Demdike Stare

Don't think I've gone all dark on y'all, but this shit is monumentous. If I were to make music, this is how I would want it to sound. Demdike Stare fuses French porno soundtracks, Turkish psych, and obscure Mid-East and East Indian beats with dubby techno glue. The outcome shatters all of my musical expectations.

A Sentimental Note on Dubstep

I miss old dubstep; the real, good stuff that made me walk and walk and walk and get lost in my own head in the best possible way. Lost, not in my own deep thoughts, but solely on the sounds, the layering, the counts, the components of liquid melted bass that together made my insides warm up like a shot of Scotch. Sonically, the sounds were deep and nurturing, and had this matriarchal feel to them, perhaps in part due to Mary Anne Hobbs' influence on the sub-genre during this period (sidenote- as sad as it was for her to leave her late night BBC 1 radio show, I am of the opinion it was a wise move on her part. She had essentially raised the Bristol scene to a near pinnacle, and could anticipate that the future of dubstep was now out of her control and thrown free to the masses. She got out at a time that would diffuse her association with a genre that was heading in a wobbly direction with increasingly less attention to sound fluidity as it reached the mainstream).

Of course, there have still been great albums that have left me smiling to myself while walking down the street, but it isn't quite the same as that initial feeling I had when I first entered the world of dubstep. I'm not saying I want to be in the pure, simple state I was in before the genre, I merely want the fun of listening to it for the first time all over again.

Oh Pariah!

My mind has been racing lately. So many ideas, not enough (read: NO) time to follow through with any of them. Music, business, creating, sewing, traveling, planning, decision making. A friend over at 283 has this to say:

...ultimately, isn't fear the most immediate yet overlooked obstacle to living the way we should? I came to the realization this morning that fear has become not only a hindrance, but a safehouse, a comfort for me. I fill every spare moment I have with work, fearing that free time will lead me to the daunting task of thinking about and making decisions about the direction of my future. At the same time, I am using this lack of free time as an excuse for why I have been unable to nurture any of the prospective seedlings that are bursting through my frontal lobes. In all my pragmatism, this cycle is completely illogical, and I recognize it as such, which makes me want to shout even louder, "FUCK YOU FEAR".

But please, don't be afraid of this:

Shiveries

Gold Panda_You from c.lotti on Vimeo.

Cut my shirt off and perm my hair

You don't want to know how many times I have watched this beautiful video or listened to the Crooks and Lovers album by Mount Kimbie. This video evokes such evasive emotion, it's as if I have to keep watching it over and over to pinpoint the feeling that starts to bubble to the surface, but I get too mesmerized with the overall aesthetic and sound, forgetting that there was purpose to my re-re-re-viewing. Intangible beauty if I've ever seen it.

Mount Kimbie "Would Know" ((OFFICIAL VIDEO)) from Mount Kimbie on Vimeo.

Drew Lustman

Watching/hearing/reading an interview or live show with electronic/dubstep producers often change my perception of them, unfortunately, quite frequently for the worst. Falty DL blew me away when I heard his album Bravery a few months ago, and this interview makes me like him even more. I wish him only success- he deserves it!


XLR8R TV Ep. 124: FaltyDL: Garage Beats and Sushi from XLR8RTV on Vimeo.

Thinking myself to Chicago...

Fingers crossed that I somehow manage to get a ticket for the Chicago show April 10 or 11 at the Aragon Ballroom. UPDATE: Dreams pulverized! Heartbreak ensues. Did I mention FlyLo is opening for Thom and his band Atoms For Peace throughout April? What are the chances that one of my favourite dubstep/bass producers is opening for my all time favourite musician? Thom is unstoppable. Possible future prediction: a tour featuring Thom Yorke and Burial?!

Here is a beautiful taste of his most recent solo performance in Cambridge:

Kieran Hebden

Four Tet's new album, There is Love in You, was released today and has my ears in a blissful state. Similar to those days when you walk down the street, buy a coffee, browse the antiques market, take a ride up to the top of the (once)highest building, and everyone looks beautiful- regardless of how beautiful they are in reality. Do you have those days? I swear there is no correlation between the general consensus of an individuals' beauty and my perceived beauty of a person on these kind of days. If only I could self-actualize beauty unto myself... Anyways, I suppose these days are negligibly comparable to Four Tet's album in the sense that there is no mistaking the absolute brilliance that radiates from every single second your ears are adjacent to a speaker, ear buds, noise cancelling headphones or whatever your music ear drug of choice may be. Favourite tracks include Sing, Plastic People (below), and Love Cry (the original is better than the Joy Orbison remix in my humble opinion).

Safari Strut

The REAL queen of England

I just heard LV & Untold's song "Beacon" and all I can think is "GIVE ME MORE!". I can't find the track anywhere since I just heard it on MAH and it is unreleased, but this other Hemlock produced gem should satisfice for now.