Today, two musical spheres collided when sensual beat-smith Lapalux (Who's come up before on TISFWO!) released a FREE collaboration track with surreal "Avantcore" rapper Busdriver
This is big news for me as a big fan of both these artists, it's really exciting to hear them work together! Somehow, Lapalux's slow, deep rhythms work perfectly as a backbeat to Busdriver's machine-gun lyricism. Busdriver's lyrics are, as expected, often brilliant and just as often a seemingly nonsensical stream of consciousness. At 2:22, the entire song cools off and slowly winds down. Busdriver provides some dreamy high pitched singing and Lapalux lets the song drift out.
Bloody lovely.
Soundtrack to: The distance between you increasing.
Hello, little wing!
The wonderful AlunaGeorge, who've made an appearance here before, have debuted their new single "Attracting Flies" today!
It's another awesome song from the pair, I love their solo stuff, it's quite different from their recent collaboration with Disclosure. Guttural bass guitar, pan-pipe and harp like synths, hissing, static-tom-toms, deep claps, a triangle and those glucose-sweet, British accented vocals. I can't wait for their album to drop, these two have gotta be big.
Ah, Mondays. They're actually a nice quiet day in my workplace but lots of people dread 'em. Lucky for you I found a treat!
Back in 2005 Shaper released the heavy electro album "World Of Pain." After a long, long silence he's back with something totally new! His soundcloud has a 2013 album sampler, so here's hoping this stuff arrives soon. It sure is something.
This track, and the entire sampler, blends together so many things that's it's not quite any of them but also not a million miles from any of them either. Reggae, dubstep, trap, electro with the tiniest pinch of 8/16-bit...I really can't say this track is any one thing, rather a flawless mixture of all of them. It ebbs and flows between each one, mixing this and that and then the other. I can't describe it very well... Just click the video and have a listen!
Awesome stuff. Expect news as it comes!
Soundtrack to: An anti-gravity party.
Happy weekend!
As a follow up from last night's track hunter, today's post is about a track on one of the albums.
I don't know much lot about house music, it's one of those genres that I like bits and pieces of but, follower of many genres that I am, I never get to know one particularly well. I like a few artists like Ken Ishii and of course the amazing Lil' Louis but I had no idea that X-press 2 were a house group.
The reason I picked this album up was because the song Lazy was pretty big in England many a year ago, when I was an early teen. I still remembered it and I was glad to see it was on this album. It's still a great fun track, but that track sticks out from the others a little because it's surrounded by heavy house tracks. The above track AC/DC is my definite favourite. Big, pounding, bassy drums collide with trotting tabla, tinny rattling sounds and an electronic buzzing accompanied by a whirling synth. The track builds and climaxes and then deconstructs itself again. It puts me in mind of Fat Boy Slim's addictive Jin Go Lo Ba and Kill The Noise's Roots
Soundtrack to: Dancing with robots in the amazon
Hello sweet thang!
This isn't so much a music post as a guide to seeking out new music!
These days a fair few people would argue that digital albums are cheaper than physical CDs. These people have been looking in the wrong places.
If you're a U.K resident you probably know of the classy chain of stores called "Poundland." Here you can find all kinds of goods for sale for the price of - You guessed it - £1. Including CDs.
I found a LOT of excellent albums for sale in my local branch but many of them I already owned. I did come out with four new CDs to add to my stockpile, though!
If you're looking for a good place to hear something new or to pick up old albums from bands you know already, check out the entertainment section of your closest Poundland!
Ello treacle!
A quite little update for you today. You had plenty yesterday and I've things to attend to.
This is a song I've loved for a long time - Walking On A Dream by Empire Of The Sun. One half of the amazing Pnau provides the music for this piece of ear candy. Something about this song makes it feel like it comes from both the past and the future. Gentle guitar, muted machine drums and light synths accompany the pouty, echoing vocals and everything comes together to make a song you need to listen to laying back with your eyes closed, or else use it to seduce someone. As an aside, I love Mr. Blue's outfit and make up in this video. Again there's something both futuristic and historic about it. I'd wear that.
This album is double platinum - It sold pretty well. But the idea of TISFWO! is to be a treasure trove of eclectic aural pleasures, so now and then you might see something you recognise and other times things will appear from obscurity. Such is the joy of the age we live in, where music can be heard almost instantly, from any time period or country.
Cor, isn't technology good, eh?
Sorry, poppet. I did say the one before this was the list, didn't I?
Well, actually, this isn't a track or album really, but it will be soon.
I can't act like I didn't find out about this because a band I like are involved, but that's for later. What's important is that this sounds like something really cool, both in the concept of an album bringing together thousands of voices with an orchestra and also for it's role in helping "Untouchable" children in India. I won't write a long post about the things these children have been rescued from but I will point you at http://www.everythingisnewproject.com which I'm guessing will be updated once the albums and documentary are done.
Last one for today, precious.
You may have noted that last night I didn't post a single thing. You may also have noticed that the Sony meeting was last night. (Coincidence?) And if you noticed that, you might have heard this great opening music:
Metric are a band I'd actually stumbled upon and added to my list of C.Ds I intend to by before when I accidentally found the track Succexy. It was a nice surprise to find out that this song was by them too, remixed by the awesome MSTRKRFT who I already knew and loved. It's a cool track with some nice angry female punky vocals, low-fi buzzing, humming bass and very "The Works" drums and claps. (For anyone who knows MSTRKRFT's first album, this one sounds like it could have been lifted right from it.) Check it, sukka!
Soundtrack to: A new console reveal.
Well, today has been productive hasn't it? And it's not over yet, kiddo, not by a long way.
This is "The Moneymaker" by Rilo Kiley. I fell for this song many years ago, I think by just stumbling across it on one of my jaunts around YouTube. Unfortunately, it seems to be a departure from Rilo Kiley's usual sound, I tried a lot of their other tracks but none of them grabbed me.
I find this video a little uncomfortable, which is, I think, the intention. Before the song we get some candid conversation with pornographic actors all of whom seem a little desperate. Then that deep bass and dirty guitar riff kick in followed by those gutsy drums. This song sounds totally perfect for a sleazy striptease... Except the lyrics, excellently delivered so as to match and compliment the tone of the song, are even more desperate than the conversations we heard earlier - "I will if you want me to..."
It's a really nice tune with lyrics designed to contrast with the nasty-sexy sound. On a casual listen it's a catchy, bluesy rock-funk track, pay attention to the lyrics and it becomes a stifling tale of a last ditch effort to make some cold hard cash.
Soundtrack to: Hooker suicide.
Wow, today is another first for us, lamb. I'm so glad you're here to see it.
Mr. Dawn Dre contacted me through twitter to show me his latest track and giving me permission to post it if I liked. I took a listen and wasn't sure about it at all at very first. It's not really my style but then again, I'd love to post anything from someone who cares enough to ask.
Though the vocals have a nice edge to them, the lyrics weren't something that connected with me right away. I like the beat a lot, but I'm a sucker for a hip-hop beat, I guess. (Ta-ku, XXYYXX, Long Arm, Desmind33, Emay... I'll gladly listen to a nice hip-hop beat without lyrics over it.) At 50 seconds the song busts out it's hook and it's about here that I got interested. I love me a good hook and this one is pretty catchy and has an unusual "Cartoony" feel to it that I liked a lot. After that the lyrics take a bit of a dirty-sexy turn and now and then, it's fun to hear something overtly DIRTY. (Come on, virtually anything by N*E*R*D or dare I even mention the song "Whisper" The aural equivalent of watching something smutty.) Unfortunately, there's two voices in this song so I can't say who's vocal parts are the ones I like (Sorry, Dawn.) and production is by Handbook, so really I can't tell you who's handiwork I like the most.
Anyway, it's a fun track if you like that kind of thing (Which I do.) and there's a free download available at soundcloud. GET SOME!
WHAT!? WHO ARE YOU!? HOW DID YOU GET PAST THE DEFENCES!?
Very well...No matter...
Some of the eager eyed among you may remember that a few posts back I mentioned a new single from The Knife coming February 19th. Well, a little bit late, here it is!
I don't really know what's going on here! This song was meant to release on the 19th but there's been no word from The Knife about it. No updates to their site... Furthermore this video's upload date is the 15th, 4 days before the release date. Lastly, I can find the video on youtube itself but Blogger's handy tool that lets me plonk videos from YouTube directly into posts can't find it. Curiouser and curiouser, cried Alice. Well, neveryoumind. We got to hear it together in the end, didn't we? That's the important part.
This track has a very African feel to it, using wooden and metal traditional instruments but keeping an electronic feeling too. (There's a wonderful moment with a flute-like sound being electronically altered at around 2 minutes in.) Karen's trademark ernest, altered vocals are of course present, only becoming more howling and desperate as the song continues. It feels pretty intense and not exactly something to dance to, more an exciting musical landscape to journey through. Because of that, I don't think the track is for everyone but if you've acquired the taste for this particular flavour, you'll really enjoy it.
Soundtrack to: This is one of those songs that conjured up a very vivid set of images in my head so; Running through the savannah, bathed in moonlight, painted with the markings of your people. Running from something, to something, just for the rush of adrenaline and wind in your face. Rituals involving fire, masks and wild dancing. Great, daring leaps of faith and rolling, crashing landings.
Yeah. It's that kind of a song.
Well, hello!
After a radio silence yesterday I'm back with something dark, loud and nasty! Be brave, lamb. This is DeadFader.
I came across DeadFader through a lablemate of his, Kid606 (Why yes I did make the music video in the link, thanks for noticing! I used the anime Dead Leaves and cut it to the music.) I already loved digital hardcore and it was pretty much the hardest, nastiest music I could find, but other than Akira Death and the reunion of Atari Teenage Riot that whole scene seemed to have died out, or at least become pretty darn quiet. DeadFader seems to surpass digital hardcore in harshness with screeching static, distorted drums and breakneck pace. It's a full on musical assault. I love it. DeadFader has had an album, two E.Ps and a live session recorded and released plus a few mixes for magazines and they're all as heavy as they come. I'll be sure to post up about any new releases as soon as they come - I'm a bit of a fan.
Soundtrack to: Futuristic hyperviolence
Merry Sunday to you and thanks very much for asking!
Soooooo this Harlem Shake thing has been blowing up! I've seen it all over the place and today I caved and checked it out. Harlem Shake is the name of a song which has sparked a viral craze of people filming themselves engaging in some kind of spazmic dancing, often wearing a motor cycle helmet, surrounded by people who appear not to notice before it cuts to everyone gyrating like epileptics in a strobe light show room. Nnnnno I'm not even going to post a video of one.
What I'm actually making this post for is the song itself which is from a genre called "Trap music." Trap has been around for quite a while but there's been a recent explosion in popularity. Trap appears to be a bit controversial, some people love it's bass-heavy rap vibe while others think it's just plain lazy. Myself, I enjoy more of an old-school/90s/jazz flavour to my hip-hop and I'm not a fan of newer rap with 808 beats and lowest common denominator "Guns, drugs, money, bitches." lyrics. I dig a bit of instrumental hip-hop too and that's where Trap comes in, for me. It's modern day rap with the part I detest taken out. That's not to say I like an awful lot of it, but I thought now would be an opportune time to share with you the two little chunks of Trap music I do enjoy.
First up, Ta-ku's "Diamond Mouth" from his "Re ÏŸ Twerk" E.P I actually think this entire E.P is Ta-ku proving that Trap is easy to make, or messing about. He's an incredibly talented maker of instrumental hip-hop and this isn't his usual style at all. It's still a fun E.P anyway, full of stuff to dance to. (Probably after two or three Jack and cokes.)
Soundtrack to: Drinking Alize and showing off fancy dental work.
Next up it's Willy Joy. (An unfortunate name if you're British.) Willy's been giving away free tracks every Wednesday for a few months and they've all been great fun. This one, "Drop Bounce" is my favourite so far. Something about the bass sound and the crunchy, distorted beats make me feel like breaking into a run. Check out his soundcloud page for free downloads.
Soundtrack to: Badonkadonks.
So that about covers my small knowledge of Trap. Later, potater!
Well met, friend!
Next up is a track I've loved for years and years. I don't know so much about either Serge Gainsbourg or Brigitte Bardot, other than they're both quite famous French musicians. They worked together on the following song, Bonnie and Clyde, based upon a poem written by the real Bonnie weeks before she and Clyde were gunned down.
It's a strange song in it's use of a peculiar sound (A monkey or something?) mixed into the main twangy guitar-driven music and onomatopoeia within the lyrics. The fact that it's all in French makes it sound kind of romantic and sexy, but I might be biased because I really like the story of Bonnie and Clyde. The "Bonnie and Clyde, Bonnie and Cla-hiiiiide." chorus gets stuck in my head every time. I've never really delved into either Serge or Brigitte's careers outside of this one though, (I have, however, seen a very peculiar Brigitte tribute named Baguette Bardot perform live. An experience I can't say I ever expected.) so maybe that's something for me to plunder later on.
Soundtrack to: Smoking in shades
Good morning, sunshine!
I just stumbled on a lovely Brazilian soul track! I thought I'd share it, since this blog is meant to be an eclectic treasure chest of musical gems. And a gem is certainly is.
Tim Maia seems like an interesting character indeed! He traveled to north America to try and make it big but was deported for smoking pot in a stolen car (Never a good idea.) so he went back to Brazil and joined a UFO obsessed religious cult. Looking at his discography, he has released over thirty albums, ten of which are named after himself. This song is delightful, but I don't think I can try to keep up with thirty albums, so I'll just keep enjoying this track with it's twangy guitars and those belting vocals.
Soundtrack to: A Brazilian Tarantino movie. (Smoking pot in a stolen car?)
Hey, I'm not doing so bad on this new releases stuff!
February 11th saw the release of Body Language's new Grammar E.P. which you can download for free at the link provided. I'd never heard of them before this and I actually only got to hear about them because Facebook recommended them to me. Looking at their page, they have billboards in New York city so I'm going to guess that they're one of those pretty big bands that for whatever reason, I've just never come across before. I took a gander at the new E.P and immediately went through their discography and hunted it all down.
I can't tell you that Body Language are a ____ band. I can't even pick out a singe genre for each track let alone the whole E.P. What I will say is that you should go and check it out. It's free! Update: Someone lovely at the Body Language Facebook page let me know that the next album, also titled Grammar, will be out sometime in July.
I feel I should point out that their debut album - Social Studies - is available on CD at Amazon for an absolute pittance - £1.27 for this disc is criminal.
Another double whammy update day! COR I BET YER EARS MUST BE FULL!
I can't even remember when or how I started following Overthrill, only that it was a WHILE ago. Way back when, they were a duo. They took a break from that and things went somewhat quiet. Not so long ago one half of Overthrill released the funky "Time Is Up" E.P. According to a facebook post by that half, Sebastian Bentler, today the pair are getting ready to work together again, and so the following track - "Home" - Is the last from the slightly-new-sound incarnation of Overthrill.
It still has that trademark "Slow and heavy" disco-funk sound that builds slowly with laser-synths and big, dirty beats. Check out any of the links to soundcloud for a free download of this, and a few other tracks.
Well, hello sugar-face!
Today I found this two year old swing-dance track when it was used in the background of a news feature:
It's a really fun little track! I hesitate to make the comparison to Gramophonedzie like everyone in the youtube comments did both because I believe that more than one person can use a style without it necessarily being a direct copy and because Parov Stelar has been making (Better....) tracks with remixed swing records for waaaaaay longer than either of those two. Still, I love swing, electro infused or otherwise, so I enjoyed finding a nice track in an unexpected place. I have no clue who Steve Forest is though, it seems like he's Italian but there also happens to be another musician with the same name who is the only one coming up when I try to search him so this might be all I/we get to hear from THIS Steve Forest.
Soundtrack to: An expensive date
Your second new(ish) release of the day! You lucky devil!
If you don't already know Lapalux, (Which I can't pronounce. "Lapa-loo?" "Lapa-lux?") it greatly pleases me to introduce you to him. His style is seductive and down-tempo, with lots of short sounds coming together to create an amazing songs. After a string of honey-toned E.Ps. over the last 13 years, "Guuurl" is the lead single from his album "Nostalchic" which releases on March the 13th. I can't wait to hear the whole thing!
Soundtrack to: A human in love with a robot
Hello, you!
This blog is, as you can see, going to be pretty eclectic. I often hear something amazing which is not new, but new to me, so not everything here will be recent. However, I'll try to throw up NEW new things as much as I can. Let's see what we got 'ere then, eh?
The Knife blew me away in 2003 with their awesome Deep Cuts album and then again in 2006 with Silent Shout, after which the brother and sister duo took some time out to do solo work and to collaborate with some others on an opera. April sees the release of their 4th album "Shaking The Habitual" and "Full Of Fire" is the first release from it. It's a lighter sound for them, the synths aren't as heavy or deep sounding as some of their other songs but it still has a tense air about it, with fast jabs which start to vary in pitch over a fast, distorted drum beat. I think it's the tense energy that allows it to be a nine minute song that doesn't change too much yet manages not to get boring. Keep your eyes peeled for their next single "A Tooth For An Eye" coming on the 19th!
Soundtrack to: Running in the dark
Well, well! We're only on post number four and already we've found a true rarity indeed! The utterly-bloody-delightful AlunaGeorge (Who I'm sure will have their very own post soon.) are featured on the song below titled White Noise by Disclosure. (Ah! What's this? All the band names so far have linked to songs but Disclosure's name doesn't! Why is that!? That is what happens when I am unfamiliar with the band in question.) I've never heard of Disclosure before but I've been an avid fan of AlunaGeorge for a few months now. I heard the song through their promotion of it, but they mentioned on their twitter today that the song has reached number two in the charts! And this, my lamb, is where the rarity comes in - Something I listen to - intentionally - is popular.
Someone call Satan and make sure he hasn't frozen to death.
The song itself is a little more fast paced and techno like than what AlunaGeorge normally do and it has a very different "Feel" and mood to it, but they are featuring on someone else's track after all. Blippy beats that feel like someone sped up the 90's staple dance sound and galloping synth-drums feature pretty heavily behind Aluna's vocals which are sugary sweet like always and this track is clearly meant for a dance-floor. I hope this allows them to gain some success on their own, though!
Hey...Do you guys know about the Ohrwurm?
It's this little creature that crawls up into your ears and burrows into your brain so you can't get it out!
Lots of songs are catchy and get stuck in your head, but nobody's songs are as consistently infectious as Kyary Pamyu Pamyu's.
I'm a Japanese culture enthusiast, but the time when run-of-the-mill Japanese rock and pop did it for me past about ten years ago. (That said, Ayumi Hamasaki's July 1st and Evolution are still solid little slices of Japanese factory-pop, and I can't fault anything Utada Hikaru or Halcali put out. I digress.)
Kyary began her career as a blogger, then model for Japanese street fashion magazines before releasing her own brand of false eyelashes.
Here's where Kyary gets confusing, for me. The above song, Kyary's first single "Tsukema Tsukeru" with it's strange collection of images for a video is basically an advertisement. I'm not kidding, the opening lyrics are "Putting, putting, putting on my falsies, the false eyelashes that make me blink."
On first listen as someone who can't understand that stuff, it's a catchy pop tune with some cute music-box sounds. Once I knew what it was about, though, I couldn't help but wonder about the opinion on Kyary over in Japan. If some western pop idol released a single promoting their line of merchandise, I'd scoff and be pretty disgusted. Asking around on youtube, the Japanese seem to be okay with it, a commenter telling me that her out-there style and the catchiness of the songs kind of make her an oddity, even for them.
Kyary's debut promotional release, PonPonPon went viral on youtube - And you can easily see why.
It has everything. It's catchy, cute, bright and fucking bonkers.
Candy Candy is yet another relentlessly catchy song. There's something so inoffensive and innocent about this stuff that I really love. It doesn't take itself seriously, it's not hyper-sexualised like 89% of western popular music seems to be, it's just...fun.
Kyary is currently on a small world tour doing one show in select cities around the world. London happens to be one of those cities and I happen to be going to see the show. I fully expect to lose my shit and become 7 years old again.
Update: I did indeed. My legs hurt from dancing, my voice hurts from yelling along to songs and cheering but most of all my face hurts from smiling. Kyary sang all of her popular singles and sang some new songs, all of which were great. One very much in the vein of Capsule, with whom she shares a producer, one similar to a YMCK track and one which I will be entirely shocked about if it doesn't end up as an opening/ending for Naruto entitled Ninjari Ban Ban.
A personal highlight was the crowd interaction song Minna No Uta ("Everybody's Song.) If you didn't figure it out by listening, it's the classic "Call and response" type of song, with "Pan" being the audience's que to clap. I felt like an excited child dancing away, yelling and joining in. I don't know about you but I LOVE that feeling.
Before the show they politely asked us not to take photos but so many people did that I had to get a little memento during her final encore.
I really hope the fact that the show sold out and that the crowd were great encourages Kyary to come back again.
Little Dragon are a band I discovered two days ago. Their "Machine Dreams" album was recommended to me by Amazon when I searched for Body Language's "Social Studies." Their style (At least, for this album, I can't speak for all of their stuff.) feels like 80's synthpop but using some more modern structure sounds.
Track two, "Looking Glass" is a standout track for me. I love the hollow-electronic-tube type sound that forms the main beat from the start along with the drum beat followed by a reversed drum beat. The lyrics seem to be about someone's angry outburst at wasting time with somebody else.
Soundtrack to: Shopping for haute-couture.
The entire album, for your listening pleasure. There are some lovely slow songs in here and some really interesting sounds used in the music. Combined with the unusual vocals, Little Dragon have an inexplicable sound to them that I really like. Enjoy!
Come sit next to me by the gramophone, grab a pair of headphones and we'll go on a trip.
This shiny new blog is where I'll post any musical treasure I come across. You might like it, you mightn't, but how will you know if you don't try it?
Since this is the first post, I'll explain the blog's name and the first post will honour it.
The In Sound From Way Out! Is an electronic music album made in 1966 by synth pioneers Jean-Jacques Perrey and Gershon Kingsley known together as Perrey and Kingsley. The album is full of fun, silly little ditties. They may not sound like anything special in this day and age but remember, this was made in the 60s. Before this, electronic music was "Avant-guarde" and didn't really have a commercial presence.
Unbeknownst to them, Perrey and Kingsley also wrote the music used in Disney's Main Street Electrical Parade. "In the 1970s, Walt Disney Productions chose this tune to be the theme for the Electrical Parade. It was extraordinary, I didn't know about it because the publishers said nothing to me. It was by chance, in 1980, that I went there and was so surprised to hear Baroque Hoedown arranged for a full orchestra."
The In Sound From Way Out! name was borrowed by The Beastie Boys in 1996 for their instrumental album.
So there it is, the first post and a little explanation for you. I hope you'll enjoy whatever ear candy I dig up in the future. See ya next time!
