think came from the “Now Playing” group I’m in on FB: a guy was holding out a picture of the cover of this album and said he’d bought 40 more like it and he LOVED EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM. He just wanted to see if anyone knew anything more about them. I did my best to hear the album he was showing. I think this is it. I think he’s right to be super jazzed about it, we just want to hang out with him and listen to all those records.

21. Francis Bebey - “Je vous aime zaime zaime”

Paige was working on her pronunciation and when to use the ellision — the z sound for the s letter, depending on what comes next — and he said something about, “Unless you’re Francis Bebey and you’re singing ‘Je vous aime zaime zaime.” And she said, “Francis Bebey? I know Francis Bebey!” and he said, “No, you’re thinking of another Francis.” But we all know the truth. This was our introduction to the song though.

- Jack Teagarden - “I Guess I’ll Have to Change My Plan”

Paige was looking for the Fred Astaire & Jack Buchanan version from “The Bandwagon,” but found this great instrumental trombone-forward version instead.

22. Pono AM - "Good Vibes"

This is one of those things you see every once in a great while when you’re playing clubs in a music scene — a band hits a natural home run. They just have an undeniably appealing crowdpleaser of a song that they wrote, and everyone flips out when they hear it. We salute Pono AM for writing this perfect song. They enrich the STL music world. My only advice to them was to never get tired of it or take it for granted.

Paige: We took their band photos at our space on Cherokee Street, for an RFT article. I was impressed because they arrived with matching shirts that still had the tags on them, and it was really exciting to see a new band on the scene who was really good and also putting in the effort to be graphically interesting. We believe that stuff counts. All of their shows, if you got there early, you’d see all of the band members blowing up as many balloons as they could, so there would be balloons bouncing around their set for the whole show, and it made it even better.

23. Sir Victor Uwaifo And His Titibitis - "Iranm Iran"

Analog Africa has a new album! It’s called “Edo International,” and it shows off a whole other side of Beninese music that isn’t T.P. Orchestre. I think of T.P. Orchestre as just a giant force in Beninese music, but then this comp comes out showing so many other roots of Benin City’s highlife-funk scene. Victor Uwaifo was a Nigerian guitarist who returned to his hometown in Benin City and built Joromi Studio. The sound he put together at that place, via his own bands and others’, came to be called Edo Funk.

24. Laughing Man - "Brilliant Colors"

This is a tape of one of the artists of one of the group houses that we always would stay at in DC. Benjamin Schurr runs a tape label and it was always such a treat getting the new batch of Blight. releases for the van soundsystem when we’d roll through town, or one of his bands would tour through St. Louis. They were always interesting stuff and a wide range of sounds and styles.

We first met Brandon Moses when he was on tour with Paperhaus in St. Louis. I think it was his birthday, too. He didn’t tour a ton with them. Laughing Man was our first time hearing him front songs. We always enjoyed staying with Erik and Benjamin and Brandon and enjoyed sharing that green power juice that Brandon gave us — really powered us up for the next drive.

- Bembeya Jazz - “Petit Sokou”

I have felt love for this song for awhile, but Josh Weinstein recently sent a video of the band actually performing this song and WOW, it is hypnotizing. The outfits, the instruments, and the expressiveness of the guitar playing are all so vivid in black and white: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpZVF_kKUJ4

25. Maxime le Forestier - “San Francisco”

Our thanks to Paige’s French instructor for showing us this song. Paige’s version is well worth hearing too, I must say: https://www.instagram.com/p/CKhJfqDDe2q/

p.s. Paige again, if you want to see the dragon birthday card that Evan made, here it is!

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iany0ung · 4 years

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Earth, Wind and Fire’s “All in the Way”- the R&B Banger

YouTube Link

Earth, Wind and Fire is a name that speaks for itself. From funk, to jazz, to R&B, to soul, to hip-hop, this group does it all with poise, intensity, and sparkle. The epic skin-tight production is by Kalimba records, and the track, “All in the Way” was written by Wayne Vaughn, Wanda Vaughn, and Maurice White. This song stuck out to me in particular because this song out of any other EWF works that I have listened to really dove into what I think of as the modern R&B sound. In this post, I will talk about what I found to be the key factors that make EWF sound like who they are, while discussing what about this track in particular makes it sound so much more like mainstream R&B than the other tracks that the band has put out, both in the production stages and more detailed musical choices.

What makes EWF sound like EWF

In order to talk about the different stylings of the EWF sound, we must identify what exactly EWF’s iconic sound is comprised of:

As a trombone player, the first thing I notice on a track that makes me know it is a EWF track is the TIGHT horn section. The trumpets, trombones, and saxophones all mesh together into one sparkling back-up choir, sitting in the mix just below the vocals. Another part of the horns are the super close voicings of the chords, which makes it hard to tell which instrument is playing which note and which notes are sounded.

Another part of the EWF sound is the production technique of all of the voice parts. The way that the voices are mixed into the track along with the way that the EQ and reverb is set makes the voices sound like they are singing to you directly into your ear canals. Every syllable, breath, overtone, and mouth shape is present in the vocal sound.

Now for more nuanced aspects- the prominent use of Kalimba (or thumb-piano) is a part of the EWF sound that I have never heard in other Funk or R&B groups. It adds an interesting bell-like ring to the sound and is even used to add more rhythmic content and syncopation.

Verdine White, the bassist of EWF has such a tasteful way of adding perfectly timed high pitch trills, glissandi (sliding notes) and laying it down when it needs it. His timing is impeccable and his tone stays relatively consistent throughout all of the EWF recordings I have ever heard.

One last part of the EWF vibe is the classic studio-fade ending. Whereas many artists choose to create elaborate or simple endings, EWF has the ending of no ending. The song slowly fades out on the main groove; instead of ending the song, the EWF fade-out makes it feel as it the band is playing the groove to the ends of time and space.

What makes “All in the Way” it sound like R&B:

As a bassist, I was surprised as to how sparse the bass line really is in “all in the way”. Although Verdine White is always a pocket bass player, this song in particular was very simplistic in the overall bass line. Who would have thought that playing a simple root-only bass line that is only on quarter notes with wide rests would be so grooving? The same thing can be said about the drum part. Another thing that makes the drums sound more like R&B is in the mixing- the bass and the kick drum are so prominent in this recording in comparison to all of the other EWF recordings I have heard, which makes it sound and feel way more like R&B. Having the kick drum and bass hotter in the mix really made so much of a difference in terms of the drive and style.

The difference in compositional technique by EWF is that “All in the Way” is beautifully simplistic. Although EWF as a band is groove-oriented, this song in particular really showed how much you can do with so little. For example, in “September”, although the groove itself is pretty straight forward, the horn lines are syncopated, overlapping, and technically challenging to replicate as a brass player. Yet, in “All in the Way”, the horns are playing just enough to support and respond to the vocals and the rhythm section groove- they are responding to the vocalists lines in the hook: “It’s - [BAP] - you - [BAP] - me [BOWW]”. they also support the vocals accents in the verses. The vocal melodies tend to stay in a singable range for both men and women, as opposed to their usual Phil Bailey wails and high harmonies that are the iconic sound for the chorus of “September”. The melodies and lines are rhythmically more straight than their usual funk stylings.

#EWF #Earth Wind and Fire #R&B #Soul #FUnk

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grimelords · 5 years

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There is no limit to how many good songs exist! There are just so many!

My June playlist is finished, and on time too! Please enjoy all manner of bangers from Dave Brubeck, Nelly Furtado and everyone in between.

listen here

Night And Day - Hot Chip: I’ve started a band with some friends and my friend Tiana (who has requested a special shoutout in this playlist and is currently receiving it!) suggested this as a song for us to learn and she was extremely right to do it! It’s extremely funky and probably the most i’ve ever liked Hot Chip because they’ve finally allowed themselves to be emotional and feel the most important emotion of all: horniness.

Infinity Guitars - Sleigh Bells: The other day a friend of mine said ‘hey whatever happened to Sleigh Bells?’ and guess what: they have five albums and continue to release new music as recently as last year. They seem to steadfastly refuse to advance their sound and you’ve got to give them props for that. When nobody else sounds anything like you the smartest thing you can do is double down on your own weird thing. I’ve always loved this song and am totally enamoured by whatever mixing trick it is that enables this song to start loud as fuck and somehow finish even louder no matter what volume you play it at.

Hurricane - Bob Dylan: I haven’t watched the Rolling Thunder Revue thing on Netflix yet but I’m excited to because this is a good Dylan era and I’m always down for more footage of the world’s freak Bobby D acting like a maniac. This song is a good example of how have no control over how music is consumed once you release it because this is ostensibly a serious and angry protest song about a great injustice but my greatest memory of it is for at least a month when I was in boarding school a guy in my dorm would play it every morning super loud and we would all yell the words along as we were getting dressed. Having a great time being fifteen and yelling happily about a miscarriage of justice.

Grindin' - Clipse: I started putting together a playlist of songs with super minimal or no pitched instrumentation that almost totally rely on the percussion and the vocals to carry it. Basically the Pharrell special because he did it on this and Drop It Like It’s Hot and I’m sure more songs of his I haven’t heard yet. But also songs like Lipgloss by Lil Mama, Fix Up Look Sharp by Dizzee Rascal, Tipsy By J-Kwon (almost if it didn’t have the baseline) and The Whisper Song by The Ying Yang Twins. There’s heaps more I’m sure. It was a real minimal style for a little while in the mid 2000s and I think it’s great. It gives you so much space in the mix and it’s a great lesson: if the beat is hot enough and you’ve got enough charisma to carry the vocal you don’t need anything else at all.

Rock Lobster - The B-52's: Did you know the guitar in this is tuned CFFFFF? Did you know this song is nearly 7 minutes long? Did you know The B-52s had a hit with this and then didn’t have another hit until Love Shack fully ten years later? Truly everything about this song is insane.

Johnny Irony - Bad//Dreems: I think ‘are you bleeding?’ is my favourite bit of pre-song hot mic dialogue i’ve ever heard. I love the energy of this song, and what a fun throwback it is to I guess reference Lead Belly’s ancient song about doing cocaine Take A Whiff On Me for a new modern twist on a song about doing cocaine.

Girls On Film - Duran Duran: Have you ever noticed how the bass in this song is absolutely popping off? It rocks. I listened to just the isolated bass track on youtube the other day and it’s my new favourite song. I’m having a big moment with this early eighties art-funk thing where someone figured out you could put huge funky basslines into rock music and completely changed the game.

Love - Lana Del Rey: I figured out this month that my vocal range seems to be just Lana Del Rey but an octave lower which is absolutely great news for anyone that wants to hear me sing this song in a cowboy voice in my car.

Want You In My Room - Carly Rae Jepsen: I am absolutely in love with this song and also absolutely furious at it. Absolutely in love with the way it’s written like a duet with herself, trading lines and overlapping and harmonising. The big ascending guitar line that leads into the chorus. I love how horny the lyrics are, I love the very 80s robot voice in the chorus who also wants to fuck. It’s just phenomenal, which brings me to the the think that makes me so furious: this song just fades out? After the second chorus just as the saxophone comes in? Just as it’s getting good???

Genevieve (Unfinished) - Jai Paul: It's just unbelievable how good this sounds. The bass sound. The way the whole mix seems to float around. The cuts to silence that feel like someone took a razor randomly to the master. It all culminates in this frenetic nervous energy that feels like the song could just fall apart and stop at any point. And it does! It just fades to silence and then comes back in as a totally different song near the end before fading away again.

Elephant Talk - King Crimson: King Crimson is on Spotify now and I’m comically striking them off my list of Bands I Have A Grudge Against For Not Being On Spotify. It’s always kind of surprised me that for someone who loved The Mars Volta as much as I did I never really had a big King Crimson phase. I always liked them fine, and I love this song, but I never really sat down and gave them a proper listen. Maybe now they’re on streaming that’s all about to change and my girlfriend will have to suffer accordingly.

Kids In The Dark - Bat For Lashes: Very excited for Bat For Lashes next album if this is an indication of the direction. She's always had a very hazy 80s feeling, so purposefully leaning into it is only going to be great.

CHORDS For Organ - Ellen Arkbro: My favourite lady is back with 15 minutes of rock solid chords. Something I've been thinking recently in regards to Ellen Arkbro and Holly Herndon is people who make pretentious art unpretentiously, truly believing in their process and outcomes but very aware of and fine with the fact that it's silly, useless or unlistenable to anyone who's not interested. Ellen Arkbro posted a photo of an organ on instagram the other day and wrote "turned out this was one of the biggest instruments in berlin and it was also connected up to two other organs in the same space. Despite that I ended up playing an extremely quiet version of my music. I don't really know how that happened. I will play a louder version in st giles cripple gate in london this saturday if you're around" She posts like Courtney Barnett about her experimental organ drone music, I just love it. As for the music itself I don't really know how to explain this other than if you let it it can be extremely overwhelming. It's also the closest I've come musically to Malevich's Black Square and how I feel about that, which is hard to explain properly other that to say I love it.

SWIM - Holly Herndon: I'm obsessed with this Holly Herndon album. It's just amazing though I think the marketing and a lot of the writing about it is sort of.. misleading? There's a lot of emphasis being put on the machine learning and AI aspects of it, which as undoubtedly good and cool as they are, are sort of overshadowing what's so good about this in a simple way which is that it's just choral music for the future. It feels like it reaches so far back and so far forward at the same time it's incredible.

Too Real/Television Screens - Fontaines D.C.: I really had to stop myself from putting the whole Fontaines DC album on here because quite literally every single song on this is amazing. Just when you think guitar music is well and truly dead it pulls you back in!! Also the way he says 'aaa' at the start of Too Real just absolutely kills me.

Dangerous Match Ten - Scientist: I forget where I read it but some bass player was saying she learned to play by listening to Scientist albums, and so that made me listen to Scientist for the first time and go on a long dub trail and have a very good and dangerous day where I thought “..what if I become a dub guy?”. It’s very good. I don’t know anything about dub really, we don’t really have the jamaican population here for it to have any cultural currency like it does in america and the UK so my biggest exposure is the Dub radio station from GTA III and San Andreas which I’m now learning was mostly made up of Scientist songs anyway. Anyway dub is good, please keep an eye one me and watch as this playlist evolves into me becoming an evangelical dub guy over the next few months and start calling everyone m’brethren in a racist way.

Lipitor - Longmont Potion Castle: Lipitor. This is unfortunately unavailable on Australian spotify which is a crime but if you're from anywhere else please enjoy.

A Lot’s Gonna Change/ Andromeda - Weyes Blood: I am having such a time with this Weyes Blood album. Yesterday I spent all day playing A Lot’s Gonna Change over and over and over and today I spent all day listening to Andromeda over and over and learning how to play it. I suspect this will happen to me with the entire album, it has a complete hold over me.

I’ve listened to Weyes Blood before and she’s never really grabbed me and so it took a lot of people rhapsodising about this one to get me to give it a go and I’m so glad I finally did. This album really took me by surprise, and looking back now I love the development of her sound: from her original spacy noisy thing to the bonafide soft rock of Front Row Seat To Earth to this - an expensive sounding 70s singer songwriter pop album of absolutely devastating beauty and inventiveness.

Wasting My Young Years - London Grammar: I think what's so interesting about this song is that it sounds like an acoustic cover of a trance song. I don't really know how to explain it better than that. The way the deceptively fast four on the floor drums come in, the sort of adult-contemporary The XX instrumentation, the whole structure of it, it feels like a BBC Live Lounge cover of some forgotten rave classic. I love it regardless but it's an odd song as well.

Left Hand - Beast Coast: Beast Coast is lames and I didn't make it more that halfway through the album. On the fourth song there's a verse where one of these guys is doing that rap thing of talking way to graphically about eating pussy. He says lick lick lick it's gross. Anyway this song rocks though. The beat is that perfect mix of hard as hell and a little bit spooky and I love any song where one million guys do like four lines each.

Hung Up - Madonna: In the wake of not listening to Madame X I've been reflecting on how it's been 15 years since Madonna's last true banger, Hung Up, and in my opinion she's a legend forever for this song alone. Do you remember the Madonna x Gorillaz performance at the 2006 Grammys? Where she walked BEHIND the hologram? She still has so much to teach us.

Never Fight A Man With A Perm - IDLES: I love just how purely sweaty man muscle this song is. 'concrete to leather' are you kidding me?? That's the coolest shit I've ever heard. 'You look like you're from Love Island' also quite good.

Speakers Going Hammer - Soulja Boy: I was listening to this the other day and had to keep stopping and rewinding because of how advanced the flow is when he says 'Style swift hot like it's July 10th/Fly chick in my whip with nice tits/Her boyfriend paid for it, I didn't" he's like five minutes in front of the beat and combined with the internal assonance it just sounds sick as hell.

African Woman - Ebo Taylor: Man goes ham on toy piano must see

(I’m Not Your) Stepping Stone - The Monkees: My friend Tiana (who I've mentioned twice now!) came to band practice and said she saw The Monkees last night. I thought no, that's impossible. The Monkees are all long dead, forgotten legends from a forgotten age. BUT I was wrong! Michael Nesmith and Micky Dolenz, the surviving Monkees tour to this day! And she introduced me to this great song which we learned for the band! Monkees forever!

Whoo! Alright! Yeah! .. Uh Huh - The Rapture: Somehow as time goes on this song becomes more and more important to me and more and more groovy.I used to think life’s a bitter pill but it’s a grand old time. Now that’s wisdom.

World Of Stone/Loinclothing - Hunters And Collectors: I've been getting very heavily into early Hunters And Collectors over the last couple of months. I think I put Loinclothing on last months playlist as well but fuck it, it's great. It's so primal and raw it feels like the first caveman who learned to talk fronting a band of cavemen who sing songs about caveman issues and passion. I love the incredibly wide open sound the drums and bass have and the fidgety guitar combined with the unhinged vocals creates this really unique ambience of menace and power without ever getting particularly busy and losing the spaciousness. Feels like yelling about monkeys on a wide open desert plain.

Coisa No. 10 - Marcello Gonçalves and Anat Cohen: I found this song ages ago on ABC Jazz I think, and I absolutely love the intricacies of it. It twists and folds in on itself over and over and over without ever losing the groove or relaxing into anything easy. There's so much tension in it even though the melody and groove are so fun, it's a great mix. I also found out it's from an album that's a tribute to someone I'd never heard of before named Moacir Santos, so I got the great joy of discovering his music via this song as well.

Monologue/Nana - Moacir Santos: Moacis Santos, as I understand it, was one of Henry Mancini's film composition assistants and also the guy that taught all the Boss Nova geniuses like Sergio Mendes. I love this Monologue where he tells the story of a mystical vision that inspired this song, which you assume being inspired by a vision would be of mythical importance and weight and but instead sounds like the theme to a cartoon about a grandma who has superpowers.

Weird People - Little Mix: I need more info about the identity of the robot voice in this song. What is his relationship to the singer. He starts off antagonistic: “get off the wall” then commenting on what happened to her: “fell off the wall” then just echoing her: “on the other side” then becoming her “i’m living my life”. It’s complicated and hard to explain but I believe the robot voice in this song is god. Anyway this song is a masterpiece. It’s an incredibly goofy and great piece of 80s revival that imagines a glorious alternate future where Oh Yeah by Yello is the template for all pop music.

3 Legged Dog - Marisa Anderson: Marisa Anderson used to write songs with words here and there among her instrumentals but it seems that over the last couple of albums she’s decided to stick to instrumentals only which I think is a shame. She’s obviously brilliant at it but I’d hate to be missing out on beautiful little slices like this. I love how small time this song is, it feels like a song you’d sing to yourself more than a song for anyone else.

Nighttime Suite - Adam Gnade & Demetrius Francisco Antuña: Adam Gnade is a guy I’ve been following for about ten years now who seems determined to stay obscure. He self-releases all his stuff in limited editions or on cassettes, some of my favourite things he’s ever done don’t seem to be available anywhere digitally any more (if they ever were). I remember years ago he seemed hard up for cash and he ran a deal on his website called a ‘lifetime subscription’ where if you sent him I think $100 he would send you everything he’s ever done AND would continue to send you everything he made in the future for the rest of his life. It was absolutely great, I would get CD-Rs and tapes and zines and things delivered randomly to my mailbox every so often for a couple of years and they were all fantastic. I guess at some point my lifetime subscription lapsed because he’s released a bunch of stuff I haven’t heard or read but that’s ok, you shouldn’t be able to buy someone’s eternal soul for $100.

Adam Gnade has developed his own style of folk music where he just recites a sort of prose poetry over music and it’s incredible. In the hands of anyone else it could feel overly pretentious, and he pretty often rides that line. He’s reaching for a sort of poet laureate of Americana ideal but very often he actually grabs it. His writing is great and magnifies the minor details of normal life into larger symptoms of the American mindset, like depression-era songs of marginalised and exploited people individualised and updated for the modern era. Most of the time he backs himself on a lazily strummed guitar or banjo and his music sounds like sitting on the front step or laying down in the tall grass, but for this song he’s teamed up with Demetrius Francisco Antuña for some real Godspeed feeling dark soundscapes and it’s really something.

We Are The Same - Lurch And Chief: I think it's a damn shame that Lurch And Chief broke up before they even put an album out because this song is a damn classic and I have begun praying every day for the return of Lurch and/or Chief. I love a big voice and there's two distinctly huge voices in this song fighting for position.

983/Near DT, MI - Black Midi: Fucking hell I love this Black Midi album. I'm so, so glad it exists. It feels like the next generation of the Slint Hella, Tera Melos etc lineage of math rock and I simply can't get enough of it. Pump it directly into my veins I'm obsessed with it.

Take Control - Amerie: I just screamed out loud in my car hearing this song for the first time because it samples Jimmy, Renda Se by Tom Zé one of my absolute favourite songs ever. And samples it amazingly, totally transforms it into something new while keeping the spirit of the original. Do you ever feel like a song was just made for you personally? It’s a very kind thing of my vlogger wife Amerie to do for me but I guess that’s just how she is. Also, thanks to Spotify’s new feature where you can see the actual credits for songs I got to find out that Hall And Oates are credited on this because it basically interpolates the the whole verse melody from You Make My Dreams Come True which I didn’t even realise until I looked up why they were credited.

Unsquare Dance - Dave Brubeck: Dave Brubeck's brain is huge. I can't belive it's possible to make 7/4 this funky. How come nobody else ever ripped off this rhythm? It deserves to be a whole genre. I also totally love the piano solo near the end where it turns into like a funky 7/4 stride and then abruply ends with a shave and haircut like it's 1925.

Suddenly - French Vanilla: Get a load of this fucking slice of dance punk that Discover Weekly served me up. I haven't even listened ot the album yet because I just love this song so much I'm stuck on it. Singing "I like the nightlife! I'm in the spotlight!" like you're being hunted with a knife? Incredible. The impromptue glossolalia about halfway through? Incredible. Everything about the saxophone? Incredible

Maneater - Nelly Furtado: There's nothing deft or subtle about Timbaland. Everything he does is just so heavy handed and thick. The drums in this are so straightforward and they sound like garbage cans.. Nothing ever plays at he same time as anything else . It's like a gorilla learned to play and it's absolutely fucking sick. And then the whole rest of the song! His insanely thick buzzy synth lines against the big beautifully stack clean harmonies

I, The Witchfinder - Electric Wizard: I've been getting back into Skyrim because I have a little worm living in my brain and I've discovered a good trick is to turn off the game music and turn on Electric Wizard instead. It increases the ambience because it feels like if you did an x-ray of the Dragonborn's head this is all that would be in there. It's just stoner metal in there and no other thoughts.

Music Sounds Better With You - Stardust: Can you believe how lucky we are to live in a world where the greatest song ever written is finally available on spotify? You can just listen to this any time of the night or day and immediately improve your life.

Don’t Chew - Spilled Oats: Here’s a very good and underexplored idea: what if guitar music but it sounds like chopped and screwed? Absolutely dynamite.

As an extra bonus treat here the absolute best ever chopped and screwed channel I’ve found on youtube, please explore Scobed & Robed: https://www.youtube.com/user/scottalexanderburton

listen here

#playlists

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thesinglesjukebox · 4 years

Video

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RINA SAWAYAMA - STFU!

[6.50]

Not a bitter Sisters of Mercy side project cover...

Michael Hong: This one goes out to the boy at elementary school who asked me why my eyes were so small. Who then refused to accept my explanation that it was a sunny day but insisted it was because of my "genes." But "STFU!" isn't anywhere as bold as it's instrumental would have you believe. The guitar does all the heavy lifting while Rina Sawayama's attempt at sinister comes out more as withdrawn. In fact, Rina Sawayama only manages the slight satisfaction of an imagined retaliation, all the while laughing off the incident with awkward discomfort, directly playing into the trope of a model minority. "Shut the fuck up." Here, it's unfortunately more of a wish than a command, the type of reaction you'd expect from a shy elementary school-aged boy shrugging off a comment about the size of his eyes. [4]

Julian Axelrod: Every rapper under 30 wants to sound like Evanescence, but only Rina can sing like Amy Lee. [7]

Joshua Minsoo Kim: Rina Sawayama still has trouble writing catchy songs, but "STFU!" at least eschews such an approach to her benefit. The boilerplate nu-metal is mostly exciting for how it's contrasted with choruses that replace overt aggression with poised snark: "Have you ever thought about taping your big mouth shut?/'Cause I have many times" she elegantly sings over music box melodies. It's in these passages that she feels most threatening. [6]

Alfred Soto: Beginning with a screech and anchored by identikit metal power chords, "STFU!" generates the enthusiasm of a variety show banger complete with mildly offensive hook. [6]

Ian Mathers: After "Cherry", which if anything I may have slightly underrated at the time, I certainly didn't expect the next Rina Sawayama song I heard to start off sounding more like Deftones, but then again I like them and Sawayama has nailed the balance of including some floaty parts (and in this case, making them pretty viciously funny, even if there's more justified aggression than actual joy to her laughter here) to make all the pummeling even more effective by contrast. If you've somehow gotten this far in life without understanding where the frustration is coming from, I highly recommend the video version; those first 90 seconds ought to have anyone grinding their teeth. [8]

Vikram Joseph: First things first: the riff is absolutely monstrous, and the video is great (and contextualises the song nicely). I'm just not sure the contrasts are either as jarringly effective or as interesting as Rina Sawayama thinks they are, much like when Grimes and Poppy tried a similar trick. In the verses her vocals semi-successfully occupy an eerie middle-ground between R&B and downshifted nu-metal, but the chorus doesn't work for her at all - musically undercooked, and aiming for a playful menace vocally but missing by some distance. "Have you ever thought about taping your big mouth shut? Cos I have, many times," is... not a good line (although I appreciate the sentiment) and is degraded further by a delivery that sounds damp and twee. It's fun to see Rina fearlessly gerrymandering the boundaries of her genre, but "STFU!" is a riff in search of a song, and makes me want to dig out White Pony far more than it makes me want to press repeat. [5]

Will Adams: It's the same nu-metal-meets-pop-chorus trick that Poppy and Grimes have done, but by focusing less on contrast for contrast's sake, Rina Sawayama lets her statement roar through. Extra point for the mid-song cackle that swoops into a witchy melody. [7]

Katherine St Asaph: I, for one, love the attempts on the part of the Extremely Online contingent of pop stars like Grimes, Poppy, and now Rina Sawayama to take the sound of part back to the hyper-specific part of time that produced The Lucy Nation or Dollshead or Republica (god bless you, Charli XCX, you tried, even if you don't think it was worth trying). [8]

Brad Shoup: The dream of Total Request Live realized: plaintive dance-pop and limber nu-metal melded together. The streams draw close and meld and break away; Sawayama hits about a dozen emotional registers without once holding for applause. Maybe, having currently immersed myself in the music of 20 years ago, I'm overrating this. But it's the boldest strike yet in the modern rock revival. [9]

Joshua Lu: The garishness is the point; Rina Sawayama's previous style of throwback pop/R&B wouldn't work over this unmediated rebuttal to racial microaggressions. But once the surprise of hearing her belt over a gritty electric guitar wears off, you're left with not much more than a decent Poppy track and a message that doesn't require over three minutes to be conveyed. [5]

Alex Clifton: Please don't stfu, Rina. Keep going. I want more of this. [7]

Kylo Nocom: The video contextualizes the anger with micro-aggressions, yet the universality of the song itself ruins the impact. Any of the delicious sludge one could get from the verses has its effect negated by a chorus that amounts to a bad meme. [6]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox]

#Rina Sawayama #pop #music #music review

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adelyn-talks-vgm · 5 years

Text

OST #2 - Pilotwings 64

Pilotwings 64 Developers: Nintendo EAD, Nintendo R&D3, Paradigm Simulation Publisher: Nintendo Composer: Dan Hess Released June 23, 1996

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funky fresh tunes? in my nintendo 64 launch title?! it’s more likely than you think

pilotwings 64 released for the N64 at the same time as mario 64 in all regions, along with the N64 itself. 64. the sequel to a launch title of the SNES, this game was kind of unprecedented (not unlike the N64 itself), and ended up being somewhat of a hit when it came out. nowadays, it’s a bit lesser known, but are we looking at a hidden gem here or something that faded into obscurity for a reason? let’s listen!

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right away, this game lets you know what the H-E-double-funk is goin’ on, and i mean double funk. these really engaging synth melodies intertwining with each other are a staple of the genre, as is the crazy bassline, taking some laps around this bluesy G scale, octave jumps all but prevalent throughout. don’t even need to mention the drums, giving us a very subtle amen break, don’t think i didn’t catch that dan

this funk is further expressed in the “mission select“ and “character select“ themes, with all kinds of almost solo-like melodies that feel so raw that you can just tell that this guy’s a beast on the keys and played all this himself on a midi controller and put it in the game. of course you’ve also got the characteristic basslines and moderated drum patterns that make all the syncopation stand out, and some juicy chords to top it off.

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it’s in the immediate next track “hanglider” that the game already breaks its own precedent by assuming the position of what i like to call “chill nintendo sports game music” for lack of a better term, with such characteristics as cool pad instruments, a mildly simple bass, a good mellow beat, and some gosh dang flute. it’s a classic sound that’s cropped up quite a few times since, i’ve also heard it described as “adventure,” regardless it’s a sound i absolutely adore everywhere i hear it

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immediately following, of course, is a return to the basics, reminding you that this is still a funkathon. not much to say on this one other than that it’s just so groovin’. i like the buildup of energy leading up to 1:21 before it immediately drops to this nutty organ solo, it really doesn’t hold back

the next couple songs are quite a bit different from the rest too, with “gyrocopter“ being this really cool DnB piece (i think?) with some very 90′s progressions like with EMaj to DMaj at around 1:11, a progression i heavily associate with this era of VGM especially. “cannon”, on the other hand, is just plain shenanigans music, which i always thoroughly enjoy

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here with “skydiving” we see a tremendous return to form once again with the grooviest thing i think i may have ever heard on the N64 now that i think about it, with its bonkers syncopation establishing the aforementioned groove, those gnarly synths laying down the line, and the bass doing what it does best. (side note: this game sure loves its Gs, don’t it?)

we see (or rather hear) another departure in “jungle hopper” with some more “adventure”-type music that i would compare to mario party music but that game isn’t out yet! either way, i love the feel of this track and other tracks like it, which is good because there’s a lot of those up ahead

and then of course, we have the main event:

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“birdman”. the king of chill N64 bangers, and it’s only been 2 OSTs. this is the track that everyone knows from this game, and for good reason! it sounds absolutely sublime in every way possible - the chords, the instrumentation, the ballad drumbeat, that oh-so-smooth bass, the fact that it held my attention for all 3 minutes and 30 seconds of its loop - this song’s got it all, and ends up being the most definitive piece of this otherwise supremely funky soundtrack.

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of course, even though birdman is the last main song, i can’t go without mentioning “results”. this song stands as almost a mix of birdman and the others, with its laid back groove topped with a tasty bassline and some nice comping over this very smooth progression, wrapping things up pretty nicely.

there’s also the music that plays upon completion, “license achieved”, that manages to be funky even for what it is: a triumphant ending theme with a sense of heroism to it.

and how could i ever leave out the perfect cap to this phenomenal collection of songs: the credits, baby! it starts with a relatively quick beat before immediately diving into this supremely funky number, taking it a couple beats down to achieve maximum funk. truly a marvelous thing, this soundtrack

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so i’d say Yes, this game is indeed a hidden gem, a well-hidden one at that! though oddly in plain sight, since it was a launch title, but it would quickly be overshadowed by its twin brother. overall, this soundtrack is incredible, and some of the grooviest tracks i’ve ever heard on the N64, and in general! leave it to dan hess to write one of the finest soundtracks i’ve heard yet and then dip.

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thank you very much for reading! if you have any questions or feedback, send me a message and i’ll try to get to it as soon as i can. check back here soon for Saikyō Habu Shōgi, the secret third launch title that only japan got - our first JP-exclusive! see you then!!

additional note: if you want another in-depth look at this game’s soundtrack (in even more music-theory-related detail), check out this (kinda old) video on it by 8-bit music theory! he makes excellent content about video game music, and i implore you to check out his other videos as well!

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RESULTS:

Top 3 Tracks: 1. Birdman 2. Credits 3. Skydiving

FINAL SCORE: 9.5/10

#vgm #video game music #nintendo 64 #N64 #pilotwings #pilotwings 64 #dan hess #n64 ost ratings

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sole-cuore-amore-e-droga · 5 years

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Tel Aviv 2019: Straight outta Finland to Eurovision with a meme icon and his side-kick

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“heeeeeey what is that song on that video???” Definitely not Darude - Sandstorm. Grow the fuck up.

I mean that they basically threw off the open call for songs from Finnish artists, instead opting for having one artist national final, usually one very known but very gettable-bored-of name so that they could get some more viewership rather when they pick a random nobody from a bunch of other random nobodies. Last year YLE got themselves an artist whose Eurovision ticket was long overdue, but this year they went the extra step and brought us HIM.

No, not that HIM. They can't go anyway as they've already disbanded. I'm talking about HIM.

Yes, THAT HIM. Meet Toni-Ville Henrik Virtanen, which thankfully has a pseudonym to publish his music with - Darude. Almost 20 years ago he published this beautiful techno single "Sandstorm" with lyrics like "du du du du du du du du du du du du". And now it's become the big-ass target of memery for the past few years on the Internet, with Darude being very well aware of it all - I don't think he has escaped questions about "Sandstorm" now that the Eurovision interviewers media is on horizon and interviews literally every single representative, no matter if they're shy or unpopular with the bookies at all.

And even if "Sandstorm" was the only thing to shake his tiny little Finnish world, it did not break Darude to be just a one-hit wonder (well he still looks like one but yeah) and he's got more music out ever since. And it probably sounds a little too tragic when YLE resorts to just nagging and begging Darude to represent their nation, even kinda secretly hoping that thanks to him Finland can have a qualification just solely for the meme factor. Darude even said so that he at first rejected their calls, but this year became THE year for him to go, and he's not alone obviously - his credited vocalist friend for this ride to Tel Aviv became Sebastian Rejman, a bit washed-up media star who already did some collaborating with Darude.

So the format was basically the same for this year's UMK - artist announced separately, then each of their 3 songs gets published every week on a specific weekday, with single cover art and a music video already, and the Finnish people together with international juries vote for the best track. Simple as that. Unlike with Saara Aalto though, all Darude & Sebastian songs were barely even distinct from one another in sound - just techno songs that have a piece of "Sandstorm" with themselves. Well only 2 do anyway. But still, techno/house songs to listen to on the radio when you're driving and minding your own business. And I had hard time picking favourites but all of them were alright I guess. Yet somehow my least favourite happened to win... and that was "Look Away", very much so inspired by natural disasters and how do we all ignore everything around us. No matter if it's a storm or hurricane or tornado or wind throwing sand at our eyes.

I don't know why the song didn't click with me all that much at first, I suppose it was because it's just a mindless gloomy techno song that raises global awareness (we already have Denmark talking about that, but they're insisting that "love is forever", while Finland is just... getting up more seriously in all this), and besides that, it's just incredibly repetitive. It consists more of the pre-chorus-ish chorus (I mean the line "is it in my head? Am I the only one?" and that other line preceding) and the actual chorus that mostly goes like "look away, look away, look away...". Even to the point when the song ends with some additional “look away”ing but under a different drum beat. What's it with Finns having a passion for the word "away"? We already had seen them sending a "Sing It Away", which was basically a cheer-up tune telling you to sing your problems off... while this year? We're trying to NOT look into the problems dead in the eye. We're looking... erm, uh, away.

But now I do have to say that I somewhat like it. Tell it to ya - the B minor chord is possibly one of my least favourite music keys, so I might as well be a little bit more negative on it if takes the song with itself to sound incredibly dull and painfully meh. So thankfully we'll be hearing it live half a step lower (idk if that's what it is with most EDM singers in Eurovision that shit like this can be possible, as well as idk why are they allowed into Eurovision in the first place. But seriously, why can't you just choose the same key you sang in in studio for Eurovision...), which made the song sound better to me - as a Nightcore junkie, I am passionate about hearing songs in different keys all the darn time, to see in what key would a certain song sound the best. It's usually the song's key that makes me like a song better or worse live rather than a live performance itself (though in some NFs I can see which of my favourite acts are DoA by not even emoting towards them - my emotion has to be evoked, and if I evoke it on purpose, well then, I'd just rather stay motionless completely on anything and only yelp if a song causes me to do this unexplainedly). We'll see how Sebastian will execute his singing live. As for now, he's the captain of this sinking ship that hit a small iceberg (another one of the disasters we usually "look away" from until it's found in our history books). Not Darude. Darude's just merely a musical hold-up of the disaster. It all has to depend on the vocalist and if the staging clicks with the audience. Sure, Darude can put on a red wig and green sunglasses so that he could click with the meme audience, but that won't get the Finns far.

So I like this song, it actually has some cool musical moments thrown in (I like the piano for one), I can enjoy this off my free time. But Estonia does it better at the "Finno-Ugric EDM-ish entry about Mother Nature's tantrums" category and I ain't even sorry for saying this. But I gotta be sorry for Darude. This year's UMK had the lesser care about it because... well, these songs weren't exactly inspiring or anything, and with people wanting something groundbreaking, their hopes kept on vaning away with each and every song release of the UMK entries': "oh so the next 2 two songs will be good right?" "oh so then the last one will be the best one, yeah right?" "...oh, okay then .-." And him, as the Finnish meme king, should have deserved a better year for a better Eurovision stint, so he could have become something à la Epic Sax Guy. Right now I mostly see a middle-aged DJ with 2 kids, not a redhead dude with green sunglasses looking shadily on us. And that's okay sometimes because memes don't necessarily need to be remembered for memes (just like I mostly remember Kanye West for music, and then memes come second), but Finland's gonna take a miracle to get through, and I hardly see any. That's an aina mun pity.

Approval factor: Eh, it's alright, but I would certainly not hold it up to high regards post-contest? lol.

Follow-up factor: it's kiiiiinda bleak knowing that after giving us probably one of the most favourable dark horse efforts for Eurovision they're now going down the dancier route, with one entry after being a banger, the other being a dad banger. Ah well. It doesn't flow so neatly in my eyes, it seems.

Qualification factor: almost dead in the tracks. Finland flows anywhere they can, having a lot of bad luck for 3 years this decade, and I doubt that the juries will be supporting this heavily, considering they are better at rating good vocalists over bad ones, so I don't think this will sail through. But I secretly have hopes in this. It's not that bad, but Estonia is in this semi too, and it's a friendlier EDM track, so I don't quite think that repetitive will out-compell the good formulaic. Plus, Sebastian has a lot to fix vocally, and I doubt that he will carry Finland any further if he doesn't fix anything, so so far the chances of Finland aren't looking up imo. Bottom 5 at the semi is more likely if not already the actual outcome. Maaaaybe 10th in the semi at best, but I doubt it.

NATIONAL FINAL BONUS

The more this section pops up in my works, the less I wanna recap national finals anymore. I hope there’s more breather moments with me having to review a lot of internal selection songs in between the ones from NFs, because this whole season was an utter disaster, and it’d help if the next one isn’t. So let’s check in on Finland's selection’s best:

• But seriously, did anyone ever see Darude as a Finnish representative coming??? No??? Me neither. I was just sitting there, waiting to see if there's a hope for Mikael Saari (you know, that balladeer guy from previous UMKs - I do believe some audiences love him just as much as Saara Aalto, who only was on one UMK and one Euroviisut) to be announced on this special separate programme. Nope - the trilingual hosting trio of the programme that included Krista Siegfrids in it as the token Swedish speaker just happened to happily proclaim Darude as THE Finnish hopeful... and the world was s h o o k e t h. Just look at him go. His smug grin is still iconic on here.

• During the wait for all the UMK songs to pile up, the excitement for Darude faded away and everyone moved on to support other countries. I can't blame them, because I have found like one decent song this UMK that's still worth listening to twice a year or so - "Superman". Where Darude becomes the everyday hero for ordinary people that have difficulties in live to do mundane stuff. Maybe this song would have made him look like a better meme than his current entry would have? Just watch him go on his DJ booth dressing like a knock-off superhero because EBU doesn't allow blatant advertising. A way better gimmick than Gromee's snakey hands. Alas, no one will have to hear "Superman" anymore. Granted it's just an EDM song just like any other, but somehow I liked it best, end of.

youtube

• There's at least one memorable screenshot from UMK as well, so I'm happy with that. I saw this pop up on my Twitter time line and I could not stop laughing inside. Seriously. Krista and this other guy should host ESC provided Eurovision is ever coming back to Finland. They had a lot of iconic outfit changes during the NF itself (and the NF itself had "Look Away" with some dancer on a cube but they scrapped the tall cube for Tel Aviv entirely), but those floral onesies are my favourite.

Now I kinda hope that there’s something that will alarm YLE in the meantime that Finland needs a better approach for Eurovision and we’ll see another fully-fledged UMK in the works next year, and then Finland can be great again. For now, I’ll just wish “onnea” to Darude and Sebastian, with hopes that people don’t look away from their song at all! (but most likely they will so what’s the point.)

#eurovision 2019 #tel aviv 2019 reviews #finland 2019 #darude ft. sebastian rejman #look away #finland

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stockfox742 · 3 years

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Vst Plugin Fruity Chorus

Chorus Pedal Vst Free

Free Vst Plugins

Free Chorus Plugin

Hello everyone!This video officially announces the release of my first audio plugin: Virgin Choir. The video demonstrates how this plugin sounds without any.

Chorus plugins, vst Chorus plugins, buy Chorus plugins online, Chorus effects, download Chorus plugin, free trial, rtas, aax, au at Pluginboutique.com.

FL Studio is a serious player in the DAW scene, evidenced by MusicRadar crowning it the number 1 DAW in the world for 2020. In competition with legendary names like Cubase, Ableton and Logic, that’s no mean feat. Initially launched in 1998, and known as ‘Fruity Loops’ until 2003, it was considered more of a toy than a serious workstation. Yet, its highly visual and simple-to-operate workflow attracted increasing numbers of young, hungry producers. Unencumbered by over-reliance on deep technical know-how, these young producers found FL Studio the perfect platform for adventurous experimentation.

It’s no exaggeration to say that without FL Studio, genres like Dubstep and Trap may never have come to fruition (pardon the pun).

Chorus Pedal Vst Free

Download free VST plugins, free synth VST, autotune VST, Drum sound VST, choir VST, Orchestra VST, and much more free VST plugins. Great place to download free VST plugins for music production, updated each week with new VST plugins check back frequently. Free VST Plugins for Fruity Loops, Cubase, Audacity, and Other Software Welcome to our Free VST Plugin area of Free-Loops.com we are in the process of assimilating the largest collection of Free VST Plugins on the net. Even better we've attached easily previewable MP3 files so you can listen to the online before you bother downloading the free.

As the music created in FL Studio developed, so did the software itself, and it now boasts an impressive array of in-built VST plugins, excellent MIDI compatibility and enough power to host some serious 3rd-party plugins.

Adam Hignell takes a look at some VST Plugins every FL Studio Producer should lust after.

Award-winning AU + VST plugins for music composition.

Use Captain Plugins to write your own Chord Progressions, Hooks, Melodies and Basslines

Export to your DAW

Available on Mac and Windows.

FabFilter

FabFilter have become one of the most heralded name in VST Plugins. A first-choice for many professionals, their plugins offer an intuitive workflow, sleek design and comprehensive range of applications. Put simply, if you want to create an effect, a FabFilter plugin might be the fastest and most intuitive way to get there.

Rather than attempting elaborate analog emulations, FabFilter focus on sound quality, usability and multi-disciplinary appeal. Their Pro-Q EQ is clean, responsive and easy to use. Pro-R is a reverb plugin capable of delivering a breathtaking range of reverb responses. Saturn is a world-class saturator/distortion effect that can emulate classic sounds or create wild new textures. Meanwhile, Pro-G might be the easisest to use Gate on the market. Add in a world class delay in Timeless, a simple and powerful Limiter in Pro-L and some exciting filter and rhythm tools like Simplon and Volcano, and you have a bundle of plugins that any producer would be delighted to own.

And I haven’t even mentioned Pro-C, their incredible compressor. It’s powerful, clean and has one of the simplest interfaces imaginable. Hitherto complex side-chain and Mid/Side compression operations are a piece of cake!

Massive X

Suitably befitting a DAW renowned for encouraging modernism over classic emulation, Native Instruments’ Massive X has to rank highly in this list. Now in its ‘X’ incarnation, Massive was a game-changer from the get-go. By simplifying a traditional synth user-interface and focusing on usability, it quickly established itself as a go-to for bedroom producers everywhere. Extremely powerful and capable of monstrous bass, artists like Skream and Skrillex found Massive a perfect weapon of mass dancefloor-destruction.

It’s not just a bass-face, either. A sophisticated and unique wave-scanning engine, 3 oscillators, 16 voices, a one-page visual design and enough patch-points to create any sound imaginable, Massive is a favorite among FL Studio producers. A lynchpin of Dubstep, Trap and Tech-House, it’s a synth you’ve heard in countless bangers.

Output: Substance

Bass. Dance music. FL Studio. Peas in a pod, birds of a feather, amigos… and if you want to push the envelope with your bass sounds, you can’t look past Substance. Somehow, Output have managed to give Substance users staggering degrees of sound design control with just a few sliders and knobs. It’s so simple to use, it almost feels like cheating. Married to its brilliant sample-meets-synthesis engine, replete with extraordinary sample patches that intertwine with gigantic synth voices, you’ll be making jaw-dropping bass sounds in minutes.

Unusually, Substance offers filter and FX controls for each voice in the sound patch, giving you plenty of control.

There are additional controls for motion, multi-fx, compression, saturation and more, meaning you don’t need a costly arsenal of plugins to create fully-formed, knee-shaking bass.

Captain Plugins

Writer’s block? Need to find inspiration? Or simply lack the keyboard skills to play the music that’s in your head? Captain Plugins by Mixed In Key is your new best friend.

You can throw ideas down super fast by selecting chords, generating melodies and basslines, jamming with all out-of-scale notes removed, or crafting beats with per-channel rhythm templates to aid inspiration. Whether you’re a music theory expert or not, Captain lugins is a unique, fun and fast way to improve your workflow, allowing you to spend more time on what matters most, making music.

Valhalla DSP Plugins

Free Vst Plugins

There are many reasons to love Valhalla’s plugins range. For starters, they’re kind to your wallet: Every plugin is priced at just $50, except for a smattering of equally brilliant ones that they give away for free!

But this is not bargain-basement fare, not by anyone’s standards. Valhalla excel at reverbs and delays, and wild space echoes and crazy modulation. They make fun plugins that do things few others can.

I love their Shimmer reverb plugin on synths – even with subtle settings it adds a dreamy, ethereal sheen to synths and pads, as if you’d draped them in diamonds. Alternatively, you can get experimental with their FreqEcho plugin – it echoes while adjusting the frequency of the resultant echoes in a multitude of tempos and ratios (FreqEcho is one of the free ones too!) And then there’s UberMod, which blends reverbs and delays with chorus and flange until up is down, light is dark and you’re no longer sure which way up your brain goes.

Likewise, their delay game is tight. A simple interface, multiple delay styles, including the oft-overlooked BBD delay, and a broad range of characters – it won’t take you long to find the perfect delay for your sounds. Oh, and ValhallaDelay won Readers Choice: Best Plugin 2019 with MusicRadar.

Check out the range here.

Sylenth

Simple, easy to operate, and capable of anything from stomach-churning sub-bass to wild SFX, soaring leads and thumping percussion. Sylenth is a synth that you could legitimately produce an entire album on. As such, it ticks a lot of boxes for FL Studio users: Simple interface, one-page design, excellent value for money and huge range. If you only buy one VST instrument for FL Studio, it should probably be Sylenth.

Mixed In Key Studio Edition

Mixed In Key Studio Edition analyzes your sample collection in real-time and enables you to match the perfect one-shot, loop, vocal or any other sample to your music production, remix or mashup.

It will instantly tell you the key, scale and tonality of any audio sample.

With Mixed In Key Studio Edition you can base compositions around a sample with total confidence. You’ll know exactly which notes are already present, giving you a great foundation for composition.

It’s the fastest and most intuitive way of matching incoming samples to your project!

WavesFactory – Trackspacer

Possibly the simplest to use and most intuitive dynamic EQ ever made. Trackspacer is an amazing tool for separating sounds in your mix. Say you’ve got a guitar and synth line that are competing for similar frequency space… tradiotional fixes for this involve complicated side-chain compression, and careful EQ to keep enough of each but give them room to stand apart. With Wavespacer, you simply set the guitar as an input source on the synth channel, set the band-range you want to affect, and dial the knob ubtil it sounds perfect. Trackspacer’s advanced audio analysis means it only reduces the exact frequencies of the incoming signal. To give an even clearer example, imagine your snare is competing with your kick; when the kick and snare play togethr, the snare gets lost. With Trackspacer, simply set the snare as an input signal on the kick channel, and tell Trackspacer to reduce the frequencies of the kick drum, only where they coincide with the snare’s crest, and only when the snare strikes. Voila! Instant clarity with no loss of power.

Eventide – Physion

Eventide make great plugins, from the legendary Blackhole reverb to the equally legendary H3000, H910 Harmonizers and some epic flangers, phasers, reverbs and compressors. Generally, Eventide’s plugins do things other plugins can’t, and ooze with character.

While I could have chosen one of several outstanding plugins, I’ve decided to vaunt Physion with particular gusto. It’s a multi-FX style plugin that boasts a unique Structural Effects processor. By splitting incoming audio into transient and tonal sections, it can work on both using separate effects, chiefly Transient Shaper, Chorus, Delay(s), Phaser, Gate and Reverb. By allowing this independent processing of different parts of the same signal, it’s capable of some fabulous effects on vocals, synths, drums and guitars.

Personally, I love using it on drums, and rarely need to look past the incredible presets. Throw Physion on your drum bus channel and try Sharpening… it’s like a magic trick – suddenly your drums are crisper, tighter, more dynamic and glued tight together.

Write Your Own Original Compositions With Captain Plugins

It’s super easy to create your own ideas from scratch. Visit the official Chords homepage and see how it will help you explore music and write your own original productions.

Sometimes(very often!) we need to add effects on our voice recording. To make it sound better, to make it sound thicker, or just to maker it sound incredible! For widening/thickening, or making choir like voices, you can use : chorus, voice multiplier, voice doubler, stereo wideners. For radical changes or special FX, you can use harmonizer / pitch changing, genre changer, pitch correction / autotune.

Here’s a top 5 of free VST effects for changing the voice :

1) Azurite multi voice chorus VST

This great chorus can work on many type of sources : guitar, voice, etc. It works nicely for voice, it’s not too hard/harsh and does a good job on mono inputs for spreading voices and give a stereo effect.

information & download @ http://distorqueaudio.com/plugins/azurite.html

Dry voice : https://blog.wavosaur.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Katherine-Ellis-dry.mp3

Voice with chorus! https://blog.wavosaur.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Katherine-Ellis-chorus.mp3

2) ADT – Artificial Double Tracking

This VST has no GUI

When you can’t record two takes for doubling your voice, you can gor for the artificial double tracking technic! The Beatles did it, and now you can too. Voice doubling ahs never been so easy.

Download here : http://www.vacuumsound.de/plugins.html

3) Emonizer Micro Pitch Shifter effect

Emonizer VST

This free VST effect is intended for thickening, it’s a “one trick pony”, it’s in fact a micro pitch shifter, that add detuned voices, it creates a wider sound. Works also for other sounds than voice!

download it now ! => http://music.service-1.de/html/wok_emonizer_vst_micro_pitch.html

4) g200kg KeroVee & roVee

Here we go now for a more radical effect ! With this one you can change the nature/type/genre of the voice, make it from female to male, or from female to male. KeroVee is a pitch correction plugin, it can also do the “autotune” effect.

Information and free download @ http://www.g200kg.com/en/software/kerovee.html

Normal dry voice https://blog.wavosaur.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/ultra-nate-normal.mp3

Maxi chorused multiplied choir-i-fied voice ! https://blog.wavosaur.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Ultra-Nate-multiplied.mp3

female voice https://blog.wavosaur.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/simone-normal.mp3

from female to male ! genre changing https://blog.wavosaur.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/simone-female-to-male.mp3

Maxi super chorus : voice multiplier ! https://blog.wavosaur.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Simone-voice-multiplier.mp3

5) ag-works chorus ch-2

Free Chorus Plugin

Chorus CH-2 VST

Decorate your mobile with beautiful Unicorn analog Clock with your photo backgrounds and awesome digital clock. Unicorn clock digital. PERSONALISED UNICORN ALARM CLOCK. These are amazing digital alarm clocks, carry on reading below. Mood lighting button to switch on mood lighting in rotation mode until switched off.

Here, at Wavosaur, we love the monstachorus VST by Betabugs, but i thought the Chorus CH-2 is lesser known, and deserve some exposure. It’s like having 4 independant chorus you can tweak in parallel.

download for free @ http://ag-works.net/plugins.ch2.htm

About Amazon Connect IP address ranges. In the AWS ip-ranges.json file, the whole /19 IP address range is owned by Amazon Connect. All traffic to and from the /19 range comes to and from Amazon Connect. The /19 IP address range isn't shared with other services. Amazon doesn’t have an unique IP address. It has one (not just one, they has more) domain names, and multiple IP addresses could be associated to the domain name in different points in time. You can check all the Amazon IP Public Ranges. Mostly of them are being used in AWS (and their clients), not just by amazon eCommerce site. Amazon ip range. If the IP address location is not your present location, or location set by you, it means that your VPN, if any, is working.-Upto Previous Release-Works on Ethernet connections also. Updated Network/LAN Scanner to work on Android 10 and later devices. If you want to add your Kindle Fire to your router's whitelist to ensure you can connect to your network, you'll need to know the device's MAC address. While your IP address changes from network to network, your MAC address is unique to the device. Entering the MAC address of the Kindle Fire into your. The following list provides websites, IP address ranges, and endpoints for Amazon QuickSight in each AWS Region. US East (Ohio) (us-east-2) Website for user access – https://us-east-2.quicksight.amazonaws.com.

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matpisound · 3 years

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the colorful stories tag, except it's music

I was nominated for this blog challenge tag by my good friend deathby1kslimes (that's a link to their blog that you should totally go check out) who writes about anime. I read through the rules of the tag, which is really meant for stories, and thought, "Hey, music works really well with this too! I should definitely do this!" So here we are. These right here are the tag rules:

#1 Share your favourite stories—movies/books/anime/manga/drama/songs—by classifying them on these seven colours’ traits:

red: passionate, exciting, invigorating

blue: peaceful, calming

pink: romantic, caring

orange: warm, motivating

black: mysterious, thrilling

green: fresh, unexpected

white: random

#2 Send this challenge invitation to at least one of your friends. Let them fear your superiority, as you—decide their fate. (I mean, I'm not too good at assigning interesting fates so,,,,)

#3 Link back to the original post here! And, enjoy!

So, without further ado, let's paint a musical rainbow!

Red - "FIRE BIRD" by Roselia

I honestly do not think that there is a song more fitting for this color than "FIRE BIRD". Like what more could you want from this song? A heavy double time beat accompanies lush guitars and flying piano lines. Not to mention Yukina Minato's vocals (voiced by the talented Aina Aiba) soar into the heavens, taking the song with it. The bridge of the song really does a phenomenal job of creating the image of the Phoenix rising again from the ashes, and leads into an amazing final chorus and just a simply spectacular finale.

Blue - "Misty Frosty Love" by You Watanabe and Riko Sakurauchi

I'mma be totally honest, I don't know why I love this song as much as I do. Love Live winter songs really just do not miss. Either way, this song won out of quite a few songs that definitely could have been here. The use of atmospheric synths as well the chimes creates just an air of calm and repose. The instrumental during the verse is also very Animal Crossing-esque, which helps sort of escape from your current world into a stress-free world of stability and relaxation. I could listen to this song for hours curled up under a blanket in front of a fire while I drink hot chocolate and look at the snow falling outside of the window. That aside, I definitely want to make a full post about why this song is as good as it is, and how someone who enjoys heavy rock, like me, got to love it so much.

Pink - "Vanilla Twilight" by Owl City

Owl City had a lot of songs that could have worked for blue, but this one fits perfectly for pink. A pensive song about stargazing with a loved one, I don't think there's a better song for it. It's got an atmospheric sound with some glittery sounds mixed it, which really help paint the starry sky, unpolluted by any light which could reduce the visibility of the cosmos. It's touched with a tinge of loneliness and yearning as well, tying perfectly into the romantic theme. Overall it's just a very sweet song and I really love it.

Orange - "LOUDER" by Roselia

Again, this one was a bit hard to pin down because I have a lot of songs that help me get motivated, but that warm part was a bit tricky. Since "FIRE BIRD" is already here, I couldn't pick that one, but then I remembered "LOUDER". Not only does the blistering tempo with the heavy power metal feel get you pumped up, the changing of key signatures between the verse and chorus make that chorus feel that much warmer, almost mimicking a sunrise. That key change creates two completely different colors within the song. The verse feels like a colder dark blue while the verse flips to a warm bright orange.

Black - "Hikari no Akuma" by εpsilonΦ

Yeah, I could put down Michael Jackson's "Thriller" for this one, but that's boring and predictable. Instead, I scoured my entire Spotify library to find this song. It's thrilling that's for sure. Fresh sounds combined with a constantly changing drum beat make this song feel like a roller coaster. The trading of vocal lines make this song even more interesting. The funky sounds and chord progressions scattered throughout the song create an air of frenzied mystery around the song as well; not to mention the polymetric figures pulling you every which way as you keep listening.

Green - "BURN IT DOWN" by Linkin Park

You probably weren't expecting this one. If I had to pick something that would really fit this color, it would actually be Linkin Park's album "A Thousand Suns", but I can't do such a masterpiece justice in a post like this, so I'm giving it its own post in the future. Besides, me listening to that album probably wouldn't have happened without this song. "BURN IT DOWN" was the song that got me into Linkin Park. I used to think Linkin Park was just a bunch of glitchy screamo music that really only appealed to those who actively listen to super experimental stuff. I was dead wrong. One summer I was listening to the radio on Amazon Prime Music and this popped up. I was enthralled. It was a sound I'd never heard before. Something I didn't expect the band to sound like. This song was what let me say that I actually had a favorite band for the first time. To this day, Linkin Park remains my all-time favorite band because they came out of nowhere and brought me the music that I'd been longing for.

White - "Sparkle Mountain" by Andrew Huang

If there's one song that defines random, it's this one. I don't even know where to begin. The lyrics create some very vivid imagery, but there's almost no cohesion at all. Just random things on a mountain known as Sparkle Mountain. The sounds used also help create just random chaos which makes this super fun to listen to. Sparkly synthesizers, drop C guitars, microtones, and a funky keyboard solo are just a few examples. In terms of the music itself, the song is centered on a weird chord progression that's grounded on the wonky bassline. The production makes everything sound super pop yet also super glitchy and it all comes together in a way that makes you think "What the heck even is this song?" and "This is a straight up banger." at the same time. If that wasn't enough, the music video is linked above and it adds a whole new level of sheer insanity to it all.

Well folks, there you have it. A few of my favorite songs separated by color. This was a really fun post to write because it made me think about other kinds of music than just the standard rock I'm used to writing about. I'm supposed to tag a friend for this challenge, but I don't know any other friends who actually write things, so if you do write, go ahead and take this challenge! Anyway, with that said, see ya later and I'll catch you at the double barline!

#colorful stories #music #music theory #music that i like #music nerd #nerd shit

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hutterlust · 7 years

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Kraftwerk - Royal Albert Hall 21/06/2017

Kraftwerk are my favourite band. Their performance was spectacular. So why does this long-term fan have such mixed emotions about the whole thing?

It's an impossible gamble, going to see a band you've loved for 25+ years but never seen live. I don't just love Kraftwerk; Kraftwerk are like a way of life to me. With so much weight of love and expectations, how can four aging human beings be anything but a mild anticlimax?

Anticlimax feels like the wrong word for such a triumphant, spectacular show. In every sense, Kraftwerk embody perfection: perfect pop melodies, perfectly shimmering minimal-maximal arrangements, perfect integration of music, lyrical text and graphic imagery for an emotionally overwhelming experience. But that's just it. I was expecting to be overwhelmed. Other friends described crying in their seats. I felt excitement, arousal, sentimentality, amusement, wonder, and on the rare occasion, even faint ennui. But I was not overwhelmed, and I had expected to be.

The Royal Albert Hall is a beautiful venue, built with the very best of high Victorian acoustic sound design. Kraftwerk have a reputation for getting absolutely pristine sound quality in the most unexpected of places, concrete bunkers, glass art galleries, turbine halls, so this should not have been a problem. The sound design itself was astonishingly beautiful, the three-dimensional aspects of their electronic "sound-paintings" as spatial journeys, with fast German cars and express trains and spacelabs that genuinely seemed to whiz about one's ears in physical space, thanks to speakers above, to the sides, and even behind the audience. And yet where I was expecting perfect sound, I instead had a very annoying imperfection. The huge booming sub-bass, the hallmark of Kraftwerk's groundbreaking electronic sound, was distorted and harsh, where it should have been warm and oceanic. With the expectation of “perfect”, merely good feels like a disappointment.

And the 3D visuals themselves, I'm afraid, were not a success for me. I often have this problem with 3D imagery and Virtual Reality (there are studies to show that this is a phenomenon whose experience varies greatly with one's sex) that it makes me feel dizzy and unwell with a sensation like motion sickness. I used the 3D glasses for a couple of performances where it seemed churlish not to: Autobahn, with its racing cars; and Spacelab, where Kraftwerk showed off both their stunning sense of the sublime with satellite views and the romance of interplanetary travel, and also their subtle German humour. The films depicted Kraftwerk as interplanetary visitors, flying their probe over specially programmed local landmarks - the Geordies got the Tyne bridge, we got the Houses of Parliament - before landing at the venue. Kraftwerk’s gestures towards locality have been hugely popular in other cities, but provoked a mixed response at the RAH. Before the gig, chatting with other fans, I asked how far they had travelled. London gigs are by their nature hugely cosmopolitan; it turned out the man on my left had flown in from Zurich, while the man on my right was Italian. When I said I was from Streatham, the two men in front of me turned around and proudly told me that they were, too. When London appeared on the Spacelab’s viewfinder, a huge cheer went up from the Streathamites; our neighbours were understandably nonplussed.

With the glasses, the projections seemed so tangible, I reached out a hand to stop the Spacelab’s antennae poking my eyes out, but it was impossible for me to use them for more than a minute or two at a time without feeling sick. I suppose it was good for me as a listener, as it forced me to concentrate on the musicians, though I know this is the opposite of what the band intend. The point of Kraftwerk has, since the days of The Man Machine, been to erase the individual, to create four identical units behind their workstations. And yet watching the players from so close (I was in the third row) the most enchanting details were the highly personal ones. Even the way they stand is revealing. Falk on the far right stands very erect, his shoulders braced, the posture of a man avoiding backstrain, using a workstation designed for people about four inches shorter than him. Tiny Fritz beside him, stretches to change the settings on his controllers, while Henning and Ralf slouch far more naturally.

It's the moments when the Musikarbeiters reveal themselves as fallible, and therefore most human that are always the most delightful. Ralf flubs the final chord at the end of Airwaves, emits an audible "ach!" then slams his elbows down on the keyboard in a dramatic musical fart. He is naturally very shy, and barely speaks to the audience at all, so the moment at the end of Tour de France, where his excitement overcomes him, and he announces with gleeful boyish enthusiasm, that Le Tour is coming to Düsseldorf, provides an intimate glimpse into a very warm and human Ralf. It's a common criticism that Kraftwerk play "with the showmanship of four old men checking their email onstage" but the moment that a younger, impossibly beautiful and perfectly still Ralf appears in a 70s-era video for Radioactivity projected above the elderly Ralf's head, it's clear that their Kabuki stillness has always been an aesthetic choice.

And close up, the moments of intimate connection with their machines and with each other become far more apparent. Henning is a very physical player, he grasps his filter sweeps and seems to twist them with his whole body, contorting his legs until the splay of his knees matches the funk of his bass. During Chrono, Henning and Fritz demonstrate some impressively choreographed simultaneous leg-bends. Ralf taps an incessant beat with his right knee, and has particularly unquiet hands. He often plays a melody with his right hand, while adjusting a control with his left, but even when his left hand is unoccupied, he gestures like a maestro, beats time like a conductor, and seems to caress the very air that carries his soundwaves with a graceful fluidity and almost a femininity that speaks of the level of care he takes over his music. It is, all, played very live. The rare glitches and flubs and moments where Ralf alters a melodic line by half a beat or mispronounces a word, echoed through layers of vocoder and harmonic duplication only serve to highlight the utter perfection that Kraftwerk normally achieve. With the exception of The Robots, where the machines are left to play by themselves, it is for the most part not heavily sequenced. These are fallible human beings playing with and against and through the grid of the machine.

I arrived over an hour early at the Royal Albert Hall, which, given the stringent ID and bag checks (and the resultant queues, which delayed the start of the performance by nearly 20 minutes) turned out to be a very sensible choice. So I stood in the bowels of the building, while a friendly concierge held open the door to take advantage of the limited air conditioning, listening to the soundcheck, feeling my fangirl excitement rise. The whole thing felt unreal, until that moment, listening to Ralf level-check his vocals, his microphone, his vocoder, the mix level of the plug-in that allows him to manipulate the harmonics of his own voice using his keyboard, even barking at his technicians in his rapid-fire Düsseldorf German. Of course Ralf speaks to his crew in German, what other language would he use? (Well, over the course of the evening, he sings fluently in English, German, French, Spanish and Japanese, so this is not an entirely moot question.) But the detail still delights me.

But after the long wait, watching the band while they performed felt oddly unsatisfying. Rather than a concert or a rave, it felt like watching an extremely well-shot film of a Kraftwerk performance projected with perfect verisimilitude. I felt very detached from the show, a spectator at a spectacle, rather than a participant in a sea of bodies and minds melding to a hypnotic beat. Maybe it was the cramped seats. It is very, very hard to dance while seated (I gave it my best) and any attempts at dancing in the aisles were shut down quite quickly by enormous and terrifying bouncers. Many of the songs have been updated specifically for dancing – Spacelab has always been a banger, but Airwaves in particular has been remade with such a throbbing disco bassline that I quipped it had become “I Feel Space” (though it’s important to remember that both Moroder and Lindstrom are inheritors of a lineage of which Kraftwerk were the progenitors). Yet as I cast my eye over the front rows, all of us filming and photographing in flagrant disregard of the posted regulations (it’s odd that we were specifically told not to film, but smartphones were not policed in the way that dancing bodies were) I realise that it is not Kraftwerk who are trapped at computer terminals, checking their emails, unable to dance, but us.

I hate to admit it, but I was bored during The Model, though the audience certainly greeted it most triumphantly, the one moment where defiant dancers outnumbered the heavies. But that one line – “For every camera she gives the best she can” – lampshaded what former Kraftwerker Karl Bartos would later make explicit in his solo work. Photography, like scientific observation in the uncertainty model, changes not just The Model, but the Photographer, too. I was not just watching and listening to Ralf Hütter, but I was aware, constantly, of my Taschen-Computer in der Hand, wanting to capture every adorably satisfied smile, every hand gesture, every crinkle of that imperiously pointed nose demarking the beats of the song. I don’t hold the data-memory; the data-memory holds me. And it changes everything. I noticed, as I was focusing, for dozens of photos, that Ralf kept looking over, turning directly into the gaze of my camera.

At first, I thought this was due to the huge gender imbalance of the front rows. It’s odd. I know from online fandom that Kraftwerk have many, many female fans. Yet that concert, overwhelmingly, at least 2 to 1, was, as another lone woman behind me put it, “a sausage party”. (This, I believe is not about lack of female interest in Kraftwerk, but about age and demographics. I saw a number of older men attending with adult children. I saw no younger children at all. And unfortunately, removing children from an audience, in this culture, almost always means removing an entire generational block of women. However, this did make for a refreshing lack of bathroom queues.) There were perhaps only 3 or 4 women in the front section, all gathered just in the spot where Ralf coincidentally kept throwing his gaze. It’s a shock, the moment that one, as an audience member, realises that the musicians can see their audience. I recognise this may have been entirely my imagination, but there was a sequence (during Autobahn, IIRC) when Ralf was soloing particularly intensely, his legs far apart, his lyrca-clad crotch angled just so, in a stereotypically Rock Star, and particularly uncharacteristic-for-Ralf pose. But as I raised my camera a little higher to try to capture it, Ralf glanced up, appeared to lock eyes with me, clocked the camera, and immediately snapped to, standing up straight and closing his untowardly splayed legs. Ralf’s modesty was preserved; I did not get my photo of this particular area of interest.

It was not until much later, after the concert, going through my photos on the train home that I worked out what was really happening. In most of my close-ups, Ralf’s eyes were downcast, focusing very intently on something on the top left corner of his workstation. Fan photos of their equipment reveal that to the top left of Ralf’s keyboard are where the filter sweeps, pitch-bend wheel and other sound modification and control devices are located. Every interaction was almost certainly entirely my imagination. Ralf’s attention was not drawn by our presence, but by his own tech.

But my hunger for this moment of connection, so strong as to conjure it from brief glances, seems to highlight precise lack that prevents me from fully enjoying the show. When I listen to live Kraftwerk recordings alone, on headphones, the sense of connection is so complete, so total, that it can reduce me to tears. But at the venue, I cannot seem to exist in the moment, and not try to mediate the experience through a screen. But Kraftwerk’s very theme, through most of the work they play, from Airwaves and Neon Lights to Computer Love and Electric Café, and right through to the various Étapes of the Tour de France Soundtracks, is the mediation of communication through technology. “Transmission, television / Reportage sur moto / Camera, video et photo.”

Through the medium of technology, the group have preserved their own departed former members. To watch Kraftwerk live is to listen to ghosts, preserved flickering in their machines. The bombastic middle section of Trans Europe Express – Metall auf Metall – is a triumph of technology finally catching up with Kraftwerk’s ideas. For years, their percussionists struggled to recreate the industrial Klang of sheet metal using primitive, complicated drum-pads made from spare parts and triggered with electrically conductive knitting needles and rickety volume pedals. Now, each element of the cacophonous symphony is triggered by a fingertip’s touch on a sample pad. Kraftwerk have launched decades-long lawsuits detailing who, precisely has the right to use those samples. And yet, it seems odd how much of their sound-paintings (and 3D film-paintings) are dependent on the precise digital recreation of sounds (and images) of people who are no longer present.

Ralf’s long-term collaborator, the co-founder of the band, Florian Schneider, though his madcap, slightly sinister presence is long-gone from stage right, is, even in his absence, a constant, palpable presence to the observant fan. It is Florian’s heavily vocodered voice, rather than Ralf’s, that echoes through Radioactivity, enumerating the contaminated sites – Tschernobyl, Harrisburgh, Sellafield – whose accidents stand as warnings to us all. In the animations that accompany Autobahn, based on Emil Schult’s playful album cover painting, a VW Beetle and a Mercedes 600 Limousine chase one another about an imagined German countryside. The grey Beetle with Krefeld plates (I always thought the KR of those plates referred to Kraftwerk, until I visited Krefeld, and was surrounded by KR plates) was Ralf’s car, which Kraftwerk toured in through much of the early 70s. The presidential blue Mercedes, on the other hand, was Florian’s notoriously temperamental trophy ride, detailed in numerous Kraftwerk biographies. Knowing this detail, it’s hard to watch this film and not imagine the two Boy Racers still chasing one another down the Autobahn.

During the last encore’s medley, from Techno Pop into Music Non Stop, the projections showed Rebecca Allen’s groundbreaking wire-frame computer animations of the band in the 80s, looking both very cool and hip in a retro way, but still amazingly futuristic. Again, it is slightly disconcerting to watch a youthful Ralf’s digitised head rotating above his more elderly body. But as the animations lovingly detail the computerised creation of the wire-frame head from digital points, then lines, to angled surfaces and a recognisably human shape, it soon becomes clear that the face slowly materialising on the screen is in fact Florian, with his very distinctive prow of a nose, and bright, mad scientist eyes. Part of me wants to dismiss this as a simple mistake, choosing the wrong file; but another part of me wants to believe that Kraftwerk do not make mistakes, despite the plentiful evidence of the charming human fallibility of this tour. It feels deliberate, that Florian’s digital ghost still hangs heavy over this museum-quality archive of Kraftwerk’s performance.

In their traditional final sequence, each musician takes a final solo, showing off their Technik, before moving to the side of the stage for a final bow and a wave – or kiss – goodnight. At the end, Ralf is left alone, improvising steadily lower on a ghostly vocodered chorus of sampled “oh”s, until the pitch becomes too low for humans to hear. I’ve watched his livestreamed goodbyes from a dozen YouTubed performances, and yet he never fails to look surprised and a little overwhelmed by the intensity of the audience’s love for him. I am concentrating too hard on filming to see until later, his nervous ticks, his shy little jig of pleasure, his repeated bows, hand on heart – I could have sworn he blew us a kiss, but I may have forced that, too, into being with the strength of my own desire.

#kraftwerk #Ralf Hütter #henning schmitz #Fritz Hilpert #falk grieffenhagen #every time I type his name the notes suggest Falk Griffindor #long post

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mint-sm · 7 years

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LOS CAMPESINOS! REVIEW/ANALYSIS: No Blues

Ugh… I’m about to do a bad thing and probably make a lot of other Los Camp fans angry. If they actually read this, that is.

Okay, I want you to take a look at this cover art for a second. This kinda lush greenery flushed out with this pink-ish mist. It’s a little funny visual pun of the title of this album (Get it? No blues? Hah), and it probably does bring some form of atmosphere and interest to someone in the right mindset or just has a different taste in visual aesthetics… but I’m sorry, personally for me, it’s kinda flat. Not only is that pink that kind of flat-looking “millennial pastel pink,” but as a whole, this cover feels like it’s lacking contrast.

Honestly, it feels like a bit of an apt summation for the album itself: I can totally see the potential appeal to a certain crowd, and there might technically be nothing much wrong with it, but honestly, I can’t get into it despite it apparently getting a lot more positive response than something like “Romance is Boring.” I’m not trying to be resentful or anything, but it’s kinda confusing because while I can find a lot of arguments as to why “Romance is Boring” is so compelling, I can’t honestly find much about “No Blues” that explains why people love it so much, and it just doesn’t do it for me. That’s basically the “No Blues” right there. It don’t do it for me.

So remember in my first few Los Camp reviews how I said the band has 3 distinct eras? Reminder: “Hold on Now Youngster...” and about half of “We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed” were part of a “Twee Pop Era,” which then bled slightly into the “Noise Rock Era” with “Romance is Boring,” but it was immediately halted with “Hello Sadness,” and since then with this album and the next, “Sick Scenes,” we’ve been in a sort of “Mellow Alt Rock Era.” “No Blues” epitomizes this era very much, and it does signify a lot of the gradual changes to the band throughout the years that I can both appreciate, but also not.

On one hand, I’m really glad that Los Camp have changed their sound as pretty fluidly as they had. While I think I’ll always find their earlier works a bit more compelling, I’m glad to see that a crashing twee-rock band of college students in their 20’s is willing to grow up an adapt to something more mature-sounding and refined with a few more years to grow and personally develop, especially in a music scene that has kind of eschewed the music they had found previous success in, and have shifted to this sort of alt rock scene. One that has much cleaner production and mixing, one with slightly gentler guitars, tighter vocals, and more “grown-up,” much more self-aware themes.

I’m also glad that this was made during a point where Gareth Campesinos! finally seemed to reach a breakthrough and write lyrics and music that was especially HIM. Going once again back to “Youngster,” another reason why he’s not very fond of it was because of his lyrics, which he felt like was from a caricature of himself rather than himself-himself, and it felt rather dishonest or the like. Starting from “No Blues,” it seems Gareth has finally allowed himself to be as freely-moving and esoteric as he wanted, especially since the darkness of his 2011 personal history that resulted in “Hello Sadness” being the darkest album they’ve ever released no longer clouded him. I can totally respect that: he finally found a grip on the type of music that he wants to make, and the band was now free to reach its current goals, and that’s completely appreciable an artist.

MY PROSE IS PURPLE BUT NOT AS PRETTY AS LUCER-ER-ER-ERRRNE! / FOR SWEET NOTHINGS FROM THE LIPS OF A GARGOYLE, NOBODY EVER YEARNED /

HOWEVER... The problem that I immediately have with “No Blues” is that despite all of its admirable artistic intentions, it comes off as pretty pale and boring, to be honest. Musically and lyrically, this album just is not very compelling to me, because it honestly feels way too much of an attempt at the band going “Oh fuck yes, we’re done with being emo like in Hello Sadness, now we can actually write the music that we actually want to make!” But instead of it turning out somewhat adventurous, it feels both very crammed, rushed, and mildly inaccessible (for the band, anyway), and it’s done so in a way that it’s not only lacking diversity, but there’s almost no room for it to properly breathe, and as such just feels samey-sounding and choked a lot of the time.

Two terms I’ve used a lot regarding Los Camp’s discography are “dense” and “engaging,” and I think I need to specifically define what I mean by that. When I say “dense,” it usually means the music or the lyrics are compact with details, sometimes in like a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it rate. This gives a lot of the albums a lot of their relistinability, and you’ll keep finding more and more creative and colorful little moments every time you listen to a song.

But something that you also need to tap on if you want to make them actually worth listening to again is that you have to make them “engaging,” and that comes as a result of a lot of things, such as making the music or lyrics properly digestible, building up empathy or sympathy, building up the listener’s interest in the topics you want to delve into, whether the listener is remotely interested in your topics, etc. It’s not an exact thing and it is very subjective, but unfortunately, I don’t feel that majority of “No Blues” really checks off any of those ticks.

With “No Blues,” what it often feels like is that the lyrics have become very dense, with some of the most obscure references to date -- lots of lyrics about other musicians’ lyrics, politics, obscure postmodernist novelists, constellations, Greek mythology in correlation to those constellations, and European football. Holy shit, European football is everywhere on this album -- but there’s nothing particularly engaging about it unless you actually give a damn about it, because as I mentioned with “Hello Sadness,” one of my bigger problems with it was that it lacked context.

PEOPLE LAUGH, THEY WILL CALL IT FOLLY / BUT WE CONNECTED LIKE A YEBOAH VOLLEY /

Yeah, these may be complex and esoteric metaphors, but not only do they end up being incredibly distracting for me as I have to manually figure out with almost every line what the hell emotion Gareth’s supposed to be conveying, but I have no real drive or motive to actually bother because it doesn’t really say anything as is (That “Yeboah volley” line above? Guess what that’s supposed to mean without googling it. Trust me, context doesn’t really help) In that regard, it’s actually making an even bigger flaw I had with “Hello Sadness” even worse: Los Camp’s first three albums were able to convey a smattering of different, sometimes diametrically opposing emotions. “Hello Sadness” reduced itself to be being more comfortable with trying to convey just one.

But “No Blues”? I can’t really find anything that personal or really that narrative or thematic about what’s going on here other than a really vague… I dunno, millennial liberation? Light humor? Mature upbeatness? This doesn’t feel confusing in the sense that “which one of these many emotions should I be REALLY feeling?,” it’s more like “what is this one thing I’m supposed to latch onto? Whatever it is, it feels like I’m clutching at straws here.” Or more directly, it’s just one-half an emotion at best, and even then, there’s nothing very engaging or dynamic about it.

And that’s one of my biggest problems with the album as a whole, as well as why up to this point I really haven’t said anything about specific songs yet. It all feels rather flat and too clean for its own good, like a really sharp, hard glowing red, now being reduced into a flat, grayish pink. It might have a little bit more shine to it, but a lot of its actual vibrance has been lost, resulting in all the songs being mostly homogenous, unadventurous alternative indie rock that honestly doesn’t feel like it’s offering anything that new or unique as a now-turned alt-rock indie band. It may have shed the youthful problems that Los Camp themselves felt they were plagued with, but in the end it feels like a lot of that youthfulness is what made them so compelling, and now they’re just… boring.

THERE'S NO BOX TO TICK FOR RED, SO I PUT DOWN BLUE INSTEAD / 'CAUSE IT'S CLOSEST THERE'S TO GREY IN THE CATEGORIES / AND THE VEINS WITHIN THE WHITES ARE A STATEMENT OF DEMISE / DOE EYES, YOU SHOULD STAY AT HOME LICKING BATTERIES /

But I suppose I should get onto individual tracks. Like I said, a lot of it feels rather homogenous and unadventurous, and as such, a lot of it is pretty uninteresting to talk about since most of the tracks feel like they lack diversity, lyrically and sonically.

“What Death Leaves Behind” and “Cemetery Gaits” are I feel what are the album’s more “banger” tracks, but unfortunately, with the cleaner and more sterile production, a lot of it feels a little flaccid. Yes, Gareth’s voice is loud, the drums and guitars are wailing away, and you can totally tell when they’re trying to make the catchy standout moments, but that’s kind of the problem: I can totally expect what they’re doing at this point, and it doesn’t strike any chords for me.

They’re playing chords, they said their lines (which again, since they’re so obtuse a lot of the time, I can’t really hear them as anything except just words instead of, yknow, concepts or ideas), but it all sounds very generic and sanitized, and honestly very stuffed; since there’s not a lot of proper breathing room or actual relief, the progression of these songs are often very uneventful and unsatisfying. In these tracks especially, I don’t feel any sense of escalation, climax or relief despite SOME flatly-mixed-in additional instruments near the end; it all somehow sounds exactly the same and I’m like “Get the hell on with it already! Where’s the actual payoff?”

I feel bad drawing comparisons back to the band’s earlier works, but I kinda have to because it shows the band have been shown to be capable of definite satisfaction (hell, some tracks I’ll get to later on manage to pull this off). Those albums were messier and noisier, yes, but if I could describe them as like a texture, they would be like nice slabs of concrete pavement. Probably really gritty, but not unpleasant enough to walk on barefoot, and you’ll probably get a lot of different consistencies and feels depending on how it was paved, and overall it feels solid.

“No Blues” on the other hand just feels like a sheet of completely smooth, cheap plastic. Brittle, lacking in texture, and completely devoid of life despite it attempting to mimic a popular sound and style, but whether by design or by accident, it’s still cheap, hollow, and feels really artificial, but not even in like a PC Music/SOPHIE way where it’s also trying to be so whacked-out and alien and uncanny-valley-ish on purpose.

This trait also goes onto the slower moments, such as “A Portrait of the Trequartista as a Young Man” or “Glue Me” or “Selling Rope (Swan Dive to Estuary)”, which again, are not only not very musically adventurous, and they get kinda tedious and boring after a minute or so despite any sort of attempts at escalation or being dynamic, and the lyrics that could usually pick up that slack are really unengaging. I’m reading the lyrics, and I’m trying to find the many, many references in this album, but while I can understand them, I don’t “get” them, because I’m like “Okay? So?”

MAKE HIM RECITE THIS MURDER BALLAD / A SOMBRE TUNE TOLD BY A BORE / PUMP BLOOD AROUND THE LIMP AND PALLID / HARMONISING AS YOU SNORED /

However, I will say though, this album isn’t completely devoid of good ideas, because despite me saying this album doesn’t have a lot of standout moments, there are some good concepts here and there. While I think the rest of the song is kinda “meh,” “Cemetery Gaits” has a pretty neat intro, with that small swooping, kinda-windy and radio-wave-sounding soundscape matched with this little looping synth arpeggios, then gradually matched with a gradual increase instrumentation, like guitars, pianos, then finally just exploding with drums, it’s a great start to the track. It’s a shame that it doesn’t quite escalate any further than that, even with the introduction of Gareth’s vocals, multi-man chorus and that... ugh… millennial whoop near the end.

“As Lucerne/The Low” also starts of pretty well, and I think the verses actually do more in getting close to building a vibrancy that Los Camp was sorely needing, especially since the opening lines are just Gareth wailing “There is no blues that could sound quite as heartfelt as mi-i-i-iiine!”, just this wonderful bit of self-deprecating yet such sincere energy that I’ve missed for since previous albums, and is just one hell of an intro (I remember this was the first song of the concert I went to, and it was just like “Yep, that’s Los Camp!”). Unfortunately, by the time you get to the choruses, it all just slows down really awkwardly as all Gareth does is sing “Is what I came for… in the darkness I do adore… is what I came for” and it just doesn’t work, especially alongside those tropical steel drums. Yeah… I don’t really get it either.

I think one of the only tracks I love all the way through is the first one, “For Flotsam,” which admittedly does set a good first impression for the band’s new sound on the album. Refined and maybe a little too pristine, yes, but it actually covers a lot of range instrumentally and vocally, and actually feels like it has an actual atmospheric soundscape, and the mixing actually makes everything stick out a bit more.

Also, while the melody I probably should find monotonous and boring, especially with Kim’s looping vocals in the background that almost sound kinda artificial at times, it surprisingly flows really well, and it actually feels powerful and kinda… grooving at times. It’s got a really catchy hook, the melodies actually feel diverse, the lyrics are nowhere near as overly-ornate and distractingly referential as with other songs, and it provides both a satisfying rising tension AND also a satisfying climactic payoff, I love it.

FLOTSAM, JETSAM AND SPINDRIFT, ALL THE GIRLS I HAVE LOVED / DUMPED TO EARTH BY A SPENDTHRIFT, GILT ANGELS FROM ABOVE! / AND I SAW GOD IN THE BATHROOM, I BAPTISED HIM IN SICK / EMBRACED HIM AROUND HIS CISTERN, "C'EST LA MORT, ENOUGH OF THIS!" /

“Avocado Baby” is also a pretty good track, which also seemed to have a more compelling mix to it, and actually feels like a poppy “banger” track that does have more energy and a few more laughs to it that actually make sense without being a diehard football fanatic. The lyrics here feel a lot less overly-poetic than in other songs, and it manages to have a dense amount of wordplay in a way that’s both more easily digestible, but also pretty playful and kinda cute, especially for this era of Los Camp.

I HAD A FRIEND WHO HAD MADE A FLAG DAY / BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS FROM SHARDS OF A HEARTBREAK / I HAVE KNOWN FRIENDS TO CRACK FROM LOVE'S WEIGHT / BLOSSOM IN RIBCAGE, UNTIL THEIR BACKS BREAK! /

These two songs near the end, “Let It Spill” and “The Time Before the Last Time” also do manage to be a bit more accessible, and are more actually explicitly about something: Sex. Yay! But this being Los Camp, it’s played for a bit more awkwardness and comedy, one of my favorites being with this lyric in the latter song: “The shower-head moaned / and I looked down to the tray / Sons and daughters washed away.” Gross.

These actually do feel more instrumentally engaging as well. I love that descending, actually genuinely energetic and climactic chord progression for the chorus to “Let It Spill,” and that weirdly synthesized soundscape of “The Time Before the Last Time” actually feels both really refreshing, but also kinda beautiful and epic, and something that I honestly didn’t feel like I’ve heard Los Camp make before, but I’m glad they did.

LET IT SPILL, LET IT SPILL / LET IT SPILL ALL OVER US TWO / YOU'LL FIND ME UPSIDE DOWN IN THE BELFRY / 'CAUSE BABY, I'M BATS, IT IS TRUE /

I hesitate to call “No Blues” a “bad” album. I honestly do feel like I am missing something, especially when I write this among a sea of people who find that this album is one of Los Camp’s best. It has a lot of great ideas, and it even has a few really good songs, but the sum of its parts just isn’t making a compelling whole for me, and while I will still listen to those songs, there are a lot of parts of this album that don’t do it for my tastes.

I get the feeling that this really does come down to a lot of personal tastes and biases. I know that everybody has an equally valid opinion, but at the same time I kinda feel as though this album just wasn’t made for my person in mind, and in the end, it probably wasn’t. As I said earlier, this was basically Gareth deciding to go all irreverent and write the lyrics he wanted, and the band the music they wanted, and as it just so happens, it seems a lot of people genuinely appreciate it, so you know what, good for them; I’m glad they still have an appropriate audience (one that I can only assume are just as much football fanatics as most of the band is, and trust me, the football isn’t going to leave anytime soon).

Unfortunately, for me, I’m not that person. I’m less interested in Gareth’s referential humor and poetry and more for him being able to craft those conflicting mental mindscapes through standalone metaphors born from a deep sense of self-deprecating self-awareness, and in a way that anybody can really immediately sympathize with him. When he does come through with those moments in this album, I think it’s great, especially when the production becomes once again able to carry that emotion.

Sadly for me, most of the time, it does not, and what you get is like this weird plastic, beige box covered completely smoothly with a few symmetrical football-themed etchings onto it. If you have an appreciation for uniform, productive smoothness and those football-themed etchings, I won’t hold you back from appreciating it, but as for me, it’s just kinda “meh.” And that’s a shame. (2/5)

FAVES: “For Flotsam”, “Avocado, Baby”, “Let It Spill”, “The Time Before the Last Time”

#los campesinos #music review #no blues

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anthonychurch97-blog · 7 years

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MY ALBUM REVIEW OF BIG SEAN’S “I DECIDED.”

Big Sean - “I Decided.” Album Review

After the success of his third album “Dark Sky Paradise” and last year’s “TWENTY88” project with Jhené Aiko, Big Sean has returned with his fourth album “I Decided.”. The concept of the project is Sean viewing his life from an old man’s perspective and getting a chance at a do over in life. After a string of solid releases at the end of 2016 Sean has set up a great campaign for the project and has really built hype around it. It had received praise from many of the industries top names over the past few months as well. A mixture of turn up and story telling is the best way to some up the expectations I have for the project based on what I’ve heard so far. With great producer and artist features including a collab with fellow Detroit MC Eminem this could very well be Sean’s greatest work yet. Here is my track by track review.

Light (feat. Jeremih) - The chill vibe of “Light” is a great starting point for the project. Sean takes it as an opportunity to talk on political issues, oppression, and more trials while at the same time reminding listeners to be true to themselves and never lose site of what’s right in life. Jeremih’s vocals cut through as a great addition and give this intro an added element. The layed back keys will give you chills as well as inspiration. This could be the beginning of a potential classic for Sean.

Bounce Back - As the lead single “Bounce Back” has been making its rounds since October. The track really fits the context of the album as its topic matter really taps into the do over in life. Learning how to take an L is one thing but bouncing back is another and this track does it quite well. With a turn up drum heavy beat Sean finds a comfortable flow and runs with it. Additional vocals by Kanye are just an added bonus to the record. While “Bounce Back” may never be considered a classic jam, I can see it getting many plays for years to come.

No Favors (feat. Eminem) - Over hard production from the likes of WondaGurl, Sean recruits his fellow Detroit alum Eminem for some heavy bars. Sean finds his flow quickly with the hook and first verse. Sean hits on some good points like his grandmothers influence, the water crisis in Flint, and his come up in Detroit. Eminem comes in on his classic aggressive style with some crazy lines about being the Aaron Hernandez of rap and shots at Donald Trump just to name a few. It’s nice to see Em over somewhat of an unconventional style track for him to be on and he fits it very well. This is one you’ll definitely have to hear for yourself but it is for sure a banger and should be on repeat for quite some time. So far it’s smooth sailing for “I Decided”.

Jump Out the Window - When it comes to the second chance theme a great example comes on this cut where Sean is ready to change the past by getting with the girl he never did. He talks to her about her relationship problems with her current partner and how every time he tried to help her she shut him out. Weather this is about a real life situation or now it sure seems like it’s about someone in particular. A bouncy Key Wane beat sets a scene for Sean to tell this story and get off some pent up emotions. It’s one of my personal favorites so far from this album.

Moves - Released in late December “Moves” already has an accompanying video and has caught people’s eye. The heavy bass production from 808 Mafia’s Fuse is a great example of Sean using more modern sounding records while also sticking to some positive topic matter. “Moves” itself serves as what it’s name suggests as more of a dance hit slash banger. However Sean’s lyrical ability is showcased as well with great bars about his aim for success and overcoming struggles. As the shortest song on the project “Moves” might not stand out as much but it is a solid cut and it’s easy upon listen to see why it made the album.

Owe Me - Following a short TWENTY88 track with Jhené Aiko comes the DJ Mustard laced “Owe Me”. A layed back track about finally letting go of a relationship that’s gone on too long. Sean realizes he is done trying and is ready to move on with his life while keeping a carefree attitude. I wasn’t feeling this much on first listen but it has grown on me more and more. Some different mic techniques are used toward the end of the song along with some soft horns and I can feel the Travis Scott influence here. It’s a nice chill record that should catch more air plays as the year progresses.

Halfway Off the Balcony - The production skills of Amaire Johnson show up here with a nice beat and great key work. Sean comes to the realization how important his relationship connections are. He gets that it has more to do with compatibility on a mental level than anything physical. He takes the opportunity to also thank his dad for great advice and hoping he is living life to the fullest. The deep meaning of the song is a perfect representation of the albums theme of doing things right in your life and taking advantage of each day. I believe this track will be one of Sean’s more underrated hits for years to come.

Voices In My Head / Stick To The Plan - This two part banger is one of the more memorable moments from “I Decided”. It features Sean locked in an inner conflict with himself questioning his every move and allowing the voices in his head to affect his judgement. Halfway through however during a crazy Metro Boomin beat switch the attitude switches as well. Sean overcomes the voices to remind himself to stick to the plan and keep moving forward. At the end of the day he trusts his own judgment enough to realize it will lead him to the right place. This is a fantastic record in my opinion and is worth a listen whenever it comes on. This one will catch a listeners attention for sure.

Sunday Morning Jetpack (feat. The-Dream) - The emotional chords on “Sunday Morning Jetpack” allow Sean to speak on his longing for his family again. He talks about missing the simple days with his grandma and mom and the memories they used to share. The-Dream adds guest vocals for a short time toward the end and does a great job as usual. It’s safe to say this could be “I Decided”’s version of Sean’s song “Memories” which is considered one of his classics. Either way this song will tug at your heart strings for sure.

Inspire Me - “Inspire Me” takes the energy from “Sunday Morning Jetpack” and runs with it. In a similar fashion Sean uses this song as an ode to his mom. He gives listeners a flashback of what life was like growing up with his mom and how she has inspired him in everything he has done even if he doesn’t always admit it. It’s Sean’s version of a “Hey Mama” kind of record and similar to that one this is also effective. I’m sure this song makes him mom proud for sure and is another solid offering from this album.

Sacrifices (feat. Migos) - Sean keeps the heavy hitters going on “Sacrifices”. Going in on the crazy beat Sean speaks on giving up so much to achieve his dreams and get to this point of his career. He calls upon Offset and Quavo of the Migos to lay killer verses of the same message. This is another banger that should receive praise from modern rap fans while also carrying a good message to people.

Bigger Than Me (feat. The Flint Chozen Choir & Starrah) - As a triumphant finish to “I Decided.” Is track “Bigger Than Me” which caps off the project in a great fashion. Sean realizes his success has more to do with the people around him than himself at all. He remembers performing for his home town and loving to make them proud. Along with Starrah and The Flint Chozen Choir the song is a new Detroit anthem. Sean ends the track and album with audio of a phone call with his mother where he explains the in a nutshell the albums concept and Sean becomes his older self again. “Bigger Than Me” is in my top three cuts from “I Decided.” at the moment and is recommended if you want some inspiration.

Summary - I have nothing but praise for Big Sean on this new album. He continues to inspire listeners with great lyrics and topic matter and while this album took a slightly different approach with the beat selection it was still very effective. The production was on point from start to finish as well and I was very impressed once again with the rollout of the project. Everything from the artwork to the overall theme behind it was great. To me more people should look at Sean as a top artist especially after they hear this album. He continues to evolve as an artist and make better material with each release. Be sure to support Sean and buy “I Decided.” on iTunes. Thanks for reading.

#big sean #i decided #album review #2017 #good music

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grimelords · 6 years

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I realised I finished writing up my January playlist and then forgot to post it, so I’m doing it here and now at the tail end of February. It’s 3 hours of good music, complete from A$AP Ferg to ZZ Top. Please enjoy.

Dream House - Deafheaven: I started the year off with extreme mental anguish at the realisation that Sunbather is five years old this year and that I am thusly one million years old and have wasted my youth. That aside, Dream House is still an incredible song. It does what the best songs do and speaks directly to the teenaged part of your brain that thinks nobody will ever understand you like this song does right now. It is an overwhelming experience, the whole album is, and very good for having an embarrassing amount of emotions while you're driving alone and it's very loud.

Hold My Liquor - Kanye West: When this song came out I remember someone said the best musical moment of 2013 was when you couldn't tell the difference between Chief Keef and Justin Vernon on this song and I'm inclined to agree.

Melody 4 - Tera Melos: I've talked about this album at length in these playlists and probably featured almost every song at this point but I'll just say, what I like so much about this song is how it moves so effortlessly between a very melodic almost pop-punk type chorus before disintegrating into stop start mathematics and back again before you even notice.

B Boy (feat Big Sean & A$AP Ferg) - Meek Mill: I don't know how the fuck he did it, but somehow Meek Mill got a bunch of rappers who are normally nothing amazing (Meek included) to operate at the absolute top of their game for whole verse each. Highlights especially are 'I got commas on commas on commas, and I ain't talkin about a run on sentence!' 'put my P up on her head like that bitch is reppin Philly, and I wheelie in the pussy like my n**** meek milly' and the immediate about turn of A$Ap Ferg saying 'You thinkin' Khloe don't know me, I'm in the car dashin' haters/I'm in the Kardashian, get it? I'm lyin', can't I pretend?/They say fake it 'til you make it, well let the fakin' begin!'

Shabba REMIX - A$AP Ferg, Shabba Ranks, Busta Rhymes, Migos: This song's a good example of how many different flows you can get to work over one beat, and how much it improves the song. Ferg is so fast and so varied, then Migos even it out with straight triplets for most of their verse before Busta kills it by just doing absolutely everything. Great job everyone.

Attak (feat. Danny Brown) - Rustie: I normally can't stand Danny Brown but he kills this song. I still have a lot of feelings about Rustie, who showed so much promise for being the weirdo that dance music needed before presumably watching HudMo make a million producing for Kanye and friends and deciding to remove every interesting element from his music to make it palatable for rappers. That is, at least, my theory. This song is great, but every other song on this album is an example of this approach not working and instead producing boring, half assed songs where nobody's at their full potential.

Ultra Thizz - Rustie: Compare it to this, the busiest song in the world. The way the melody of the bassline that sounds like it's about to swallow you whole contends with the synth melody AND the pitched up vocal melody for your attention, they all come it at once and trade barbs before being superseded by a fuzzy, inscrutable guitar solo which fades out and leaves us back at the start. What I love about this song is the absolute maximalism and hypercolour sounds, combined with the only simple melody being the big chord stabs that centre the piece combine into a total sensory experience. Not to mention the rhythms, where absolutely every part of it seems to be slightly stranger than you expect, constantly dropping one beat before or after you expect - your first clue is the snare build at the start suddenly splitting into triplets.

If I Were A Carpenter - Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash: My girlfriend showed me this song and it unlocked a third of the triangle in my brain where this song, Wichita Lineman by Glen Campbell and The Engine Driver by The Decemberists make a sort of trinity of songs about having a job and thinking about Wife. They're all very very good too.

12 Bricks - OG Maco: Outside of the famous video, which is very good, this song is also incredible. Another in the pantheon of songs with extremely minimal instrumentation where the vocal performance is so good it doesn't need anything. The slight delay makes all the screaming and wooing toward the end just pile on top of each other in waves building the texture up until it finally levels out.

Requiem Para Um Amor - Toquinho: I really cannot get enough of the organ in this song. I don't think I've ever heard a classical guitar/electric organ duet before and now I'm hungry for more.

You Can Be A Robot, Too - Shintaro Sakamoto: This song appeared on my Discover Weekly playlist and I'm not really sure why but it's very good. I can't tell if it's actually a children's song or just playful like one but I appreciate it either way. When it started playing from the playlist the album cover was a cartoon of a kid surrounded by robots, but when I tried to add it to a playlist the art changed to a green picture of a skeleton playing a lap steel guitar with an explosion in the background, which felt very cursed to me.

Raver - Burial: This song has always stood out to me on Untrue because of how straightforward the beat is. Under anyone else's control this would be a normal song but instead it's this incredibly detailed, messy piece of work that feels like looking at a house song through a dirty window. I also have no proof at all to back this up but in my mind the xylophone line is sampled from Donkey Kong 64 or possibly Banjo Kazooie.

Cavalettas - The Mars Volta: I remember reading a bad review of this album when it came out that was mad because it pulled 'the most egregious studio trick in recent memory' by having the whole mix except for one guitar get sucked down into a wormhole multiple times, including the bass getting physically detuned until you can hear the strings slack before resuming as normal a second later. In my opinion it's incredibly funny and it sounds good so more bands should do it. Also the other day I saw the drummer Thomas Pridgen comment on Omar Rodriguez's instagram 'check ur dms bro'. Imagine being in a band with someone for a decade and not having their number, insane.

Flash Back - Rustie: Honestly I cannot get enough of this bassline. This song is another good example of what I was talking about with Rustie dumbing his melodies down after this album, the main line in this winds around and around itself in this loping confused rhythm and against the bass that's also syncopated it just ends up sounding like hypercolour, which is a feat for a song that's basically just those two melodies against each other for the bulk of it with some plastic choir stabs throughout.

Heaven - DJ Sammy: What an absolute perennial banger. Can you believe this AND Boys Of Summer were on the same album? Incredible stuff DJ Sammy. I've been meaning to make a playlist of all the 90s/2000s lame rave songs that are secretly very emotional and have definitely inspired absolute emotional turmoil in ravers the world over like this Better Off Alone and Heaven Is A Place On Earth, but for now just enjoy the Bryan Adams classic as reimagined by DJ Sammy.

Stalking To A Stranger (Planets Collide Remix) - The Avalanches: I owe this song a lot because it not only for me into Hunters And Collectors, who it turns out have far better and angrier songs than Holy Grail, but it also turned me onto Vertigo/Relight My Fire by Dan Hartman which is sampled at the start. When this song came out it was the first new Avalanches song in a decade or so and nobody knew what to make of it because suddenly Avalanches songs just have screaming men in them, which was very good.

Miracle - Kimbra: I think that very soon everyone is going to figure out that Kimbra has been the pop genius the world needs and she's been here all along.

Wayfaring Stranger (Burial Remix) - Jamie Woon: Jamie Woon got a raw deal in my opinion. He had a song remixed by Burial, and then Burial co-produced Night Air for him and he was the king of dark and mysterious British dubstep wave, but then James Blake and everyone else came along and sort of overshadowed him totally. Now that whole movement is sort of clouded because of how quickly 'dubstep' came to mean 'skrillex', and for some reason the only place this song is on Spotify is a compilation called The World's Heaviest Dubstep, Grime & Bass.

Chanbara - At The Drive-In: A lot of writing about At The Drive-In focuses on how they never really captured the ferocity of their live shows on record until Relationship Of Command but the absolutely big screams on this working against the salsa bongo rhythms is an amazing thing. I also kind of prefer the weedy half-clean guitar sounds on this and their first album especially to Relationship of Command's crunchier sound, it feels like it gives a lot more space to the weird noodling melodies that come and go.

All Medicated Geniuses - Pretty Girls Make Graves: The intro of this song absolutely blew my 15 year old math rock mind with how simply it transitions from the snare on the beat to the snare off the beat. It is endlessly fascinating to me because I am a dummy. Every part of this song is amazing to me, from the big swing band bassline behind the guitar that's sort of just screaming through the verses and absolutely on its own journey through the chorus to the drums for the reasons I already mentioned but also the way they keep everything straight and absolutely refuse to indulge the guitar's worst math impulses.

Dangerous - The xx: I really love the horns in this song, and the big air raid sirens toward the end. It is still shocking to me that The xx transitioning to making upbeat bangers worked out for them but I'm so glad that they did.

Running - Bully: I was listening to a podcast about water management policy and infrastructure called Water You Talking About because I am young and cool and for some reason they were using the chorus of this song where she goes 'I'LL ADMIT IT! I GET ANXIOUS TOO!' as their theme song in an episode which is I suppose appropriate but also really made me laugh.

Simultaneous Contrasts - Warehouse: The singer in this band has my new favourite voice, it's amazing. She sounds like she's eaten a belt sander or something. I love the way the guitar line follows her vocals up in the chorus and also just how extremely busy the whole band is around her. They remind me of some kind of alternate universe Life Without Buildings where she's pissed off instead of just beguiling.

Light Up The Night - The Protomen: There's no reason this band should be good. They wrote a rock opera based on the story of Megaman inspired by Queen and Bruce Springsteen and it actually turned out incredible somehow. Unfortunately since this album came out almost a decade ago all they've done is a couple of live albums and covers albums, so I may never get the resolution I crave on the story of Thomas Light and Joe and whoever.

Tonto - Battles: Here's what's so good about this song: it spends 2 and a half minutes winding up to a huge centrepiece that's over way too soon and then the next 4 minutes slowly slowly slowly winding down to absolute zero. It's like the opposite of how to write a good song but it's absolutely enthralling.

Wall Street - Battles: Around a minute into this, there's two snare hits where it sounds like it's part of a roll that got digitally muted that I am obsessed with. Every part of this song is incredible, but the drums throughout alternate between sounding like he's desperately trying to keep up and sounding like pure power and total command. I especially love the big brassy snare sound that comes up from underneath occasionally to pull the brakes. The performance of this song that Battles did for La Blogoteque is one of my favourite videos on youtube.

Every Single Line Means Something - Marnie Stern: For about a week this month I developed a quiet mania about John Stanier from Battles filling in on drums in the Late Night With Seth Myers Band (for some reason), and then I found out that Marnie Stern is apparently in that band as well and it really threw me for a loop. I don't really know why this was such an incredible thing or why I focused on it so much, maybe something I need to figure out, but it reminded me of this great song so that's a positive. This is some of my favourite work Zach Hill has ever done because he's being forced to play pretty much a normal backbeat for a lot of this song and it feels like he's been cursed by a witch. The amount of power he's putting out for such a straightforward idea is incredible. Of course because it's Zach Hill he's also doing the absolute most in every other part of the song. I haven't even mentioned how much I love Marnie on her own song! Anyway, listen to this whole album.

Hacker - Death Grips: I never got into the hype around Death Grips when they were the thing, and haven't really investigated their discography past this album, but this song is an absolute masterpiece and probably everything you ever need to know about them. Lyrically between this and 'I've Seen Footage' there's a pretty neat summation of their worldview, paranoid because your existence is inextricably linked to the internet and everything that entails, 'having conversations with your car alarm'. 'make your water break at the apple store,'

Pass The Word (Love's The Word) - The Mad Lads: I was looking up where the sample's from in Hilltop Hoods' Chase That Feeling and it turns out it's this song. Try to listen to this whole intro. He's trying to give a sermon but his dumbshit friends simply will not shut the fuck up for fully three whole minutes. Other than the intro the song is very, very good.

Monkey Time '69 - The Mad Lads: I also found this other song by the Mad Lads called 'Monkey Time '69', which to me is the definition of comedy.

She's Got Guns - The Go! Team: New Go Team album! Unfortunately nothing on it sort of lived up to the promise of the first two singles Mayday and Semicircle song, but this song is still a hit. The way this is mixed is so good, the brass behind the massive bass and spacious drums and the vocals sort of backgrounded within it all, very appealing.

Coast To Coast - Tune-Yards:It feels weird that a Tune-Yards song can be this smooth. A sort of apocalyptic, politics is ruined, new york is sinking, funky smooth jam.

Cattle And The Creeping Things - The Hold Steady: I've never listened to much of The Hold Steady outside of this album because I don't feel like I really need to, it's got everything I'd ever need. Sorry to always to talk about drums but the amount of reverb on them in this song makes them sound absolutely huge and I really love it, especially in the last verse they just become massive. Also I went through a long period of being obsessed with the lyrics of this song, it's a good distillation of this whole album's christian cult/drugs in middle america story and it is completely my shit.

Losing All Sense - Grizzly Bear: There's something about Painted Ruins that's impenetrable to me. I keep listening to it and only absorbing about one song at a time, totally loving that song and then ignoring the rest of the album. Now it's Losing All Sense.

Blue Cheese - Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile: This song is like Kurt Vile in his purest form, just sort of strumming and talking about whatever the fuck. The best part of this song is when they go 'woo hoo!!!' then he whistles a little bit and then says 'here come the lone ranger!' in an elvis voice and plays a solo that sounds like he's tuning his guitar. Also right at the end you can hear someone's phone message tone going off.

Catch Me If You Can Theme - John Williams: John Williams didn't have to go as hard as he did with the Catch Me If You Can theme. I have this in my head all the time. I love the rapid shifts in this recording, because I guess it's functioning as the overture so he's just cycling through every different variation he's got in his aresenal.

I've Seen Footage - Death Grips: It's good that Death Grips' most popular song is about how the internet melts your brain There's a good quote from Zach Hill about where the title came from: 'The line “I’ve Seen Footage” was from a conversation I had with this street-person dude in Sacramento named Snake Eyes. A friend of ours recorded him on the porch in a conversation– he didn’t know he was being recorded. He was all fucked up on drugs and shit, just rattling off all this crazy information. He was talking about structures on the moon. I mean, I talk about those things, too. So we were talking about moon structures, and Snake Eyes says, “I’ve seen footage! I’ve seen footage of it!” And I was like, “That’s good!”

The Bucket - Kings Of Leon:It seems impossible that Kings Of Leon were a really good band at one point but here's the proof.

Standing Next To Me - The Last Shadow Puppets: I'm a truther for Muse ripping off Knights Of Cydonia from The Age Of The Understatement by The Last Shadow Puppets but that's a post for another time. This is a perfect song in my opinion. The absolute pace of it, the minimal drums that are just sort of accenting the strumming, the huge sweeping strings elevating the whole thing, the fact that it's over in just over two minutes. Incredible.

Jesus Just Left Chicago (live) - ZZ Top: Nobody believes me when I tell them but ZZ Top are very good. I have a fantasy about this song that ZZ Top were ringleaders of a sort of revival blues cult and this song is gospel to them. Jesus did really leave Chicago and he's heading towards California and we will be here waiting for him. You may not see him, but he sees you and he loves you. This and the La Grange recording are absolutely furious for live recordings, I love how much crowd noise there is in it throughout, they are truly fucking loving it.

La Grange (live) - ZZ Top: Especially here, my god they love it. La Grange is a good song because it's just a good riff and one verse of nonsense lyrics that are just an excuse to go the fuck off for the remainder. The huge drum fill and the 'have mercy everybody!!' is massive, the solos are ferocious, and somehow this song that feels like it could jam out for 15 minutes is reined in and tightly structured and has somewhat abrupt end.

Barracuda - Heart: Hey remember Guitar Hero? Cause I had ptsd flashbacks when this song came on during I, Tonya.

Bloodmeat - Protest The Hero: I don't know how exactly Protest The Hero pivoted from a concept album about a goddess(?) being executed(?) and bringing about a new genderless utopian age(?) to their second album opening with this very bicep emoji classic metal song about the mongol hordes slaughtering all who oppose them, but good for them I suppose.

Born On A Day The Sun Didn't Rise - Black Moth Super Rainbow: The drums in this song have no place being that huge. Black Moth Super Rainbow are good and I can't believe I hadn't listened to them in years until I woke up with this song in my head one morning, like an omen.

Been Drinkin' Water Out Of A Hollow Log - Mississippi Fred McDowell: Literalyl every Mississippi Fred McDowell song sounds exactly the same which is good because if it works why change it. In my understanding this song seems to be about a man dying of hunger and thirst on purpose to meet god, which is very good to me.

Listen here.

#playlists

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bradleyhartsell · 6 years

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Ghosts Make Better Friends

Radiohead- Amnesiac 2001 (3rd of Top 100)

By my recollection, since I started keeping track over a dozen years ago, only three records have been earmarked as my all-time favorite: The Moon & Antarctica, Slanted & Enchanted, and Amnesiac. Considering how inauspicious Radiohead’s 2001 album had begun with me, I always took personal pride in what I perceived as the album’s meteoric rise. I took a certain pride in claiming Amnesiac superior to the band’s joint masterpieces, OK Computer and Kid A, not in order to be provocative, but because I genuinely believed it to be technically perfect.

My admiration swelled so highly that it overtook Slanted & Enchanted as my favorite album, a distinction that actually stood for a few years. Pavement reclaimed the top spot when I kept finding myself watching Slow Centuryand daydreaming about the kinetic, almost amateur-like energy that I privilege in music; that resonance, even if it’s an effervescent “cool factor,” had to stand for something, I reckoned. Talking Head’s Remain in Lightjumped Amnesiac for many of the same reasons that saw Amnesiac’s initial surge—aggressive ambition met with technical proficiency. Ultimately, though, I attribute a higher “cool factor” to Remain in Light, largely aided by the charisma of David Byrne, who yelps and squanders in captivating fashion. Thon Yorke couldn’t so easily be described as charismatic, yet unlike another former fallen #1, I don’t see Amnesiac having its tail between its legs like The Moon & Antarctica (clinging to one of the final spots on my list). For starters, Amnesiac still lords over 96 other records, including every other Radiohead album. But what’s more, Yorke may not be the Malkmus or Byrne level of cool but his haunting way of conveying paranoia, impotence, and oppression is never better aligned than the jazz-tinged purgatory of Amnesiac.

For all the talk of Amnesiacbeing the little brother to Kid A, there are distinct differences. Kid Ais fairly evenly split between the astral (i.e. “Kid A”) and the industrial (i.e. “Idioteque”), while Amnesiacespouses some netherworld, like negative photographs of what the band did (OK Computer, Kid A) and would do (Hail to the Thief). The digitized backbeat and synth melody on opener “Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box” sounds akin to “Everything In Its Right Place,” until electric guitar squalls and garbled samples give the song a psychedelic edge. You nod along with the subdued but shuffling beat, agreeing with this “reasonable man” who wants you to “get off [his] case.” Though the opener has to set the table, it is one of the few moments on the album not overtly informed by jazz. The song is true to a concurrent aesthetic of Amnesiac, however, in how it seems like an alternate, trippy take on what could pass as aKid A song, like Radiohead is existing in a parallel universe.

“I Might Be Wrong” is another aspect of diverting from the jazz through line, but it’s a formidable rock song, relatively speaking, which Radiohead previously struggled incorporating (see “Electioneering” and “Optimistic”). Its buzzing steel-cable guitar riff is assured over a drum machine backbeat, emitting the essence of what would become Hail to the Thief two years later. Colin Greenwood’s funky-infused bass line comes in nearly halfway through, adding to this buoyant rhythmic sensation in the middle of an album that’s largely spacious. As if aware and suddenly shy about its rhythmic outlier, the song’s final minute provides a captivating ambiance, where the riffs and backbeat are stripped for parts, while Thom’s falsetto hovers over the now-spare outline of what was “I Might Be Wrong” proper.

An unsung hallmark of Amnesiacis it’s no one thing; it’s not just an intersection between the Kid A-era and the Hail to the Thief-era, thus aptly linking the electronic and industrial with art rock, and it’s not simply just their “jazz” album, but Amnesiacis Radiohead at their most avant garde. Consider “Idioteque,” which is a full embrace of the mechanical dystopia that constitutes much of the B-side of Kid A. As much as a thematic and artistic underscore as it is, it’s also highly accessible and considered by many to be the highlight of the album. It may not be a Top 40 summer hit, but “Idioteque” is a banger.

Amnesiacmakes a similar proclamation of a mechanized dystopia on “Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors,” but this one is far less accessible—in fact, it’s haunting. “The Pyramid Song” actually transports us there, with its lurching, stacked piano line and Phil Selway’s odd, complex time signature; these husks of the song could be transposed onto a swanky hotel lounge act, thus providing the album with the first hints of jazz. The final 15 seconds, though, sucks in like a black hole, which is fitting for the ominousness of the song proper, in which Yorke, surrounded by Jonny Greenwood’s ondes Martenot, sings of “black-eyed angels” swimming with him. The vacuum releases into the tyrannical apocalypse of “Pulk/Pull,” with its onerous drum ‘n bass, and swirling, radioactive programming that has a dangerous shimmer to it. The song sounds like the inside of a tornado, with Radiohead providing calmness inside of the chaos, like the pleasant piano chimes that try intermittently escaping, only to be suddenly engorged back into the netherworld.

The perfect intersection between the parallel universes in Amnesiacand the bedrock of experimental and jazz is the stunning closer, “Life in a Glasshouse.” The song can be seen as a negative copy to Kid A’s wonderful jazz screech, “The National Anthem,” which I say sounds like 100 jazz musicians careening into each other on a highway. Its Amnesiacquasi-kindred spirit is nimbler, airier, and brisker, even as its drenched in the trumpet of famous late English jazz musician Humphrey Lyttelton. Led by Yorke’s patient piano melody, the accompaniment in the verse whisks about like a fresh spring morning, only for the chorus to swell with loud, almost-gossiping horns, as he insists that he’d “love to sit around and chat / only there’s someone listening in.” In the final chorus, Yorke repeatedly pleading “only, only, only, only” is the best, most affecting moment of Radiohead’s already-sterling career.

That final movement is the breathtaking culmination of a song that fundamentally pushes Radiohead to their extremes—into uncommon spaces that are further away from the art rock they perfected and into, say, the ambience of “Treefingers” or the dissonant avant garde of “Pulk/Pull” or the full-on jazz of “Life in a Glasshouse.” As spritely as the closer may be musically, and paranoid and/or suppressed as Yorke is, it feels like a celebratory climax of the jazz that’s festering and seeping throughout the album. After “Pulk/Pull” detours from the jazzy time signature of “The Pyramid Song,” the jazz chords and upright bass of “You and Whose Army” gives the album its first pop-adjacent song. In fact, as stellar as “Life in a Glasshouse” is, Amnesiacdoesn’t stand up as a whole without the pop-adjacent middle of “You and Whose Army,” “I Might Be Wrong,” and “Knives Out.”

As I’ve intimated, I hatedthe album for years after I first got it burnt for me along with The Bends, OK Computer, Kid A, and Hail to the Thief, all of which I really liked (even if I’ve since cooled on The Bends and Hail), except Amnesiac’s aforementioned middle three songs. The reason I disliked that album is among the leading reasons of why it’s now my favorite: it’s the most challenging and inaccessible Radiohead album. The harrowing “Pulk/Pull,” the malevolent stroll of “Hunting Bears – (TRUE Instrumental), and “Like Spinning Plates,” which itself is a classic Radiohead minor key ballad, only again in a parallel universe—more specifically, it’s the heartfelt balladry of “Exit Music (For a Film)” or “How to Disappear Completely” evaporated into the Twin Peaks Black Lodge. With lesser versions of Amnesiac’s three middle songs—without those entrancing hooks—or even another experimental detour akin to “Pulk/Pull” or “Fitter Happier,” Amnesiacrisks being an inhospitable collection of sonic exploration. But because those three songs can be seen as pop music (even if you’ve got to squint), the same essence that compelled me to play just those three songs a decade ago is what provides the necessary shred of humanity in the most barren music Radiohead dared (and likely ever will dare) to make.

The band didn’t do themselves any favors, of course, when they elected to include the original version of “Morning Bell” on Amnesiac, which only heightened the public’s feeling that the album is a collection of Kid A B-sides. It doesn’t help that “Morning Bell/Amnesiac” is the weakest song on the album, though to the band’s credit, it’s not nearly the wincing misstep that their other essential albums have (again, see “Electioneering,” “Optimistic,” and “House of Cards”). Rather, “Morning Bell/Amnesiac” is a warmed-over, lurching dirge that at least feels true to the album, as again it’s an overt negative copy, this time of the Kid A “Morning Bell”; the Amnesiac version is stripped down, with a slower tempo and a continuous march that’s far less bustling and compartmental as the one on Kid A.

Quite simply: there’s too many great songs and no oversights. The greatness of “Knives Out” has been alluded to, but it and the underrated “Dollars and Cents” both make tremendous use of Selway’s jazzy cymbal shuffle—the latter with an orchestral rise and fall, the former with side-AKid A,or even an In Rainbows sparkling arpeggio. These two songs especially highlight Yorke’s singing and songwriting, in which “Knives Out” has a soaring melody that contains the frontman as threatening as he’s ever been: “If you’d been a dog / They would have drowned you at birth.” Meanwhile, “Dollars and Cents,” features Yorke’s yowling climax that evokes the caterwauling OK Computerin a far fresher (and still in line with Amnesiac) way than it seemed “Optimistic” hoped to do on Kid A.

There’s the apex of artistic creativity alongside global recognition. I don’t doubt Radiohead achieved this rarified status due to how accessible they made their disparate influences and overt sociopolitical leanings. On a visceral level, any brooding high schooler can get down to “Karma Police”; after all, challenging ideas behind catchy songs seems to be the apex of art. The jazz explorations, stripped down structures (good luck finding a thinner Yorke lyrics sheet than Amnesiac), and harrowing aesthetic easily makes Amnesiacthe album Radiohead furthest strays from accessibility. Yet the album provides signs of life whenever needed and ends with as strong a song as any artist has ever created. While there’s much to appreciate in a band’s ability to merge art with accessibility, sometimes it’s more exhilarating to venture into dark, cragged spaces. Sometimes ghosts make better friends.

#Radiohead #amnesiac #Kid A #ok computer #hail to the thief #in rainbows #the bends #Thom Yorke #Jonny Greenwood #modest mouse #pavement #talking heads

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