|
||||
|
Keep your mind open.
[Don’t forget to subscribe to us before you go.]
Month: November 2016
Electro duo Kllo release new single and upcoming tour dates.
|
||||
|
Rewind Review: Public Broadcasting Service – The Race for Space (2015)
Widely heralded as one of the most innovative albums of 2015, Public Service Broadcasting’s (J. Willgoose, Esquire – banjo, guitar, sampling, Wrigglesworth – drums, piano, electronics) The Race for Space is an amazing concept album about / tribute to the space race of the 1960’s.
Beginning with the title track of an angelic chorus behind JFK’s speech calling for the exploration of space, the album moves into “Sputnik.” The electro beats and bleeps are perfect for a song about the first satellite to round the Earth. The first sample you hear is a man saying, “This is the beginning of a new era for mankind.” It was. We weren’t the same after it. The song builds in synth grandeur, not unlike something from a John Carpenter film score.
“Gagarin” is a funky electro-lounge jam and salute to Yuri Gagarin. The funky guitar and drums make him seem more like a super spy than a cosmonaut. “The whole planet knew him and loved him,” says one man in a sample before a brass section puts down a great groove. “Fire in the Cockpit” is lonely and cold, despite the title. The soft bleeps seem miles away, and the synths sound like a car engine trying to start on a cold winter morning as a man reads aloud a news release about the cockpit fire on a test flight of the Apollo 1.
“E.V.A.” brings us back to a sense of wonder with building guitar work, snappy drums, groovy keyboards, and samples about weightlessness and walking in space. “The Other Side” samples real transmissions from the Apollo 8 mission control about the inevitable loss of signal when the satellite rounds the moon. The synths build as you imagine Apollo 8 getting closer and closer to somewhere no one has ever gone. What’s great is that all music stops during the loss of signal. It’s silence until the synths return at the moment a signal is received from the Apollo 8, and burst loud when the Apollo 8 crew calls back all the way to Houston.
“Valentina” is a beautiful song you could put on a St. Valentine’s Day mixtape and a wonderful tribute to Valentina Tereshkova – the first woman to fly in space. “Go!” is a fun ride that builds from soft synths to rock drums to transmissions from the Apollo 11 mission to the moon. The calls of “Go!” from all the mission control members become a stadium chant, and you can’t help but tap your toes and cheer on the mission that you know was a success.
The album ends with “Tomorrow,” an uplifting song about the Apollo 17 mission and the future of our exploration of space and of mankind. The xylophone gives it a cool “space-lounge” feel, and the fade-in is heavenly. I hope someone has sent it to the international space station for the astronauts’ wake-up music.
I hope this whole album has been sent there. It’s wonderful. The Race for Space would easily have been in my top ten albums of 2015 if I’d started this blog last year.
Keep your mind open.
[Get cosmic with us by subscribing.]
American Wrestlers to begin North American tour next month.
|
||||
|
Rewind Review: Nortec Collective – The Tijuana Sessions vol. 1 (2001)
I’d been looking for this album for a long time since hearing parts of it on a National Public Radio show that was highlighting techno and house music from Mexico made by Nortec Collective – a group of Mexican DJs and producers who often worked together. I found The Tijuana Sessions vol. 1 in a used CD bin for about three bucks last year. It was worth the wait.
Bostich’s “Polaris” gets the compilation off to a good start, mixing rapid snare beats with synth bass. Bostich has two other tracks on the album – “El Vergel” (which includes street band accordion and tuba to good effect. Yes, really.) and “Synthakon” – a fun dub track.
Fussible, Bostich’s frequent collaborator, has three tracks as well – “Casino Soul” (with fun electro bleeps and a swanky synth horn section), “Trip to Ensenada” (a great acid house track with cool reverbed synths), and “Ventilador” (his trippiest contribution to the record).
Another triple threat DJ on the record is Terrestre. He starts with “Norteno De Janeiro,” which is a great tune for late night lounging and make-out sessions in a nightclub on the Yucatan Peninsula. Second is “El Lado Oscuro De Mi Compadre,” which belongs in a Bond film or at least a cool 1960’s Euro-spy movie. Third is “Tepache Jam” – an accordion and tuba-heavy jam saluting Mexican buskers and house parties.
Plankton Man gets a double shot, first with “Elemento N.” Like Bostich’s “El Vergel,” it blends house music with traditional Mexican street music (bold horns, parade drums, and touches of Spanish style guitar) and mixes them well. His next tune is “No Liazi Jaz,” which brings in a bit of psychedelic fuzz to his house stylings.
Other DJs on the record include Panoptica, whose “And L” is a slick acid house track with trippy reverbed percussion, Clorofila (bringing us the super-loungy “Cantamar ‘72”), and Hiperboreal – whose “Tijuana for Dummies” is a good house track with no muss and no fuss. It’s just dance beats layered upon dance beats.
The Tijuana Sessions vol. 1 is a good house / lounge / dub record and well worth investigating if you’re on the hunt for such music. Just don’t take eleven years to find it like I did.
Keep your mind open.
[Get in on our collective by subscribing to us.]
Ty Segall’s new album due January 27th.
|
||||||
|
The Kills – Ash & Ice
I’m not sure if there’s a current band that does songs about sex and the dangerous side of love better than The Kills (Jamie Hince and Alison Mosshart). Ash & Ice is certainly about both, and it’s also a hip journey into electro-rock that I didn’t expect.
The album begins with electro beeps on “Doing It to Death,” but Hince’s squawking guitar is close behind. The mix of Hince’s as-always fine guitar work with the electro touches is interesting, as is the reverb on Mosshart’s vocals during the bridge. Synth-percussion then mixes with a traditional drum kit on “Heart of a Dog,” which is a sexy showcase for Mosshart’s bad ass-ness as she sings about coming back yet again to a lover she knows is bad for her. It also has a sultry bass groove throughout it that gets into your bones.
“Hard Habit to Break” isn’t a cover of the sappy Chicago song, but instead a near drum and bass track with Mosshart dressing down her lover as he tries to control her. Ash & Ice is firmly into electro-rock territory by the time we get to “Bitter Fruit” and its programmed beats and synth bass. It’s a wicked groove, and Hince and Mosshart’s co-vocals are outstanding. “Days of Why and How” is minimalist guitar, a drum machine, some bass, and Mosshart singing into what sounds like an old microphone. Don’t worry, it all sounds good.
The opening of “Let It Drop” is so quirky that it almost sounds like the track wandered in from another record until Hince’s guitar walks into the room. “You give me the shakes. You give me the cold sweats,” Mosshart sings, making us swoon. The song could be a pop-dance track with a bit of remixing. “Hum for Your Buzz” has an interesting title and an even more interesting sound. Mosshart’s vocals are clear as Hince’s guitar sounds like he’s playing in the back of a forgotten highway bar. It reminds you that the Kills could (and I wish they would) make a great blues record.
“Siberian Nights” has Mosshart singing, “I could make you come in threes. I’m halfway to my knees. Am I too close for comfort?” No, Ms. Mosshart. The answer to that is a definite “No.” Beware the Psycho shower scene soundtrack-like synths on this, however, for I feel they reveal wickedness behind Ms. Mosshart’s seductive lyrics. She’s just as good on “That Love,” which is a pure torch song.
“Impossible Tracks” sounds like “classic Kills.” The programmed beats are minimized in favor of Hince’s panther-prowl guitar work. “You get what you give. I don’t regret what I did,” Mosshart sings. I don’t know if she’s singing about leaving someone or shagging him (and not feeling guilty about either). “Black Tar” keeps up the guitar-driven sultry rock the Kills do so well. Hince’s guitar on “Echo Home” sounds like it’s from a warped record of a spaghetti western soundtrack, and his vocals mesh well with Mosshart’s. The electro-rock comes back to finish the record with “Whirling Eye,” and it’s a sharp track that sounds like they teamed up with Metric or listened to a lot of krautrock before they recorded it (and how about that psychedelic guitar solo from Hince?).
As I mentioned at the beginning of this review, I didn’t expect so many electro touches from the Kills, but it all works. I suppose the “ash” in the album’s title could refer to the gritty guitar work and tough lyrics, while the “ice” could refer to the cool synth touches and loops featured throughout the record. It could also refer to Mosshart’s love of cigarettes and how both she and Hince like to kick back a few cocktails now and then. Kick this album back with them. It’s smoky and cool.
Keep your mind open.
[It’s not impossible to subscribe. Just drop your e-mail address in the box to your left.]
Psych-pop outfit Ne-Hi release catchy single from upcoming album due out in February.
NE-HI ANNOUNCE SOPHOMORE RECORD, SHARE TOUR DATES
WATCH VIDEO FOR “STAY YOUNG“; OFFERS OUT 2/24 ON GRAND JURY
|
|
Sharon Jones has left the building.
Sharon Jones, lead singer of the funk / soul / R&B powerhouse band Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings has died at the young age of 60 of pancreatic cancer. She fought a good fight, even releasing two more records and touring after her cancer diagnosis. Her albums with the Dap-Kings were a shot in the arm to the music industry which had pretty much ignored her for years. They couldn’t ignore her when she was dropping future classics like “100 Days, 100 Nights,” “How Do I Let a Good Man Down?”, and “Your Thing Is a Drag.”
Her live performances (none of which I ever got to see, apart from recorded video) were fiery affairs, and she caught and held your attention from the moment she stepped onstage. You knew things were about to get real when she’d kick off her shoes so she could get down harder.
She will be greatly missed, but take heart in knowing she’s strutting with James Brown somewhere right now.
Keep your mind open.
Fire Down Below – Viper Vixen Goddess Saint
Landing like a meteor impacting the moon, Belgium’s Fire Down Below (Kevin Gernaey – guitar, Sam Nuytens – drums, Jeroen Van Troyen – guitar and vocals, Bert Wynsberghe – bass) brings us Viper Vixen Goddess Saint – a good bit of stoner rock to get you through the coming winter.
After a short, almost bluesy instrumental intro (“El Viento del Desierto”), the band comes out chugging with “Through Dust and Smoke.” Imagine punk drumming, Wolfmother guitar licks, and prog-rock vocal stylings and you’ll get an idea of this track. They come out swinging and hit a triple.
“Roadburner” has a great heavy charge throughout it, and I love the way it breaks into a faster beat even before the first lyrics. It reminds me of a mix of Helmet and Quicksand, but with epic arena rock vocals from Van Troyen. “Universes Crumble” might refer to the eventual heat death of the galaxy, but the track is cosmic in its scope. The hand percussion throughout it is a great touch that brings a bit of a meditative aspect. The first line Van Troyen sings is “You are stars.” We are made of stars and to the stars we eventually return. A universe can crumble, but even that energy is reborn into another form. The song weaves back and forth between cosmic psych-rock and prog-metal. It’s outstanding.
“Dashboard Jesus” is quite suitable for late night pedal-to-the-metal drives along European coastlines, city highways, or dusty back roads. The guitars shred hard and Nuytens seems to have grown a third arm by the time this track comes along because it sounds like he’s hitting multiple cymbals at the same time (and the breakdown he has with Wynsberghe is sweet). After another bluesy instrumental (“Resurrection”), the album ends with the appropriately titled “The Mammoth.” It’s appropriate because it’s over eleven minutes long and is has heavy as a woolly mammoth walking across a hardwood floor. It’s an epic finish to a cosmic trip, like the aforementioned meteor smacking the moon.
I had no idea there was a stoner rock scene in Belgium, so I’m glad these guys sent me their record. You should seek them out if you enjoy stoner rock, prog-rock, or psych rock.
Keep your mind open.
[You’d be as epic as a wooly mammoth if you subscribed to us.]