It's May, so apparently the sun should be shinning but it ain't. Good news though, at least you can make it feel like it is with this beautifully up lifting track from Eternal Summers, see what I did there!? Download it for free, whack it on your iPod, put on a mac and take a stroll down to the local shop and buy yourself a Calipo, chow down on it with a glass half full attitude, hey, at least it won't melt as fast as it would in the heat.
Beautiful track produced by Kieren Hebden, a.k.a. Four Tet, soon to be released on his own Text label.
Aussie hip hop is normally pretty funny, part content matter part sound of the accent but this is neither. This is a proper dark slice of impoverished, abusive Aussie life, his accent instrumental in giving it a location and context.
Yasiin, the artist formally known as Mos Def, has just previewed this unbelievable collaboration with J Dilla, the beat is sick and the rhyming slick!
Regular readers will know I'm a big fan of Fracture, especially his recent double A with FD, adept at creating those arid, post apocalyptic soundscapes and Tunnel Track is no exception. A haunting, air raid siren sound drifts in and out of the tune, like the ghost of a warning that failed in it's purpose, leaving what life survived, alone to scavenge in a twisted graveyard of metal and wood, those hollow percussion sounds like these now primitive lifeforms discovering the use of tools all over again.There is also an ominous sub bass, almost hard to individually distinguish from the rest of the mix, which adds a further cinematic helplessness to the overall sound.
On an entirely different, less depressing note, Lately is a fantastic summer track just in time for the festival season. Again the elements that stand out on this are the percussion, a scraping rack sound like those insects whose song rings out in the air of hot climates and hollow, wooden toms like bongos on the beach. A fantastic use of vocal, smooth and therefore an interesting contrast to that warm, widely fluctuating bass line sure to be a smile raiser in fields across the country this summer.
What a charming tune from Andrew Bird, lovely melody.
A lush roller from Line Runners, whose sound is getting more mature and refined with every track, still full of those trade mark lazer swipes but toned down somewhat to accentuate those throbbing bass stabs. I'm also noticing a lot more variation in terms of switch ups and differing samples that provide loads of musical interest; best yet.
This is pretty much what I'd expect it to sound like if I commandeered a boat, put on my captains hat that I brought from Oxfam and went and picked up ten of my most untrustworthy friends, along with 30 odd litres of rum, some illegal fireworks, quite possibly some kind of pain suppressants and sailed to the middle of the ocean to do them all.
Is it in tune? Is it not? Is that point? Who knows, well I think it's out of tune, the singing that is and that's why I like it so much, teenage boys moaning with lust over some girl who won't give them the time of day; yeah embrace your emotions lads, this is the twenty first century.
Drama is built up so well on this with guitars and those pulsing piano chords.
Nawty little bass line on this one from Meth & Anile, distorted and rumbling, I appreciate the variation in the drums later on in the track.
A jangle filled pop number from The Words as featured on Tommy Robinson's introducing show.
The vocal on this track is wonderful, damaged but all the stronger for it, like having your heart ripped from you can be a reformative thing.
Snappy percussion has definitely been a theme this week, thus this wistful track from Coast Jumper, which accurate to it's title, is an apt ode to the carefree nature of youth.
This is the sound of taking loads of ketamin and stumbling into Lazer Quest, in your sparkly, L.E.D. adorned back pack, your suddenly transported from that crappy, MDF constructed battle arena to a hilly oasis, full of green, blue skys and bold rainbows, where opponents fly at you from behind hills, firing streams of Coca-Cola and Fanta, occasionally throwing bubble gum grenades and taking shelter behind the cover of clouds. After one of these incendiaries explodes in your face like someone has popped the bubble you were blowing, you awake drooling in the dark, damp corner of one of the upper "turrets" to find a group of fascinated kids poking you with the barrel of their guns, the birthday boy crying his eyes out and calling for his mummy.
I love the way her voice skips along and works so well with that scratching guitar although it's a false promise for what turns out to be a rather disappointing chorus.
Good to see Tom Vek is able to turn his talents to making full, noisy and captivating remixes such as this with an uncharacteristically angry bass line.
Who does't love a regional accent half rapping half singing in a mundane drawl about everyday life? Thanks Arctic Monkeys for making this endemic.
How cool is the bass line, like an energetic Smiths, shame it then leads into a disappointingly distant, largely inaudible vocal; he could be saying anything! Like slagging our mums off and laughing whilst we bob our heads along in ignorant appreciation.
Frankie Rose, good. The Go! Team, good. What could possibly go wrong? Well absolutely nothing, this is amazing but it's also really pissing me off, that doorbell melody really reminds me of something, a film or series from when I was a child, it's on the tip of my tongue but I can't get it out. Any ideas? Answers on a postcard, got some out of date Amazon vouchers for who ever works it out first and puts me out of this misery.
I've liked everything from this duo so far, whose debut album is out on Fat Possum on 28 May, being produced by the same guy whose worked on My Bloody Valentine and Depeche Mode albums, very promising.
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