What's This Track Sound Like?

Down at the bottom of this post I've featured an incredible The Go! Team remix of a Frankie Rose track, as good as it is I'm frustrated because it sounds so familiar but can't work out why. So I'm running my first competition, with a prize for whoever can work it out, further details by the track near the bottom of the page.



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.

Free download of this airy beated, old school hip-hop track from Danny Brown, those muted piano keys providing a reflective tone.

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.

What drought?

Spring Step by Cloudboy on Mixcloud

My latest mix as usual compiled from some free downloads and forthcoming releases. Track listing below or go over to mixcloud for exact entry points. For those who want to download for iPod etc then http://soundcloud.com/cloudtoy/spring-step 

Mellow High (Doms, Hodgy) – Go

Ramona Falls – Brevony

AlunaGeorge - Just A Touch

Purity Ring – Obedear

State Of Joy – Flow feat Jay Wilcox

State Of Joy - Flow

Mason – Runaway (Refurb)

Death Grips – I’ve Seen Footage

Mason - Runaway (Hiatus remix)

JTRP - Apparition

Stay+ - Hush Money

Nite Jewel – One Second Of Love (Peaking Light One Love Mix)

Machines Don’t Care – Take Me Away feat Meleka

Santigold – Desperate Youth

Space Ladies – Medusa (Sarantis Remix)

Terminal State – In The Evening

Side 1 – Kissing You

Terminal State – Morphing Shadows

Sinistarr – Bare The Mark

A snarier remix of the amazing Diplo and Usher collaboration. I read an article at the weekend which suggested anyone expecting this all the way through Usher forthcoming new album will be bitterly disappointed. 


Another remix from a recent album is this amazing one off Chromatics new album and specifically Birds Of Paradise by Amtrac. 




This is the Solo project of Vampire Weekends Chris Baio and with it's tech house drum beat is possibly the last thing you'd expect someone from that band to make, until you hear the steal drums and the track's carefree and upbeat attitude and you realise, it's actually pretty consistent. Taken from the Sunburn EP out on on 21st May.



Worth waiting for the dirty bass and drums that take far too long to kick in because the rest of the song, well mainly her vocal, are nauseatingly dull, or as user stevealianarbone on Youtube (who is obviously high or foreign and therefore I'm a racist) claims "I like this song and the way you clutch the covers like Poe my cat does. You make some peculiar videos. Some folks like the surrealism. Yours is combination of ancient and modern myths and legends that are often strange and mystical. Like a story that is being told but what is it about? Maybe that is the mystery. We tend to live at slower and quiet pace here." Eh? 



The second Submotion remix in as many weeks but this forthcoming Hospital release from S.P.Y. with it's rolling bass line and snappy breakbeat is far too good to ignore, it has sound of the summer written all over it and is likely to be a massive revenue generator for the label, pleasing both ardent drum and bass fans and those partial to the label's normal staple of radio friendly releases.


On that note, anyone looking for a sample for Hospital's next, vocal hooking cross over mega hit, should look no further than asking Wrenne for the vocal stems off her track Come Alive. 
You can see all the ecstasy addled estate agents now, out at, what they call with no sense of irony, a 'rave,' (even though they paid twenty quid entry and are drinking the ten pound drinks of commercialism that couldn't be further away from the ideals of rave culture), really 'feeling,' the lyrics of this one as they hug their bosses and tell them just how much they love them and how they really are, the best boss they've ever had, setting up a bleak and awkward situation come Monday morning.



What a charming voice, with her referencing a lighthouse it's hard not to image the singer sitting alone in one singing this tune, whilst a violent sea bashes against the rocks adjacent. 





Beautiful, reverberating Spanish guitar complimenting that gorgeous voice, ignore the shit video.




This is awesome, goes into some dark crunching business later one.




This is basically updated, more optimistic grunge, Cobain without the depression, as Peace claim, "we're going to live forever baby," which if you believe the frankly crazy ramblings of my dad, is something that'll happen in my lifetime; have you bumped into my Dad at B&Q Peace? Because you really shouldn't write songs based on the opinions of a man sniffing tins of varnish down the deck care isle. 




This is a song presumably about wet, robot sex and it sounds like it too, which is squelchy and disgusting and stupid but does pose quite an interesting question; if robots became as clever as us, would they too learn to seek pleasure from sex? 


And someone being less subtle about his desire to shag something that ain't human by singing it from the bloody rafters is VNDMG who, according to wikipedia, wants to make sweet, cross breeding love to a humanoid extraterrestrial creature from Star Trek native to the planet of Bajor.








Her voice harmonises so wonderfully with the the deep synth textures, big on atmosphere this.



This is a bloddy riot, that bass line being like your mate who always calls you up on that Friday night when you've sworn to stay in and begs you to come out, teasing you with offers of free drinks and loads of women he couldn't possibly influence into shagging you. In your rush to get there before your other mates snap them up, you forget to eat, drinking too many tequila shots when you do finally reach the empty, sausage infested club and in the resulting blur find yourself in one too many man huddles and end up getting into a fight to save face.



So I was still feeling delicate from the weekend when I first heard Julia Stone's, Caris Mathews slash Joahanna Newsom vocal, with all them piano keys, droning guitars notes and sad lyrics, managing to sound all melancholic and nostalgic despite narrating the future and seriously, it nearly made me cry, it's almost making me cry now talking about it; it was a tough morning. Hash tag, needtomanup.



A few weeks back I was banging on about people with voices equal, if not better, to Florence Welch's and who don't consistently exploit the BIG, LOUD, DESIGNED FOR THE CONTEMPORARY SECTION OF THE PROMOS AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL, chorus. Here is an example. 





Best yet from Cloud Toy favourite, Fabina Palladino, stripping it down to really accentuate the beautiful range of her voice and content of the lyrics; i'm getting toats emoash again!



Those long synth stabs provide much of the atmosphere for this track before that bass comes flying in from where it begins to build and build to sound like Richard Branson's passing round a bag of pills on the first commercial flight into space. 




Imagine a chair swing under a blossom tree looking back at a farm house with a sun dappled porch, the early evening, South Carolinan breeze gently swaying the wind chimes that hang there.



This sounds a like the Beach Boys got on the Costa Concordia and after losing out on a space in the life raft to Captain Schettino, they remained on board to play a few final songs, in a moral boosting, crew of the Titanic style move of self sacrifice and where they remain, un-rescused to this day. 



One of my favourite new bands, Ramona Falls, have their album available to stream over on Sterogum. 




Well this is pleasant. 

Spring Step

  This is what it would sound like if some alien's were forced to recreate a seaside scene for a group of homesick, abducted humans, based on some early 1970's home videos. Everything's there, the steal drums, the brass bands, other humans loitering around pointlessly and the sounds of waves lapping the shore. 



And another song about the seaside, a bit more earth like this one though.



This is so soulful, I particularly like the way his voice warbles at the same frequency as the the reed on the sax, not an easy achievement and it creates a whole new type of harmony. This is the Whisky Cats meets The Black Keys; their multitalented love child. 



Don't particularly like the vocal but I do adore that wah wah sub bass sound, it's ridiculously full in my haedphones. 



This is a really cracking remix from producer whose remixed out of my hometown Kingston, a tune from my adopted city of Leeds. This is so well made really, have to tip my hat to him, keeps the rhythm of the originally but spices it up with a myriad of fantastic samples.  



Nought massively original but personallyI  don't see that as problem, good flow, decent rhymes and a slick beat, three components that are consistent with UK hip-hop and why I think it stands as some of the best in the world. Liking Caxton Press a lot, debut album out now. 



Some classic Opiou chop up business on what was already a guilty please for me.



Full of typical Beach House atmosphere, like a church in a biblical flood, which floats temporally unharmed on the oceans of atrocity whilst God decides how true to his 'destroying everything,' principles he's going to stick. 



This isn't as bad as all the nerds on YouTube would have you think (the arguments in the comments is still the best thing about The Tube), I think mummy might have overheated their normally luke warm boiled egg that morning. The 100th  release from Metalheadz is nothing to be scoffed at, perhaps the most important label in the history of drum and bass.





Mmmmmmmmm new Calyx and Teebee, full of the usual array of fascinating sounds that makes this collaboration one of the best and most unique. They've just signed exclusively to Ram.



If your thinking the voices sound a bit child like then you'd be right, there four 16 years olds who despite the youth in their voice have the most incredible sounding harmonies, a well written song that if I were patronising and jealous because I was a complete waste of space when I was sixteen and they've achieved something that I've sat on my arse and dreamt about since I first discovered music, i'd say it shows a lot of promise, when really, deep down, I know it already sounds pretty dam polished and amazingly slick.



This is MIA production meets Katy B vocals and it's absolutely sick for it, can't get enough of this, single out now.



So I was quite liking this till that reverberating bass line came in that sounds like Rolf Harris is sticking his wobble board into the blades of a giant fan for the shear childish fun of it and I started to consider what it might sound like in a club. Would it sound amazing or would it make you consider sticking your own face into the blades of that giant fan.



There's something pretty spooky about this single, like someone in an all but empty dungeon with just the dripping nose of the Chinese water torture being carried out on their head.



Just can't believe how good this young duo are, each release gets stronger and stronger, lovely use of vocal as well, a massive talent. 


Clams production style suits female vocals to a T, once again his expansive sound becoming the massive cave in which the voice is allowed to echo.



Out on Sub Pop, no surprise it's good really, love the vocal, nipping at itself, it's unashamed pop, it even has a Westlife like key change but it's still wonderfully captivating. 



First heard this when being forced to listen to Radio One and was horrified that Hue Stephens was about to introduce me to something new that wasn't 1) dub step or 2) complete shit, thankfully it was a band we featured here before, with their excellent pop record I'm His Girl. This is Friends, who's debut album Manifest is out in June.



If you want to see the word 'dope,' written a hundred times scroll your cursor along the comments on the waveform, they'll be between the squabbling outbursts form hip-hop geeks calling each other 'haters,' and claiming that that the unheard bootleg Aesop track that only they seem to have is the dopiest because, well, they're the only one who has it. 


I prefer it when he raps slower and more concisely so you can hear what he's saying, for he is without doubt, my favourite rapper for his poetic lyrics and the rhythm of his flow, accentuated by that distinctive voice. Very excited that this is taken from his first album in over five years out in July. The live, dustbin lid like percussion in the beat are my favourite part, dope.



So basically this is the Ebeneezer Goode of our generation, the same energy and shameless drug promotion that really makes you consider heading down to a English Heritage home this weekend, dressing up in plus fours and doing a few tabs in the sun shine, shouting at some well meaning children who've come to poke with a stick, the grown man lying face down in a pool of his own drool and irreversible psychosis.



This track really works when the Joan Jet, slacker vocal goes all harmony and woos and blends angelically with the screeching organ. 

The fantastic voice of Channy Cassell is the real source of beauty in the debut album from Polica, perhaps even more poignant considering this album Give You The Ghost was written in response to her divorce. Her voice is ever so gently distorted, auto tuned maybe but I don’t think it detracts from it, rather it allows it to blend with the other elements of the sound to make one magnificent string of somber joy. This is Lay Your Cards Out feat Mike Noyce, him from Bon Iver, note the band also features two drums kits, always a bonus, this is my album of the month, possibly the year so far.

I'm normally a hater of pitch-shifted vocal, frankly I think it sounds ridiculous, lazy and falsely trendy but for once they seem to work with the wonderful atmosphere of this track, like a ghost watching his widowed wife in the shower, melancholically knowing that he will never be able to 'make a move,' on her again, instead condemned to haunt the house forever, stuck in a vicious cycle of unquenchable lust.