baltic exchange

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I've got some more Baltic inspired music to share with you. The first two are Lithuanian, downtempo dance pieces both featuring Jazzu whilst the third is a Latvian tune with an amazing video to match the tune.

Mario Basanov & Vidis feat. Jazzu - I'll Be Gone

Leon Somov and Jazzu -Tik Pasilik

Instrumenti - Kvik Myndir

bank holiday mix

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I've put together a bank holiday mix for you. I've tried to keep it fairly low-key and apologies for the bad mixing. I'm still a novice at all this.

Bank Holiday Mix by Ichi the Killer

Tracklist:

Michael Strauss - "Good Morning Ibiza (Original)"

Schlepp Geist - "Stupid Guy (Original)"

Feygin - "Budva (Slum Dop Remix)"

Asem Shama - "Loewenherz(Original Mix)"

Lars Wickinger - "Darth Vader (Ron Ractive Remix)"

Khan feat Julee Cruise - "Say Goodbye (Losoul Mix)"

Omurah - "Paranormal Symphony"

Mickael Davis Aka Dolby D - "Beat Beat Bad"

Pierre Deutschmann - "Quantum Leap Original"

Breger - "Nachtmaschine"

Mnmlistique - "Iron (Original Mix)"

Artem Scrip - "Virus Detected (Original Mix)"

Addme Collective - "Magma (Original Mix)"

Marco Carola - "Groove Catcher"

Martin Dawson - "What the Fuck"

Moenster - "Babe"

Adam Port & Ruede Hagelstein - "Corrosive Love (Original Mix)"

for ieva

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The coolest Lithuanian girl I know told me about this tune. 

the f of the s is more d than the m

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I feel inspired to post some tracks from women who had/have real passion.

Mina Mazzini - Se Telefonando

Anika - Terry

Kirsty MacColl - Don't Come the Cowboy With Me, Sonny Jim (the quality is poor but it's a live version of my favourite KM song and I adore her).

 

Marianne Faithfull - As Tears Go By

Tiny Vipers - Dreamer

in the mix

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I came across this minimal/tech house set on MinimalFreaks blog the other day. Mixed by Romanian, DJ Asky, it's very trippy and oozes class. I hope you like it as much as I did.

gil scott-heron 1949-2011

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I was saddened this morning to wake up to the news that Scott-Heron has died. I'm not surprised but it doesn't make the passing any less upsetting. The highlight of Bestival last year was seeing this great man play. Thanks for the music. 

This is from his 'I'm New Here' released last year.

...and this is of course 'Winter in America'

tokimonsta

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I'm predicting very big things for TOKiMONSTA which is the nom de plume for Jennifer Lee, an LA-based DJ/musician of Korean extraction. She's just released her new mini-album recently and it's an experimental dance album that is extremely listenable. It has an old skool trip-hop feel to the drum patterns whilst the keyboards sound very modern.

Apparently she's been around for a bit now but this album is the first I've heard of her and I'm very impressed. It's quite a short affair being only 6 or 7 tracks in total leaving me hungry for more of her work and fortunately there's a few previous EPs that I can hunt down. It's not a floorstomper, rather a delicate and subtle blend but is all the better for it.

  

She also has acoustic guitars and traditional band instruments aplenty making this a really great crossover album. I've only hearda few tracks on Soundcloud at the moment so am looking forward to listening to this in full. Released on London-based Ramp Records, it's in the shops now. I think she's also in the UK at the moment. I saw a flyer in Brighton advertising her name. I'll investigate further.

Did I mention that she is incredibly cute?

it's a monster

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You know every once in a while a tune comes along and just blows you away? This is it. An absolute killer tune. Ouch!

MMM - Dex

city of angels

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Here are a couple of bands at the experimental end of the electronic pop scene, Tearist and Rainbow Arabia. Both bands are from LA and both are very very good. The Tearist tune is newly released with accompanying video by Elizabeth Skadden. The Rainbow Arabia track has been out a couple of months, is on the Kompakt label and is an incredible record. I fell in love with it from the first listen.

Tearist - 'Disposition'

Rainbow Arabia - 'Without You'

cloud control

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When I first heard that Cloud Control had won the 2010 Australian equivalent of the Mercury Prize I did what a lot of reviewers did and immediately wished them a lot more luck than the British winners of that cursed award. It can't have been any mean feat to win either as they were up against Tame Impala. Their album 'Bliss Release' was released this week in the UK and I've listened to it a few times now and I can state that it's a grower.

Firstly, a little primer about the band: they hail from the Blue Mountains overlooking Sydney and have been around for about 3 years. They have had a lot of success in that time winning radio band contests and also the chance to open for Supergrass on an Aussie tour. They've also recently supported the Foo Fighters in Queensland and are planning to tour the UK very soon.

Now onto the music: At first the sound falls into that Fleet Foxes folky kind of feeling but Cloud Control mix in psychedelia and Vampire Weekend-like African drums to make this an album that is difficult to pin down as one thing or the other. The vocals are shared by the male lead, Alister Wright, who soars like a modern day Tim Booth and a very girlie female lead, Heidi Lenffer. They rely heavily on harmonies in much the same way as Stornoway do but with the instruments having more presence throughout the album.

Meditation Song #2 (Why Oh Why) sounds like a cover of a Fairport song but then they switch again to the close harmonies and then Gold Canary, their critically acclaimed single from the album could be a Fleet Foxes or Stornoway song. 'This is What I Say' is a lovely African-twangy guitar (you know what I mean - Gracelands, Bhundu Boys - that sort of sound!).

Overall, I think it's a very well-balanced album with enough there to make the listener hit the replay button. I'd give it 7 out of 10.

rub a dub dub

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It seems like it's been ages since I listened to a bit of dub reggae so tonight it's been on in the background as we ate and chatted about things. This seems like an excellent cue for playing some new(ish) and some obscure dub.

Brand new from I Am Damian - 'Accordion Underdub'

The Dub Machinist - 'Kikkoman'

Dubkasm - 'Ital Dub'

The Hempolics - 'Serious Dub'

Melaaz - 'Non Non Non' (A french re-working of Dawn Penn's classic)

Are we allowed to put on an old classic? If it's okay with you we'll have Horace Andy with 'Ital Ites Dubwise'

it's all for charity

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Bonnie 'Prince' Billy (aka Will Oldham) is releasing a charity single "There Is No God" with all of the proceeds going to "Save Our Gulf" a charity set up to rescue and care for wildlife affected by the BP oil disaster. Playing with Oldham are Emmett Kelly, Ben Hall, Pete Cummings, Peter Townsend, Billy Contreras, Cassie Berman and Rachel Korine. The single will be released on 21 June.

More information here. The song is quite silly, he's quite lovely and it's all for a great cause.

oh what a tangled web we weave

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Recently I've been reading and listening to some interesting stuff on the web. Rather than clog my blog with a load of different posts, I've decided to merge them all into one post. I hope you find something of interest here.

The website Sound & Colours that I mentioned a few weeks back has a really interesting article for anyone who wants to know the basics of tango. It's the first of two parts and includes links for further reading and also classes where you can learn to tango.

http://www.soundsandcolours.com/articles/argentina/basics-of-tango-part-one/

Ben Watt (aka Buzzin Fly) played a live mix set on BBC 6 on Saturday night and you can catch it here for the next 6 days:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b011fmfp

Matias Aguayo has a new single out on Kompakt Records, 'I Don't Smoke'. 

Massimiliano Pagliara has released a very brooding single, In Order Of More Depth, taken from the entitled album 'Focus For Infinity' and released on 'Live At Robert Johnson 2011'.

The ever wonderful, Saint Saviour has uploaded a session she recently did whilst at the Great Escape festival in Brighton recently.

Lastly, this is a lovely instrumental of Squadda B's 'I Miss Y'all'.

That's enough, I think. Hope you like some of them.

vashti bunyan

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Here's a real blast from the past - Vashti Bunyan with the Train Song. Imagine Nick Drake but female and Scottish.

a chilled remix

Tweet This is from Shumi, part of the Cologne Kompakt massive.

battles

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Battles are a three-piece band formed in New York in 2002. The three band members (and ex-band member - multi-instrumentalist, Tyondai Braxton) were all previously all in hardcore/math-rock bands from different cities - John Stanier in Florida-based 'Helmet', Dave Konopka with 'Lynx' who hailed from Boston and Ian Williams in Chicago's 'Storm and Stress'. All 4 members had felt restricted by the music they were currently playing and wanted to move away from being just a rock band.

They released 2 EPs over the next couple of years and although at that stage they were clearly still a punk/hardcore band they started experimenting with other genres notably shoe-gazer post rock, sometimes dub that leant towards reggae and electronic music also. They released 'Mirrored', their first full album in 2007 and won a lot of new fans with an album that revealed them to be expert musicians and talented innovators. 'Mirrored' maintained the hard rock edge but it also incorporated fresh sounding electronic music also. The stand out song from that album was 'Atlas' that has distorted voices over a pounding drum beat that would be at home with one of the drum heavy modern romantic bands of the early 80s. The album also provided soundtracks to adverts and TV programmes, proof that their music was now in the mainstream. 

Braxton left in 2010, citing the long touring schedule as the main reason leaving the 3 remaining members to reassess the music that they were working on for an upcoming album. 'Glass Drop' was completed in 4 months at the same studio where they had recorded the first album where they locked themselves away in order to fulfil record company commitments on time.  The new album is a lot easier to get into than the first album with the whole album revolving around Konopka's drumming but there is also a lot more techno in this album too. There is also the surprise of some guest singers including Gary Numan which surprise me. He's more known for a minimalist approach to music whereas Battles are almost the opposite. They've also a female singer, Kazu Makino involved which is unusual for a band rooted in hardcore. They have stated in interviews that they try desperately hard not to be pigeon-holed and this is why they like to move outside their comfort zones. 

This track is their first single release from their new album. It's called Ice Cream and features Matias Aguayo.

that friday feeling

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I'm handing over the selection of music for this post to a few people who really know their onions when it comes to music.

Jeru the Damaja - One Day

Art Department - Vampire Nightclub

Simultaneously - Men

 

HeartsRevolution - Switchblade

I'm away now until Sunday so have a great weekend. I certainly will.

a song to share

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My children and I sing along to this sometimes. Not enough, in my opinion. It's one of life's little pleasures sharing music - hence this blog! This is the very lovely Birmingham Jail - I think written by Leadbelly but it could well be one of those old Appalachian tunes.

and as a bonus, a tune that I want to learn all the words to with my two boys (it may take some time).

lights have gone out across europe

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Tonights entry is split into two parts, firstly a recent double 12 inch by a German DJ called Matt (short for Matthias) John. It's called the Bridge and is a brilliant almost-concept album. I wanted to say album as it's certainly long enough to be one but it's officially a double 12 inch so who am I to argue?

He's originally from Nordhausen, just south of Hanover and was deeply influenced by the minimal styles of Villalobos and Richiw Hawtin. Listening to the tracks I'd also say Claude Von Stroke with his leftfield style. I'm finding it difficult to categorise the music because it is minimal (mainly) but also quite funky in parts and he employs a lot of voice sampling and an almost experimental approach to the keyboard composition. Have a listen to 'Dolphins' and see if you agree.

He has a sort of semi-permanent residency in a few After Hours clubs such as Bar 25 in Berlin where he lives although he can be found spinning discs across Europe and further nowadays. There's a lot of depth to his music and because it's never 'in your face' it means you can really explore the sounds. This is 'Hello Again (California Sunrise)' from the same 12 inch/EP/album. It's a lovely warm song. I'm sure it's going to be a smash too.

Next up is a Norwegian band called 'Your Headlights Are On'. They've been around for about 3 years and are highly thought of in their home country winning 'Most Promising Band' in one of the big Norwegian national papers last year. They've recently released an eponymously titled album and I've been listening to it tonight.

According to the record company blurb they employ a Wurlitzer and tuba amongst their musical weapons of choice. They are definitely on the edgier side of pop with a lot of their tunes. They really like to grind the guitars and the singing is definitely best suited to watching them live. They remind in part of their fellow compatriots, Casiokids inasmuch as they often flit between dance/noise and pop effortlessly. I like as well that they also sing in their native tongue in some of the songs, notably Diskobar. They show a maturity well in advance of their band age and also their own ages. I'm going to keep an eye out for them for when they tour the UK next. Here are a few tracks from the recent album.

summer is a-coming in

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Inspired by something I posted elsewhere I've collected a few songs with summer in the title.

Billy Wright - Summer Love (Beyond There Mix)

Luis Bacalov - Summertime Killer

Billie Holliday - Summertime (Organica Mix)



Bebel Gilberto - Summer Samba

Regina Spektor - Summer in the City

room for a little one

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Before I go to bed tonight I'd like to share a few delicious new tunes.

This is awesome. Zomby - Things Fall Apart (ft Panda Bear):

Solo - I Want You

olof arnalds

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I've been thinking about folk music this morning on the train to work. It seems to have a timeless quality that other music genres (except for the Blues) lack. Rock and Roll, Glam, Punk, Rave they are all of a time whereas folk music is less about "now" - and more about "then" and has thus eluded the fickleness of music fashion. These thoughts occurred to me whilst I was reading a Bjork quote about Olof Arnalds (“[her voice is]...somewhere between a child and an old woman") and it seemed to be an allegory for folk music itself. Olof is a classically trained Icelandic singer and multi-instrumentalist (aren't they all?) and also the cousin of much-acclaimed composer Olafur Arnalds as featured on this blog a few months back here.

She released an album 'Innundir Skinni' last year and this was what I was listening to on the train this morning as I mused on things. It's taken quite a few listens for this album to get under my skin but it's been worthwhile and I'm glad I stuck at it. The album itself is a simple affair with most songs being Olof's voice alongside a minimal guitar accompaniment. She has been championed by her fellow Icelander, Bjork, who pops up in one of the few English language songs 'Surrender'. It's interesting that even when Bjork does backing vocals her voice is so strong that it threatens to be the alpha voice. Not in this case, Olof's voice is less idiosyncratic, more feminine, more mainstream but is more than up to the task of taking the lead here.

As I say, there's one or two English language songs: ' Jonathan' sounds a lot like a traditional English folk song. It rings a lot of metaphorical bells and its structure is definitely English folk as opposed to the quirky (to my ears) Icelandic language songs. 'Madrid' is a hybrid that works very well - Icelandic lyrics to a Spanish theme. The tune reminds me in part of 'Memories of Alhambra'. There's a lot to explore here and Olof has crafted a wonderful collection of songs.

Overall, the album is quite intimate but lacks a killer song for me. I'm probably doing it a great disservice as I'm not really listening to it as it should be heard - played live to an audience. I do intend to rectify this at the earliest opportunity when Olof tours the UK (please!). The language barrier also prevents me from appreciating the lyrical qualities which no doubt fill this debut album but Olof's voice is a joy to hear even if I don't understand what she's singing about.

This is the title track with accompanying video:

and as a bonus, here is the official video to another song on the album, Crazy Car. (I see that it was uploaded by One Little Indian Records - the Sugarcubes' old record label!)

paisley and charlie

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I've just finished listening to the very excellent Bob Fischer radio show on BBC Radio Tees. I don't normally listen to radio shows but this had Brighton-based duo, Paisley and Charlie on his show last week and I was eager to listen to them in session. Leaving aside Paisley and Charlie for a minute, I loved Fischer's show. He has a very charming manner and does a nice line in self-deprecation with a lot of warm hearted humour. The kind of radio show that makes you think of Mark Radcliffe. I'm definitely listening in again.

European Girl (art school disaster). by paisleyandcharlie

I'd heard bits and pieces by Paisley and Charlie for a few months now and was very pleased to hear that they have a new record out this week - 'Stone Lions'. They are unashamedly a pop act who hark back to Saint Etienne, the Sundays, early Lightning Seeds, Primitives and a whole host of mid to late 80s jangly guitar. The lyrics are as fresh as the sound and if whimsical pop is your thing then you really need to give your ears a treat and buy their record. They met a few years ago after Paisley answered an advert in Gumtree. Unfortunately attempts at forming a band didn't work but John Moore (from the Jesus and May Chain/Black Box Recorder) no less suggested they worked better just as a partnership. He wasn't wrong. They are now signed to Pebble Records and have a new album out in June. It's definitely on my wish list.

This is the official video for the single (are there less than subtle references to some influences in there?) 

Here's the link for the radio show: Bob Fischer Show 13/5/11 (You'll have to be quick though).

sunday mix

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I've put together a few tracks to wind down to on this Sunday evening. They're mainly downtempo and dance oriented rather than ambient although the Nicolas Jaar track is too beautiful to leave out. I'd like to have put them into a little mix for you but time and inclination is against me tonight. I hope you don't mind the format.

Johnny Farmer - Death Letter (Käärkäsi Bootleg Remix) by kelder

BOOGALOO! by Tylr! E

Berlin by FedericoAubele

Drive (YOUTH KILLS Remix) - Alpines by YOUTHKILLS

Malagripta by Wooky

Gun Song (Alphawezen Dub Remix) by Alphawezen

Nicolas Jaar - Colomb by salacioussound

raga dub (working title) by Synopsis Decay

on your side (Deaddolphin) - graciellita by graciellita