Already mentioned this producer

I know I keep bringing him up over and over again, but this guy really inspires me. I know it's electronic, and I get accused of being only a "techno guy" or only a "rap guy" but I do listen to more music than that.
That being said, I want to, once again, give critical acclaim to a DJ/Producer that I've already brought up several times in this blog: Flying Lotus. His use of ambiance within his work is just amazing, and his ability to make mainstream rap more artistic with his remixes is quite phenomenal.
Check out his two mixes of Lil Wayne songs:

I Feel Like Dying (Flying Lotus Remix)

and

Robo Tussin (Flying Lotus Remix of Lil Wayne's A Milli)



Again, sorry for the lack of other genres on this blog for a moment... but have you ever tried remixing country music, Celtic music, opera, or many of the other thousands of genres? I'm working on making a new mix with some untouched genres, but... give it some time.

-Minimal FoX

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Give Hendrix Some Respect.

This post is another go out and find it for yourself post.

Now the title might be a bit misleading. First of all, I don't entirely condone and push for the heavy drug use Hendrix found infamy from.

That being said, if there's one genre I see pretty under represented in music, it's definitely blues and heavy vamped music. In the 60s' through 80's the blues had an explosive revival. If you know it, you know it, the big names; Clapton, Otis Rush, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and of course Hendrix. Any history of rock'n'roll 101 course will get you through this. The art of vamping on the guitar in almost every style, country to metal, in a specific chord progression. Lyrics sung in the same styles. It was sweet, it was the state of the country, the blues.

Hendrix, a drop out of high school teenager, from a troubled home, honorably discharged from the army, found sweet sanctuary in his music; teaching himself guitar from the early blues and rock'n'roll he listened too and found comfort in. For him, it seemed life was his guitar (aside from the drugs and fame it brought him). Stories of Hendrix having sold his soul to the devil to have such great work swept the nation and he brough on thousands with his performances with guitar. He started to change rock'n'roll with this passion found in the guitar, many claiming it was if he wasn't even touching the guitar; a pure energy straight from his soul.
What did Hendrix do for us? The wah-wah pedal started to reach more fame, use of "space" on a cd, new ways of playing a guitar to add atmosphere to music, his unique style and voice stretching into almost every genre of music itself (hitting artist such as Led Zeppelin, and almost every blues and rock album you hear now you can seem to find traces of Hendrix himself).

I'm not claiming this man is god himself playing guitar. I am not claiming that he was a good man. I am not claiming his use of heavy drugs and alcohol is the only way to play a guitar.

What I am saying is that you do have to find that Hendrix was a man, whose love of the guitar and music itself, pushed modern rock'n'roll/Blues, to the place it is now. A man dedicated heavily to his guitar. A man dedicated heavily to experimenting with music. Love heavily within music, his passion on fire, along with his guitar, and coming through the speakers. His vamping and smart guitar playing wasn't just a one hit wonder.

So today, go out and listen to some Hendrix. I'm not saying fall in love with the man or worship him, but give some respect to why there are thousands of posters of him. Give respect to what he could do with a guitar. Realize that great music comes from within. Just like Jacques Cousteau is synonymous with Marine Biology, Jimi Hendrix is synonymous with music. He both loved and respected music, was partially a slave to it, but lived it too.

-Minimal foX

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Chemically Electronica

 So, I eventually settled on, The Chemical Brothers, a duo of outrageously popular electronic artists. Alright, alright, if you have followed the origins of so called, "Techno" music, you'd see a huge branch off dedicated entirely to The Chemical Brothers. Quite interesting blend of what I'd say is trance and house if you really wanted to put a genre to it.  So, what do you need to know? This duo is famous for guest appearances, catchy tracks, and hitting it hard on the radios around the world. Really, this is another artist that you already know, you just might not know you know. If you grew up as the MTV Generation you might remember most of the extremely drug reference music videos and trippy scenes brought by their music.  As I always say, I'd write more, but let's let the music talk for itself.

Oh, and for this mix, I figured why not go with another electronic artist known to hit the pop charts around the same time as The Chemical Brothers, Daft Punk. For those of you who don't know Daft Punk, congratulations, you have successfully avoided world culture since the 80's. There's no saying these two bands really don't need much to be said about them and are stand alone pop icons themselves. I just thought I'd refresh you and remind you that The Chemical Brothers are due for a new album as well as Daft Punk working on their next album a.k.a. The TRON Soundtrack.

Chemically Electronic Mix

Daft Punk - Club Soda
The Chemical Brothers - Hold Tight London
The Chemical Brothers - Surface to Air  vs.  The Chemical Brothers - Star Guitar (Minimal foX Mix)

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Let me know if you have any mix preferences, or comments about the new idea behind presenting bands, or if you just have something to say. Let's keep it about the music, I know my mixing skills can be called into question, but it's not about me, I just needed a new way to present the music to you, and I thought maybe if I did mixes you could appreciate it more.

-Minimal foX

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The Sounds of Electronic...Cats?

So, as I was finding the next artist to do a mix about, I couldn't help but run into an old album I was ga-ga for when I first discovered drill'n'bass music.
Songs About My Cats by Venetian Snares. For it's time of release, 2001 so not THAT long ago but you have to consider IDM is really close to dying as is the fast paced monster that electronic music is, it was pure genius. I do agree, this album is NOT for everybody. The scattered, glitched, fast past mind and almost random sounding melodies and beats will more than likely turn off most of those who listen to it. However, for those of us who are quite into glitch sounds, fast paced, and dirty synth music, I would equate this to running into a Van Gogh in your local art gallery; something extremely huge and magnificent and you're not quite sure why it's here. "Neptalactone" is a great track, slowly building something, and you're not quite sure where it's going, but it's not in your face aggressive, but more of a tour guide saying "Look here, and now over here, and now here, and aren't you seeing the pattern yet?" For me this is where the album starts to take off. The following tracks "Poor Kakarooke," "Fluff Master," "Pouncelcoit," and "Cleaning Each Other" are good highlights from the album. The other tracks take a bit of work to get into, but when you do find you can let them in, they do a great job bolstering the overall feel, which strangely never shies away from... cats. The album ends on a rather weird note with the white washed white noise of "Look" heavily contrasting the opening track. Again, if you can give it time, and a place to stay, you might find yourself suddenly taking a quite warm heart to this album, given it's very unique times such as "For Bertha Rand," and come out on the end wanting to hit repeat to take that kitten filled trip all over again.
Side note: The ending track look is quite interesting to see... given the track was made using by taking many pictures of his cats and turning those pictures into sound waves. Look
I'll have the next mix up soon guys and gals. Until then, keep an open mind to your music and remember, just because you don't like something, does it mean it's bad?

-Minimal foX

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