Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Lollapalooza

This weekend will complete my holy trinity of music fests. Coachella, Pitchfork, now this guy. The whole schedule is here, but here is my route:

-Friday-
Black Lips
Willy Joy
Yeasayer
Million $ Mano / Cat Power
Bloc Party / CSS
Radiohead

-Saturday-
Devlin & Darko
MGMT / Devotchka
Spank Rock
Uffie / Lupe Fiasco
Sharon Jones
Wilco (lawn)

-Sunday-
Octopus Project / Office
Kid Sister
....
Chromeo
....
Flosstradamus
Kanye West

Even if you can't make it, look on the left at 'Coming Up' and you'll see a bunch of shows that will be in the around town.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Speaking of Chill

My buddy John sent out this song the other day.

The Yellow Bellies - Kissed a Girl (Katy Perry Cover) ...(myspace)

It took me about 2 listens to warm up to it, but I think it's good. I heard the pop song only about once, and even then it was because I had to search it out (B96 is balls) after I saw a report about it on WGN News in the morning. (P.S. I'm already there for that lyric in MGMT - Time to Pretend "this is our decision, what else can we do?, get jobs in offices and wake up to the morning news." Yeah, that me. Shit.)

Speaking of being bored at the office...



Saturday, July 26, 2008

Black Ghost cafe

So tired. I went to see Black Ghosts on Thurs and I couldn't take a nap beforehand. I got a album by them at the show. Best new-to-me song off of it:
The Black Ghosts - Until it Comes

Happy Birthday James

Last night I went to John Barleycorn in fucking Schaumburg. Yup.

Their cover band was pretty talented (7th Heaven) and it was cool to see James; I just wish that I could see him make out with a cougar.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Chill

I was craving some really chill tracks just now. I tried to sleep, but I'm too excited about next week. Just thinking about the Lollapaloozing and going out is making me writhe in my bed. I can't tell what needs more rest, my body or my brain, but neither are getting it. So before a shower, let's do a little post.

M83 - Kim & Jesse
Feist - Inside and Out. The first part is Larry's cell ring. (probably the best part...
Yelle - Ce Jeu (Paul Gold Remix). This is one of the top 10 remixes that she posted around the new year.
These United States - First Sight

Bonne nuit.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Playing Live Pt.2



After reading this thread, which is a discussion stemming from Jesse from MSTRKRFT, it got me thinking about the electro scene even more. Personally, I am indifferent to an extent of the 'integrity' of the show as long as it is what I consider good music. If I start to analyze what the group does and they start losing their mystique, then I start to feel disappointed because I feel that I could then do it at home or something. I don't have or use Ableton, so if an artist incorporates it (or uses it as their entire backbone) then I'm ok with that. Maybe that's how they appear to the majority of non-musicians of the world that just want to hear what they play. Should I care more? I'm perfectly fine with where I stand. If I started to use some of the equipment that Soulwax uses, would their stuff not sound as good to me anymore, or would I appreciate them more?

After seeing Pitchfork this weekend through the lens of trying to appreciate live shows more, maybe I'm finally getting it. I didn't see Cut Copy to compare them to the likes of the Dodos or Ghostface, but seeing these people play more familiar instruments (including a trashcan) makes me appreciate them more. Is it the risk of making a mistake what makes a show more live? If I program a sequencer incorrectly on the fly, does that make it more live? The guitarist from the Dodos, who is very talented by the way, was using a boomerang pedal or sampler to loop his sound and create layers of himself. It was neat, but not really novel. I was digging it; though if I did something like that through an electronic drum set programming a drum machine and not using traditional sounds, would that fly? I've noticed that at these electro/techno/house shows that there are a lot of visuals. Who wants to see guys on MIDI controllers pushing buttons? Kraftwerk stands perfectly still while their background goes nuts, Daft Punk has their pyramid, and VJ's are common at more noteworthy DJ events. I get the feeling that if you are watching these folk, you want to see them doing something really involved with their hands otherwise you're under the suspicion that it's all premade. That may be true, but people (including me) don't understand the technicality of all the tricks of using Ableton. People see an instrument that has strings and get it (guitar, violin, zither). Same goes for the chambers open at one end with skins on the top. I wonder what people's reaction was to seeing Giorgio Moroder live for the first time (not that he played many shows), although back then the concept of programmed sounds was rather foreign I'd think.

I'm trying to defend electronic music in general, but in doing so I'm re-discovering what I already know in that there's a lot of shit out there that basically sounds the same because it's easy to do. Mimicking the Rolling Stones requires a decent amount skill, whereas redoing Chemical Brothers requires finding the correct sounds and saving the sequence... you just won't be original and you will sound like you're just playing their track. Maybe that's it; you can't properly equate a live rock/hip-hop show to a live electronic show; the rules are not the same.

By the way, I just got this Santogold Diplo Dub in the mail. Some of it is pretty good. First two play in order:
1. Aretha Franklin - Save Me
2. Devo - Be Stiff
Santogold - Guns of Brooklyn
Dixie Cups - Iko Iko

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Bowie

Earlier today I heard a Bowie song that I didn't recognize. I just saw this one on my computer and remembering it was a winner (by the 4 stars I gave it on iTunes) I was reminded of that excellence. It turns out that subconsciously hearing David Bowie brings back memories of when I was hanging out with Tim and Dan and walking around Denver and... well. Anyway, this one guy we met on the street told me what kind of music he listened to and it was "Bowie" and gave us some "christmas cheer".

David Bowie - Five Years (live) off of 'Stage'

the next track on the album is also awesome.

David Bowie - Soul Love (live)

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Playing Live



So last night I went to the Empty Bottle with a little group of folk and made it to about the door to check out Guns n' Bombs. I guess they had just came on, but everyone outside was saying that there wasn't anybody really inside, let alone people dancing. My prediction was incorrect... I guess everybody had gone to darkwave. By now it was about 12:30 and it wasn't worth it to go. Interesting.

Furthermore, there was a guy from Abe Vigoda that we were talking to was basically slamming New Rave in general saying that it it's annoying, isn't original, and just a strange phenomenon in general. People were expecting me to really dig into this guy because they know that I really like the stuff, but what he was saying was true. There is a lot of stuff out there that falls into the genre that gets repetitive. I don't know how true that is for GnB, seeing as I do think their remix style has some originality. Thinking about it today, there is a rift between the punk crowd and the electro crowd, which could be an easy excuse to explain away the guy's comments. However he said that Justice just uses Ableton and that's basically it. Really? ...really? Looking online this morning, I see similar info here and here saying they use Ableton, a microKorg, a Lemur, and some pioneer cdj's. I don't know what I should think about that. For comparison purposes a la the googlepedia:

Justice:
Live:
Ableton
JazzMutant Lemur
Korg microKontrol
Pioneer CDJ-1000's
Studio:
Apogee Ensemble
Cubase SX
GarageBand
cre.dit

Daft Punk:
Live:
Ableton Live
Behringer BCR2000 MIDI controllers
(4) miniMoog Voyagers
Studio:
Roland TR-909, TR-808
Emu 3, ARP Odyssey, AMS Phasers
Among other stuff
cr.ed.it

Soulwax:
Live:
Regular drums and crazy synths for Nite Versions.
Studio:
Uhh.. watch this:


By the way, one of the girls in our group, Eleni, said the #1 song in Brazil while she was there was this:

Friday, July 18, 2008

Saturday

Welcome to today. Pitchfork is upon us, however I sold my tickets and am going to my 2 friends' bday party that starts at 4. The theme is Keith Richards with a wooden leg. Anyway, I've been on a Soulwax kick on here so here's another little segment to get you going tonight. It's only 7min long altogether, but it's a true winner so play it in the middle of whatever set/playlist you have and not at the beginning... you can't blow your load that fast.

Soulwax - Saturday Set ...off of Hang All DJ's 5

Saturday, July 12, 2008

The Venue

There's a new venue around town appropriately called... The Venue. The only reason I know about it is because the Smashing Pumpkins are playing there. I don't think I'm going. Their opening lineup for August seems to suggest that they're the new Tinley Park: Bette Midler, STP, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Billy Idol, Liza Minnelli, Kenny Rodgers. By the way, where is this place located? Horseshoe Casino. Wow. Now when you want to see Ratt you don't have to go to the Radisson Hotel and Star Plaza right after the discount art expo with the $10 paintings. Ok, ok... this is not a pitchfork review. The place hasn't even opened yet. But if you're cougar hunting, you've got a new place to do it.

For something a little lighter, go to www.bekanyenow.com. Can you guess who sponsored the site?

P.S. I don't know why but I was really craving this song this morning:

Chromeo - Fancy Footwork (Guns n' Bombs Remix)

If you look on the right column in going out, those guys (not chromeo) are going to be playing at the Bottle on the saturday eve of Pitchfork. Darkwave is a standard, but I'm guessing that with Johnny Guns Love coming back into town, all the nutty coked-up hipsters will be at this one. I'm all for that American Apparel promenade.


So in the process of just typing up this blog, so much music has gone past. So play these two in order, both from 50,000,000 Soulwax Fans Can't be Wrong:
#1 Valletta Fanfares
#2 Requiem For a Hit (Soulwax Edit)

and you can't forget about the original version of this song Benni Benassi made a career from:
#1 Who Made Who - Satisfaction ...mixed into
#2 Franz Ferdinand - The Fallen (Justice Edit). Both of these are from 2ManyDj's Get Yer Yo Yo's Out.

And for my ambassador for foreign relations, A.G.J., The Turkish Satisfaction

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Hyperbole

Some stuff is just too funny...

The English Velvet




Yesterday I received my periodically-arriving music sampler from Fabric. You pay an auto-fee of £8 (i think) and this club/label sends you a mix. Granted I don't plan on ever queuing up there anytime soon to pay 5 quid for a nukey brown (P.S. Brits hate the stuff), but their mixes from Cut Copy, Diplo, Spank Rock, Devlin & Darko, etc. are true winners. Next one coming is from Simian Mobile Disco. I've got some DnB turkeys most recently, however there was a diamond in the rough (I'm not a fan of drum n' bass) from Noisia:

Noisia - Brown Time

I think my dislike of DnB stems from the fact that I like to dance to tracks (versus having a seizure) and that the focus is on the beat, rather on the song as a whole. Maybe it's too complicated for me and I like that poppy shit. Probably the closest I've come to liking it would be The Prodigy, although their stuff is all over the place.



The Prodigy - Ruff In the Jungle Bizness .........credit

So back to Fabric. The other track that I wasn't aware of that is simply badass (according to spellcheck, badass is supposed to be hyphenated to bad-ass) is, naturally



Daft Punk - Face to Face (mixed in).

Shit this song is so tight I can't believe I didn't post it earlier. Now that I installed my new Blaupunkt soundsystem in the Accord, it will be even more bad-ass.