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.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

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

Thursday, June 10, 2010

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

Saturday, June 5, 2010

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 CatsSongs 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

Monday, May 31, 2010

Mix #1: See rap run. RUN DMC, Run!

So, without further adieu, I bid you the new project for the blog I've been working on. Yes, I am a mediocre DJ, but without practice, I can't get too much better now can I? At the same time, I want to share music with you guys without it being of cost to you, but at the same time I want it legal. So, what is the solution? Eureka! Though technically I don't have the legal rights to do this, I thought maybe I could present you with mixes I have made and you can listen to. If you download it, good for you, if you just listen, that's what it's meant for. Since I'm not making money off of it, I don't believe it is illegal, but I'm still trying to check in on it.

So, today I present Mix #1: See rap run. RUN DMC, Run!

If you were not present for the 80-90's rap scene, who was more famous than RUN DMC could only be Public Enemy, Nas, or maybe even Eminem, or even Wu Tang Clan. Rap was starting to hit the radio hard and people were eating up the pop-rap hits. So, I thought, for those of us not too familiar with RUN DMC, why not make a mix and then let you explore it more if it is something that seems to interest you? Either way, here's a mix (The download is fine, let me know if you can't get it).
 

See rap run. RUN DMC, Run! Mix

Track List :
Quasimoto - Blitz
Run DMC - King of Rock vs. Run DMCJam Master Jay (Minimal foX mix)
Run DMC - Peter Piper
Run DMC - Mary Mary vs. Zombie Nation- Kernkraft 400 (Stadium Mix) (Minimal foX mix)


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. (I know there's some work on my part that I need to do, but I've spent the past few months developing new ideas and mixes so let's get this done together, eh?)

-DJ Minimal foX

Sunday, May 23, 2010

When We Rise!


Sorry if the breif Hiatus had paniced anybody, but sometimes a blog writer has to face the life outside the internet for a bit before getting back to the comforting glow of a monitor.

Well, summer has come and started, and for those in Alaska, the breakup period is over and it's damn green on everything. Time to get out, do something, dance about, and enjoy the few months before work starts up even heavier for next year. But, you're tired of that same music over and over again. You'd want to get your rump in gear, but, you need something new to move you. I have an idea for you...

Guns Don't Kill People...Lazers Do [Explicit] Major Lazer. Now, before just blindly clicking the link, let me give you the down-low about this album. If you remember awhile back, progressive DJ Diplo was mentioned. Major Lazer is a collaboration of Diplo with DJ Switch. Switch  has made his name with Dub-House music; Diplo with reggae/pop DJ work, especially with Santogold. Now, the creation here, Major Lazer, is a fictional character, know to have "...faught in the secret zombie wars..." and is a big fan of the music coming out of Jamacia. This album Guns don't kill people... Lazers do, is an exploration of both artists into modern Jamacian music, poppy island feel mixed with reggae.

The whole thing is a bit hard to just sit down and listen to, but is great music to get moving too. If you want a couple track samples to convince you Link to Lala.

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Next update will be a bit better, still trying to find places to share music with you for free, so hold tight.

-Minimal foX

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Night Furries & Milkshakes

Hi-ho! No Soundtrack Outcasts today, but rather two film scores that deserve all of the limelight they've thus received (as always, tell me what you think). First, a small part of the score for Dreamworks' "How To Train Your Dragon" by John Powell. Gorgeous themes, boisterous brass and bagpipes for a Nordic/Irish sound, warm strings and flutters--fun and powerful and unashamedly smile-inducing:

"This is Berk"



"Test Drive"



"Romantic Flight"



Now a total gear shift. Paul Thomas Anderson's "There Will Be Blood" has a disconcerting soundtrack fashioned by Johnny Greenwood, a member of Radiohead. The songs work best and rile your blood most when you pair them with their respective on-screen scenes (durhay), but their discordant percussion and upsetting, pulsing unease still loft them high enough on their own to disquiet you:

"Proven Lands"



"Oil"



"Convergence"




--The Last Moslow

Friday, April 2, 2010

French Atmosphere


Around for over 10 years, Air is a French synth-electronica duo. They aren't really club techno; though some of their beats near the border, don't go slapping that stereotype too quickly. It's their myriad of fun, slip-beat, and poignant themes which makes them both minorly ambiant and cooly pigeon-headable. Their official YouTube channel doesn't allow embedding, but take a sample from these 200% virus-free hyperlinks to said port and tell me what you think:

Sing Sang Sung

Playground Love

Don't Be Light

How Does It Make You Feel

Alpha Beta Gaga

--The Last Moslow

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