Salem: Advanced Trance

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.

o F F Love: Homie is just way Advanced in romance.

ADVANCED has been following 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.

close to u, i'm not by o F F Love

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 X Elite Gymnastics: Advancements Come Full Circle

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, and How 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.

Elite Gymnastics, "So Close To Paradise 3 (Physical Therapy Remix)" MP3 by The FADER

Here's the gorgeous original track. Grab this. You need it.

Elite Gymnastics - So Close to Paradise mp3

CFCF - Night Bus II: Advanced Nocturnal Transport

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.

CFCF Night Bus II Mix MP3 by The FADER

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)