The new year is young enough that posting the second half of our what-we-missed list isn't too weird is it? Besides, intern Marie skipped several parties staying late to research this stuff, and we don't want to let her down.
So without further blather, here's the part two of a feature nobody asked for and fewer read.
Deru
Benjamin Wynn is Deru, and his slow-build electronic instrumentals tend toward hissing clatters of percussion with bell-toned melodic passages that cycle in and out like warning lights in the fog. It's so detatched and hazy it's nearly relaxing -- good stuff from Mush/Ghostly International.
The Do [the "o" gets a slash through it.]
Hey, this is alright. A Finnish/French duo playing pop so deceptively sunny it that could almost fly as music for children, save for those lyrics. "Playground Hustle" is well creepy -- a Village of the Damned drill team anthem.
The Drums
Young men recycling late '50s/early '60s surf, instrumental and doo-wop styles without sounding like any of the obvious reference points. In the best possible way, they sound like an actual '80s band because they did what the post-punk/college-rock bands of that era did best: mining the past for "new" ideas.
Dynas
He's an MC from south Florida, reminiscent of Jemini the Gifted One. Crafty production of the straightforward drum machine & samples variety actually feels refreshing in the age of silly bombast. There's even scratching! [Do they still do that? -- ed.] We don't know how hard it is to get a guest spot from Slick Rick or Jazzy Jeff, but that shows good taste on Dynas' part.
Eva & The Heartmaker
Is Norway the new Sweden? Because duos are the new trios. From Oslo comes this giant, gleeful pop with a woman singing teenage love angst lyrics. That's really all there is to say.
Rival Consoles
From London comes Ryan Lee West, aka Rival Consoles. As the name implies, his music sounds like a mid-'80s video game, and it's killer. If Daft Punk's tendency toward both mindless repetition and Vocoder overkill put you off, come join the Berzerk vs. Tempest disco jams of Rival Consoles.
The Slew
Ever since Steven Tyler busted through the wall of Run DMC's rehearsal space, rappers and rockers have been teaming up from time to time, with the results frequently exposing the weaknesses of both forms. The Slew gives history the finger, flipping the usual rock/rap tag team of live guitar & sampled bass and beats. Dynomite D & Kid Koala splice blooze rock guitar samples over the flesh and blood rhythm section from Wolfmother. Disposable fun.
Warpaint
The treated vocals go a long way to making these ladies a lot less Norah Jones by way of PJ Harvey, and a lot more primitive mystique. We tried to resist liking this, but it makes such a fine alternative to all that ridiculous Paw Tracks mumbo jumbo. "Elephants" is particularly good.
Wiretree
This Austin quartet cooks up high-grade pop of the jangle/power variety. Kevin Peroni's voice serves the melody without melodrama or unnecessary quirk. They deserve more attention than they'll get, perhaps.
Yoga
Their MySpace genre tags are "psychedelic" and "black metal." It's ambient noise instrumentals with a serious occult vibe. We shall call it "bleak metal." There. Please remember you read it here first. Also "Flying Witch" will make children cry.
***
DJ Food
File under: honorable mention. The DJ Food moniker used to drape over a sizeable collective of Ninja Tune label artists having loads of fun sampling and tape looping. Now the title masks but one: sampling pioneer Strictly Kev. He's still crafting top-shelf sound collages ideal for headphone trips, and he looks like a university professor.
Showing posts with label Club MySpace. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Club MySpace. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Club MySpace: 2009 Year-End Edition, part I
While other media outlets neatly compile all the albums, bands and songs they've loved throughout the year, The Typing Monkey has realized that we missed quite a bit of music during the past 11 months. Part of the problem is our consummate laziness in making our marginally regular column, Club Myspace, marginally regular.
So in an effort to chew all our cabbage at once, we present an all "What Did We Miss?" themed entry of Club MySpace. There will be at least one more of these before the year is over, three if we can manage it. So laugh an point as you scroll through, we'll ignore you and revel in the discoveries we've made as we played catch up with the year that was.
Darlings
Sweet relief. A New York band that's not trying to be something "other" and instead succeeds brilliantly at being a rock band. A quartet of young men playing rough-edged pop that is unapologetically fun and catchy.
The Delfields
This New Jersey trio will draw comparisons to The Shins, and there's nothing wrong with that. It's the vocals primarily. But their pure pop (guitars, bass, drums, cheap-plastic keyboards) excavates pleasant memories of The Housemartins and The Connells -- lovely.
Mungolian Jetset
Helmed by two Norwegian DJs, this collective's work has been around for several years, only recently compiled into a two-disc set from the Smalltown Supersound label. They craft psychedelic murals of electronics, percussion and the odd divergence into guitar territory. It's an ideal headphone voyage for fans of KLF, The Orb and similar fare.
Niobe
Crazy, messed-up melodies sung in a nearly disengaged alto. It's like two 78 rpm records found in an antique store, playing simultaneously. Some folks presume electronic music from Germany is weird crap for art students and this is why. If Niobe doesn't tickle your brain, you are one of those presumptuous folk. We'll listen for you.
The Penelope[s]
Likewise, French electronic musicians take a lot of abuse for crafting club-oriented disco for coke-whiffing snobs. With that in mind, this duo makes strange electronic pop with good no-wave bass and guitar. Would it sound good pumping from the soundsystem of a sweaty discotheque? Mais, oui.
Voodeux
We can't possibly keep up with techno. Nobody can. But when the form is handled this well, The Typing Monkey pays attention. The cold, disorienting sounds match nicely to the horror theme Voodeux uses -- mood, not sound effects. An American duo flexing solid genre muscles on both sides of the equation.
Wild Beasts
That voice! Hymn-like, methodical pop from a UK quartet that understands dynamics should be rendered in shades of gray, not strictly black and white.
Drums of Death
If this special edition of Club MySpace had a "Get Drinks" section, Drums of Death would be in it. We include the skull-faced electroclash/hip-hop fellow because we want to make sure you understand he's not a high-concept comedy record, even though you'd be forgiven for thinking the "Got Yr Thing" video was a Lonely Island/SNL digital short.
So in an effort to chew all our cabbage at once, we present an all "What Did We Miss?" themed entry of Club MySpace. There will be at least one more of these before the year is over, three if we can manage it. So laugh an point as you scroll through, we'll ignore you and revel in the discoveries we've made as we played catch up with the year that was.
Darlings
Sweet relief. A New York band that's not trying to be something "other" and instead succeeds brilliantly at being a rock band. A quartet of young men playing rough-edged pop that is unapologetically fun and catchy.
The Delfields
This New Jersey trio will draw comparisons to The Shins, and there's nothing wrong with that. It's the vocals primarily. But their pure pop (guitars, bass, drums, cheap-plastic keyboards) excavates pleasant memories of The Housemartins and The Connells -- lovely.
Mungolian Jetset
Helmed by two Norwegian DJs, this collective's work has been around for several years, only recently compiled into a two-disc set from the Smalltown Supersound label. They craft psychedelic murals of electronics, percussion and the odd divergence into guitar territory. It's an ideal headphone voyage for fans of KLF, The Orb and similar fare.
Niobe
Crazy, messed-up melodies sung in a nearly disengaged alto. It's like two 78 rpm records found in an antique store, playing simultaneously. Some folks presume electronic music from Germany is weird crap for art students and this is why. If Niobe doesn't tickle your brain, you are one of those presumptuous folk. We'll listen for you.
The Penelope[s]
Likewise, French electronic musicians take a lot of abuse for crafting club-oriented disco for coke-whiffing snobs. With that in mind, this duo makes strange electronic pop with good no-wave bass and guitar. Would it sound good pumping from the soundsystem of a sweaty discotheque? Mais, oui.
Voodeux
We can't possibly keep up with techno. Nobody can. But when the form is handled this well, The Typing Monkey pays attention. The cold, disorienting sounds match nicely to the horror theme Voodeux uses -- mood, not sound effects. An American duo flexing solid genre muscles on both sides of the equation.
Wild Beasts
That voice! Hymn-like, methodical pop from a UK quartet that understands dynamics should be rendered in shades of gray, not strictly black and white.
***
Drums of Death
If this special edition of Club MySpace had a "Get Drinks" section, Drums of Death would be in it. We include the skull-faced electroclash/hip-hop fellow because we want to make sure you understand he's not a high-concept comedy record, even though you'd be forgiven for thinking the "Got Yr Thing" video was a Lonely Island/SNL digital short.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Club MySpace
Welcome to the second installment of Club MySpace, a feature we're trying to make semi-regular. This is The Typing Monkey's way of quickly calling your attention to bands and musicians who emerged from the piles of PR mail to make an impression on our ears.
In this edition, a retro/revival theme happened purely by chance. Or else this speaks volumes about our tastes. You decide.
YAY!
Major Lazer
Jumpin' Jehosaphat! A snappy, silly mess of electro, dancehall and dub. The Typing Monkey's had trouble getting behind dancehall, but Major Lazer's for-the-hell-of-it approach is actually fun. If the sloppy funk from Stones Throw (James Pants, Funkaho) pleases you, then there's much here for your ears.
Seeland
Ex Plone and Broadcast members make druggy, electronic pagan exotica, just in time for summer. They push the experimental science of BBC library music into looser territory. The result lands on the same occult turf as Clinic, but less manic and more sci-fi. "Pherox" is good and creepy.
The Shortwave Set
Excellent psych-pop that references the British Invasion while leaving room to wander through the four decades that have come since. Male/female vocals and a mini-orchestra of instruments backing them, with stellar production from Dangermouse and arrangements from Van Dyke Parks, whatever that's worth.
NODS OF APPROVAL
Ape School
Smartly arranged pop/rock from multi-instrumentalist Michael Johnson, who's spent years as a sideman for other musicians (Lilys, Daedalus, et al.). Technically, Ape School's self-titled debut is his second solo effort, but the first under a "band" name. His gently psychedelic songs leaven pastoral elegance with just enough racket to make it all sound unforced.
Grauwelt
Is this for real? Yes. A Chicago hip-hop beatmaker called Earmint has a dirty secret. He grew up loving Ministry, Cabaret Voltaire, Skinny Puppy and other similar industrial/electronic acts. So he set out to write a batch of songs in that same vein, and you know what? He's really good at it.
The Sweet Vandals
Between reissue labels and revivalists such as Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, the world's enjoying a wealth of '60s and '70s soul, funk and r&b, both authentic and recreated. As it turns out, Spain likes to get on the good foot too.
GET DRINKS
The Bloody Beetroots
This feels like electroclash redux, but then a lot of bit-crushed/gutter/ghettotech dance music feels like that, thus proving this stuff never really goes away. The audience's fashion choices simply change.
Afghan Raiders
The music is interesting enough to make us pay attention, but the vocals put an end to that. We've learned an important lesson.
WHAT DID WE MISS?
Alaska In Winter
At first this came off as trying too hard, but Brandon Bethancourt (the man behind the name) digs deeper than the '80s synth-pop design and buzzing techno gloss he puts out front. Electro-style drum machines clatter below Balkan horns, and blank-eyed keyboard chords hint that he's a fan of the Scandinavian cosmic disco sound. His second LP, Holiday from late '08 is worth checking out.
Gui Boratto
This Brazillian electronic musician has a couple full-lengths and countless singles and remixes behind him already. He dishes out cold, almost melancholy techno and house that are as good for a long drive as they are for the dancefloor. (Spin the nine-minute "Ballroom" for a good example.)
However, we'd like to bring your attention to this (unintentionally?) hilarious quotation from Pitchfork that Boratto's PR team used on his Website:
"[Boratto's] deliberate inflections of melody often emerge with a ring of truth, especially as he guides his repetitions through the peaks and valleys of his little mostly-nonverbal anecdotes."
If you can tell us what that means, The Typing Monkey staff will put together a nice little gift pack for you. Send your translations to: typingmonkey@live.com.
In this edition, a retro/revival theme happened purely by chance. Or else this speaks volumes about our tastes. You decide.
YAY!
Major Lazer
Jumpin' Jehosaphat! A snappy, silly mess of electro, dancehall and dub. The Typing Monkey's had trouble getting behind dancehall, but Major Lazer's for-the-hell-of-it approach is actually fun. If the sloppy funk from Stones Throw (James Pants, Funkaho) pleases you, then there's much here for your ears.
Seeland
Ex Plone and Broadcast members make druggy, electronic pagan exotica, just in time for summer. They push the experimental science of BBC library music into looser territory. The result lands on the same occult turf as Clinic, but less manic and more sci-fi. "Pherox" is good and creepy.
The Shortwave Set
Excellent psych-pop that references the British Invasion while leaving room to wander through the four decades that have come since. Male/female vocals and a mini-orchestra of instruments backing them, with stellar production from Dangermouse and arrangements from Van Dyke Parks, whatever that's worth.
NODS OF APPROVAL
Ape School
Smartly arranged pop/rock from multi-instrumentalist Michael Johnson, who's spent years as a sideman for other musicians (Lilys, Daedalus, et al.). Technically, Ape School's self-titled debut is his second solo effort, but the first under a "band" name. His gently psychedelic songs leaven pastoral elegance with just enough racket to make it all sound unforced.
Grauwelt
Is this for real? Yes. A Chicago hip-hop beatmaker called Earmint has a dirty secret. He grew up loving Ministry, Cabaret Voltaire, Skinny Puppy and other similar industrial/electronic acts. So he set out to write a batch of songs in that same vein, and you know what? He's really good at it.
The Sweet Vandals
Between reissue labels and revivalists such as Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, the world's enjoying a wealth of '60s and '70s soul, funk and r&b, both authentic and recreated. As it turns out, Spain likes to get on the good foot too.
GET DRINKS
The Bloody Beetroots
This feels like electroclash redux, but then a lot of bit-crushed/gutter/ghettotech dance music feels like that, thus proving this stuff never really goes away. The audience's fashion choices simply change.
Afghan Raiders
The music is interesting enough to make us pay attention, but the vocals put an end to that. We've learned an important lesson.
WHAT DID WE MISS?
Alaska In Winter
At first this came off as trying too hard, but Brandon Bethancourt (the man behind the name) digs deeper than the '80s synth-pop design and buzzing techno gloss he puts out front. Electro-style drum machines clatter below Balkan horns, and blank-eyed keyboard chords hint that he's a fan of the Scandinavian cosmic disco sound. His second LP, Holiday from late '08 is worth checking out.
Gui Boratto
This Brazillian electronic musician has a couple full-lengths and countless singles and remixes behind him already. He dishes out cold, almost melancholy techno and house that are as good for a long drive as they are for the dancefloor. (Spin the nine-minute "Ballroom" for a good example.)
However, we'd like to bring your attention to this (unintentionally?) hilarious quotation from Pitchfork that Boratto's PR team used on his Website:
"[Boratto's] deliberate inflections of melody often emerge with a ring of truth, especially as he guides his repetitions through the peaks and valleys of his little mostly-nonverbal anecdotes."
If you can tell us what that means, The Typing Monkey staff will put together a nice little gift pack for you. Send your translations to: typingmonkey@live.com.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Club MySpace
Sorting through the PR e-mail to shake out the MP3s and links to band MySpace pages often feels like being forced to listen to only the opening bands while we wait for a headliner that will never take the stage.
Because of that, The Typing Monkey staff has developed a simple classification system for those bands that we will revisit after a cursory listen, even if we eventually decide they're not for us. This shorthand is a perfectly reasonable way to talk about the bands, much in the way you'd fill in a friend who has arrived late to the show and wants to know if the warm-up acts were any good.
We won't waste any space explaining the classification system because we respect you too much. Just grab your coat, get your wrist stamped and if you don't like any of the acts below, understand this is less than 10 percent of what we had to sift through.
YAY!
CFCF
A man from Montreal who makes soft-focus disco and pre-house instrumentals that could soundtrack a Golan-Globus movie. Add to that his remixes of hits he obviously wasn't old enough to remix the first time around (OMC's "How Bizarre"; The Jets' "Crush On You") and we have ourselves a winner.
Dark Dark Dark
Banjo, accordion, cello, drums and lopping sea-chanty rhythms pile into a gypsy caravan to do a Southern Gothic drive-by. That is to say, Dark Dark Dark will put a red scarf over the lamp and make next Friday night's $7 wine-drunk temporarily exotic.
Flowers of Doom
One-third of FoD is singer Simon Lord (ex-Simian, current The Black Ghosts), whose worried vocals help nail the information-overloaded mood. This music wedges in right between The Black Ghosts' club-friendly sound and The Good, The Bad & The Queen's bleak dub-tinted tunes.
Eliot Lipp
More top-shelf electro from an underrated gentleman who makes music that sounds like the 1980s we want to remember. Thank you once more, Tacoma.
The Rollo Treadway
It's been a while since there was a worthwhile British Invasion reenactment band, and this quartet's awfully good at it. Cherry-picking from The Kinks, Zombies and Hollies (and likely others) they're doing it well by not over-doing it.
NODS OF APPROVAL
Friendly Foes
Remember the wealth of solid, co-ed guitar bands that walked in both the shadows of the indie/college-radio ghetto and the glare of mainstream acceptance? Friendly Foes do, and they wear it well, Apples in Stereo vocals and all. Look, sugar's not good for you, but you still eat it, right?
Márcio Local
Sparkling samba-soul from an authentic Brazilian with a thing for mid-'60s Quincy Jones. Even your mom will do Charlie Brown dances to this, so get it before she finds it at a large-chain coffee shop in a year or so.
Maus Haus
Diverse, weird sounds that seem a genuine emulation and repurposing of early electronic experimental junk -- especially late '60s and early '70s obscurities that, if mentioned here will make us sound like elitist trash.
Powered
Busy, Tokyo train-station electronic instrumentals from Deastro's solo side project. Like his Ghostly Swim contribution "Light Powered," every song title involves the word "Powered" -- we recommend "Space Powered" and "AGE POWERED." Deastro's good, and now he can be his own opening act.
Telekenisis
Boys with guitars give us too many reasons to ask them to please just stop. Yet here's some jerk from Seattle, with glasses and a natty sweater and he's doing fine. He knows his way around a radio-ready pop tune, his voice doesn't make us want to punch him in the face, and the lyrics don't try so damned hard.
GET DRINKS
Here We Go Magic
Oh, bearded Brooklyn, when will it end? "Tunnelvision" is a pleasant bit of acoustic psychedelia, but this is nothing spectacular.
Larytta
"Voodoo Things" proves that meaningless but cool-sounding words delivered through a vocoder makes one-half of a good bit-crunched freak out. Larytta brought the other half as well and that cut could be the Swiss duo's one wonderful hit. The remainder of the music on their page stutters through too many stylistic ticks to hold our attention.
The Whip
We shook our Magic 8 Ball and asked if The Whip will be the Klaxons of 2009. "It is decidedly so."
WHAT DID WE MISS?
Theresa Andersson
Leapin' lizards! She's a Dutch expatriate living in New Orleans, and has already performed on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Here's a link to a video of Ms. Andersson showing laptop IDM geeks -- and plenty of singer/songwriters -- how to make solo performance interesting. (And the tunes are good too.)
Annihilation Time
These fellows passed legal drinking age some time ago, but still play with teenage enthusiasm. You can guess what you're in for based on the band name. The quartet has been putting in hours since 2001 but only came to our attention recently. We sincerely regret the error.
***
Let's do this again real soon.
Because of that, The Typing Monkey staff has developed a simple classification system for those bands that we will revisit after a cursory listen, even if we eventually decide they're not for us. This shorthand is a perfectly reasonable way to talk about the bands, much in the way you'd fill in a friend who has arrived late to the show and wants to know if the warm-up acts were any good.
We won't waste any space explaining the classification system because we respect you too much. Just grab your coat, get your wrist stamped and if you don't like any of the acts below, understand this is less than 10 percent of what we had to sift through.
YAY!
CFCF
A man from Montreal who makes soft-focus disco and pre-house instrumentals that could soundtrack a Golan-Globus movie. Add to that his remixes of hits he obviously wasn't old enough to remix the first time around (OMC's "How Bizarre"; The Jets' "Crush On You") and we have ourselves a winner.
Dark Dark Dark
Banjo, accordion, cello, drums and lopping sea-chanty rhythms pile into a gypsy caravan to do a Southern Gothic drive-by. That is to say, Dark Dark Dark will put a red scarf over the lamp and make next Friday night's $7 wine-drunk temporarily exotic.
Flowers of Doom
One-third of FoD is singer Simon Lord (ex-Simian, current The Black Ghosts), whose worried vocals help nail the information-overloaded mood. This music wedges in right between The Black Ghosts' club-friendly sound and The Good, The Bad & The Queen's bleak dub-tinted tunes.
Eliot Lipp
More top-shelf electro from an underrated gentleman who makes music that sounds like the 1980s we want to remember. Thank you once more, Tacoma.
The Rollo Treadway
It's been a while since there was a worthwhile British Invasion reenactment band, and this quartet's awfully good at it. Cherry-picking from The Kinks, Zombies and Hollies (and likely others) they're doing it well by not over-doing it.
NODS OF APPROVAL
Friendly Foes
Remember the wealth of solid, co-ed guitar bands that walked in both the shadows of the indie/college-radio ghetto and the glare of mainstream acceptance? Friendly Foes do, and they wear it well, Apples in Stereo vocals and all. Look, sugar's not good for you, but you still eat it, right?
Márcio Local
Sparkling samba-soul from an authentic Brazilian with a thing for mid-'60s Quincy Jones. Even your mom will do Charlie Brown dances to this, so get it before she finds it at a large-chain coffee shop in a year or so.
Maus Haus
Diverse, weird sounds that seem a genuine emulation and repurposing of early electronic experimental junk -- especially late '60s and early '70s obscurities that, if mentioned here will make us sound like elitist trash.
Powered
Busy, Tokyo train-station electronic instrumentals from Deastro's solo side project. Like his Ghostly Swim contribution "Light Powered," every song title involves the word "Powered" -- we recommend "Space Powered" and "AGE POWERED." Deastro's good, and now he can be his own opening act.
Telekenisis
Boys with guitars give us too many reasons to ask them to please just stop. Yet here's some jerk from Seattle, with glasses and a natty sweater and he's doing fine. He knows his way around a radio-ready pop tune, his voice doesn't make us want to punch him in the face, and the lyrics don't try so damned hard.
GET DRINKS
Here We Go Magic
Oh, bearded Brooklyn, when will it end? "Tunnelvision" is a pleasant bit of acoustic psychedelia, but this is nothing spectacular.
Larytta
"Voodoo Things" proves that meaningless but cool-sounding words delivered through a vocoder makes one-half of a good bit-crunched freak out. Larytta brought the other half as well and that cut could be the Swiss duo's one wonderful hit. The remainder of the music on their page stutters through too many stylistic ticks to hold our attention.
The Whip
We shook our Magic 8 Ball and asked if The Whip will be the Klaxons of 2009. "It is decidedly so."
WHAT DID WE MISS?
Theresa Andersson
Leapin' lizards! She's a Dutch expatriate living in New Orleans, and has already performed on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Here's a link to a video of Ms. Andersson showing laptop IDM geeks -- and plenty of singer/songwriters -- how to make solo performance interesting. (And the tunes are good too.)
Annihilation Time
These fellows passed legal drinking age some time ago, but still play with teenage enthusiasm. You can guess what you're in for based on the band name. The quartet has been putting in hours since 2001 but only came to our attention recently. We sincerely regret the error.
***
Let's do this again real soon.
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