Electro – Page 64 – 7th Level Music

Live: Seal – August 27, 2016 – New Buffalo, MI

I’ve been meaning to make it up to my wife for dragging her to see Japanese acid rockers Bo Ningen (a band she just doesn’t understand) at Levitation Austin a couple years ago, so I thought taking her to see Seal might do the trick.

He played at the Four Winds Casino Silver Creek Event Center in New Buffalo, Michigan. The “Silver Creek Event Center,” mind you, is just a big carpeted room the casino can use for everything from a Seal concert to a wedding reception. It is much smaller than the venue map on Ticketmaster’s website makes it appear. I’m happy to say that the acoustics in the place are quite good, however. The whole show sounded great.

Part of that is because Seal is a great performer. It was him, a DJ / synthesizer player, and a guitarist on stage. No drummer. No horn section. No bass player. They didn’t need any of them. Seal opened the set with “Crazy,” his biggest hit here in the U.S., and the crowd was instantly on its feet. His voice hasn’t lost any power since the song was released in 1991, and I loved the way his band turned it into a bit of a dark wave tune with the synth work. “Killer,” another early hit, followed it with even more of a dark wave feel to it with heavy synth bass.

The first track they played from Seal’s new album, 7, was “Daylight Saving,” a gorgeous love song that preceded another from the same album, “Do You Ever.” “Prayer for the Dying” was another heartbreaking cut (to the point it made my wife cry) that led into “Love’s Divine.”

A surprise was his cover of Hall & Oates‘ “Sara Smile” (with Seal on back-up guitar). “Love,” the last song on 7, led into the first verse of David Bowie‘s “Space Oddity,” and I thought my wife was going to slide off her chair.

“Deep Water” was another beautiful track, and then came another surprise – Seal’s cover of Tears for Fears‘ “Mad World,” which he dedicated to the victims of the recent earthquake in Italy. “My Vision” and “Right Life” got everyone up and moving again, and he even threw in a little bit of Chic‘s “Le Freak.” The fourth cover of the night was Prince‘s “Hot Thing,” which was one of the funkiest tunes of the night and closed out the main set to a standing ovation.

The encore consisted of “Kiss from a Rose” and then another track from 7, “Life on the Dancefloor,” which had everyone dancing and grooving and leaving on a good buzz. I saw two ladies a few rows behind us when the houselights came up, and they were dumbfounded in their chairs. They didn’t move for several minutes.

I asked my wife if the show made up for Bo Ningen.

“Almost,” she said. “Probably the Bo, but not the Ningen.”

I took that as a win. Thanks, Seal.

Keep your mind open.

Live: Heaven’s Gateway Drugs, Pleasures, Sisters of Your Sunshine Vapor, & Slug Love – August 14, 2016 – Ft. Wayne, IN

There was a nice psychedelic rock show at Fort Wayne’s Brass Rail last week. First up was Slug Love – a local act who played a good set of punk-psych. They have some stuff on Soundcloud right now and hope to have more material out soon. I look forward to it.

Detroit’s Sisters of Your Sunshine Vapor were up next and they played only one previously released song (“Desert Brain”). Everything else was entirely new material, and all of it sounded great. The new material has a bit of a cosmic vibe. Guitarist and singer Sean Morrow mentioned Hawkwind to me when discussing the new stuff, so I’m hoping their upcoming album will be a spacey trip.

Pleasures came all the way from Florida to play their wild electro-psych full of distorted robot vocals, throbbing synths, and even a weird collection of film clips projected on their kick drum head (a genius idea, by the way).

Ft. Wayne’s Heaven’s Gateway Drugs closed the night with a lot of material I hadn’t heard before either. I’d learned earlier from SOYSV that this was a challenge they’d made to HGD to play new material (The two bands are all pals, by the way.). HGD played their usual sharp psych layered with almost meditative beats.

It was a fun show for a cheap price. Don’t miss the next one.

Keep your mind open.

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Rewind Review: M.I.A. – Matangi (2013)

[Rewind Reviews are reviews of albums at least a year old by the time I hear them.]

For the record, I think M.I.A. is a genius. She always seems to get the best beats and hasn’t given a damn about what’s popular, what people think of her, or even the Super Bowl for years. Her 2014 album Matangi is another great example of her doing her own thing with a mastery of world beats, sharp wit, and killer mic flow.

“Karmageddon” laces Bollywood beats and reverb throughout it. It’s seductive, synth-heavy, and even a bit scary. “My words are my armor and you’re about to meet your karma,” she sings. It’s a quick introduction / warning before the title track throws us into a deep Indian jungle, both in terms of jungle techno beats and tropical jungle heat. Only M.I.A. can pull off the chants she rhymes around in the song. Her chants are like battle cries mixed with meditative mantras.

“Only 1 U” starts with temple bells and then unleashes some of the wickedest beats on the record. M.I.A.’s voice is echoed, distorted, and fuzzed but it remains clear enough for you to hear her message of empowerment. I also love the inclusion of a boxing ring bell to signal each verse. She’s come to fight, so it’s appropriate the next track is “Warriors.” It starts with an “ohm” chant and then M.I.A. is dropping rhymes like she’s unleashing a tricky boxing combination. “Gangsters, bangers, we’re puttin’ ‘em in a trance,” she says. I’m sure she is, because her rhymes and beats are dumbfounding.

“Come Walk with Me” is a fun love song with beats better for dancing than walking, so walk to the club with your lover when you play it. “Atention” is a play on words, riffing on “attention” and “a tension.” M.I.A.’s voice is a bit robotic, almost like she’s a computer program singing to us atop wicked drum machine beats and turntable scratches.

She teams up with The Weekend for the first time on “Exodus.” He does most of the rat-a-tat electric beats, I’m guessing, because M.I.A. sings all the lead vocals (and quite well). “Live fast, die young, bad girls do it well,” she sings on “Bad Girls,” a song title she is eminently qualified to claim. It has a neat Middle Eastern flavor underneath the sick hand percussion beats.

“Boom Skit” is far too short. M.I.A.’s rapping and the beats on it are so good they’re almost frightening. “Double Bubble Trouble” isn’t really about gum, but it’s just as sweet. “You’re in trouble. I step up in the game and I burst that bubble.” The alarm claxons taking the place of a horn section are brilliant. This deserves to be cranked from every taxi in New Delhi.

“Y.A.L.A.” has bass that Missy Elliott will probably gank for her next record. “If you only live once, why do we keep doing the same shit?” M.I.A. asks. It’s a play on “Y.O.L.O.” and I’m guessing it stands for “You All Live Again” since she sings, “Back home where I come from we keep being born again and again and again. That’s why they invented karma.”

“Bring the Noize” isn’t a cover of the Public Enemy classic, but it’s just as good in its own right. The hyper beats seem to include a creaking door, sampled R&B croons, and a haunted horn section. “Lights” has M.I.A.’s vocals subdued and echoing in the background as the synth beats take lead. “Know It Ain’t Right” is bouncy, while “Sexodus” (her second pairing with The Weekend on Matangi) is sensual. Go figure with that title, really. M.I.A. is at her sexiest on the track, singing about getting in the sheets and staying busy until dawn.

The digital download version of Matangi comes with the bonus track of “Like This,” which is well worth the download. M.I.A. purrs like a tiger at one point, nearly making you slide off your chair. If that doesn’t do it, then the phat bass and her supremely confident rhyming will.

M.I.A. can do no wrong, really. Her beats are always big, her rhymes are always deadly, her lyrics are always powerful, and her power grows with each record.

Keep your mind open.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCkIYkaLBGs

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John Carpenter – Lost Themes II

John Carpenter’s first Lost Themes album was a delight for fans of horror films, film scores, and progressive rock. Lost Themes II is another treat, as Carpenter, his son Cody, and his godson, Daniel Davies, return to bring us a record just as good as the first.

“Distant Dreams” could easily have been part of the Escape from New York soundtrack with its thumping bass. It’s an excellent live track as well. “White Pulse” has Carpenter and crew moving into industrial territory with heavy 50-gallon drum percussion and angelic synths.

I love the underlying menace of “Persia Rising.” The low-end keys bring to mind something crawling from a dark, wet tomb. I hope Carpenter was thinking of movies like Angel’s Revenge when he wrote “Angel’s Asylum,” because it would be a great song for any of those trashy 1980’s Angel movies. It’s a great mix of action themes, mystery themes, and even a little sci-fi thrown in for good measure.

“Hofner Dawn” and “Windy Death” are quiet, mellow affairs. “Hofner Dawn” borders on New Age with synths that evoke sunrise, while “Windy Death” is like the early winds that build into a tornado when the conditions are right. You know something bad is looming, but you don’t know when it will arrive.

It’s easy to think of “Dark Blues” as a lost cut from the Christine score, as it starts with a revving engine and a car driving away. The heavy rock guitar chords and the high-beam bright synths practically evoke Dean Cundey cinematography images in your head. The song also features some of Davies’ best guitar work on the album.

“Virtual Survivor” brings to mind someone trudging through a dystopian wasteland in search of a secret that will save humanity. Carpenter’s piano anchors the song while his son’s synths are perfect for a new sci-fi masterpiece.

It’s nice to hear one horror master acknowledge another horror legend, as Carpenter does on “Bela Lugosi.” The stabbing synths hit like a stake through the heart. The song has goth touches, of course, like the parts that sound like a child’s music box or others that remind you of a creepy circus sideshow. Think more “Black Cat” than “Dracula” and you’ll get the idea.

“Last Sunrise” oozes dread, even with the light piano chords throughout it. It would fit in well in the third act of that post-apocalyptic film I mentioned earlier. “Utopian Facade” is a nice follow-up to it. I can’t help but think it has some inspiration from his soundtrack for They Live, which is a film all about how our seemingly happy existence in the materialistic, consumer-driven economy is a facade. The Gary Numan-like synths blend well with the Vangelis-like electric piano. It’s a good ending to the record…unless you got the digital download that contains the bonus track of “Real Xeno.” It harkens back to his early horror work and seems to blend Halloween themes with In the Mouth of Madness ones. Synths buzz like horseflies while weird things whisper in the darkness…and wait until the drums and guitar step in to turn it into a song for a bad-ass antihero.

Lost Themes II is just as good as the first one, and better in some ways (a more natural flow to the tracks, it seems). It’s essential if you like Carpenter’s work.

Keep your mind open.

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Massive Attack release two new singles.

Electro and trip-hop legends Massive Attack have released two new singles this week – “The Spoils” (which isn’t yet available in the U.S.) and “Come Near Me” (teaming with Ghostpoet on that one). “Come Near Me” is, no surprise, excellent and both tracks hopefully portend a full-length album later this year.

Keep your mind open.

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Rewind Review: Bebel Gilberto – Tudo (2014)

I don’t know how I missed that the lovely Bebel Gilberto released Tudo in 2014, but I’m glad seeing her live reminded me to pick up this record. It’s another beautiful mix of bossa nova, electro, and lounge music that only she seems to be able to create.

The opening track, “Somewhere Else,” is sung in English and Portugese and lures the listener into taking their dream vacation, be it for real or even in the vastness of one’s mind. It even includes birdsong in the background, which I assume happened because someone left the window of the recording studio open and birds naturally land and sing whenever Ms. Gilberto even hums a tune.

“Nada Nao” (“Nothing”) is just Gilberto’s voice, an acoustic guitar, and hand percussion. It’s a fun, toe-tapping track. “Tom de Voz” (“Tone of Voice”) is a short and sweet song highlighting (What else?) Gilberto’s lovely voice.

“Novas Ideias” (“New Ideas”) has Gilberto singing alongside her frequent co-writer Seu Jorge. It will instantly make you happy, as it’s a fun samba-influenced cut that you need to play on your next date or slip to the DJ at the next wedding reception you attend. Her cover of Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon” is outstanding and brings a whole new feel to the ballad.

The title track (which means “All”) has some of Gilberto’s best vocals, as she dances around tricky words like a ballerina spinning across stage. I love the simple organ and synths on it, too, as they float behind her vocals with the hand percussion setting the beat. “Saudade Vem Correndo” (“Longing Comes Running”) is one of her many songs that will instantly make you happy. The flute backing her up on it is a great touch. “Areia” (“Sand”) begins with chimes that remind you of sand falling through an hourglass. The guitar work on it is a hypnotic low rhythm with a slight Flamenco feel. It’s even a bit dark until Ms. Gilberto glides in to rescue us and make us think of strolling on a Brazilian beach and enjoying an ice cream cone with a lover.

Or maybe the beach is in France, considering the next song has a French title – “Tout Es Bleu” (“All Are Blue”). It’s a great electro-jazz track that has probably been remixed by DJs across the world by now. It deserves to be played at your next late night party. You can’t be blue during it, so thanks to Ms. Gilberto for giving us a cure to our doldrums.

“Lonely in My Heart” has Gilberto’s vocals slightly reverbed as some acid lounge electric beats shuffle behind her and trippy synths creep in now and then. They might be evoking the ghosts of a relationship Gilberto sings about in the track. They bring a cool energy to the song even if they don’t.

When it comes to Ms. Gilberto and I, “Vivo Sonhando” (“I Live Dreaming”). I live dreaming of her singing to me in a dim club as we sit at a small table and enjoy fresh juice and a jazz band. This song pretty much describes a scenario like that and I’d probably melt right there in my chair if that ever happened. It’s a gorgeous track that, like any good dream, is over too soon.

“Inspiracao” (“Inspiration”) is a cool electro song. I love how she can jump into electro and lounge music without any trouble. “It’s All Over Now” is a heartbreaking song about a breakup and how Gilberto wishes the best for her lover and hopes they cherish the good times they had. It’s a sublime ending to a lovely record.

You need to hear Bebel Gilberto if you haven’t before. Her songs can change the mood of any place, person, or function for the better.

Keep your mind open.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqvD1xgbmN8

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LCD Soundsystem announce Beach Vibes music festival in Mexico.

Not ones to rest on their laurels during their triumphant return, LCD Soundsystem have created the Beach Vibes music festival in Riviera Maya, Mexico. Tickets go on sale to the general public July 11th, but you can get early sales on July 8th if you register for their mailing list. A word of caution for your wallet: The only way to attend is to buy a three-day package at one of the host resorts, and packages for even one person cost upward of three grand. You can put 30% down on a package and then pay it off over five months to make it a little easier.

Some of the resorts are all-inclusive, however, so that helps a bit. Airfare is not included in your price, but cheap airfare to Mexico from the U.S. isn’t hard to find.

LCD Soundsystem have announced they will headline two nights of the festival, and the lineup is already good. Hot Chip, Holy Ghost!, Juan MacLean, and Shit Robot are personal favorites, and more are to be announced.

Start planning now. This would be a great winter getaway.

Keep your mind open.

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Live: Ceu – June 24, 2016 – Chicago, IL

Barely anyone paid attention to the candles.

I showed up at Chicago’s City Winery in plenty of time to get a good free parking spot a block away and order a Right Bee cider before the show started. The City Winery is a nice, small venue not much bigger than a couple campground pavilions, and Brazilian siren Ceu was playing that night. I’ve been a fan of hers since stumbling onto her self-titled first record back in 2005. I’d missed all her previous Chicago dates, and now I was seeing her from about twenty feet from my table while I munched braised duck tacos.

Her opening band was an electro two-piece called Kauf from Los Angeles. They got the show off to a fine start with a groovy set that had people nodding their heads and drumming on their tables. One man behind me said, “They’re like an 80’s synth kind of thing.” That’s true, but a bit of a simplistic description. Add a bit of dark wave and Caribou and you’re there.

Kauf bringing fine electro to the City Winery.

By now I’d learned that the couple across from me (named, I kid you not, Tom and Jerry) were seeing Ceu for the fourth time and hadn’t missed one of her Chicago dates yet. This was the first time they’d seen her with a guitarist in the band. We had a great time being wowed by her and sharing flatbread pizza.

She came out in a dark orange dress with light sparkles throughout it and a pair of bad-ass silver sequined high heels. It was at this moment that I realized Ceu looks like Jane Russell, and I about fainted in my chair. I almost fainted again when she started singing and her gorgeous voice filled the room.

She played a lovely, intimate set with her sharp as a tack backing band. They played many cuts from her fine new album, Tropix, as well as cuts going all the way back to 2005. She was dancing by the second song, “Perfume Invisibel,” and people were already breaking the “candle rule” to stay quiet during the show (Tom, Jerry, and I included). They were dancing in one corner by the end of her main set and all through the encore.

She and her band spanned multiple music styles. They played stuff ranging from bossa nova, electro dance songs, reggae, and modern disco cuts to early 80’s synth tracks you might hear on a Berlin album.

As good as her voice is on her albums, it is even better live. I won’t miss her if she comes through the Midwest again, and neither should you.

Ceu’s set list for the night. Sadly, I didn’t get a physical copy of it, but thanks to the man who let me take this photo of his copy.

[Thanks to Andre Bourgeois for making press pass arrangements for me for this show. He rules.]

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Underworld – Barbara, Barbara, We Face a Shining Future

What do you do when you’re one of the biggest electronic acts in the world and you decide to return from a six-year hiatus? If you’re Underworld, you drop what could be the comeback record of the year – Barbara, Barbara, We Face a Shining Future.

It’s perfectly timed; because Underworld’s newest record is also one of the most optimistic records of the year. We need optimism right now in this bleak political atmosphere. “I Exhale,” the first track from the record, is over eight minutes of them telling us to take a deep breath and let go of all the molehills we’ve built into mountains. In the wake of the Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting, it’s good to hear a song that tells us that “everything is golden” and to look toward “the light…a globe on the horizon.” “If Rah,” with its thumping beats, acknowledges that everyone suffers, but “Life isn’t shit.” It encourages us to “Have a good time.”

The opening synths of “Low Burn” could be something from a John Carpenter film score, but the dance floor percussion reminds us to “be bold, be beautiful, free, totally, unlimited.” The song bounces and soars, as if the low burn in the title references a lift-off from the planet.

The Spanish-style acoustic guitar on “Santiago Cuatro” is an interesting surprise and instantly intriguing. It borders on Middle Eastern rhythms and becomes a meditative piece with minimal percussion and odd, slightly fuzzed radio transmissions.

“Motorhome,” with its “Baba O’Riley”-like synths, gives the bluntest advice on the whole record. “What don’t lift you drags you down. Keep away from the dark side.” Life would be better for all of us if we spurned negativity and embraced compassion. “Ova Nova” is light-hearted, highly danceable, and ready for your Summer of 2016 playlist. “Nylon Strung” is a bold love song with Depeche Mode-like synths and simple, giddy-love lyrics like “I wanna hold you, laughing.”

This is a tremendous return for Underworld, and for all of us, to a world of bliss that is ours for the taking whenever we want it. We just have to be bold enough to live it.

Keep your mind open.

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Bayonne – Primitives

Roger Sellers, otherwise known as Bayonne, is an electro artist from Texas who makes great soundscapes of sunrise synths, dance club beats, and drifting cottonwood vocals. He’s a one-man show and his beautiful Primitives album is inspiring. It will make you consider, as LCD Soundsystem once put it, selling your guitar to buy a synthesizer and starting your own music career. I know I am…and I don’t even have a guitar.

“Intro” has a simple title for the first track, but it’s far from simple. Big drums combine with pulsing synths and distant vocals. The percussion keeps building until it cuts to a sparkling wall of sound. It flows into “Appeals,” a peppy song with racing electric piano bringing a happy sound to a tune about a lost love.

“Spectrolite” is not only one of the best electro songs of the year, it’s one of the best songs of the year – period. Sellers sings vocals that barely push out of the background from his synth bass and bouncy tones while his pal Matt Toman lays down house music drums. This should be on your summer playlist if it isn’t already there.

“Marim” is thumping bass and clockwork beats with more vocals that almost disappear. I love how Sellers doesn’t let his vocals overpower his soundscapes on most of the tracks. He knows when to back off the vocals and let the sounds take the song in the right direction. He also knows when to put the vocals in front, like when he sings about his yearning for someone far from him on “Waves.”

The beginning of “Steps” reminds me of the beginning of “Baba O’Riley” with its repeating synth motif. “Lates” is a beautiful ballad with simple piano chords, beats, and synths wrapped in lush reverbed vocals. The beats build to a simmer and then a rolling boil. It’s delightful.

“Omar” starts off quirky but soon morphs into a pulsing, toe-tapping, shimmering song about shattering one’s illusions. It’s ideal for the first rays of daylight coming into your car after a long drive all night.

Primitives is quality stuff. Don’t be surprised if you see Sellers headlining music festivals before too long. Sounds this rich can’t stand hidden for long.

Keep your mind open.

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