Blog: music is art

the noticeable ingredient on simon green's project BONOBO is found within the slow motion of rich textured back-looped voices, keyboard vulnerability and simple collisions of blending chimes that infuse vibrancy into a genre that too often borders boredom and repetition. ever since releasing early material from his hometown of brighton, bonobo caught the ear of critics and fans alike, which prompted a collaboration with mr scruff and signing to ninja tunes. if you dig slow, lush, genre bending lounge music, yr definitely in for a treat. [...]

from richmond virginia is gregor samsa who named themselves after the lead character in franz kafka's novel "metamorphasis." their 2006 release 55:12 somehow found its way to my headphones into shuffle and i was hypnotized. everything goes so fast, slows down then stops and you breathe until the sad happy vocals and im-just-closing-my-eyes sleepy music takes over. [fans of low and explosions in the sky will truly understand.] listen to: young and old

from richmond virginia is gregorsamsa who named themselves after the lead character in franz kafka's novel "metamorphasis." their 2006 release 55:12 somehow found its way to my headphones into shuffle and i was hypnotized. everything goes so fast, slows down then stops -- then you breathe. dreamy vocals and im-just-closing-my-eyes sleepy music takes over. fans of low and explosions in the sky will understand. listen to: young and old

so last night i went to see sia . and it was perfect. standing in the center of the second balcony behind the soundboard, clearly staring down between the white christmas lights at the bowery ballroom in nyc. laughing and being with jj. running into citizen cope as im hearing sia mention that she wrote the song *numb* for her friend who was addicted to heroin. watching the ways her BEAUTIFUL seductive voice took over that room and hushed the crowd. "the peacefulness." 3 tracks from ZERO 7 [destiny, distractions, somersault]. [...]

to find me gone is the second album by andy cabic's band vetiver and will be unveiled on may 22nd. over the years, andy has helped friend devendra banhart on tour and has slowly crafted the music of vetiver. most remember his style as quiet acoustic rock from his debut, but something special has been added -- the beauty of loud crashing drums and over and over and over again repeating electric guitars wildly exploding inside yr head. andy shares an intimate [...]

"Our quoting for our album is: 40% Chanson, 20% R’n’R, 10% Punkrock, 3% DAF-Sequencer, 4% Jacques Dutronc-Rhythmique, 7% Brigitte Bardot and Serge Gainsbourg, 1,5% Cosmonaute, 10% really old synthesizers, 10% 8-bit Amiga-sampling, 10% transistor amplifier, 1% really expensive and advanced instruments." STEREO TOTAL is a berlin duo comprised of the glamorous singer françoise cactus and her musical partner brezel göring. sung in the languages of french, german and english over cool synth sounds mixing eclectic, clever, melodic electronia with pop casio-keyboard punk. [...]

in the same year that favorites radiohead and portishead are about to project another wonderful release of their own; its official, the new tool album 10,000 days arrives on may 2nd in exactly 16 days. [dont get too confused.] all good patient tool fans around the world have been waiting 5 years for the new tool. [...]

from germany, micha archer (the notwist, 13 & God, lali puna) and stefanie bohm [couch] present ms. john soda . through luscious soft vocals over body-engaging bass lines, perfect reverbrating beats and calming hypnotic strings, you can't help but get lost in the warmth of it all. there is no me that would exist without you listen to: [...]

austria's marcus füreder, the name behind the project parov stelar is a master of the sampling art form and has been creating amazing sounds for the past few years. to go from simple to sublime in one step is his biggest contradiction and he handles it very well. fueled by the inspiration of cinematic orchestra and portishead, marcus takes all his memories full of broken emotions running high on smoky, jazzy, lush downtempo waves and watches them float inside intelligent colorful structures without ever sounding monotonous. listen to: [...]

..here we go again.. from northern vancouver, hails five lovely ladies called the organ. the lead singer, katie sketch, has been complimented to the likes of morrissey while the music has been associated with the drowning sounds of the cure, interpol and joy division. however, the organ create a new wave feeling all of their own sharing haunting yearning vocals over an old hammond organ, clean catchy guitar riffs, perfected bass lines and crisp propelling drumming. [...]

.michal maciej karcz. ...run towards the light...

"whats the point of being alive if yr not sensual? its relaxed, its natural." one of my very favorite shows was back in 1999, tricky at the avalon in boston. feeling his words shaking and trembling, his body twitching surrounded [...]

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dot allison. with help of special musicians from death in vegas and my blood valentine , dot allison's unpredictable sound shares intimately seductive dark electronica underneath cold distant soulful melodies. it takes repeat listening to reveal the spellbinding subtleties that lie within, but its truly worth the time. [...]

on april 11th, japanese quartet mono will be releasing their fifth album you are there . over the years, their music has been found inside different levels of post-rock; steve albini has been their main producer and the key to all his work is the feeling of raw sound clarity. mono's new release is no different, dramatically sharing subdued layers of guitar distortion, thundering percussion, delicate strings, bass patterns and flashes of cymbals that create a perfectly balanced atmosphere of melancholy without ever being [...]

if you ask damien jurado , he'll tell you point blank that it's in the dark where you'll find us all. damien is an urban-folk singer storyteller giving a steady balance of the saddest and darkest stories you've ever heard. its like eavesdropping on something that was never meant to be seen. its always best when its just him and the acoustic guitar -- his voice is a theatrical instrument all in itself, a real natural depth mixed within tones of pure collective beauty. [...]

you may not believe it but there are people who go through life with very little friction or distress they dress well, eat well, sleep well they are contented with their family life they have moments of grief but all in all they are undisturbed and often feel very good and when they die it is an easy death, usually in their sleep you may not believe it but such people do exist [...]

edward gorey was a writer who illustrated more than 100 books of amazing haunted drawings in a variety of ways and wasn't necessarily particular as to what form they took. he was very fond of word games, particularly anagrams . he wrote many of his books under pseudonyms that were usually anagrams of his own name (most famously "ogdred weary".) edward lived a full life [75 years] of designing prize-winning sets and costumes for innumerable theater productions on broadway and dreaming along the beautiful cape cod beaches happily with his cats where he wrote [...]

edward gorey was a writer who illustrated more than 70 books of amazing haunting drawings in a variety of ways and wasn't necessarily particular as to what form they took. he was very fond of word games, particularly anagrams . he wrote many of his books under pseudonyms that were usually anagrams of his own name (most famously "ogdred weary".) edward lived a full life [75 years] of designing prize-winning sets and costumes for innumerable theater productions on broadway and dreaming along the beautiful cape cod beaches happily with his cats where he wrote [...]

edward gorey was a writer who illustrated more than 70 books of drawings in a variety of ways and wasn't necessarily particular as to what form they took. he was very fond of word games, particularly anagrams . he wrote many of his books under pseudonyms that were usually anagrams of his own name (most famously "ogdred weary".) edward lived a full life [75 years] of designing prize-winning sets and costumes for innumerable theater productions on broadway and dreaming along the beautiful [...]