Flying Lotus- Reset EP

Poducer Flylo's first release on warp records in 2k7/ hazy, spacey, glitchy, catchy, its alot of things... boils down to relaxed hip hop beats with odd electronic and ambient melodies with perfect atmosphere. First song (in the vid above) features london singer Andrea Triana, whos voice is pretty incredible.

Download (via rapidshare)

THE ISLAND

basically "the wicker man" but with more guns

Should people who are considered past the point of being relevant in the new music community like this guy be continually trying to keep pace in the confusing world of "hip" new music. He obviously thinks so but I don't really think he gets it, I'm sure he does enjoy the music and stuff but to have last.fm and write a blog, seems like a desperate attempt to remain relevant.

Should I not do social commentary when I'm bored?
Do i sound a bit like Carles right now with these bullshit questions?

Shaping up to be one dull decade in music

Well if Vice's "guide" for "hot bands" is anything to go by it's going to be all about following annoying trends while still (basically) copying bloc party in as many ways as the trend will allow you.

No having fun with music and doing your own thing. No taking music seriously and striving for making something amazing. Nope, just try really hard to look cool.

Seriously I prefer milley cirus to this entry level shit

Streetz Lyrikz innit

Mike Turner on life: "Rain taps on your window Always did though but you didn't hear it when things were so-so. You're on your own now Your little zone you were born alone and believe me you'll die alone."

Orchard on Mike Turner: "Be alright if they had some decent beats and he wasn't such a prick"


disgusted those lyrics resonate with me

my year in gigs 2k9/ 'appy 'uckin new year

Last.fm events

Here's a list of the bands worth mentioning I've seen this yeah. It was a good year, although feel this year will be very different and that I'm growing out of a lot of this stuff. New years really was a night where my attitude towards everything changed, sounds stupid but kind of found myself a bit. NEEEEWAY...
Brontide(3), Holy State(2), These Waves(4), Minnaars(3),Colour(3), Data.select.party(2), PENS, Wavves, Pharaohs, Pneu, Shield Your Eyes(3), We vs The Shark, Pulled Apart By Horses(4), Rolo Tomassi,Instrument (make music), Dartz!, The JCQ, Talons(4), Shapes(2), Icy Demons, Lovvers(2), Times New Viking, Hot Bone, Blakfish(3), Calories(2), Pennines, The Computers(2), Baddies, Dinosaur Pile-up, Vivian Girls, Abe Vigoda, Tubelord (5), Wounds, An Albatross, Animal Collective, Bombay Bicycle Club (2), Franz Ferdinand, Micachu and the Shapes(2), Fanfarlo, Errors, THe Xcerts, This Town Needs Guns(2), The Ghost Of A Thousand(3),
Polar Bear Club, DANANANANANAKYROYD(2), Dead Spex(2), Crash of Rhinos, Dead Swans, , Pictureplane, Health, Spectrals, Dutch Uncles(2), Battles, Flying Lotus

Political Debates

Havin' a Laugh

In the Club

Fuck 2k9

Mirrored

Battles- Mirrored (2007)



This'll be the last album I post for a while. It's a cliche'd choice for this blog (which is named after the albums opening and closing tracks) but one of my favourite albums of all time. It takes a very engaging piece of music to hold your attention throughout an album without lyrics.

Battles are a band I feel are massively under rated, despite having quite a wide fan base, people tend to categorised them as either the experimental electronic-noise movement (like gang gang dance) or as really techy striped down mathrock. However the range of influences and directions this album takes is much wider, obviously there's a lot of sample use, loops and distortion from pedals its the hip hop rhythm parts, the funk like melodies, the intertwining influences clashing and yet seamlessly fitting into coherent songs.

My friend ash once described it as "textured music, it feels like you can walk in between every instrument, like you can touch them."They make music that's for me atleast, mind blowing. Its so beautiful, so perfect and yet so strange and unfamiliar at the same time. You can enjoy this album on a lot of levels I think that's why I like it so much. As always download it by clicking the title

God's Money

Gang Gang Dance- God's Money (2005)



Another post y2k album I love. Gang Gang's third attempt is pretty immense, I wasn't sure whether to pick this or Saint Dymphna (also amazing) but I think this album sounds more well rounded and coherent. Gang Gang make dark and experimental "noise" music, but on the other end of the scale to lightning bolt. Not the normal effects pedal laden "noise punk" band, but a really techy and refined approach to the same kind of dreamy sound. It's really precise and structured, the "noise" element is much more visceral and the album feels like its a dream, weaving in and out of strange sounds and distant echoes over a huge, constant beat from the rhythm section.

The percussion is really interesting. It reminds me of alot of the experimental afrobeats stuff with a kind of vague hip hop feel to the beats. The droning melodies and vocal samples are kind of similar to liars (Drum's not dead in particular), but i think Liz's vocals play out better, and the melodic work with the keys, flutes and samples has a lot more depth and a real surreal feel to it.

Click the album name to listen.

Big Scary Expansionism

So i've been hearing alot of rumours going around the "emo"/bromo community about a certain uk label trying to storm America. Turns out it's true, Kevin Douch (aka. big scary monsters) is signing bands, employing promoters, here's a link to what he said about it. He's also signed two of my favourite bands casavet and grown ups, both getting pretty big on the "scene".



I wish him all the best, but kind of worried he'll lose focus on the uk side of things, i mean already he's clearly struggling on his own to keep on top with distribution, even if all the promotion makes it seem like stuffs going fine. He owes me orders from 6 months ago I'm yet to chase up, I don't think I'd buy another physical release from him again. Also he failed to release the Pennines/ ttng split because he didn't have time, lazily putting it straight to itunes.



He's clearly a guy who loves the music and what he's doing, but jesus before starting up new shit Kev, stop going to America to watch the get up kids, stop posing for photos: CHECK YOUR FUCKING MAIL ORDERS AND SEND ME THAT (now kind of obsolete) FUCKING SPRING SAMPLER.

Marshall Mathers

Enimem- Marshall Mathers LP (2001)




Got lots to say about this one, sorry. Hip-hop music is often easy to generalise and slim has become generic, but this album was really special. If this was a hyped blog and I was a well known critic people might think putting this album was attention seeking but i genuinely fucking love this album. I first heard it when I was 14 and into a lot of mainstream rap. It is pretty much the only one I've been able to persistantly love and appreciate no matter how much my taste in music has changed and broadened.

It's sometimes hard to “get” Eminem’s lyrics, hard to tell sincerity from satire and vice versa but I guess there's truth in the joke, joke in the truth.
Those who saw the funny side of The Slim Shady LP found it insincere and seemingly attention seeking in vulgarity, not “real enough”. Those who didn’t see the funny side branded him Satan’s voice in music, but off the back of that Slim takes what’s relevant in his life, his demonization in the media, the responsibility of being a reluctant role model, being the “white face” of rap and turns it into a witty yet dark lyrical mess:

“blurring the distinction between reality and fiction, humor and horror, satire and documentary”,

It wasn’t the album people expected. It wasn’t a stereotypical mainstream rap album glamorising “gangsters”, he raps about what’s real for him, what he finds funny and relevant as his alter ego "slim" but there’s passion and anger in his lyrics as an undertone. The music on this album is pretty typical of a record produced by Dre, but a lot darker that most of his normal East Coast affairs. The beats and bass are slow and droning, the piano melodies simple yet fitting to each song. This album is what good hip hop is all about, passionate lyrics, breaking tradition and making his contemparies look like immature stereotypes.

The sad thing this is that 8 years later, he became everything he hated, forced to chose between losing his fame and falling into obscurity (at times with his "quitting" the industry it seemed like that's what he wanted)and selling out he fell into the same crowd as snoop, his name's bigger than his music now and he produces hits with no integrity.

On the down side it has dido and a fucking shit cover. Click the name to listen