Wednesday 30 November 2011

Bangers by the BBs

Kind of totally forgot about these guys since their whole screamo weird thing...

Came across this video today, and the song was actually way better than I expected it to be.



Actual song :



And their brand new remix of Congorok - Ivory. Magnificient, I missed their old vibes so much, glad to see they're going back to it.



-Here

Tuesday 29 November 2011

Quick news

Hey.

New Congorok killer track. That man really know how to make bangers.



Robotic Pirate Monkey's back too, one more time, it's the sweet combination of smooth and heavy dubstep, amazing.



and let's wrap this up with Moonlight Matters remix of Digitalism - Circles.



Monday 28 November 2011

Things I forgot to post

Here are some of the things I forgot to post because I did not really have time... time to catch up !

Let's start with Yuksek's latest music video



Two very good tracks by Xinobi including a collaboration with Moullinex





And this amazing remix of How Deep Is Your Love by NTEIBINT



-Here

Sunday 27 November 2011

Canon (Pyramid remix)

Worth a whole post on its own. Canon (Pyramid Remix) by -Pyramid- Pyramid is definitely someone to follow :) -Here

Cadillac

Here is a little something to end this weekend !



My shitty weekend needed something that smooth.

Enjoy
-Here

Tuesday 22 November 2011

Kraddy and a bonus

Hi there, it's been a while...

I recently received news about Kraddy, hope you guys remember him.

He released his debut album, you can catch it for free on his official website.

But that's not all !

Two contests are coming, a T -shirt design contest is already open, but in a about a week a remix contest for Black Box will start, so you know what to do !

Also, the music video for his main title is now out too.



And what about that bonus ?

Magic Tape Seventeen by TheMagician

Tracklist in the comment section, when available.

-Here

Saturday 19 November 2011

A Very Warped History 13: 2005 (1 Of 2)

    Previous Part                                                                                                       Next Part   


Broadcast have always had a rocky history with their line-ups; mostly drummers drifting in and out of the band. 2005 sees Broadcast reduced to a skeleton crew of Trish Keenan and James Cargill after the departure of their long time guitar player Tim Felton. The result of this is that their third and ultimately last album, Tender Buttons, takes a much more electronic route than anything broadcast have done before, almost taking a complete 180 in terms of their sound up until this point. This is probably my favourite album by them, like The Noise Made By People before it, it completely nails the aesthetic. Except this time the hazy atmosphere of albums past is replaced by an overall much more rigid feel, while retaining some warmth about the songs themselves.



Take for example, the opener. It's simple enough, the main hook is just descending keys, but they soon get lost in the sea of now trademark Broadcast sounds. It's a short one at just 2 minutes long, but it serves as a perfect demo of how the band works without a guitar.



Broadcast haven't lost their experimental touch though, as heard on the second track, Black Cat. It's structured much like the opener with a heavy focus on the electronic side of things and I think the song is better for it, it just makes it complete.



The title track sees Keenan's cryptic lyrics lathered over the contradictory sounds of a guitar and a lone synth. The guitar is the main focus at first until about 40 seconds in, when it gets kicked to the backseat and the synth steals the show. Despite this, it flows just as well as any of their acoustic tracks from albums past. It's just a shame it's all over so soon.



I have a special place for this one in my library, as it was the first song I ever heard from Broadcast, a long time ago on a blog just like this one. The song just grabs you and is brilliant from the introductory plastic sounding drums all the way to the final fade out.

Tender Buttons takes a mellow turn as we approach the middle of the tracklist. Keenan's vocals form the backbone of the song as it's mixed much higer than everything else. Unlike the songs before it her voice remains untreated (save for an echo) and will remain so for the rest of the album, as will the more subtle merging of the electronic and acoustic.





I'll always remember Corporeal as it was my current favourite when I heard of Trish Keenan's untimely death early this year. Ever since then it's sounded bittersweet to me despite the underlying intimacy within the song itself. Still a highlight for me though.



Heading briefly into upbeat territory again with Michael A Grammar. It's probably the poppiest sounding song on here, and the closest Broadcast get to sounding almost like an indie band. That's not a bad thing though, it's a welcome change from their usual material.



Tender Buttons gets it's title from a series of poems by Gerturde Stein in which she deconstructs clusters of words and re-defines them. The inspiration on the album has been seen before on the title track Tender Buttons, and is heard once again on this next one.



Another upbeat sounding track that Keenan's vocals just shine on. That's pretty much all I can say, I just love what she does and this track is pretty much the best example of that on Tender Buttons. Even without the other 3 members around, the band makes amazing tracks.



The closing track is a different sound altogether: I Found The End is the opening keys of I Found The F re-purposed, slowing them down to create a haunting ambient piece, a bit like Sigur Rós did on Avalon from Ágætis Byrjun. It also shares the twinned opener/closer like the Long Was The Year/Dead The Long Year on The Noise Made By People. Very fitting seeing as this was the last thing Broadcast released outside of collaborations and old material.



That's it for Broadcast, when you put it like this it doesn't seem like a lot of music. Their three albums will pretty much always be in continuous rotation by me, and I hope some of you will as well.

Comb, Calm, Colour, Cortex,
-Claude Van Foxbat

Thursday 3 November 2011

Album review: PAUS



I gave up on doing album reviews, because they were never my finest pieces of work and they weren't always well received. However, after hearing this album, I had to review it.

It comes from Portuguese band PAUS, a 4-man band, which consists of, according to them, "A siamese drumset, a bass bigger than your mother and keyboards that make you feel things."



Gotta love that, right? The unusual dual drumset lineup means that this album is heavy with drums, which is never bad.

First track is Ouve Só (Just Listen). A very immediate starter, very quick action. Short on vocals, it bases itself on the drumming and some background synths until it all sorta blows up in a dubsteppy bass wobble, morphing back into more epic sounds, which lasts till the end,

Next comes Muito Mais Gente (A Lot More People). This one a bit more "rocky" than the previous one, and it's more vocal aswell. Very well worked here, hard but not too much.



Following right behind is Língua Franca. Once again, "rockier" than the previous one, but slower. This instrumental is well done, however it can get a bit repetitive in the middle section, but that's pretty much the only complaint I have about it.

Coming next is Deixa-me Ser (Let me Be). Best on the album and certainly the one that causes more buzz. The catchy guitar riff, the looping rythm, the drum solo. All of those elements make up for an extremely catchy track that reminds me of Summer festivals and good times all around.



After that is Malhão. Named after a tradicional folk song, it has nothing folky about it. It starts off a bit slow, but it soon speeds up into a very distorted track, but once again, without exaggeration and with a few vocals thrown in aswell. Not bad.

The following is Descruzada (Uncrossed). It's the drumming that makes this one really good to me. Add in some pseudo-psychadelic guitars and noises and you get a fantastic track, along with a breakdown that is perfect to be played in live shows, going back to the first half sound, with little changes. Second best in the album.



Then we have Ocre (Ochre). By no means bad, it's the worst of the lot for me, if I had to pick one. It just is a bit too messy and doesn't have the flow that the others have. It's a bit all over the place, both the drumming and the remaining sounds, with too much distortion towards the end aswell. Not my cup of tea.

Finally, we have Tronco Nu (Bare Chest). A fitting finisher, it gives that ending sensation that you want from final songs. The organs halfway sure help, along with the choir-like vocals in the background. Proper way to finish the album. I could do without the fucked up 8-bit noises after the end of the track though, but you can edit those out easily.

In conclusion, I give this album a solid 8. It's short and entertaining, which is want you want from debut albums. The fact that most tracks have little or no vocals helps to get the internacional appeal. I want to see where these guys can go, because Portuguese bands that make this sort of music, and do it well, are very rare and the ones who do it right deserve recognition.

Enjoy!


Comments are appreciated,
Alex.