drwex: (VNV)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_kfsR8aci0&feature=emb_logo&ab_channel=MileyCyrus

Miley Cyrus covering some recent classics in a style remarkably hardcore compared to what you might have seen from her in the past. The audio quality leaves a little be desired but it's fun to watch anyway.

Oh, and for context: https://www.vice.com/en/article/rqwqmr/miley-cyrus-is-punk-as-fuck

ETA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS1no1myeTM&ab_channel=MileyCyrusVEVO

The video exists just to let you ogle her body - check out the lyrics. Also, I completely missed the part where she came out as pan.
drwex: (VNV)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CN4hLig3WgE&ab_channel=Nifra

This is Nifra. I had no idea who she was, but YouTube has figured out what kind of music I like and is serving me up new artists in my preferred genres. Nifra is the stage name of Slovakian-born Nikoleta Frajkorova. As you can see from the video, she's young, energetic, and up-and-coming. Her online bio credits Markus Schulz as the one who brought her onto the big stage first, and here she is live on A State of Trance doing "Sail" by GDX.

Notably the track features Elle Vee vocals. If you've been reading my music blogs for a while you may recall I was pretty hot on Elle Vee a couple years ago. Then I didn't hear anything from her worth posting - she did some OK solo stuff - and I kind of lost track. This is the first new thing I've heard from her since then that I thought was really stand-out.

Wetlands

Oct. 10th, 2020 02:48 pm
drwex: (VNV)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myb4mtzebZg&ab_channel=NoraEnPure

Official video for Nora en Pure's "Wetlands." I've been hearing this track in her sets for a couple months and I really like it so here's one-shot feature. The video is notable for some amazeballs scenery. Just... wow. And also I now know it's her playing the piano in this track. Since she doesn't play instruments live I didn't realize it was her keyboard work. Very nice.
drwex: (VNV)
Really that should be self-explanatory.

Just released official video for the first single:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pbwaq0E80hQ&ab_channel=LondonGrammarVEVO

Album drops in February.

Titanium

Sep. 30th, 2020 08:23 pm
drwex: (VNV)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvxAP6uDkr8&ab_channel=DJMag

A nice 10-minute piece from DJ Magazine with David Guetta (and now I know how it's pronounced!) talking about how Titanium came to be. It's always a challenge to figure these things out when you're on the outside - what part did Sia play, what did Guetta add? Of course this is his version and maybe someone else would tell it differently but he's fun and I enjoyed learning about the history, because I'm a music nerd. You're all surprised.
drwex: (VNV)
https://amandapalmer.bandcamp.com/track/its-a-fire

Amanda Palmer just released her duet cover of Portishead's "It's A Fire" with Rhiannon Giddens. The arrangement (by Jherek Bischoff, natch) is a little heavy-handed, I think, but it's one of my favorite Portishead tracks and I think the dual voices works well. Neither of these singers is Beth Gibbons and neither one is trying to be.

There doesn't appear to be an official video for the song; this fan vid is quite popular though: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Y26KpgZknY&ab_channel=Qz45

There's also a popular cover by Amy Lee (of Evanescence fame) who I think does make the mistake of trying to be Beth Gibbons and I am not fond of the result.
drwex: (Default)
It's looking like squib posts are working for me now, so here's another one-shot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IowGrGWzecQ
Bob Mould's just-dropped third single off his latest album. It's short and right to the point, like punk should be. Last time he was in town it was at the Paradise and I broke my rule about not seeing shows there. I was severely disappointed. The Paradise is a tough venue to watch any show in and their sound system and sound tech are abysmal. One of the things I like about Mould is his vocals and in this track you can hear how to mix them properly. I just wish I could get that experience live.

Mould released this statement about “Siberian Butterfly”:

The genesis of “Siberian Butterfly” spoke to the notion of “collectors” – people with excessive means who gather the works of creative folk for their ego-driven portfolios.


As I kept writing, the narrative shifted toward themes of change, growth, and freedom. These motifs are central to how we become our true selves. This is how we begin our journey toward our true identities.


It’s autobiographical as well. I put myself through some self-hating years as a young gay man – never feeling “good enough,” not recognizing the positive qualities I had to offer, while inhibiting the development of my gay identity.


I hope for a world where all people can be what they want to be. Life seems shorter every day; maybe this simple song can be of use to people who are struggling to find their true selves.
drwex: (VNV)
I realize most people are going to read these in the reverse order they're written so when I say "the last one" it's going to be kind of confusing. I assume people will cope. Lots of emotion in this set of tracks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEitrZU-nCw
I stumbled on this when I was looking for "Thou Shalt Always Kill" to send to someone. As with much of the music in this series the title and the lyrics resonated for me in the current world. This one is pretty explicitly about how we could (and maybe are failing to) raise better children. It's more than ten years old, and sadly still relevant. "Get Better", please.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xV1dMqeb4_U
Julien Baker, "Turn Out the Lights". This one came from Film Crit Hulk, who listed it as a song that always makes him cry. I can definitely see why - the song is a cry for help and it's hard to sit with the feelings that the lyrics express. They land very close to my heart, but not directly on it, so there's that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwBjF_VVFvE
This was the "coming out" tune for The Chicks, f/k/a The Dixie Chicks. They didn't exactly come out and say why they were ditching the "Dixie" but it's not hard to figure out. They've not entirely abandoned their southern/country roots, as the track prominently features banjo and strings in traditional styles, but counterposed with the urgency of a marching drum. "March March" indeed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osdoLjUNFnA
Neither Taylor Swift nor Bon Iver is my usual speed, but this collaboration is really moving and well-done. It's spare piano and vocals with the two singers alternating back and forth and also both giving some fantastic harmonies. It's also a very sad breakup song, with the two of them taking the parts of people at their parting - some acrimony, some regret, some defiance. This tune made me cry more than "Turn Out..." did, I think because I can feel the heartbreak of both people here.

https://soundcloud.com/r3hab/wrong-move-acoustic-final-master-14-dec-2018-v2-kopie
Soundcloud has stopped liking Chrome recently and I haven't figured out why Turns out it was a bad cookie; fixed that and the problem went away.

I couldn't end this set of emotional pieces without a rare acoustic piece from R3HAB. This is a collaboration with Olivia Hart, whose vocal punch is just barely restrained here. "Wrong Move" has been covered and remixed a lot in the past year but I don't think any of them touch this one.
drwex: (VNV)
Still can't. Still got music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvrqwcArNA4&feature=youtu.be
Another fun pandemic distributed collaboration. This one lacks the very high polish of the previous one but it's still an amusing attempt to re-create the feel of the original. I suspect your opinion of this will depend on your relationship to the original, which for me is a nice piece of youthful nostalgia. Godzilla!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvz8WCma3Hs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXq4GcnShB8
OK back to more standard DrWeX fare. This is a really lovely, ethereal-opening vocal trance piece from BT and Emma Hewitt. "No Warning Lights" is fun because it holds Hewitt's vocal sounds while building a complex urgent EDM melody around it. Like so many of these tracks I feel this one is way too short (2:39). I'm assuming we'll get an extended mix before too long.

If you like Hewitt's voice and want a wide array of things she's done, you can hit the second link, which is almost two hours of her work. I found that good background play, and might highlight a bit or two at some point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqyAoL7buZg
I wish I could remember where I got this one, but it's dated March of this year, which I'm pretty sure was a decade ago. The song caught my ear in part because of the gentle vocals and in part because it has some really unusual time-signature shifts. My ear isn't good enough to catch them all but I respect what Frase is doing here. I have a marker to check out more of his things, which might still happen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5TBWxjnaIE
This one I'm pretty sure came from a Tim Ferris recommendation. I've been reading a couple of his newsletters lately and his Five Bullet Friday often has a thing he's listening to. He (like me) tends to like non-American instruments and melodies done with or over EDM influences. Here someone going by Unders has a nice 8-minute instrumental track called "Syria". This is the Satori remix. The fact that this thing has almost 50 million views and I've never heard of either of them just makes me painfully aware of how much music there is in the world that I know nothing about. One of the values of the Ferris newsletters is they often deliver me things I didn't know and appreciate learning about. Like this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TW85JKpie7Q
As long as we're getting back to DrWex basics, how about we close this one with some soulful, dirty funk? "Tribute" has it all, including some bell horn about 2 minutes in that makes me sway and that leads so beautifully into the guitar segment I can't even.
drwex: (VNV)
I can't even. Click on the tracks if you need good sounds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTpzbUnRB7s
"Everything Changes" from Dario D'Attis, Jinadu as remixed by Chus & Ceballos. Try saying that three times fast.

OK seriously, I'm pretty sure I got this from a Nora en Pure set and it's typical of a lot of things I've been listening to. It tends to get labeled "melodic techno" or "vocal trance" depending on which way the mix leans. Either way it's often easy listening, often energetic, and sometimes hits me right in the feels.

Despite this being a short mix, it has a really good sustained build. There are restful bits, but I really like the way the mix pushes through.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMQb9lyJwy8
"We Are All Lost" is another one in the same vein. Any link between the titles of these two tracks and the year 2020 so far is mmmm not even vaguely coincidental. This one is very definitely on the techno side, with a nice dipping of beats and minor-key tones from the dark side. Stil vor Talent is a music collective/label out of Germany (https://www.stilvortalent.de/). They have a number of videos linked from their front page that are worth at least a scan, if this style is your style, too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0RXU3n1GM0
OK let's kick it up a notch with a remix by one of my 2020 favorites Miss Monique. Here she's working over "My Own Time" from Darin Epsilon. The original (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ospgHnQHvjQ) from 2018 is a bit thumpier and doesn't feature the vocals as well. I think Monique's remix improves it considerably.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUmlufHlEaQ
I forgot I had stashed this one, found while looking up Giolì & Assia material. If I'd found it earlier, well I would have known more. But you can't have any doubts after watching this video. Except, what's with the horse? I don't get that bit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GElP4YdrBE
A track I bookmarked early in the pandemic lockdown. A lot of these distributed group performances came out, professionally mixed. BBC 1 absolutely knows what they're doing here and the cast rises to the occasion in this cover of a Foo Fighters classic. I can't say enough good about this kind of effort, and this kind of music. Yes, I do appear to have something in my eye.
drwex: (VNV)
I am still listening to a lot of music, though less these days. Usually, music forms the background to my activities. Especially when working, music helps me focus, cut out distractions, and enhances my flow. After a month of not-working, though, my "work" is scattered house chores, hunting for jobs, and... yeah, not much else. So there's less of a day streaming sounds to pick from. Still DJ sets are a big thing and I want to dump a few here.

Most things here fall into the "prog house" classification. It's still dance music, but it tends much more toward trance-y sounds and incorporates a large set of world influences, particularly Middle Eastern and North African rhythms. It also avoids the dub and scratch sounds that some of my usual stream have been drifting into. Whatever it is about my mood these days, I'm less tolerant of discordant music. A good prog mix makes me feel enveloped and cradled in the sound, as well as pulled forward. At some level, musical distinctions are silly - prog house freely steals from trance, vocal trance, and Italo-disco (or nu disco). I always have to check the descriptive labels anyway. If you liked 808 State and The Orb then this may well be your style.

https://www.groovelectric.com/alonetogether.html
https://www.groovelectric.com/travelinginplace.html
We start with two Groovelectric mixes from longtime favorite DJ Steveboy. "Traveling in Place" is an explicit drone mix, meaning that it works to keep an even tempo throughout. Clocking in at over 2.5 hours it's definitely not intended for long focused listening but rather to be the soundtrack for whatever else you're doing today.

"Alone Together" is the first of Steve's pandemic mixes, created in mid-March as an immediate reaction to going into lockdown. It's an hour of eclectic production, starting with the piece put out by Yo Yo Ma shortly after he went into lockdown (Dvorak's "Going Home") and mid-anchored with three versions of Wang Chung's "Dance Hall Days", a tune that used to be one of my favorites and which I have not listened to in years.

For these and other Groovelectric mixes you can visit https://www.groovelectric.com/mixes.html to see the full setlists and download them for later playback.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2j88IJb71_o
Miss Monique is back. In February I noted that her "weekly podcast" seemed to have stopped production last year. Well, it's back again, presumably because she's shut in somewhere. The video is generally just a set of cameras watching her doing her thing, which is entertaining for a few minutes at a time but I tend to put these on and flip to other tabs to do other things.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiT6QMygW-8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PvozwOlCtg
Two new tracks from Miss Monique that I thought worth mentioning. Both are in the tradition of her sets, but with better production values and fuller sound. Good headphone listening. The first track "Behind the Mirror" feels like what I call "spy movie" music. That sort of sleek, action-ready sound that feels like you should hear it while Bond is piloting some classy expensive vehicle between locations.

The second - Atleha's remix of "Stranger Things" is still labeled "prog house" but has much more of an deep feel to me, where it's not doing the ethereal vocal trance thing. It's a little more driven and a lot more bass-forward than the previous track; I just wish they'd let the video be full-length rather than chopping the ending.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Wi_tkp4DcU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPv1fLr8Yy0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd1yyIg3_4U
Three episodes so far of Deisis Lounge from Giolì & Assia. I hope and expect there'll be a 4th next week. Of all the sets these are the most visually interesting. Both women are talented and fun to watch.

Episode 1 got me right out of the gate with some nice handpan work followed by acoustic guitar, which I had not heard from them before. I really like the combination of live vocals and guitar interwoven with recorded beats and looped segments. If you listen through these, you'll hear them singing in at least three languages. The piano-playing in this set's cover of "Mad World" is great and there's another piano segment starting about 34:25 that's really nice.

Episode 2 starts off again with handpan work, a track I've heard in one of their previous outdoor sets. Still super enjoyable, and there's a second track with good handpan work. If you're getting the sense I could listen to an entire set of these you're right (see below). Like Set 1, this set also features a lot of electric guitar work but my favorite is still the live piano work. Starting around 1:00:00 there's a fantastic piano-and-vocals bit that makes my heart soar.

Episode 3 starts off with a fantastic cover of "These Boots Are Made For Walking" with vocals, handpan and guitar. Also new to me - about 14:20 into the set, Gioli takes over the mixer. Usually Assia has the controls but this segment she's just singing and letting her partner have the controls. It's an interestingly different style and we get her mixing much of this set. As before we have to wait until nearly the end for the piano bits, and it's worth the wait.

Special extra treats time!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-_rxwTkZmU
I managed to find this Gioli video from a couple years ago with her doing "Echo of the woods" an entirely handpan song. I love the sound and I wish I could watch her, but the video has a stupid unnecessary swaying camera that makes it difficult for me to watch. I haven't been happy with the camera work on most of their other videos so far, so maybe it's the same person/crew? I dunno, just wish they'd stop and let me enjoy the music and the very pretty pretties.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIqltIODJqg
The official video for "Feel Good" has an extra layer of meaning if you read the description. Apparently these women have had to hide their relationship because being queer and prejudice has damaged their careers elsewhere in the world. It's a beautiful tune (moar handpan plz!) and a sweet, if simple, love song. Love is love, say it with me.
drwex: (VNV)
The NY Times is reporting that Bill Withers has died (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/03/arts/music/bill-withers-dead.html) at age 81. Withers was the master - three-time Grammy winner - of what I always called "rhythm & soul". It's a kind of soul singing with a strong beat in the music, rather than just in the voices as you find in more traditional soul.

I always tear up hearing "Lean on Me", so let me share these:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOZ-MySzAac - the original
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZR4cVE0Htw - the Glee! cover

I am still surprised this song is so short:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PeyzXvvdmw - "Ain't No Sunshine" with full orchestration

And maybe a little happier something to end with:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEy6MGu3bIA - "Just the Two of Us" which shows how rhythm & soul drove early disco
drwex: (VNV)
I found a couple videos on YouTube that I think show some of the interesting aspects of taiko shows. Sadly, the effect you get from a video through computer speakers or even headphones doesn't replicate the bodily experience of being at one of these shows, which is (for me) the best part. But to give you an idea anyway:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X35NEKkWtNo
This is a video taken from the "Passion" show I saw and gives you a feel for the ensemble nature of the piece. It starts off with drummers in a circle, carrying lanterns and playing drums along with a central flute. The pace picks up and there's a lot of movement throughout the next few minutes. Then at about 5:30 the video cuts to a different piece, also ensemble, with five of the main performers doing a seated power lead while four others provide fill and counterpoint with smaller drums. The performers are various dressed with hair in everything from mohawk to dreads to loose.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7HL5wYqAbU
Contrasting, here is Kodo doing their piece titled "O-Daiko" which was my introduction to the larger drums in person. I think I've seen them do this piece three times live and it's a thrill every time. Kodo's pieces are much more composition-like and if you watch through this video you'll get to see many different styles of playing the same drum. The sound varies on the strength of the hit, of course, but also on where you hit, and other things the drummer can do such as hitting with the flat of the stick rather than the tip. At several points in the video you get an overhead shot so you can see each of the three drummers using different styles to create the ensemble sound.
drwex: (VNV)
This is a music post inspired by Amanda Palmer, with no Amanda Palmer music in it. She's been on a long world tour for her new There Will Be No Intermission album (https://nointermission.amandapalmer.net/ - includes naked AFP image). And while spending a couple months in Australia she also put out a bushfire relief charity album (yes, really) called Forty-Five Degrees after the Midnight Oil song "Beds Are Burning" - see the first music link below for more.

She also spent time as "artist in residence" for the popular Australian station Double J. I've listened to their sister station from time to time through the Triple-J app. Double J tends to be more rock; Triple J tends to be more offbeat stuff. Back in the days of MTV's "120 Minutes" (does anyone else remember that?) Triple-J's playlists had a lot of overlap with 120 Minutes.

Artist in residence means Palmer did two-hour DJ stints once a week, talking and spinning tunes. Some of her own stuff, of course, but lots of other things. I thereby bring you four tracks plucked from those sets, none of them by AFP herself.

https://amandapalmer.bandcamp.com/track/beds-are-burning-with-missy-higgins
Missing Higgins' cover of "Beds Are Burning" is very different from the original and yet the same. Midnight Oil agreed to the cover being done only if none of the lyrics were changed. I have several memories of this song, not least of which is seeing Midnight Oil do it live in a theater in Austin TX in the summer when the AC simply couldn't cope. Unsurprisingly, this song is making something of a comeback of relevance in the wake of this year's fire disasters and the cover hits me directly in the feels.

Missy Higgins (https://www.missyhiggins.com/) is a phenom in Australia, though not much known in the US. She's had three number one albums there and several hit singles. Worth checking out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEng0wral6M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaKwHQclJEY
Montaigne (http://www.montaignemusic.com.au/) is... fucking AMAZING. I haven't heard a voice this powerful since Hannah Reid of London Grammar. The first link, "Don't Break Me" is the one AFP played in her DJ set and it's closest to my usual styles, being nearly a vocal trance track. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see a full vocal trance remix drop soon. But holy cow listen to how her voice punches and sustains. It's going to be her Eurovision entry. OK, you say (if you are me) but that's a studio production. Right, then, let's go to live.

The second link is her live on The Set (hey, there's Triple-J again!) doing "Ready". And yeah, that's her vocal punch. She's seated, ferpetessake! I can only imagine what she'd do if she really cut loose. She's also still really young so I expect we'll see her talents develop over time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbMwTqkKSps
This - "when the party's over" - is the Billie Eilish track I was searching for when I reviewed her Bond theme a few weeks ago. The video is disturbing, as you would expect from an anguished post-breakup song. It's intimate and breathy, and yes it's emo AF. But that's her and her style. I still like "all the good girls go to hell" best, but that's more cabaret-punk than emo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJcOWQ1rym8
Ani Difranco has been cited by AFP as an inspiration for some time. In her set she talks about how Ani was a feminist touchpoint during a certain musical period where there weren't many like her. Palmer notes with gratitude how many doors Ani opened for later women, including Palmer, to go through. Despite being raised in a folkie household, Ani just sort of bounced off me. I'll always have a place in my heart for Joan Baez and Malvina Reynolds - I used to sing "Little Boxes" to my kids at bedtimes - but the chick-singer-with-guitar thing just never got me as an adult.

This, "Self Evident", is not that. This is angry slam political post-911 song-poetry. There is jazz and rhyming and anger and consciousness of the "whole human family". It's a very political creation centered on a defining political moment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPyl2tOaKxM
And finally to end on a much lighter note, we bring you Fascinating Aida's "Cheap Flights" (with subtitles, which helped me pick up one or two things I'd missed in the first couple listen-throughs). The song is topical and the performance is fun to watch. Fascinating Aida reminds me a lot of Arrogant Worms, whom I've loved for some time. While this is no "Bulbous Bouffant" (Vestibules) it's a quick pick-me-up with ladies saying "feck" a lot.
drwex: (VNV)
If you're not familiar with taiko drumming... um, this may not be your thing, but go search on YouTube or similar for some examples. Taiko generally means "drums" of any sort but as popularized outside Japan it refers to an ensemble style of drumming, particularly involving large drums (odaiko) and heavy, rapid, very athletic drumming styles. The Kodo ensemble is one of the main drivers of this style in the US, having done many tours, and some public stunts of which probably the most memorable was running the Boston Marathon and then, having finished, sat down and started drumming - continuing until the last runner had crossed the line. Taiko troupes train year-round and shows often last two hours with few breaks.

Yamato has a very different style from Kodo's serious, traditional, and composed shows. This show was called Jhonetsu (Passion). Sorry I have no idea what the kanji for that is - we only got the transliteration. The show used some traditional drumming and a lot of what we all identified as improv theater. Mime, exaggerated motion, and outright silly antics were intermixed with serious hardcore drumming and, frankly, just showing off. Like the bit where a couple of the performers held an odaiko aloft to be played... because they could. Most of the time they just used functional stands.

As a result the show was both passionate and fun. The performers clearly were having a good time and the audience caught it as well. The show brochure says the troupe has been performing for over 25 years but this is the first time I'd even heard of them and I'm glad we got to see them.

Finally, a word about Berklee, in whose performance hall this was staged. The hall is long and narrower than many traditional concert halls. We were pretty far back but the design of the hall is superb. The performers were not mic'ed and we could hear even the soft bits from the stage, as well as feeling the hall filled with the energy of all the drummers pounding away full speed.
drwex: (VNV)
No, this isn't the Morse code for the number 2 or IO, it's an attempt to hang together some totally unrelated music tracks that I want to talk about.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GB_S2qFh5lU
I expect you'll hear this one a lot if you're not already familiar with it. It's Billie Eilish's theme song for "No Time to Die" - the latest Bond film. It has a great deal in common with other Bond themes, particularly in the orchestration and phrase structure. But Eilish takes her vocals in an unusual direction for Bond music. Rather than belting them out as Shirley Bassey did and many others followed, Eilish goes soft, singing close to the mic, a technique she used to great effect here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKmqtaxIS3Y - in her cover of "Yesterday" for the 2020 Oscars memoriam. It works well here, too.

Fun factoid: Billie Eilish's legal third name is "Pirate" and why she doesn't use that more I have no idea.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1pui3EyzkM&list=PL_0eRJbQmueCZ2M9tH9Kwi3q6dqYiRnJh&index=2&t=0s
Requires actual watching and you can search "dragonfly tribe" or "Tiana Frolkin" on YT and elsewhere to see more examples. She's got some pretty amazing muscle isolation going on. Unfortunately, most of the vids I was able to find are amateur quality so the resulting lighting and sound leaves something to be desired.

The term "tribal" is falling out of favor among the (small set of) US-based bellydancers I know. It's considered appropriative and carries on the misunderstanding of the art form that white men brought back from their earliest encounters with (likely) Berber people in Africa. A polite way to look at it is (I'm told) as the "fantasy form" of bellydance. That said, the term is still in wide use online and searches for it will likely turn up results.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wB-cK_Dzntw
Miss Monique (Alesia Arkusha) is a Ukrainian DJ whose techno and prog house mixes I've been enjoying for a bit now, though sadly the "weekly" podcast seems not to have appeared for several months. While she's clearly having fun and enjoying what she's doing I tend to set these things to play in the background while I'm getting work done. The mixes are generally smooth and upbeat with good energy. If you don't want to listen to the whole thing, check out the bit leading up to the transition at 5:10 (like +/- 30 seconds) to get a sense for what her style is like.

https://soundcloud.com/desertdwellers/sets/breath-reimagined-vol-1
Desert Dwellers is another of the things I found through links from Beats Antique and I think you can tell why pretty quickly, as they share some of the same influences. the tracks have echoes of psy trance and a lot of ambient influences as well as deep dub and liquid bits. Much of this falls into what I call "night music" - those things you play after dark when you want to glide between the widely separated pools of light. Or maybe that's just me.

https://soundcloud.com/father-funk/fresh-prince-of-new-year
And to bring it all home, here's a "lost" funk mix from Father Funk. As explained in the liner notes, this was intended to be a funky New Year's Eve throwback set, featuring lots of 90s (and earlier) tracks and samples. However, due to a last-minute laptop failure the set wasn't played before now, which is a real shame. But at least you can bop along to it, now if you're a child of the late 20th century. I *KNOW* that's not just me. I like this set because it contains a lot of Father Funk's own remixes; usually we only get a couple of his tracks mixed in with the rest of his set list, so this is a real treat.
drwex: (VNV)
It's interesting to me that although I've been talking more about music I haven't been listening to as much. I have been enjoying things like the Polyphonic series of vids. See here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhSIGPra2ss

Still, I have tabs so let's visit with them.

https://soundcloud.com/rufus_rabatz/three_sisters_edit
Beats Antique have put out some interesting collaborations and collections lately. This track, an edit by Rufus Rabatz, caught my ear particularly for how it uses its layered drumming, in styles I'd call Native American particularly, along with instruments that sound like samisen or other traditional Japanese. But then you get Tiana Frolkina name-checked and she's both Russian and associated with "tribal" bellydance styles. So I dunno. I just like it.

https://soundcloud.com/numamusica/andrea-szabadi-deep-watersavaborsa-rework
In a similar, but much more Eastern European-centric vein, I give you Andrea Szabadi's "Deep Water" as interpreted by SvaraBorska (https://www.facebook.com/SavaBorsaMusica). They call it a "handpan"; I call it a hang. Apparently there's some controversy around the term (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handpan). Whatever you call it, I love the sound and music made with it such as this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7fuKUSFJWE
dvsn is new to me and honestly I forget which set I pulled this out of. It's got a very strong r&b feel to the vocals, but laid over heavy electronic beats. Definittely a name to check out in the future. Unfortunately the YT clip - despite apparently being the official audio - seems chopped at the end.

https://soundcloud.com/enormouschills/saint-misha-on-fire-patrick-smyth-remix
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKezJytYNJ8
Patrick Smyth's remix of "On Fire" is one of those songs that reaches into me and touches my heart. The original (second link) is a deep deep house track with the bass set so low it's almost under the floor. Smyth brings it up and speeds things up a bit. I have a hard time choosing between the two

https://soundcloud.com/emotionalmusic/emotional-66
I've been hanging onto this set for, literally, months, trying to figure out what music entry it would fit into. As the title says, it's "Emotional" and all the tracks seem to focus on feelings, both expressing and invoking. That's one of my favorite things about music in general, and EDM in particular. This set contains a number of high-bpm bits, some nice trance vocals and generally lands bullseye in what I'd think of as a "valentine's day" playlist. There, I found a reason to put it into a music post.
drwex: (VNV)
(I'm aware that I've severely fallen off the posting and reading bandwagons. Link me your stuff please. I'll work on posts... um, maybe next week? I have a debrief and an AAR to write.)

Last week we saw Armin van Buuren (AVB) at the House of Blues in Boston. The opening act was a highly forgettable DJ who mostly phoned it in except for the last 25 minutes of his set where he appeared to wake up and start actually doing things. So let's ignore that and talk about AVB.

Or maybe I'll just say "WOW" and let it go at that. Seeing him live you understand why he plays massive stadium shows and royal command performances in Europe. He's head of Armada Music, probably the biggest force in trance music production today, and he's personally launched dozens of people into the business. This is a man at the top of his game and watching him spin live is like watching Serena Williams in person at Wimbledon.

He has a great stage personality and puts on a good show, keeping the audience engaged. His live production is a mix of standards, EDM classics, teases of rock/new wave segments, guest vocal appearances, and one or two completely new things. Seeing him live I also came to understand how he builds the extremely polished pieces that get released. If you search sites like YT you can find a selection of his live shows as well as his collaborative works.

One of the long-time favorites he did at HOB: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kivuDS-6HbQ (Turn it Up)
Still my favorite of his high-production collaborations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WOwRVTKJUw
The stage rig he used was a scaled down version of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFqWyWr-SII

OK, music nerdery time:

The basic AVB track is three layers. There's a bass/rhythm layer, almost always in standard 4/4 time. However, he manages to avoid much of the "oontz oontz oontz" that characterizes a lot of EDM. He rarely uses this layer for his builds, and simply cuts it out of his drops. He's also the force behind "Who's Afraid of 138?" which refers to 138 bpm, a higher count than most other DJs use. Much of the 138 stuff is done with two or more beat tracks playing off each other, as here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCBpVVbLZ-g

The most interesting stuff is what happens in the middle layer. Calling it just one layer is misleading because it's where most of the instrumentation happens. These layers have the synths and pianos and are really the meat of the song. This is where the builds happen.

Finally, he has what I call the 'float' layer, which is almost always the vocals. Particularly in the vocal trance tracks, things at this layer will bridge and don't quite have their own time signature, but they're not slaved to the main beats. Take https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxvpctgU_s8 - take Sharon den Adel's work here on "In And Out Of Love". You can easily hear her singing a slow love song (sounds to me a lot like 2/4 time for most of it) if you don't pay attention to the high BPM bottom layer.

Unfortunately, even the HOB sound system - which is normally quite good - had problems with this. The guest vocalists weren't nearly as clear as I would have liked and he didn't do any vocal trance pieces in his main set.
drwex: (Default)
My schedule is bunching up weirdly. Yesterday I was on the move all the time; today I've got a half-empty day. Tomorrow is medical and work things. Saturday and Sunday are looking pretty full too.

https://soundcloud.com/morillomusic/world-house
Random Soundcloud find. Morillo's "World House" opens with some lovely instrumental work and the track is heavily influenced by the Peruvian/Incan traditional sounds that he's been working among. It's a nice blend with the US-standard house beats.

https://soundcloud.com/thefunkhunters/body-move
It's not a Wex music post without some funk and here we have two of today's better artists in this genre - Funk Hunter and A.Skillz - collaborating on a track with both modern dance sensibilities and some throwback elements that remind me of Solid Gold. And if you're young enough you have no idea what that is, check it out. Lots of interesting history there.

https://soundcloud.com/gramatik/05-gramatik-defunk-funk-it-vip
And while we're doing straight-up funky things, here's another collaboration. DeFunk and Gramatik got together a month or so ago for this beauty, which features some good funk-style guitar licks. I still love a phat horn section more than anything else in this genre, and you definitely get that in the last 1/3 of the track. But there are subtle and fun differences between the way an electric guitar is used on a funk track versus a more typical rock&roll track and these guys seem to know that.

https://soundcloud.com/young-nrg-productions/jessica-moore-around-my-space-kritikal-remix
https://www.house-mixes.com/profile/stexdj/play/jessica-moore---around-my-space---debut-singl
Shifting over to d&b land, this is Kritikal's remix of Jessica Moore's "Around My Space". Young NRG productions, from which I got this track, have been very hit-and-miss with me. They do a lot of wub and stuff I turn off quickly. This is an interesting, dark/downtempo take on drum&bass. The original (second link) is more hard-edged and in-your-face. I like the way the remix softens it.

https://soundcloud.com/enormouschills/kize-cant-say-no
Kize's "Can't Say No" starts off sound like another downtempo track with some sad-sounding male vocals. But it almost immediately picks up into a more positive dance vibe. This builds nicely through the track so that by the time the vocals come back in the whole affect is changed. It's a nice lesson in how to set the mood through a track.

https://soundcloud.com/spinninrecords/bancali-nothing-to-do-out-now
I wanted to close this set out on a more upbeat note and Bancali does that. Spnnin' Records is another source I've been following for a while and mostly passing over. This track feels more like an end-of-summer anthem than I'd normally expect in December but what the heck. You could do a lot worse than close your set out with this though as so often happens I'm disappointed it's only about 2:30. Could easily do another minute.
drwex: (Default)
Often when I research music I'm going to blog about I'll throw the artist/track title at a search engine to see if I can find a separate playable version of the track. I like DJ sets and I'll continue blogging about them, but often I just want to pick out a track or two to talk about. This is one reason I do Afrojack sets often and very rarely do R3HAB, whose choices all end up sounding mostly same-same.

Anyway, the search results are often YT videos that I listen through to make sure it's the same thing I just heard on Soundcloud, and so those go into my history. Plus I subscribe to a couple channels like A State of Trance because I want to get their things in bite-sized 3-5 minute chunks rather than hour-long DJ sets. As a result of all this, I now get more music suggestions in my YT wanderings and once in a while, they hit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4U232MuTG4
And so, this. I will say you had me at "hang + ethereal vocals over EDM beats". Giolì & Assia are just really good at what they do and the result is mesmerizing. This video is 38 wonderful minutes and there's a whole series of similar-length pieces, all highly recommended. The videos are shot in various scenic locations around Italy, where Giolì & Assia hail from. That said, I found some of the camera work distracting so I spent much of the time just listening.

These two are quite multifaceted, bringing in a number of instruments, their own vocals, and lots of mixed samples to create a unique blend. They're actually touring the US this month but sadly no closer than NYC. If that show had not already happened I'd be seriously tempted to road trip it. The fact that these vids are done live gives me a much better sense of what they're about than the usual studio-produced DJ work. If you're going to search their stuff I recommend including "live" as a keyword.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OBuoczlYqE
Credit where credit is due, I did pull this from a R3HAB mix and I really like it. It's not complicated, just a snappy little dance number from a French duo who are relatively new to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmLBSCiEoas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTIOugluWb8
Pomplamoose are not new to me but YT has recently been showing me a lot of videos of them doing covers of well-known tunes with other artists. In this case it's Sarah Dugas, who's actually touring with them. Looking up her work led me to the second link which is her covering "Rolling in the Deep" in front of a band called Scary Pockets.

I like the remix on its own, plus it's a funk remix so of course. And it also has the most concise answer to "what, specifcally, is a funk remix" I've ever read:
A "FUNK REMIX" uses funk instrumentation and timbres but relies on EDM form for song structure. Thus, a funk remix will have a verse, breakdown, build, drop, and other functional structures of EDM, but the musicians play traditional instruments to perform the composition.


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https://soundcloud.com/rubenderonde/ruben-de-ronde-henrik
I forgot where I picked up Ruben de Ronde but he's worth a listen. Here he's collaborating with Henrik Zuberstein on an Armada-typical ethereal trance track. It's low-vocals, spacey, trippy fun.

https://soundcloud.com/hexagon/jlv-feel-again
JLV's "Feel Again" is labeled "future house" and though it has some basic house rhythms and instrumentation built into it, I would classify it much more as a traditional pop love song. It has strong beats, sure, but also soft harmonies and a nice solo piano piece.

Five things makes a post and even though I have a lot more open tabs I'll send this one along now.

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