Lots more music
Sep. 11th, 2012 03:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drwexAPC has had a number of good things show up lately. Let me share a few with you. We'll start with two big names who are just excellent at what they do, then move on to new stuff, with a visit to listener-feedback land.
https://plus.google.com/u/0/+ArminvanBuuren/posts/R7jQGSJUbwn
I don't know anyone who does vocal trance or techno-trance better than AvB. He's also better than a lot of DJs/producers at crediting the vocalists he's working with. Here he makes excellent use of work from Ana Criado, whose solo stuff is ... OK, I guess. One of the things that makes van Buuren good is that even though he's working within a particular formula he can bring out talent and produce great sounds that others would not.
http://audioporncentral.com/2012/09/david-byrne-st-vincent-who.html
I'm on David Byrne's fan email list so I've been listening to this stuff as he sends out links. This is, to my knowledge, the first full public song+video from his upcoming project with St. Vincent (http://ilovestvincent.com/) and it's got all the right signature touches - Byrne's voice and the arrangements (horns and drums) that we've been hearing since forever from him. St. Vincent's contributions are obvious in the vocals - very beautiful, somewhat choral, and somewhat Andrews Sisters. On her site you can listen to how she does her own stuff and it's also definitely worth your time.
http://audioporncentral.com/2012/09/jack-beats-ft-diplo-and-example-war.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RMNoZXXq7o&feature=player_embedded
The first one is not going to be to everyone's taste. Jack Beats (http://www.jackbeats.co.uk/) collaborating with Diplo and Example. It skates across more styles than a rack at the old Filene's Basement. I like it because it pulls in lots of interesting beats. There are obvious Celtic and African sounds here as well as techno-experimental stuff. I kept thinking I wasn't going to like it, then found myself bopping along. Make of that what you will.
The second link is for the radio edit of Beats' "Careless" and is also hard to pin down stylistically. It's got some great vocals from Takura and again a wild mix of rhythmic styles, with some fairly heavy dub influences.
http://audioporncentral.com/2012/08/syron-breaking.html
Syron (http://soundcloud.com/syronofficial) is a new, young British soulful singer. Not soul, per se - the sound is rough-edged and yet it's clearly soul-influenced. I particularly like the production values on this track. It's clear that the producer worked with her voice to get the best sound out of it, but it doesn't come across as overproduced or auto-tuned, and you can even hear a little bit of London accent in how she says "no' allowed ta love you".
http://audioporncentral.com/2012/08/apc5-madmixmustang-inspector-clouseau.html
Madmixmustang apparently shares my love of Inspector Clouseau because he's built a wonderful mix using some of the best of Peter Sellers' language-mangling faux French. The musical tracks underlying the mix are fun and appropriate, but really who can't love "Not any more!" - those of you who've heard me mangle it, this is the original.
---------- OK, audience participation time
Like last time I want to put out two tracks that I'm not certain about and see what y'all think.
http://audioporncentral.com/2012/09/c2c-arcades.html
C2C's (http://www.myspace.com/c2cdjs) "Arcades" is kind of an interesting scratch-DJed dubstep track. On its own I'd pass it by, but the video is (I think) what makes this one. It's simple black-and-white slow motion footage that is itself scratch-edited. There are some real flashes of brilliance in here - the eye bit at 0:15 caught me and then a few seconds later the shirt... yeah. I'm not sure a few brilliant shots are enough to make this one great, but they definitely engage me. The editing is tight and it's superbly matched to the music.
http://audioporncentral.com/2012/09/the-presets-ghosts.html
This is "Ghosts" by The Presets (http://www.thepresets.com). I don't even know how to begin classifying this one. It's sparse vocals - except where it's not - and subdued electronica, except where it gets definitely orchestral and rich. I hear ambient and trance influences, and knowing that they're Australian I tend to think some of those near-military drum bits are Aboriginal. All I know is I can't stop listening to this.
https://plus.google.com/u/0/+ArminvanBuuren/posts/R7jQGSJUbwn
I don't know anyone who does vocal trance or techno-trance better than AvB. He's also better than a lot of DJs/producers at crediting the vocalists he's working with. Here he makes excellent use of work from Ana Criado, whose solo stuff is ... OK, I guess. One of the things that makes van Buuren good is that even though he's working within a particular formula he can bring out talent and produce great sounds that others would not.
http://audioporncentral.com/2012/09/david-byrne-st-vincent-who.html
I'm on David Byrne's fan email list so I've been listening to this stuff as he sends out links. This is, to my knowledge, the first full public song+video from his upcoming project with St. Vincent (http://ilovestvincent.com/) and it's got all the right signature touches - Byrne's voice and the arrangements (horns and drums) that we've been hearing since forever from him. St. Vincent's contributions are obvious in the vocals - very beautiful, somewhat choral, and somewhat Andrews Sisters. On her site you can listen to how she does her own stuff and it's also definitely worth your time.
http://audioporncentral.com/2012/09/jack-beats-ft-diplo-and-example-war.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RMNoZXXq7o&feature=player_embedded
The first one is not going to be to everyone's taste. Jack Beats (http://www.jackbeats.co.uk/) collaborating with Diplo and Example. It skates across more styles than a rack at the old Filene's Basement. I like it because it pulls in lots of interesting beats. There are obvious Celtic and African sounds here as well as techno-experimental stuff. I kept thinking I wasn't going to like it, then found myself bopping along. Make of that what you will.
The second link is for the radio edit of Beats' "Careless" and is also hard to pin down stylistically. It's got some great vocals from Takura and again a wild mix of rhythmic styles, with some fairly heavy dub influences.
http://audioporncentral.com/2012/08/syron-breaking.html
Syron (http://soundcloud.com/syronofficial) is a new, young British soulful singer. Not soul, per se - the sound is rough-edged and yet it's clearly soul-influenced. I particularly like the production values on this track. It's clear that the producer worked with her voice to get the best sound out of it, but it doesn't come across as overproduced or auto-tuned, and you can even hear a little bit of London accent in how she says "no' allowed ta love you".
http://audioporncentral.com/2012/08/apc5-madmixmustang-inspector-clouseau.html
Madmixmustang apparently shares my love of Inspector Clouseau because he's built a wonderful mix using some of the best of Peter Sellers' language-mangling faux French. The musical tracks underlying the mix are fun and appropriate, but really who can't love "Not any more!" - those of you who've heard me mangle it, this is the original.
---------- OK, audience participation time
Like last time I want to put out two tracks that I'm not certain about and see what y'all think.
http://audioporncentral.com/2012/09/c2c-arcades.html
C2C's (http://www.myspace.com/c2cdjs) "Arcades" is kind of an interesting scratch-DJed dubstep track. On its own I'd pass it by, but the video is (I think) what makes this one. It's simple black-and-white slow motion footage that is itself scratch-edited. There are some real flashes of brilliance in here - the eye bit at 0:15 caught me and then a few seconds later the shirt... yeah. I'm not sure a few brilliant shots are enough to make this one great, but they definitely engage me. The editing is tight and it's superbly matched to the music.
http://audioporncentral.com/2012/09/the-presets-ghosts.html
This is "Ghosts" by The Presets (http://www.thepresets.com). I don't even know how to begin classifying this one. It's sparse vocals - except where it's not - and subdued electronica, except where it gets definitely orchestral and rich. I hear ambient and trance influences, and knowing that they're Australian I tend to think some of those near-military drum bits are Aboriginal. All I know is I can't stop listening to this.
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no subject
Date: 2012-09-12 03:37 am (UTC)Yikes, that C2C video could give me a migraine.
I like that first Jack Beats track.
That Armin van Buren track is going to be right up
Speaking of people with variants on this name, have I ever showed you this track by Arman Bohn? http://vimeo.com/5586046
no subject
Date: 2012-09-12 01:39 pm (UTC)Sorry about the migraine. Chop-cut video can be hard to watch - if you can manage just the first 30 seconds you'll get a flavor of what I think are the best cuts.
No, I had not previously heard of Arman Bohn. Not bad.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-13 02:27 pm (UTC)I'm less fond of the mix than I am of the original. I think this has less to do with "Ghosts" than with the current trends in remixing toward heavy dub, electro and electro-dub. This is an electro-dub remix and I don't see that it improves on the original in any way.
But then again I could just be a cranky old fart.