A fantastic track by Miracle Fortress (a project of Montreal-based Graham van Pelt) that gets better every time you listen to it. Restraint but epic at the same time.
Miracle Fortress will perform in Utrecht’s EKKO on December 7.
A beautiful folk interpretation by Julia Stone of perhaps The National’s greatest song; that shows that really this is one of the best tracks of the past decade.
A fantastic track that combines elements of American folk and country, psychedelic lo-fi sounds and a Nico-esque voice into a hazy but harmonic experimental looping blur. Really cool, listen to this.
It’s been a while that I was enthusiastic about a new guitar band. But here’s one. The sound of Japandroids feels like fresh air in a musical landscape dominated by endless 1980s rehashes, faux artsy bands, indie/electronic cross-overs, and the umpteenth minimalist hipster band. Instead, this is straightforward, hardcore, ramshackle, uncomplicated guitar music, calling into mind The Clash, the Ramones, the Pixies, punk and indie rock in general, and a little bit of ’90s rock.
But no text is necessary, just listen to this straight-up rock track bursting with force and energy (best sound quality here).
This sixth installment of the FNS starts with two killer tracks. The first is an epic Andhim remix of Theopilius London’s “Wine and Chocolates” and the second one a banger from Scuba’s latest. After this adrenalin rush we reach a plateau of deep minimal tracks by the likes of 2000 and One, Move D, Efdemin, Philip Bader, Minilogue and Mathew Johnson. After that it gets it little bit grittier with Sian, Perc and a Richie Hawtin classic. A recent edit of Tony Lionni’s “Precious” makes for a smooth comedown.
Enough has been said about Lana del Rey and ‘Video Games’. Yet, when a grand master like Joris Voorn puts his hands on it to make a remix of this worn-out track, that deserves mentioning. This remix preserves all the good parts of the original, while refreshing it with a mellow beat and some decent twitches and soundscapes.
Very well done.
Even though the song is already one-and-a-half years old, Arcade Fire have now released a videoclip to the epic Sprawl II. And this clip is fantastic! Highly recommended.
Now I wonder what the theme is… would it be ‘suburban angst’?
Jamie xx is really one of the great hopes in indie/electronic music; almost everything he touches turns into gold. Would love to hear this guy spin one time.
Check out this great, warm dubby track of the remixer and member of The xx, laced with steel drums and children’s choirs:
Also check out his remix of Radiohead’s Bloom, posted earlier on LSD!
As blogged before, I’ve kinda had it with the never-ending 1980s-recycling mania that has dominated the last decade, and has grown into something very hipster-predictable and boring in 2k11. Even though that decade’s music is my favourite.
Despite myself, however, I must post this great track by Junior Boys, ‘Banana Ripple’, that has 1980s written all over it. They’re doing it the right way, however. Like Destroyer, in this track they take the most kitschy, chamber poppy sounds of that decade and turn it into something cool. The track starts in a kinda boring way (and you may want to listen to it twice), but along the way it becomes something danceworthy and in the end you’ll be imaging yourself in a retro disco.
- Edit: Better sound quality here.
With one month left to go, looking back one thing is clear: the year 2011 has been a very poor year in indie music. Seriously: while 2010 had lots of musical highlights, from the albums High Violet by The National and Before Today by Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti to The Suburbs by Arcade Fire, and from all kinds of energetic electronic-indie and synth acts like Crystal Castles, Delorean, Phoenix and Two Door Cinema Club, to chillwave (which was okay for a while, with Neon Indian, Teen Daze, Luftwaffe), the past year I’ve heard almost nothing that blew my mind like those acts did.
This can mean two things: either the indie/hipster scene in 2011 is really in its dying phase, and depraved of originality – I really can’t stand every next Brooklyn retro-1980s synth-pop outfit with a “vintage” video clip; or I have heard it all and am getting old. Even the acts that are supposed to be at the top of today’s scene, like The Naked and Famous, M83 and the likes, to me in all honesty really sound like poppy rip-offs of stuff that used to be better and more original.
Last year, I had trouble putting together a ‘best of 2010′ list, because the supply was so big. In 2011, I’ll be having trouble filling it because almost nothing really cool or original came out. The one highlight I can think of is Cut Copy’s Zonoscope, and even that wasn’t exactly a game-changer.
I wonder what the next decade hype will be, actually: since every 1980s niche has by now been plundered, my bet is on either retro-1970s or retro-1990s music and trends. We’ll probably never see something new anymore.
But okay. Here’s a new 2k11 track that I actually do like. Yes, it’s synth once again… but this harks back to those early-1980s post-punk bands with an expansive sound, like Siouxsie and the Banshees and early U2, which is a niche that hasn’t been recycled that much yet. If you’re a sucker for “big” sounds, like I am, listen to this:
Spinvis: in geen eeuwen meer naar geluisterd. Het eerste album werkelijk grijsgedraaid, het tweede album ook nog een beetje, paar concerten bezocht, en daarna was het afgelopen. Albums waren niet goed meer en ik vond er zelf ook niet zoveel meer aan. Weggelegd en vijf of zes jaar niet meer gehoord.
Wat schetst dan ook mijn verbazing: dat Spinvis’ kersverse album Tot Ziens, Justine Keller (2011), het eerste sinds de matige vorige twee uit 2007 en 2008, hard op weg is een plaatsje te veroveren in het eindejaarslijstje van bovengetekende. Wat is dit een goeie shit! Met gemak het beste album sinds zijn allereerste, en zeker een van de beste die dit jaar (internationaal) is uitgekomen. Wie had dat kunnen bevroeden.
Wat is er zo goed aan? Van alles. Vooral dat het een krachtig album is dat staat als een huis, in tegenstelling tot de soms onafgemaakt klinkende albums van hiervoor. Maar ook het nieuwe geluid, de kwaliteit van de productie en zelfs de lyriek. Spinvis heeft duidelijk geluisterd naar hippe popmuziek van de afgelopen zoveel jaar: Tot Ziens, Justine Keller varieert van ambient soundscapes en Sigur Rós-achtig getingel tot Arcade Fire-achtige arena-elementen, met veel synthesizers en orgeltjes en hier en daar zelfs techno en house-invloeden. Een verademing met, enerzijds, oneerbiedig gesteld het gerommel op de vierkante milimeter van Spinvis’ voorgaande albums, en anderzijds het totaal inspiratieloze en uitgekauwde geluid van vrijwel het gehele Nederlandse muzieklandschap.
De
productie van Tot Ziens is supergoed: de muziek is veelgelaagd, getextureerd, en met een rijkdom aan elementen en geluiden. Van het synthy/jaren 80 Kom Terug (persoonlijke favoriet) tot het dreamy/singer songwriter De Grote Zon, tot het post-punk Heel Goed Nieuws, het duistere, beat poetry-achtige Club Insomnia, en de zonnige en housy tracks Begin Oktober en Koning Alcohol. Rode draad van het album is, neem ik aan, een al dan niet fictieve relatie met ene Justine Keller.
Tekstueel kennen we het truukje van Spinvis: stream of consciousness-teksten, waarin precieze details afgewisseld worden met vaagheden, als in een constante droom. De thematiek van liefde, reizen, drank, enz. zal alle blanke hogere middenklasse- en studentenbuurten in Utrecht en Amsterdam wederom aanspreken. Alles is vanzelfsprekend gedrenkt in strijkers, zwaar emotioneel en supermelancholisch. Maar ach, weet je: het truukje werkt, het is hier en daar daadwerkelijk aangrijpende en ontroerende muziek. En zonder meer by far en met grote afstand het beste wat de Nederlandse muziek te bieden heeft. Eigenlijk is er niets wat ook maar bij Spinvis in de buurt komt.
Kortom: luister0n! Nu nog voor gratis op de 3VOOR12 luisterpaal. 2011 was al bijna afgeschreven qua muziek, maar het jaar wordt uit onverwachte hoek toch nog gered!
A few months ago Purity Ring dropped a major dubstep-pop hit called “Ungirthed” (remix here). They’re back now with “Belispeak”. It’s not as jaw-dropping as Ungirthed, but still a very catchy track:
via Telephant
The War On Drugs have been making music for some years now, but with their new album Slave Ambient they seem to have their first hit. The EP Future Weather already featured some great tracks and some of them are also on Slave Ambient. This is the first single and one of the best tracks of the album:
Nice new clip by Bon Iver, shot in Iceland. The whole little-boy-wearing-Nordic-sweaters thing is a bit too angelic and over the top for my tastes (and Bon Iver has obviously been listening to and watching Sigur Rós clips very closely); but those landscapes are real, of course, and they look magnificent. Decent song, too.
Musically it’s not very special, but the clip is pretty cool. The new Flaming Lips collab with Lightning Bolt:
Also check out their work with Neon Indian from earlier this year.
It only rarely happens that you immediately fall in love with a track. This is such a case. British band The Horrors have been around for a while, but as they seemed the umpteenth Joy Division / New Wave / post-punk influenced band in town, I ignored them.
This turns out to have been a mistake. Unlike many of their peers (Editors, Interpol, White Lies, The Bravery), The Horrors actually pull it off! Tracks like the three posted below not only show their love of Joy Division, but also incorporate 1970s Krautrock and Kraftwerk influences in a very cool manner. Makes for really dark, gritty psychedelic stuff.
Still Life (epic)
Sea Within A Sea (lots of early 1980s, lots of Kraftwerk):
The hipster kids are getting younger and younger these days. Check out this clip featuring kids in the disco by Hamburg producer and dj Tensnake. Tensnake is a producer who sorta combines the good sides of the mainstream sound of some popular dj’s with a more qualitatively appealing edge: in tracks like this one and Coma Cat you’ll hear disco, dub, Balearic, Chicago and acid house influences.
Check out these dancefloor killers:
Tensnake -- Something About You (gets great in the middle):
Tensnake -- Coma Cat (totally happy, definitely listen to this):
Holding Back (My Love) is also a great, lazy track.
Tensnake plays at the Melt! festival on July 15!
Tom Vek, ik had nog nooit van de man gehoord, maar blijkbaar is hij al jaren een hit bij een select indie-publiek. Zijn debuut We Have Sound kwam in 2005 uit en bijna zes jaar later is er zijn nieuwe plaat. Vek wordt door de meeste critici beoordeeld als slechte zanger, monotoon en saai. Luister zelf of dat terecht is. Ik vind in ieder geval van niet. Zijn nieuwe single is een goed geproduceerd en catchy popnummer. Hij is eigenlijk grafisch ontwerper en dat zie je weer terug in de stijlvolle clip. Luisteren maarrrrr:
Volgens Sander Spek van De Jaap is hij ook live erg goed.
Luister hier het complete nieuwe album Leisure Seizure op Soundcloud.
