Archive for the ‘ Check This Out ’ Category
Happy Bloody New Year fellow explorers. It is time for a brief tenure into examining some acts that shall hit it big this year, Twenty11. Of course we are all dying next year so hopefully good music is made right up to the very end.
The Vaccines:
Mona:
James Blake:
Puro Instinct:
Lia Ices:
Young Magic: http://pitchfork.com/forkcast/15177-sparkly/
Tennis:
Warpaint:
Isaac Graham:
Funeral Party:
Esben and the Witch:
Cloud Nothings:
Braids:
Lord Huron:
Smith Westerns:
Yuck:
This may even be a ‘todays favourites’, but I don’t know. Click the pictures to hear them.
Andorra, 2007.
For some reason this reminds me of the Beach Boys. Maybe it’s the sprinklings of xylophonesque melodies, the high pitched, multi-layered vocals or perhaps just the general beach vibe. This song just has a really catchy melody, great experimental sound and I absolutely love the drumming – so energetic! I’ve had this album on order for about six weeks now and I’m getting anxious.
Explorations, 1961.
Written for Evans by Miles Davis himself, this is perhaps my favourite jazz piece of all time. Achingly beautiful. I think the melody can be appreciated by even the most impartial jazz listener. If you push past the double bass solo, the piano solo is equally as delicate as the main theme. Unfortunately I can’t find a good quality version to do it justice, but it is heart-warming stuff.
Cosmogramma, 2010
Cosmogramma is the sort of album that is best heard from start to finish.
Each song thrives in the context of this insane mind-fuck. “Zodiac Shit” however, like “Hmmhmm”, shines individually. The song starts with vinyl crackle, some gentle strings and a playful melody, making the distorted, off-kilter beat even more disturbing when it introduces itself. Best listened to loud.
[UPDATE]: Adult Swim just released a film clip for this song. And it’s nucking futs. Check it out below.
Innerspeaker, 2010
Imagine this. You’ve been floating around in a yellow submarine for 40 odd years, surviving on nothing but suspicious looking vitamins pills. After years of solitude you finally decide to raise your periscope, only to find yourself in a Nordic forest. This is what you see.
So this is the Gaslamp Killer. Californian DJ/Producer. Genius. His first mixtape (I think from 2007) is 70 minutes of hip-hop beats, crazy electronics, world music, funk, jazz and psychedelia.
All of these elements are mixed fluidly into a sprawling collage of hallucinatory sounds and beats. I just finished listening to the whole thing, and I did not recognise a single sample or song. Makes you realise just how much fantastic, unknown music there is out there. Click the album art on the right to stream the entire thing or right-click it to download.
Sarcastic, corny, white-boy rap doesn’t come much better than this. This is Ezra Koenig’s former project before forming Vampire Weekend. Great chorus and truly hilarious lyrics. Keep an ear out for the ’99 Problems’ parody verse.
Chris and Jan's Exploration Into Contemporary Music 