ndanger.organism

It’s official: (Balearic) disco is dead. 20JFG says so , and posts a new Lindstrøm & Prins Thomas track to prove it. For your benefit (and for the sake of their bandwidth), here it is:

Lindstrom & Prins Thomas – Tirsdagsjam (Lang Versjon) (buy)

Let’s relive a few of (almost) Balearic’s greatest hits:

Lindstrom – I Feel Space (buy)

I Feel Space sounds like what it is: Balearic disco made some place where it’s cold and dark. Like the moon. Or maybe Norway.

Grace Jones – Williams Blood (Aeroplane Remix) (buy used)

Aeroplane knows Balearic and I hear that Grace Jones has some disco experience. Combine them and you get… uh… a disco start with a synth freak-out finish. And Grace’s autobiographical lyrics. Total awesome.

And next time you’re in Columbia…

…tell the Wu-Tang clan I said hi.

Sonido del Principe – Wucumbia

Mein Gott! Check out both volumes of Jamaica Airline’s Motown / Reggae mashup series. I like volume 1 better, but volume 2 does have that sweet Funk Brothers mashup.

The Marvelettes & The Steadies – Please Mr. Postman (buy)
Funk Brothers & Henry Tipper – What’s Going On (buy)

If you prefer Detroit to Jamaica via Washington DC, try track 4.

What did you do when you saw that I’d gone
did you stand very still and did tears come falling?

O you want that picture don’t you darling
of poor little me standing there bawling?
well it’s true that I cried
but then I went outside
and I stood very still in the night
and I looked at the sky
and knew someday I’d die
and then everything would be all right

it’s all right
and everything comes
down to this
that everything there ever was
or will be
is all there is

Where did you go once you’d wrote me that note
was a weight lifted off of your shoulders did you fly?

O you want that picture, don’t you darling
of heartless cold me
flying not falling?
well, it’s true that I soared
but then I went outdoors
and I stood very still in the night
and I looked at the sky
and knew someday I’d die
and then everything would be all right

it’s all right
and everything comes
down to this
that everything there ever was
or will be
is all there is

Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – You Want That Picture

Bonnie Prince Billy – You Want That Picture.mp3 (buy)

Phil Collins – I’m Not Moving (Idjut Boys Edit)
In Flagranti – Mutual Affection (buy)

The band: Throbbing Gristle – Persuasion (buy)
The sample: Buck 65 – Slow Drama (buy)
The blog: 20jazzfunkgreats
The awesome kind of thing the blog posts: Gatekeeper – Final Approach

Thanks to the Resident Advisor my new mysterious minimal techno fascination is Pom Pom:

Pom Pom – CD 001 Track 3

It’s some heavy techno shit shrouded in mystery. It’s so mysterious that I have no idea where you’d go to buy the CD new. Luckily bittorrent saves the day. If you want to support the artists Juno has some newer vinyl and, of course, GEMM has seven of everything.

Unrelated save for name repetition, here’s a dubstep remix of Sister Nancy:

Sister Nancy – Bam Bam (Unknown Dubstep Remix)

While driving home for Christmas I had all these great ideas for blog posts: more about Victoria/ICFP, thoughts about physical computing from the paper I’m reading, a comparison of Ray Kurzweil and Michael Pollan… Then I was listening to El-P in the car and thought “eh, I’ll just shove out another music post.”

And it was going to be about El-P until I came home and found a DJ History forum post with a 3 hour Lee Douglas / Lovefingers mix:

Lee Douglas & Lovefingers – A Night In Babylon (Live in Istanbul) (hosted, it seemed rude to hotlink a 280 meg mp3)

Well damn that’s a good mix (needle jumps & flanging be damned), but it was the Smith N Hack remix that diddled me good:

Herbert – Moving Like a Train (Smith N Hack Remix) (buy)

Like a train indeed.

Speaking of those vinyl only Sleeparchive releases:

Sleeparchive – Meson (buy at Forced Exposure or hardwax for the Europeans)

Hardwax’s description is itself cold German minimalism: “Hypnotic bleeping techno + 6 loops”. Let’s make that a little more Japanese:

The Hadron EP:
Hypnotic bleeping techno
(plus six white-noise loops)

I’m impressed by the crisp subtlety, especially the bass. For a song that’s 50% synthetic kick (the rest is high-hat, “whirr” white noise, “woo-woo-wooo” space noise, and “incessant bleep”) it doesn’t come off as a bass track. Yet the subwoofer… it is working so hard. Makes me wonder how it would sound on something more powerful than my 10″ sub.

I suspect the effect is because Sleeparchive trims his samples, shoving everything into the low end. Let’s check Audacity‘s spectrum view:

Ralph Stanley – O Death

Capcom – A Prayer for Kevin Garnett (Willy Joy’s Safe Journeys Remix)

Sleeparchive – Meson

Ralph Stanley: subtle human, Sleeparchive: subtle machine, Capcom: unholy train wreck.

According to nxtplanet’s comment [Youtube] Sleeparchive and Surgeon are both big geeks. Let’s see…

Sleeparchive:

Surgeon:

Sleeparchive’s got a bit of the geek going on. Surgeon just looks like a Hitler Youth.

Bass for your face

For some much less subtle bass, check out Rinse FM‘s I Love Dubstep double mix CD (get at Amazon, Turntable Lab or Forced Exposure). It’s every major dubstep track from the last few years. Mixed, of course, so afficianados can still proudly display their imported vinyl.

Also on double CD is the new (and apparently last) Skull Disco release. It’s a bunch of their latest vinyl EP’s and some remixes. Skull Disco has always been good at conceptual integrity: dark, morbid tunes. Very dark. Very morbid. Yay!

Shackleton – Death Is Not Final (buy direct, from the lab or from Forced Exposure)

Keeping with a theme:

If you want more music for no more $$$, check their free mixtape.

US copyright sucks

If it was more lenient, maybe we’d have a chance to get this album for less than $30: Carl Craig & Moritz von Oswald – ReComposed (also at Amazon and the lab).

I’m listening to it now and it’s amazing. There’s nothing to really share though, it unfolds pretty smoothly over an hour, and an excerpt would be much less than the sum. So instead here’s Carl Craig remixing Rhythm & Sound (Moritz von Oswald and Mark Ernestus).

Rhythm & Sound – Poor People Must Work (Carl Craig Remix) (buy)

Gem uncovery: it’s the only up-shot of sorting through all my old records to evaluate their conditions. I present Schlagercocktail (Folge II):

Schlagercocktail – Folge II side A
Schlagercocktail – Folge II side B

German pop covers on 10″ vinyl. Each side has like a dozen tracks, and they’re all smushed together, mix tape style. Anyone have Folge I?

Well you’re my friend
(It’s what you told me anyway)
And can you see
(What’s inside of me anyway)
Many times we’ve been out drinking
And many times we’ve shared our thoughts
But did you ever, ever notice
The kind of thoughts I got
Well you know I have a love
A love for everyone I know
And you know I have a drive
To live I won’t let go
But can you see it’s opposition
Comes rising up sometimes
That it’s dreadful and position
Comes blacking in my mind

And that I see a darkness
And that I see a darkness
And that I see a darkness
And that I see a darkness
And did you know how much I love you
Is a hope that somehow you
Can save me from this darkness

Well I hope that someday, buddy
We have peace in our lives
Together or apart
Alone or with our wives
That we can stop our whoring
And pull the smiles inside
And light it up forever
And never go to sleep
My best unbeaten brother
This isn’t all I see

Oh no I see a darkness
Oh no I see a darkness
Oh no I see a darkness
Oh no I see a darkness
Did you know how much I love you
Is a hope that somehow you you
Can save me from this darkness

Bonnie Prince Billy, I See A Darkness

The best song about depression, ever:

Bonnie Prince Billy – I See a Darkness (buy)

The second best song about depression, ever:

Johnny Cash – I See a Darkness (buy)

I’ve almost weaned myself off of records, but some releases are vinyl only. Sleeparchive is one example. The Flybynight EP is another. It’s all party bass, video game sounds, and a little bit of the Journey:

Capcom – A Prayer for Kevin Garnett (Willy Joy’s Safe Journeys Remix) (buy)

Fly By Night is the name of Willy Joy‘s label & party. If you like your music mindless and electrobasstastic, follow the link for lots of free mixtapes.

Speaking of video games, check out the B-side of Spacer Woman from Mars:

Johan Agebjorn – Mega Man II (buy)

Agebjörn produced Sally Shapiro’s album. I bought that on vinyl, partly because it seemed like it would never be released in any other format but also because it was on the Diskokaine label, which I think is even funnier than Discodeine.

And if you’d rather trade in 8-bit NES samples for acoustic synths, try Daniel Wang’s Idealism. Berlin Sunrise sold me on slow disco and prompted me to search for more Wang (hee hee). Unfortunately even used CD’s were going for $20. So thank you, Fraunhofer Institute.

Daniel Wang – Glimmer In His Eyes (buy)

Glimmer In His Eyes isn’t the most obvious track–it’s especially mellow–but it exhibits another great part of Idealism: theremin.

FREE CUMBIA!

Thanks to ZZK’s mixtapes! My picks are the Diploesque Villa Diamante mix and the laid-back Chancha Via Curcuito album mixtape. Makes me think I should pony up the $17.98 and move both the ZZK compilation and the Rodante album from my wishlist to my hard drive.

Huntsville

Speaking of Diplo, the Benzi/Diplo collabo mixtape is out: Fear and Loathing in Hunts Vegas. It’s the Radiohead / Saul Williams pricing model, so pay what you want. I took advantage of my 20% raise–I went back to full-time employment–and gave a generous $8.

Your ambient history lesson

As I get older I have more musical patience. Songs that don’t go anywhere are tolerable; some of them (like the mighty mighty deathprod) are awesome. So it is with Gas’ complete discography (strangely cheapest when bought as mp3′s through a British site). The music sneaks up on you, so take your time with Boomkat’s full-length samples.

Mp3 deal of the week month lifetime!

Speaking of history, travel back to 1999 and get Mos Def’s Black on Both Sides for $2!

Did you hear me? TWO DOLLARS!!! Wow!

Continuing my David Lynch firehose draught, I watched Inland Empire. I was going to write a review but manythings711 already did. Agree: Lynch makes vivid dream scenes based on simple themes. Disagree: I thought the rawness of digital video was great.

I’ve never understood what “art” means. My best guess is that it’s a medium for emotional transfer: art makes you feel something (unlike craft). Lynch’s work always succeeds at that level; I’m shocked at the efficacy of even the lo-fi cheese of Twin Peaks. I took a nap (intentionally, paused the DVD and everything) halfway through Inland Empire and had dreams that were shot like the movie: close crops & a hesitancy to reveal what others could see. I woke up panicked and sad.

Unlike Mulholland Drive, Inland Empire has a “happy” ending. In large part, that’s due to the last two songs (& the accompanying credit scene).

Chrysta Bell and David Lynch – Polish Poem (buy)
Nina Simone – Sinnerman (Inland Empire Edit) (buy)

Despite the downer middle (“I cry… I cry… / I cannot feel the warmth of the sun…”) Polish Poem ends uplifting (“something is coming true– / the dream of an innocent child // something is happening– / something is happening…”). It reminds me of Laura Palmer’s theme from Twin Peaks (though inverted: Laura Palmer’s theme has a dark beginning and end and a hopeful middle) and anything by deathprod, the best Norwegian producer ever.

Angelo Badalamenti – Laura Palmer’s Theme (Instrumental) (buy)
deathprod – treetop drive 3 (buy)

I highly recommend deathprod’s boxed set as well as his other projects: supersilent (especially the supersilent 7 DVD) featuring deathprod on “audiovirus” and Susanna and the Magical Orchestra where-in deathprod is the magical orchestra.

As for Sinnerman, it’s Nina Simone in an uptempo edit. I don’t know who did the edit but it reminds me of a more polished Moodyman.

Moodymann – KDJ16 Track 1 (buy)

And just since we’re already having a music party, I might as well add that I’ve been rocking out to the Fleet Foxes.

Fleet Foxes – Your Protector (buy)

Via Mad Decent:

Ralph Stanley – O Death.mp3

I love Blind as much as the next guy, but you’ve got to give it up for that old-school Hercules…

Aaron Neville – Hercules (or buy it!)

• Lykke Li – Little Bit (Loving Hand Remix)
• Lovelock – Don’t Turn Away (From My Love)

New Soca mix from DoubleL & El Professor. I just got done listening to the mp3 mix and it’s good. It nicely spans the range from “happy soca” to more reggae-ish heavy tunes.

Can’t wait for the CD to show up.

More information (including samples) at These Rocks Pop.

This original record is stupid rare. I had one copy two years ago, burned it to a CD, and sold it to some Limey shitbox for $250 thinking I really got over. A couple weeks ago I see it going for $877 on eBay. Fuck. By now you know Peter Brown produced a million records in the late 70s that all sound basically the same, but I guess people really sweat this one as a more standard disco affair- nice clean horn arrangements and some top of the cry baby wah guitar. None of that dusted out warbly synth action, which to me is actually the best thing about his records. Either way, I can only imagine what this does to a British dancefloor. Probably a fucking tornado of arms and teeth and fingernails. Sometimes I really wonder why it takes some across the pond dudes to sweat shit like this. It must be that organ all high in the mix. Hammond disco groover, mate. Chune caning status to the maximum, bro. Wait, I forgot my little black glasses, close-cropped balding-disguise haircut, raw denim jacket and Bapestas back at the flat. I guarantee you I could play this for just about any NYC DJ and tell them it was a $900 record and they’d look at me like fish guts were oozing out of my mouth. But for 2 bucks, reclaim this shit on some reverse imperialism, and play it at a little bar weekly while you go take a shit.

God bless you Bob Bannister, and your Turntable Lab review.

You waited and waited and waited… now go get it!

Wale: A Mixtape about Nothing

It should take you less than 2 seconds.

Edwin Birdsong – Cola Bottle Baby