Glocca Morra – “Y’all Boots Hats? (Die Angry),” Dads – “Get To the Beach” and Twinklecore General

Posted on December 3, 2012 by Very Warm

Glocca-Morra-Just-Married

AW YEAH SUPER PASSIONATE ROCK MUSIC THAT MAKES YOU WANNA DO FUN AND STUPID STUFF EVEN THOUGH YOU’RE STUCK IN COLLEGE AW YEAH

So that’s about the gist of “Twinklecore” music that I’ve been listening to a lot of recently. It’s full of anthemic verses and lyrics, shouting vocals full of energy and heart, and complex instrumentals, mostly quickly picked guitar melodies with intricate percussion rhythms. It’s really a combination of early emo rock and the super dense elements of math rock. That is, before it goes into a sonic assault against your brain with a wall of sound smashing your ear drum, like many good rock songs do. Yeah, some people might diss on the vocals for being cracky or not very good, but that’s just the live and hearty aspect of them: they didn’t go into a studio and make it manufactured to sound professional, this is raw material.

It’s righteous stuff and I feel like I wouldn’t have been introduced to it if I hadn’t moved to the East Coast, it definitely sounds like being cramped up with a bunch of other twenty-somethings in a small apartment in the big city or in the middle of nowhere being surrounded by people believing that the East Coast is the safe haven for economic stability, when in fact tons of people are suffering out here, too. But they also hold that youthful, angsty energy that comes along with High School or being a social outcast. It’s sad at times, but very powerful. Bands that definitely pioneered the sound for these bands to follow would be American Football, Cap’n Jazz, Joan of Arc and more. So if you like this stuff, you might as well go to the kings of the style.

Phew. Alright. Well, the music is great, anyways. I’m just now getting into this kind of music, so if you have any gripes with my writings, make sure to educate me. Check these two bands, Glocca Morra and Dads, out since they’re going to be on my Top 50 Albums of 2012 list that should be coming out sometime soon.

Have a nice week!

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El Polen – “Mi Cueva”

Posted on November 19, 2012 by Very Warm

I’ve been getting really into world music lately. World music, meaning music that wasn’t made by “Western” culture of the US and UK, is a bit of an ignorant term but it seems like the only blanket term I can label music from Peru, Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, Mali, Japan, Vietnam, Russia, etc. Ah well, I’ve found that music from other countries past is a refreshing breath of air getting away from the pop music of today and even most of the stuff I listen to.

Now, getting into this fantastic group: El Polen is a band from the Andes mountains in Peru and they made a wonderful hybrid of psyche/hippie rock that was popular in that time and traditional Andean music. Their songs include instruments like flutes and jangling percussion, they sing in Spanish and the vocals are set in these infectious, layered harmonies. The album, Fuera De La Ciudad, is ripe with sincere energy and raw emotion and is lo-fi in the sense that it was recorded in one take, it’s all very live. There are little fuzzy spots and blips in the recording, but it sounds like the band crowded in one small room with friends and created a work of art. There isn’t a single part of this album I don’t like. It’s warm like a handwoven sweater and feels like a gathering of all your closest family and friends celebrating life with you.

The song that I’ve chosen to showcase is probably the most “Western” song out of the album, featuring a guitar line I’d expect to hear in an old folky song from the 60’s/70’s and a bassline that I’d probably hear in like a soul song by the Temptations or something. There are a few violin solos and they’re really jazzy and sound improvised yet confident. Then the dreamy, harmonized vocals come in and remind me a bit of Beach Boys a bit, a bit of Panda Bear too. Then another violin solo comes in that bounces around in the soundscape like a jovial bride romping around in an open field. It’s a really fun song, much like the rest of the album. So if you like this, you have so much to listen to after that you’ll love. Check out “Mi Cueva” below:

If you loved that, you can download the whole album here

I’ll probably have a world themed music show on WHUS next semester, so watch out for that as well!

Have a great day!

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Air Tycoon – “Space”

Posted on November 12, 2012 by Very Warm

Hey y’all

Hope you’re all enjoying your Novembers, mine has been extremely busy but chock full of absolutely fantastic music. I thought I’d let y’all know about some of it here! What we have first is Air Tycoon, AKA Joseph Garcia, who is a 20-something year old beat maker that crafts druggy, trap-like but very danceable instrumentals that work great by themselves. He incorporates some wonky, 8bit and future garage aspects into his work along with the usual bass & snare backbone of trap instrumentals. This stuff is the bomb, seriously. The songs usually have one really driving part to them while some really cloudy, ambient piece works underneath and even though they’re upbeat, there’s always really chilled out atmosphere for you to rest on.

I recommend you listen to this guys stuff on nice headphones or speakers! Your MacBook Pro speakers will not do this stuff justice. The sample is off of his album “Fuck Everything I’m God” which came out last year. He’s an extremely active artist and has 4 more releases on this year with another coming up I believe. Check it all out, it’s on his bandcamp.

Check it out a sample below and make sure to check out his Bandcamp if you like what you hear.

Have a great day!

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Preslav Literary School – Francis Sirvain Mirkovic

Posted on November 5, 2012 by Very Warm

Another style of music I’ve been dipping my toes into has been the limitless frontier of droning, ambient music. I was mostly introduced to this kind of music through my WHUS radio mentor, Jules , and the previous music director of WHUS, DJ Gumby. I sat in on their show while they played these pieces of music where the song would just go on for so long with nothing really happening, except for noise filtering out of the speakers like a calm, dreamy river. Of course there’s the flip side of dreamy, which is a nightmare: these songs would effortlessly put the listener on edge with dissonant tones and creepy sound effects in the background.

At first I wasn’t really digging these tracks, since mostly at that point I had been listening to pretty maximalist, dancy music, so I didn’t really “get” this lowtempo, more pensive style of music.

That is, until I heard Brian Eno’s “Ambient 1: Music for Airports” which totally turned me around when it came to thoughtful, evocative, ambient music. That album rules. Echoing, minimalistic piano, choral voices, mellow synth tones floating in and out of the soundscape… such a beautiful piece of work, that is. I haven’t gotten a lot of ambient work besides that and a few other things, but this is something that stands out.

It’s two pieces that slowly build into ethereal drones of feathery noise that floats above and around you like a cloud that’s changing colors very slowly and precisely. The first track sounds like how the cover looks, a massive church with high ceilings that make sounds echo into oblivion. It’s a very calming drone, putting worries at ease and your mind on another plane of thinking. It’s very much self-contained, letting the sound echo off the walls of its own creation. However, the second track, Yvan Deroy, is more internally focused and takes the drone outside, adding some variation to the mood of the piece. Both of the tracks are beautiful and I highly recommend listening to them even if you don’t know ambient music that well. It’s a calming experience. Here’s a link to his [Bandcamp](http://preslavliteraryschool.bandcamp.com/album/la-r-flexion-du-tir) so you can stream it! Here’s the first track to listen right now!

Have a great day!

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Dads – “Big Bag of Sandwiches”

Posted on November 5, 2012 by Very Warm

This new record from New Jersey emo duo Dads is really good! I didn’t really know Dads that well before this album, but I’m down to get to know them even more now! Also I haven’t really gotten into the whole “emo” genre as of yet, I’m just now sticking my toes into releases from American Football and Cap’n Jazz. This is definitely a great example of the genre, with interwoven guitar lines, shouting vocals, and an underhanded complexity to the music that is masked by how fun it is. This would be a great band to see at a small house show: I don’t think they could ever play a huge space show. This belongs grounded on the floor with the audience so they can smash eachother around and have a blast.

Have a listen!

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Philip Glass – “NYC 73-78(Beck Remix)”

Posted on October 10, 2012 by Very Warm

YES.

New Beck.

If you don’t know, Beck is my favorite musician. He has been for a good 3 years now. Every time he releases new music I get really, really excited, because it’s good 100% of the time and he hasn’t released a legit “album” since I think 2007 or 2008. He can do no wrong in my eyes. C’mon man. I need a new album. Or at least something of length, not just a single (singles are still widely accepted, though).

SO, when I found out that he put out a 21 minute remix of Philip Glass’ work , I didn’t know what to think at first. JUST KIDDING. I knew it was going to be amazing, and it is. It’s a sonic journey across Philip Glass’ monumental works of minimalism which has been chopped up and put into Beck’s musical universe. This song apparently contains 20 different Glass compositions, all distorted into a beautiful continuum where he puts strains of his own vocals over the loops, along with wispy ghosts of vocals over some nice piano. The movement sways in and out of focus, letting room for occasional interludes to break up the cathedral of ice that Beck has molded out of Glass’ intricate works. It’s a moving experience, the end is totally worth it to stick around for.

Check it out below. It’s going to be on a Philip Glass Remix album featuring Dan Deacon, Tyondai Braxton (presently of Battles), Memory Tapes, Nosaj Thing, Amon Tobin, and many more!

Have a wonderful day, everyone.

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Purity Ring x Danny Brown – “Belispeak II”

Posted on October 10, 2012 by Very Warm

So this is cool.

We already know that Purity Ring songs are pretty OK to be rapped over after hearing many mashups putting A$AP Rocky songs over warped versions of the duo’s dark beats, mostly the mashup done by The Hood Internet, placing A$AP’s “Peso” over Purity Ring’s sped up version of “Obedear,” making a track that’s druggy yet danceable, called “Pesobedear.” Sorta like Four Loko, I guess.

This is next level, though. Danny Brown is rapping a whole new set of verses over this remixed version of “Belispeak” which paints a picture of his difficult upbringing living in inner-city Detroit. Pairing the very dark, towering beats with Danny Brown’s imagery sets the scene for a concrete jungle in which a young Danny Brown is scrounging around for food, because his “belly speaks.” Ah yeah that’s good.

Also some of his verse is autotuned. His voice doesn’t really fit the “autotune” aesthetic, I think his voice is pretty notable on it’s own. They probably did it so it could fit into the song a bit more, but it still sounds a little off. Check it out below, dawgs:

Have a nice day, y’all

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Hundred Waters

Posted on October 10, 2012 by Very Warm

YO.

I listen to a lot of music. On any given day, I usually listen to at least 3 new (to me) albums. Sometimes I listen to old stuff, but I’m usually trying to find brand spanking new music to rave about. This probably isn’t healthy, but I do all this so my friends don’t have to look for music, they can just see my ramblings on Facebook.

This band, Hundred Waters, DEFINITELY stuck out from the deluge of music I go through. The first thing I heard from this band was the song “Visitor” which combined lush, organic textures of strings and flutes with synthesized textures from keyboards and other computer-related wizardry. At first I wasn’t into it, just listening to the track on it’s own. The singer’s voice didn’t rub me the right way either.

However: once I started listening to the full album, I totally got it. “Visitor” totally made sense, the flute flourishes felt like fountain springs bursting into my subconscious, the plinking synthesizer melody sounded like little tiny drips of water forming a river on the forest floor, and the lead singer’s voice. Oy vey, it’s so unique and wonderful, but also very approachable and homy. Something motherly within it, or something.

SO: Let’s get on to the rest of the album, shall we? I won’t get into track by track detail, but a lot of these tracks on here are noteworthy all in their own way. The whole album’s sound revolves around the mixing of the two different textures: organic and synthesized. Some songs feature acoustic guitar with patches of synthy melodies, but then there are songs with basically all electronics, save for a few sound effects made by chimes or drums. But these songs all have an organic aspect to them all: Nicole Miglis, the lead singer. Her voice is very earthy, giving each song a nice coating of top soil before sending them up into the stratosphere of electronics.

The songs also don’t really function as “electronic” songs in terms of layout. They usually sound like normal “folk” songs, spinning tales of mythical happenings or beings being soundtracked by very cool grooves and sound effects. And by the way, some of the little noises and effects that the band puts into this album are superb and well-placed. Especially on the track “Theia” where sometimes there’s a little blip or flutter of electronics in the background, behind a KILLER groove.
All in all, this is a great album and if you want to, you should pick it up.

Have a nice day!

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Submerse – “Tears”

Posted on October 10, 2012 by Very Warm

I haven’t really gotten much into the subgenre of electronic music called “future garage” unless you count Burial as future garage, but I found a producer/artist that makes some fine works that I can really get into. This song, Tears, definitely combines a lot of the things I look for in a good electronic song: a moody vocal sample, some deep bass that isn’t totally prevalent but it pops up here and there and just an overall r&b mood to it. This song shares A TON of similarities to Burial’s work, BUT I AIN’T COMPLAINING. Burial is awesome, this dude is awesome. Listening to the rest of his album, I’m picking up influences perhaps from The Field, some of the microloops used sound a lot like something used by the German trio.

I don’t know many “future garage” acts, but I’d love to know more. If you know some great ones, send me a link!

Thanks, have a great day!

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New: Death Grips – “True Vulture Bare”

Posted on October 1, 2012 by Very Warm

If y’all readers don’t know, I like me some Death Grips. I like me a lot of Death Grips. Their first album that they released this year, “The Money Store” is currently at my top position on albums of the year and they have a new album coming out VERY soon called “No Love Deep Web.”

The group has been very cryptic with their marketing for this upcoming album. They started with the 4chan board /mu/ where they started posting instructions to go onto the Tor network, which is in basic terms the “secret internet,” download huge rar files, call certain numbers, decode audio files with secret messages in morse code in them… the list goes on. Nevertheless, someone was on Death Grips’ website and came across this new tune and uploaded it to YouTube, not being sure if it was made to be found or it’s being dropped tonight at 12am. It could be the latter since Death Grips has been posting about “tonight tonight tonight” and “12am” on Twitter and Facebook, so it could be this song.

OR it could be the new album. Who knows with Death Grips. Check out this track. It’s a good one:

Have a noided day!

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