Six minute jam session

Oww! A double dose of Prince today!

It's no secret that I really dig Prince, but it is surprising that a new track - "Ain't Gonna Miss U When U're Gone" dropped on the 3rd Eye Girl site last week and I only just learned of it today!

Again, because it's Prince you'll have to pay to hear it, but it's less than a dollar for our American friends and less than 60 British pence.

This one feels like a six minute jam session, with a repeating core drum beat which has different bits and pieces put on top of it. Claps, a strange electronic version of a steel drum, scratches, brass stabs, slap bass, some pitch shifted vocals... It's a relaxed, funky track. Not my favourite from his recent 3rd Eye Girl stuff, but it's by no means bad - I'm just still reeling from the super sick Plectrum Electrum guitar work from this video.

Soundtrack to: Getting over it before it's over.

As for your second piece of Prince news, the awesome android Janelle Monae has announced that her next album, The Electric Lady will include a collaboration with Prince. I'm all kinds of excited!

Wonky

Oh!

XXYYXX has a new one!

This is a week old today and just hit one million plays. It's a "Pay what you want" download too.

This is a little fast paced and less sparse than XXYYXX's usual style, but as a 17 year old producer, he's probably still learning more and more about how to create the sounds he wants but also about what sounds he wants to be making. I'm pretty jealous of him though, he seems to have been touched by a muse to have this much talent and following before he's even done with puberty. But this is a time when you can make serious music at home with your laptop, and XXYYXX isn't the first pre-18 whiz kid I've come across. (And wish I could have been, back then.)

I digress!

His other usual elements are still there, wonky, pitch shifting sounds, echoy clicks and claps but this feels more like electronic stuff - The hip-hop edge is gone. It's a really chilled track which reminds me a lot of Lapalux, Sorrow et al, a strange, warping kind of beauty. Not a bad thing by any means.

Soundtrack to: A twilight stroll through a forest glistening with dew. 

Phrased so wonderfully

Oh goodness, I'm in love.

My little sister is currently on the trip of a life time to experience life in France with her long (long.) time boyfriend. She links me to amusing things she sees sometimes but today she linked me this wonderful little song:

This is Zaz. I've never heard of her, but she's got a triple platinum album so..Other people have.

I dug this song originally because of her lightly husky voice and the fun, bouncy vibe of it. It's a feel good tune, even if you don't speak a word of French.
Looking up a translation of it is what made me adore this song. It's message is one that I can totally connect with and it's phrased so wonderfully that I have to share the translation here:

We will go and listen to Harlem at the corner of Manhattan
We will go and redden the tea in the souks in Amman
We will go swimming in the bed of the Senegal River
And we will see Mumbai burn beneath Bengal Fire (A type of firework.)

We will go and scratch the sky below Kyoto
We will go and feel Rio beat at the heart of Janeiro
We will raise our eyes to the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel
And we will raise our glasses in the Cafe Pushkin (That's a French reference.)

Oh, how good our luck is
With the thousand colours of the human being
Mixed by our differences
At the crossroad of destinies

You are the stars, we are the universe
You are a grain of sand, we are the desert
You are a thousand pages and me, I am the pen
You are the horizon and we are the sea
You are the seasons and we are the earth
You are the shore and me, I am the foam

We will say that poets do not have flags
We will have as many days of celebration as we have heroes
We will know that children are the guardians of the soul
And that there are as many queens as there are women
We will say that meetings make the best voyages
We will see that we deserve only that which is shared
We will hear sung music from other places
And we will know how to give the best we have

I really, really love this.

Diverse, cool electronic-tinged instrumental hip-hop

They're like busses, aren't they? Nothing for a while then three at once...
Anyway stop your public transport analogies and have some freshly crafted instrumental hip-hop!

Javis Faux seems to be who I'd like to be. A bookish, gamer nerd with a penchant for synthesisers who also travels and makes amazing music. Pretty jealous over here, just sayin'.

There's something bothering me about his newest release "Deal With It Vol. 3" which dropped today. I feel like some of the sounds or samples are ones I recognise and I'm just...not sure where from. The very first sound of No Big Deal, the strange flutelike riff in Mint Julip...I just can't place them...

Anyway! The album is packed full of diverse, cool electronic-tinged instrumental hip-hop and it's name your price so what are you waiting for!? Go get it here!

Apex of funkiness

Ready for some chilled out funk!? 

Hm. How DOES one prepare for that?

Facebook has done it again and managed to recommend me something awesome!
I've never heard of Spiral System before today, but I'm so glad I did. Their second album, "Be" is out later on this month and the above track "N'other" is taken from it.
The track begins with garbled electronics and tribal drums, joined by a keyboard stab and guitar twang. Suddenly some big fat ol' drums break in and the song starts to flow and your head starts to nod along. It's chill, mellow but also sounds big and groovy. Then that jazz/funk keyboard joins in and the song reaches an apex of funkiness. It's not something to dance around to, more like something to sit and listen to and go "Oh, hell yeah!"

Soundtrack to: If Toejam and Earl were made today.

Soft, breathy, relaxed

Ehem...

...Is this thing on?

Goldfrapp have released a trailer for their upcoming album "Tales Of Us."
Goldfrapp and I have had an on again off again relationship for a while. I wasn't into Felt Mountain, loved Black Cherry and Supernature, Seventh Tree had one or two tracks I liked and Head First I like, but not enough to buy it for more than thruppence. I love what they do - It's great to totally change direction and do something totally new and for some bands or artists it goes really well and I love all their stuff. Some, not so much.
So, "Tales Of Us." I really like where it seems to be going, lots of very soft, breathy, relaxed stuff with a hint of electronics or acoustic guitar. Sounds relaxing!

Floaty and spacey

It's Ruby Tuesday!

Multi-instrumentalist and experimentalist Beck is back with a new track uploaded just today!

"Defriended" begins with an electronic whine, a backwards keyboard-like sound and big, oddly timed snares interrupted with a sudden crash, like a cello player falling over. Echoy and only partly comprehensible vocals join in with some gently strummed guitar and not so gentle bass. The whole thing feels floaty and spacey and we end with a final crash.

It's a great track that somehow feels light and airy but also quite meaty thanks to those drums and bass stabs. 

Beck is apparently planning two new albums, so keep your eyes open for news as it comes!

Soundtrack to: Floating gently into space only to collide with a satellite.