Song of the Day: Round 16

I'm back! Touched down in Montreal last night, and I've hit the ground running. My profs couldn't let me relax too much apparently, because I have a whole heap of work due right at the beginning of this week.

Want know how to work faster? Simple: fast music. Which kind of fast music keeps you intensely focused enough? Darkstep drum & bass. That's the theme of today's post! Maybe you have an operating systems midterm in the morning, or a whole term of probability to cram, or maybe you just want to chug Red Bull and sprint around. If that's the case, you can't go wrong with this brand of drum & bass. It's led by artists such as Spor, Ewun, Evol Intent, Noisia, Black Sun Empire, The Upbeats, and pretty much the entire Lifted Music record label. This is heavy-hitting stuff, and it literally makes you think faster. Not bad! The song of the day is:

Telemetrik - Exit Civilization

This guy's awesome! His sound have an futuristic, urban, metallic sound similar to Matrix & Futurebound. This guy turns it up to 11 with a darker and more intense feel, and the effect is electrifying. Give all the links a listen, check out the artists' albums, and don't forget to pick up Nu:Tone's Words and Pictures album! It's out, and it's awesome.

Song of the Day Round 15: Soulwax

While Brain is drinking away his pain in Mexico, no doubt surrounded by sexy girls and mountains of contraband substances, those of us who remain in frigid Canada must carry on with our daily duties.  For me, this means filling in for Brain while he's gone.  I took a small break last week, but I'll try to step it up.  Meh

Anyways, today's blog is a tip of the hat to the Belgian brotherly duo that goes by the name of Soulwax or 2ManyDjs (depending on what they're doing).  They got their start in alternative rock (although you can hear the electronic inclination even at this early stage), but quickly realized that analog instruments alone are too limiting, and branched into more experimental (also this) and electronic sounds. 

Just when they had reached a really comfortable groove, they did what all good bands should do: reinvent their sounds.  Soulwax - an electronic group - recorded Soulwax Nite Versions, which is a live band covering Soulwax and other electronic acts...LIVE.  The logic is a little twisted, but freed from the shackles of conformity to any one genre led the group to make some huge new sounds.  Along with their original material (listen to the whole thing), they also developed a penchant for the remix.

Taking on every genre, Soulwax turned out hit after hit after hit after hit.  Their live shows are epic (get your hands on 'Part of the Weekend Never Dies,' their tour documentary), their DJ sets have a massive amount of energy (check out their 2005 BBC Essential Mix - one of the all time great), and they definitely hold  the title as one of my favourite all time electronic acts.  Enjoy your song of the day...a double feature showcasing the reciprocity of the remix!!

Soulwax - NY Excuse

Justice - NY Excuse Remix

I can't help but tell the story behind this song.  Soulwax had one more single due under their record deal, but ran out of inspiration in Europe.  One of the band's friends lived in NYC, and the brothers were looking for an excuse to visit her.  Though she's not a singer, Soulwax recorded their friend, the vocalist on this track, for an excuse for the record label to fly the to New York.  This excuse that we're making - is it good enough for what you're paying??? 




 
 

Song of the Day: Round 14

Brain is back! That's right, it's me. It's been a rough week! Don't get too comfortable though, I'm fleeing the country tomorrow. Where to, you ask? To Mexico! I need a sanity break, and where better to do that than the Mayan Riviera?

I don't know about you, but when I'm on the beach I'm not listening to Spor or Noisia. I'm listening to chillout music! I'm talking about Boards of Canada, Zero 7, The Orb, Mount Kimbie, Air, Pogo, B.J. Cole & Luke Vibert, some stuff by the Chemical Brothers, and more! Good artists and good songs all. The song of the day, however, is:

Groove Armada - At The River

These guys are masters at chilled out music. They've been at it for over 10 years, and while not every track is gold, they hit the mark pretty frequently, and the sheer amount of music they've put out means they have a lot of great tracks. Enjoy the links, and enjoy this week! I'll be back on the 27th, and returning to the mountain of work I've left behind.

Song of the Day Round 13: Trip Hop

After a long night of daggering at Best Buy and other big box stores, sometimes you need to slow things down and just relax a little.  When I need to kick back, I throw on an old friend from way back.

Allow me to introduce you to trip hop, a genre emerging out of the UK in the mid 1990s.  Drawing heavily on elements of 70s jazzy soundtracks and funky soul drums, trip hop is a down tempo groove that brings in elements of turntablism and ethereal singing to create its haunting effect (big ups to Radiohead's Thom Yorke on vocals on this classic track).  Amazingly for the listener, many trip hop artists are also incredibly visual artistic, and the genre has given us some of the most classic music videos of all time, like Teardrop from Massive Attack. 

Other notable artists in this genre include DJ Shadow, UNKLE and my personal favourite, Portishead, who I have had on heavy rotation the past few weeks.  Here are a couple more tracks from them: BAM and ZAP.  Like I said, Portishead really showcases the genre's close ties to jazz, but does so in a very cool way.  I've been studying to their BBC Essential Mix for a few weeks...definitely worth finding!

The song of the day goes to Portishead, and I'm happy to say that I will be covering this song with a very talented singer at an upcoming show.  Enjoy

Portishead - Glory Box

While pure trip hop died out in the late 90s, luckily for us, it lives on as an inspiration for many modern artists.  This is especially true in non-lyrical hip hop, with DJs like RJD2 getting the trip hop sound into the mix.  You can also hear the influence of trip hop in some Kanye West songs...YEEZY.  Hope you're all now thoroughly relaxed and mind blown.  Check you tomorrow JM

PS: Brain Update - Last night, after crushing CompSci for 15 straight hours Brain crushed another 9 hours.  Pray hard for Brain.

Song of the Day Round 12: Dutty Dancehall

Hello bloglings, by way of introduction my name is Jesse, and I'll be filling in for Brian this week while he endures hour upon hour of soul-sapping servitude and suffering.  Good luck to Brain!

Today's song goes out to a genre that has been around for decades, and is currently experiencing a sort of renaissance.  Dancehall music was borne out of the dub movement from  Jamaica in the '60s and '70s.  The rise of electronic production techniques brought about new forms of the traditionally-slow genre, beginning with Wayne Smith's massive track Under Me Sleng Teng, which was the first dancehall track to use an electronic beat.  Dancehall effectively blends ragga vocals with a bumping dance rhythm and, when done well, is thoroughly drenched with production effects (and sex).

From there, the music grew to become central to Jamaican dancehall culture, as well as its gang-life underbelly.  Dancehall music became the platform for the most intense "beef" in music history.  The ongoing war of words (and occasional gun shots) fired between Movado and Vybz Kartel took this otherwise peaceful genre down a long and dark road.

However, in a flurry of reggae horn and ironic gun shots, dancehall has made massive steps to the foreground in recent years thanks in large part to artists like Major Lazer from the Mad Decent label.  Pumping out hot interpretations of popular genres and plain filthy beats, dancehall has introduced the world to daggering and brought enough excitement back to the dancefloor.

The movement has a full head of steam in the UK as well, with artists like Toddla T and Dj Q taking the genre in new directions.  Check out either of Toddla T's two BBC essentials mixes for a great sampling of that genre.

However, today's song of the day nod goes to homegrown Canadian talent:

Micro Prophet - General

These guys have been throwing bumping jams in and around Ontario for the past few months, and with a little luck may be coming to a town near you!  No, not you...YOU (in the back).  So, find a girl to dutty wine, say a little prayer for Brain tonight, and Jah bless. 

Song of the Day: Round 11...Valentines Day Edition!

It's that time of year again! If you're not single, it's probably a pretty romantic day, and you're probably going to want to set the mood. How better to do that than with the tracks of the day? You're probably not looking for drum & bass, even if it's sped up versions of classic smooth tracks.

No, today's all about those songs for getting down, by artists like D'Angelo and Marvin Gaye. Soul and R&B are still kicking in the 21st century though! You've got John Legend, Chrisette Michele, Jazzanova, Lee Fields & The Expressions, and more! Then there are the contributors from hip-hop, like Onra, Mojoe, Eric Lau, and the like. The song of the day comes from a personal favourite in the soul genre, and a song I arranged for the acapella group I'm in:

Mayer Hawthorne - When I Said Goodbye

This guy is, or should be if he isn't, the biggest thing in soul music right now. He makes his music in the style of his soul forefathers, and he certainly does them justice. At any rate, have a happy Valentine's Day!

PS: This week I've got an overbearing workload! Describing it would just stress me and probably you out, so I won't. However, this means that for the next 4 days I'll be turning over the blog to my brother Jesse! Get ready, he's got some sweet posts coming up! If you like the blog so far, you'll love his taste. My own musical trajectory was set by him, and he's got an even better knowledge of the older schools of electronic music. Stay tuned!

Song of the Day: Round 10

Are you a momma's boy? Are you so gangsta? Are you in a state of rage? If your girl is calling you a liar, then call her up and show her your fancy footwork! When the night falls, don't turn the lights on, just give your tenderoni some bonafied lovin'. She'll be so down. If she's still a needy girl, you just have to take it (here it comes):

Night by Night

If you haven't figured it out by now, the theme of today's post is Chromeo! That's right, the electro funk duo from Montreal! These guys are awesome! I saw them live a few weeks ago and they blew me away. Beyond that, their retro sound is just fun to listen to. Enjoy the links (and the ridiculous advice)!

Side note: Youtube's copyright issues get worse every year, and the new deal is pitching up songs people upload. This basically ruins tracks for me. As a result, my link sources are going to get a bit more adventurous from now on!

Song of the Day: Round 9

Today's song of the day goes out to those tracks that don't need to drop. The ones that can build you up, or let you ride, but don't need to throw down the huge basslines or massive beats to grab your attention. The ones that can still be full of feeling without being aggressive. I'm not talking about downtempo, that's a totally different style, I'm talking about tracks that you may have skipped over on an album but should absolutely give another listen. Tracks like this, this, this, this, and this! Seriously, check those out. Also, here's the song of the day:

Cassius - I Love U So

Cassius is back! Releasing their Rawker EP, after so many classic tracks from the past. They were one of the first electronic groups I ever listened to, and I highly recommend a listen! Their style is tough to characterize; it's sort of disco, sort of house, pretty eclectic, but generally good. Enjoy!

Song of the Day: Round 8

First off: I made a change in the html formatting of the blog! Now links open in new tabs instead of changing the one you're in. We've all closed Youtube windows before thinking we'd be taken back to the previous page, but no more! Hooray!

Today's song of the day comes from a genre I've never had enough of: House! If you don't know house music, you may find that today it's devolved to a large extent to that "progressive house" (read: trance) crap that people seem to like these days. Anyhow! I'm talking about real house. 90s house, and the better stuff from this millennium. That includes (but is not limited to) Armand Van Helden, Mylo (one of my all-time favourite synths in this one), Alan Braxe & Fred Falke, Surkin, Daft Punk, The Twelves, Grum, Paul Johnson (check out the vocal sample on that one), Calvin Harris, and more. Good music! 4-to-the-floor beats for dancing, but musically good enough to keep you interested. The song of the day, however, is:

Pete Heller - Big Love

This is possibly my all-time favourite house song, or right up there at least. Like the guy in the Radio Soulwax Essential mix at 29:10 says, you have to play the full version! That's how you really feel the track. If you've got the essential mix, listen to that part! If you don't, get the essential mix. It's dope! Anyhow, enjoy!

Song of the Day: Round 7

Hello! I was going to write today's "Song of the Day" about modern soul music! Why not, you ask? Because it's Valentine's Day on Monday. Seems more appropriate, no? Tune in for that one in particular, there will be some sweet tunes to get in the spirit of the day and such.

Instead, today's song is from the experimental electronic music genre. There are many names for this type of music! Reviewers call it IDM (Intelligent Dance Music), Aphex Twin finds that pretentious and calls it "braindance",  but either way it's music. Some of the big artists in this area are Aphex Twin, Boards of Canada, Autechre, Amon Tobin, Tycho, Venetian Snares, Squarepusher (my favourite!), µ-Ziq, Plaid, and pretty much anyone from the Planet Mu and Warp Records labels. The song of the day, however, is:

edIT - Ashtray

He's not a conventional IDM artist (if such a thing exists), but his album Crying Over Pros for No Reason is straight up incredible. He's a genius with beats, and while his recent work pales doesn't deliver in the same way, still check all of his stuff out. Anyhow, enjoy the links!

Song of the Day: Round 6

New song of the day! It's been a whole 18 hours since my last post. Today's theme is indie electronic! Before you see "indie" and think "hipster", think again. I'm no damn hipster. These tracks are good! And the artists are not terribly underground; their Last.fm profiles seem to have millions of plays. Anyhow!

There are some big names in indie electronic coming up. They include, but are not limited to: Fenech-Soler (also check out the Sigma remix), Fischerspooner, Friendly Fires, Discovery, Goose, LCD Soundsystem, Midnight Juggernauts, The Naked And Famous, The Presets, The Rapture, and hundreds more. As usual, the song of the day comes from none of these!

Delphic - Counterpoint

These guys are getting pretty huge in the UK. They're a fan of atmospheric synths, fast beats, and arpeggios. Their vocalist is also pretty good! Full of emotion, these songs are. Their album Acolyte dropped in 2010, and if I'd discovered it earlier I'd have considered it for to 10 of '10. Anyhow, enjoy the links!

Song of the Day: Round 5

Not going to miss a day! Even if it's right before midnight. Today's all about underground hip-hop. Not just any underground hip-hop! I'm talking about electronic hip-hop. The big players here are Hudson Mohawke, Flying Lotus, Rustie, Samiyam, Dorian Concept, Mike Slott, Nosaj Thing, Star Slinger, Kuedo, Teebs and many more. Smooth stuff!  But it can be harsh (in a good way) too! Anyhow, the song of the day comes from none of the people listed above. It is:

 TOKiMONSTA - Gamble

The recommendation comes from a brother of a friend! My friend Eujee's brother Eusang has awesome music taste, and showed me this track today. TOKiMONSTA's got some slick tracks, and she's one of the few women in the business of beatmaking! Enjoy!

P.S. Are my lists of related artists getting a bit long?

Song of the Day: Round 4

Just finished a mega-huge coding assignment for operating systems class. What better time than now to write a post? Today's issue spotlights one of my favourite record labels, Ninja Tune.

For 20 years this label has been making quality music without selling out! Featuring such artists as Bonobo, Amon Tobin, The Cinematic Orchestra, Kid Koala, Zero dB, The Qemists, Dels, Andreya Triana, and many, many more, they've restricted themselves to no genre and clearly have an eye for talent.  Though all the artists above have fantastic tracks, including many 5-star ratings (I'm a pretty tough critic for my iTunes ratings), and I encourage you to listen to all those links, my song of the day is:

Ariel

There's an up-and-coming group on Ninja Tune that goes by the name Stateless, and they put out this phenomenal track a couple months ago, in anticipation of the February 21st release of their album Matilda. Beyond being one of the cooler songs I've heard recently, the music video is just amazing. As usual, give it, and all the other links in the article a listen!

More to come tomorrow, never fear!

Song of the Day: Round 3

See, I told you I'd be back! As I said, this song of the day comes from Hospital Records' Nu:Tone. He's a drum & bass artist, and the reason I got into liquid drum & bass. His songs are smooth and full of feeling, and when he pairs up with Natalie Williams, they're unstoppable. Those three songs are among my favourite drum & bass tracks of all time.

The reason why I'm coming back to Nu:Tone after all this time is because he's releasing a new album! Words And Pictures is the name, and this one's got a lot of words (read: guest vocalists). The links from this album generally aren't full songs, because 3 to 4 minute samplers of each track have been release as opposed to the whole thing, but they're still dope. Though the other songs I've linked from this album are pretty solid, my song of the day is:

Invisible feat. 4Hero and Natalie Williams

This one is slick! It feels like Seven Years (linked above), but with a bit more drive. And it's got 4Hero! 4Hero was one of the big players back in early drum & bass and went on to basically found the broken beat style of jazz drum & bass. At any rate, enjoy the tracks! More to come tomorrow!

Song of the Day: Round 2

So...rough week! Had 4 assignments due...To the 0 of you planning on taking honours computer science, watch out!

Get your subwoofers out! Chase & Status' album No More Idols came out on Monday. For those who don't know, Chase & Status' first album More Than Alot became huge, despite the typo in its name. I've had this record on repeat all week, and it's all good! They range from African tribal 90s rave to Prodigy-esque dirty breaks to hip-hop. Youtube snipes most links, so you'll just have to get the album! No heavy drum & bass bangers, mind you, which is my only gripe. Despite the number of tracks I've already linked, the song of the week is:

Heavy ft. Dizzee Rascal

This track is heavy! If you're a fan of grime, especially Dizzee's legendary first album Boy In Da Corner, you'll love this. Straight up grime. If you listen to no other link from this post, listen to Heavy! But listen to them all. Tomorrow's track (and there will be one) is coming off Nu:Tone's highly anticipated upcoming album! Get excited!