Archive by Author

Ghost – Hypnotic Underworld

27 Mar

I sat at my desk on the 14th floor, typing my masterpiece. Water crawled to my feet and slowly began to accumulate. It’s presence helped coax my thoughts into flowing through my fingers. It rose by the minute, up to my knees by the time I approached completion. I would not give up. At the last moment I hit the period key for the final time and sent the piece onto the internet for all to see. The water then ripped me from my seat and dragged me out to the ocean, where I floated in a sea of calm insignificance.

My regards to all of those affected by the tsunami and the related disasters in Japan. May your nation come out of this stronger than before, and your dead rest peacefully.

******************************************

So as promised here is the second post of the weekend.

In light of the recent happenings in the east, I’ve decided to honor a tremendous Japanese band. Ghost is the name of an absolutely amazing psychedelic acid folk rock experience which was created sometime during the late 1980’s. Their first album came out in 1990, and they have been making great music ever since. In 2004 they released the album entitled Hypnotic Underworld, which is what really put them on the map, especially in the western world.

They have also been described as living a nomadic existence, only playing shows in ruins of ancient temples or
abandoned subway stations. I would do a countless amount of things to be able to attend such an event. Japanese hippies are hands down one of the most intriguing combination of people I can imagine.

The album is half concept album and half chill jam album. The first four songs on the album are entitled Hypnotic Underworld parts 1-4 respectively, and are about the listener’s escape from this Hypnotic Underworld. Basically it is that spacey psychedelic concept vibe you have learned to love, but with an added eastern folk influence. The result is brilliant, giving it almost jazz like qualities.

Part 1, is a sort of introduction to the Hypnotic Underworld. A scratchy horn plays this dreary nonsense, while random instruments clamor in syncopated madness. It builds and builds until it finally gives to part 2, which opens up with an amazing bass line. The horn finds it’s tune finally and a piano complements the both. This jam lasts for quite the while, instruments coming and going, sort of as if one would be just hanging out in a hypnotic underworld I assume.

Parts 3 and 4 are in the youtube video above. Part 3 represents the realization of one’s surrounding and the eventuating escape from the hypnotic underworld. It is a very powerful rock song featuring synths, guitars, drums, and amazing Japanese lyrics. The full works. And then part 4 comes along which is a short, almost heavy-metal, drum solo. The final escape I suppose. Really cool in my opinion.

After this 4 part concept work, the rest of the album is individual songs, and I am not too sure where the concept actually ends because sadly I cannot understand Japanese. But I can assume that the next song continues the story in some sense simply based on the title. You escape the hypnotic underworld to hang out in the hazy paradise!

It is actually a cover of a song by the same name which is by a band named Earth and Fire. It is melodic and beautiful. It begins with guitar fills punctuating an almost heavenly sound which is created by that beautiful riff and the vocal “ooh-aah”‘s. With a short climbing of a scale and the strum of an acoustic guitar, the song moves on to the main verse. The singing is movie-like and the harpsichord reminds me of the 60’s scene ever so slightly. A Japanese psychedelic ballad. Guitar solos spring up ever so often, eventually matched by the harpsichords, creating a build that is simply glory to the ears.

These first 5 tracks already create an astounding musical experience, meanwhile 6 tracks still remain on the album. I will allow you to explore them on your own. And maybe someone out there who speaks Japanese can translate some of the lyrics and tell me if it really is a concept album.

&)

-oko

P.S. Aww hell here is one more song from the album, because it’s that good. I present to you 10 minutes of chill, entitled Ganagmanag!

&))))

Tags: , ,

Baths – Lovely Bloodflow

26 Mar

I lay in bed for what seemed like years, stocking up on a forgotten amount of dreams, depressed that I was powerless to be productive, and browsing the internet as if it contained the secret to life. Not that the internet does not have the secret to life per say (it is the secret to life). This is unfortunately how I spent my first spring break of the semester. Yea, I did also do social things – but I was the only one with spring break, great timing SUNY system… And yes we here at SUNY binghamton also have two spring breaks this year… part 2 will be in 3 weeks. Maybe I’ll get off my lazy ass and write a novel.

And as a result of the excitement of finishing my album last weekend (…it’s not finished, the crutches of perfectionism), I missed my section on this blog! : (

But that means I’ll write two sections this weekend! : )

So.

I learned about the artist named Baths in a very peculiar manner. Sometime last summer a childhood friend of mine visited. I think the last time I saw him was when I was like 14. He, at 12, moved to Poland and later to Chicago, from were he now was visiting.

I was pleasantly surprised when it turned out that we shared many of the same musical likes, and we proceeded to share artists. Lo and behold he was a polish hipster like me! I was only a little skeptical when he told me that he knew someone that knew Flying Lotus, but was very impressed when he invited me to this underground music sharing website which I didn’t mention just now.

And so, one of the bands he told me about was Baths.
To be honest, at first I was like “cool!”, but never actually gave it a thorough listen.

Then one day I happened upon this video.

Pure F’ing Art – The opening sound clip seems to agree.

* I describe my interpretation of the video in this review, so maybe you might want to watch it once on your own so that you may possibly come up with a unique one? Just a suggestion! *

So this samurai fellow is stumbling through these beautiful lush woods, with his katana drawn, and arrows sticking out of his back. Not looking too good, he falls to his knees and breathes his last breath. A heroic warrior’s death. And meanwhile, the entire time this unrelenting beat is playing, representing the man’s fall, like a broken clock winding away. These are exactly the types of beats in modern music that I absolutely adore by the way. It makes no sense, but it just flows in some machine-like fashion, like the thoughts of refined yet chaotic organisms.

The bass is simple but it fits nicely. The beat subsides a bit, and the vocals come in. They may be hard to accept at first, but you just have to realize how unique they are. And they seemingly represent the forest ghosts now descending on our fallen samurai, who now is emitting his soul, in the form of bluish smoke.

The beat returns. The ghosts push the man’s soul back inside, wrap his wounds, and begin to drag him away across the forest floor. He regains consciousness at one point, only to realize that he is a sacrifice for some sort of forest ghost queen. The bass strums now more relaxed. She swoops in for a kiss, and the man envisions himself swimming with her underwater, a brief guitar/piano solo embodying the experience. (someone tell me what instrument it is lolplz)

She then proceeds to remove the cloth covering his mouth and begins to eat his soul. The entire forest then begins to secrete it’s own soul. And the video ends.

And it’s a hell of a video if you ask me. And yes, I am pretty sure drugs where related in it’s making. It’s about a very-grim topic too, and you can tell it’s a good because it actually leaves you with a neutral feeling at its finish. The man either was wounded in combat and was now hallucinating as he died, or the whole thing took place in some crazy fantasy setting. Assuming the former, the ghosts represent whatever was keeping him bound to the world, the forest queen most likely being his lover.

The part at the end where he is swimming, I think, definitely represents a sort of peaceful dying vision. And that would mean that the mysterious forest queen lover did the samurai a favor. Unless, of course, that that fact doesn’t out-weigh the soul-eating part in your books. It’s really up for interpretation. Pretty damn clever if you ask me.

And the music! It starts off very experimental and weird. Awesomeness to my ears! But then it continues this trend by slowly morphing into this very relaxing and melodic piece. You don’t even realize there’s a guitar playing until the very end. And the vocals are almost shrill, but they too prove to drive the song in an almost surreal fashion, like you don’t know what to make of them so you simply accept them. Eventually they calm down, the same lines being repeated, lulling out in a sense.

A very good song with a very good video, by a very talented artist.

If any of you guys have a unique interpretation of the video, please share! Mine, I’m pretty sure, is the obvious interpretation. I tried not to dive too deep…

&)

-oko

P.S. If you would like to know more about polish hipsters (lol), then here is a very good documentary which I recently watched. It shows a lot about the current art and music cultures and sub-cultures developing in Poland and how the youth are embracing them. Cool place if you ask me. From Poland with Love

Tags: ,

Ratatat (early music)

13 Mar

No trippy nonsense today. I’m preparing to release my own music sometime next week and therefore am pooling my creative mental energy. What kind of music it will be considered I have no idea. And considering how I listen to such a vast array of different music, hopefully it will make no sense. I am hoping to invent a new genre – electronic poetry. Wish me luck.

Among the artists that influenced me the most are Dungen, Flying Lotus, and Animal Collective. But one band I feel stands out in particular given the type of music I tend to make. This band spoke to me when I was an angst addled teenager and the type of music just made so much sense.

The band is named Ratatat, like the sound that bullets make when they bounce off things… It’s a two-man group from Brooklyn which makes very chill electronic and heavily processed guitar sounds.

Today I’m gonna be showing you some of their less popular and older, but nonetheless chill, songs. Their music is almost genre-less to be honest. But as they were starting out they found a very unique niche. They were very good at making hip-hop beats. Actually one of their first albums was simply entitled “9 beats”, and no too long after it was remixed to feature various famous rap artists (such as Jay-Z and the notorious B.I.G.) rapping over it. This attracted people who listened to rap, but their fame grew a lot more swiftly on the indie scene as a result of their first two LP’s.

The first, being self-titled, included one single. The song above, while not the single, I feel like is a exceptional song. Named Lapland , it starts out with a slow instrumental drive, and then a quick sample of a gentlemen saying “you know what?” drops the song into a intense beat which sets the foundation for vibaciousness. Throughout the piece, synths and guitars are brought in and out, but the beat remains the same. That is what most of their music does. In my opinion you either like the beat or don’t.

The second album, named Classics was very similar and included three singles (progress). It includes the song above, Nostrand, which is an exalting piece. Most of the beginning is a slow, bass driven drive. The guitar enters about a minute in and chills you out with a super smooth riff. But what it’s actually doing is preparing you for utter bliss that is the drop at about 1:50. A shout, some clapping, and something which could be a guitar, or a synthesizer, or pure glory, does it job cheering up even the most depressing of situations. Truly great.

Most of their is this awesome. I’m showing you none of the singles because when hopefully you decide to give this band a listen on your own, the singles is what you will most likely hear first anyway. And then these other songs might go unheard.

A lot of their music is used in popular media, namely movies, commercials, and television series, so you actually may have heard some of it before. It definitely has to do with the simple, yet calm nature of their music and the lack of words. I almost consider it modern day elevator music, but obviously exponentially better. If they played this in elevators people would start camping out in them and I assume that wouldn’t be safe.

But let’s get back to the lack of words notion. As a kid and to this day the very idea of rap abhors me to my very existence. I could never understand what the rappers where trying to say and the only words I heard were things like “guns, titties, and diamonds” which would make me want to hit the nearest wannabe gangster in the face with a flail.

People would then use the excuse that it’s “funny”. No, it’s not funny.  These people aren’t being serious, their acting. Funny is a comedian, or better yet youtube videos. This on the other hand is the media industry fucking with your child-like minds. They’re telling you that excessive drinking, drugs, lavish parties, and such are ok because they want you to fail at life. Or at least be more depressed as an adult. It’s 60’s psychedelia gone haywire. It’s a form of mind-control and it’s working.

…Sorry tangent. Nonetheless I spent my teenage years not listening to rap, and then one day I heard Ratatat. Hip-hip beats… but without the rap! My mind was blown, as I assume many other’s were because I am pretty sure that this band is responsible for the Trip-Hop movement to which artists like Flying Lotus now belong to.

I honestly would have no problem with rap, IF IT MADE SENSE AND WAS INTELLIGIBLE! (cough electronic poetry lol) And besides, trust me, I know about lyrics that don’t make sense – I’ve listened to the Mars Volta since I was like 15. But that’s for another time.

&)

-oko

Tags: , ,

Beirut

6 Mar

Your sub-conscience can be a bitch… especially when using magic. As avid of a spell caster as I am, I still once in a while try to bite more [magic cookie] than I can chew. The result is my thoughts turning against me, forcing me to simultaneously fend them off while remaining socially acceptable. This is usually attempted via plenty of laughter and some very confusing dialogue most likely involving meta-physics.

Nothing like a friendly music exploring session turning into an exercise in masking your insanity to remind you why you always tell yourself this is the last time. Magic is a hell of a drug. Besides, sometimes thinking that everyone living in your house is just a figment of your imagination is definitely healthy for the soul… even if it has you shaking in half fear. It’s all in a good night’s fun.

Basically, Matt and I decided to have a music listening and sharing session, and I decided to eat a [magic cookie] or x3. Stuff happened, whether really, or in my mind… who knows?

But magic serves its purposes, which is how I, with Matt as my witness, bring to you a brand new term which will rock the very foundations of the internet.

Get ready.

There were hardcore breakdowns, which turn any song super heavy.

Then I invented chill breakdowns, which turn any song super relaxing.

And now I bring you…

A Folk Breakdown, which turns any song… super… ethnic?

I have but one example.

Pay no attention to the song, it’s really good at best, and wait till about 2:10 for the folk breakdown. It’s the sound of some random couple fighting in some foreign language in what could be a short clip from a foreign film set somewhere in some south-eastern European village. And it makes so much sense.

You listen to folk music because you want to connect with your roots and get a feeling for what your ancestors listened to, right? That’s what the name implies anyway because actually, most folk music is actually pretty modern and simply uses old instruments to get that folk sound. But regardless, you are connecting with the sound and you maybe picture in your head some rural villages and farm people.

And now, when this folk breakdown hits you are transported instantly into a scenario taking place in this imaginary rural village. It’s like watching a foreign movie without having to struggle to understand what’s going on because the music does all the speaking. I see it being used a lot more in the future…

And now, let’s backtrack to the actual music, because Beirut is a pretty good band. It started out as a solo project by a New Mexican sporting a mesmerizingly epic voice, a man by the name of Zach Condon. The band is characterized as combining elements of eastern European and Balkan folk sounds with that of mainstream western pop to create this really good music. The mixture of this with the man’s singing and the instruments creates this music that almost sounds unreal. The instruments used range from ukuleles to tubas and from violins to accordions. In your mind you want to picture a band of gypsies or like farmers from an unspecified hovel in Yugoslavia, but in reality it’s just a band of American hipsters being ironic.

But who cares? I cannot stress how awesome this man’s voice is. It is perfect for that Eastern European/ Balkan vibe. And me being ethnically Polish, it is something which I completely dig, down to my very core and roots. Previous to seeing a video of the singer, I always pictured him as some drunken old man, with an amazing voice for his age, wearing a flat cap and a grey suit, singing about some great revolution he partook in, somewhere in Poland.  And that’s the beauty of folk music. It’s specific to ethnic region. You can have folk music for every region on the planet. I’m starting Long Island Folk.

And as an added bonus – folk music is also educational! Why pay attention in history class when folk music tells you everything you’d need to know about it plus more. History class can’t convey the feeling of the olden days dammit!

Here is another song before I wrap this up.

The 3/4 polka intro mixed with the awe-inspiring vocals and the trumpets just get me every time. Like some weird but friendly dream unfolding around you. And when the bass drops I am transported to some rebel Polish army preparing to orchestrate a coup to take back the country sometime during the late 19th century. Truly a beautiful sound if you ask me. And I was also convinced that Mount Wroclai was an actual place in Poland that I’ve been to, until I tried to look it up just now. It seems that I imagined it. Folk music is heavy stuff I guess.

-oko

P.S. Before you ask about my sanity, please first have Matt explain what the hell 60’s psychedelic is all about, because that had me straight out terrified. My thoughts the other night were something like “Are these bands f*cking with me? Were people really that happy during the 60’s? How many drugs were involved in the making of this? And why does all of this sound like it’s not real?” Sorry Matt if I seemed confused towards the end, I was just making sure you weren’t spewing out pre-determined responses. Gotta make reality checks somehow…

&&&&&&&)

Tags: , ,

Toro Y Moi – Underneath the Pine

27 Feb

As I drove home in the early hours of the morning it was already getting bright outside. I immediately began feeling extreme nostalgia for irresponsible summers of past. But this time I was not under the influence of any magic, simply arriving home from a tiring shift delivering food. But that feeling… maybe I was just tired… but I felt like I was under some sort of influence, my thoughts highly irresponsible in an animated fashion, yet that of a Buddhist-monk in caliber. Maybe it was a warm-flashback?

But it also was around 6am, the time when the human body ‘resets’. Whether it is due to our own internal mind clocks or some cosmic energy playing around with us, this time of the day is hands down the most psychedelic. It’s most noticeable if you haven’t gone to bed, which could explain some things, but I like to think that it’s the time when human thoughts or souls are synced up to destiny or reality, sort of like an ipod syncing to its itunes library. Basically, it’s the time when everything falls back onto track after a weekend night of debauchery. As I lay to fall asleep, my contact-less eyes were seeing strange fuzzy orbs of light. Although they weren’t as brilliant as geometric shapes I’d seen before, it made me realize that things like this are all around us and how much, as a people, we still don’t know about.

So basically today was the first time I woke up at 4pm in a long time. Definitely now considering a career change… or fewer hours anyway.

I’m not sure if the Radiohead hype has died down yet… I hope it has… because today I’ve got a real psychedelic treat for all of you. Shortly after listening to The King of Limbs, I heard Toro Y Moi’s Underneath the Pine, and let me tell you that I was thoroughly impressed, to the point where I can call it my favorite of the year so far.

Toro Y Moi is the stage name of Chazwick Bundick, a super chill fellow from North Carolina. He was one of the original driving forces behind the chill wave of summer ’10. I’ve already described chillwave thoroughly with my Washed Out review, and while Toro Y Moi’s older music was verbatim that, apparently his newer stuff has already departed that.

Talks on the internet have it that ‘Chillwave’ is already dying. That effing internet hipster who invented the damn term, Carles, is speculating that this might be so based on Pitchfork’s review of the album and their refusal to use the term.

I personally do not want chillwave to die. I think it’s a really chill and appropriate title for such music. Although it’s a sort of a half-bastard internet spawn, I feel like it has the potential of becoming the next psychedelic genre. It’s all about slow, vibacious, synth-saturated, chill-out tunes that make you feel like nothing matters in the world. 60’s psychedelia anyone? I honestly feel like this newest Toro Y Moi album is all of that, but it also adds a layer of rock, which in my mind simply completes the genre. I really see it going places in this current state.

The song above Still Sound is the single off the album, and isn’t it groovy? The bassline just tells you to grab a seat and relax, while the layered and echoed vocals coax you to sing along, despite the fact that they are unintelligible. The quiet synths flow and ebb like a pretty tide and that one tambourine or something just completes the beat for me. About halfway through a chill breakdown lets your spirit leave your body, albeit temporarily, before the beat snaps back and the song finishes. This song will grow on you quickly.

And the rest of the songs on this album are on the same level. I personally really like the song Go with you.

This song is much more relaxed than the previous, but similar in many ways as well. I really like the crunchy keyboard in the background and the tape delay on his voice during the refrain. It’s a very strange song but it makes sense in some sort of chill manner. I also really like the ending, the perfect groove, probably why I like this song so much.

I give this album a 7.08/7.25

A perfect album for just hanging out and enjoying the times.

I am also very anxious to see what the rest of this year will harbor for chillwave. The possibilities are endless! Talks of new Washed Out and Neon Indian are turning the rumor wheels. Maybe even my solo LP will be finished. lol

And going back to this whole morning business, (I am on the verge of passing our right now, too much chillwave) I will leave you with a challenge of sorts. About a year ago my Uncle told me that if at the moment of sunrise you are looking north and that there is a mirror placed at the corner of your eye you will see crazy things in your peripherals. I haven’t tried it yet because it sounds scary and peripheral hallucinations are a proven thing (and i have them them often enough as it is). But one day I will try this and most likely I will be listening to chillwave to calm my anxiety.

zzzzzZZZZZZZzzzzzzzZZZZZZ

-oko

-.-

Tags: , , , ,

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →