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My blog
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Happy 2 Year, you
Monday, Jun 1, 2009 4:58PM / Standard Entry
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Buraka Som Sistema
Thursday, Apr 30, 2009 11:46AM / Standard Entry
I came across this gem on YouTube recently, and thought I'd share cuz it's pretty bumpin. It features popular rapper M.I.A, DJ Znobia, Saborosa and Puto Prata. The last three I'm embarassed to say I've never heard of before until now. My bad! Get ready for some awesome dancing. Wish I could let go like that.
Sound of Kuduro
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CkXhtw7UNk
Buraka Som Sistema is an electronic music project from Portugal, specializing in the kuduro genre, and are generally credited with creating the "progressive kuduro" variant and have even received an MTV European Music Award.
From what I gather, kuduro was born in Angola, but was immediately transfered to this group over in Portugal, where they've been pumping it out of ever since meeting and joining forces with an Angolan hip-hop producer by the name of Andro Carvalho. Kuduro is pretty tribal, danceable and upbeat, as you can tell from the vid. I like it. Can't find their latest album, Black Diamond anywhere though.
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Empire of the Sun
Tuesday, Apr 21, 2009 9:40AM / Standard Entry
In light of J.G. Ballard's recent death, I decided to post about a band who takes their name from - but aren't directly named after- his famous semi-autobiographical novel by the same name: Empire of the Sun. If you want to read more about J.G. Ballard, I suggest Dax Phelan's most recent blog.
Their first single and hit Walking on a Dream, received a lot of airtime in the UK and their native Australia. The electric duo members are Luke Steele of The Sleepy Jackson and Nick Littlemore of Pnau. (Also good bands, Pnau especially, which will always hold a special place on my ipod).
I'm pretty into the white feather headress in the above photo, and the picture frame guitar. Not to mention the whole pseudo-Noah's arc thing going on behind them. I wonder if they're trying to say something with that, or if it's just there for the sake of being there.
It should be no surprise then, to see their album art. It's like Star Wars meets the Savannah meets BladeRunner? Who knows. Expect much of the same in their music video. :) It's weird. Filmed in Shanghai. I'll follow up the original with a few of my favorite remixes. Enjoy.
Original
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMJjF4LHOkY
Van-She Tech Remix
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMvq17FcIf8
Treasure Fingers Remix (a nice synth-imagination of the original melody)
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHNG1wL1B7Q
I'll post something about PNAU later. Today I woke up with a fever. Sucky!
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R.L. Crutchfield [+Update on The Juan Maclean]
Thursday, Apr 16, 2009 12:45PM / Standard Entry
Today, the story starts with my Last.Fm account. Last.Fm is a website that records the music you listen to, be it on your computer or ipod, and based on your selection of artists and favorite genres, creates lists and recommendations of new artists that you might be interested in. The best part, is that you can listened to those new artists right then and there, and even buy them if you like. It's an easy and convenient way to expand your itunes library. :)
Anyway, so a few day ago I decided to actually take a look at my "recommended artists" and found the music of Robin L. Crutchfield, and thank god I did. He's best known for being one of the founding musicians of the short lived, but very influencial No Wave genre that showed up in New York City around the 1970s. The way I understand No Wave is by its characteristic emphasis on minimalism. Keep in mind No Wave wasn't limited to just a genre of music but encompassed the realm of film, video, performance art and even contemporary art. Musical "texture" is more important than musical "melody", which is a trait I find true in a lot of experimental music (noise music for example).
As paraphrased from both wiki and myspace:
Growing up in rural Pennsylvania, Crutchfield was fascinated with both performance art and the most esoteric edge of pop music. After making his escape to New York City in the mid-seventies, he presented several noteworthy performance pieces at the New York Avant Garde Festival, Stefan Eins’ 3 Mercer Street Store and Artists’ Space. Inspired by Yoko Ono's Plastic Ono Band and others, he made the transition into the new music of downtown Manhattan and formed the No Wave band DNA with Arto Lindsay and Ikue Mori in 1977.
In 1979 Crutchfield left DNA to pursue a series of musical projects under the name Dark Day. By the time of Dark Day’s first album, Exterminating Angel was released in 1980, the group consisted of Robin, Phil Kline, Barry Friar and a revolving lineup of artists which included Steven Brown and Peter Principle of Tuxedomoon, filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, Nina Canal and David Rosenbloom. After a tour of Europe, Robin re-formed Dark Day in 1981 as a synthesizer duo and released the album Window. In 1985 he recreated Dark Day as an acoustic chamber ensemble performing atmospheric music in a medieval vein and released his Darkest Before Dawn disc in 1989. In 1999 Robin utilized the new technology available to musicians and returned to the ambient and techno genres that he helped pioneer, on his disc Strange Clockwork (my favorite Dark Day album thus far).
Here's Dark Day's album Exterminating Angel if you're interested...and a video for good measure.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXt6j5xrl4M
UPDATE!
The Juan Maclean One Day track I blogged about a few weeks ago is back again with some relentless Miami club beats tacked on. Honestly, I'm kinda hating on it...Usually I love listening to remixes, but this one can just suck it. The original track is so strangely addictive- It's like eating sunflower seeds. Once you have a taste you can't stop there, you need to keep eating and eating and eating until either the bag is finished or you've satisfied your craving. I think I listened to the original track a hundred times at least. Can't say the same for the surkin remix.
(further update, it's been a few hours since i wrote this entry, and i'm starting to like the remix. albeit very reluctantly)
Anyway, here are both tracks
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-DGbP_m46
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBGs8JkVkFY
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The Nuns
Tuesday, Apr 7, 2009 4:17AM / Standard Entry
During spring break, my friend Alyssa played a track called "Savage" by The Nuns in the car as we were driving down HWY 8. The female vocals were velvety and dark, and I knew I wanted to hear more. The problem was, their music was damn hard to find! But, I've finally done it. So, for your enjoyment- here's their track, "Savage".
http://www.7inchpunk.com/wp-content/nuns/NUNS02Savage.mp3
So, here's some background on them I picked up from a few blogs and from Wiki. The Nuns were a punk rock/new wave band from San Francisco in the late 1970s. They were formed in 1975 and were among one of the first punk bands in California. They've performed with The Avengers and have opened for The Sex Pistols.
They've recorded four albums, the most current one from 2006 called New York Vampires, which I haven't listened to. I haven't listened to that much of them actually, to be honest. I'm just as new to them as those reading this blog probably. Apparently, they've reinvented themselves and are more goth than punk now, which is pretty evident based on their whole vampirism thing.
Jennifer Miro, one of the vocalists for the band, had a small role in Dr. Caligari, from Stephen Sayadin, not to be confused with The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Here's the appropriately weird trailer:
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7OKy0LjyNA
Anyway, that's it for now. My computer doesn't work anymore, so I have to bum off friends. :(
