drwex: (Troll)
I usually try to have five or six tracks to blog when doing a music post, but all three of the offerings below clock in at over half an hour so there's plenty to keep your ears occupied. They also represent three very different corners of my listening stream; I don't imagine anyone but me is going to like all three but maybe one or two will appeal. Anyway, enough blah-blah, on with the tunes.

https://soundcloud.com/ghettofunk/b-side-detta-the-mountain-meal
B-Side, Detta, and Howla have gotten together as Ghetto Funk Crew to make this promo mix. It's half an hour of rap and hip-hop infused funk. I really like the fusion. Funk has underlain hip-hop since its early days and this style goes back to the roots. It also has some pretty reggae segments mixed in, as well as Motown-type gospel harmonies. And it's significantly lacking in the overused b* and n* words that turn me off much current hip-hop.

https://soundcloud.com/ummetozcan/ummet-ozcan-presents-innerstate-ep-27
Ummet Ozcan is someone I used to listen to more when I first got into EDM, when he had what seemed to me a more European style. The Innerstate sets have been more standard EDM/house and less vocal, so I don't blog them much. This particular mix happened to hit me at the right time and it's got a lot of serious bangers mixed in with the lovely piano solos and electric orchestral bits.

http://londongrammash.com/
Fissunix got together with his friends LeeDM101 and Colatron and created this double-disc of London Grammar mashes. It's musical heaven when it's at its best and not bad on a couple of what I think are filler tracks. If you've been reading me for a while now you'll not be surprised to know that I think the best tracks are those that feature Hannah Reid's voice strongly, such as the "London Hybrid" that leads off disc one. If you just want to stream the whole thing you can also listen on Soundcloud (https://soundcloud.com/fissunix/sets/london-grammash) but the download is at this site.
drwex: (Troll)
Another set of things I can't really categorize. Some of these are light listening, but a couple really want your attention when you can spare it. I'll put the easier stuff first.

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/James_Curd/track/Live_Forever
James Curd (http://myspace.com/jamescurd), a Chicago DJ, turns in a dance/rap tune I think of as 'walking' music. It's got a good rhythm but it's not too fast and it makes me think of moving along. Then again, I walk pretty fast :)

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/Crystal_Castles/track/Not_In_Love_feat_Robert_Smith_
If you're going to venture into the down-tempo emo side of club you cannot possibly do any better than backing up Robert Smith. The legendary Cure front-man pioneered much of what we think of as "goth" in music and also brought his personal brand of smooth and gentle vocals to bear in surprising ways. Here he is fronting for Crystal Castles (http://crystalcastles.com/) who - on their own - seem to be more atonal, electro, and much less interesting.

http://audioporncentral.com/2010/11/illegal-sunday-colatron-someones-missing.html
APC flagged this one as "do not listen if your heart is broken" and I can see why, though I really like the mix. Colatron (http://www.colatron.com/) has mixed up three tracks, Trentemøller's "Miss You" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DUCKGyojpE) itself a very melancholy bit of electronica, Imogen Heap's "Headlock" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKZsZkH_MJc) but fortunately leaving out the annoying bloops and bleeps of the original, and Vangelis's "Rachael’s Song" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5wJyLFnxNk). Now I'm an unashamed Vangelis fan though I don't think this is one of his best it's still nice to see it being reused. The original Vangelis soaring vocals are missing, sadly.

http://djsteveboy.com/groovelectric.html
DJ Steveboy's latest, "Drumatic", is tribal percussive and a major uplift if you're feeling down from the past two selections. It has also sent me searching through some of my older drum/dance/tribal favorites and I might link some of those next time. I love good rhythms and things from east Europe/Asia/South Asia/Middle East/Africa that get appropriated into club music under the 'tribal' banner are a welcome change from the standard house and disco beats.

http://www.yousayparty.com/
You Say Party's latest video is a must-watch. I like the tune "Lonely Lunch" but I adore the video, which is a little 5:30 mini-science fiction story. It's set in a modern or just past modern-day Indian city and like the best such videos it manages to tell its story entirely through action and expression, with no dialog. It certainly doesn't hurt that the main characters are Bollywood-esque pretty but being pretty isn't really the point. It's an engaging visual story, and a fine soundtrack.

http://www.kleptones.com/blog/2010/11/08/hectic-city-11-moombahtronica/
You have two choices here. Turn on your brains and read the interesting text Erik Kleptone has posted, or just scroll down and hit "play" to enjoy the mix. I did the former, so excuse me if I riff for a moment. This is a great example of a working DJ sharing his craft in plain language. He talks about how he got some ideas from other music blogs and decided to experiment on his own. The style itself is a great example of how sound evolves - take Afro rhythms, filter them through Euro-dance tracks, then take those tracks and re-shuffle them back into a style that owes its roots to another set of African traditions. Then use that tradition and tunes to create a mix that samples heavily from things you already know in other contexts and see if you can play 'spot the sample.'
drwex: (Default)
Another set of things I can't really categorize. Some of these are light listening, but a couple really want your attention when you can spare it. I'll put the easier stuff first.

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/James_Curd/track/Live_Forever
James Curd (http://myspace.com/jamescurd), a Chicago DJ, turns in a dance/rap tune I think of as 'walking' music. It's got a good rhythm but it's not too fast and it makes me think of moving along. Then again, I walk pretty fast :)

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/Crystal_Castles/track/Not_In_Love_feat_Robert_Smith_
If you're going to venture into the down-tempo emo side of club you cannot possibly do any better than backing up Robert Smith. The legendary Cure front-man pioneered much of what we think of as "goth" in music and also brought his personal brand of smooth and gentle vocals to bear in surprising ways. Here he is fronting for Crystal Castles (http://crystalcastles.com/) who - on their own - seem to be more atonal, electro, and much less interesting.

http://audioporncentral.com/2010/11/illegal-sunday-colatron-someones-missing.html
APC flagged this one as "do not listen if your heart is broken" and I can see why, though I really like the mix. Colatron (http://www.colatron.com/) has mixed up three tracks, Trentemøller's "Miss You" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DUCKGyojpE) itself a very melancholy bit of electronica, Imogen Heap's "Headlock" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKZsZkH_MJc) but fortunately leaving out the annoying bloops and bleeps of the original, and Vangelis's "Rachael’s Song" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5wJyLFnxNk). Now I'm an unashamed Vangelis fan though I don't think this is one of his best it's still nice to see it being reused. The original Vangelis soaring vocals are missing, sadly.

http://djsteveboy.com/groovelectric.html
DJ Steveboy's latest, "Drumatic", is tribal percussive and a major uplift if you're feeling down from the past two selections. It has also sent me searching through some of my older drum/dance/tribal favorites and I might link some of those next time. I love good rhythms and things from east Europe/Asia/South Asia/Middle East/Africa that get appropriated into club music under the 'tribal' banner are a welcome change from the standard house and disco beats.

http://www.yousayparty.com/
You Say Party's latest video is a must-watch. I like the tune "Lonely Lunch" but I adore the video, which is a little 5:30 mini-science fiction story. It's set in a modern or just past modern-day Indian city and like the best such videos it manages to tell its story entirely through action and expression, with no dialog. It certainly doesn't hurt that the main characters are Bollywood-esque pretty but being pretty isn't really the point. It's an engaging visual story, and a fine soundtrack.

http://www.kleptones.com/blog/2010/11/08/hectic-city-11-moombahtronica/
You have two choices here. Turn on your brains and read the interesting text Erik Kleptone has posted, or just scroll down and hit "play" to enjoy the mix. I did the former, so excuse me if I riff for a moment. This is a great example of a working DJ sharing his craft in plain language. He talks about how he got some ideas from other music blogs and decided to experiment on his own. The style itself is a great example of how sound evolves - take Afro rhythms, filter them through Euro-dance tracks, then take those tracks and re-shuffle them back into a style that owes its roots to another set of African traditions. Then use that tradition and tunes to create a mix that samples heavily from things you already know in other contexts and see if you can play 'spot the sample.'

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