Frontier Sounds, SoundCloud Selections

Bridge between sweeter & bitterness by Vinayak^A விநாயகா

I think it`s because I read that this next artist is from Bangalore, India, that when I first heard this track I imagined myself on a boat, heading down the river Ganges, with the swampy, mysterious wash from passing boats causing me to bob erratically up and down, little crocodiles nipping at my toes whenever the boat troughs near the surface. Around me are all the sounds and sights of India, children playing, children begging, mothers washing colorful sari`s in the water and men going about commerce with all manner of exotic products.

Vinayak is a man accustomed to creating incredible soundscapes such as these, as his SoundCloud page will testify. With tracks more minimal in composition than the one we`re about to play, he produces soaring, confused and notably sub-continental spaces, as vast, colorful and complex as the country in which they were created. Link to his SoundCloud page.

Mellow Madness - Mellow Madness by Kenny Dope

My next selection is from The Mellow Madness Band, which was formed in the early 80's by two School Educators, Frank McNeil, a principal and Malachi Sharpe, a high school band teacher who, as well as making music together, opened a music school. The Band's name was birthed out of the philosophy, "PLAY MELLOW MUSIC WITH A FUNKY SOUND". And now in 2011, Kay-Dee Records has put together some mixes from unreleased master tapes, with Kenny Dope producing them from his Kay-Dee Studio's

It`s Kenny Dope who I want to focus on here for his shear range, again a link on his SoundCloud page you will see the full scale of his talents. He produces funk, he makes hip-hop, crafts break beat, you name it, Kenny Dope has tried it and succeeded. This is The Mellow Madness Band, Produced by Kenny Dope, with Memories of you.

Reflections by kytami

My Frontier Sounds, SoundCloud Selection of the week, is someone who featured on my blog a few weeks back, however I feel she is such an exciting prospect that she is worthy of some radio time as well and besides, this latest track was only loaded onto SoundCloud a few days ago.

Describing herself as a violinistextremist, Kytami is seen as Canada’s most diverse and engaging fiddle player, her compositions combine elements of classical and contemporary styles as well as epic soaring lines, with heavy bass and electronic beats. She has collaborated with many artists including legendary dub producer The Mad Professor. Kytami co-wrote two albums and toured extensively with the multi-cultural, award winning band Delhi 2 Dublin and is now planning to release her own debut album.

I think the use of orchestral sampling creates impressive dance music for the simplest of reasons; it takes all the depth and layers inherent in the orchestral sound and brings it to the dance floor, all the stereotypically normal electronic elements take on a grander role, as they come to represent the epic-ness of a full blown orchestra in which the violin is normally associated. Although this is a more downbeat track, if you go to her SoundCloud page there are many a violin backed floor filler there, making eScala, that all girl, electronic string group that featured on Britain`s got talent, sound like The Cores, playing the spoons, on heavy medication.

CloudToy back on radiofrontier.ch, 10.50 (11.50 Geneva time)

Tune in today at http://www.radiofrontier.ch/ for the latest CloudToy new music finds.

Toffler

56k (Profresher & Toffler) - Lollygagger [FREE mp3] by Toffler

When I listen to this I imagine your average town centre on a Saturday, especially busy around this Christmas shopping period when the streets are packed, making the perfect breeding ground for the varying groups of buskers that tend to thrive in such environments, drawing large volumes of men and children, desperate for something else to stare at apart from the floor next to the awkward bench at the back of Top Shop.

As if in some X Factor come Running Man contest fought out on the streets, the buskers are deposited at various locations in the town centre, equidistant from the prime busking spot directly outside Marks and Spencers and told to race for it.

The Peruvian Pan-Pipe artists are leading the way from the off (they have had high altitude training in the mountains of Cusco after all) but incredibly someone actually wants to buy their CD, this is a better time than any for a first sale, so they slow down to take the transaction.

This allows the bloke who saw stomp once and decided to base a career around bashing dustbin lids and other brick-a-brac lying about his Gran`s, to sneak his way through. Not far behind him though is the bloke dressed in a cardboard box covered in tin foil, doing the robot to that "Robot Sounds," CD he found in the bargin bin at the Esso garage. He is neck and neck with the ubiquitous saxophone bloke, playing the same three songs he does every Saturday.

Coming up the rear, symbolizing their late, laid back and contemporary influence in the busking scene, are the industrious group of kids who brought a P.A. and started rapping to some dub on the streets rather than their bedrooms on a Saturday morning. Frankly, they don`t really care about the race or the money but are gaining ground solely because they are far fitter than the rest of them; unhealthy from years of spending all their earnings on Maccy D`s

Eventually they congregate simultaneously on the busking patch and engage in a busker battle in which they all try and out-perform each other for the pennies of the public. The resulting sound isn`t that bad and draws quite a crowd, who unusually for these credit crunch times, reach for their pockets. The resulting pot, even split so many ways, is greater than any individual effort, which induces the buskers to enter negotiations about working together again in the future, blissfully ignorant to the actual cause of the crowds generosity; a united epidemic of miss-understanding. The public, seeing this conglomeration of odd balls and miss fits, had assumed this must have been a charity event organized by the council and gave generously expecting the arrival of a Z list celebrity imminently.

Frontier Sounds Singles of The Week

Bloom_Jamie xx Rework Part 3 by Radiohead

Delivered as a series of individual 12 inch vinyls and digital downloads, Radiohead have been releasing carefully chosen remixes of their last studio album, The King Of Limbs, as part of a complete package, imaginatively named TKOL RMX 1234567. My first track is the one that got away. The seventh release from this album was a rework of the track Bloom, by Jamie XX, who we know of course from his role in the mercury award winning band The XX. It seems that Jamie had another version that he didn`t finish in time and Bloom, The Jamie XX rework part 3, is that version, although this name suggest there is a part 2 milling about somewhere as well.  

Jamie XX evidently is a man that shouldn`t be rushed, this is far better than his original attempt and thoroughly deserves the title of rework, as thankfully it sounds nothing like the Radiohead version either. He uses Tom Yorke`s wailing vocal very effectively and builds a haunting, textured atmosphere around it. To me it sounds like the magic roundabout, locked in the cupboard of an abandoned church, playing for eternity.

Hold Back / Run Away by The Revival Hour

Also out is this week is this track from DM Stith`s, The Revival Hour Project. This is a magnificent gospel come Nina Simone influenced tune, whose deep texture reminds me of a thick fog harboring all manner of frightening things.

CharliXCX - Nuclear Seasons by charlixcx

A free download now music fans, this time from Charli XCX, whose cracking new single Nuclear Seasons is available at www.charlixcxmusic.com, all you have to do is join the mailing list and it`s all yours.

This young lady is causing quite a stir in the music community at the moment, she writes all her own tracks and not only sings, but plays synth, drums, bass and guitar; all this at the ripe old age of 15. She has already performed in well received live shows hosted by Annie Mac alongside fellow hotly tipped, female youngster, Azealia Banks, so I think we can expect big things, not only from her forthcoming album, but from her as an artist in the future.

Dan Haywood's New Hawks - John's Shoes c/w Superquarry by Qu_Junktions

These tracks are the latest release from Dan Haywoods New Hawks, an ambitious 32 track album out in Decemeber, which will be the project`s first and only release. John`s Shoes is a rousing track, all fiddles, Astral Week-esq Irish country elements intertwined with English folk sentiments and bold expressions. 

It sounds like a hoe down with the love child of Chas or Dave (no ones sure which the farther is) and Joe Pasqualei, and despite on seeing the invite you imagined throwing a lit match into the barn, locking the door and running away, thus doing the gene pool a massive favour; you end up enjoying yourself, dropping your arson kit and getting your line dance, come bop on. Check out the Myspace, full of tracks that explore the folkier elements of the outfit`s sound and poetically navigates the spaces of Scotland that were used as the basis of the project`s inspiration.

CloudToy on radiofrontier.ch today 10.50 (11.50 Geneva time)

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Dan Haywood`s New Hawks

Dan Haywood's New Hawks - John's Shoes c/w Superquarry by Qu_Junktions

These tracks are the latest release from Dan Haywoods New Hawks, an ambitious 32 track album out in Decemeber, which will be the project`s first and only release. John`s Shoes is a rousing track, all fiddles, Astral Week-esq Irish country elements intertwined with English folk sentiments and bold expressions. 

It sounds like a hoe down with the love child of Chas or Dave (no ones sure which the farther is) and Joe Pasqualei, and despite on seeing the invite you imagined throwing a lit match into the barn, locking the door and running away, thus doing the gene pool a massive favour; you end up enjoying yourself, dropping your arson kit and getting your line dance, come bop on. Check out the Myspace, full of tracks that explore the folkier elements of the outfit`s sound and poetically explores the spaces of Scotland that were used as the basis of the project`s inspiration.

BCee interview and free club night info

http://www.kmag.co.uk/editorial/features/bcee-interview.html