Monday, June 15, 2009

Burial & Four Tet

I love Burial. Well not the guy, cause that'd be weird. I love his music. Love love love his stuff. His dark shifting and somehow urban-sounding soundscapes fascinated me all the more when he was still an anonymous artist.. a music which ostensibly reflected the feelings and attitudes of a specific place, in this case London, was strengthened by anonymity, I found. The sounds struck home as if they'd been somehow randomly generated by the city itself, as if the rain-slicked walls of the fish and chip shop had taken in the late night shit-talking, drunken confrontations and walks home alone at night from so many denizens that it had ejected something beautiful into the world. 

My feelings about Four Tet aren't nearly as defined, mostly because I simply haven't listened to much of it, but what little of it I've heard has seemed dark, organic, shifting... overall pretty much great for some of the same reasons I like Burial. 

Really, the two are made for each other, and they obviously knew this, as they have collaborated to great effect for two tracks, entitled Moth and Wolf Cub (having a hard time finding the files to purchase online, but you can buy the vinyl here). I can't say much about it, as the sound is entirely it's own, so just listen and enjoy. You won't regret it


Friday, June 12, 2009

Feeeeeeeeeelix!!!














If you are a Calgary dweller, there is one dance party that you are going to want to be at tonight. I am referring, of course, to the Felix Da Housecat show at Flames Central. Though I certainly can't speak volumes about FC's merit as a venue (all those Flames' logos really are a little much sometimes), it sure won't make much difference when Felix kicks up the beats.

To prove my point, here are a few treats from Felix's 2007 album "Virgo Blacktro & the Movie Disco". These newer tracks will likely be scoring some mileage on the stage tonight, and I couldn't be happier - VB&MD is every bit as slick, polished and infectious as you would hope to hear from someone as establishd as Felix. Let's have a listen.

Felix Da Housecat - Lookin' My Best

Felix Da Housecat - Nighttripperz

See you on the dance floor, suckas.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

FUTURECOP

Either I'm crazy or those are two Power Gloves being worn by the protagonist of this image. At any rate, Futurecop! do indeed take us on a futuristic adventure. I hope you're not tired of dreamwave yet cause I'm certainly not, and this post is full of it!

Futurecop! so far as I can tell are veterans of the dreamwave style. If indeed I am right about that (and I am only guessing based on number of myspace hits, an inexact measure at best), then it shows through in the sense that their songs are fucking awesome. Some dreamwave has left me excited but at times bored, but Futurecop! seriously delivers the goods for every song I've heard. Here is a recent track as an example


Ghosthustler are (according to Binary, anyway) pretty serious fathers of dreamwave as well, and fittingly enough they took on Futurecop! in a song that "feels so good," as the chorus of this track will tell you in all its vocoded glory.


And here is a very silly track, essentially nothing more than a nostalgic hip hop a cappella with some sweet keys, which appears to have been an exclusive for Too Many Sebastians (an excellent blog by the by). I'm not sure if this is actually a Skee-Lo a cappella or if it uses the same lyrics or what but i dig the "I wish I was a little bit taller" breakdown in this bad boy

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Cowboy funk

If someone was to tell me a Calgarian musician was making funk music, this is likely what I would picture. Funk-country. And this is coming from a local, not some Vancouver native taking cheap shots at the rednecks to the East.

However, local university radio station CJSW was able to turn me on to some great homestyle Calgary funky house, courtesy of Neighbour. I don't know a whole lot about this guy other than that he makes sick jams, and that he collaborates with local club DJ Wax Romeo as Neighbourhood Romeo

The first track is the standout title track of the three track EP on Juno (buy here), a funk-house beauty with some fat bass, killer beats and not-shabby-at-all rhymes. Not to mention stabby keys. Love me some good stabby keys.


While I don't enjoy Kolour Jam quite as much as the first track, the production is undoubtedly slick and the style remains intact. 


Now I'm not really sure what the All Good Funk Alliance is, and maybe that makes me a bad Calgary music fan, but regardless there it is in my iTunes, and Neighbour and Wax Romeo both make an appearance on this mostly instrumental groovy funk jam. Not much else to say really...

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Waves of dreaming


Dreamwave. After listening to a dreamwave track, that word will likely mean different things to different people. For some it will evoke a night drive in a bustling downtown cityscape. For others looking out the window of an airplane on a blanket of clouds at sunrise. Some may remember making a first nervous phone call to a serious junior high crush.

It doesn't really matter what it evokes though, because dreamwave fucking kicks ass. After many producers spent a good chunk of time dedicated to making the loudest wildest synths and basslines possible, a few dudes and dudettes have been drawing back from the distortion and leaning heavily on big clean synths and nostalgic vocal lines. The result is a refreshing new direction for electronic music, and one that is currently being done very well by some very unknown artists.

First is Tesla Boy, a Russian outfit who by the looks of their myspace have a couple of dates coming up in London... big opportunities ahead it seems! At any rate, Neon Love is typical dreamwave: shrouded lyrics, yearning synth lines, relentless bass.


Tennishero shows us all what seduction sounds like in Sweden... with an opening line like "I was yours and you were mine," this track is pure nostalgia in three minutes and fourteen seconds, but not in a shit cheesy way. This track brings back all the positive memories of first love and steamy makeout sessions with your parents sleeping upstairs..


We Plants Are Happy Plants, aside from having a name that happily straddles awesome and weird as fuck, have a pretty psychedelic dreamwave offering that got some serious love on hype machine last week... starts with an awesome sample of philosophical musings and proceeds into mind-melting synths. Enjoy!