13 posts tagged “electronica”
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The entire one hour show, includes a "pretend encore" encore (The Zero 7 song, "Distractions"), was shot at the Hiro Ballroom in NYC on September 12th, 2007. I think they were just finishing up Some People Have Real Problems around this time, so you do hear some of her new songs on this DVD release ("Academia", "Day Too Soon", and "You Have Been Loved" to name a few).
The DVD opens up with the hidden-track from Problems called "Buttons". Combining "crude" child-like drawings with neon fluorescent colors (an wonderfully catchy song to boot) it was really hard to top that. Although I will confess that "The Girls You Lost To Cocaine" came very close.
The best part of the show was when Sia pulled a tooth out of her bra shortly before "Breathe Me". The tooth was from her guitarist, who had the tooth taken out the previous night. What I took out of this is what a strange creature Sia is. She's like this child, keeping a tooth close to her chest the whole time!
Sia and company seems at ease on stage, not at all nervous. They knew the show was being filmed, but you get the impression that Sia welcomes this. The video editing by director Nic Wrathall and 5.1 surround sound are excellent. I'm just surprise it took them this long to get the whole thing together as a DVD release. I don't think there is a bluray version, but seeing as it was shot in high-definition, I wouldn't be surprise if they decide to release a bluray version later on.
The special features includes four official music videos, including the wonderful "Soon We'll Be Found" video. The rest of the features is Sia and friends recording random "Behind the Scenes" snippets. These bits aren't very long, but it gives you a glimpse to the band and what they're like on tour. It's really meant for hardcore fans as it will just seem boring to casual fans... But if you do decide hunt for the eastereggs, try and find "pushups for shots" videos. I love hearing "Too easy, mate! Too easy!", followed by Sia's pushups.
For those wondering, the complete song listing is here:
- SETLIST
- Buttons
- Little Black Sandals
- Lentil
- Day Too Soon
- Sunday
- Destiny
- Breathe Me
- Electric Bird
- You Have Been Loved
- Academia
- The Girls You Lost To Cocaine
- Distractions
Can't get enough of Sia? She recently released an exclusive iTunes live EP called Sydney. It's seven tracks from her in-store performance at the Apple Store in Sydney, Australia, and it's available now for $7.
05/15/2009 00:56:42 ♥ vu (
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♥ siamusic.net
♥ myspace.com/siamusic
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06/04/09
Club NME @ The Annex New York, New York
Influences |
To be honest, "electronica" doesn't do enough to describe the band's sound, which strikes me as more sophisticated and mature, with a fusion of many musical genres punctuated by electronic textures. The opening track of Sounds of Machines, "Wait", has cool jazz flavors, while "Light of the Moon" sounded post-punk influenced. "Machine" seemed somewhat gothic and industrial. This album is really rich, and it's difficult to separate every nuance of style as there is just so much there to wade through. The press release describes them as "a throwback to a certain type of theatricality missing from today’s music scene," and that's probably the best way to put it. I think they could fit in just fine on a theatrical stage as well as a more standard rock venue.
Zigmat is fronted by Monica Rodriguez and Stephen Yonkin, who met after college but had incidentally attended the same school. Monica was already putting together a band and was looking for a bass player. The band officially launched in 2006, and Sounds of Machines is their followup to their self-titled EP. They list the Lemonheads, Massive Attack, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Brazilian Girls, Air, and Goldfrapp among their influences. They performed at SXSW just last month, which I was unable to attend. (I'm reading that the crowd's reaction was 'incredible'-- Vu, can you confirm?) The full biography I received is available at their MySpace page , which contains more reviews from the press, but I must say, you've really got to listen for yourself. I've been excited about a lot of music I've reviewed so far, but I really think Zigmat has the potential to hit it big in the mainstream. Yeah. It's that good.
Sounds of Machines can be purchased at CD Baby here in either a physical (CD) or digital format.
04/23/2009 10:10:50 ♥ jaklumen (
/ jaklumen.vox.com)
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zigmat.com
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myspace.com/zigmat
| jaklumen wrote: Wed, Apr 29, 2009 at 6:53 PM |
I got a copy of their self-titled EP today, and so made a few notes on it and more information about the group here at the WHM group.
If you're following the main W♥M blog, you may have read the review I did for Sounds of Machines. I really like this band's sound so I picked up a copy of their self-titled EP for comparison. Something I forgot to mention is that Monica Rodriguez drifts into Spanish lyrics with her singing, which is featured much more prominently in this EP. Some tracks are featured in Sounds of Machines, but feature more of this alternating Spanish and English lyrics; in fact some of the tracks are marked with "Spanglish" in parantheses.
As a result, there is a fairly strong base of Latino fans, that I can see, and this may also be partly the basis for their comparison with The Brazilian Girls.
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Sticks is an all-instrumental album (there are vocals harmonies by Cosmika, but it's rare and mostly used as backdrops). The album takes us on a journey back in time to that 60s/70s era and I never felt listening to the album that it took me into the future. All the instruments sounds very organic, with emphasis on percussions and drums (as noted in the album title) and especially the sitar which happens to appear on several tracks ("Melisma Mercury","Rififi Rococo","Little Nature"), giving it a distinct Indian/Asian sound.
Besides from taking and keeping us in the past, I also felt that Sticks did a wonderful job on mixing between music genres. For instance, the sixties-sounding go-go dancing of "Danger Buds" is paired next to funk-sounding "Rififi Rococo" (which actually sounds strangely like Russian folk music), then back to 60s with a Farfisa organ (?) of "Night Scare", then back to 70s funk with "Root Juice".
What I love is that you're always looking forward to where Joss takes you, at least I was never bored at any given point... Although I will admit the atmospheric song of "Tune Down" was a bit too loungey and way heavy on the bass for my taste.
If you're a vocals/singing fan, I don't recommend this album to you. If you like non-vocals DJ-style type of music, such as Thievery Corporation (they are one my top 10 bands on lastfm), U.N.K.L.E., and those Verve Remixed albums, you'll find Chris Joss right up your musical alley.
Sticks was released last Tuesday, March 10th, you can purchase it at most retailers, however you might have the best luck via the US record label, ESL Music.
03/12/2009 21:13:32 ♥ vu ()
♥ chrisjoss.free.fr ♥ myspace.com/chrisjoss
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Wax on Wool, which will be released February 27 on Nonine Recordings, appears to be the artist's second work. Both this album and the one released before it, Live Long And Prosper, are digital-only releases. This music is different from most ambient material I've listened to in that not all of it is purely instrumental; some selections have spoken lyrics, such as "Into Butter" and "On Carpets". Many of the tracks, including "Punch Indigo", reminded me of post-industrial music I had studied in college and university. I was fairly certain it was something familiar, ideas that were avant-garde yet explored before. This is what Joshua Farrier of DMA had to say of the album:
a definite sense of style.
As I had very little to go on as far as Slowcream's biography or background, I would imagine this is another instrumental artist that prefers to remain somewhat anonymous, or a bit of an enigma. I went to the artist's MySpace under this name, and even the blog entries were very short, reading like little thoughts when one is musing quietly during some time alone. So it is much easier to suggest that the music speaks for itself, rather than try to determine how Raabenstein was inspired. The album is available for preview (90 seconds preview per track) here.
02/27/2009 00:03:36 ♥ jaklumen ( / jaklumen.vox.com)
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myspace.com/slowcream
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nonine.com
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01/16/09 PR (Self Titled Party w/Free Blood, Juan Maclean (live acid set), & Justin Miller (DFA)) New York, New York
See Also
02/06/09 Wellesley College Wellesley, Massachusetts 02/07/09 Terrace F. Club Princeton, New Jersey 02/11/09 7th Street Entry (w/Fujiya & Miyagi) Minneapolis, Minnesota 02/12/09 Bottom Lounge (w/Fujiya & Miyagi) Chicago, Illinois 02/13/09 Magic Stick (w/Fujiya & Miyagi) Detroit 02/14/09 Alfred University Knight Club (w/Fujiya & Miyagi) Alfred 02/15/09 Paradise (w/Fujiya & Miyagi) Boston, Massachusetts 02/18/09 The Trocadero (w/Fujiya & Miyagi) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 02/19/09 9:30 Club (w/Fujiya & Miyagi) Washington DC, Washington DC 02/23/09 Whelans Dublin, Ireland 02/24/09 Captain’s Rest Glasgow, Scotland 02/25/09 Cockpit Leeds, UK 02/26/09 Cargo London, UK 02/27/09 Night & Day Manchester, UK 02/28/09 Start The Bus Bristol, UK 03/01/09 Audio Brighton, UK 03/04/09 AB Club Brussels, Belgium 03/05/09 Le Point Ephemere Paris, Ile-de-France 03/07/09 Gleis 22 Münster, Germany 03/08/09 Bang Bang Club Berlin, Germany 03/09/09 Molotow Hamburg, Germany 03/10/09 Studio 672 Cologne, Germany 03/12/09 Flex Vienna, Austria 03/13/09 Atomic Cafe Munich, Germany 03/14/09 La Casa Milan, Italy 04/07/09 The Ritz (w/Bat for Lashes) Manchester 04/08/09 Queen Margaret Union (w/Bat for Lashes) Glasgow, Scotland 04/09/09 Stage 2-Northumbria University (w/Bat for Lashes) Newcastle 04/11/09 Metropolitan University (w/Bat for Lashes) Leeds 04/12/09 Birmingham Town Hall (w/Bat for Lashes) Birmingham 04/13/09 The Regal (w/Bat for Lashes) Oxford 04/15/09 Anson Rooms (w/Bat for Lashes) Bristol 04/16/09 Brighton Corn Exchange (w/Bat for Lashes) Brighton 04/17/09 Sheperds Bush Empire (w/Bat for Lashes) London |
I am assuming that the Andes Mountain shown in the PBS program might have inspired the naming of their debut album, Alpinisms (the term refers to the European mountain range, often called the Alps). Strangely, however, the cover artwork by Bryan Collins, well, it looks like it was pulled from a picture of Yosemite National Park's famous Half Dome.
The band consists of two real life twin sisters called Alejandra and Claudia Deheza and bassist Benjamin Curtis, formerly (?) of Secret Machines. The band was formed in early 2007, and they are bringing back an old familiar sound of electronica, mixed with a little shoegazing/dreampop - mostly because of the harmonies of the two sisters.
I think grouping the band into the shoegazing category might not describe them, these aren't really sad/depressing songs (with the exception of the slow-moving song, "For Kalaja Mari"). Instead, surprisingly, the album is pretty upbeat, thanks to noisy sounds and quirky keyboard and sound effects. It's like half dance and half awkwardness (because they're not like typical dance rhythm).
My favorite songs on the album is "Wired for Light", a strange violin-ish scratch sound and afro percussions made this song stand out. Obviously, "Half Asleep" is big hit for them. It's pretty melodic and poppy, I can see why they chose this song to release as the single.
My absolute favorite is "Chain", however. Which I'm sure most people won't like for its use of vocal-correction effects. I think it fits the song, especially with the various samples (or at least I think they're samples), and overall gives it a dancey vibe to it. "Chain" should be a real crowd pleaser if they play it live.
And speaking of live, be sure to check them out on tour this year, see the two handsome sisters for yourself, as they play with some other indie-favorites such as Fujiya & Miyagi and Bat for Lashes.
Fans of 4AD, Movaje 3, Cocteau Twins (wow, will someone please do an article on them?), Au Revoir Simone, and Blonde Redhead, will immediately fall in love with SVIIB (if you haven't already). So pick up their wonderful album, Alpinisms, at any online retailer or their record label, Ghostly (where you'll find some EPs for sale as well).
Links:
schoolofsevenbells.com
myspace.com/schoolofsevenbells
ghostly.com
There seems to be a trend in music submitted to me lately: Asians!
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10/01/08 Northcote Social Club Melbourne, Victoria*
10/02/08 The Palace and the Mystic Valley Band Melbourne, Victoria** 10/03/08 The Tivoli Brisbane, Queensland** 10/04/08 The Enmore Sydney, New South Wales** 10/05/08 Spectrum Sydney, New South Wales*** 11/15/08 Coolongatta Hotel Coolongatta, Queensland * with Fearless Vampire Killers ** with Conor Oberst *** with The Atrocities and Warhorse |
ihearthiroshima.com ♥ myspace.com
Before I begin, I have to say that I love that name, "I Heart Hiroshima". Maybe it's the heart-thing, you know? Well I♥Hiroshima is three-piece indie pop band from Brisbane, Australia. Although I couldn't find where they got their name from, I am assuming it's in reference to Hiroshima, Japan. If you think it has anything to do with atomic bombs, I don't think that's the case here: this group is positive and fun.
I think all three band members sings, although I couldn't tell you which boy member dominate the other. For sure, fans of boy-girl vox should really appreciate I♥Hiroshima, as Susie Patten and either Matthew Somers or Cameron Hawes have banter-like singing. And forgive me for say that their singing style comes off as sounding very DIY and amateurish. However, I get the feeling that they don't really care what I have to say - just as long as they and you are having a great time.
So, Tuff Teef was released late last year in Australia. I don't believe it's actually available in the US, at least not physically on CD. The single that they liked and released is "Punks", which sounds like a dialogue between Patten and Somers. I will admit, I liked the bit about "Don't lock your doors, I have these punks on the ropes".
Speaking of lyrics, here are some of the best one I heard from this album you should watch for:
- "you got cold hands, like an honest man" ("Stop That")
- "I've got teef, you've got none" ("Teef")
- "I don't care what your daughter said (we keep it within the family/she started the fight!)" ("Electric Lake")
So anyway! If you like boy/girl indie sound (they sound so cute) with some quirky lyrics, and hate bass, then you'll love I Heart Hiroshima.
And guess what? Mister Conor "Bright Eyes" Oberst have personally asked them to tour with him on his upcoming Australian tour in October. You can purchase Tuff Teef from Valve Records.
mightyimpiety.com ♥ myspace.com
We never get anything from Singapore, so I was pretty happy to see Singapore's Impiety's latest EP, Dominator. It was quickly recorded and cut from earlier this year (April) from Studio 27, and available now (?) from Pulverised Records. By the way, just a note, but these guys have been busy, with 18 Atomic Years Satanniversary, a 2-CD greatest hits, which was just released this year. That's right, this band have been around for 18 years, since January 1990.
Anyway, starting off with the striking skeleton Ghengis Khan-like army, the album paints a mood of destruction and domination. The majority of the EP is guitar and fast-drumming and I did enjoy the horse galloping and sword clashing on the intro track, "Introbliteration".
I usually have a poor ear when it comes to understanding lyrics for black metal, but surprisingly, I was able to pick up a few words here and there. The words you do hear is pretty typically death metal ("Satan", "Jesus", "Christ", "terror", etc).
There is one interesting cover song on this EP, "The Black Vomit". This song is originally by the Brazilian black metal band Sarcofago (you can hear their version on their myspace).
If black metal is your thing, Impiety offers some great guitar thrashing and superfast drumming and they demonstrate why they've been around for nearly 20 years and going strong.
meeble.com ♥ myspace.com
My initial reaction to Never Trust The Chinese was kind of borderline offensive. I the more I thought about it, I thought this might be in reference to a joke about how people just blindly trust the Chinese when it comes to fortune cookies (which admittedly, I thought "that's so true..."). But once I got past the title, this Phoenix-based band intrigued me because they are a band, but utilize guest vocals, like electronic artists like Tricky and the Chemical Brothers.
I have always known that I was going to use their opening track, "Fine" as the song of choice when I first heard it. It's quite lush and melodic, features an uncredited woman singer. That song represent Mr Meeble's sound, but my favorite song is "It All Came To Pass", which comes off like a trippy acid jazz. The vocals on this track is by Monique Blue, is absolutely seductively gorgeous.
"Raindrops" is another good one. It felt like a three-part song, with Devin Fleenor starting it off and Yasmine Iliya came in with "raindrops keep falling on my head", while the third part is by an uncredited poetry-type singing. There's something for everyone on this song.
Never Trust the Chinese have been out since July, and can be purchased in a variety of format on their website. Fans of electronica should definitely check out Meeble.
Links:
www.weheartmusic.com
news.weheartmusic.com
lastfm.com
twitter.com/weheartmusic
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07/13/08 Eboli (Salerno/Naples), Italy
Discography
07/18/08 Arezzo Wave - Livorno, Italy 08/09/08 Carpi/Modena, Italy 08/29/08 Burning Man - Black Rock City, Nevada
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Costanza Francavilla, or simply known as Costanza is an Italian singer, has a full length album out on July 8th called Sonic Diary. After putting the album in to listen, I instantly think of electronica and trip hop, but with a dreampop quality, as her singing style is often breathy, sexy, and deamlike.
Looking at the very impressive/see-through press material, it looks like her music's been licensed out to a variety of television shows (CSI, L Word) and movies (.45, starring everyone's favorite Milla Jovovich). It doesn't surprise me, as this type of electronica music (think Moby) works well as background music.
However, I think the one thing people might know her from is her collaboration with British electronic artist, Tricky (and, sure, you might know him from another Jovovich film, The Fifth Element).
Apparently, Costanza who was a fan at one of his show gave Tricky's drummer a three-track demo CD and that was passed onto Tricky, who absolutely loved it. So all the songs on his Vulnerable album in 2003 featured Costanza's vocals with two songs co-written by her ("Stay" and "What is Wrong").
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One of the most bizarre and interesting song from their collaboration is their cover of XTC's "Dear God". I wouldn't go so far as to pronounce their version equal or better than the original grand epic song in three and a half minutes, but I will have to admit that it's "different". I think if I didn't know about XTC, I would really love Tricky and Costanza's version. (Side note: their cover of The Cure's "Love Cats" is better).
Now, if you thought "Dear God" was weird, the very original electronica take on Fugazi's "Promises" and Johnny Cash's "God's Gonna Cut You Down" must be heard to be believed. The way she sings "promises are shit", with her Italian accent, it doesn't sound bad or naughty at all.
Other songs I thought were interesting is the opening song, "Just Another Alien". Not so much a song, but a series of questions that she was probably asked when she was applying to live and work in the USA. The Italian song, "I Tuoi Occhi Sono Pieni Di Sale" (featuring Riccardo Sinigallia) was also interesting, it made me want to learn Italian. I did use babelfish and it tells me that the title translate to something like "Your Eyes Are Full Of [knowledge?]", so I'm assuming it's a personal/love song?
The one song that I think everyone will really enjoy is "Silence". This is such a dreamtronica song, full of child-like and innocent singing on a very lush music background. I feel like the song belongs to a soundtrack to a movie.
Fans of electronica lounge music, made famous by such compilations such as OM: Chilled and Lounge Experience series, should really enjoy this. These songs are perfect for either laying around the house or at a small party, really good for any occasion.
It looks like she'll be playing a few dates in Italy with Marco Messina. If you aren't lucky enough to live in Italy, her album Sonic Diary is out this Tuesday. For convience, you can actually get high quality MP3 from Amazon right now.
PS, Usually we just have one or two releases on Tuesday that I need to do coverage on. So I normally check on Sunday and work on the review that very day or, at the latest, on that Tuesday. I thought I was sitting pretty as I've already taken care of two releases already that was meant for July 7th (Connected) and 8th (Matt Keating), but we still have these that's being release this week: Wire's Object 47, The Coke Dares' Feelin' Up, Son Ambulance's Someone Else's Deja Vu, Patti Smith/Kevin Shield's The Coral Sea, and Costanza's Sonic Diary. If I have missed anything, please accept my apologies and contact me right away.
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The two Jasons (Jason Miles and Jason Kibler, aka DJ Logic) have teamed up for a cultural exploration in Global Noize, released April 29th on Shanachie Records.
If the name Jason Miles sounds familiar, that's because he was the mastermind behind Soul Summit, an album that captured the live energy of the Berks Jazz Festival.
Global Noize combines an array of sound, from electronica, funk, trip hop, world, and jazz - such fusion sounds that M.I.A. and Santogold are making famous. So if you enjoy those artists, you should definitely check out this phenomenon album.
This project started rolling into effect when Kibler, called to ask Miles to join him for a live performance at the Blue Notes in New York. Miles recalls:
On that day I had a horrible root canal and was mourning the loss of a close relative. I thought that this could be just the tonic I needed to pick myself up. We went through life-altering experiences. It was so new to us - mysterious, crazy and another view of the world. We both knew we had to make this project happen. The picture on the CD over of the both of us with the camel in the desert says it all!
The first song on the album, "A Jam 4 Joe" sets up the mood for the album: the vocals of Falu suggests Indian, while the dedication of Joe Zawinul, suggests jazz. This is a perfect song for any mild/chill party.
Falu appears again on "Bollywood", obviously because of her Indian voice, but the bass on this song made it sound like funk.
If you can't get enough of the relaxing vocals, there is another song that features singing, "Quero Dancar" (I Want to Dance With You). As the title suggests, this is a Spanish-based song (but sung in Portuguese?) with a smooth jazz mix, featuring some very sexy vocals by Vanessa Fallabella.
The large majority of this album is instrumental, that should comes as no surprise. Songs as "Dar' Abesque" showcase Miles' staple jazz sound (check out that Herb Alpert trumpets), but as you listen in closer, you can hear Logic's contribution in shifts and beats mixed in.
As far as I'm concern, these two perfectly compliment each other, making for an interesting collaboration on Global Noize. They are going to team up for a brief appearance at the Aspen Jazz Festival in Colorado on August 28th, so check it out if you're in the area.
Links:
myspace.com/globalnoizejazz
www.djlogic.com
www.jasonmilesmusic.com
This may just be an excuse to post as much of my record collection as possible in one post, but at least there's a common theme between them. You may not know him but you're bound to have heard one of the many countless bands he's been involved with; our Rollo has his finger in many musical pies, so to speak. Oh and, you deffinately know his sister. What's with everyone having famous sisters nowadays?
Trip hop festival faves Faithless are probably Rollo's most well known connection as one of three main members of the group, though as the band's permanent producer he's rarely seen onstage with them. Included is Mass Destruction, and no clues needed as to the lyrical content there. Whether it's the anti-Bush message or much more indie-ska-rock feel to the tune I don't know, but it's one of the only Faithless tracks I've been tempted to purchase.
Start of the wildcard stuff is On A Beautiful Day by Skinny. Although having no musical input, Skinny's album Taller from which the track is taken was released on Rollo's record lable Cheeky. The track samples the Wallace Collection's 1968 "Daydream", but you're much more likely to have heard that via an advert featuring I Monster's Dayd ream In Blue, also sampling the same tune and included as it's frankly just better than Skinny's efforts.
And if you don't like any of that lot, there's plenty more Rollo remixes and productions available, ranging from Sarah McLachlan and Simply Red to Robbie Williams and the Spice Girls. But I can't keep posting his stuff forever, so I'll be gone for the day.
The recent spate of hot UK weather (ok, hot here is any time it doesn't rain...) tells me summer's here kids. And while I should probably be posting Grandaddy tracks to celebrate, I just noticed a lack of summery festival gods Basement Jaxx entries here, so I feel I should repair this crime by posting as much as possible... well, some...
I don't have much to say about them really. I'm sure you know who the late 90s UK electronic dance duo are; even the youngsters can't fail to have noticed them harassing the UK festival scene in the past few years.
Anyway, if you don't, here's 2003's Good Luck and 1999's Bingo Bango, incidently one of the first CDs I ever bough. If you need to know more, only wikipedia has the answer. And I'm sure you'll be able to catch them at all manner of festivals later this summer. Now just pray it don't start raining again...
- Christopher
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