I’m really enjoying the new Deafhaven album and have been listening to it more than anything else the past few weeks. Their blend of Metal and Shoegaze really works for me on many levels.
Baby Blue is the track on the album that separates these genres a bit more than the others which mash them together in closer intervals or even at the same time. The first three minutes of the track focus very much on the shoegaze elements before we then soar into a progressive metal of almost operatic grandeur. After it’s peak the track then subdues to an ambient pad of music with a field recording of transport information from the George Washington Bridge. It really is something special:
I have been doing this blog now for over 3 years and looking back on It’s history there is one band that I haven’t covered as much as I should have, It’s time to rectify this.
I first heard The Flaming Lips on the UK release of Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots so I would have been around the age of 15 and I instantly fell in love with the album. In time this love grew to their entire back catalogue, from their early drug fuelled punk/grunge through to their development In more progressive, psychedelic and experimental rock. They have been a soundtrack for nearly half my life. The highs and lows have all been accompanied by their music and on one amazing occasion, my life and the band collided when I got to go on stage with them at the Manchester Apollo and dance like a nutter dressed as Santa. A memory that will be with me for the rest of my life.
It was in this brief few hours that my thoughts towards making music changed. I had always loved music and used to enjoy playing instruments, this was crushed by bad experiences in education but I remember vividly thinking on stage as I jumped up and down that, although this was a surreal experience it was also real. That performing in front of thousands of people was possible and making music was for everyone. This is one of the key events, which turned me back from just a lover of music to a creator. To put it quite simply, without The Flaming Lips there wouldn’t be this website.
But without this experience I would still be a fan of The Flaming Lips because of their music. If you haven’t given them the time of day you should. This is a band that have never restrained their creative freedom or let what other people think get in the way of what they make. They have often attempted to make projects that are hugely ambitious both technically and creatively and amazingly most of the time achieve them successfully without over-stretching.
As someone who is into production of music The Flaming Lips and their producer Dave Fridmann have offered it in spades with interesting, creative and often fresh methods of sound design and mixing. This works well with a band whose lyrics vary into some really alternative and strange territories but are always rooted in lead singer Wayne Coynes profound understanding of the human condition.
This leads us to my TOTW “Sound Of Failure” although it’s not one of their most well-known tracks it is one of my favourites and manages to summarise what I love most about the band in its runtime. We get a large verity of orchestration and textures throughout, from synthesised elements of the orchestra, both electric and organic drums, guitars, and many layers of vocal overdubbing with unique processing techniques.
These vocals tell a story of a girl who is introspectively contemplating the death of a friend but Wayne Coyne looks at the situation in a more complicated way than most song writers with maturity that can only stem from experience. Instead of a one-sided view that we usually hear which will be aimed towards one emotion or feeling such as Hate, Anger or Love we get a mix of complex emotions. The sense of loss of a friend but also the power of resolve and growing through acceptance and self-reflection. It also references music that doesn’t handle these feelings with the lyrics “go tell Britney and go tell Gwen. She’s not trying to go against all them” which exemplifies how a lot of pop music simplifies human emotions which are always more complicated.
It’s this empathy in humanity that has always attracted me to Wayne Coynes lyrics and the music of the flaming lips. Under all the grand external stories of priest driven ambulances, wars with giant pink robots, time travellers, magicians, psychedelic monsters etc. There is always, incredibly well thought out internal struggles with the characters involved which anyone will be able to relate to.
The Flaming Lips manage to be both one of the most creative experimental pop rock bands out there whilst also creating music that deals with subjects that are both surreal and insightful. They will continue to be the soundtrack to my life as I get older and are one of the few acts I will listen to everything they create because even when it doesn’t work it is always full of great ideas and when it does work their tracks can be about as perfect as music can be:
The Joey Bada$$ album B4.DA.$$ is very much from the East Coast. Continuing the traditions of East Coast Hip hop that are still as exiting and refreshing today. Namely Great Beats accompanying more complex lyrics.
I first heard Hazus View on the fantastic Song Exploder Podcast_Joey Bada$$ where Joey Bada$$ and producer Kirk Knight deconstructed the track before playing it in full. By that point I was hooked on its short looping samples and great lyrics that I had to make it my Track of the Week:
Vince Staples solo rap album entitles Summertime ’06 is am impressive debut, with its own distinctive sound and a collection of some really fantastic tracks. The highlight for me is the stripped down sample heavy track entitled Summertime.
It’s a lot sparser than many of the other tracks on the Album with less lyrics and musical accompaniment. But it’s this minimalism that really allows the track to breathe. The Looping Nature of the samples with the monotone vocals manages to emote a collection of feelings that drift between happy and sad throughout its runtime, powerfully and with subtle purpose. A really fantastic piece of work:
I know there has been a lot of Oneohtrix Point Never love on my site for a the past few months but I have to say his upcoming album Garden Of Delete is my most look forward to this year.
I Bite Through It is the first track released in full from it and we’re treated to something new and allot harsher than we have experienced in his past two albums. Synthetic sounds are chopped and warped in his usual unworldly fair. Yet his work never goes in a direction you would expect it to and this track makes no exceptions. Going from full synths wrapped in heavy distortion to acoustic solo guitar. This sudden change between heavy and light tones really keeps you guessing untill it all the elements crash in on each other and fall apart.
I can’t work out if it’s brilliant or insane but I can’t stop listening to it especially on headphones where the stereo design really shines through:
This Year seems to have been a tour de force for LA musicians collaborating with each other. Thundercats mini EP is a perfect example of this. You can tell Thundercat is a bass player as multiple tracks of the instrument take centre stage on this piece which is then blended with some great piano work and a sax accompaniment from Kamasi Washington.
This fusion of genre has been a mainstay of several works over the year including Kamasi Washingtons own triple album The Epic and the Kendrick Lamar album To Pimp A Butterfly and it’s created some of the highlights of the year for me. This track being one of them:
It’s taken me a few months to catch up with the new Tame Impala album but I’m glad i finally did. Let It Happen is a Perfect example of this album. The single version of this track sounds like there hasn’t been much of an advancement from his previous album Lonerism and although I enjoyed the track it did feel like treading over old ground. However on the Album this track breaks down into a fantastic looping breakdown that made me perk up and listen.
Kevin Parker has managed to develop his sound further with the use of sampling and audio editing to create a fresh take on his already fantastic sound design and production. Listen to the album version below:
The Rapture are one of those bands that really didn’t get the credit that they deserved.
They were one of the first bands to develop the Post-Punk revival sound which clashed electronic and dance music with punk. A sound that is still popular and prevalent in many bands to this day.
On Come Back To Me we’re treated with a looping sample that sounds close to an accordion. Then halfway through the track the instrumentation is stripped away to a darker deeper bass synth sound that really hits home on a sound sytem with a decent sub.
They may not be arround anymore but fans of artists like LCD Soundsytem and Hot Chip should go back and give The Rapture a decent listen:
BadBadNotGood were the highlight of Parlkife festival when i saw them a few months ago. Listening to the way the filter different genre through the medium of a Three Piece jazz act is exiting and fresh.
On Can’t Leve The Night we’re treated to a track that’s heavily influenced by post rock mixed with their usual Jazz Influences.
The track builds to an all out heavy hitting chorus reminiscent of more hard edged Hiphop with a powerful driving bass like that manages to provide enormous weight without overpowering the mix:
I have cheated this week and not picked a single track for the week instead going for a full DJ Set.
A few weeks ago I went to soundwave Festival in Croatia, a small festival focused around dance music in a lovely holiday atmosphere. The highlight was the saturday evening DJ set My Mr.Scruff.
DJ as a terminology has broadened over the past ten years as the rise of the Home/Bedroom Producer has become more prevalent. Modern advancements in CDJ technology and MIDI control of DJ software have enabled artists to take their work from the home computer/laptop to a club with ease and have enough control over said music to provide a live feel to pre-recorded tracks.
This widening of the terminology has had one negative value in that its watered down the original meaning of the term DJ. Club goers will now go to see an artist who will DJ their own music on a large club sound system. Crowds have come to the event knowing full well what will be on that artists set list and will feel cheated if they don’t play their hit songs in the same way that we would if going to see a more traditional live musician/band. This is completely different from the original art form of DJ performance where a DJ would bring a collection of music and play to the crowd. Taking the Audience through a Journey of a genre, adjusting the tempo and styles throughout the night to match the mood of the dance floor with a creative vision and curation of music that isn’t just their own.
When it comes to these types of DJ I would put Mr. Scruff in the highest echelons of the medium. Throughout his 5 hour set with the help of Alexander Nut he played a collection of genre that not only blended perfectly together but was also perfectly in sync with the audience. Although I hadn’t heard many of the cuts that he dug out of his crate of vinyl every track seemed to fit perfectly into place in this one context of that evening. He also adjusted his set to give room for other contributors to do their thing.
This amount of skill is rare today. It comes from years of preparation and being immersed in music with a particular ear for what will sound good in a club scenario. It comes from crate digging and finding the rare tracks that will work and then knowing your collection so well that you can make connections between them whilst playing them live. With Mr. Scuff you feel that he not only knows what he’s going to play next, but what he will play for the next 30 minutes whilst at any point having different options to change to suit the mood of the crowd. That is a rare thing indeed and something that needs to be seen live to be truly appreciated.
Below you will find a link to his soundcloud page which he puts up many of his Live DJ sets including the full sent from Soundwave 2015 and they’re great to listen to. But they don’t do justice to being at his shows, something I would highly recommend to any one who gets a chance to:
SoundCloud Page:
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