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randomvarious · 4 years

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Yazoo - “Nobody’s Diary” Fetenhits: The Real 80′s Song released in 1983. Compilation released in 1999. Electropop / Synthpop / New Wave

OK, first of all, let's clear up some of the inevitable confusion. Yazoo is Yazoo in the UK, but in North America, they're Yaz. That's because there was a record label called Yazoo that wouldn't allow the pair to use their name. There was also a small American rock band whose name was Yazoo, too. So that's one thing. The other is that Yazoo/Yaz is not Yazz. Like Yazoo/Yaz though, Yazz is also British and made 80s pop music, but Yazz is just one person. (Also, as this is a blog that writes a lot about electronic music, I feel like I should mention that Yazz's partners in crime, The Plastic Population, are also the inimitable duo of Coldcut, the breaks and trip hop pioneers who gave us the Ninja Tune label.) Furthermore, Yaz is the nickname of Boston Red Sox slugger Carl Yastrzemski, a guy who had 3,419 hits and 452 homerus in 23 seasons! He's not Yazoo/Yaz either! And Yaz is also the brand name of a birth control pill that contains drospirenone that may also be used for other indications! That's not Yaz/Yazoo either! And don't even get me started on the Yaz culture from present-day Iran that existed in the Iron Age or the Yazoo Brewing Company in Tennessee or the Yazoo lawnmower company or the Native American Yazoo tribe from Mississippi or the milk-based flavored beverage from Belgium called Yazoo or the character Yazoo from Final Fantasy VII or the multiple US Navy ships called Yazoo or the YAZ programmer toolkit for development of Z39.50 clients and servers, because none of those are Yazoo/Yaz! Just three different letters, y, a, and z, and yet so many different meanings. And for the rest of this post, rather than refer to them as Yazoo/Yaz, I'm just gonna call them what they always intended themselves to be called, and that is Yazoo.

So who is Yazoo then? Well, they're an early 80s electropop / synthpop / new wave duo that consisted of Vince Clarke, who had just left Depeche Mode after posting their debut album and four fantastic singles at the time, and Alison Moyet, a soulful singer who would go on to achieve a whole lot more with a solo career. The two actually went to the same Saturday music school as kids but had never spoken to each other before teaming up as 21 year olds. However, they were certainly aware of each other's existence. Moyet's first guitarist in her first band just happened to be Clarke's best friend.

In 1981, Moyet, who was a punky pub rock type, placed an ad in Melody Maker looking for someone to collaborate with, and Clarke, who had just left Depeche Mode, was looking to take part in a new project that would allow him to stay on Depeche Mode's label, Mute. He had seen Moyet sing before and loved her work. And he was also the only person who responded to her ad. Moyet wasn't expecting someone all that famous to take her up on her offer and she didn't much care for Depeche Mode, but she decided to do it anyway. Clarke had proven successful and she decided that she wanted to make music with someone who had actually managed to do something with their career, unlike seemingly everyone else she knew.

Immediately, Clarke had a piece of music for Moyet to sing over, and then the demo was brought to Mute, and all of a sudden Yazoo had their first single on their hands, "Only You," which hit #2 in the UK. Together, Clarke and Moyet would spawn two albums, Upstairs at Eric's, followed by You and Me Both, in a matter of 18 months, with the four singles they released in the UK going to the top 20, and three of those hitting the top 3.

But that was it. Despite the fantastic electronic pop music that paired soulful, deep, bluesy vocals with cheery, Kraftwerk-inspired, layered melodies, Clarke and Moyet didn't get along. Clarke was shy and held all his anger in and Moyet was the opposite. Clarke wanted to break the relationship off after one album, but then thought better of it. He thought he'd look like a real pill jumping from project to project after being in a group and doing only one album and then leaving. So Yazoo made their second album, but they knew it was over before they finished recording it. Clarke would build the beats and melodies in the morning and Moyet would swing by at night to record the vocals. There was no active collaboration.

But whatever, man. The shit still bopped. You and Me Both's only single, "Nobody's Diary," went to #3 in the UK and #1 on the US dance charts. It was a little more subdued than their previous output, sure, but the song still rules. Yazoo's formula was simply implacable at the time. Despite the fact that Clarke and Moyet didn't get along, they still managed to spin absolute gold. And here's a nice little quote from the biography section of Yazoo's website:

Yazoo were Kraftwerk through the looking glass - this was electronic pop made by humans, not machines.

And that's because while Kraftwerk and many electronic groups that came after them, from Daft Punk to thousands of techno acts, did everything they could to present themselves as robots or faceless machines, Alison Moyet was in Yazoo to provide that contrasting human element that machines still have yet to figure out how to accurately and convincingly replicate.

Clarke was the machine and Moyet was the soul. That was made even more apparent in the video for "Nobody's Diary" as Moyet sang like a human with natural emotion and Clarke stood as still and emotionless as possible as his fingers played his shoulder-strapped synthesizer as if he had been programmed that way by a microchip that was implanted into his skull before the video was shot.

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Yazoo had a real, unique "ghost in the machine" kind of vibe with their music; the bionic woman; woman and machine. You get the idea. It was captivating fun.

And that shit was foundational, too. It was a long time coming of course, and a lot happened in between, but the late 2000s/early 2010s that gave birth to that female-led indietronica / electropop / dance-pop boom that had acts like Phantogram, Purity Ring and La Roux owes a debt of gratitude to Yazoo. Yazoo ended up laying the initial groundwork so those acts could thrive decades later. They were the first group to so transparently pair the emotional female vocal with that machine-like, Kraftwerkian, electronic pop sound. They definitely inspired groups like LCD Soundsystem, too.

Starting off minimally with its first verse, "Nobody's Diary" is a song that begins to realize itself when Clarke decides to bring in his drum machine and a bassline. With those pieces in place, he sandwiches Moyet's lightly peaked choruses with simple and catchy coasts of leading melodic twee. It's just as well, too. Who knows if Clarke and Moyet ever talked about how to go about doing this song, but his childlike, nostalgic melodies serve this song really well since Moyet wrote the lyrics when she was only 16, before even her first sexual experience.

The last thing I'll add is that Vince Clarke is an absolute master of pop songcraft as someone who just uses synthesizers and drum machines to make his music. He conjured up such a smooth, enjoyable, nuanced ride for this one. It's just so good. I won't call it timeless since it's definitively 80s, but goddamn, does it still go. After Yazoo, Clarke would extend his career indefinitely as half of the even more successful synthpop duo, Erasure.

But Yazoo cannot be ignored. Such a formidable, yet unfortunately fleeting electropop / synthpop / new wave force. So influential in so many ways and such a small catalogue. Wish they gave us more, but at least they gave us some.

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irenereru · 3 years

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For the Daft Punk asks: 1993-2021.

Yes, Irene. I want you to answer all of them (except the ones you don’t want to answer, of course ❤️).

/2B

Well well well, this is gonna take a while! I already answered 2011 to 2013 in this ask right here, so I’ll be skipping those!

1993: When did you first hear about Daft Punk? That’s an odd question, and hard to answer.

During my childhood I KNOW I heard songs like Around The World, Music Sounds Better With You, One More Time, Harder Better Faster Stronger, and Technologic later on.

It wasn’t until around 2011 when I had my first contact with Daft Punk, when on a restaurant, on a TV in the background, One More Time was playing. I could not hear the song, but the visuals catched my attention and I became fascinated. Sadly, I did not catch who’s song was that, nor the title.

It wasn’t until Get Lucky and RAM released that I FINALLY figured out who Daft Punk were. The moment I saw the robots, when I rediscovered and watched Interstella 5555 in it’s entirety in one setting, then, was when i got hooked up to them, forever.

1994: What do you find most striking about the band? THE ROBOTS! I love the dessigns, they have SO MUC PERSONALITY. But other things I love are, obviously, their music, the “not giving a shit” actitude, and the way they worked. That’s something I admire a lot, keeping control of your works. As an artist myself, it’s something that can be really important and can help you out in the future.

1995: Do you have any favorite music videos? I love Interstella 5555 with my whole heart. The Homework MVs, specially Burnin’, hold a special place in my heart. I love that in Burnin’ the boys make a cameo for a split second, wearing odd costumes and wigs.

1996: What do you think about the Homework album? Pretty good! I love house music, and it’s certainly the album that introduced me to the genre, so... Da Funk, Around The World, they’re just absolute BANGERS. The “harder” songs on the album aren’t really my thing, tho...

1997: What do you think about Alive 1997? A bit bare-bones, not gonna lie. It’s like 45 minutes long. That’s not a lot. It certainly is something of it’s time. What I love the most are the scarce pictures and videos of that era of them playing live. You can REALLY tell they’re having a blast, specially Thomas.

1998: Do you have any favorite remixes/mash-ups? Their remix of Chord Memory is certainly one of my favorites. It really gives you a... Something. It feels like it’s telling a story, with it’s change of tone later on and then mashing both. Also, that WDPK 83.7 reference!

1999: Has your opinion of the band changed over time? Not really. It just started high and they stay high as my favorite band/musicians. They’re extremely inspiring, specially for the fact they did so many different things, but all feeling so unique to them at the same time. Them also being nice people and supporting of social rights and the LGBT community is certainly a great plus!

2000: Do you have a favorite ‘era’ of Daft Punk? Discovery. It’s the most fun, colorfull, and the one they seemed more “silly”. The robots appeared in their rainbowy marvel and odd/oversized clothes.

2001: What do you think about the Discovery album? It’s My FAVORITE! There are barely no songs I dislike. It have so many different vibes, feelings, you have vocal tracks and instrumental tracks, all with the same quality... And my favorite song from them, Something About Us, is from that album.

2002: Has Daft Punk inspired you creatively? Absolutely. Like, 100%.

2003: What do you think about Interstella 5555? They could’ve worked on that lip-sink a bit better, it’s something that ALWAYS pulls me off. But aside from that, it’s a great concept, and a very special animated film. You can tell there was a lot of care put on it.

2004: Are there any lyrics in particular that stuck with you? Within. That song just, resonates so much with me. Check out my other post with answers, I talk in depth about it!

2005: What do you think about the Human After All album? You can tell it was made in 2 weeks. They were angry, frustrated. And you get a lot of “Thomas Vibe” in that. It feels like it wasn’t a good time for them and it’s reflected in the album.

2006: What do you think about the Musique album? The only good thing from it is that they FINALLY re-released Musique and those remixes! Also, in the special version, you get the Interstella 5555 DVD, which is how I got the movie myself physically!

2007: What do you think about Alive 2007? It’s just great. I wish there was an official version of the entire concert edited by them, where you could see the visuals, the vibes, and the boys all in one enjoying themselves. I’m sad I couldn’t go see them, but at the time I just did not know who they were, and I was only 11. I remember seeing their pyramid on TV when they came to Spain in 2006! I thought it looked really extra, and it really is.

2008: What do you think about Electroma? It’s heartcrushing. I have the feeling they could’ve cutted the ending a little, and I don’t really get why of the dunes looking like a woman and going like, inside the vagina... But still. Also, I can not laugh when they wear the human masks. They’re so ugly x’D Is that how they see themselves?

The bathroom scene ALWAYS gets me. GM08 getting extremely mad and frustrated, while TB3 tries to hold on to what’s left until it can’t be recovered... That says SO MUCH about them, about the robots, as characters and people. You can really get what they’re feeling.

The ending, though... That ending. My god. Everyone always talks about TB3′s death, but the one that really got me the most is GM08′s. It seemed like he wanted to keep going, but finding himself alone ends up being his demise. They need each other. And when he tries to reach to his self-destruct button but cannot, and he just stares in the distance... I really, REALLY felt that.

2009: Do you have a favorite Daft Punk cameo/reference? I talked about the Burnin’ video before, but if I have to think of something else... I think their cameos in different productions are great. Like Sebastien Tellier’s videos of the songs he made with Guy-Man, one with magazines with drawing of GM08, while on the other he appears as a background guy, face partially covered... Also Thomas’ cameo in the movie Realité, where his wife is one of the secondary characters, where he just, again, appears for a split second. I find those really funny.

2010: What do you think about TRON: Legacy? It had a lot going on, but it’s story just... Was bad. The effects are cool (except for the guy they tried to make look younger), and I love that Daft Punk just kept vibing when the fight breaks out at the club. Aside from that, that’s all.

2014: What’s your favorite moment of Daft Punk at the GRAMMYs? The hug. Come on, that’s like, the loveliest thing ever. You can tell how happy and emotional they were. They even had to hold Thomas’ hand because his helmet fogged on the inside.

2015: Do you have friends who like Daft Punk? Hmm... Does all the cool people I’ve met in the fandom count? ;D Specially @edbangingrobot and @invader-777 they’re the coolest people ever <3

2016: What Daft Punk collaborations stood out to you? Probably the one with The Weeknd, but only because of their AMAZINGLY COOL COSTUMES, more than anything. Those have to be my all-time favorite looks for the robots.

2017: Did you get to see Daft Punk live? No :(

2018: How does Daft Punk fit into your taste in music? They have that disco-electro-house vibe I LOVE so much. Why do you think Discovery is my favorite? x’D Tho my tastes go all over the place, if I’m honest. You just have to take a look around my Spotify playlist to see what I’m talking about.

2019: What Daft Punk song makes you smile? One More Time, Digital Love, Voyager and Give Life Back To Music. If you wanna make me get in a good mood, play those.

2020: Did Daft Punk help you get through tough times? They certainly helped me focus on something. I found them in one of the toughest, darkest times of my life. Just had to drop out of school due to my mental illness, only to be abandoned by my old friends, while my family did not listen to me about my depression, anxiety and agoraphobia. Not only that, but we also moved for the third time in a decade, and it wasn’t for fun reasons. Having Daft Punk’s music there as a new discovery to me certainly helped, with their cheerfull, thoughtless songs for a time where everything felt too much.

2021: How are you “holding on” after the split? I am extremely sad we will never get to see the robots again. They’re a really important part of my life. Just like their music. All I hope is that they’re in good therms, and that they’ll be happy for now on. We do not know the reason, but there surely was one behind their decission. If any of them does make something new in the future, I’ll make sure to check it out. It wouldn’t be the first time they’ve done things aside from Daft Punk.

#ask #well that was long #you could say it was #too long

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blackkudos · 4 years

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Biz Markie

Marcel Theo Hall (born April 8, 1964), better known by his stage name Biz Markie, is an American rapper, beatboxer, DJ, actor, comedian, television personality and spokesperson. He is best known for his 1989 single "Just a Friend", which became a Top 40 hit in several countries. In 2008, "Just a Friend" made #100 on VH1's list of the 100 greatest hip hop songs of all time.

Markie has been called the "Clown Prince of Hip Hop."

Early life

Markie's career began on Long Island and he graduated from Patchogue Medford High School in 1982."Biz Markie Shows, Concerts, & Tickets 2020". EventBrite.com. Retrieved March 29, 2020.

Career

1980s

Biz Markie was interviewed in the 1986 cult documentary Big Fun In The Big Town. Markie released his debut album, Goin' Off, in 1988, which attracted a fair amount of attention, largely due to the lead single, "Make the Music With Your Mouth, Biz". The album also featured the underground hit singles "Nobody Beats The Biz", "Vapors", and "Pickin' Boogers".

On October 10, 1989, Biz Markie's second studio album, The Biz Never Sleeps, was released on Cold Chillin'/Warner Bros. Records, produced by Biz, his cousin Cool V and Paul C. The single "Just a Friend", in which he alternates between rap and singing, became Markie's most successful single, reaching #9 on the Billboard charts.

The song interpolates the 1968 song "You Got What I Need" by singer/songwriter Freddie Scott, whose basic chord and melody provided the base for the song's chorus. "Just A Friend" was ranked 81st on VH1's 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders in 2000, and later as number 100 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop in 2008.

The music video, directed by Lionel C. Martin, chronicles the rapper's woman problems.

1990s

Markie's third studio album I Need a Haircut was released on August 27, 1991, on Cold Chillin'/Warner Bros. Records and was produced by Biz Markie and his cousin Cool V. Sales of the album were already low when Markie was served a lawsuit by Gilbert O'Sullivan, who claimed that the album's "Alone Again" featured an unauthorized sample from his hit "Alone Again (Naturally)". O'Sullivan's claim was upheld in a landmark ruling, Grand Upright Music, Ltd. v. Warner Bros. Records Inc., that altered the landscape of hip-hop, finding that all samples must be cleared with the original artist before being used. In accordance with the ruling, Warner Bros., the parent company of Cold Chillin', had to pull I Need a Haircut from circulation, and all companies had to clear samples with the samples' creators before releasing the records. This development reflected the increasing popularity of hip-hop and the financial stakes over which releases were set. Biz responded in 1993 with the mischievously titled All Samples Cleared!, but his career had been hurt by the publicity emanating from the lawsuit, and the record suffered accordingly. Additional bad news came when the video for the track 'Toilet Stool Rap' was labeled Worst Video of the Year on the Fromage show from Canada's MuchMusic.

For the remainder of the decade, Markie occasionally made television appearances, including guest appearances on In Living Color (including as contestant Damian "Foosball" Franklin in the recurring game show sketch "The Dirty Dozens" and as Marlon Cain in "Ed Bacon: Guidance Counselor") and in a 1996 freestyle rap commercial on MTV2. He also made numerous guest appearances with the Beastie Boys on Check Your Head (1992), Ill Communication (1994), Hello Nasty (1998), and their anthology The Sounds of Science (1999). He also rapped on the song "Schizo Jam", on Don Byron's 1998 release, Nu Blaxploitation (Blue Note/Capitol) and worked with Canibus on the first track on the Office Space soundtrack (1999). He also rapped on the track "So Fresh" alongside Slick Rick on Will Smith's 1999 album Willennium.

In 1996, Markie appeared on the Red Hot Organization's compilation CD, America is Dying Slowly, alongside Wu-Tang Clan, Coolio, and Fat Joe, among others. The CD, meant to raise awareness of the AIDS epidemic among African American men, was heralded as a masterpiece by The Source magazine.

In 1997, a sample of a Markie recording appeared in the Rolling Stones' song "Anybody Seen My Baby?" from their album Bridges to Babylon. His part was shortened on some radio versions. Biz also teamed up with Frankie Cutlass on his third single and music video titled "The Cypher Part 3" with some of Marley Marl's Juice Crew veterans.

In 1999, Markie appeared on Len's song "Beautiful Day" on their album You Can't Stop the Bum Rush, as well as on Alliance Ethnik's album Fat Comeback.

2000s

In 2002, Markie appeared in Men in Black II, with Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, essentially playing an alien parody of himself, whose native language sounded exactly like beatboxing. Between 2002 and 2003 he appeared in episode 5 of the TV series Fastlane playing himself as a nightclub DJ. In 2003 he appeared in the international television series titled Kung Faux performing a series of voice over characters featured in a variety of episodes. In 2004, his song Vapors appeared on the soundtrack of Rockstar's popular videogame Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas which featured an old school hip hop radio station, Playback FM. In 2005, Biz detoured from his recording duties to appear on the first season of the television show Celebrity Fit Club which challenged celebrities to lose weight by a combination of diet and exercise. Biz Markie lost more weight than anybody else in the competition. That year, he was also in an episode of The Andy Milonakis Show.

Biz Markie was a cast member on Nick Cannon's Wild 'n Out, seasons 1 and 3. Biz also does the beatboxing segment, Biz's Beat of the Day on the Nick Jr. show Yo Gabba Gabba!.

Biz Markie began 2008 opening for Chris Rock's "No Apologies" tour. Biz Markie's act includes spinning records ranging from old school hip hop to Lynyrd Skynyrd and then performing "Just a Friend". Biz Markie's playlist includes the following: "Children's Story" by Slick Rick, "Rapper's Delight" by The Sugarhill Gang, "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson, "Holiday" by Madonna, "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" by Wham!, "It Takes Two" by Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock, "The Breaks" by Kurtis Blow and "Robot Rock" by Daft Punk.

In December 2009, Biz Markie appeared in a RadioShack commercial, repeating the line: "Oh Snap! Guess what I saw!" from his song "Just A Friend". That same year saw his debut with Andy Milonakis in television commercials for the commercial Internet service Tune Up.

2010s

In 2010, Biz Markie appeared on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, providing commentary throughout the series. Biz Markie himself was not included on the list. On November 9, 2010, Biz appeared on The Aquabats! new EP, Radio Down! in the title track. On November 11, 2010, Biz sat in with The Roots on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and performed "Just a Friend" with actor Jeff Goldblum.

In 2017, Markie appeared several times on the MTV2 game show Hip Hop Squares, a spin-off of the popular game show Hollywood Squares. That same year he made an appearance in the track "2012 (You Must Be Upgraded)" by The Flaming Lips, alongside Ke$ha.

In 2013 Markie toured with the Yo Gabba Gabba! live show. That year, his song, "Just a Friend" was featured in Saints Row IV, which included a Pop station 107.77 The Mix FM.

He appeared on the CN show Mad, as the Hip Hop Hobbit.

He voiced rapper Rhymez and his DJ, Tiny Timmy Scratch It, in the Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja episode "Hip Hopocalypse Now".

He guest starred in the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Kenny the Cat", in the episode's title role. His voice acting work also includes the voice of Snorlock the Beatboxing Slug in an episode of Adventure Time.

In 2014, he appeared in the Syfy network movie Sharknado 2: The Second One. That same year, he threw a ceremonial first pitch for an Oakland Athletics baseball game.

In 2016, his song, "Just a Friend" was featured in the Netflix Series Love as an ending theme for episode 4. He also makes an appearance in a song titled "The Noisy Eater" off the album Wildflower by The Avalanches.

In 2016, he appeared on the Fox TV series Empire as himself, where he performed the song, "Just A Friend."

In 2017, he appeared in the season 3 finale of the ABC series Black-ish. He performed a personal version of the song, "Just a Friend", in which he added the names of the characters.

Discography

Studio albums

1988: Goin' Off

1989: The Biz Never Sleeps

1991: I Need a Haircut

1993: All Samples Cleared!

2003: Weekend Warrior

Compilations

1994: Biz's Baddest Beats

1996: Schoolhouse Rock! Rocks

1998: On the Turntable

2000: On the Turntable 2

2002: Greatest Hits

2006: Make the Music with Your Mouth, Biz

2009: Ultimate Diabolical

2009: "Yo Gabba Gabba"

2010: The Aquabats Radio Down!

#04/08

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usgunn · 5 years

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September 15, 2019

CLICK HERE for the September 15, 2019 playlist

1. The Girls - “Jeffrey I Hear You” (1979)

Soul Jazz Records just put out a compilation of music that was important and influential to artist Keith Haring. Lots of great early-80′s downtown New York punk/funk/new wave/etc. This was the first I had heard this song, by a group led by visual artist and Haring pal George Condo. I’m a sucker for a one-chord song.

2. The Wake - “Of The Matter” (1985)

This was a Glasgow-based group that put out music on Factory Records, running in the same scene as New Order and the Durutti Column. Emotional and urgent, with some amazing synth and bass work.

3. Canyons - “When I See You Again” (2011)

Canyons were a “production duo” from Perth, Australia--about as close as one can get to the edge of the world. They put out one album, Keep Your Dreams, which this song comes from, that veered wildly from clattering electronic productions to more pop-inflected songs like this one, sung by former Sniff ‘n’ The Tears (a band I had never heard of previously) frontman Paul Roberts.

4. Mood Rings - “Pathos Y Lagrimas” (2013)

Mood Rings were a dreamy Atlanta rock band that signed to Mexican Summer records, put out a really interesting album, VPI Harmony (from which this song comes), and then appears to have fizzled out.

5. Seely - “Soft City” (1997)

Another Atlanta band, from much earlier than Mood Rings. Started by two former Georgia Tech architecture students--Steven Satterfield (now chef-owner of Miller Union restaurant in Atlanta) and Lori Scacco (now a multi-disciplinary artist in New York). They were the first American band to sign to legendary UK post-rock label Too Pure, and recorded their second album with John McEntire from Tortoise and the Sea and Cake. This song comes from their third album, Seconds, which was produced by Scott Herren from Prefuse 73.

6. Super Numeri - “When The Sun Dials” (2003)

Weirdo Liverpudlians making music that exists somewhere between Miles Davis’s 70′s jazz fusion experiments and krautrock. They put out a couple of albums on Ninja Tune and then disappeared, with main-man Pop Levi going to make some kind of annoying solo albums and play bass for Ladytron.

7. Rosinha de Valença - “Asa Branca” (1971)

Just stumbled across this this past week. A Brazilian guitarist and composer from the 70′s. Don’t know much else, but was captivated by the guitar playing here and the sort of surprise horns in the middle of the song.

8. Brittany Howard - “History Repeats” (2019)

So, I don’t know much about the Alabama Shakes, although I did like a few things I heard from their last album, Sound & Color, that made me think they are probably a much different band than I think they are. But singer Brittany Howard has been putting out a few singles in advance of a solo album coming out soon, and I’ve been really into them. This song in particular has a weirdo groove to it and doesn’t really go anywhere in the best way possible.

9. Dutch Uncles - “Combo Box” (2017)

Dutch Uncles are a Manchester band that��s been one of my faves of the past few years. Their music is REALLY nerdy, which makes sense since it’s supposedly all composed by their bass player, a musical composition student, using computer musical notation software, which the band then learns how to translate to rock band instruments.

10. Yellow Magic Orchestra - “Taiso” (1981)

Legendary Japanese supergroup, composed of Yukihiro Takahashi, Haruomi Hosono, and Ryuichi Sakamoto. All three members were well-known in Japan before the band formed, although only Sakamoto is really well-known in the US due to his film-scoring work. They made eclectic synth-pop, always with an eye towards the pop world. This song comes from my favorite overall YMO album, Technodelic.

11. Alan Braxe & Fred Falke - “Penthouse Serenade” (2002)

For a few years in the early 2000′s, French duo Alan Braxe & Fred Falke treated the world to several wonderful dance singles and several more top-tier remixes for other artists. And then there must’ve been some bad blood, cause it all just stopped. Unfortunately their true masterpiece, “Rubicon,” is not on Spotify, but I’d put this song up as one of the best of the rest. Before teaming with Falke, Braxe was briefly part of a group with Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter called Stardust.

12. Lindstrøm & Christabelle - “Baby Can’t Stop” (2009)

I go back and forth on Swedish electronic music guru Hans-Peter Lindstrøm. But I love the album he made with Swedish vocalist Christabelle, Real Life Is No Cool. Unfortunately Christabelle has never shown up anywhere else.

13. Alexander Robotnick - “C’est La Vie (7″ Version)” (1987)

Robotnick is an Italian dance-music producer who’s been kicking around for almost four decades. I don’t know much about him, and honestly don’t remember how I stumbled upon this song, but I love it and now you are hearing it.

14. Hintermass - “While Away” (2016)

Hintermass is a collaboration between Tim Felton (former guitar player for Broadcast and Seeland) and Jon Brooks, aka The Advisory Circle--one of Ghost Box Records’ primary artists. Their music is a winning combo of Felton’s meditative, baritone pop songs and Brooks’s electronic production.

15. Dennis Wilson - “Time” (1977)

Yes, that Dennis Wilson--Beach Boys Dennis Wilson. He made one really deep solo record in 1977, Pacific Ocean Blue. This emotional tune kicks off side two, showcasing Dennis’s ragged vocals over soft rock piano balladry, before kicking into something else entirely...

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zanrai-kid · 5 years

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I have no legitimate sleep schedule, so take my list of my Top 20 favorite Gorillaz tracks

20: Momentz - In the same league as Feel Good Inc., don't at me.

19: Stylo - Mos Def and Bobby Womack absolutely devastating on the bridges. Hearing Jeremih perform this live was gorgeous.

18: Humility - Gorillaz made a summer jam, and it sure sounds like it. Damon's getting old, man. Just wants to retire, wants to have a few beers by the beach.

17: Sleeping Powder - iwasgone I M B A C K ASDKJHAJSDHGSKDJHFGKJHASGLDKJAGSD

16: Feel Good Inc. - A legendary song in my formative years, and a soundtrack to the Bush administration as important as “American Idiot”. Only so low on the list because of oversaturation.

15: Rhinestone Eyes - This song is the embellished production of Plastic Beach in a moment. I once made a mashup with this song and "Kangaroo Court" by Capital Cities.

14: Re-Hash - First song on the first album, and it slaps.

13: Ascension - Vince Staples is such a brilliant voice in the latter half of the decade, and I'm pleased to see Damon Albarn recognize this.

12: DARE - Hot damn, this song is a jam.

11: M1 A1 - Hearing this song kick off a Gorillaz concert feels like getting shot by a cannon. It's the "most like the sound the pilliows exuded on the FLCL soundtrack" song in the Gorillaz discography, and for that, I like it.

10: Fire Coming Out Of The Monkey's Head - When Gorillaz want to tell a horror story, they double down and get Dennis Hopper to tell a story of apocalypse. Demon Days is such an immortal album, and this song will live on as a ubiquitous reminder of one's mortality at the hands of greed. Good one for the pessimistic crowds of both 2005 and 2019.

9: Rock the House - BETTER THAN CLINT EASTWOOD. FIGHT ME. When Gorillaz sample audio, they make sure to make the most of it. The ten second sample of John Dankworth's "Modesty Blaise" carries Del the Funky Homosapien's bragging boogie rap through to another level with the tight bass riffs the self-titled album is known for. Echo effects, horn stabs, a fucking recorder. This tracks fucks me up.

8: Souk Eye - I think a track off of The Now Now is one of the best works in the Gorillaz discography. Primarily because following Humanz and The Now Now, Albarn and Hewlett are in a strange time of their lives. Both are now 50 years old, and Gorillaz has lasted 20 years. The concept has run its course for now. To hear this song close this chapter of the Gorillaz story feels fitting. A love song to the many miles taken, only to realize one must leave their current circumstances in order to survive.

7: Last Living Souls - It's a cliche to say a song builds, but when the track starts with little more than a drum machine, and leads to an acoustic breakdown and string section breakdown back-to-back, you can agree this song builds. A lush atmosphere of tiny bleeps and bloops coming together to become greater than the sum of all parts. The song sounds so down and muted on the album, but hearing it live, it feels like a war cry. Both interpretations fit the themes of Demon Days, and it's a good one to start off the album following the Dawn of the Dead sampled "Intro".

6: El Mañana - Hearing this song follow "Busted and Blue" accompanied by visuals of Noodle during the Humanz Tour is the closest I've come to a religious experience at a concert. The sudden immediacy of the situation following "Feel Good Inc" is made aware from sirens and Damon delivering a ragged vocal delivery. The track ebbs and flows in and out of deep bass and washed out highs. It feels like a sigh. It feels like crying. And if you're a Gorillaz lore sucker like I am, this track accompanies the death of Noodle, the single most important event in the canon. Also, the acoustic version reminds one how good Damon is at evoking very quiet emotion.

5: Tomorrow Comes Today - When those drums come in, man, you get teleported to the turn of the millennium. Dirty trip-hop was coming out of the UK en masse, Fatboy Slim released one of my favorites albums of all time "Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars", and Daft Punk's "Discovery" was still a year off. In between some of the most important music of my life being dropped, Gorillaz dropped their first single "Tomorrow Comes Today" at the end of the year and solidified their place for years to come. Slinking and sly, velvety and smoky. This is Gorillaz sending up a culture of basement shows and turntablism. If Think Tank is the first "Gorillaz album", this is when the transition was made manifest.

4: On Melancholy Hill - Ugh, this song. This song is pretty. Full stop. It's one of Gorillaz' very few love songs, and it still manages to capture the plasticine sadness of Plastic Beach. Plastic Beach was my first real and honest introduction to Gorillaz in college, as I only remember hearing about Demon Days from advertising in 2005, when I was 12. This track was just a treat to hear in spring/summer, and a reason I made so many (see: too many) of my finals about Gorillaz. Around the time Humanz was teased, I went back and realized this song had held up so well. It's just a universal sentiment about how the world we know is falling apart, but let's have this moment together. The acoustic version is an honest to God lullaby. Something I can play my future children. Not bad for only 16 lines of lyric.

3: Empire Ants - If "On Melancholy Hill" is about finding the beauty in ruin, "Empire Ants" holds a magnifying glass up to ruin, wondering how it came to be. Listening to the album, "Superfast Jellyfish" came just before. A satirical take on consumeristic meals leading into a song about how we are personified as ants, marching in tandem to complete our tasks and build ever outward, never truly satisfied until death. It is a reminder to look upon the greater picture that is our world and see the moments of tranquility for what they are. Sadly, these moments do not last, and Little Dragon's part reminds us we are part of a machine, ever moving, ever crumbling. It is beauty interrupted by obligation, and for a kid who was in college when this album dropped, and who is now 26 and facing a lifetime of having to make my own decisions, it's an anthem.

2: Hong Kong - I remember loading the entirety of Plastic Beach onto my iPod Nano, and having an iTunes gift card left to spend from Christmas/birthday/etc. Having seen the Demon Days Live concert, I knew this track had to be on my beautiful iPod Nano. That, and for some reason, "Dirty Harry (Schtung Chinese New Year Remix). I remember long car rides staring out the window, listening to this track as the scenery blew by. I remember reading up on this track's history, how it was released in-between Demon Days and Plastic Beach and it shows, how it's a tale of neo-industrial China and Hong Kong's place in both Chinese and British history. This is both a love letter and warning to the nation of the apocryphal train ride that inspired Demon Days. In a world where China seems to be ever rising, "Hong Kong" is a song that asks questions of how this will affect the world as a whole, using Hong Kong as a metaphor. That's nothing to say of the wondrous instrumentation, the piano part in particular on my wishlist of "Songs I Should Learn on Piano Before I Die". Many call it Gorillaz' most underrated track, and I agree full stop.

1: DoYaThing - I'M THE SHIT. I SAID I'M THE SHIT. Above all else, Gorillaz is a collaborative effort of hundreds of musicians from all walks of life. When you throw James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem, a band that rose in the same timeframe as Gorillaz, and Andre 3000, my personal pick for the G.O.A.T., magic happens. Uncut, unedited, 13 minute magic happens. Is it a bit of a meme? Sure. It is a shitpost disguised as a legitimate song? Why not. But sometimes, the goofy aspect of Gorillaz can craft audio gold. And aren't we all about memes on this blog? Albarn's at his most snotty white boy. Murphy's production and vocals are a reminder he was every music nerd's wet dream in the 2000s. Andre 3000 is just laying into every line with a confidence not heard since Stankonia. Everything about this song is designed and manufactured to sound like it it running off the rails in a fit of confidence. It is both wildly powerful and mournfully unaware. In short, to quote the great music critic Todd in the Shadows on the subject of LCD Soundsystem’s song “Losing My Edge”, "(It is) a critical darling... This was tailor made for critics. It is perfect music nerd bait, total pandering." DoYaThing, my favorite Gorillaz song of all time.

#gorillaz #top 20 #songs #music #damon albarn #jamie hewlett #zanraikid

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grimelords · 6 years

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My July playlist is here, just in time for September! Four hours of hits from Lana Del Rey, Iannis Xenakis, KISS, Cameo and everyone in between. Please enjoy.

This Is What Makes Us Girls - Lana Del Rey: This is a really underrated Lana song I think. It's such a beautiful song and it's so heartbreaking the way she sings "they were the only friends I ever had". It's like an origin story for her whole thing detailing how she got bitten by a radioactive pabst, I love it.

Walking Into Sunshine (Larry Levan 12" Mix) - Central Line: A powerful good mood song that quickly takes on a vibe shift near the end when he says I've got to do it now, I've got to walk into the sun' which carries a different meaning than 'walk into the sunshine' to me. Embracing positivity versus self immolation in a nuclear furnace.

Fine di Cobb - Stelvio Cipriani: This is the most jamming harpsichord I think I have ever heard. This is from the soundtrack to an italian cop film called Mark il Poliziotto (Mark The Narc) that I found in a spotify playlist called Best Of Eurocrime that I cannot recommend enough. https://open.spotify.com/user/cinevox/playlist/1o3c0Con0ormlKc9r1gqxgSince

Last Wednesday - Highasakite: Highasakite might be the worst band name I've ever heard and they're so lucky this song is as good as it is that it cancels that out.

Hilary $wank - Joey Bada$$: I was originally just going to post the instrumental of this because the beat it just so, so good. So busy without being cluttered and nicely melodic without clouding the space for the vocals. I also like this song a lot because just by virtue of being so upbeat it escapes the worst parts of a lot of other Joey Bada$$ 'real hip hop' type songs that are going for a throwback vibe but end up just sounding dated.

Girls - Royal Headache: Girls! Think they're too fine for me! Oh Girls! And I'm inclined to agree!

Something To Tell You - Haim: I'm slowly coming around to Haim's second album and I've finally decided it's good actually. I just hope they do a live album or something soon because their songs are so tightly structured that I think it's almost to their detriment, and every live video I've seen of them they really pull them apart and expand them in a nice organic way that just doesn't come through on the album.

Lavender - BadBadNotGood & Kaytranada: I can't tell whether I like this orginal version or the Nightfall remix with Snoop Dogg better, the verses are just regular Snoop but the vocals they put on the chorus are so good I sort of wish there was a third version that was just them with some other rapper.

New Seeds - Boards Of Canada: Realising that the sound at the start of this is extrapolated from mobile phone interference was a shocking moment for me.

Alligator Engine - Hunters & Collectors: Hunters And Collectors early albums where they sounded like the Talking Heads of the Mad Max universe don't get enough respect because of their huge regular sounding hits a few albums later and it's areal shame because this song is pure primal funk.

Fly Like An Eagle - Seal: This is the song that plays on the little muzak speakers in the cryogenic chamber for the four minutes you're still conscious while your body cools to absolute zero. Then you wake up in 400 years still humming it.

Come To Dust - Boards Of Canada: I was having such a huge moment with this album this month and lamenting the imminent end of our favourite earth The Earth, and this is really such a peaceful sort of resolute song right near the end of the album before the real ending of Semena Mertvykh makes you feel like a body dumped in the desert for scientific research into the nature of decomposition.

Kiss You All Over - Millie Jackson: I'm still not sure how I feel about this new Millie Jackson album that's old multitracks re-mixed by Steve Levine. The whole thing sounds kind of whack. What's good however, is when she adlibs "I wanna bite you on the ankles baby" out of nowhere near the end, and then says "on the ankles.. on the kneecaps.." as the song's fading out.

The Sorcerer - Twain: My girlfriend sent me this song and I have no idea where she found it but I love it. As soon as I heard the opening line I was completely hooked. It's such a beautiful and foreboding song that I really can't get a proper read on, I love it.

Men Today - Health: I'm looking for a chrome extension that makes this song play at maximum volume whenever anyone makes a post containing the phrase 'men today'. Huge wall of noise. Bloodthirsty drums. All the dirt owns us now, what we were ends in the ground.

Where Love Lives - Frankie Knuckles: I'm eagerly awaiting the day coming soon that 90s piano house goes from naff to revered and rockets back up the charts.

Nein König Nein - DJ Koze: This is the B side to Seeing Aliens off of DJ Koze's new album and I really love it, mostly for the groove it get into about halfway through, it reminds me of High Fidelity by Daft Punk where it's just chopped to hell and builds these sort of disparate rhythmic cuts into a really melodic frankenstein.

Blush - Leon Vynehall: I think I found this song and the next one by Spotify Radio off of the DJ Koze song above. I got into a real groove at work one day and these two were the best two to come out of it. The bassline/strings melody that centres this whole song is so good and so circular it could feasibly play for two hours and I wouldn't notice.

Last Land - John Talabot: The way the vocal sample just keeps bleeding into itself is hypnotising here, and it's also maybe the best and most unique kick sound I've heard in a long time.

Suzinak - Ross From Friends: I almost feel bad for Ross From Friends because he's making some really amazing music but he's stuck with this dogshit soundcloud name. The Durutti Column sample that forms the basis of this song is really nicely placed without just feeling like a rip-off, but where this song really shines is in the last minute or so where it magically transitions into a crunching guitar driven thing that sounds like it's playing next door.

Canary Yellow - Deafheaven: The most incredible thing about this album is the sense of optimism that pervades it. This isn't a genre that really lends itself to hope or beauty but somehow Deafheaven have captured it in a way I didn't really think possible. It feels like they've expanded the emotional palette of the whole genre with this album, without sacrificing any of what makes it great.

Strutter - Kiss: I had this song stuck in my head the other day, but I'd remembered it wrong and had it mixed up with the chorus of Lovers And Sinners by Dallas Crane. In my version he's saying 'strutter' the way they say 'lovers'. There's an incredible song in there somewhere, but the original is pretty good too.

Lovers And Sinners - Dallas Crane: See above I guess. It's interesting listening to Dallas Crane now as a new generation is reappraising and being inspired by pub rock all over again and somehow the difference between Dallas Crane and Jet versus Bad//Dreems and Peep Tempel couldn't be more pronounced despite their shared roots. Where the former idolises the glamour of a bygone age of rock and roll the latter are reapprorating it in a more directly emotional, less flashy way.

Evryali - Iannis Xenakis: From what I understand from reading the wiki article on this piece this was generated by doing about five different kinds of extreme nerd graph maths and then turning that into music via more maths and when he finally turned up with the completed score it was so fucking stupid it had notes that don't physically exist on a standard piano in it. Now that's rock and roll. It's hard to make sense of this without the context of its composition because it feels incredibly random, but this performance by Stephnos Thomopoulos really brings meaning to the total chaos of it. I think solo piano is such a good medium for generative-type works like this because it feels like the simplest way to see everything happening without the tonal clutter of synthesised or orchestral sounds muddying the already extremely muddy waters.

Easy Way Out - Money For Rope: I love bands with two drummers and Money For Rope really know how to use two drummers, which is simply use them exactly like you would one drummer but pan them left and right so I can hear when they do different fills at the same time and get a thrill. A really good song about killing yourself when you're old(?)

Sophisticated Lady - Art Tatum: I've been having a big Art Tatum phase recently and it's hard to overstate just how much I believe Art Tatum came from another planet to teach us about the piano. He is really and truly from another dimension. So off the charts insanely good at making a whole universe from a simple tune. It's like every single note gets its own full trip around the block before he moves on.

Stay As Sweet As You Are - Art Tatum: This is an absolute odyssey in five minutes. Without ever losing focus, or losing track of the central theme, it's like he takes it apart piece by piece and reassembles it anew every single bar right before your eyes.

No Line On The Horizon - U2: 2000s U2 gets a bad rap, and it's mostly deserved but there's still some very good stuff in there. This song is so good, and so nicely produced it's a real shame that it opens the album that eventually contains Get On Your Boots.

Tools Down - The Presets: Not only is this song great, but they use the exact same synth sound as the one they used for Madeline's voice in Celeste, which has the nice side effect of making it seem like Madeline is singing along to this great song.

Open Sesame (12" Version) - Kool & The Gang: I've definitely put this on my list before but this is probably the best song ever recorded. It's incredible top to bottom for all 9 minutes and never fails to put me in a great mood.

Peril - Martin O'Donnell: I was thinking about the Halo 2 soundtrack and was shocked to remember correctly that this strange Enya knock-off made it into the highest selling game of 2004.

Drumgasm - Weiss/Cameron/Hill: I cannot belive I haven't heard of this album before now. It's Janet Weiss from Sleater-Kinney, Matt Cameron from Pearl Jam and Zach Hill all playing drums for 40 minutes and it's incredible. I would never have expected Weiss and Cameron to be the sort of drummers to do something like this, but they absolutely nail it. The different styles of the three really meld well and they all seem to lead at different times. This album is the sort of thing that seems like it would be extremely exhausting, and probably would be in most circumstances but somehow they pulled it off. It's engaging and for the most part, driven, purposeful music with direction; which is saying a lot for an album of three drummers just going absolutely hard as motherfuckers for most of an hour.

Apollo - St Paul & The Broken Bones: I love this song but the way he sings the first line makes me laugh because it sounds almost exactly like Drew Tarver's Donny Gary character. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9ArjvUUptw and I'm blessed to have this song about reusing mcdonalds cups play in my head every single time I'm in a mcdonalds.

Million Times Alone - Bad//Dreems: This is maybe the best song about working night shift and having depression I've ever heard. The part about sleeping in the day in the bright sun in a boiling hot house is an especially vicious sense memory for me.

Slow Mover - Angie McMahon: My girlfriend showed me this and I absolutely love it. I also feel extremely old because I just googled it and apparently it's an Unearthed song that made the Hottest 100 this year and I didn't even notice. The best approximation I can make of how I feel about this song is the google autocomplete when you google it that goes 'angie mcmagon slow mover meaning?' and the top comment on the Genius page for it that says 'I cried my eyes out when I first heard this song.’

Drop The Bomb (feat. MF DOOM) - YOTA: Youth Of The Apocalypse: This is the new band from the non-Clash guitarist and bassist from Gorillaz, as well as Jamie Reynolds from Klaxons and I'm so glad it exists because the new Gorillaz album was such a snore and this really feels like what it should have been. Somehow it seems Damon Albarn is not the thing that makes Gorillaz great, it's the other guys which is very very strange.

Word Up - Cameo: Mostly thinking about this song because of Carl Tart's extremely good episode of Comedy Bang Bang where he spoke in the cadence of this and the other Cameo song for the whole episode https://www.earwolf.com/episode/word-down/

Lee - Tenacious D: I don't know what's going on but I got into a real Tenacious D thing this month. Thinking deeply about comedy music for some reason. Anyway this song is so much fun and it reminds me of Tony's Theme by Pixies.

Tony's Theme - Pixies: I love the idea of writing a nonsense song about your friend Tony, who you love, to put right in the middle of your otherwise pretty serious alt rock album. If you know any other songs in the genre of Lee and Tony's Theme please reply and tell me them because I think it's really funny genre.

Burning Down The House - Tom Jones & The Cardigans: I woke up one morning with the sound of Tom Jones singing 'strange but not a stranger' in my head and it took me so much googling to find out it was this version of Burning Down The House that I was thinking of, without having heard it in probably ten years. I like that this song is ostensibly a duet but Nina Persson has such a thin voice and Tom Jones is the most powerful man to have ever lived that she's sort of just automatically relegated to backing vocals by default.

Horseshoe Crabs - Hop Along: I heard about this from the Jason Mantzoukas What's In My Bag video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecfWVhz-wyc. I cannot believe how her voice sounds, it's just incredible. The way she sings "baby's heading home" at the start shocked me, it sounds like recordings of three different people cut together. It's just amazing. I already loved this song a lot and then when I looked into it I found out it's about Jackson C. Frank and it made me cry.

Long Wat - Khun Narin: This is another one I got from the Jason Mantzoukas What's In My Bag video, it's a Thai pschedelic street band and it's quite simply the jam of a lifetime.

listen here

#playlists

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acehotel · 6 years

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Interview: Justin Strauss with Kasper Bjørke

Kasper Bjørke is something of an electronic music octopus — the Danish-born DJ has had his hand in everything from production, performance, curation, art filmmaking and composition. Influenced by the burgeoning New York club scene in the early aughts and the likes of Giorgio Moroder, The Cure and Run-D.M.C., Bjørke’s eclectic range spans techno, new wave, disco and what he calls “music for DJs.”

For this edition of Just/Talk, resident DJ and longtime Ace friend Justin Strauss chats with Kasper about finding his feet in the shapeshifting electronic music scene, playing shows in old bowling alleys, his love of New York hip-hop and needing a license to dance.

Justin Strauss: Here we are in Copenhagen. Are you originally from here?

Kasper Bjørke: Actually I was not born in Copenhagen, I’m from a small city like an hour from here. I moved here when I was a teenager.

JS: And had you already been into music as a teenager?

KB: I was always listening to music, yeah. When I was around 22 in 1998–99, I started to produce music with a friend of mine on an old Atari computer and an Akai mono sampler. We were sampling loops from old disco records, and we were very inspired by Masters at Work and Daft Punk.

JS: Were you able to get music released fairly quickly?

KB: Yeah, I don't know if we were lucky or if it was a curse, but we got signed to the same label that released Laid Back, well, the same A&R that signed Laid Back and Ace of Base. So he had a big vision for us, in terms of what we should do, and we were so young, that we just kind of followed his instructions. Somehow we ended up doing these vocal-based disco house tracks and got a radio hit that brought us to Japan three times in a year and around Europe, touring a lot. So quite quickly, the label started to put a lot of money into us.

JS: What was the name of the band?

KB: It was called Filur, named after a Danish ice cream, a popsicle. So silly. We made three or four albums together, and then in the mid 2000s, my friend started a band called WhoMadeWho, he was the drummer, and I started doing solo albums.

JS: And was there a scene, like a dance music scene going on here in Copenhagen at that time?

KB: Yeah. It was pretty small. I think that’s partly why we were quite successful, because there was not much competition at the time [laughing], there were not that many people producing electronic music here, so we had a head start somehow. And that also made us able to live from making music quite early. Because of the crossover commercial success, we both were able to do more “left field” stuff, after our project ended.

JS: And what were you listening to growing up? What were you influenced by?

KB: As a teenager, from 87 to 92, 93, the only thing I was listening to was hip-hop and I was collecting vinyl at that time. When I was even younger, I was listening to and collecting soundtracks, I was really into John Carpenter, Vangelis, Giorgio Moroder, and I ended up listening to electronic music in the mid-90s after a detour of being heavily into Britpop, Depeche Mode and The Cure. I started going to raves and parties in CPH, and that's how I got inspired to produce electronic music.

JS: And had you started to DJ at this time?

KB: No, DJ'ing came after I started making music, actually. We had to tour with our band project to promote the releases, and we actually started playing live before we were DJ’ing. We quickly found out that logistically and financially it made much more sense to DJ, because then we were just two guys traveling instead of five or six people. So yeah, then DJ'ing became the thing — and I was very bad at it at first and very nervous as well.

JS: You started DJ'ing with vinyl records?

KB: Yeah, vinyl only… I did that up until my record bag got stolen one time after a gig at Iceland Airwaves Festival, I think maybe in 2005, 2006. And then I was forced to, quickly for my next gig, burn some CDs and try out those CD players that I had been hating on for so long [laughing]. And then I got caught up in that. I am still buying some vinyl, I still collect vinyl, but I don't travel with it anymore. Then the whole digital USB thing started up, I tried that as well and I was like, “Okay, wow, let's just do this.”

JS: And then you started to travel internationally, DJ'ing and started releasing Kasper Bjørke records.

KB: Yeah, my first solo album got signed to Plant Music which was based in New York, and I produced the biggest part of that album in New York, actually. I was collaborating with a few people from New York as well, like Kap10kurt, as he was called at the time, who is still a close friend of mine today. Allison Pierce from The Pierces, which is a band from New York as well, was singing on one of the singles. And Dennis Young, the percussionist from Liquid Liquid was playing percussion on some tracks... I was finding my feet on that album and New York was definitely a big influence.

JS: What year was this?

KB: 2006.

JS: So around the same time DFA records in New York was starting to release records, and this whole new wave of things in New York was taking shape.

KB: Yes, I was majorly influenced by DFA, and I was friends with Dominique Keegan from Plant Music, and he took me to the Plantain building at the time where DFA had their office there, and where he had his office as well. So I got all the early DFA promos on vinyl. Still treasure them to this day.

JS: Did you go to the Plant Bar?

KB: I think Plant Bar had recently shut down at the time. But I heard a lot of stories about how things went down there, and how they lost their dance license, which to me sounded like the most insane thing ever, that you needed a license to dance.

JS: It's always been some sort of plague in New York that it was illegal to dance in certain situations. There was a huge campaign against it and recently it was repealed.

KB: What a relief. I do remember back then, there were some really fun unofficial illegal parties. I recall playing at one out in Brooklyn somewhere called Gunther — together with Max Pask, James Friedman, Andrew Potter — it was in an old bowling alley in a basement. So much fun.

JS: So you spent a lot of time in New York then?

KB: I did, yeah, and I came back for recordings on the next albums as well. I also just spent a lot of time in New York hanging out with friends, partying and DJ'ing, I played at some of the fun clubs around at that time like 205, Annex, Love — at Tribeca Grand, I played at a really great Modular Party. In the more recent years, I played quite a few times at Le Bain and after that I had a sort of residency at Output in The Panther Room for a couple of years, when they opened up.

JS: New York, it seems like, had a big influence on you.

KB: Yes for sure, as I said, even as a kid when I started listening to hip-hop music, New York was the center of it all.

JS: You were listening to New York hip-hop?

KB: Yes mainly. As soon as rap became too gangster, I lost interest. I mean I was a fan of NWA, but never really listened a lot to East Coast rap, Tupac and Wu-Tang and all that — I was more into Tribe, Jungle Brothers, Run-D.M.C., Black Sheep and so on. Anyway, later in my life, the whole house scene from New York was the most inspiring thing and, of course, also the whole post-punk and disco new wave scene with ESG, Liquid Liquid, Suicide, Talking Heads, etc. They were so inspiring — and then to be able to actually go there and make my own music and DJ there, it was really important for my development and self-esteem as a solo producer. Up until just a few years ago, I would go to New York at least two times a year. But after Trump became President, I just didn’t feel like going to the States. Around the same time, I became a father, and I still don’t want to travel too far away from him, not yet. I also try my best to keep my carbon footprint to a minimum, so it’s probably going to be a while before I will go back.

JS: So how many Kasper Bjørke albums have you released now as a solo artist?

KB: Five solo albums up until now, and now there's the sixth album, which is actually credited as Kasper Bjørke Quartet, because I recorded it together with some friends of mine that really added a lot to the music. The album just came out on Kompakt.

JS: And the previous albums, do they have a sound connecting them or each time you went for a different style or vibe?

KB: I really tried to refine my own sound on each new album, a kind of post-disco, new wave sound with a more commercial approach, using feature vocalists on the singles. I guess that stayed with me from my first project, that I had with my friend — I wanted to try to build a bridge between radio and club music, and also do albums that you could listen to at home. I also liked ambient music at that time, like one track on an album would be ambient or downtempo... But yeah, I was refining my own sound up until a point where I was like, okay, now I'm just kind of sick and tired of listening to my own sound, [laughing]. So the fifth album was a little bit of a detour, which was called Fountain of Youth. It was more a “straight for the club” kind of album. Music for DJs. I've always had remixes done for the singles from my album. They were really important to my music, because I needed those remixed versions for the DJs to play out.

JS: And you've done a lot of remixes yourself for other artists?

KB: Yeah and many of these ended up becoming swaps, where you do remixes for each other, which I think is great, it's a great way to collaborate.

JS: What are some of the artists whose work you have remixed?

KB: Hmm… There are so many… Sascha Funke, SONNS, Trentemøller, The Golden Filter, Rebolledo... I can’t remember [laughing]. I think I did around 40–50 remixes these past 10–12 years…

JS: And do you enjoy it when people remix your stuff?

KB: Yeah, especially because I have always been the curator, I’m the one that picks out the remixers, it’s not the labels. So I also got to know a lot of great people through that, like Axel Boman, Moscoman, Marvin & Guy, yourself and Bryan Mette aka Whatever/Whatever, Superpitcher, Michael Mayer, Nicolas Jaar, Mano Le Tough, Gerd Janson… I also think it's a great way to expand your network in the scene in that way, and it's so much fun to have people that you admire interpret your music. Nicolas Jaar for example, I was lucky enough to reach him via MySpace at that time, when he was still just getting started with Wolf + Lamb, and I wrote him and he said yes to remixing the cover version I did of “Heaven” by The Rolling Stones — and then he totally blew up right after.

JS: That's one of the great things about the internet. I mean there's a lot of things that maybe aren't so good, but the way you can connect with people. I've just met so many people that I never would have met, that I never knew, who liked what I did. And have become friends in real life with people that I respected, just by writing them a note.

KB: Yeah, you can reach out to basically anybody and get a reply, even if it's a “no,” it's all good...

JS: And in the age of the internet and DJ'ing and where it's gotten us to this point, what are your thoughts on the current state of dance music in general?

KB: Well it's a little bit stale, isn’t it…? I mean there's definitely still great stuff going on out there, but somehow it's the same labels that I've always been following, that I still like the most. Of course there's new things like Moscoman's Disco Halal or Soulwax’s DEEWEE label, but it's usually the people who really know what they're doing and have been around for a long time. There's so many new labels and generic sounding releases. I got to say, I only go to Beatport maybe twice a year to buy a few tracks, if I don't get them some other way. It doesn't really appeal to me, the whole tech house, deep house scene that is out there. And I think it also reflects a little bit in the way that some clubs book their lineups, it seems a little bit watered down somehow. But there are, of course, still great parties and great clubs around, but somehow most of them are the same that have been great for many years, you know.

JS: Do you miss the days of like going to a record store and buying 10 records and like really knowing them instead of getting inundated with thousands of promos and online purchases?

KB: Totally! I loved going every week to the two local record stores in Copenhagen called Street Dance Records and Loud. I think it was on Tuesdays that we got the new records here, and all the DJs in Copenhagen would stand in line and fight for those three to five copies of each release. I spent all my money on it every week — and it was amazing.

JS: Did you have a DJ residency here in Copenhagen?

KB: Yeah, I've had many through the years... These days I don’t want to have a residency as much, but I host two, maybe, three nights a year at a little club called Jolene. It is 150 people in a small space, and it's free entry, and there's a smoke machine, a laser and a great sound system, and it's a really great party atmosphere. Then I invite friends, like yourself and Tim Sweeney, Axel Boman and Marvin & Guy to come and play with me. It’s seven hours back-to-back. A complete trip from open to close. I enjoy that a lot. Then I, of course, also play regularly in clubs around Europe that invite me back every year. Which kind of feels like a residency... But yeah when I'm home, I try not to play too much.. I'd rather spend that time with the family, to be honest.

JS: And you're involved in the business side of things for other artists as a manager. So you get to see things from both sides of the spectrum, as a manager for Trentemøller, who is a huge artist, and you have a few other acts you're working with as well. How does that work with your own career?

KB: Sometimes it's hard to find time for going into the studio and work on my own projects. Because I'm always prioritizing the interests of the artists first that I work with, I'm never putting them aside to do something for myself. So when I produce an album or a track or an EP, I have to schedule it around what’s going on with them. So I wouldn't sit down and produce an album at the same time that Trentemøller would be launching a new album, because I know there is going to be a lot of work with his campaign. So there is definitely some compromises in that way - which I am totally cool with. I really enjoy this other aspect of my career. It makes me happy to see other artists do well and succeed and advance in their career. Maybe more so than myself actually, or at least it makes me just as happy to see the artists that I work with have success.

JS: Have you ever worked with other producers for your own material and have someone produce your work?

KB: No, no, never, no. I would never let anyone else touch it [laughing].

JS: Tell me about how your new album project on Kompakt came about and your interest in ambient music.

KB: Ambient is something I listen to a lot actually. I've had trouble sleeping and it helps me relax — and also when I’m flying, which I am super scared of, it calms me down. So I've listened to ambient for many years… Then seven years ago, I got a cancer diagnosis which was, of course, a life-changing experience. I was very lucky though, in the sense that I didn't need any chemo or radiation, I just needed an operation. After a five-year checkup period of regular CT scannings and blood work, the doctors let you go. During those five years, I decided that I needed to process the whole experience of having anxiety of a relapse, creatively through music. So, I decided that I wanted to make an ambient album to document my experience through instrumental ambient soundscapes. I didn't want to start making the music until after I was done with the checkups at the hospital. So after I had my last test results, I put together the Quartet. First of all, my friend Claus Norreen, who has an amazing analog studio with all the old synthesizers you can dream of, everything's set up amazingly. I went in with him and recorded these long synthesizer atmospheres, all recorded live, no MIDI or software. We didn't use the computer as anything else, except a recording device. We just hit record and then multi-tracked the synthesizers and reverbs and delays, space echo… It was a trip and it all happened very naturally.

Afterwards I asked another friend of mine called Jakob Littauer, an amazing pianist and musician, and I recorded him playing piano in a concert hall on a Steinway Grand Piano, and also on an old upright piano in a studio space, where you can really hear the body of the instrument, the noise it makes, the hammers. Finally I asked an old friend of mine, the Italian string composer Davide Rossi — who has worked with everybody from Coldplay to John Hopkins and Ennio Morricone — and Davide then played the cello and violin on the compositions, and that's how the whole album came about, really. Then I mixed and edited everything in my own studio, but tried to keep it as live and as free and spontaneous as possible. I named it The Fifty Eleven Project, after the department 5011 at the hospital where I was going for checkups those five years.

JS: And how long did this whole process take from when you started it to when it was finished?

KB: Recording the whole thing took maybe like six to eight months. Putting everything together, mixing everything. And then I sent it to Michael Mayer from Kompakt, as the only label actually. And he wrote back that he loved it and he wanted to release it. But the only problem was, that he didn't have time in his release schedule until October 2018 — this was like a year ago. But I decided to wait, because I thought that Kompakt was the perfect home for this album project.

JS: This kind of music doesn't really have an expiration date.

KB: Exactly. Then another idea came into the project and made it much bigger. I spoke to a friend, a director from LA, called Justin Tyler Close and asked him if he would like to make a music video for one of these super long compositions that I recorded, the whole album is two hours long. Instead we came up with the idea that actually it should not be just one music video, but one film for each of the 11 compositions. So 11 art films — that’s two hours of film, shot on 16mm here in Denmark this past summer. It’s been a crazy project that’s taken so much time and effort from everybody involved, but it came out amazing, I think.

JS: Will we be able to see these films?

KB: Yes - as an exhibition for now, not online yet. It just showed here in Copenhagen for 10 days in a huge space on 11 screens with headphones. The exhibition will travel to LA next, then hopefully New York, Paris, Berlin… We will see. We are still setting up the logistics. In the meantime, just one of the films will go online which I am very excited about — the film made for the composition, "Dur For Vitus,” which is my favorite track from the album.

JS: It's quite an ambitious project.

KB: It's very ambitious.

JS: And one thing I know about you is your interest in art, and how that relates and intersects with music, or doesn't sometimes. But it certainly was a big part of this project.

KB: Yes. I have been working with the American artist Landon Metz, who is based in New York. I’m a big fan of his work. Landon said, “Yes,” to paint three unique works for the album cover after I sent him the album demos. He was actually listening to the music in his studio when he was painting these works. The vinyl box, with the three vinyl sleeves inside and a poster, has turned out so beautiful and I am so happy and grateful that Landon would be part of the project.

JS: It's a beautiful looking and sounding project, and I’m looking forward to experiencing the exhibition when it comes to New York.

KB: I hope it does, yes.

JS: What's in the future for you musically after this?

KB: After setting up the exhibition and the album release, I haven't had any inspiration to do new music for myself, to be honest… I’m just currently working on some advertisement music. I’ve recently done music for Nike, Prada, Mazda and other brands, which is something that I can do with a different kind of mindset than having to do new music for myself. The next thing will probably be an EP, that I hope will come some time next year.

JS: Okay, we'll look forward to all of it.

KB: Me too!

For more information about Kasper’s The Fifty Eleven Project, go here.

#justtalk #just talk #ace hotel #ace hotel new york #ace hotel nyc #kasper bjorke #kasper bjørke #justin strauss #interview #yes #dj #electronic music #kasper bjørke quartet

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howaminotinthestrokesyet · 3 years

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Behind The Album: Chinese Democracy (Was It Any Good?)

For the most part, the album was met with generally positive reviews. Los Angeles Times writer Ann Powers even compared it a little bit to Brian Wilson, which is always a great compliment. Chuck Klosterman thought the vocals and guitars were great, but did find issue with certain elements of the production. Rolling Stone said that the album was “a great, audacious, unhinged and uncompromising hard-rock record.” Other reviews saw the songs as larger works like a suite in classical music terms. Kitty Rock writing for The Observer made the claim that Axl Rose simply copied verbatim a Nine Inch Nails album. Pitchfork stated as well that the album overall was good, but the sound was 10 years late. People did not like music that sounded like that anymore. Biographer Steven Davis, who actually wrote a book on Guns N’ Roses, thought the album was the worst ever. You can take that with a grain of salt as he has proven over the course of his catalog to be quite subjective in assessing any band. Another interesting perspective came from Robert Christgau on the album as he wrote for MSN Music at the time. He saw it as fascinating to see Axl Rose try to do this type of album after finding so much success with the hard rock of Appetite For Destruction. I think a lot of people appreciated creatively what Axl Rose was attempting with the album. Although, he did not quite succeed to a great degree of success, but they gave him credit for even giving it a try.

Axl’s former band mates were more than complementary about Chinese Democracy. Slash would say about the album, “It's a really good record. It's very different from what the original Guns N' Roses sounded like, but it's a great statement by Axl ... It's a record that the original Guns N' Roses could never possibly make. And at the same time it just shows you how brilliant Axl is." Izzy Stradlin also enjoyed the record saying, "I have listened to some tracks off the record and I enjoyed them.” Although, he did also say that he was not sure if it was worth a 10 year wait either. Other former band members similarly reacted very positively to the release of the record, except for Steven Adler. He said that he did not like the album one bit alluding to the fact that he could not even recognize Axl’s voice on the record. The only other band member to agree with Adler was Tracii Guns, who thought the record was quite boring and not very exciting at all.

I went back to listen to the album in full. Upon its release, I had tried listening to it, but never really committed to the whole thing. I remember a friend saying that this album was the greatest thing ever, and he meant it not as an exaggeration. Some things stood out as I went through some of the tracks that I had merely glanced over 12 years ago. This is an album that is filled with moments, where it is really good. Yet, the problem is that there are also many more moments, where the album is not so good. There seems to be an overriding sense of rambling. I have never made such a comparison before, but the songs seem to go nowhere again and again. There is an apparent lack of structure to the songs making their lyrics quite an issue because you are just waiting for something to happen, but it never does. Many of the tracks almost feel like they belong in a musical, where the singer is also pushing the plot along as he speaks to the audience. Some songs you do not even have any sort of chorus as the only thing comes in the mere mention of the name of the song in passing in a couple of lines. The beginning and ending of certain tracks are very good, but the middle part, which should be a great hook almost never delivers that catchy middle part like in the song “Rocket Queen.” You never get that great middle part to sing along with, which is also very disappointing. As for the comparison to industrial rock or Nine Inch Nails, I can see no such similarity. I would probably put this music closer to early 2000’s generic, cookie cutter, corporate rock along the lines of maybe Blink-182 or something like that. Finally, I do see where people criticize the production or the sound of the record because you can tell that it is slightly less than professional throughout the record.

The legacy of Chinese Democracy will always be that the build up, the delays, the leaks, and all the other drama that went along with it outweighs the content of the album itself. In order for the work to live up to the enormous expectations built up around it was for the record to never come out at all. There reached a point where people were no longer interested in what was actually going to be on the album, rather they were more excited by delay after delay because it made for a good copy. Spin Magazine would go on to say that an entire industry had been made from writing about Chinese Democracy. Stephen Hyde of Grantland talked about the album as a warning to other artists and groups to never allow the behind the scenes story to outweigh the actual work itself. This served as a notice to groups like the Beastie Boys, David Bowie, Daft Punk, and others to remain quiet about any work in the studio until the album is released. Ultimateclassicrock.com said as much in an article on their site mentioning that nobody really cared that the album was fairly decent because the backstory had completely overtaken any concern artistically about the album. This is the last thing that Axl Rose probably wanted was for the public to stop caring about what was actually on the album. Jim Derogatis looked upon the album as a musical version of the Godfather Part III, where there were quite a few expectations built up, but when the final product was viewed became a tremendous disappointment. Finally, the New York Times saw the album as one of the last times you will see a record company bow down to the overindulgence of a pop or a rock star. In the do it yourself world of making albums today, you will never see a record ever again receive the budget assistance that it did for the first six years or so. The music industry refuses to spend that kind of money on one artist probably ever again.

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musicmapglobal · 6 years

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How Daehan's beats spread from San Francisco to Seoul

Born in the Bay Area and now based in Los Angeles, Daehan has managed to build a following that flows from California to South Korea, where his parents hail from. Prolific on SoundCloud and now also working as a producer for Korean hit factory Joombas Music Group, Daehan’s fresh, summery sound is perfectly suited to both sides of the Pacific.

We asked the producer to tell us a bit more about his journey so far…

Tell us about your name Daehan and how it relates to your music…

Daehan is my Korean name! I have a twin brother and his name is Mingook, and together our names are Daehan Mingook which means the Republic of Korea. My grandpa gave us the names, he’s super patriotic. I couldn’t think of a name to use for my music so I thought I would use my Korean name since it’s not such a common name anyway.

When did you first start exploring the world of music production?

My first attempt at ‘music production’ was in my first year of college. I didn’t know what a DAW was then but I did know how to play a bit of piano and read music, so I started using this website called Noteflight. I was really into a Japanese house group called freeTEMPO so the first song I created was inspired by them. On my birthday in that same year, my friend got me a launchpad that came out with Ableton Lite, and from there the rest is history.

You’ve said your ‘sounds from space’ EP was inspired by Daft Punk, Stein’s Gate and space. In what ways do you think those inspirations are visible/audible?

The illustration of the EP is one of the characters from Stein’s Gate, Makise Kurisu, except her hair is colored as space which was a real genius move by the person who made it (s/o David Choi! he’s only 14). The overall feel I wanted to go for was that spacey anime vibe, and I couldn’t help but think of Daft Punk’s Discovery, especially along with the spacey musical-anime Interstella 5555 that featured on that album. I didn’t exactly know how to tie the two different things together, but I really liked the vibes I got from watching both Stein’s Gate and Interstella so I tried to recapture them. The song ‘’Scuse Me Miss’, especially the bass line, is inspired by Daft Punk’s ‘Voyager’. And the last song ‘Digi Luv’ is obviously a cover of Daft Punk’s ‘Digital Love’. I wanted to throw in some lines from Stein’s Gate in one of the songs, and I thought ‘Digi Luv’ would be the perfect one to throw some weird Mayuri quotes into.

As for the other songs, I feel it’s the chords and the use of ducking-reverbed synths that make them feel spacey. Overall, this was the first time I had a specific feeling I wanted to capture with my music VS just diving in and creating a song without knowing how it’ll end up. Since I was close to 2000 followers that time and had some news about going full-time music to share, I decided ‘hey I’ll drop a lil EP thing once I hit 2000 as well as announce the news in its description’.

How would you define your music to someone without musical knowledge?

Vibey, dancey, futuristic music for da soul~~~~

What do you think you offer to your listeners?

I try to make my songs melodically pleasing more than anything. And on top of that, I introduce the trendier elements of Trap, Future Bass, etc. More than just beats, I hope I’m offering my listeners good MUSIC.

What is your relationship with South Korea. How do you think it influences your music?

I wasn’t born in Korea though my parents were and emigrated to California. I’m born and raised in the Bay Area, but culturally I think I’m pretty Korean: Korean was my first language, Korean music was my first exposure to music, I grew up eating mostly Korean food, etc. I’ve done some flips of Korean songs, but besides that, I’m not exactly sure how me being Korean influences my music haha. But with my fairly new job as a producer with 153 Ent. Creative / Joombas Music Group, I’m making music directly for the Korean listener, and I’m sure that creating music for the Korean market will def have an impact on my own sound as well.

Your music resonates with South Korea’s scene. How does this music style work in California?

I didn’t plan for it to happen, but I feel like more than anything my username along with its Korean characters in parentheses helped Seoul become my number one listener out of all the cities in the world. But then again, the future-beats scene is pretty big in Korea! I see a lot of the artists that I follow perform there from time to time + there are some amazing producers in Korea. Future-beats is pretty huge in California, especially with Soulection being based in LA. I also met and befriended A LOT of local people who are into this style of music.

Unlike other musical styles, in the electronic music world it’s really common to release singles rather than albums. In your case, during 2017 you released 6 singles on Spotify. Why do you think this different way of working exists in the electronic music world, and why do you release singles and not an album? What does this way of sharing your music offer you?

I never thought about this! But it’s definitely a lot easier to create one song than a whole album. An album obviously requires many songs and a lot more thought + preparation cuz there’s usually some concept connecting all the songs. But with a single, it could be whatever you end up making. And I think a lot of electronic music producers today, even the bigger ones, are bedroom producers like me who are just experimenting and having fun with their craft and end up making a single in that way.

I personally feel I’m not ready to release an album, an album is a huge statement and I think it makes sense to release one when people are familiar with your style. I don’t think I’ve exactly found my sound yet but I hope that time comes soon! Also, singles are much easier to listen to than a whole album, an album could be like 10 songs. I personally don’t go through a whole album of an artist unless I REALLY like that artist.

What are the ideal conditions for you to be able to compose at ease?

Being by myself in my bedroom. I feel like I perform best when I’m not feeling watched or pressured. The minute I feel these things, I get super self-conscious, slow and too critical. When I’m by myself I have no one to please, so I can just have fun and allow the creation process to happen rather than force it.

Can you show us the view from your window?

The view from Daehan’s window…

Interview by Benet Serra

#Anime #California #Daehan #Daft Punk #freeTEMPO #future bass #future beats #joombas music group #los angeles #San Francisco #Soulection #south korea

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edmtranslations · 7 years

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Electro Book 2013 - Daft Punk Interview [Text Version]

(This is a text version of the full PDF-based translation that I have done, for mobile readers and non-PDF suited environments. Please enjoy!)

2000 was a gloomy year for all. After Radiohead's Kid A, rife with all the insecurities and terror that came with the end of a millennium, commercialized music became the norm; but Discovery, released the year immediately after, was a truly daring attempt to recover a sense of celebration through music once more. The desire for people to remember once again their desire to believe in music - this immense pop spectacle, born through the will to achieve this desire and the traces of a past now long gone, has since continued to be an influence for countless forces of electronica. This interview was given at the time of the album's release, during a priceless face-to-face meeting with Daft Punk themselves, which we reproduce here.

- A Compact, Timeless Work -

— Listening to the album made us feel as if we were about to float away at any moment. It's been a long time since we listened to a work that had this much of a powerful effect on us; as for yourselves, how do you feel about completing a work of this caliber?

Thomas Bangalter (henceforth ‘Thomas’): We're satisfied with it. We've been more blatant about the emotional factor with this one. There is of course a degree of instability involved whenever one lets show their personal side, but the fact that we attempted something new would make up for it, we thought. And after all of that, we're very happy with the results!

— This album is pop music that's long since surpassed the specific limits of dance music. Were you also aware that you were approaching a new angle?

Thomas: That's right. I don't know whether taking a new angle is always a good thing, necessarily - but my life's philosophy is that when you've made something, you make something better the next time around, or at least attempt to do so. Or do all of that at the same time! I hate the idea that something made at a later point in time could be inferior to a work that came before. I can barely stand it if it's on par with a previous work. It's hard for me to claim personally that this album is better than the last or that something we do will be different from the previous one, but I most certainly think so. We didn't want to do what we'd done before, anyhow.

— We thought this album had a truly original sound, with its form possessing a timeless charm. Were you conscious of the fact that you were creating such compact and pop-esque songs?

Thomas: Compact, timeless - we definitely were conscious of those things, but I have to confess that 'pop-esque' isn't a favourite phrase of ours. If by 'pop' you mean music that encompasses all kinds, including disco, heavy metal, punk, rock, then that's a good expression. But otherwise, if you mean something more limited, I don't think that's the right descriptor to use. That's why we don't call our music 'pop music' and have no plans to do so. Look at Michael Jackson, everyone calls him the 'King of Pop' -

Guy-Manuel (henceforth 'Guy'): - Or the Beatles.

Thomas: That's right. You could call their music 'pop' in the sense that they were forever experimenting.

Guy: The word 'pop' being used to describe anything seems either too excessive, or too light and devoid of consequence. To call something 'pop-esque' anyhow. But maybe it means something different, I don't know.

Thomas: I mean, consider Prince: rockabilly, heavy metal, punk, R&B, he had it all. Michael Jackson? - Punk, heavy metal, he had them too. Queen conquered everything from disco to hard rock. They're the true pop icons, the people who defined the kind of music we like. The kind with lots of different components melded in it, without sticking to a single style. But 'pop' comes from 'popular', of course, which implies in itself the idea of drawing people's attention; we don't want to be judged like that, that we must be doing this for popularity's sake. Music comes to us naturally and we like music that sounds it. We make music not for anybody specific, but purely because of self-satisfaction. Like... we started off in electronic music, where an original sound was always important. But of course, it's hard to balance out your sound constantly for the sake of originality, and there's always the contradiction that depending on the person, it may become harder to understand or keep hold of what's forever changing. We also love a simple sound, but we'd be the first to admit that to make something simple and experimental is very difficult.

- The Reason for Change -

— This album is incredibly positive and overflowing with joy. Why is that?

Guy: We adore all the emotions, and all the possible expressions of them, that can be demonstrated through music - but out of all of them, I think we favour what can be done with such things as euphoria or happiness. There's plenty to like about the darker parts of emotion, but this album at least is about the joy that comes with the very act of making music and sharing it with other people.

Thomas: Our current priorities in our lives really are towards enjoyment. We do like dark and melancholy music too, but...

Guy: I don’t want people to become sad. I mean, we sink too, sometimes… but I don’t want other people to ever feel that way.

Thomas: Ultimately, the purpose of our music is that people listen to it and become happy. The easiest way to pull that off nowadays is just to make something positive. There's a sadness in that, too - an affirmative sadness, almost. Like how crying is sometimes the most natural or the best thing to do. Basically, we'd like to accept the world in a positive light, including all that is sad or bad about it. I almost wonder if that comes across as immature or mere wordplay depending on the person - but, but it doesn't matter. As Guy-Manuel said earlier, we're always attempting to try out new things, so the next album might be darker, more gothic - more... self-destructive.

— In regards to your upcoming collaboration with Matsumoto Leiji, what about it do you think really supports what you are attempting to express?

Thomas: His work is incredibly original and psychedelic, like he was drawing something straight from a dream. His work is somewhere between manga/animation and what one would generally call art. You can often find a so-called artistic sharpness within the area of animation, and considering that - yes, his work can definitely be recognized as art.

Guy: He crafts an original world of his own. If you look closely at all of his works, they're all linked together in some way; it's clear that nothing short of an entire 'Matsumoto Leiji World' is on his mind. It's of such a vast scale that I think it might be too complex for us to understand in full, but he knows perfectly what he's doing. His work is on a different plane compared to something for kids, like... Candy Candy.

Thomas: An entire epic! Rather like Star Wars, I guess. He has an entire world planned out in his head.

— There's something one calls the 'rule of pop' - you can't be lacking in merit in addition to your music, or you need the looks to match, or that you can only do well if you have a characteristic that sets you apart. These are such old-fashioned ideals, and we wondered if you might question them as well.

Thomas: I don't know if we question them half as much as we consider them calculated. We're not so much directly in opposition of those ideals... at least, the things that influenced us in the past tend to follow those ideals, so we'd say that. But we do want to prove that there are other ways. Not in the sense that we carve out a new direction, though, and compel everyone else to join us. The fact that we're always trying out new things implies in itself the message: there are infinite ways to work on something. We don't show our faces; that's not intended to deny the people who do. We're simply trying to show that there are multiple ways to express something!

Disclaimer: The original text of this interview, given by Daft Punk and printed in Crossbeat Presents Electro Book 2013, is not copyrighted by this blog nor by the author of this post. Therefore, the original Japanese text will not be distributed here. The author claims ownership of the wording of this translation, which does not deny nor seek to possess the existence of other translations. This translation may be subject to changes in the future.

#text version #daft punk #interview translations #crossbeat presents electro book 2013 #electro book #electro book 2013 #luminatranslations #edmtranslations

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gleitzman · 7 years

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B-boys on E

It's widely known that marijuana and hip hop are inextricably linked - just turn on the radio or take your pick of MCs becoming poster-boys of weed culture. However, there's a more obscure branch of rap references dating back to the early 90's that have another target in focus: ecstasy. In December of 2000, Simon Reynolds penned an article for the webzine of London-based record label Hyperdub, which now boasts artists such as DJ Rashad, Burial, and Martyn, about the rising trend of MDMA-related references in rap lyrics.

A comprehensive look into B-boys on E, I've republished the piece below alongside a playlist of every track mentioned in the article, including a few sub-2000's tracks that came to mind. Put down the blunt and pick up the pacifier.

Hip Hop and Ecstasy - Simon Reynolds

Magazine editors have a secret formula: "two things, that's just a coincidence--but three, that's a trend". Well, here's three pieces of evidence. On "Let's Get High" from his don't-call-this-a-comeback album The Chronic 2001, Dr. Dre declares " I just took some Ecstasy/Ain't no tellin what the side effects could be". In The Wire's Christmas issue, El-P of underground hip hop outfit Company Flow listed among his 1999 highlights trying Ecstasy "for the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth time". And gangsta rappers Bone Thugs-N-Harmony's latest album BTNH Resurrection contains the song "Ecstasy," inspired by the group's recent introduction to MDMA. The chorus features some of Bone Thugs private slang for the E sensation: "I feel so 'Z'/I feel so ziggety ziggety ziggety/Cause I'm floatin' in ecstasy.." Bizzy's so impressed with the "new shit" touted by their weed dealer that he even wishes Eazy E, Bone Thugs's deceased mentor, "was here to feel pillish, pillish, pillish, pillish."

Add to this reports of thugs and bitches buzzing on E at the Tunnel (New York's most hardcore and "street" rap club), MDMA references in tracks by Jay-Z, Eminem, DJ Quik, Nas, Three-6 Mafia, and Saafir, and persistent rumors about a certain rap mogul who's got a serious Ecstasy habit, and you've got more than a trend--you've got a phenomenon: Hip Hop America Gets Loved Up. It's happened as a knock-on effect of the astonishing surge in Ecstasy use in America over the last two years, itself triggered by a return to reliable, high-dose MDMA pills thanks to Mitshubishi and the brands that followed in its wake. The New York Times reported a 450 percent increase between 1998 and 1999 in Ecstasy seizures by police and customs (which usually roughly reflect the amount of Ecstasy on sale on the streets). The United States Custom Service is projecting a 1500 percent increase from 1999 to 2000! For the first time since it was legal in the early Eighties, MDMA is popular outside the rave scene, with college students and yuppies throwing E parties. And finally, the drug has made significant inroads into the rap community.

On the face of it, Ecstasy would not appear to be a B-boy drug. MDMA lowers one's emotional defences, promotes feelings of trust and tactile tenderness, defuses aggression. It basically creates the exact opposite mind-body-soul state to rap's paranoid and paramilitary ego, all threats and boasts and psychologically armored readiness for the outbreak of hostilities. It also seems really unlikely that your typical gangsta rapper would enjoy exploring Ecstasy's androgynizing effects--the way it makes men more able to express their emotions, be cuddly and affectionate, talk to women without sex as the primary goal, find it difficult to achieve an erection or have an orgasm. These swoony Ecstasy effects would probably be experienced as traumatic not pleasurable--threatening sensations of weakness, softness, E-masculation. Hip hop's ethos of "keeping it real," its concern with reflecting hardcore street realities of crime and incarceration, also conflicts with rave's Ecstasy-fuelled positivity and utopian hope. This dark-tinted realism was a common attitude in the early jungle scene, which was highly influenced by hip hop values. For many Black British junglists, Ecstasy was "false," a chemical haze of unreality that didn't resonate with their harsh experience of urban life.

Judging by the Ecstasy-inspired lyrics that have emerged from rap so far, though, even MDMA can't teach an old dogg new tricks. The sexual attitudes haven't improved one bit. Dr. Dre's lyric about just dropping an E goes straight into "All these fine bitches equal sex to me/plus I got this bad bitch layin' next to me". In "Ecstasy", Bone MC Flesh rhymes about "feelin’ hot and exotic with an arced cock/ I'm feelin' too sexy for my muthafuckin self/Gotta find my bitch and I’m gonna fuck her ass to death!". There are stories floating around about major ballers and shot-callers in the rap industry who throw parties at their mansions in the Hamptons (an expensive Long Island summer home area favored by Manhattan's wealthy and famous) where Ecstasy is primarily used to get the ladies "in the mood" for multiple-partner sex. As for the violence in rap lyrics, rhymes about guns and murda have not been replaced by spiritualized Ecstasy babble about P.L.U.R. (the American raver's mantra of "peace, love, unity and respect"). Unlike with Britain's reformed football hooligans during 1988's Summer of Love, we've yet to see the emergence of the "love thug" in hardcore hip hop. Perhaps the behavioral codes are too ingrained for rave's smiley-face to replace rap's "screwface"--the menacing scowl-sneer that signifies hip hop culture's taboo on showing your teeth.

Then again, it's early days yet, and Ecstasy is such a powerful drug that it's certain to have some affects on hip hop, both as a culture and as a music. Although jungle eventually adopted an anti-Ecstasy stance (favoring the "organic", herbal highs of marijuana over "chemicals"), as a form of music it could not have existed without its precursor genre, 1991-92 hardcore rave--whose sped up breakbeats and manic barrage of samples were basically "hip hop on E," rather than a mutant form of techno. Add Ecstasy to hip hop again, and the results could be as revolutionary as the emergence of jungle out of rave. Whether as a result of Ecstasy use or just an eerily prophetic prelude, there's been a flood of rap and R&B tracks that feature techno-like sounds and riffs over the last eighteen months: Ja Rule's "Holla Holla" with its snaking, writhing riff that sounds like nothing so much as a Roland 303 acid bassline; the staccato rave-style stabs in Destiny's Child's "Bugaboo," Ginuwine's "What's So Different," and Jay-Z's "Girls' Best Friend"; the house vamps and techno pulses in countless Cash Money tracks by Juvenile, B.G., Hot Boys and Lil Wayne, all produced by Mannie Fresh (who actually worked with Steve 'Silk' Hurley a decade ago).

Most recently Timbaland, who's talked about his fondness for electronica and groups like The Prodigy, has produced three tracks that positively drip with the influence of European Ecstasy culture, if not E itself. Aaliyah's smash hit "Try Again" rolls on a burbling Roland 303; the dirge-bass riff on Jay-Z's "Snoopy Track" makes it a rap "Dominator" or "Mentasm"; Nas featuring Ginuwine's "You Owe Me" has the slinky, lurching flow of 2-step garage. Indeed two-step ought to be the logical bridge between American "urban" (radio programmer code for black) music and house culture, since it is basically UK rave embracing and absorbing US R&B. 2-step garage is where the musical advances made during 10 years of collectively living at the cutting edge of rave's drug-technology interface ("caning it", in plain English slanguage) are now being folded back into the humanist, hypersexual pop sounds that ravers originally broke with to pursue manic sexless drug-noise (starting with acid house). As such 2-step could function for black Americans as a journey in the opposite direction, an acclimatisation phase before they get into Plastikman, Basement Jaxx, or The Mover. (Well, one can only dream, eh?). Actually, Armand Van Helden has been trying singlehandedly to be that demilitarized zone/interface between hip hop and house (he's obsessed with 1989 hip-house as this lost moment of possibility) but so far with zero impact in the US. His B-boy flirtations have even counted against him in the world of American deep house, where they don't want ruffnecks coming to the party (forgiveably, perhaps, given the rampant homophobia in hip hop). House music creeps in through the back door of Lil' Kim's new album The Notorious K.I.M., with tracks based on "French Kiss" by Lil Louis and "Break 4 Love' by Raze, and a pronounced Daft Punk-y flavor to "How Many Licks?"

Finally, OutKast's late 2000 release Stankovia is the first real hip hop example, overt and acknowledged by its creators, of a marked influence from rave music and Ecstasy. Big Boi and Andre 3000 go to raves in the Atlanta, Georgia area and even did field research in London clubs. They gave Stankonia faster b.p.m's than its easy-rolling predecessor Aquemini because "nowadays you got different drugs on the scene. X done hit the hood. It ain't chronic no more. They on some other speed-up type shit.... so that's why the tempo had to get a lot faster." The single "Bombs Over Baghdad" makes a botched if exciting stab at drum'n'bass (they're big fans of Photek) while "?" is a disorientating foray into the jungle: tangled breaks, chirruping synth-blurts, ravey riff-lets.

With the E'd up thugs and thuggettes reputedly drifting from the main floor of the Tunnel into the smaller house'n'techno room that it (god knows why) offers, it could be that the hip hop nation will turn onto electronic dance music big-time, finally ending rap's contempt for house music as mere gay disco. Sonically, the differences between the two forms of music have never been smaller---for instance, both techno and rap have been influenced recently by a revival of interest in Eighties electro. As for the drug's cultural impact.... Ecstasy's "loved up" vibe fits perfectly with hip hop's endless professions of loyalty for the crew, family, click, posse. E will only exaggerate this aspect of blood-brother solidarity and "thug love". But what about the hate side of rap's soul? Can Ecstasy lead to a truce in rap's symbolic warfare? Will "call-that-a-worldview?" couplets like "all I know is that bitches suck dick and niggas bleed" (The Lox) lose their appeal to hearts that no longer feel hard? What can be said safely is that Ecstasy had seemed like a drug that held no more surprises in terms of its cultural effects, given that the clubbing-and-raving industries efficiently channel the energy it catalyzes into tidy profits (eg Gatecrasher, whose slogan is "Market Leaders In Having-It Right Off Leisure Ware"--they might as well just put "Sponsored By Mitshubishi, Nudge Nudge Wink Wink" on the ads). But now that the drug has found its way to one of the few demographic and subcultural zones it had so far left untouched---African-American youth---it could be that Ecstasy has new tricks up its sleeves, new stories to tell, new revolutions to unfurl. (Just wait 'til it hits the dancehall community in Jamaica). Watch this space.....

#rap #drugs #ecstasy #music

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howaminotinthestrokesyet · 4 years

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2000’s Rap: Random Quarantine Thoughts

1. 50 Cent... I feel sorry for this dude. I actually follow him on Instagram as he posts again and again things that illustrate he is clutching at straws when it comes to being relevant. A few weeks ago he tried to start a beef with Kanye West over records sold in 2006, but the latter never responded. Someone should tell him that these millennials have no clue who he is at all.

2. Jay Z... People forget that in the 2000’s, Shawn Carter retired for five years. He left the rap game, so he could seemingly run Def Jam Records. I always had a problem with it being referred to as a retirement. In those five years, every 2 to 3 months he would show up as a featured rapper on someone else’s single. In the time he was supposedly retired, Mr. Carter probably appeared on the exact same number of other rapper’s singles as ones he would have released in that time anyway.

3. Kanye West... Say what you want about him as a person, but his ability to always be one step ahead when it comes to finding samples is uncanny. Take the fact that he found Daft Punk before any of those other EDM dj’s like Skrillex did. This simply serves as an example that he is arguably the greatest hip-hop producer of all time.

4. Kid Cudi... I read the greatest comment On YouTube the other day. If I remember correctly someone had posted that all he wanted when he dies is to have him hum at his funeral. I truly believe that Cudi could hum entire songs, and nobody would care because he is so good at it. If you need proof, then listen to “All of the Lights” by Kanye West.

5. Snoop Dogg... Many times in music people have short term memory problems. For example, they remember how relevant Snoop is right now, but they tend to forget there was a time in the 2000’s when he was not doing that great music wise. After his first album, he made a series of average albums that nobody remembers. At one point, he changed his name to Snoop Lion. I have no idea what the heck that was all about. I am not even sure he really is all that relevant right now in a music sense. The guy is more of a social media and reality show star, rather than a rapper anymore. I did not even mention the soft core pornography he released as well.

6. DMX... His career just goes to show you how fickle the music game is in the end. Nobody had a better decade popularity wise than this guy, except for possibly Jay Z, Kanye, or Eminem. Actually, if you get right down to it, he was probably more popular than all of them. In contrast, nobody has had a worse decade then the 2010’s as DMX. He faced jail time, debt, and a complete drought of anything resembling a hit. I believe that the guy truly wishes for the film Groundhog Day to happen to him, so he has the same day in 2006 over and over again when he was the king.

7. Dr. Dre... I will say that one of the most disappointing things for me personally in rap in the 21st-century is the fact that his Detox album was never released. The excuses on why he refused to make it began in the 2000’s and lasted almost 15 years. He should have just come out and said he did not want to rap anymore, but instead only produce. Simple as that. I mean Axl Rose finally released Chinese Democracy, but Dre cannot do the same. He made Axl actually look good with Chinese Democracy, which I never thought would happen.

8. Ludacris... Much like Ice Cube and the late Heavy D, he has also focused more of his efforts on acting. For younger kids, they probably only know him as the guy from The Fast and the Furious franchise. This shows that some rap artists will always eventually make their way to Hollywood at some point. The money is much too good and the work is for the most part fairly straightforward when compared with keeping up on the Billboard charts year after year.

9. Lil Wayne... He was in the news recently because the guy might go to jail again. I truly thought when the rapper went to jail the first time in 2010 that his career was over. Yet, Lil Wayne has shown to be quite resilient in maintaining a career that some people thought would only be a flash in the pan after the Carter III. I never cared for the musical production on his records, but I will try to stop knocking the guy so much because he seems to have been to hell and back. Weezy still has not lost that gold tooth after everything.

10. Eminem... I have never doubted the greatness in the lyrical abilities of Eminem. He probably has one of the greatest flows of anybody in the history of rap. My issue with him comes in the musical production. The samples and hooks he employs in a good percentage of his albums are average at best. Every once in a while, you will hear something very good as when Rick Rubin produced one of his albums. Yet, I contend that he does tend to be quite repetitive in a lot of his songs relying too heavily on his lyrical prowess.

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leighkhoopes · 7 years

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The first big meme of 2017 has arrived and it's List the Top 10 Albums That Influenced You As A Teenager. This was an almost impossible selection for me, so I gave myself some additional ground rules: these albums all came out when I was an actual teenager (13-19, to be precise) and I promptly wore them out something serious. These are also albums that I continue to listen to and enjoy to this day. I also took the *complete* album into consideration—almost all of these are total listen-throughs for me, even though there may be some other songs and singles that had more of an impact on my impressionable teenage brain.

So, here's the list, how old I was when they came out, and some thoughts, in no particular order:

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Sleater-Kinney - One Beat (2002) I was: 17, in between high school and college This was the first SK album I ever bought, and I'm not ashamed to admit that. It was on one of those listening stations at the local music store (RIP ear-x-tacy) and the opener with its urgent drums, spindly guitars and fantastic vocals and harmonies drew me in immediately. Apparently One Beat was their "political" album and that makes sense, but the infectiously jangly "Oh!" remains one of my all-time favorite songs to this day, and though I've listened to the rest of their catalogue, One Beat remains my favorite to this day.

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Christina Aguilera - Stripped (2002) I was: 18, college freshman Fun fact: I was one of those angsty teens who mocked pop music while hiding my secret shame at loving every bubblegum beat and boy band dance jam. When you're a teenager, you have to keep up appearances—I knew I wasn't one of the popular types, so I tried to be a "rock" kid and turned up my nose at what turned out to be some really great songs. My dear Ms. Aguilera changed all of that for me. I had already loved her first singles (You cannot deny "Genie in a Bottle," so don't even try) and her complete ownage of "Lady Marmalade" for the Moulin Rouge soundtrack, so when Stripped came out in all its sexual and bold yet vulnerable and honest glory, I found the soundtrack to the twilight of my teenage years. Everyone knows about "Dirrty," "Beautiful," "Can't Hold Us Down," and "Fighter," but have you heard the soft sensuality of "Lovin' Me for Me"? What about the deep piano soul of "Underappreciated"? This album is packed with both gems and jams, and remains relevant to this very day.

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Eve - Scorpion (2001) I was: 16, high school junior I came late to the rap game, since I wasn’t allowed to buy CDs with parental advisory stickers until my senior year of high school, so I've made a lot of progress, but I didn't get the kind of hip-hop education most of my friends have besides what made it onto the radio at the time. This was post-Tupac/Biggie but pre-50 Cent, and the airwaves were mostly dominated by the aforementioned pop and its bad cousin pop-punk. So when Eve's basically flawless "Let Me Blow Ya Mind" featuring Gwen Stefani's damn near perfect hook and what I would learn is a quintessentially Dr. Dre beat dropped, all slinky and sexy and sassy, I was beyond obsessed. The rest of the album is on point, too: "Who's That Girl?" became an anthem for me because I could easily sing back "LEIGH's that girl!" (la la la-la, la la la-la); "Gangsta Bitch" was a sick collab with Trina and Da Brat; and "Got What You Need" is a great call-and-response banger courtesy of Swizz Beats and some other lesser Ruff Ryders rapper who is probably mad that Eve destroyed him on this track and probably in real life as well.

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The Kills - Keep on Your Mean Side (2003) I was: 19, college sophomore Somehow I got this CD for Christmas? I don’t remember how or where I heard about it, but this album for me is the perfect combination of sexy and scuzzy with raw guitars and sparse, swampy beats and endless, unbearable chemistry between VV (Allison Mosshart) and Hotel (Jamie Hince) that continues to this day. Fifteen years, four albums, and multiple side projects (and one very high-profile marriage and divorce) later, and I am one of those fans who firmly stans for them to live happily ever after in musical harmony and continuing rock n’ roll cuteness. They’re just SO PERFECT TOGETHER, OKAY? Anyway, this album is great, and you should listen to it if you haven’t already.

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Yeah Yeah Yeahs (2001) I was: 16, soon-to-be high school senior If I had to pick ONE album that was the most influential to me of all of these, it would be Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ seminal self-titled EP. It dropped right before my senior year of high school, when I was finally starting to figure myself out a little bit and realizing that I liked loud music by loud ladies that I could dance to and scream along to, regardless of genre or format. The Strokes, The Hives, The White Stripes, and all their ilk were kicking off a new rock revolution, but there were so few ladies out there making as much noise as I needed them to. Karen O was not a great singer, but the way she whispered and groaned and wailed over the wall of sound that Nick and Brian created with just a guitar and a drumset was revelatory to me, especially after I got to see them live a few years later, smushed up against the stage at the Southgate House and rapt as the speakers pounded in my chest and Karen sprayed beer and spit on all of us, and she leaned down at the beginning of “Our Time” at the end of their set, when I was exhausted and enthralled, put the mic in front my face and together we crooned “To break on through-ooh!” YYYs continued to put out some great music and evolve their sound not-so-greatly in the following years (sorry, y’all, but Mosquito was not good), but nothing seared itself so firmly on my psyche as Karen and me covered in sweat, singing what should have been an anthem for the pre-1990 Millennials: “It’s the year to be hated / so glad that we made it.” If that doesn’t sum up everything everyone’s ever said about those of us born between 1980 and 1999, I don’t know what does.

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Daft Punk - Discovery (2001) I was: 16, high school junior If there’s another album I had to name as one of my top all-timers, completely different but still equally influential, it’s Daft Punk’s Discovery. Daft Punk allowed me to embrace my love of dance and electronic music, and built a perfect unifying force among me and my friends, providing that anthem we’d been waiting for with “One More Time,” a song that still fills me with joy every time those first few beats fade in and I can’t help but smile when it drops and that surprisingly, beautifully warm vocoder voice comes in over the spaces between. The rest of the album is literally iconic as well, and really cemented Daft Punk as the arbiters of dance parties for everyone, all-inclusive, delirious and endlessly entertaining and ultimately joyful.

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Le Tigre (1999) I was: 15, high school sophomore I’ll admit it: I missed the Riot Grrl movement by several years, so Kathleen Hanna and Le Tigre were a new experience for me. I loved the edge and the anger in her voice, the fuzzy throwback sound and sampling that made it seem like something I could do if I just tried harder and wasn’t so shy and scared to raise a ruckus and my voice. One thing I’ve noticed about so many of these albums and groups is that I really liked stripped-down music with big sounds created by small groups of people: duos and trios make up the bulk of my favorite albums during this era. I got to see them live as well, when JD Sampson joined the lineup and became my introduction to confusingly, distractingly sexy nonbinary people, and it was at the height of the Bush era, in the middle of my college years, and while I didn’t feel the exhilaration of singing with Karen O, I felt the freedom of dancing my ass off and screaming until my lungs my ached, unafraid of who I might bump into with my unruly booty, unafraid of who I might offend with my burgeoning baby feminism. I was sad when they stopped recording and disappointed at their recent lackluster Hillary Clinton track near the end of the election cycle, but I’ve loved the resurgence of The Julie Ruin and the ongoing reinvention and determination Hanna continues to project in the face of so much bullshittery that permeates our world and culture today.

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The Mars Volta - De-Loused in the Comatorium (2003) I was: 19, college sophomore At the Drive-In was another band I missed out on the first time around, but The Mars Volta popped up in my circles of smartass potheads once I started to find my tiny tribe of people in the rural Kentucky college town in which I lived for four years. I’ve always loved a man unafraid to belt out an anthem, and Cedric Bixler-Zavala golden throat soared over Omar Rodruigez-Lopez’s prog-rock symphonies and movements, and it sounded just as good when I was stone cold sober as when I was self-medicating in the name of social acceptance and anxiety avoidance. I will forever associate them with giant spliffs and endless laughter, letting the discordant sounds wash over me and and Cedric’s voice burn through me, as well as making myself a zombie prom queen Halloween costume under a waxing moon after a bad breakup, working some kind of dark magic to transform myself into someone no one would recognize, even if only for a night. There was always a sadness that permeated these songs, something that got lost in their later, more esoteric albums I could never get into, and there was something on this album that made me feel okay with being sad, allowing myself to feel my feelings that I tried to keep hidden for far too long.

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Ludacris - Back for the First Time (2000) I was: 16, high school junior Again, the most rap I had ever really listened to before high school was MC Hammer and Will Smith’s squeaky clean radio-rap, so Luda’s debut was a major eye-opener for overly-sheltered white suburban me. "What's Your Fantasy" and "Phat Rabbit" were titillating, sure, but also fantastic rhymes and beats, and "Stick 'Em Up Bitch" and "1st & 10" were darkly hilarious under their gangsta veneers. "Southern Hospitality" brought bravado to what could have just been another Neptunes beat, and throughout it all, Luda's flow was so sick and smooth, so full of wit and wordplay and unashamed sexuality, and I loved to blare it driving through my parents’ neighborhood, even after the speakers in my car blew out and sounded like nothing but surly vibrations as I dawdled on my way home for my 11pm curfew. If I had to come in at what I considered an unfair, oppressive time, I was going to wake up everyone else in the process. Yes, I was a not-so-secret dick when I was a teenager–weren’t we all? Side note: I'm kind of sad Shawnna never made it all that big, and this video is the absolute perfect time capsule of the year 2000.

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Peaches - The Teaches of Peaches (2000) I was: 16, high school senior I’ll also admit this: I fucking loved “electroclash.” That amalgamation of punk and dance music was everything to me, the perfect blend of rock guitars and big beats that enmeshed everything teenage me loved about being loud and dancing like everyone was watching and not giving a fuck either way. Peaches was gross and vulgar and rapped about sex with no emotion but pleasure, and she got even dirtier as the years went on, but The Teaches of Peaches was seminal and shocking and just the kind of thing a slightly crazed and endlessly awkward, horny teenage girl needed to hear to start embracing my own weird sexuality and rampaging hormones and confused feelings, instead of keeping them locked away and shameful like I was supposed to. Everyone knows and loves "Fuck the Pain Away," thanks to its cameo appearances in Lost in Translation and the Jackass movies, but "Lovertits" was always my personal favorite from this album. The moment that breakdown takes over is pure brilliance and one of my favorite moments in any song ever. Peaches dancing in front of the mirror in this video is teenage me, always and forever, singing to myself when no one was looking and finally finding away to sing to myself in public, out loud, and not caring who heard me. I'm still working on it, but I think these albums did a lot to push me in the direction I've gone and to get me where I am now as a feminist and a lover of music and dance parties for life.

Honorable Mentions:

Beck - Midnite Vultures (1999)

No Doubt - Return of Saturn (2000)

Madonna - Ray of Light (1998)

The Strokes - Is This It (2001)

N.E.R.D. - In Search Of... (2001)

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columbiachi · 4 years

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Editor’s Choice: These Are The Unsung Heroes Of The 2010s

As we approach the end of the 2010s, we’ve been looking back on the artists, albums and tracks that have influenced electronic music’s evolution into where it stands today. Through our many discussions, we’ve found that there is no one “right” list for this.

Within our EDMTunes team, many of us found our electronic music bearings at the start of this decade. We had our own upbringings through different artists and genres, each of which were influential in their own right. So we came together and compiled our own list of unsung heroes we felt may not have made the list of the most popular, famous EDM DJs from the 2010s – but have had a massive impact on electronic music in their own way.

Read who four of our editors – ones, we might add, come from all walks of life and are passionate about an array of musical niches with their own unique paths – believe deserve the spotlight of the decade.

Scott Lombardo

Eric Prydz has had a huge influence on DJs across the dance music spectrum. From Adam Beyer to Grum and Armin van Buuren, you’d be hard-pressed to find a DJ that doesn’t count Eric as one of their biggest influences. His EPIC live show began in 2011 and has captivated the world. It has since iterated all the way to EPIC 6.0 Holosphere ion 2019, in addition to spawning new versions like HOLO. His live shows set a standard that inspired plenty of other DJs to try their hand at holograms, lasers, and other technological advances.

Steve Angello is the wild child of the Swedish House Mafia trio and has plenty of legendary tracks tied to his name alone. Axwell and Ingrosso made our original list, and obviously so did SHM, but Steve Angello has a die-hard following that has been with him for years. The renowned “Knas” was released in 2010 and the tracks still bangs in live sets in 2019. Beyond that, Steve curated the exceptional SIZE record label that spearheaded the progressive house movement that caused the EDM groundswell in the 2011-2014 period. After 2013 Steve continued playing festivals, but his solo albums charted a new path for his sound.

Torie Richardson

You can’t talk about techno in the 2010s without talking about Richie Hawtin. He’s been one of the most prominent icons of the techno world since the 1990s, coming out of the second wave of the Detroit techno scene that laid the foundation for today’s genre. With the exponential popularity spike of the genre in the 2010s, he has absolutely continued to sit at the forefront of techno’s evolution. The fact that an artist can, and continues to remain, such an influential figure in the space for a decade+ speaks miles. He was first seen as a leader of techno’s growth in the early 2010s and further exemplified his dominance with the “business techno” movement seen globally over the last few years. This hasn’t gone unnoticed, either. Hawtin was nominated for Best Techno DJ 5 times in the last ten years and came in at 2nd on The DJ List’s Top Global Techno list in 2015.

Let’s look at French electronic music next. Remember that this genre would not have the global presence it holds today without two of its original leaders. Let’s talk about Justice and Daft Punk (well, duh).

Justice laid much of the groundwork for French electronic music as they shaped their own sound over the years. They exploded into the scene in the late 2000s, then continued to dominate as the 2010s hit. They released their sophomore album “Audio, Video, Disco” in the fall of 2011, hit the main stages at Coachella, Ultra and Outside Lands in 2012, and released a third album titled Woman in 2016. They showed no signs of slowing down as the decade went on, either. The band received a Grammy for the Best Dance/Electronic Album in 2019 for Woman Worldwide, a release of remixes on French label Ed Banger. The duo’s innovate combination of trippy synths, powerful basslines and beats – influenced by an eclectic combination of disco, funk, electro house and so much more – will undoubtedly keep us in awe for years to come.

And, of course, there’s Daft Punk. Though they first came together back in the 1990s, the revival of their much-loved sound reached an entirely new generation of electronic music lovers in the 2010s. They brought disco back to a world of younger, budding music lovers in an incredible way. Their hit track “Get Lucky” was released in 2013 and, at one point, was reported by Spotify as their most-streamed new song in the platform’s history. Random Access Memories, their fourth studio album, came out in 2013 – which included “Get Lucky” as one of its five tracks. It became the first Daft Punk album to hit the top of the Billboard charts, and won Album of the Year, Best Dance/Electronica Album and Best Engineered Album in 2014. Even today, the men behind the helmets continue to stand as one of the most iconic duos in electronic music history.

Juan Carlos Llorens

Many would argue that Tiësto‘s best years ended by 2010, right before he made the switch to commercial EDM. However, known as the godfather of EDM, Tiësto has brought up the biggest artists today. Through his label Musical Freedom, Tijs shed light at Hardwell, Martin Garrix, Avicii, The Chainsmokers, Danny Avila, and many more in the last ten years. Either through his Club Life podcast, his label, or collaborations Tiësto gave these ‘unknown’ artists one point or another a platform. Other than igniting the next generation of artists, Tiësto has been headlining almost every major festival. DJing wise, he is one of the best to do it.

Hardwell sparked a movement in the early 2010s like no one else. Breaking through with the legendary ‘Spaceman’ single, Hardwell pushed the ‘big room’ movement into every festival. By creating his label ‘Revealed Recordings’, Hardwell introduced the world with many new artists who are still relevant today. As many sold-out towards pop, Hardwell doubled down with big room. Hardwell made an impact in the last decade giving artists a platform, pushing a trend (even many hate it), and staying true to EDM.

Louis Ghanem

I know, I know. David Guetta doesn’t really seem like an unsung hero. With the Frenchman still selling out massive shows and headlining festivals, Guetta is still a solidified household name in dance music. What people may not know- or remember for that matter- is the mainstream doors Guetta helped blow wide open. His 2011 album, Nothing But the Beat, was nothing short of monumental for the genre. Featuring massive pop stars like Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne, Snoop Dogg, Usher, Sia, Jennifer Hudson and more, this was really the first time a DJ merged dance and pop and opened the doors to the mainstream world for the rest of the decade. In today’s EDM scene, when we see new artists like Marshmello or The Chainsmokers make radio hits with today’s biggest popstars, we can credit David Guetta for opening those doors for today’s generation.

Steve Aoki may seem like the dude that just throws cake at fans during his shows, but Aoki is actually one of the hardest working guys in the industry. Not only Steve Aoki continuously made hits throughout the decade, but he’s also shown that DJs can stick their hands in other lines of work and be successful. Aoki runs his own clothing line, a pizza chain, and of course music label- Dim Mak- showing that the scope of a DJ’s work can expand outside of music. His engagement with his fans has also been something unique. He has also given a massive platform for up-and-coming DJs to release their music on, giving new DJ’s a channel to release their music to a broader range of fans. It’s tough to look back on the 2010s and not think of the name, “Steve Aoki”.

The post Editor’s Choice: These Are The Unsung Heroes Of The 2010s appeared first on EDMTunes.

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boney-king-of-nowhere-blog · 6 years

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Meet Me in the Bathroom: Rebirth and Rock and Roll in New York City 2001-2011 - Lizzy Goodman

One of my earliest musical memories is of hearing the intro to Limp Bizkit’s Rollin’, leaping out of bed and running into the living room in my pyjamas where (fittingly) I began to roll around on the carpet in front of Kerrang TV. The nu-metal anthem was released in October 2000. I was 6 years old and had a Star Wars dressing gown with a picture of Darth Maul’s face on it.

Not only did the video provide one of my first entry points to rock and roll, it also gave me an early glimpse of New York City. In a video which draws inspiration from an iconic scene in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Fred Durst, sporting his trademark red New York Yankees cap (turned backwards obviously), cruises around town in a Bentley Azure after being mistaken for a valet by an impatient Ben Stiller and Stephen Dorff. Interspersed between these shots of Durst rollin’ around Manhattan is footage of the band performing under floodlights atop the South Tower of the former World Trade Center.

A year later on September 10th 2001 Limp Bizkit received the MTV award for Best Rock Music Video. I don’t remember where I was the next day when the towers fell and I wouldn’t see the Strokes until 10 years later at Reading Festival, where Jarvis Cocker stole the show, joining the band onstage for a cover of The Cars’ Just What I Needed.

I probably first became aware of the Strokes through Sum 41’s video for their 2002 single, I’m Still Waiting. It opens with the band sitting opposite a record company exec who, without listening to Sum 41’s latest album, informs them that number names (Blink 182, Green Day 75) are out and ‘the’ bands (The Strokes, The White Stripes, The Led Zeppelins) are in. He encourages them to take up smoking and tells the lead singer to change his name to Sven in a clear nod to the Hives’ recent breakthrough. When I finally watched the video for Last Nite I was repulsed by the combination of booze, cigs and apathy. Reared on the cleancut rebelliousness of early noughties pop punk I felt that the world of the Strokes was somehow sleazy and adult.

So I can’t claim that I was there. Only years after their much-hyped emergence in the UK did I properly listen to Is This It, which soon became my default birthday present for friends who at the time were listening to My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, and Panic at the Disco. The White Stripes with their child-friendly videos and ability to tap into the lad rock market were already on my radar. However, I had no idea of the connection between these bands at the time and the role played by Manhattan.

When I first visited New York in 2010 on a family holiday I remember being excited to explore Brooklyn, home to MGMT and the Drums, who had released their debut EP Summertime just a few months earlier. Only later and largely through reading this book did I begin to appreciate the interaction between the Manhattan and Brooklyn scenes and the way in which the Yeah Yeah Yeahs in particular formed a link between the two.

This was first oral history of this sort that I’ve read. At first I found myself getting annoyed whenever I’d have to flick back to the front of the book to work out who was speaking. Quickly, though, I settled into a rhythm, enjoying the way in which individual voices began to take on their own character. Midway through reading I was sad to learn that the journalist Marc Spitz had died. His cynical sense of humour memorably cuts through the occasionally romantic recollection of figures like Ryan Adams.

The oral history format seems to work best when there are scores to be settled, as in the fallout between the Strokes and Ryan Adams. Rather than impose a definitive version of events, the layout puts all voices on an equal footing. The reader is left to make their own judgement or simply to lament that the disagreement ever occurred in the first place. The saddest part of the book for me was the development and deterioration of Tim Goldsworthy and James Murphy’s relationship. The early descriptions of an inseparable friendship based around fanatical music knowledge and James’ introduction to MDMA capture a feeling of joyful arrogance and a sense of relief for James in the year in which he lost both his parents.

In an early scene from film 24 Hour Party People Tony Wilson, played by Steve Coogan, introduces super producer Martin Hannett, played by Andy Serkis, as ‘the only bona fide genius in this story’. We later meet him wandering the peak districts trying to record silence before a recording session with Joy Division in which the producer insists that the band take apart the drum kit and reassemble it on the roof. Journalist Rob Sheffield compares the late Hannett to James Murphy and the fictional Tony Wilson’s description could equally be applied to the maverick producer’s role within this book’s story.

At every stage in the book Murphy comes across as uncompromising, competitive, and wilfully intimidating. Tim seems to have been the only person James respected musically and the only one with whom he could work professionally. The success of LCD Soundsystem’s debut, however, appears to have proved a breaking point. No consensus is reached in the book as to whether Tim recorded his own album at DFA - cofounder Jonathan Galkin is adamant that nothing was produced - but clearly the relationship could not survive Tim’s unannounced departure and alleged theft of DFA equipment.

Yet despite the tension behind the scenes, the first LCD Soundsystem LP emerges as the product of a genius. Amongst all the bands mentioned in the book, LCD were the ones I clicked with last. As a teenager I had a strong idea about which bands were acceptable to my aesthetic. So the the dance / indie hybrid was probably unacceptable to this carefully curated persona. On top of that their frame of reference and the types targeted by James must have gone whistling over my head. Looking back now, though, they seem to be the major success story of the period and blessed with the rare ability to describe their own scene from within.

Their first single, Losing My Edge, reads as a kind of record collector’s manifesto and rightly receives its own chapter in Goodman’s book. Without using the word ‘hipster’ Murphy satirises a certain type of golden age thinking, perfectly summed up in his attack on ‘borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered 80s’. At the same time, like all great satirists, Murphy is able to poke fun at his own foibles, writing himself into music history as ‘the first guy playing Daft Punk...to the rock kids at CBGBs’. In this way he perfectly captures the insecurity of the record collector bore and the way in which nostalgia can be used as a defence mechanism by the ageing and irrelevant.

Losing My Edge could serve as a tongue in cheek warning to those who might argue that this particular period of musical history pales in comparison to the heyday of the Velvet Underground or the Ramones and Blondie. Perhaps this is part of the reason why the mythology of so many musical movements requires bands to define themselves within a kind of musical wasteland. By doing so they lift the burden of their influences and turn resentment into creative energy. Like Punk after Prog or Grunge after Hair Metal, the Strokes are remembered in opposition to nu metal and soft rockers such as Travis or Snow Patrol. In New York this sense of existing within a musical wasteland was surely felt more acutely in the wake of 9/11 when a smog settled on the city and abandoned hedonism took hold in downtown Manhattan.

Towards the end of this 600 page oral history Karen O describes the self-doubt and suspicion felt by the scene’s earliest members. ‘We were part of a real moment but nobody would let you enjoy that’, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs singer observes, bemoaning the amount of time spent worrying about the authenticity of New York’s latest musical revival. She recalls the relief she felt after picking up an old issue of New York Rocker only to see the same doubts raised about Blondie and the Ramones.

Without glossing over disappointments or disagreements, Meet Me in the Bathroom at its best captures the moments of joy inbetween this self-doubt, of feeling part of something local, of sensing that there was nothing to lose after 9/11 and no longer having to listen to Limp Bizkit on the radio.

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