Showing posts with label electronica. Show all posts
Showing posts with label electronica. Show all posts
Monday, July 10, 2006
More monday morning mess
This monday's weird mess was a bit more acceptable than some of the previous ones, but i don't have enough time today to tell you all about it. So, all i can do is tell you that it started with twists of the bloopy intro from The Prodigy's Everybody In The Place, before great steaming chunks of The Temptations classic Ball Of Confusion fell all over it. The bass part of this then evolved into Aretha Frankin's Rock Steady, which to be fair sounds quite similar. That tune occured here in the not too distant past, but sadly it was another of these days where time just runs out. So there's hardly any point clicking that link. You'll just be disappointed. Still, there's always tomorrow, although looking at my diary it seems unlikely i'll do any better then. But you never know. Never say never.
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Joseph Malik - Melodies
ORIGINATION Diverse
LAST LISTENED TO last night
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT higher than the sun
RATING
Local lad does good! Edinburgh DJ Malik's first album was quite different from what many people expected, being a fairly laid back blend of acoustic guitar, samples and Malik's falsetto voice singing quite personal lyrics. Melodies is the opening track and is one of the quietest tracks on the album. Whilst it is not the strongest track, it nicely sets the tone for what is to follow. There are also some nice harmonies through the choruses.
LAST LISTENED TO last night
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT higher than the sun
RATING
Local lad does good! Edinburgh DJ Malik's first album was quite different from what many people expected, being a fairly laid back blend of acoustic guitar, samples and Malik's falsetto voice singing quite personal lyrics. Melodies is the opening track and is one of the quietest tracks on the album. Whilst it is not the strongest track, it nicely sets the tone for what is to follow. There are also some nice harmonies through the choruses.
Monday, April 03, 2006
Fatboy Slim - Weapon Of Choice (Featuring Bootsy Collins)
ORIGINATION Halfway Between The Gutter And The Stars
LAST LISTENED TO yesterday
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT pretty good
RATING
Unlike many music lovers, i've got a soft spot for Fatboy Slim (AKA Norman Cook). There is just something really up about his music that i can't help but enjoy. It's the kind of music that is impossible to sit still through. His popularity reached its zenith around the time of the single Rockafeller Skank and the following album You've Come a Long Way, Baby, both of which were a global hits. For his next album Halfway Between The Gutter And The Stars, he made a consious move away from his populist style of bigbeat towards more club-oriented sounds.
Weapon Of Choice is a collaboration with muddy funking bassist Bootsy Collins, who is best known for his work with both James Brown and Funkadelic. It features the mish mash of samples and big beats that are Cook's trademark, over which Collins' stream of consiousness lyrics fit wonderfully. I particularly enjoy his referencing of Dune with the lyrics 'If you walk without rhythm, you won't attract the worms'.
LAST LISTENED TO yesterday
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT pretty good
RATING
Unlike many music lovers, i've got a soft spot for Fatboy Slim (AKA Norman Cook). There is just something really up about his music that i can't help but enjoy. It's the kind of music that is impossible to sit still through. His popularity reached its zenith around the time of the single Rockafeller Skank and the following album You've Come a Long Way, Baby, both of which were a global hits. For his next album Halfway Between The Gutter And The Stars, he made a consious move away from his populist style of bigbeat towards more club-oriented sounds.
Weapon Of Choice is a collaboration with muddy funking bassist Bootsy Collins, who is best known for his work with both James Brown and Funkadelic. It features the mish mash of samples and big beats that are Cook's trademark, over which Collins' stream of consiousness lyrics fit wonderfully. I particularly enjoy his referencing of Dune with the lyrics 'If you walk without rhythm, you won't attract the worms'.
Monday, February 20, 2006
Monday Mash Up
Today's song was a little confusing. This was because, as it turned out, there were four songs running into each other in my head. It took my barely awake brain a little while to prise them apart and work out what they all were. So, here they are in order of appearance:
DNA vs Suzanne Vega - Tom's Diner
ORIGINATION pass
LAST LISTENED TO no idea
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT St Kilda
RATING
As far i can recall, Vega had originally released this track as an acapella on one of her albums. When a couple of naughty sample-boffins nicked the whole thing and put it out as a bootleg, her record label didn't like it but she did and it was given a proper release. The result is a fairly sparse song mixing electronic beats and basic electronic instrumentation with Vega's original lyrics. It went on to become a hit.
Danny Elfman - Augustus Gloop
ORIGINATION Charlie And The Chocolate Factory
LAST LISTENED TO saturday
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT Scotland
RATING
Danny Elfman is one of the best and most unique composers working in films today. He has been a long-time collaborator with director Tim Burton, working on films such as Edward Scissorhands and Mars Attacks!, as well as countless other projects (including the theme for The Simpsons). His scores always carry his particular brand of fair-ground otherworldliness and darkness, that not only make them instantly recognisable as his, but also perfectly suited to the kind of dark fairy tales that Burton often spins.
Last year he scored Burton's remake of Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, which saw him using lyrics in his score for the first time. Augustus Gloop is the first song we see sung by the Oompa Loompas and is comes about when that 'great, big, greedy nincompoop' is sucked away up a chocolate pipe.
The has something of a rock-meets-primitive-tribe feel. Many voices sing the ludicrous lyrics and a variety of drums pound away. There are also lovely big stabs of brass. The song ends with drums and chanting, echoing the supposed tribal background of the Oompa Loompas that was about to be revealed.
Danny Elfman - Violet Beuregarde
ORIGINATION Charlie And The Chocolate Factory
LAST LISTENED TO saturday
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT Scotland
RATING
Violet met her end by chewing bubblegum, a disgusting habit. Here the Oompa Loompas get funky in the tale of her end. For not having been known as funky, Elfman pulls of mid-'70s funk with discoish flourishes incredibly well.
The song builds up slowly from random sounds and (more) chants of Oompa Loompa, until disco strings and funky guitar take over. From then on it's funktastic: organ! bass! brass! even the comedy ultra-low voice. It returns to the random sounds again at the end, as if the whole thing had never happened. Quite excellent!
Nouvelle Vague - Friday Night, Saturday Morning
ORIGINATION Nouvelle Vague
LAST LISTENED TO december
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT Eigg
RATING
This is a nice, easy version of a not so well known Specials track. The dreamy, washy sound of the track contrasts well with the unpleasant story of british friday night binge drinking.
DNA vs Suzanne Vega - Tom's Diner
ORIGINATION pass
LAST LISTENED TO no idea
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT St Kilda
RATING
As far i can recall, Vega had originally released this track as an acapella on one of her albums. When a couple of naughty sample-boffins nicked the whole thing and put it out as a bootleg, her record label didn't like it but she did and it was given a proper release. The result is a fairly sparse song mixing electronic beats and basic electronic instrumentation with Vega's original lyrics. It went on to become a hit.
Danny Elfman - Augustus Gloop
ORIGINATION Charlie And The Chocolate Factory
LAST LISTENED TO saturday
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT Scotland
RATING
Danny Elfman is one of the best and most unique composers working in films today. He has been a long-time collaborator with director Tim Burton, working on films such as Edward Scissorhands and Mars Attacks!, as well as countless other projects (including the theme for The Simpsons). His scores always carry his particular brand of fair-ground otherworldliness and darkness, that not only make them instantly recognisable as his, but also perfectly suited to the kind of dark fairy tales that Burton often spins.
Last year he scored Burton's remake of Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, which saw him using lyrics in his score for the first time. Augustus Gloop is the first song we see sung by the Oompa Loompas and is comes about when that 'great, big, greedy nincompoop' is sucked away up a chocolate pipe.
The has something of a rock-meets-primitive-tribe feel. Many voices sing the ludicrous lyrics and a variety of drums pound away. There are also lovely big stabs of brass. The song ends with drums and chanting, echoing the supposed tribal background of the Oompa Loompas that was about to be revealed.
Danny Elfman - Violet Beuregarde
ORIGINATION Charlie And The Chocolate Factory
LAST LISTENED TO saturday
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT Scotland
RATING
Violet met her end by chewing bubblegum, a disgusting habit. Here the Oompa Loompas get funky in the tale of her end. For not having been known as funky, Elfman pulls of mid-'70s funk with discoish flourishes incredibly well.
The song builds up slowly from random sounds and (more) chants of Oompa Loompa, until disco strings and funky guitar take over. From then on it's funktastic: organ! bass! brass! even the comedy ultra-low voice. It returns to the random sounds again at the end, as if the whole thing had never happened. Quite excellent!
Nouvelle Vague - Friday Night, Saturday Morning
ORIGINATION Nouvelle Vague
LAST LISTENED TO december
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT Eigg
RATING
This is a nice, easy version of a not so well known Specials track. The dreamy, washy sound of the track contrasts well with the unpleasant story of british friday night binge drinking.
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Erobique Meets Jonny Teupen - Hold On, I've Got To Leave You
ORIGINATION Mojo Club: The Remix Album
LAST LISTENED TO a few days ago
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT small
RATING
There are many remix albums about these days but this was the first one i saw, back in 1999. For those not in the know, a remix album is one where current artists take various tracks from the past and, well, remix them. Mojo Club brought out theirs to celebrate the tenth birthday of their Hamburg club, a club in which they played soul, funk, dancefloor jazz and the like.
About the participants in this particular track, i can write next to nothing. All i am (fairly) certain of is that they are both German. However, Jonny Teupen's original track appears to have been recorded around the start of the '70s and has a funky, cop-show style vibe. How much Erobique has (or have) altered it i also don't know. The only thing i can be sure of is that the pounding, four-to-the-floor beat was almost certainly was not part of the track. It works surprisingly well, with the even these obviously newly-added touches not clashing too much with what i imagine to be the original feel of the tune.
LAST LISTENED TO a few days ago
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT small
RATING
There are many remix albums about these days but this was the first one i saw, back in 1999. For those not in the know, a remix album is one where current artists take various tracks from the past and, well, remix them. Mojo Club brought out theirs to celebrate the tenth birthday of their Hamburg club, a club in which they played soul, funk, dancefloor jazz and the like.
About the participants in this particular track, i can write next to nothing. All i am (fairly) certain of is that they are both German. However, Jonny Teupen's original track appears to have been recorded around the start of the '70s and has a funky, cop-show style vibe. How much Erobique has (or have) altered it i also don't know. The only thing i can be sure of is that the pounding, four-to-the-floor beat was almost certainly was not part of the track. It works surprisingly well, with the even these obviously newly-added touches not clashing too much with what i imagine to be the original feel of the tune.
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Rob Dougan - Clubbed To Death Kurayamino Variation
ORIGINATION cd single
LAST LISTENED TO no idea
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT low
RATING
Clubbed To Death is a dark and moody piece of electronica that suceeds in its goal of being cross genre. It does this through a deft combination of orchestral and dancefloor music.
The orchestral pieces, all performed by Dougan (because he couldn't afford an orchestra at the time) are dark and brooding and mostly feature string sounds. This is overlaid with some driving beat loops and a synth string bass that help develop and move forward the mood of suspense. Sprinkled throughout this are a number of breaks, where the beats drop out to leave a haunting piece of piano that works as an effective release from the built-up tension of the track.
Of the six 'variations' of this track that were released in '95, this one became the most popular before going on to be used in the film The Matrix in '99.
LAST LISTENED TO no idea
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT low
RATING
Clubbed To Death is a dark and moody piece of electronica that suceeds in its goal of being cross genre. It does this through a deft combination of orchestral and dancefloor music.
The orchestral pieces, all performed by Dougan (because he couldn't afford an orchestra at the time) are dark and brooding and mostly feature string sounds. This is overlaid with some driving beat loops and a synth string bass that help develop and move forward the mood of suspense. Sprinkled throughout this are a number of breaks, where the beats drop out to leave a haunting piece of piano that works as an effective release from the built-up tension of the track.
Of the six 'variations' of this track that were released in '95, this one became the most popular before going on to be used in the film The Matrix in '99.
Saturday, December 31, 2005
Goldfrapp - Strict Machine
ORIGINATION Black Charry CD
LAST LISTENED TO this week
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT pretty durn good
RATING
Ahh. What a nice way to end the year. This CD has featured on many of Suse and my trips into the highlands of Scotland and this week was no different. Whenever i hear it, i always picture mountains sliding by under an overcast sky. I think we listened to it on the stretch through Tyndrum towards Rannoch Moor this time.
Strict Machine is a few years old now (2003), but it's still sounds sparkly and new. It's a sleazy piece of glam-dance that runs on squelchy synths. These synths sound both very modern and yet also curiously retro, especially during the glam-rock stomp moments.
Alison Goldfrapp's lyrics could be seen to be, once again, quite rude, complimenting perfectly the sleazy feel to the song. However, her angelic delivery works as a perfect counterpoint to this. The result is a sleazy yet pretty song with stomping bits of glam rock sprinkled throughout.
LAST LISTENED TO this week
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT pretty durn good
RATING
Ahh. What a nice way to end the year. This CD has featured on many of Suse and my trips into the highlands of Scotland and this week was no different. Whenever i hear it, i always picture mountains sliding by under an overcast sky. I think we listened to it on the stretch through Tyndrum towards Rannoch Moor this time.
Strict Machine is a few years old now (2003), but it's still sounds sparkly and new. It's a sleazy piece of glam-dance that runs on squelchy synths. These synths sound both very modern and yet also curiously retro, especially during the glam-rock stomp moments.
Alison Goldfrapp's lyrics could be seen to be, once again, quite rude, complimenting perfectly the sleazy feel to the song. However, her angelic delivery works as a perfect counterpoint to this. The result is a sleazy yet pretty song with stomping bits of glam rock sprinkled throughout.
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Harold Faltemeyer - Axel F
ORIGINATION a charity shop 45
LAST LISTENED TO no idea
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT small
RATING
It's not the worst song i have woken with in my head, but it may be one of the most annoying. Even still, i sorta kinda like it a bit, but only a bit and probably only for a few bars.
LAST LISTENED TO no idea
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT small
RATING
It's not the worst song i have woken with in my head, but it may be one of the most annoying. Even still, i sorta kinda like it a bit, but only a bit and probably only for a few bars.
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