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.
One of the best new electronic tracks I heard in a while. A UK bass-style beat, spacey synthesizers, tech-housy elements and even a nice lo-fi vocal element, Rendez-Vous by Beaumont on Scuba’s Hotflush label (one of the most innovative labels around these days) makes me press ‘repeat’ time and again.
Once again, an outstanding John Maus track, being a remastered version of a previously untitled demo. An ’80s vibe so well done that it sounds like Joy Division performing from the International Space Station.
Now here’s something different! It’s been a while since I digged a track from the very first second I heard it. John Maus (a guy who is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in political philosophy in Switzerland) is an old friend of that other hero, Ariel Pink, and while he has the same kind of experimental lo-fi messiness, this sounds totally different.
More like Arcade Fire meets Falco meets a synthesizer church organ meets, I don’t know. Prepare to be blown away:
Here’s the video:
- Edit: Right, ok, this person is my new hero. Everything he makes is like a combination of Joy Division, Ariel Pink, sci fi movie soundtracks, Kraftwerk, Händel and Bach. Check out Cop Killer, Keep Pushing On, Hey Moon and Quantum Leap. The videos are pretty wicked too. Read the album We must become the pitiless censors of ourselves (2011) reviews on The Guardian, Pitchfork and the BBC. His live performances seem to attract the same kind of audience hostility as Ariel Pink does.
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!
An absolutely brilliant track by Aphex Twin, that was actually the namesake of the first EP he released under the name of AFX, back in 1991. YouTube commenters are having a discussion about whether it is from 1987. If it is, that’s pure genius.
Regardless of the age, this is really one of the greatest electronic tracks I’ve come across. It’s got the typical Aphex Twin drum beats, but also perfect analogue bubble sounds, synths, and an acid house but also Eastern vibe that’s hard not to feel lyrical about.
Everyone’s favorite divisive freak folk/lo-fi/trash pop/bedroom artist Ariel Pink dropped, a couple of days ago on September 11, an epic 16-minute track that was first written and recorded a decade ago. So consider this Ariel Pink’s tribute to 9/11.
This once again psychedelic, synth-heavy and pop-fuzzy track, full of warm melodies, rocks from the minute it starts, and so does the video accompanying it. Directed by Ariel Pink himself, it consists of footage of a lot of different things, mostly images of the past decade (Afghanistan, terrorism) and 1980s retro stuff. It starts with Ariel Pink watching television, and that somehow reminds me of David Cronenberg’s Videodrome.
Enjoy, this is cool:
Listen to this. It sounds like it was produced on a laptop yesterday, and could be played at some underground art festival or rave, possibly in Berlin or Amsterdam.
Yet, it’s from 1981 and it’s coming from Nijmegen! It’s part of the oeuvre of the New Wave/experimentalist electronic band Mekanik Kommando, that was formed in 1980 and released albums until late in the decade. How’s that for digging up some obscure shit?
Mekanik Kommando was part of the Ultra movement, a Dutch variety on the post-punk/New Wave/early electronic wave that had been developing in Germany and Great Britain since the late 1970s, with of course Joy Division being the most prominent example.
I find it very remarkable how fresh and modern the tracks by Mekanik Kommando sound (dig their name too). It they’d release stuff today, Pitchfork would be on to them. Listen to this, it’s all great:
I particularly like this track.
A mesmerizing minimal techno track from 2009 by Dutch prodigy Pascal Terstappen a.k.a. Applescal, who at 23 has already produced eight releases, two of which full-length. I feel old.
Love the high bpm, pounding bass and spacey synthesizers in this track. Good stuff.
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):
Funny and weird: the ‘Cigarette Duet’ by New Zealand format Princess Chelsea. Their label Lil’ Chief Records describes their sound as ”the soundtrack to an old Disney movie meets Kraftwerk fronted by Enya in a 60s production of Les Mis… set in space”.
Princess Chelsea’s debut “Lil’ Golden Book” will be a treat for all lovers of melody, musicality and originality. Deeply entrenched in the fantastical yet grounded with a somewhat sardonic lyrical wit, her musical fairy tale draws as much influence from Dr Dre as it does from Edvard Grieg. The album is a collection of stories about growing up as a teenager / young adult in modern New Zealand and features duets with Lil’ Chief labelmates Jonathan Bree (The Brunettes) and Lawrence Arabia.
Right.
- Edit: ‘Machines of Loving Grace’ is also nice, with this clip featuring good old Never Ending Story.
Apparat, the Berlin electronic finetuner who gained prominence under the wings of Ellen Allien and her BPitch Control label, always incorporated a measure of stadium rock-like breadth in his music. The direction he’s taking now with his music further increases this cinematic (almost U2-like) feel.
I can’t say I’m completely infatuated with this change in style, as I liked Apparat’s previous lush minimal productions better. But, there’s still something in this new track ‘Black Water’ that I very much like – I think it’s the high-pitched synthesizers that come in near the middle. And of course there’s nothing wrong with a bit of grandiosity from time to time.
Apparat Band will perform at the Melt! Festival on July 15, at the Melt! Selektor Beach.
Check out this original, synth-heavy, drum-heavy track by the American Pictureplane. With a surreal creative video too. From his upcoming new album Three Physical.
More Pictureplane on LSD:
Pictureplane – Flashion (You Designed My Mind)
- Edit: For me the highpoint in this guy’s oeuvre so far is still ‘Solid Gold‘ – love that track.
We posted about the Mancurian/Berlin outfit Holy Other before: ghostly, dark ambient dub/house music that is very delicately crafted yet also powerful. Check three great tracks here.
Now, Holy Other has released an EP called With U, with some (for me) new tracks on it. Check out ’With U’ and ‘Feel Something’. Again: lots of drones, Burial-like rave and R&B elements, synths, but also very smooth and dark. Imagine hearing this coming from huge speakers in a dark, forgotten cellar underneath a club somewhere.
Yes! Tonight Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti is finally performing in the Netherlands. I’m not able to find the last time this happened, nor when it will happen again, so I think it’s very special.
And rightly so, because I think this is the most friggin’ original music that’s been produced in a decade, at least in the indie scene. These guys are good. Not only does every song have a very nice layer of haziness across it; there’s a million things happening at once in them all of the time, making every track as surprising as the next one. Lots and lots of references too, to The Doors, the Beach Boys, the Velvet Underground, 1960s Britpop (The Monkees), Phil Spector, synth music, and so forth. At the start of a song, you have no idea where it’s going to end, and there’s a dozen of twists and turns in between that, every detail crafted yet sounding spontaneous.
Everyone’s heard Round & Round by now, I hope, so here’s some stuff from the Before Today album. Mind you: all of this is great, just great.
L’estat (acc. to the widow’s maid)
Here’s your Sunday chill track, even though it’s a Thursday. Norwegian producer diskJokke presents us a highly ambient, pretty stoned-out track, with lots of chimes, synths and maritime sounds. Taking some cues from Röyksopp and Kraftwerk.
It goes through several phases and is overall very happy yet mysterious, so check it out here:
