Hi there. Several attempts to start a blog about music - of which I have a passion - have failed. So I'll try again. This time I won't be so snooty or exclusive. I'll still only blog about music I like. I also won't try to stick to a schedule; I'll just chuck some music and comments on every so often and roll with it.
To clarify: I like electronic and experimental music (I particularly love experimental electronica). That doesn't mean I don't like any others. Except death metal. You won't find death metal here. You'll rarely see hip hop, you won't see pop (but you will see popular), you'll rarely see rock (but you will see the occasional indie rock), and you'll rarely see anything older than about 1990. So basically no rock'n'roll or rhythm'n'blues. Sorry to disappoint. I do respect a lot of that stuff, though. But not the death metal.
I'll start with something reasonably easy: three songs, all of which I'm currently addicted to.
Number one. Street - Jamie Woon. I was introduced to this song when Zan played it on Triple J mornings as my alarm - twice on different mornings. (Yes, I'm a Triple J nut. You'll see me mention it a lot.) The song stays at basically the same relaxing, flowing tone the whole way through, making it very easy to listen to. However, I note that it still does the one thing I believe all songs must do: evolve. I also like Jamie Woon's relaxing vocals and the amazing lyrics:
sheltering from the sky knowing there's somebody in the street that could change my life
The song comes from the Brit's debut album, titled Mirrorwriting. I've been addicted to this song for at least the last two weeks. It's kinda hard to classify this track - if pushed I'd lump it in with downbeat electronica but we all know that's not where it fully belongs - it'd stand out in there like the only "normal" person in a crowd of emos (for some reason, in my head these metaphorical emos are all named Massive Attack or Tricky). Too upbeat for downbeat, too downbeat for upbeat.
Next I'll throw in something older: Pacific State by 808 State.
It's from 1989, and while it was before my time it's cropped up more recently in the form of Pacific 202 by Project 808. I'm kinda impressed that the two bands - plus Pocket 808, of late - all apparently named themselves after a drum machine.
What I've provided seems to be the radio edit. It's a quirky techno beat because it doesn't really conform to the "rules" of house music that succeeded it, nor the disco beats that preceded it. It's a nice Café del Mar slash Ibiza house/trance infusion that has managed to stay alive for over twenty years. This stuff ages gracefully and is one of the few decent older songs that hasn't yet been picked apart by Akon and the like just to grab another cheesy hundred grand (that said, this song can take a remix well). Join me on the beach.
Last but not least is the song I only really fully appreciated in the last 24 hours.
I love it. Arpeggio - Jackson And His Computer Band. It's a short, sharp, sweet song but it's definitely for electro heads only. This stuff keeps me up at night. The piano part at ~1'58" especially.
Amazing how the start of it - from ~7" onwards sounds like it's going to be perhaps a 1980s-style rock-with-a-little-synth track, but Jackson And His Computer Band take us away from that with a beat that, were it at 128bpm, would easily be hard house. And it is. It appears on Destroy - a Ministry Of Sound compilation mixed by the gods themselves (The Aston Shuffle and The Bloody Beetroots) as part of the Beetroots mix. Originally run on Smash (2005), so it's been around for a while. I still swear it sounds too new to be 2005. Musta done this one before his time - the curse of a lot of groundbreaking musicians. Release some song that pretentious morons hate because it's too different and too groundbreaking, and then three years later some other artist rips the style off - sometimes poorly - and becomes famous in the process. (Yes, I'm looking at you, David Guetta.)
Whew. That was exhausting. Time for bed.
No comments:
Post a Comment