Archive by Author

M83 – Midnight City

11 Sep

Early Thursday afternoon, a group of friends and I took a walk around town to take a look at the flooding in our area (Binghamton, New York). We weren’t the only ones taking pictures of and observing the homes by the Susquehanna River which were now mostly underwater. A few people resisted evacuation and rode on, using make shift bridges to move valuables away. The river was to swell at 2pm, and I was surprised when I saw an older lady crawling out of the 1st floor window of one of the houses. The water had risen right up to that window, and she claimed with a tired voice that her house only had an inch of water in it. We couldn’t possibly help her in any way other than conversation, and even that had to end as the police along with the national guard were evacuating the street. Earlier I witnessed probably the most memorable sight of that entire ordeal. A lone news reporter snuck onto a closed off bridge with his camera and marched towards the flooding despite the yells from guards.

As an out of town college student, I took in all of this in with a sort of disconnect, no different than as if I was watching it on the news. I was lucky enough that my house was on a hill and I got two days off from school. I know some people who were evacuated from the flooded downtown, and for them it was really just an inconvenient excuse to party more. Flooded underground bars resumed activity in less than 24 hours and they now just had a new theme. Sure there are dozens of students volunteering at the events center on campus, but when did a little water ever stop the party? The volunteering is  just to make it more guilt-free!

I had an idea to write about a rain-themed song today, but then I thought that it would be slightly inappropriate. Today I have for you what can only be described as chillwave fused with 80’s dance music. M83, named after the galaxy, is a French band which describes themselves as electronic/ dream pop, is releasing their newest album in October, and the single which they released has blown away everyone who has had the pleasure of hearing it.

Midnight City opens with bizarre instrumentation and a quick yet dreamy build. That fantastic loop which plays throughout the entire song, I’ve come to the conclusion is simply someone saying “Dat do ‘n Dat” with heavy amounts of audio effects. The bass line and the drums are something which sound like they were ripped straight out of the 80’s. The lyrics are soft and slow during the quick verses. Each progressive one builds on the lyrics with awesome harmonies. It ironically makes me think of rainy city nights.

The song itself is slightly repetitive, but it most definitely in the best way as the band seems to have uncovered some sort of fail proof song structure and sounds. This is the perfect song to listen to on the way home from some crazy party fun. The sax solo at the end is beyond appropriate. Like a perfect finish to the night, it ends the song with a wave of reflection, something incredibly hard to talk through, mainly because it is so blissfully sweet.

This song is available as a free download and is the single off their upcoming album, Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, being released October 18th. Based on Midnight City, its gearing up to be amazing. I certainly can’t wait. Hopefully it doesn’t rain for forty days. We’d need a longer sax solo in that case.

-oko

P.S. Worst part by far is having to boil my water to wash dishes or brush my teeth. I’d rather have my house float away.

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Cut/Copy – In Ghost Colours

4 Sep

Everyone loves to party. I’m pretty sure it’s something integral to our human existence. We are coded to enjoy fun, naturally. Unfortunately, however, the most common way to party is to be in a room filled to the brim with other partiers while you drink alcohol to the point of memory loss and listen to dirty dub step wobbles. Seriously, does no one else see this as the mass production form of partying? I mean businesses and certain social organizations love the money, but cannot everyone else see that they are just being manipulated hardcore? What is a club if it’s not exclusive? The late 00’s and the early 10’s will surely be an interesting time period to study in the future (read dirty dubstep wobbles).

But I’m ranting now. I meant this to be a cute bit about how certain people like to party in their own unique ways and how it usually turns out much better than the generic brand of partying. Just going out into the night and finding your own fun place to hang out. And if you get lonely there invite friends. That’s what exclusivity means. That’s usually how most great things come about. I mean, the term, “thinking outside of the box,” itself sounds like it originated from some sort of freestyle fun.

Today I bring you a form of non-mainstream dance music. Cut Copy is an Australian synth-pop group brimming with 80’s nostalgia and 90’s sounds. Their 2008 debut album In Ghost Colours is full of upbeat party happiness and amazingly trippy transitions. I’m bringing you a single from the album and a personal favorite.

The single Hearts on Fire is borderline house dance music. The builds and drops it contains definitely make it eligible for the title, but in reality it goes so much further. The bass line and the drums make you realize that this isn’t just the usual computer made dance music, but rather a band making you rock out.

The vocals are simple and repetitive yet highly effective in light of the dance context. The sounds they used carved an entirely new route for this type of synth pop, pretty much making it viable to listen to. The brass solo and guitar solos are thrown in at perfect moments. The entire piece flows like a concrete song yet feels like it should go on forever as you party.

Just the name alone of this song, Nobody Lost, Nobody Found, speaks to most situations involving going out to party. One of the tripper songs and therefore pertaining to my interests the most, it opens with a sort of descent from space. The guitar line is quick and reminiscent of some sort of techno. The bass line is borderline funk, but just lazy enough to carry this chilled out dance song.

This is the song that would be playing at 5 in the morning as the sun is beginning to rise and yet the party is still going. The bird noises at the end play perfectly into this, and they then cut them out and drop the beat again signifying that the party never ends.

This entire album is pretty much like these two songs, but has enough variety to make each and every single song stand out on it’s own. The next time you are at a party and are bored of the dubstep, try requesting Cut/copy. I guarantee that everyone, especially the girls, will enjoy the break from the nonstop wobbles. I mean parties are supposed to be wild and random, not the same thing over and over again.

Cut copy recently came out with a new album, Zonoscope. I haven’t had the time to fully process it yet, but every time I listen to it I like it more and more. Go out and listen to some Cut/Copy and party alternatively.

-oko

P.S. The internet is one big party.

&)

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Clark – Totem Crackerjack

28 Aug

Well I am back at school for my senior year and I have no clue what I’m doing. I am looking for jobs and throwing myself at people (literally). I need money. You don’t realize how much of a motivator money is until you have none of it.

As for general back to schoolness, I have a great song that will get you right into the doing stuff mood. I posted a Chris Clark song around the same time last year and I felt that it would be appropriate to post another one now.

This song, Totem Crackerjack, is from his latest album, Totems Flare. Not quite dance and not quite anything for that matter, this song takes you on a wild electronica ride.

The entire beginning of the song can only be described as the feeling of kicking ass. Listening to this makes any task seem like an epic adventure. It takes something as menial as job searching and turns it into something out of an action movie. A series of jaw-dropping transitions give it essentially a plot better than most films.

Right around two minutes the song rises into a sped up version of Pink Floyd’s On the Run. After the this brief homage the song goes into another quick instrumental sequence. The ending, the first one anyway with the light bell sounding thing, serves as sort of the aftermath of this frantic rush of sequences.

The final ending with the eerie piano is absolutely gorgeous, and I like to think of it as the credits. Also, the music video is really cool and confirmed my movie plot idea sort of. I definitely recommend watching it for some fun trippyness.

A brilliant display of British electronic music and an all around great song. I’ll be listening to it a lot as I drive to classes… starting tomorrow. I love it and hate it already. I do it for the money. Time to jump on the bandwagon of life. A moneyless world only exists in magic hippie fantasies. lol

-oko

&)

P.S. Mail me some money please and or hire me please.

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The Cinematic Orchestra – Man with the Movie Camera

21 Aug

I pity those that will never experience random acts. People just doing whatever feels right, without a second thought, usually acting upon that glorious drink, alcohol. So I actually pity those who have never tried alcohol. Thoughtless action is a good way to spend time, especially if you are naturally prone to quite the opposite. When the aftermath of a party is rallying around the DJ and 120BPM, you know it is time to act even without a whim. Dancing with beautiful women in the early hours of the morning is what makes it all worth the effortlessness.

And it’s usually the next day when you live it the most vividly. You feel not quite hung-over, just strange. You sleep late, reliving and dreaming. Before you know it that day is turning grey and rainy, yet you are still in the previous night. Somehow you cannot focus on the now. But I’ve discovered the cure:

jazz

A friend of mine recently gave me some music from The Cinematic Orchestra. The band is a British jazz and electronic group. This album from 2003 is called Man with a Movie Camera. Being jazz, I can only describe the sound as good, and to further my argument I’ll let the music show you.

This song is that kind of slow, uneven drive that forces you to enjoy. This directionless joy is contained within an air of sophistication. Like a gentlemen rising from the ashes of alcohol, forgotten is everything that is sub-par as you brush off your shoulders and kiss the hands of pretty girls bidding the night adieu.

This 10 minute jazz piece is the perfect example of relaxing jazz. The brass/violin refrain gives it that free-form feel as it ever so slowly builds. This is the song you put on while reading because it both helps you concentrate and relax. You forget the song is even on, but by about 7 minutes in you are forced to pause your reading and simply listen and enjoy this amazing sound as it captures your thoughts.

This next song, Work it! (Man with the Movie Camera) is hastier and more confident. It attempts to prove the bands worth as true jazz. Opening up with a bit of pizzicato, it quickly moves into an almost rock styled jazz characterized by powerful drums which hopefully anyone can enjoy. The song switches between this almost frantic part and a slower section, reminiscent of the first song. Definitely a god song to chew on at any time.

So the next time you are lying in bed with a hangover, remember that it’s the perfect to time to be listening to your favorite jazz. Just like alcohol, it is that feeling of doing whatever without regard for anything. A psychotic yet soulful mindlessness that is as beautiful as party waning into the morning light. And if you are drinking while listening to jazz… well then you might just be on to something.

-oko

P.S. Here’s one more from the band. &)

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Yeasayer – All Hour Cymbals

16 Aug

Summer is almost up! It’s halfway through August and I feel like school ended last week. Asking myself what I did this summer is pretty much fruitless because the Hell if I remember. Time is slipping past me like sweet drinks disappearing at a summer party.  It was like basking in a fountain of undisciplined youth, where my spirit ignores any form of calendar, finding balance in a sort of timeless hedonistic blur. But something now in the back of my mind is telling me that it is ending… probably all of those school related e-mails.

For those of you out there who may have also just realized that summer is indeed ending, I have today a band for you which will hopefully allow you to make peace with that fact.

Yeasayer is a Brooklyn based band which fuses psychedelic indie folk with something which could only be described as gospel soul. Put away your doubts until you hear this reverent amalgamation. Their debut 2007 album, All Hour Cymbals, is something unlike anything the world has heard prior. I’ll provide you with a few of my favorite songs from it.

The second song on the album is ironically named Wait for the Summer.  With a brief spacey intro this song does not hold back from heading straight into the melody. “Life was easier when one of us was dead.” The lyrics of this song and the entire album are gorgeous, bursting on multiple cryptic layers with hidden messages that could be either taken as quasi-religious or blissfully hedonistic. The vocal sound itself is also extremely unique, with ample amounts of chorus and humming noises hidden giving it that gospel vibe.

The mixture of the sleigh bells and the sitar-sounding guitar create a bizarre mixture of musical styles from different regions of the world and the spacey synth acts as a multi-cultural glue. The entire first half of the song is in your face waving its brazen weirdness. However, right before 2 minutes, the song goes through an absolutely wonderful metamorphosis.

The latter half of this song contains the kind of vibe that if it had existed during the 60’s, would force hippies into rhythmic swaying and all around mystic magical merriment, and or deep introspection. Not that hipsters aren’t actually the odorless modern day incarnation of hippies and aren’t doing this in Brooklyn apartments. The vibe that the ending of the song puts out is that could be in some old foreign cartoon. “I’m rising, rising, falling down” is the sort of chant that could easily garner a following and start some sort of revolution.

Simply put, this next song 2080 is a masterpiece. And if the previous song already had you swaying and feeling enlightened then prepare to be blown away. The introduction seems to slow time as a swarm of insects is locked into battle with the glorious tone of the guitar. The bassline and the drums create one of those rythms that an enlightened individual would argue as being perfect. The lyrics in this song can only be described as prophetic. The multiple meanings are so broad that even the title of the song can be included. Every time I hear 2080 being said, I can’t help to think that it may also mean 20 A.D. as if they were analogous in some way.

Halfway through once more, the song becomes an epic chant. This one is the kind that melts away any anxiety and fear and replaces it with forlorn anticipation and respect. Words cannot describe the magic this song instills effectively multiplying any spells you have already cast upon yourself. The ending with the children chanting is simply cool, an appropriate ending to a song describing the glory of future generations. Time has nothing on it.

This last song I decided to include is a personal favorite and actually one of the more unique songs on the album. Wait for the Wintertime I would also assume is the direct opposite of Wait for the Summertime. The song starts you off as if lost somewhere in a frozen winter wasteland.  A fiendish howl and a beat drops in which for some reason makes you question if the frozen plains are not actually some middle-eastern desert.

“Solid gold, and nothing is gonna stop us” solidifies that vibe as the song takes you on a roller coaster ride which has you questioning materialism and all of Brooklyn culture. While the first two songs made you feel holy, this one gives off an almost cultist vibe. The slow beat feels like it’s pulling you into hell, with demons laughing and bouts of guilt flooding you along the way. The way the song transitions between sections is eerie in the sense that it feels like it is delaying the inevitable. Brilliantly evil in my opinion. The rest of the album isn’t as evil by any means, but I like to play this song once in a while to confuse people.

As you now listen to this band, remember that time may actually not exist according to the discovery channel. That does not however say that summer doesn’t end, and if that fact upsets you, then just don’t forget to Wait for the Summer. Unless of course you are one of those people who prefers to Wait for the Wintertime.

-oko

P.S. I started writing this article on Sunday. I don’t what happened, but now it’s Tuesday. Time is weird man.

&)

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