#42: Friendly Fires

These guys have been in my playlist for far too long without recognition. So I'm starting with the song that first addicted me to them.

I'll continue with quite possibly my favourite:

and the best ever remix:

Followed by the most melancholy:

The most get-the-fuck-up-and-dance:

The most awesome:

And the coverest:

...You get it. These guys are awesome. But it ain't usually my thing, so what the hell happened to make me addicted to them? So, I'll start with Kiss Of Life. Apart from the fact that it's been used by The Aston Shuffle (love!) in one of their MoS discs, it's one of those things where there's a lot of people singing (or it sounds like it, at any rate) and a lot of people singing sounds awesome. Something I call sound saturation. Two things make sound saturation: lots of music, or lots of voices. In this case, it works both ways, except the voice aspect is more prominent. It's like hearing a choir that makes you tear up, except this don't make me tear up. It makes me... um, want to get up and dance and, um... it evokes... emotions of... um... alright fuckit, when I'm in the right mood I tear up at this too. But it ain't a bad tearing up, nor a sad one. It's the best damn tearing up I ever did, and it's all happy emotions.

I just tried to pause it right now so I could move on to the next song. The silence sounded crap.

So what's so big about Paris? Apart from the Eiffel Tower, I mean. I can start with the fact that they love Au Revoir Simone (love!) enough to include them as backing vocals in the original, then they sang the lead vocals in the Aeroplane (love!) remix. It's pretty obvious that there's a huge difference and my gods, it's amazing. Well, they're both amazing in their own way. The Aeroplane (love!) remix is seven minutes long, and at ~4'16" it drops into moar sound saturation! The only gripe I have is that it's ultra slow, but hey, it means there's more time to listen to the liquidness that is the music. Otherwise, I melt whenever I hear Au Revoir Simone (love!), no matter what the song is. They have such beautiful voices. And beautiful... aw hell, they're all beautiful all over. But anyway. I wouldn't mind finding that French girl, but hell if I wouldn't mind five minutes with one of the girls from Au Revoir Simone (love!). But pressing on, and ignoring my hormones.

I love Hurting. Somewhat literally too. The best feeling in the world is making myself feel lonely (without actually being alone). It's the same kind of catharsis as punching a pillow just to get rid of excess rage and testosterone. Hurting isn't one of those songs, so I will say no more on the topic. Hurting is an amazing synthpoppy tune that gripped me as soon as I heard it. Melancholy lyrics <3. Matter of fact, take a Gem Line award for "Gotta let this go, gotta feel some warmth on my own." This is what you must do after a heartbreak. Stay single. Heal thyself. Possibly have a bit of fun in the meantime. Not a bad thing to be able to do that. And also the video is kinda cool.

There's no Friendly Fires song that inspires more energy in me than Hawaiian Air. Year or so old - in fact, I remember waltzing up to my friends' place in my suburb last year (they don't live there this year) with this playing on the radlio. It runs along similar lines to Zimbabwe by New Navy (love!) - take a fuckin' holiday. I wouldn't mind a bit of Hawaii. It's also just so dancy. Fast dancy, but I ain't complaining about that. Also wouldn't mind hearing this song on repeat for a little while. In fact, I'mma go do that after this review is done. And then I might grab a glass of freshly-squeezed orange juice in one of those tall glasses and ice and an umbrella... and you know the rest. BEACH. SUNSET. ORANGE JUICE. Who doesn't love that stuff?

So what of Blue Cassette (Tiga Remix)? Well, I gotta confess, I never heard the original. But in all honesty, I don't need to. There isn't much about this song that isn't awesome, though probably a bit bass-heavy at the start of the song, then it melts into a beautiful summer song. And it mentions cassettes! I mean, hell, who uses cassettes any more? Okay, so vinyl is making a re-surface, but cassettes aren't. Vinyl was the bomb, so faithful. Cassettes weren't. The tapes twisted and stretched (though some funky sounds were made when that happened). Don't get me wrong, I loved cassettes (video and audio), but I was relieved when they took a step back for CDs and mp3s. Much love for Blue Cassette (Tiga Remix). Not overly fond when it gets bassy again near the end, but I can cut that out if I ever want to use it.

Wow. One to go. And what better way to end than by covering a cover? IMO this sounds better than the Lykke Li (love!) version, but that's probably a matter of taste more than anything. Hell, it's piano and it's a dude whose falsetto is actually not too bad. Don't ask me what the cover was in aid of, mind; it completely escapes me. It also escapes my best Internet tracking efforts (at 2am). I am happy that the song is this fun and pianoey, but it's over way too fast. Sad now. Which means the review is also over. Very sad now. But hey, there's heaps more Friendly Fires stuff. In fact, I'll just leave this here and begone.

My only gripe with Friendly Fires is that Ed Macfarlane can't dance well in the videos. But he looks like he's having fun so I'm not complaining any more.

#39: CJ's Addictions 7

Alright, let's get this shit going. I've got a lot to catch you up on.

I really want to play the song "Runaway (Yelle DJs rmx)" by Mr. Little Jeans, but there is no YouTube Link. I'll just say that it is markedly bouncier than the original and leave it at that. Instead, have these three:

We'll start with building a pyramid. This song fits in perfectly with the CJ Song Pattern - which means obviously that I love it without question. Having said that, there's a lot about it that works quite nicely. Key changes - perfect. Dancy rock - perfect. The only gripe I have is that the lyrics can get a bit incoherent at times, but I suppose that's half the point. And it's an interesting song too: "I'm counting crystals in my sleep while you're sitting there on that broken chair. I don't even know what colour it was. While we're still young, let's echo, echo..." gets a Gem Line award. Well played Nightbox, well played. Nothing wrong with this addiction. Now bring on the next one. Something even more incoherent.

Older. But Australian, and quite brilliant. Sampled from a bunch of different places, including an orchestra; fun music, including the word "rannygazoo"; visually funny, including a fucking coconut. CRAZY IN THE COCONUT. You can tell I love this song. A lot. I want that coconut. Who knew such an old(ish) song was so awesome. First came across it via a flash video which turned into an obsession to find the song which was actually satisfied rather quickly. And now I want to know how they made everyone look black and white with those spotlights. Suppose I'll find out one day. This is a lot of fun to listen to, despite being terrible to dance to. Triple J have gotten something right yet again. Winning!

Last one for now. Bit of cognitive dissonance (again).

"She mixed paint at Menard's". A freebie with WinAmp, and probably the best freebie I've come across, short of Evaporate by Rocket Empire (which was with my HTC). Despite the fact it's rap, it's also electronic and minimalistic. And it tells a lovely story about becoming friends - possibly even more than friends - with someone met in a hardware store. Ordinary, average love. Not fairytale stuff or mopey melodrama, just pure, unadulterated love. (Also I give props for "(mixing) the perfect black" because I love the colour black, but that's a different story y'know.) And I love the fact that the girls in the background are laughing. They're not laughing at him, they are genuinely laughing with him as he enjoys his new-found awesomeness with the girl who mixed paint. Your face when this song weaved its way into my collection, heavily laden with house and trance, but I love this song to bits. And that's pure, unadulterated love too.

#37: CJ's Best Addictions

My favourite numbered post deserves my favourite songs that I haven't yet posted. So, have these: three songs that have some kind of importance to me and have been my biggest addictions evar. First things first: the song that is most played in my playlist.

Should NOT be confused with the alarmingly similarly-titled "Sunday (The Day Before My Birthday)". This one is more upbeat and fun to listen to than the mopey (but no less artistic) "Day Before My Birthday" and my god, does it sound brilliant just before sunset. I love the way the background noise wobbles at a slightly faster rate than the beat of the song. No idea why it's a good thing, but it is. First time I heard this song, I honestly thought it was a fake song, but one Shazam later and it's confirmed that it's Sunday from Moby's B-sides. It deserves to be an A-side. Seriously, Moby, get on it. Unrecognised brilliance, right here. Unrecognised brilliance that is in at least three of my five major playlists and is the most-played individual song in my library. Time to turn to some brilliance a little more recognised (though I suggest not watching the video unless you are decidedly NOT a bigot):

I post this video merely because it's the radio edit and gets the point across quickly, not because of the hot chicks (although no complaints about the hot chicks!). The song is one hell of a reminder of summer, and in particular summer of 2010-11 (when things were amazing and I bought Wii Sports Resort, which this song constantly reminds me of and vice versa). And hell, the video has hot chicks. And one hell of a message. Note the flag that one girl drapes around her at ~0'23". That, there, is the message. Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people exist and aren't going to stop existing, so get used to them and start giving them the same rights that OTHER normal people can take for granted. Yes, I said OTHER normal people, because those people are normal people too. ...ahem. On that note, finally:

It MUST be the Amp&eacute;re remix, otherwise it is Simply Not Good Enough. This song has managed to get me through a million and one nights in Melbourne and out. And it has infected my brain for just as long. The best bit, of course, is the bit from ~3'0" to ~4'50. (Wow, it lasts nearly two minutes?! Amazing! Thought it was longer!) I love it to bits and I will never lose sight of this song. In fact, I will never lose sight of any of these songs. Big house, tropical house and microhouse were never better than these three songs. And I have many many more addictions... soon to come. Have a break from my rambling.

#36: Microhouse

I can't believe I haven't written this one up yet.

I went through a microhouse phase a month ago. First, we have an experimental minimalistic track called Heaven Can Wait, made up almost entirely of radio samples. In fact, to the point where there are over 2,000 on the one album. How the hell does one get that many radio samples? Either way, this guy's well worth his salt. Hell, it takes skill to take fraction-of-a-second bits and pieces from the radio and turn them into something resembling music, let alone a track that makes you think of the city late at night and your old college room that rocked your socks off and GODDAMN FRESHLY SQUEEZED ORANGE JUICE and those nights where things just seemed to go right. Soundscapey stuff. And oh man do I love soundscapes. And hell, the title of "Heaven Can Wait" is a bold enough statement - I ain't dying yet. In fact, if heaven won't have me, then you and the rest of the world better hope that hell is damn well ready for me. Best bit IMO is at ~4'19" where the end bit starts, and suddenly it's a 6/8 beat instead of a 4/4 beat and suddenly life has changed to relax, and get some sleep. Oh man, this song is amazing. And speaking of amazing, have this:

I don't know who the hell Julian Jeweil is, and I don't know much about Markus Lange. This song came to me purely by accident, as when I thought I was getting In Search Of Sunrise 9 I instead snaffled a copy of Rave On Snow 16. Man that album has changed the way I see life. But let's get onto this song. The only reason I clicked on this song in the first place was for its title¹. So, does it sound like a perihelion? I don't know, but it sure as hell sounds like a summer song. I wanna listen to this, fully, out on the Hill one day in the middle of a summer mix. It belongs there. Bizarrely enough for microhouse, it really doesn't belong at 3am when you're chill-banging (apologies to Min) and there's very little light and you're just reflecting on life, the universe and everything. Save that for Akufen and Felix Laband. And on that note:

Something a tad different. I listened to this last night, as opposed to throughout most of Jan and early Feb. Man did it bring back a flood of memories, because this chirpy piece was released in 2005. Taran first played it for me in 2007. I was instantly hooked and instantly associated it, quite rightly so, with the house we were in at the time. Good times. Light, chirpy, minimalistic soundscape² that brings back memories and makes you think of fairies. Anything that makes you think of fairies that isn't absinthe has gotta be pretty cool. The whole song is pretty much the same thing, but it's a good "same thing" and it evolves quite nicely in the 3'26" it's been given. Now, one more, and then I'm gonna go comatose from a minimalism overload.

In lieu of "Lick Drop" by the same artist, I present Escape From New York. I would almost classify this as electro house, were it not for the slightly slower, more hypnotic beat, and the fact that it came directly from Rave On Snow 16. Man did that compilation win hard. Harder than I can ever mix. But we'll discuss my compilation later, because Escape From New York is smooth enough that it would belong in Rave On Snow, Discotek, or even Destroy if it wanted to. As is, it's only been on one of those. I'm sure its liquidy³ goodness will come to me, wrapped up in a nice neat little package of awesomeness within a year or two. So cool, and so smooth. And it's a Melbourne song, which fits well with the "Escape From New York" thing. And speaking of Melbourne, here's my own microhouse/minimalistic techno playlist.

1. Abi 99 - Joachim Spieth
2. Droplets (Early Night mix) - Dubshape
3. In Aller Freundschaft - Reinhard Voigt
4. Perihelion (Julian Jeweil rmx) - Markus Lange
5. In White Rooms (Dubfraction rmx) - Booka Shade
6. Heaven Can Wait - Akufen
7. Alcoolic (Matt Tolfrey & Inxec's "Priorities" rmx) - Popof
8. An Index Of Corporate Art - Bronnt Industries Kapital
9. Come Into My Life - Jürgen Paape ft. Alison Degbe
10. Polar Shift - Trentemøller
11. Cucuma - Stephan Bodzin
12. Lemon - Dettinger
13. Trauermusik - Partial Arts
14. Palestine Child - Remote
15. Tonite - Superpitcher

Clocks in at 79'37" when it's done right. I consider it a win.

¹For boffins who aren't so boffiny and don't know what "perihelion" means, it means "when an object is at its closest point in its normal orbit to Sol" - that is to say our sun. And we get about 91 million miles away from it at the closest point (compared to roughly 94 million miles at the opposite, or "aphelion").
²I find it ridiculous that the spellcheck doesn't accept "minimalistic" or "soundscape". Or "spellcheck". Or "microhouse". How dare it.
³Liquid music is the best music ever. Full stop.

#33: An Index Of Corporate Art - Bronnt Industries Kapital

Are you reading this, Fenella?

Right. This is the most brilliant index of corporate art I have ever seen. Not that I've seen many. It's a piece of music essentially in three parts: one that reminds me quite thoroughly of a music box that is normally associated with kids. It's got that certain, uh, something to it that brings you back to childhood. Not quite ambient, because it's a bit fast-paced, but I like it anyway. Memories of when I was three years old and not quite grown out of the eating-sheep-shit stage. Though it also brings to mind a sunset over Melbourne. That part ends at ~2'48" and brings us into the most mellow piece of music I've heard outside the soundlab in 2011, which immediately brings to mind Melbourne's skyline at night. Loving it, and loving it hugely. To be honest, though, I'd prefer it without the electric guitar whine in the left speaker. In fact, I routinely listen to it with just one speaker for this reason. Then at ~4'16" we jump into the grittier bit, that feels more like a person's mindset while walking through Melbourne's streets at night. Spot the pattern, anyone? Yes, the pattern is that the parts of the tune are proportional to phases of night.

In all seriousness, this song is perfect for a warm - say, 22 degrees - night, taking a stroll through Melbourne. There are those who disagree and say it's a winter song. I say, this song is way too cool for them (seewhatIdidthere?) and brush them off so I can listen to this song with awesomeness. Seriously. Much the fun.

#31: CJ's Addictions 6

With the release of a new chillout album comes some awesome kickass music. And I am obviously going to pour nothing but sweeping, inappropriate love and praise over the following songs, which are way beautiful and only lead to amazingness and... *sigh* I'm not making sense. I blame this, liquid music.

So we'll start with a song that, as soon as I heard it, went straight into two playlists: Melbourne and Utopia. It's a Melbourne song. (See the end of this post for a list of other Melbourne songs and you'll see a pattern emerge.) Regardless of the fact that they're Swedish, it's a Melbourne song. Much love, respect and ♥ for this song. I fell in love thanks to the chords they use, and the fact that the background synths are nice and sweeping. Minor key? Maybe. Delicious key? Definitely. As I say, it's not the first time I've fallen in love with such a song, and it won't be the last. But music is like that. I picture a sunset over the city and that glass of freshly-squeezed orange juice that I keep mentioning in my hands as I overlook the city from goodness-knows-where (because one can't get up that high without at least an aeroplane). I'M MELTING. THIS SONG IS AWESOMENESS IN A NUTSHELL AND IT IS MAKING ME MELT.

...ahem. My bizarre thought process aside, on to the next two. Here is a song by Bibio:

And here is le video of Le Bump:

What connects these two, other than the fact that they both are awesome? They're both ridiculously catchy in exactly the same way. And that way is the right way. Granted, Anything New is a bit slower and hellish to dance to (beyond a bizarre tribal dance), but it's really nice to just sit there, listen to and maybe click your fingers in time to (fuck grammar up the arsehole. Seriously). Bibio will go far in my playlist. In contrast, Le Bump is unfortunately predicted to go the same way as We No Speak Americano (ridiculously overplayed in and out of clubs and radio stations and hence annoying as HELL to listen to after a few months), but for the moment I'm not complaining. Le Bump starts by sounding like grungy house but it pleasantly surprised me when I first heard it, because it's anything but grungy. Good to see Yolanda Be Cool fucking the trend that Afrojack, Angger Dimas and LMFAO are perpetuating. Fuck them. I have Yolanda Be Cool. As for what the songs individually sound like: Anything New sounds like it comes straight out of The Sims (the original one, when it still had the isometric views and Sims didn't age) and Le Bump sounds like it comes straight out of Yolanda Be Cool. Wait...

Last: I really love this song.

Allow me to flash back for a bit. If you're allergic to flashbacks, please turn off for the next half a dozen lines or so. Last summer, I had my first ever summer Nando's experience. The chicken was pretty sweet (well, it was spicy actually) and the atmosphere was deliciously summery. But it wasn't those that sold me on summer peri-peri chicken, it was the music. Apparently they play deep house in certain Nando's restaurants during summer, because they did it again not two weeks ago. I learned to love a song by 4Hero (which I will feature next time I do deep house) and I found three more kickass ones two weeks ago. So I guess you can say summer is my time for deep house phases. And I'm going through one right now and I really love this song as a result. In fact, I love it so much I'm going to repeat myself over and over for a little while until either the message sinks in, I get bored, or you get so annoyed that you track me down based on my IP address and beat the living shit out of me. I really love this song. I really love this song. I really love this song. I really love this song. I really love this song. I really love this song. I really love this song. I really love this song. I really love this song. I really love this song. I really love this song. I really love this song. I really love this song. I really love this song. I really love this song. I really love this song. I really love this song. I really love this song. I really love this song. I really love this song. I really love this song. I really love this song. I really love this song. That's all I can really say, because it is - like Feathers and Anything New from before - absolutely delicious and meltworthy. Someone get a mop. I'm now a puddle on the floor.

#25: CJ's Addictions 5

It hasn't been long since I posted an addictions post but what the hell, I've just gotten hooked on a bunch of songs lately. For different reasons.

The first thing that should strike you is the weird start to the song, almost á la Odessa (by Caribou). Which is probably what hooked me. The second thing is that it's called Midnight City - two of my favourite ideas smashed together in one beautiful song (I like black and cities). I still don't know the lyrics but I don't care. That's not the point of the synthy goodness that is Midnight City. The point of it is to listen to the kickass awesomeness and get lost in your own little midnight city. (Oshit, I'm turning Zen all of a sudden: CJ + sleep dep = Zen.) Anyway, this song is pretty awesome. I love the sax bit starting at ~3'2". I wish I knew what song it reminded me of. I can hear the other song in my head, but I can't work out lyrics or a title, or an artist. Or a song. Fuck.

I reckon this sits almost perfectly with Odessa as one of my songs of 2011: I first heard it in 2011 and it reminds me of exactly this year. Awh yeah. Loving them song memories. I wanted to start a project whereby I looked at every single song in my library, and wrote a short memory associated with that song. Problem is, at nearly 9,000 songs, doing a hundred songs a night would take three months. And my collection is expanding. So I'll settle for remembering events along with musics whenever I hear the songs. And speaking of which:

Yes. This is me all over. The song's about music (I'm So Meta, Even This Acronym) and my gods yes, I agree with the philosophy exactly. An old song addiction coming back to life in a few years' time is not only plausible, but it's happened to me fuckloads this year. Not just this year either. Hell, it's been happening for the last few years. I actually have a log (of sorts) of those addictions - see here for more. But back to topic. Apart from the fact that it's synth(pop), which I'm slowly beginning to enjoy more (thanks largely to bands like Au Revoir Simone and La Roux) it fits almost perfectly with my ideal song pattern. For reference:

• two verses maximum
• no bridge, or a bridge that can be integrated as part of a verse, or a single bridge between verse 2 and the second iteration of the chorus
• no chorus, or a chorus that does not mention the song title, or mentions it in passing
• EVOLUTION
• the entire song does not mention those self-promoting bastards, the bands themselves

Yes, I'm freakin' fussy, but I really mean it when it comes to that last point. I know of one song that I like that names the band explicitly in the song lyrics - Domino by the Bloody Beetroots. This excludes artists with self-titled songs like Flower Power, The Screetch and The Drill - all of which are instrumental, incidentally - because that makes sense. It also excludes artists or bands that mention other artists or bands in their lyrics - Duck Sauce did that with Barbara Streisand and Zuper Blahq went through about half a dozen others in I'm In The House (although he did mention himself as well... fuck. So, bearing that in mind, I don't hear the lyrics "cansei de ser sexy" in Hits Me Like A Rock so it passes my non-douchiness test. The only thing that fails it from being a perfectly-patterned song is that the lyrics go "hits me like a rock" over and over. Not a bad effort though.

Let's drip out one more tune.

I first heard the Armand Van Helden remix of this on some MoS compilation - I forget whether it was Clubber's Guide or Annual. Probably the Annual. So, let's run through the checklist. Music: synth and beat, but not grunge. Check. Bag Raiders: check. Song pattern: good enough. Check. Evolution of song: not so much, but it's passable. Check. Decent video: cute girl, interesting plot, band doesn't appear. Check. The song can take a remix: fucking A it can. It loves Armand Van Helden. Check. Conclusion: a few flaws, but hey, nobody's perfect. I want to make music like this. Wish I could make music at all, for that matter. But hey, nobody's perfect. Hey, um, wait. That's the whole point of the video, isn't it? I suppose, though, if you strive for perfection you're gonna get part way there and fall a fraction short, which is a little bit above average anyway. So. Drop me a tune and I'll tell you how close to perfection it is. This one is damn near and that's why I've spent the last stupid amount of time not only addicted to it, but also ripping it to shreds and finding... not much. Join me again soon when I accept another sisterly challenge.

#21: CJ's Addictions 4

Man oh MAN there's a lot of songs to catch up on. I have addictions and a challenge, plus a feature. May as well start with the addictions.

I'm going to be honest: I have absolutely no idea why I like this song. None at all. It's a very bizarre song, which is probably why because I tend to like the bizarre stuff. The bizarre nature is rooted in the singer's distorted voice - whether this is deliberate or not is irrelevant - and the fact that it seems "harder" than it really is, especially given the subject of the song - Gabriel, who is apparently this guy who was an arsehole to the narrator. Well, that's my take on it, anyway. It does evolve, albeit fractionally. The full version does it better justice at 5'36" and the video is an interesting take (albeit boring). I also have to award a Gem Line to "he was stronger than I was but it's strength you can't sustain" - lines that mention strength (or, rather, lack thereof) always are good candidates for Gem Lines. Humble. I guess that's why I like this song. Bizarre nature, evolution, Gem Line. That'll do. Anyway, enjoy it while it lasts - I can't see this being big for long, despite its all-around awesomeness. Unlike this one:

If "having an argument with myself down Elizabeth Street" doesn't tip you off as to the location of the song, then you deserve to not know anything. Come on, now. Elizabeth Street? Victoria Street? Queensberry Street? Don't make me bash you over the head with a Melburnian sledgehammer. Which, oddly enough, is what the song is about. Streams of consciousness always rate high in my books, and I've got to say this is a pretty nifty one. Not sure what Jens Lekman is trying to say about his mind but I'd say the "fuck you! no, you fuck you!" bit was a bit of comic relief. I'd rate this along with Northcote [So Hung Over] as one of contemporary Melbourne's iconic songs. Bugger Man From Snowy River, this is REAL Australiana. Wait, actually, don't bugger Man From Snowy River. I do actually like that. There was movement at the station...

Hm. I usually give you a three-fer. So here we go:

Just realised that I'm giving you these vids in 4:3 instead of 16:9. But that's irrelevant next to the awesome power of Cut Copy's video. The music has even more power: starting out soft, the song slowly reaches crescendo and is belted out by either the lead singer or a chorus behind him. Or both. Hell, I could say that about most Cut Copy songs, and I can also say that every single one of them is different. Yeah, that's right. They follow a pattern, but they're different. Fuck you, RnB music, you are not different. Anyway, Cut Copy have always been a good blast back to the 1980s and I reckon this song has some sounds amazingly similar to Vangelis. Not a bad thing. I like Vangelis. And I like this song. No idea what the lyrics' interpretation are but that's irrelevant. I'm also going now, but that's also irrelevant.

#12: CJ's Addictions 3

It's been a long time since new stuff's come out that is really decent so I'll fire away with some current addictions.

Oh man, D. Ramirez has a gift for electronic music. If you don't remember or know him, you will when you hear this (yes I gave you the instrumental version, if you don't like it you can suck my keyboard. Instrumental music is brilliant, which is a topic for another post). He remixed both these songs into awesomeness - I haven't heard Yeah Yeah's original but my gods did he make Lost so much better. I turned the original of Lost off after 25" because I just couldn't take another generic female vocalist over an upbeat dreamy almost-trancey tune, because that shit gets stale fast. Don't get me wrong, I find some of them decent. For about ten seconds. It sounds too much like September. And September sounds too much like Cascada. And Cascada sounds too much like September. I swear someone pushed Ctrl+C on one and carbon-copied the other with Ctrl+V. But yeah, D. Ramirez is incredible. Look up more of his stuff. A good place to start is his own track, the very cheeky La Discotek. If that's not your thing, hunt down his remix of Junk by Ferry Corsten and Guru.

Which leads me into something a little more obscure.

YES. I had to give you the full version. I posted this on Facebook with a comment to the effect of "Listen to it, love it, buy my book". It's a nice, dreamy-electro-without-being-dreamy-trance track. Ethereal. That's the word. It's not a clone of Robert Miles trying to screw dream-trance fans out of all their money (incidentally, Robert Miles as the pioneer was pretty awesome but the genre went downhill faster than an avalanche on heat) by just putting a few piano soundbites in the middle of an otherwise poorly-made trance beat. It's a song. The lyrics (although somewhat indecipherable) are really nice, especially for a male vocalist. His vocals on this song are the male equivalent of the female singer Kaskade normally collaborates with (whose name I can't recall right now). And Kaskade's stuff makes me melt faster than an avalanche on heat. I owe a lot to Zan Rowe (who, incidentally, doesn't know I exist) for playing this song on Triple J one morning, and waking me up in a good mood. She seems to have a knack for doing that - she woke me up with Street another morning. This morning, however, she gave me this:

I'm kinda disappointed by this song. Not because it's bad, but because of Flight Facilities' (somewhat small, but growing) fanbase. To "liberate" a quote from Yahtzee: unfortunately, Foreign Language is in the uncomfortable position of necessarily having to be compared to Crave You. Crave You exploded and Foreign Language has to live up to that. Having said that, Foreign Language is exactly what I've been craving (excuse the pun) since Crave You came out: another decent throwback to when EDM was actually good: 1977 (when Jean-Michel Jarre released Oxygéne) to 2009 (when David Guetta switched sides). I place Foreign Language somewhere in the late 1980s, maybe early 1990s. Now that EDM is all commercial and shit, the lowest common denominator has been satisfied but music snobs like me aren't. Alright, some of it's good (if about 15 seconds were cut out of Bounce by Calvin Harris and... whoever the hell did the vocals, it would be on this blog). Some of it's good (Swedish House Mafia and Ou Est Le Swimming Pool, for example. Oh, and Example are OK, too). Some of it's fantastic (Aston Shuffle WOOOOO! Bag Raiders WOOOOO! Bloody Beetroots WOOOOO!). But a lot of it is (quoting Bernard Black) tossycock. Bring us back to proper EDM before all this grungy shit came along. You producers were Doing It Right for over thirty years and in the last two and a bit you've killed my faith in EDM ever becoming a hit. Flight Facilities are taking a step in the right direction with both songs. Hell, they're taking a giant leap in the right direction. Hopefully it'll catch on and pretty soon EDM will become the avalanche on heat that my naïve teenaged self predicted some eight years ago.

#8: CJ's Addictions 2

Your face when you realised this was in my collection:

For some reason when it came on the airwaves it resonated through my body, despite the fact that it's rap/hiphop. I'm told that the main reason is because it's an electronic song if you strip away the rap in the foreground. Yes, true, but the same can be said about the most disgusting RnB/hiphop songs that are hitting mainstream radio stations even as I write this post. Just because it's got a few bells and whistles doesn't mean it's a good song (yes, David Guetta, that means you too). In fact, I'm even less likely to like the mass-produced garbage that it is, so that makes this song almost literally a diamond in the rough.

I suppose what I like about it is that it's not a stereotypical song that either trash-talks someone (or a group of people), doesn't have the words "fuck" or "nigga" or "bitch" or "DAYYYYYYYUM" in it (though it does make copious references to fairy tales), and actually evolves. It's also damn catchy, has a little more substance than just beep and bass, and sounds like a Melbourne night. Alright, maybe not a typical Melbourne night, but my Melbourne night. Idealism FTW!

Speaking of Melbourne nights, that's the theme as I carry on to Crave You.

Dayyyyyyyum, unfortunately this version isn't the full version (only the radio edit) but all you really miss is a bit of fluff that DJs use to mix songs into and out of this song. Every other element is there - the minimalistic synths that manage to avoid being beep and bass, evolution of the music over time to a resounding climax, and the lyrics - oh, the lyrics! - that resonate with me so much, especially during my high school years. The only difference was that everyone didn't stare at me. I stared at her and I simply wanted her more because she looked the other way. The song is a very charming observation about humanity, if purely because of that one line. Perhaps that's why I love it. It's so easy to grab some delicious "Gem Lines" out of it. In fact, the line "I simply want him more because he looks the other way" is deserving of one of my Gem Line awards - the first for this blog. Another one (which I can't award here as I haven't reviewed its parent song) is the rather accidental "everybody wants somebody everybody wants" from a Kid Sister song. I might chuck it up here at some stage, who knows. But at the moment, I'm sticking with Crave You - a song that's a year old but still reminds me of the room in which I first heard it, at night time. Love it. Seriously, love it. And love Giselle Rosselli's voice.

Finally, here's one without a voice.

I discovered Dewdrops when I was listening to an album full of morning psy, at some stage in 2009/10 (can't remember now). Perhaps it's not morning psy, or even psy (I'd go so far as to lump it in under house or dream trance, perhaps). Either way, it's delicious. And it's Vibrasphere. Ooh boy, do I love Vibrasphere. Not just because of the really funky name ("VIBRASPHERE"! Who comes up with this gold nuggets?) but because of the really kickass songs, most (if not all) of which have absolutely no vocals to get in the road of a really class-act... erm, act. I'd also hugely recommend Follow Me, Erosion, Autumn Lights (ooh baby! I wet myself with delight when my iPod shuffles onto that song), Morning Breeze, Forever Imaginary (Owl City should put some lyrics to that song...), and Seven Days To Daylight. Vibrasphere know how to tickle my fancy, by a long way. Light, fluffy soundscapes that, while they're not necessarily going to make it huge (even on Triple J or even Rage), still take me away to my private little fantasy world and love me in almost every way possible. They don't over-emphasise bass, percussion or... anything, really. The music is subtle. Dewdrops (a collaboration with Ticon) is sublime in that sense - a shining example of why I love morning psy. Too bad Vibrasphere have split up. Oh well. Legacy time!

#1: CJ's Addictions 1

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.