DOWNLOAD Back in 1980, the supposed gulf separating new wave from prog rock was perceived to be only slightly less wide than the distance from the sun to Pluto. Proggers disdained the new wave’s ethos of DIY simplicity, while new wavers deplored prog’s pretensions [...]
DOWNLOAD On what is a shoo-in for one of the best singles of 2013, John Grant sculpts an elaborate diss track over an electrostatic 4/4 beat, twisting his tongue around scathing couplets. His verbal virility on "Black Belt" produces [...]
My latest feature on Grammy.com, found here . Have drum machines eliminated the need for drummers? I could beat around the bush and hide my ultimate conclusion, but the answer really is no. As with most technologies, when put to creative use drum machines can be just as soulful as a real drummer and, in the right hands, can take on a musical life of their own. In my quest to research the instruments that make up the dance/electronica sound, I quickly realized it's a genre that can include every instrument in the world. [...]
Kick back on electro furniture.
Time to dust off those Halloween mixtapes again. If you like ghoulish Gallic psyche, creepy freakbeat and freaky femme-pop, look no further... 1. Stella - Si vous connaissez quelque-chose de pire qu'un vampire, parlez m'en toujours, ça pourra peut-être me faire sourire 2. Serge Gainsbourg - Docteur Jekyll Et Monsieur Hyde 3. Christine Pilzer - Dracula [...]
The single best part of running this blog is when aspiring musicians email, and turn out to be (I think) brilliant. It thrills me, and also reminds me how privileged I am. That's the case with SOLO , aka Solomon Major, a Londoner who in his own words produces "an acoustic and synth variation of dream-pop, mainly based on building and layering guitar loops over drum machines." And, heck, but this truly is dream-pop: music that floats you off into a mental hammock, music that slows everything down. When one of SOLO's songs loops its last, I feel a [...]
[ download ] With The Pains of Being Pure at Heart , Kurt Feldman mines the early 1990s sounds of shoegazing and indie-pop. On his new project, The Ice Choir , Feldman sets the wayback machine for a half-decade or so earlier and revisits the sounds of the mid-‘80s. If he has very many more projects up his sleeve, chances are he’ll end up in a doo-wop band at some point. Feldman’s interest in the ‘80s isn’t a huge surprise, given that prior to The Pains [...]
No doubt about it that synthesizers are what drives dance music this far. I mean, can you imagine if trance were to be produced on guitars and accoustic drums? And so Stoneyroads takes a look at some of our favorite vintage synths in the mini-article series that will be published per-week. Drum machines have no souls, they said. As old as the debate goes, drum machines came into being since long, long time ago, the time of which our grandpas were still in their prime. Many have failed to make their mark, while a select few [...]
Rick Moody, On Celestial Music There’s a certain ebullience to Rick Moody’s new essay collection On Celestial Music, a compulsion to keep talking, what Moody himself calls an “inability to stop trying to explain this imprinting, this mark that music has made on me.” This sentiment may bring back all the nights you stayed up with a friend, putting songs on the speakers one after another to keep the party going until the proverbial break of dawn when everyone is spent and sub-verbal. Apparently, the prolific novelist Moody, still best known as the author of The [...]
I was driving back home from the opening night of the UMS in the early hours of Friday morning, happy to have seen so many of my Denver friends and heard the music from so many talented bands spilling into the street along Broadway. As I headed east, there was no way of knowing what was unfolding at that very moment just a few miles down the road-a horrific, unfathomable scene which has brought devastation, confusion, and anger into the hearts of so many here in our community. Upon learning of those senseless events on Friday morning, [...]
[ download ] There is a an easy glide to "Going Down," the first single from the "new" London duo known as Idjut Boys . Its twists and turns are all gentle and entrancing; there isn't a sharp corner to be found. If there is anything resembling a hook during the song's five-minute duration it comes in the form of an odd juxtaposition, namely the gently cooed and heavily echoed titular question: "Why you going down to hell for love?" However "Going Down" is about moodiness [...]
NEW! by CIVIL CIVIC Electrorock duo Civil Civic has a "new" track out titled "New," and it's a catchy pairing of drum machine beats and distorted bass riffs that I guess didn't make the cut onto the band's last album, Rules . If anything about this song is going to stick out to fans of that album, it's the bright, playful keyboards that wail throughout the entire track. The song is available for a pay-whatever-you-feel-like-pay ing download on Bandcamp .
[ download ] Is "Pyramids" an affirmation of contemporary R&B or a complete refutation of it? The first time I listened to Frank Ocean 's nearly ten-minute suite-the first taste of his upcoming Channel Orange debut LP-I was intrigued; the second time, I was sold on its genius. Now, many listens later, it's still difficult to pinpoint whether Ocean is celebrating slow-jam forerunners like R. Kelly or if he's into something more insidious, exploding those conventions in an undercover operation. Each [...]
Note: this is the final installment in a series of "lost" posts originally slated to run in late 2011. [ download ] Matthew Young of the Brooklyn dance band Body Language instantly caught my attention on "You Can" by being a dead ringer vocally for Paddy McAloon of Prefab Sprout . Anything that reminds me of Aztec Camera in any way, shape or form is guaranteed to make my heart very, very happy and this song is no exception. When Young’s voice curls [...]
Note: this is one of a series of "lost" posts originally slated to run in late 2011. We will be running these over the next few days as we reboot the site content. [ download ] Just knowing the DNA that makes up “As Young As Yesterday” by the Swedish duo Korallreven makes it hard to imagine any way it could be a dud. One half of the combo is Daniel Tjäder of The Radio Dept. , a band that has yet to take a [...]
Note: this is one of a series of "lost" posts originally slated to run in late 2011. We will be running these over the next few days as we reboot the site content. [ download ] I realize that for many people reading this, the idea of describing a song as sounding like a deconstructed, funhouse mirror version of Sugar Ray’s “Fly” is probably the very definition of damning something with faint praise, but that’s not my intent at all. I heard “Fly” on the radio for the first time in [...]
One Glove Apps has just released Drum Machine Legend , a (yet another?) drum soft synth for the iPhone that comes with a 43 pad, samples from the most popular drum machines with accompanying skins ( 808 , SP1200 , Linn Drum , ...), as well as other rather-basic features such as per channel volume adjustment, tempo adjustment and quantization. Looking at the basic, no-nonse feature set this is a music app that might be fun to play with rather than, say an actual mobile studio tools you could use for production. The best thing [...]
Rollor is a two piece industrial rock band from Glasgow comprising Matt Harris (Vocals / Guitar) and David Collins ( Bass) and a certain drum machine aka Dr Drumrollor . Rollor Detuned instruments clatter in to the room and an engaging mix of frantic energy is let loose. The Bass reminds me of Jean-Jacques Brunel of The Stranglers, with those strings as loose as they can unwind, whilst the frenetic lead guitar whirls away like a drill bit. There is no [...]
SoJorn, a Nashville native shrouded in secrecy because of his high profile position as one of the most powerful booking agents in dance music, produced this remix of Five Knives’ Drum Machine. It's a chill mix of Drumstep & Vocals! Enjoy! Preview: Download: Five Knives – Drum Machine (SoJorn Remix) | Sharebeast |
The composer from Australia "Wolfwolf"...breaks out with this dope modern funk.."Happy Heart Breaks LP"... Born into the depths of an electronic funk era, the phenomenon that is Wolfwolf recreates the music of the 1980’s with an upbeat and positive modern twist. A long-term musician, Wolfwolf started his musical journey in front of a piano when he was only 3 years old. Classically trained, he explored and conquered several instruments including the violin, trumpet, trombone, drums and guitar before later moving onto more modern movements such as turntablism and drum machines. After producing and releasing several highly successful albums [...]
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