It defeats the purpose to be describing music made purely to be experienced, but what then is left to be said? In the world of husband and wife duo Peaking Lights and their album 936 , the medium of dub transcends its function as form or genre. In a loose Mcluhanesque sense, it has become the message itself, operating as an undisguised narcotic somewhat like an extension of our bodily senses. This strategy isn't new, having been pushed to its limits by the likes of Spiritualized, for which music-on-drugs blends effortless with music-as-drug. Their sound itself isn't [...]
It's hard not to listen to London producer Zomby in the context of the long wait for Burial 's next (dub)step. The two seem to work best in elusive anonymity, and more significantly, both share an uncanny penchant and deft touch for creating electronic music in mournful and evocative tones. Yet, while Burial's album work - Burial (2006) and Untrue (2007) - relies heavily on hauntingly intimate vocal samples, Zomby's palette on his 4AD debut Dedication (2011) is broader and more scattered. That's where the comparison gets a little unfair, since [...]
When I came across Ian Cohen's post for Pitchfork's 15th anniversary feature and his selection of the Wrens ' "Everyone Choose Sides" as the song that meant most to him personally in 2003, it dawned upon me how many years its been since I'd listened to that Meadowlands album I loved so much that year. "Everyone Choose Sides" was my favorite track not just of the album, but probably of anything I heard in 2003, and I'm quite sure it's there on that year end mix cd I compiled with Brian. If only I could [...]
Reading from afar on the recent London riots, I'm struck by how Johnny Rotten's "no future for you" still rings true more than 30 years on, hanging ominously over the aftermath at Tottenham. It gave shuddering perspective to what I've been listening to lately - Nine Types of Light by TV on the Radio . While the band has steered their fourth album in the direction of lushly padded funk rock, the underlying tensions that have come to so characterize their music remains as disconcerting as ever. "No Future Shock" casts this grim context under an ironic [...]
SINGAPORE : I'm Waking Up To... The Psalms - Johnny Mnemonic Fiercely upfront and dizzyingly discordant, The Psalms have been shaking things up in the music scene here, with growing expectations on their upcoming debut album. The band's Ishmael's Wishlist EP offers a raw glimpse of things to come, with its arresting spiral of chaotic rock delivered at breakneck speeds. All donations through the EP's digital download on Bandcamp will benefit Acres, [...]
For all its obvious flaws that are perhaps emblematic of a relatively inexperienced filmmaker trying too hard to imitate John Cassavetes, Derek Gianfrance’s Blue Valentine still makes for absorbing viewing, particularly for those who are able to immerse themselves fully into the improvisational feel of this muted marital melodrama. This ballad of Dean and Cindy (as portrayed by Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams), which shifts restlessly between their disintegrating marriage and sense-memory flashbacks to the couple’s happier times together several years before, is accompanied by a score composed by Grizzly Bear featuring instrumental versions of a [...]
For all its obvious flaws that are perhaps emblematic of a relatively inexperienced filmmaker trying too hard to imitate John Cassavetes, Derek Gianfrance’s Blue Valentine still makes for absorbing viewing, particularly for those who are able to immerse themselves fully into the improvisational feel of this muted marital melodrama. This ballad of Dean and Cindy (as portrayed by Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams), which shifts restlessly between their disintegrating marriage and sense-memory flashbacks to the couple’s happier times together several years before, is accompanied by a score composed by Grizzly Bear featuring instrumental versions of a [...]
frustration and fatigue, the banality of everyday life senselessly juxtaposed against injustice, train wrecks and massacres. uncontrollable bursts of tears at spurts through the day unable or unwilling to articulate the complexities and messiness. dressed in washed out, neutral, old man cardigans their simple arrangements and familiar harmonies soothe so far removed from what just happened but uncannily prescient in sincere, if stilted, English they gently ask for an explanation - b . mp3 : Kings [...]
frustration and fatigue, the banality of everyday life senselessly juxtaposed against injustice, train wrecks and massacres. uncontrollable bursts of tears at spurts through the day unable or unwilling to articulate the complexities and messiness. dressed in washed out, neutral, old man cardigans their simple arrangements and familiar harmonies soothe so far removed from what just happened but uncannily prescient in sincere, if stilted, English they gently ask for an explanation - b . mp3 : Kings [...]
It's All True , the luscious new Junior Boys album (their fourth), doubles as the kind of hauntingly beautiful breakup record made only for the introverted romantics who never quite believed in truly happy endings. While Jeremy Greenspan and Matt Didemus may be drawing from more disparate influences this time round (Orson Welles, Howard Hughes, their experiences in China), the nine new songs on It’s All True still retain that carefully nurtured sense of elegance and poise that have always set Junior Boys apart. On "Playtime", fluid electronics and downbeat synth-pop melodies channel the familiar refrains [...]
It's All True , the luscious new Junior Boys album (their fourth), doubles as the kind of hauntingly beautiful breakup record made only for the introverted romantics who never quite believed in truly happy endings. While Jeremy Greenspan and Matt Didemus may be drawing from more disparate influences this time round (Orson Welles, Howard Hughes, their experiences in China), the nine new songs on It’s All True still retain that carefully nurtured sense of elegance and poise that have always set Junior Boys apart. On "Playtime", fluid electronics and downbeat synth-pop melodies channel the familiar refrains [...]
SINGAPORE : I'm Waking Up To... In Each Hand A Cutlass - A Universe Made Of Strings Outlaws, stargazers and free riders - that's the sense of freedom apparent in the debut album of In Each Hand A Cutlass. The masterpiece is called A Universe Made Of Strings, and while allusions to string theory and parallel dimensions are in order, no-one can deny the sprawling ambition that the group have laboured to achieve. Swirling [...]
SINGAPORE : I'm Waking Up To... In Each Hand A Cutlass - A Universe Made Of Strings Outlaws, stargazers and free riders - that's the sense of freedom apparent in the debut album of In Each Hand A Cutlass. The masterpiece is called A Universe Made Of Strings, and while allusions to string theory and parallel dimensions are in order, no-one can deny the sprawling ambition that the group have laboured to achieve. Swirling [...]
The past few days have slipped me into a nostalgic mood. Not because I've been particularly reflective, but the things of old just seemed to creep up on me again, as they tend to do once in a while. I re-read Adrian Tomine's 32 stories for the first time in years, watched the No Distance Left to Run documentary on Blur's reunion twice within a fortnight, and listened to a slew of music from the 90s I love(d) so much. Coincidentally, the song that's been ringing in my head as I've been walking about [...]
The past few days have slipped me into a nostalgic mood. Not because I've been particularly reflective, but the things of old just seemed to creep up on me again, as they tend to do once in a while. I re-read Adrian Tomine's 32 stories for the first time in years, watched the No Distance Left to Run documentary on Blur's reunion twice within a fortnight, and listened to a slew of music from the 90s I love(d) so much. Coincidentally, the song that's been ringing in my head as I've been walking about [...]
Over the weekend, Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips played a couple of shows in Asia (Taipei and Hong Kong) in which the pair performed songs from the back catalogue of Galaxie 500 , the band fronted by Wareham that came to indie rock prominence during the late eighties. From the moment their Taipei show on Saturday evening kicked off with the arching dream pop of “Flowers”, we knew we were witnessing something quite incredible — this was, after all, the closest we may ever come to the Galaxie 500 reunion we have all been pining for. Dean, [...]
Bon Iver may have expanded the geographical range of his music beyond his reclusive cabin in Wisconsin, but the atmosphere remains wintry to the core. Only it sounds a lot less fragile, even if still resolutely vulnerable. On album opener "Perth", Justin Vernon raises his signature falsetto in proclaiming he's " still alive for you ", championed by the biggest and most expanasive sounds he's ever mustered. With it arrives a newfound boldness that reverberates long after he's moved on to Minnesota and wherever else he chooses. - Dan . [...]
I’ve just finished reading 03 , Jean-Christophe Valtat’s novella about a precocious high school student’s coming of age in the eighties, in one torrid sitting on a Sunday morning (with The Cure, Joy Division and The Smiths as super-emo background noise). Sublimely written in one single unbroken eighty-page paragraph, 03 wallows unabashedly in the inflated romantic confusion of a teenager in love — in this case, a lonely boy’s feelings for a mentally handicapped girl he encounters every day in the French suburbs — and yet there is an aching sensibility to Valtat’s prose that would resonate [...]
Undoubtedly, the focal point in the music of Tune-Yards is Merril Garbus' voice. Intense and disciplined, it channels an immense depth of emotion and state of being, expressed across a staggering hybrid of reggae, soul, jazz and folk influences. But it's not the only thing worth listening to on Tune-Yards' recent second album. Without sounding congested, w h o k i l l delights in musical complexity and rewards handsomely for each closer listen. On the standout slow-jam "Powa", Garbus' self-assured vocals prove unshakable, whether she's cooing softly at the start, growling in increasing tension with [...]
Some thoughts and observations on this new Lapalux track: 1. This is the soundtrack for the moment, not for any specific event. Long, stretched moments, preferably. 2. I guess this is what you'd call atmospheric music, yet its movement and content betray its underlying pop/r&b aspirations. 3. It's hard to explain, but if you listen on headphones, the sounds slide up your ears. Just try it. 4. The title sounds like an unnecessary weight on the track, but I must admit it sums things up quite nicely. - Dan [...]
i'm waking up to...
Lana Del Rey is the “Queen of Disaster” on New ‘Born To Die’ Leak
Drake will also be in Anchorman 2
Daft Punk - Doin' it right (The Golden Pony remix)
Todd Edwards Essential Mix
