Here are my top 10 songs and top 10 albums of 2011. They are roughly in order although the order changed around a lot depending on which song or album I was listening to at the time so I didn't number them. There are download links for almost all the songs and for quite a few of the albums (or at least some of the songs on the album in the posts I wrote about them earlier in the year). Thanks to all the artists and readers who made this year so advanced.
Salem just dropped this video (above) for their newest song, a cover of Alice Deejay's still-rad trance track "Better off Alone" that features paparazzi footage of supermodel Giselle Bundchen to stroboscopic effect. The song is typical Salem, which is to say pretty amazing. Wailing keyboards and drones, screwed-southern beats and and spaced out vocals comprise a sound that has many imitators but that no one else can really touch. They innovated what unfortunately has come to be called "witch-house" with their EP's and killer album King Night. The term was inappropriately applied to a lot of bands (see Balam Acab) and became a pretty big thing in the blogosphere last year. But now that some of the hype is dying down it is pretty apparent that Salem has something unique and that they create great music full of menace and beauty. This song is from a new EP, I'm Still in the Night, which is being released on the 22nd of this month. You can pre-order it here
Here's a Salem sick edit of Alice Deejay's original from a live performance that screws the it down into an almost reggaeton rhythm. It gives you an idea of the starting point for the cover they eventually made above. Salem - Better off Alone (edit) mp3
In case you missed it, Salem also released this video on Halloween. It showcases a different, softer drone-based side to their sound that is less talked about but present in a lot of songs. Also, the video was filmed by the band and has some beautiful footage of the plains, themselves, and one very dead deer.
ADVANCED hasbeenfollowing o F F Love (formerly just "o F F") since his earliest Bandcamp releases and I've really enjoyed watching his growth as an artist and his concurrent growth in popularity (he was recenty written up in The Guardian). His unique style is an awesome overpowered, exploded, R&B that takes the all-pervasive Auto-Tune to new level. It's pretty cool how he's taking the most derided element of current music, turning it up to the Nth degree, and making something beautiful. For the first single from his upcoming full length Probably Love, "close to u , i'm not" he actually pulls the distortion back a bit to let some of his soft voice shine through. Typically, it's a slow-paced, haunting number that takes a moment to sink into but once you're there you never want to leave.
Plus check out banging techno remix by M.E.S.H. that definitely isn't to lay around in like most of my favorite o F F Love songs. You can get both of them as a single from iTunes. o F F Love - Close To U (M.E.S.H. remix) by M.E.S.H.
My favorite, though, is this killer mix o F F Love did with Butterclock which is set to slowed-down vintage boy band footage. It is truly beautiful and pretty amazing when watching the visuals. I recommend.
Tracklist: extacy (arpies heart) o F F & Leifur (dancing underwater) o F F remixed by Sail A Whale (be around u) Min Ronnersjö (untitled) How to Dress Well remixed by elite gymnastics (suicide dream 2) o F F & Pluseinn (away) Sjur Nyvold (i promised you a love song) ♥ o F F + cyan kid (high) o F F Love (forever) Cyan Kid & Allie (Bed Remix)
Physical Therapy and Elite Gymnastics have been running things here at ADVANCED for a little while. Pretty much anything either of them does I love. So when I posted about Ruin 3, the remix album of Elite Gymnastics Ruin 1&2 (which is definitely going to be one of my top 5 albums of the year) I was super excited about Physical Therapy being one of the artists Elite G's picked (along with other greats like CFCF, andHow to Dress Well). Well, the track dropped this morning and it is hot. The original "So Close to Paradise" used crunchy jungle drums and rave keyboard stabs to amazing effect but Physical Therapy takes things into a whole other realm of classic junglist workout. I have long said that it takes the syncopations of jungle/drum and bass to make me really dance and that "unfortunately you don't hear it much since the 90's" but it looks like the opportunities to get really spastic are coming back around. Listen, download and dance.
CFCF has just released the second Night Bus mix and it has taken over all my evening travel. It totally transports you into a Blade Runner streetlamp lit world of beauty (Vangelis who did the soundtrack to that amazing film starts the whole thing). Night Bus I was a great mix of screwed-down soul, and electronic music, but as the their facebook page explains, "Night Bus is the music that makes you feel Night Bus," and volume II is a more varied affair with appearances from ADVANCED favorites like Elite Gymnastics, Oneohtrix Point Never, ASAP Rocky, d'Eon, Autechre and Notorious B.I.G. The term takes it's name from a intensely gorgous ambient Burial song and is described by CFCF (aka Michael Silver) as "a silly litte term that originated on Hipinion that describes not a certain genre but certain feeling of music...can't quite describe what it is but Eno, G-Side, David Sylvian, DJ Screw, Angelo Badalamenti, Lil' B, and the Akira soundtrack are all super night bus."
The music I hear is hypnotic, mournful, romantic, alienated and pensive. Sort of how you would feel on a bus at night in the city alone. I love the idea of coming up with a new way to understand music that transcends the outdated idea of genre. By using a description of a mood evoked, the term Night Bus is freed from simply being a current trend and CFCF applies the idea to a wide range of music and art from different time periods (check out the Facebook page and see what I mean...tons of good stuff). However, Night Bus is definitely a mood existing in a LOT of the current music that I'm interested in. Check out and download the mix below, but wait until dark.
Tracklist:
01 wait for me intro (vangelis)
02 this city never sleeps (eurythmics)
03 stranger (jhene aiko)
04 demons/behind the bank (asap rocky/oneohtrix point never)
05 keep the streets empty (fever ray)
06 aventurescence/addiction (beaumont/cassie)
07 here in heaven/one more chance (elite gymnastics/notorious BIG)
08 tongues (d’eon)
09 sappys curry/body count (underworld/meek mill)
10 lowride/unthinkable (autechre/alicia keys)
Ok. Just need to get this out to y'all. Pictureplane is releasing a free remix album of Thee Physical (which I kinda slept on but am really enjoying now), entitled Dimensional Rip 7: Thee Physical Remixes. Remixers on board include Grimes, Teams, Ghosts on Tape and ADVANCED ultra-favorite PhysicalTherapy. Check out the original which plays like a geniune pop song but with fuzzed-out catchy keyboards...kinda like M83 if M83 was less about drama and more about being fun.
Now listen to PhysicalTherapy throw everything into a tribal bongo drum and shake it around. Dude kills every remix he does. How do you take the music of artists like Miguel, Balam Acab, David Banner, Alicia Keys, Holy Other, and make remixes that match or top the original work?! Consistently?! If Physical Therapy ever dropped an album of remixes it would be HUGE.
Rimar has been busy. Since the last time I posted on his superb Higher Ground(get the whole awesome thing here for free) he's put together a rad (and very sexy) website, started playing live, put out a new single, RU Happy?, has been filming a video for "Higher Ground" (we will keep you posted) and now has released a killer set of beats World Drop (Demo). All of which makes ADVANCED very happy indeed. Rimar's brand of laid-back, swooning, romantic beat-driven R&B is a pure joy. Heavily influenced by the late, legendary producer J-Dilla (which is SUCH a good thing) Rimar takes the current trend of R&B vocal-sampling electronic music out into the sunshine. Spend a little time with any of his stuff and I guarantee you will be in a better mood. Listen to the whole album below and kick him a dollar to download any of the amazing music he is making here. I recommend starting with the sublime "Love Coming" and "God In You."
I feel really blessed. Pretty much my two favorite artists right now areHowtoDressWell (as anyone who reads ADVANCED knows already) and newcomers EliteGymnastics (kinda obvious...three posts in a row). Both of these artists are not only consistently releasing new material and creative, interesting mixtapes, but they are actually interacting with each other! Two posts back I wrote about HTDW's soul-baring cover of Elite Gymnastics' "Here in Heaven" which. Well just last night Elite Gymnastics returned the favor and remixed How to Dress Well "Suicide Dream 2" from his Just Once EP. Holy Other turned this track inward to a more lonely place but the Elite Gz wrap Tom Krell's emotive vocals in crunchy, light jungle beats and rave keyboard stabs to take this song to new heights of transcendance. Get ready to put your hands in the air.
ADVANCED has been gone for a little and we are sorry about that. But we are back with the music that has been dominating my speakers for the past month: Elite Gymnastics. I just touched on their sound with my last post. They reference so many styles. They recall the proto-shoegaze of Spacemen 3 but with the dance beats of early rave and jungle. They remix Waka Flocka Flame or Lady Gaga. They make mixes of Korean pop and Whitehouse. They sample Ghost in the Shell's theme song to amazing effect. They just released a double album Ruin 1&2 on Acephale and I really can't recommend it highly enough. Just get it. They have been posting a TON of free material on their Tumblr (which you should go to immediately and download everything you can from) and we should reward them for being so generous by actually buying what is one of the best records of the year by far. I'm just going to give a sampling of the stuff of theirs that has really spoken to me, starting with a couple of tracks from Ruin.
The first thing I heard of theirs was from their excellent Real Friends EP. Here's my favorite song from it which uses a snippet of the sparkling, over-produced strings from the theme song to one of the Final Fantasy games (Maybe FF XXVI? There are a lot of those games) and is totally gorgeous.
Next, my friend's Nick, Raven and I became kinda OBSESSED with the Ghost in the Shell sampling "Slime Crown." They take the high drama of traditional Japanese instruments and burrow underneath it with mumbled confessional singing. When the sampled voices come in, high and wailing, it is spine-tingling. This song is incredible.
Next up is an insanely fun remix of Waka Flocka Flame. Out go the Lex Luger beats and in comes an almost C&C Music Factory-style dance beat that plays up how hilarious and fun Waka is to begin with. My favorite part is when Pastor Troy shouts "PT Cruiser! Waka Flock!". Get ready to dance.
Finally, for the past few days I have been unable to listen to pretty much anything other than this remix they made of a Florrie song. I have been so addicted to this remix that I am only now taking time to listen to the original. It bears little resemblance to the Elite Gymnastics version, which is a shame. They isolate a few tiny parts of her singing and loop them to delirious effect over a tight, bouncy, melodious dance track.
Also: here's a gorgeous piece of computer animation of an origami crane that was included in their mix for DIS Magazine which is good, but pretty out there. I personally have returned to the animation more times.
I have been wanting to write about Elite Gymnastics for a long time now but have procrastinated because there is SO much to cover. So I'm going to start small. Stay tuned for more on what may be my favorite new artists. They recently released a double album Ruin 1&2 featuring two versions of each of the songs, one a total dance banger and one a screwed down ambient bliss-out. They are soon going to release Ruin 3 which will be re-interpretations of songs on the album by such ADVANCED favorites as PhysicalTherapy, CFCF, and HowtoDressWell! Yesterday Elite Gymnastics record label Acephale posted HTDW's cover of "Here in Heaven" on Soundcloud and it is the kind of soul-cleansing beauty that I've come to just expect from him. Crazy that I can just expect that level of honest, gorgeous emotion from an artist. The original "Here in Heaven" is an awesome dance track that has uses the friction between the rollicking-upbeat jungle beat and looping sample and the lo-fi sad, confessional, vocals to a great effect. How to Dress Well totally remakes the track, using the original lyrics, swathing them beautiful ambient church organs. He highlights the emotional honesty that is a true part of Elite Gymnastics work. Listen to and download both below:
Ok, so yesterday I posted all about Oneohtrix Point Never and I am going to touch a little bit on some of the other insane, fun and awesome music he has produced under various other names. First there's Games which is his project with co-conspirator Joel Ford, which is now known as Ford & Lopatin and making music in a different vein. The two releases as Games Everything is Working and That We Can Play have held the many of the top 20 most played songs on my ipod for the past YEAR. With the title track holding the number one spot for an ENTIRE YEAR. Crazy Stuff. Anyhow I thought the Games moniker and sound was dead but a few days back they released this woozy, screwed and chopped take on the Manhattan's "Crazy" (which I have now learned is the jam) and I was a very happy man indeed. Listen and you will smile too. GAMES - No Disguise by Ford & Lopatin
AND. Here's my number one most listened to song for the past year. I don't really need to say too much more. It's like being a beautiful bath of sound that you want to last forever. Listen closer. Games - Everything is Working.mp3
Here's another couple tracks that stayed in the top twenty most played for a year as well. They make me feel like I'm in the movie Radwhich is an amazing feeling. But all vintage refences aside, music didn't sound like this in the 80's. Games uses a similar palette but paints a far more detailed, tweaked, and exciting picture. Both of these are so so good. Games - Planet Party.mp3 Games - MIDI Drift.mp3
Also do yourself a favor and check the video for "Planet Party." Sure, this was WAY back in 2010, and now its 2011 and we are reviving different things these days but this is still a whole lot of fun.
Daniel Lopatin aka Oneohtrix Point Never is a true favorite of mine. He makes some of the most mind-blowingly beautiful, brilliant music I have heard in years. Awhile back I was stuck in a place where the only escape was internally--into your own mind--memories, reflections, imagination, creativity and meditation . While there, I got the first (official) Oneohtrix album, Rifts, and all of the sudden I had a portal to a special meditative state of oblivion. The spiraling, interlocking keyboards are intensely entrancing. His music offers engaging, complex webs of sound that can be listened to as intently as you would like but are simultaneously hypnotizing to the point that you can just relax and lose yourself in them. Quickly after that he released Returnal,which introduced quite a bit more song structure but was equally excellent, if not better. The title track is a transcendent piece of songwriting that incorporates his own pitch-shifted vocals (don't say it sounds like the Knife/Fever Ray...they're great and all but don't touch the pathos and desolation captured here). The emotional nature and excellent songwriting of "Returnal" was caste in stark relief in the remix (mp3), featuring Antony Hegarty, that stripped the song down to piano and Antony's heartbreaking vocals.
Lopatin has released a ton of VERY diverse material under many different names (Games, Ford & Lopatin, Chuck Person, KGB Man, Sunsetcorp--check back soon for more of his amazing music), but his next official Oneohtrix Point Never album Replica drops November 8th. I'm pretty excited and that excitement is only heightened by the first single "Sleep Dealer" (a song title that truly speaks to me--I have a pretty intense love for sleep). The album is "an electronic song cycle based around lo-fi audio procured from television advertisement compilations." How that sounds on "Sleep Dealer" is chopped and looped samples that shouldn't work together but do after about 20 seconds, backed by beautiful drones. When what seems like a chorus of voices comes in, the whole thing morphs into a new level of beauty. It reminds quite a bit of Oval or Fennesz who have made some of the most stunning ambient music of all time. Good company to be in. Check it out below.
So i've written about Dam-Funk before and I'm a huge fan of his "modern-funk" compositions...which is really what they are...not so much songs as mini-suites composed in the sounds and format of electro-funk. If you want to hear what I mean check out "Inside of U" below which is part of the new EP InnaFocusedDaze being released as a free download from Scion A/V (UPDATE: you can download the whole thing at the end of the post). It's a beat-less song where he spaces out his sound and almost removes all of what one would traditionally think of when hearing the word "funk" (he has written that he makes "#NotIronicFunk" and you can totally hear it in the music). Yet it is totally Dam-Funk and totally funk. Just next level.
Dame (short for Damon, and how you should pronounce the "Dam" part or Dam-Funk) was kind enough to also share to more songs from InnaFocusedDaze. Listen to "Forever" which showcases Dam-Funk's slick loverman vocals, his complex web of squirming synths, and a taste of his ability to rip it up on the keytar when the occasion calls for it. Play this for your lady.
On "Don't You Know (That This Funk Iz Real)" Dam lays down some ground rules about his funk. At about the 3 minute mark he totally blows it out on the keytar. It's pretty awesome funky shredding in a style that we really haven't heard since Prince's heyday. He even goes so far as to break his consistent veneer of smoothness with some noisey (!!!) squall.
UPDATE: The whole EP is now available for download here:
If you have been paying attention to ADVANCED then you know I love oFF and GR†LLGR†LL's solo work and their recent collaborations have been excellent. Broken, ambient R&B that is lovely, sad and haunting. oFF was kind enough to send me this new track of theirs. Which is more abstact than their last few songs but still gorgeous and leaves you wishing it were longer. Listen close to the layers of voices filtered through a haze of screwed-down auto-tune. Their lonely, forlorn sound speaks directly to my mood of late, but I think it touches something universal in human experience so it connects no matter how you feel. Listen and download. Enjoy the sadness.
I apparently slept on this release from oFF Disenchanted Fairytale which showcases a cleaner, lighter sound. Looping pianos and echoing voices build on each of the short tracks into a a polyphony of heartbreak. oFF is not messing with any light emotions. The tracks all end too soon as always, which is both a complaint and a compliment. I generally will just listen to some songs on repeat. Once he gets me in the mood I want to stay in the solace of oFF's sound.
Also, here's a lovely video of "Let U Know" which is a track from the outstanding Secret. This appears to be footage of some old boy band...appropriate for the kind of over-the-top feelings in the song.
Awhile back (one of my first posts) I wrote about Active Child's "Playing House" which features HowtoDressWell and has been in my top most played tracks ever since then. It is a sweaty indie-loverman come-on of a song. Active Child has some soaring vocals and when HTDW comes in you know it's time to get it on.
In the past few days two remixes have emerged. One by Chad Valley and one by Houses. Both slow the original down but in different ways, and I am a fan of both. Chad Valley takes things into a softer, romantic, almost plaintive realm. He strips the song down and highlights the vocals laying down a pretty piano track and adding a lot of space to the mix. A ways in he drops a metronome beat in and lets things build with some keyboards. Really beautiful. Active Child - Playing House ft. How to Dress Well (Chad Valley Remix)
Houses turns things into a shimmering slow-motion dance track. He slices and loops the vocals into a beautiful ecstatic moment towards the end. When I wrote this there was a Soundcloud link and download for this song...but I guess they removed it. It seem the song is a Spotify exclusive. Which is ok because you should get Spotify anyway. If you don't already have it, or don't know what it is...get ready to be happy. Active Child – Playing House - Houses Remix- Exclusive Bonus Track
So Miguel's "Sure Thing" has been one of my favorite jams for a few months now. I first became aware of Miguel watching BET in a place where that was my only access to pop music. His video for "All I Want is You" transfixed me with it's smokey soul sound. It reminded me a bit of Burial. Which is not something you expect from 106 & Park. Also I really liked how he bit his lip and made curvy hand motions in place of saying "that ass." Watch and see, it's pretty awesome. Anyhow, "Sure Thing" is maybe even better, with it's screwed-down vocal hook and insanely catchy melodies. It's a hopeful, positive love song. Offering some true love. Yesterday, ADVANCED favorite PhysicalTherapy posted this sick sped-up remix. He put some latin flavor in there...it sounds like he dropped the whole song inside of a maraca. Like everything Physical Therapy touches it's dope, ethereal and totally danceable. Check and download below.
Here's the aforementioned original which is seriously one of the best singles of the year: Miguel - Sure Thing mp3
And an official remix featuring Pusha-T of the Clipse who still sounds cold and menacing but is in an uncharacteristicly lovey mood: Miguel - Sure Thing (remix ft. Pusha-T)
Supreme Cuts have been circulating in my radar ever since their sick Holy Otherremix (mp3) caught my ears on Holy Other's incredible mix for Altered Zones a few months back. Since then I've been trying to track down whatever I can by them. The Chicago-based (check the Jordan nail-job above) duo term their sound as "future R&B" so you know I'm all over it. They make vocal-sample heavy dance music that is simply gorgeous. They have tight beats and ecstatic breaks but keeps things laid back with pretty vocal samples and tons of melodic flourishes. A little over a week ago they released their first EP entitled Trouble on Small Plates Records. You can grab the vinyl there. Digital release is available on iTunes. And you will need to know this info after you hear the beautiful, detailed tracks below.
Listen to "Issues", my favorite song by them so far. It uses sliced and sped-up soul vocals and amazing snare-rush builds to approximate bliss pretty accurately. Issues by Supreme Cuts
"Amnesia", another cut from the EP has precise hand-clap and glass bottle percussion underneath distorted and chopped vocal samples, and an insane beat. Amnesia by Supreme Cuts
Grab awesome the non-EP track "Jacy", which is sexy, mournful and so, so good. Supreme Cuts - Jacy mp3
There's also this insane remix of Enigma's "Return to Innocence" which turns the New Age classic into a scewed-down brain massage. Shout out to Claire for being up on the same New Age game. Enigma - Return to Innocense (Supreme Cuts Edit)
And listen to/download their fabulous "Significant Other Mix" which mixes R&B, screwed hip-hop and post-dubstep beats with deadly efficiency. Shout out to Joanclair for calling Kelly Rowland's "Motivation" as one of the hottest tracks right now. Supreme Cuts agree.
Tracklist:
1. Jagged Edge- Forever My Girl (Supreme Cuts Edit)
2. Falsetto- The Dream
3. Motivation- Kelly Rowland
4. Far Nearer- Jamie xx
5. Papa New Guinea- FSOL
6. If I Ever fall in Love (Remix)- Shai
7. Don’t Go There- Bad Bwoy Beatz
8. Heartbroken- T2
9. Rare Tap (2000 and One Cut)- Sandy Hunter
10. Shorty Swing My Way- KP & Envy
11. I’m Shady (Chopped & Screwed)- Eminem
12. Xs and Os (Supreme Cuts Edit)- Jeremiah
13. Jacy- Supreme Cuts
Finally here's another mix from them that was just posted a few days ago. They continue to bring it with screwed and stuttered R&B madness but add some madness to the mix with some juke and (current Bjork collaborator Omar Souleyman). Pump up any party you are at instantly. I mean, they have "I Got the Hook-Up" by Master P on there too. SO RAD. I love them. Trouble: Club Paradise Mix by Supreme Cuts
If you've read this blog before you know how I feel about HowtoDressWell. He is pretty much the most ADVANCED thing going these days. And Holy Other has been on the rise as one of my favorite electronic producers out there. Here he takes HTDW's gorgeous, and overwhelmingly sad, orchestral version of "Suicide Dream 2" from the Just Once EP. Holy Other is not one for melodrama so he takes the sadness into an isolated, lonely place but keeps the heartwrenching beauty. Listen to it below. Perfect company for a broken heart.
Yesterday HowtoDressWell posted this awesome remix of Marina and the Diamonds who is a Euro-pop star. I am not particularly a fan of her songs but she is doing something right if she's down with Tri-Angle Records. HTDW keeps the Ibiza rave keyboards and hard beats of the original "Radioactive" but takes things into the realm of slow motion ethereal bliss. Looping and screwing down Marina's vocals into a Gregorian chant sets the tone. Then a strutting beat and HTDW's gorgeous vocals join in and and the trancey keyboards rise to take you into the ecstacy of that ONE moment on the dancefloor. Everything Tom Krell touches is just amazing and he displays a new aspect here--partying. I love it when he opens up with some electronics. There are, as always, tons of vocal flourishes and details to keep you overwhelmed and reward the multiple listens this song demands.
This isn't the first time that Marina has been reworked into magic by a Tri-Angle Records artist. oOoOO took the bouncy original "Obsessions" and turned it into the saddest and most beautiful slow-jam that he has produced. The way that he takes moments of her vocals and reconstructs her into a completely different singer is amazing. This song is the perfect complement for the ecstactic How to Dress Well track. This is for lying in bed with the one you love, drifting off to sleep after a night out--sustaining the quiet, lingering beauty of the evening.
On Friday I had the pleasure of attending the Tri-Angle Records Showcase in San Francisco. The lineup was packed with ADVANCED's favorites: Shlohmo, Clams Casino and oOoOO (featuring Butterclock),as well as Water Borders, Babe Rainbow and White Ring. This was my first chance to see any of these artists in person, so I was pretty excited and the show did not disappoint.
I had the pleasure of talking to oOoOO, Clams Casino and Shlohmo in person. They are all incredibly nice and humble despite their true success as artists. We discussed their music and and our lives and how they intersect. oOoOO even dropped that he may have some new singles coming out in the fall and a NEW RECORD next year. I'm really excited to see how his music develops. He is far from a one trick pony so I'm psyched to see what he does next with all that talent and innovation. Thanks to oOoOO, Clams Casino and Shlohmo for their music and for being so cool.
The show opened with Water Borders who are not really my cup of tea. They have some awesome bass and cool samples and drums but I'm not so into the post-punk vocals and accents they add to the mix. This is pretty much the first band that Tri-Angle has signed that I'm not crazy about so I'm interested to see how they develop and how my opinion of them does. Babe Rainbow had a pretty cool set with some nice tracks mixing hip-hop with abstract dark soundscapes. White Ring stepped things up with stroboscopic effects and true, dark witch-house. It takes a lot to be darker than Salem and they have achieved it. Not more fucked-up, just darker.
A drastic change occured when Shlohmo hit the stage: things got really FUN. Playing a mix of material from his awesome new LP Bad Vibes and very chopped, stuttered, screwed and spaced out tracks by Lil' Wayne and DJ Khaled he really got the party started. Everyone was dancing but perhaps no one was going harder than Shlohmo himself. I loved it. He understands that the music he makes is dope, and once it's made it's ultimately it's own entity, and he has a great time listening to it too. He also sang on top of a lot of songs including his remix of the Burial classic "Shell of Light" (mp3), giving a really soulful sheen to his performance. I had no idea that the vocals on his album were him. Really good stuff. He closed with an awesome extended version of "Just Us" from the new LP. Check out the my post on him here with tons of awesome downloads. I am really loving his stuff right now. Check out two of my absolute favorites below. Shlohmo - Places mp3 Wacka Flocka Flame - Hard in Tha Paint (Shlohmo remix) mp3
Next up was Clams Casino who has been a true favorite of mine ever since I first heard his production on Lil' B's Motivation (mp3). His set was awesome as expected. Not much variation from his sound on record but that's kind of a good thing. Almost every song by him is catchy, nuanced, beautiful and banging. Check out the past mp3 packed posts on him here and here. And grab his albums here. A highlight was his new track with ASAP Rocky which I have been listening to over and over recently. Grab it below. ASAP Rocky - Wassup (prod. by Clams Casino) mp3
By the time headliners oOoOO came on it was almost 3 a.m. and quite a few people had left which was their loss because oOoOO along with vocalist (and artist in her own right) Butterclock were awesome. Butterclock provided the sexy, haunting vocals and some work on effects while oOoOO kept the beats cracking. oOoOO's music is bass oriented and features screwed samples that complement the ethereal live singing from Butterclock but doesn't really follow the witch-house formula much beyond that. It incorporates elements of all kinds of music, evoking Aaliyah, Sade, My Bloody Valentine, The Cocteau Twins, Burial, Portishead, Gucci Mane and Wacka Flocka Flame, sometimes all in one moment. They came off the most organic and varied sounding of all the acts. Check out some tracks from oOoOO's insanely good debut EP. Hearts in particular is a slow jam for the ages. oOoOO - Hearts mp3 oOoOO - No Shore mp3
And check this sick new Butterclock track that they also played: Boy- intro by Butterclock
Someone was kind enough to take a video of one of the highlights of the show, oOoOO's awesome track "Burnout Eyes":
And a video of a new track they played. This one is from a different show.
Thanks again to oOoOO, Clams Casino, and Shlohmo for taking the time to speak with me. Super cool night. Thanks to Tri-Angle for hooking such a sick lineup and label.
The new Hudson Mohawke is really, really good. It tickles parts of my brain that I forgot were there. Hudson Mohawke has always made shimmering, catchy, overstuffed songs but on Satin Panthers he streamlines and compresses all of that energy into insane, driving bangers. He opens the whole thing up with "Octan" which reminds me of being about 11 years old riding up the beginning of a huge rollercoaster, looking out at the lights of the amusement park twinkling in all directions and feeling adrenaline mix with the large amounts sugar I ingested all day to blow my small mind. The rest of the EP is basically that rollercoaster. Listen to "Thunder Bay" below to see the kind off stadium pomp, insane production, hardcore rave beats, hip-hop bass, grime stutter, and menacing horns HudMo can pack into one track.
There are only 5 songs on Satin Panthers and in my opinion 4 of them are amazing and don't sound like anything else out there right now, except for the good bits of previous Hudson Mohawke albums. My absolute favorite track is "All Your Love" which takes some R&B and twists it into the overwhelming sugar rush of synths and chipmunk vocals. I can feel new synapses firing when I listen. It is SO worth a dollar or whatever to acquire.You can buy the album here.
Hudson Mohawke has been interacting with the mainstream Rap and R&B community in official and unofficial ways recently. First he remixed Keri Hilson (ft. Lil' Wayne) "Turning Me On", turning down the insanity a bit to not overwhelm the vocals. It's interesting how easily he can create convincing traditional hip-hop beats--with a few signature flourishes.
Next his song "Rising 5" from his previous album Butter was actually picked up by Chris Brown for a mixtape. Grab the original, the Breezy song, and check the video below. Again it's interesting how well his overstuffed productions actually work with a vocalist... leaves me interested to see where HudMo goes next with all this talent.
ADVANCED has been gone for a minute and I am sorry for that. We finna get things poppin again with some Shlohmo, who has been tearing up the speakers at my house for a while now. Shlohmo is part of the WeDidIt Collective, a group of DJ's based in CA between LA and SF, and makes music in the post-Dilla vein. His new album Bad Vibes came out on the 9th and is gorgeous, mellow, textured and beautiful but with nice low-end beats. The title is exactly the opposite of what this music creates--a great album all the way through to sit back and chill with. Check out his track "Places" to get an idea of what I'm talking about. Subtle, seductive, R&B flavor...but it can blow your speakers if you're not careful. Shlohmo - Places.mp3
To show that he is far from a one trick pony, but instead a quickly developing talent, Shlohmo remixed some pretty great songs by some pretty high-profile artists. First he stripped down Drake's"Marvin's Room" into a even more lonesome, alien affair, keeping the original fairly intact. Drake - Marvin's Room (Shlohmo's Thru tha Floor remix).mp3
Next he picked ONE OF MY FAVORITE SONGS OF ALL TIME: Burial - Shell of Light.mp3. He samples the heart-breakingly gorgeous last few moments (which is something I have looped and listened to over and over) and adds some subtle beats and vocals that mirror the original. A very respectful remix and a good one. Burial - Shell of Light (Shlohmo remix).mp3
Prior to releasing Bad Vibes Shlohmo posted three remixes to his blog and they are all excellent, interesting reworks of more pop hip-hop. He recontextualizes the the thugged-out bluster of Waka Flocka Flame with an amazing organ-track that wouldn't sound out of place on Sesame Street back in the early days. He screws the vocals down a bit and highlights the fun in them in a way that the original didn't. This is on heavy replay for me. SO GOOD. Waka Flocka Flame - Hard In Tha Paint (Shlohmo's sit down remix).mp3
Next he totally strips down and reworks Kelis' "Milkshake," a song that has been played to the point that it is cringe-inducing, into something that is gorgeous, echoey and haunting. In fact it totally falls into the witch-house vein of Holy Other and is highly recommended.
