This week's music
Aug. 10th, 2012 05:28 pm(The browser tells me I've used this title before; sorry, it's hard to come up with clever new headlines each time.)
Audience participation this week. Usually I post things after I've listened to them enough to know what I think of them, but this week I'm going to give you a couple links I'm not entirely sure about. Feel free to comment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcAo8vAGXsc&feature=player_embedded
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsJ0Cz5VCAs&feature=player_embedded
First up, New Jess Mills (http://www.jessmills.co.uk/)! There's a new album coming January this year and this track should be on it. Compared to her past stuff this is a step forward - it's still got a heavy production hand on it, but she's kicking out the jams a bit more and they're avoiding many of the sappy choral/string bits. Around 2:40 the track transitions to a much simpler vocal/piano style that I'm hopeful we'll get more of. The entire drum track is dispensable, guys.
The second link is an official remix, which tries really hard to strip things down. Unfortunately the remixer sped everything up, to the worse, I think. Let's see what happens when some other producers get their hands on this one.
http://audioporncentral.com/2012/08/the-knocks-fred-falke-geronimo-aylen-remix.html
Remember "Geronimo", which I linked to last time? Well here's a remix by Aylen (http://soundcloud.com/aylen). It's a hard-edged electro remix with a great driving beat (hey guys THIS is what you do with a drum track) that still keeps the core essence of the original. Total dance-floor destroyer.
http://audioporncentral.com/2012/08/chinese-flash-mob-fade2black-produced-by-alixander-iii-of-azari-iii.html
There's a style of hot jazz that was popular for a while when jazz and swing were duking it out for who would rule the dance-floor. This track, Fade2Black by Chinese Flash Mob (http://soundcloud.com/chinese-flash-mob) starts off with a horn bit lifted directly from that era, then segues into modern electronica with Motown+hip-hop sounds and jazz brass playing off each other. It's a great track and a wonderful blend of styles.
http://audioporncentral.com/2012/08/kraak-smaak-forget-about-you-feat-lee-fields-valeron-remix.html
Usually when I talk about funk I'm talking about the phat horns sound and the particular rhythms that are popular in the style. However, there's also a kind of vocals I would call "funk vocals" and Kraak & Smaak (http://www.kraaksmaak.com/blog/) bring it to you here with Lee Fields, who is often found doing soul and big-band sounds. But man does he nail it here!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Jk7BJN84mg
This one has been sitting unblogged for a couple months but it's still a great summer tune. It's I-Cue with Ill-Esha doing a trip-funk sweet-vocal track that reminds me more than a little of Massive Attack, infused with some dub and that's OK. It is, as promised, enchanting, an aural slow-dance night track.
----- So that's five things, which is my usual music blog. But I've got two more to put in front of you, and it's audience participation time
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noS61QN9nag&feature=player_embedded
Washed Out's (http://www.myspace.com/thebabeinthewoods) "A Dedication" is a lush, keyboard-focused male ballad that is not my usual thing. But it captures a certain mood extremely well, I think? I can't decide if it's deliberately tinged with sadness or if that's just my over-reading what he intends as a symphonic paean to how it feels to live and love with someone.
http://audioporncentral.com/2012/08/whomadewho-never-had-the-time-saschienne-remix.html
Saschienne (http://www.kompakt.fm/artists/saschienne) is a male-female remix couple. Here they are remixing "Never Had The Time" from WhoMadeWho. As with the previous track, it's somewhat minor-keyed and leaves me with some feelings of sadness despite the track's tempo. Reading Saschienne's site, though, it seems like they're trying to tell aural love stories and the track is mostly instruments with sparse vocals. How does it sound to you?
Audience participation this week. Usually I post things after I've listened to them enough to know what I think of them, but this week I'm going to give you a couple links I'm not entirely sure about. Feel free to comment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcAo8vAGXsc&feature=player_embedded
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsJ0Cz5VCAs&feature=player_embedded
First up, New Jess Mills (http://www.jessmills.co.uk/)! There's a new album coming January this year and this track should be on it. Compared to her past stuff this is a step forward - it's still got a heavy production hand on it, but she's kicking out the jams a bit more and they're avoiding many of the sappy choral/string bits. Around 2:40 the track transitions to a much simpler vocal/piano style that I'm hopeful we'll get more of. The entire drum track is dispensable, guys.
The second link is an official remix, which tries really hard to strip things down. Unfortunately the remixer sped everything up, to the worse, I think. Let's see what happens when some other producers get their hands on this one.
http://audioporncentral.com/2012/08/the-knocks-fred-falke-geronimo-aylen-remix.html
Remember "Geronimo", which I linked to last time? Well here's a remix by Aylen (http://soundcloud.com/aylen). It's a hard-edged electro remix with a great driving beat (hey guys THIS is what you do with a drum track) that still keeps the core essence of the original. Total dance-floor destroyer.
http://audioporncentral.com/2012/08/chinese-flash-mob-fade2black-produced-by-alixander-iii-of-azari-iii.html
There's a style of hot jazz that was popular for a while when jazz and swing were duking it out for who would rule the dance-floor. This track, Fade2Black by Chinese Flash Mob (http://soundcloud.com/chinese-flash-mob) starts off with a horn bit lifted directly from that era, then segues into modern electronica with Motown+hip-hop sounds and jazz brass playing off each other. It's a great track and a wonderful blend of styles.
http://audioporncentral.com/2012/08/kraak-smaak-forget-about-you-feat-lee-fields-valeron-remix.html
Usually when I talk about funk I'm talking about the phat horns sound and the particular rhythms that are popular in the style. However, there's also a kind of vocals I would call "funk vocals" and Kraak & Smaak (http://www.kraaksmaak.com/blog/) bring it to you here with Lee Fields, who is often found doing soul and big-band sounds. But man does he nail it here!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Jk7BJN84mg
This one has been sitting unblogged for a couple months but it's still a great summer tune. It's I-Cue with Ill-Esha doing a trip-funk sweet-vocal track that reminds me more than a little of Massive Attack, infused with some dub and that's OK. It is, as promised, enchanting, an aural slow-dance night track.
----- So that's five things, which is my usual music blog. But I've got two more to put in front of you, and it's audience participation time
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noS61QN9nag&feature=player_embedded
Washed Out's (http://www.myspace.com/thebabeinthewoods) "A Dedication" is a lush, keyboard-focused male ballad that is not my usual thing. But it captures a certain mood extremely well, I think? I can't decide if it's deliberately tinged with sadness or if that's just my over-reading what he intends as a symphonic paean to how it feels to live and love with someone.
http://audioporncentral.com/2012/08/whomadewho-never-had-the-time-saschienne-remix.html
Saschienne (http://www.kompakt.fm/artists/saschienne) is a male-female remix couple. Here they are remixing "Never Had The Time" from WhoMadeWho. As with the previous track, it's somewhat minor-keyed and leaves me with some feelings of sadness despite the track's tempo. Reading Saschienne's site, though, it seems like they're trying to tell aural love stories and the track is mostly instruments with sparse vocals. How does it sound to you?