Hits

A Look At: De La Soul

A group that changed hip-hop in the 80's forever.

Girl Talk's All Day

All Day by Girl Talk is quite the mash-up album that you'll want to keep in your mp3 until the next album comes out.

Only The Best Chip-Tune From George and Jonathan

Chip-Tune music described as "only the best..from 5 years of work."

Elbow, Not Just An Arm Joint...

Rockers Elbow: if you don't know them, you're going to.

The REAL Tuesday Weld

An old actress lives on in the name of an original English band.

Friday, February 26, 2010

Haunt Me Haunt Me, Do It Again

Canadian artist Tim Hecker has never left my iPod after I found his music. True, he does doth protest the use of iPods or any other such "mp3 low quality" music; and that's just something even more to love about the man. He puts effort and top notch sound into all of his work. If you get the chance, either listen to his stuff on an amazing stereo system, or get a great cd/vinyl player and listen through an amazing pair of headphones. The soundscapes are just otherworldly, and it is just worth it if you are a huge audiophile.


He is a pioneer in the ambient genre, but detests the name, and aptly names his own music "2 a.m. music." He works hard on acheiving amazing ambient noises using only his guitar, piano, and lots of studio work. He is a truly gifted artist with a fetish for noise you could say. It's hard to reccomend just one track or two to listen to of his, but rather is an artist where I'd say Haunt Me Haunt Me, Do It Again is worth listening to in full, from stop to finish with no breaks in between. His work was meant to be that way. On Harmony In Ultraviolet, "Spring Heeled Jack Flies Tonight" would not be nearly as amazing if it weren't for "Palimpset II" leading up to it. Each piece is standalone enough to be recognized as its own, however, when they get together on an album, they bolster  themselves up tenfold.


His music takes a bit of getting used to, but I've found once you get past the "This is just annoying noise" phase and hit the "This is genius! Subtle movements, open atmospheres, intensity, brilliant!" phase, you'll never want to stop listening.



So keep giving it a try, even if you don't like it. That goes for all music too! Find when you can appreciate it, and not just tolerate it.

-Minimal foX

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Humerus + Radius + Ulna =

Elbow. This British alternative rock group has memorable, fantastic lyrics, dreamy backdrops, and a sound completely and utterly their own. They have a few albums out already, the songs below all from The Seldom-Seen Kid. Have a listen and tell me what you think:

"Grounds For Divorce"



"The Bones Of You"



"One Day Like This"



--The Last Moslow

Monday, February 22, 2010

Okay--3, 2, 1, Let's Jam!

"Tank!" is the name of this delicious jazz song, written by Yoko Kanno (the woman in the red jacket) as the theme for the late '90s anime Cowboy Bebop. Though she's composed for a lot of anime, you don't have to know anything about that artform to enjoy the incredible punch this number packs. This live performance was undertaken by a Japanese supergroup of sorts called Seatbelts, and the alto sax solo at the end is (to this blogger) ineffably, staggeringly, jaw-droppingly brilliant. Any doubters of jazz out there may just be converted to orthodox fans after hearing this piece--it's that good. Have a go below:

Yoko Kanno/Seatbelts--"Tank!"



--The Last Moslow

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Who says Drum'N'Bass can't be happy?

IF you have followed Electronica, you undoubtedly know Relphex Records, created by the famous Aphex Twin himself, Richard D. James. IF not knowing this, go look into it. Now, being informed about this, perhaps you know about a man named Tom Jenkinson. Yes? No? Of course... better known as Squarepusher. Still don't know?
Well, let's educate you. Back in the day when Drum'N'Bass was still being experimented with, and nobody really knew what to do, ol'Tom came out of the woodwork and, wabam!, brilliantly took jazz ideals and glitchcore beats to create Drill'N'Bass on his debut album Feed Me Weird Things . Applause, applause, for ol' Tom made something quite wonderful. On that first vinyl, he has created some work that really shows that when you become a master of your genre, you can make your music happy, or sad, or really take it any direction you want. Drum'N'Bass usually is an extremely serious or bouncy tone, and hearing something so wonderfully happy here is just brilliant.


Squarepusher - Smedley's Melody


Ah, a few founders of the quickly dying IDM genre, Squarepusher and Aphex Twin.  Masters of their own fields.
-Minimal foX (Working on a new project. Hush Hush)

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Soundtrack Outcasts (Vol. 2)

Welcome to Volume 2 of Soundtrack Outcasts! (To read the goals and manifesto for of this series, click here.)

Instead of looking at one film this time, I wanted to give prime, meaty examples of a single composer: James Newton Howard. He has great themes and works across all film genres. You might have only recently heard about him with a movie called The Dark Knight in ’08, but this talented musician has 20 years of work under his belt, much of it thrilling.

Let’s start with the 2000 Disney film Dinosaur. The theme doesn’t kick in till the end, but it’s a worth-the-wait whopper. There are very playful oboes and jungle chanting in the beginning, as well as odd percussion sounds, before swelling to a memorable grandeur. Have a listen:

"The Egg Travels"



Next up is M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village. Delicate piano, intoxicating strings throughout, and the bells and winds halfway in have a hushed danger about them. It’s a very cathartic theme, at once melancholy and bittersweet in its beauty. Haunting is used in excess to describe music like this, but I bet you'll find it hard-pressed to not be worthy here:

"The Gravel Road"



Lastly, let’s revive the 2001 Disney film Atlantis: The Lost Empire. It has a fantastic album, with great recurring themes start to finish. This specific track is ethereal/choral, echoic, mysterious, tribal, and relishes in resounding brass declarations--gorgeous all around, and incredibly hum-able:

"The Crystal Chamber"



Excellent soundscapes, right? James Newton Howard truly has a wonderful repertoire of skills, and his popularity only continues to mount around La-La-Land. I hope you enjoyed these examples, and please check out his complete soundtracks when you get the chance. Stay sharp for Volume 3!

--The Last Moslow

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Pre-Owned Heart-Shaped Box

Happy Valentine's Day! Why not take a 7-minute break from snogging your significant tax-deductible other by drowning in some hand-picked love song staples, all of them covers, with me not disclosing who originally wrote and/or performed them? Sound good? But of course! Hey, chocolate's still chocolate, right?

Frank Sinatra--"My Funny Valentine"



Cake--"Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps"



Rita Moreno--"Fever"




XoXo--The Last Moslow--XoXo

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Guns in C Major

Here are a few quirky musical experiments. Using the gun sounds and sound effects from two Valve games--Half-Life 2 and Team Fortress 2--several people have crafted genuinely impressive percussion pieces. This is the first time I've heard anything like this before, though MinimalfoX found a similar mash-up of Pixar sounds last month. The first track's not nearly as loud and piercing as the second (which reminds me of banging on trash cans for the first minute or so), but still, the effort that went into these projects is pretty staggering to me:

The Ballad of Black Mesa



TF2--Guns Orchestra



--The Last Moslow

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Utensil Grooves

Just an indie rock band for you today, one that's been getting more exposure as of late--Spoon! They have a relaxed, balanced, upbeat quality to most of their tunes. Somehow, I kind of hear a throwback to older rock styles in Spoon's songs, but I can't quite put my finger on which ones. Whatever they are, they work swimmingly here. Hope you enjoy their sound:

The Book I Write



You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb



Don't You Evah




--The Last Moslow

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Ghost(ly) Calm

Well, a quick post and download for you Ghost - Lullaby. Really great chill-downtempo/ ambient electronica song. No really, this one is looking into. I couldn't dig up more of this artist at the moment, but it's somewhat Brian Eno meets Boards of Canada. Soundtrack for the game Crayon Physics. Part of a new style of games called Ambient Games. Mainly slower paced games with ambient electronica. They are quite nice, and provide something to get lost in while your in an airport, they provide Music for Airports.

-Minimal foX (Heading back to Anchorage soon, but first a fun stop in Phoenix)

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Soundtrack Outcasts (Vol. 1)

Fact: Disregarding soundtracks is a musical sin.

This series of posts aims to resurrect those film soundtracks that have been needlessly forgotten, either by proxy of their movie counterpart's slip from mainstream consciousness, or simply because no one really gets excited about original soundtracks (which truly is a shame). Soundtracks and themes in films aggrandize the universes we passively invest in by actively guiding our emotions; without them, modern cinema would not resonate.

It is my sincerest wish that the names and works of Harry Gregson-Williams, Danny Elfman, James Horner, Hanz Zimmer, John Williams, Howard Shore, Thomas Newman, James Newton Howard, Michael Giacchino, and dozens of others will be memorialized properly in the future. This blog series is my small step to promote that outcome. (Notice: I will not critique the films mentioned themselves, only offer the opinion that these films' soundtracks deserve to have an audience and a following.)

To kick things off, let's have a listen to the themes no one can forget, beautifully orchestrated in a medley by John Williams--arguably the greatest film composer in all 100 years of the craft:



To counter that performance, here's our first worthy outcast you more than likely don't recall: "Antz," the 1999 Dreamworks film with a manic, ear-burrowing, conga/march soundscape. Harry Gregson-Williams wrote these tracks, and to this day his themes refuse to leave my mind alone:

The Colony



The Big Shoe



Voila! Hope you reminisced, rediscovered, and enjoyed. Look for Vol. 2.

--The Last Moslow

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

The Courage Of Others

Short shout out today, Texas based indie rock band Midlake just dropped a new CD today, entitled The Courage Of Others. If you're like me, this is just estatic news, since it's been 3 years since the last Midlake full LP release. I haven't gotten my hands on it yet and have yet to find a place to listen to it, but this is just a lo-fi band that you really should check out. Their myspace page and The official website should give you a great start to the sound of a great indie/lo-fi rock band. Those who are fans of The Chemical Brothers have already gotten a taste of this band with the collaboration songThe Pills Won't Help You Now which is a great electronic standalone song about not wanting a friend to do drugs, or so my take is. Anyways, get a chance to check out the new cd. I've been hearing great positive reviews, though many critics are "complaing" about how the song just doesn't sound new but that's ok.
Midlake - The Courage Of Others   check it out and let me know how it is.
-Minimal foX

Monday, February 1, 2010

And that can falter, But my swing is tropical

Ah Quantic what great music you have. I am so very surprized you've flown under the radar for so long. It wasn't until the song "Mi Swing Es Tropical" with Nickodemus being aired on an iPod commercial that people suddenly realized what great dance music you make. Ah, as a DJ myself, I love using Quantic songs for a mood. Whether I need an upbeat dance song, or something to play at a dinner party, or even something to just sit and relax too, Quantic just has it. I heavily recommend this artist. He does great postmodern music work, great sasla music, and just overall nice to listen too.

(Here's the song from the iPod commercial, you'll recognize it...)
Quantic & Nickodemus - Mi Swing Es Tropical

and here are a couple other hits.
Quantic - Time Is The Enemy

Quantic - Bomb In A Trumpet Factory

His work with an orchestra has done great Salsa and Acid Jazz work too!
The Quantic Soul Orchestra - South Coastin'

-Minimal foX

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