“A remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version.”
-Wikipedia
Two of the best musicians today happen to be close friends. Their musical styles are very different, but their music meshes so perfectly that something completely new and pure is born as a result. It leaves you wondering if there is an end to the limits of music.
The artists I am talking about are Flying Lotus and Radiohead, more specifically Thom Yorke. Their relationship is strange, bringing together British and West Coast influences. They often play each other’s music at live shows and when they get together to make a song the result is usually astounding.This song which you are presumably listening to right now is a take on the Radiohead song Reckoner as remixed by Flying Lotus.
The first thing you should notice is that he completely replaced the beat with one of his own. It has essentially been turned into a hip hop song, but a ghostly one which cuts a completely new road for the genre and solidifies FlyLo‘s experimental capabilities. The clicking noises are my absolute favorite as they maintain an extremely uneven beat which is so strangely gratifying. The vocals, perfectly layered over each other, are darker and filtered, giving the entire song this haunted feeling. At 2:20 the song ends culminates to what could be the ending of a cheap horror film, a very strange last note. Most of the original song had been cut out, but that which remains is so beautifully mixed that it just demands quiet respect. If I were a member of Radiohead, I would be utterly enthralled that something like this could be made from my music.
Now by no means do I think this remix to be ‘better’ than the original song. It is its own complete separate entity and a unique listening experience. Comparing the two would be like comparing apples and oranges. Except maybe that in this case, both of them would be the color gold.
-oko
&O
P.S. One of the song’s off of Flying Lotus’s Cosmogramma features Thom Yorke performing amazing lyrics. Just in case you didn’t go out and listen to the album like I so direly urged you to… here is that song. And let’s not make the same mistake twice now. lulz
At number 19, we find ourselves with Mr. Eddie Van Halen. This man speaks for himself, or rather his guitar playing speaks for him. Van Halen proved himself worthy of this place because of his impressive guitar playing technique and proficiency. His utilization of two-handed tapping along with both natural and artificial harmonics created a sound everyone has come to know. He also exhibits very tasteful use of vibrato and tremolo picking. If you need any other proof of why Van Halen belongs here, I only have one word for you…ERUPTION.
Number 18:
Who will fill the slot in place number 18? Mark Knopfler! That’s right. The Dire Straits’ lead guitarist is number 18. In 1977, he co-founded Dire Straits with his brother. The band was resoundingly successful until it disbanded in 1995. Knopfler has not given up. He still makes great music and composes film scores. Fascinatingly, Knopfler is left-handed, but plays guitar right-handed. He prefers not using picks and has developed his own fingerpicking style, or rather a variation on finger picking. Like Clapton, Knopfler prefers Fender guitars, yet came to appreciate the sounds of Gibson guitars in the ’80s. Knopfler is both proficient and plays with good feeling. In many of his recordings he tends to find very good places to bend notes, without overdoing it. Thus, he is number 18.
At number 17 we have Freddie King. The “Texas Cannonball” belongs on this list as he is truly guitar royalty, being one of the three kings of electric blues guitar. The other two are Albert King, and the legendary B.B. King. Freddie is here because of his awesome songs and his technique of creating guitar parts with vocal nuance. He also inspiredd other important musicians. He was one of the guitarists that was taken from us far too young at the age of 42.
Number 16: !?!?!?!?!?!?!!
For number 16 we have…wait for it…wait for it… Buddy Guy! This guy is awesome! He has a radiance on stage that few artists tend to exhibit. You can tell he is genuinely having a great time on stage playing music with his friends. He plays with wonderful feeling and has inspired many musicians with his work. He is responsible for the Chicago blues sound and his showmanship is nothing short of fantastic. Buddy Guy is known as a type of bridge between rock and roll and the blues. Clapton got the idea for a blues/rock trio during and England performance in which Buddy Guy’s trio was performing. Clapton was inspired by Buddy Guy and formed the power trio we all came to know as Cream. Because of Buddy’s inspiration and fantastic musicianship, he finds himself at number 16.
My head was jerking violently, my eyes following a picture of a musical note scrawled onto a piece of paper hanging from piano wire. It was making me dance for my life, the snipers and high powered machine guns waiting for just a single misstep. As the subconsciously ritual unbuckling and buckling of seatbelts continued, I tried to calm myself without the help of my heart which had already sunk out of reach. Bloody smiles and mangled cars watched as the powerful magic I attempted to wield spun out of control. I hit the brakes but it was too late, my mind had strayed too far from the fine line. I had been thrown into the mercy of the other half…
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Uhh… hi everyone. Today we will be exploring a little bit of the darker side of psychedelia. I’ll start with a little bit of history. Psychedelic rock was a main influence in what today is known as heavy metal. The genre is splintered into many sub-categories, such as death metal, thrash metal or even punk. There are countless forms of metal these days, but the one thing that is common among most of them is that the psychedelia has been phased out.
The band I bring to you today is the Fall of Troy. They are a hardcore band from Washington state that is also guilty of phasing out pyschedelia, up until recently anyway. One of their more recent EP’s, Phantom on the Horizon, is one of the best examples of heavy music implementing psychedelic elements out there. It does this, however, in a much different and darker manner than most traditional psychedelic bands would. This naturally suits a hardcore band.
If I had to accurately apply a genre to the EP, it could only be a psychedelic post-hardcore rock-opera. It consists of five songs, or ‘chapters’, and spans the length of a nightmarish and most-likely magic induced story about a Spanish galleon which encounters a ghostship from another dimension. It features amazing lyrics and is highly over-produced compared to the band’s other, more-raw albums, giving it almost this truly genuine hellish feeling.
Chapter II: A Strange Conversation opens with an extremely powerful introduction. The drums hammer away complex rhythms with precision while the guitar shreds away only building in intricacy as time passes. The combined sound creates that intense metal feeling right up until the beat skips and begins to stagger in a more hardcore manner in my opinion.
The vocals come in clear along with ridiculous guitar lines. The only thing that can make listening to this band better is knowing that both the singer and the lead guitarist are the same person. That means whenever you hear jaw-dropping shredding and raging screams, the source is the same entity.
Yes I did say screams. If that is cause for some alarm then let me try to ease you. I like to consider this song the friendliest introduction to screaming possible. They really aren’t that bad on this album in general, especially when compared to the rest of the band’s music, and they fit perfectly with the theme of the story.
What I love in particular about this song is that the screams truncate extremely clear and downright good lyrics, eventually leading into very powerful opera-esque wailing vocals which do justice to the singer’s wide range. In case you are wondering who is this extremely talented musician, his name Thomas Erak, a quickly blossoming guitar legend.
The song ends on a very slow and calm note, putting the post into post-hardcore. The music is one of a kind, and almost even more importantly, the feeling it conveys is a brand of overwhelming psychedelic insanity that bands in the 60’s only dared approach with a thick wall of dry-humor.
Chapter IV: Enter the Black Demon is the other song on the EP which I need to share. As kind of the musical apex, it opens with a flurry guitar notes and drum beats which melt into one another as if it all were riding on the edge of a massive volcanic explosion. A long howl does very nicely at indicating the mood at the current point in the story, and a second singer is implemented to represent the ‘black demon’.
The main vocalist and protagonist of the story fights for his sanity here with his confrontation with ‘black demon’ “Bang Bang Bang Bang, the thoughts in your head taking hold.” The representation of madness seen here is dealt with a passion that demands respect. A short heavy screaming part (MURDER) segues into a light and upbeat bridge. “Explanations turn to Explanations which turn to Explorations.” It gears you for a intense guitar solo which builds heavily into an abrupt and again peaceful ending.
The contrast between the endings and the rest of the songs on this album make for beautiful metaphors, kind of like sailing on the seas which one day are calm, the next stormy.
This sort of epic EP, with a length of only 37 minutes, is best enjoyed in a full sitting. Only then will you be able to truly appreciate a masterpiece of this sort of mood, which is actually very new to musical scene and is very psychedelic in nature. Just the screams alone convey a feeling which is truly hard to replicate any other way and even show a definite level of commitment to the music based on the negative effects of screaming. The sheer range of emotions in this EP creates an openness of interpretation which allows any listener enjoy it like a custom tailored movie experience.
Side- Note: If you are someone who refuses to listen to this because of the screaming then keep this in mind. Phantom on the Horizon is actually a remake of the band’s much earlier Ghostship demos. The demos were essentially the same songs, minus chapter three, much shorter, and a lot more raw. There is even a debate on the internet about which version is better, with supporters of the latter saying that the new release is way too tame for their tastes. In my opinion both are great in their own regards, and if you are willing to compare the two I will link the original version of chapter four down below. Just remember, screamed vocals are quite the… acquired taste… and please, for the love of god, don’t automatically associate them with ‘screamo’.
John McVie? Isn’t he the bassist from Fleetwood Mac? Absolutely. But he wasn’t always in Fleetwood Mac. Welcome John McVie into this week’s installment of “Same Artist, Different Place.”
McVie got his start by playing in High School with a cover band. This has become an almost hackneyed opening to all musician stories, but High School cover bands are truly the way that most famous musicians get started. So the lesson here is to seek out the talented musicians in your High School (like McVie) and latch on to their band. Can’t play an instrument? No matter, be their manager or something. Let’s get back to reality.
McVie played music from the Shadows with his band Krewsaders until leaving school at 17 for tax inspector training. Music, at that time, became a side hobby until bassist Cliff Barton turned down a part in a new Chicago-blues style band called John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers and suggested that Mayall give McVie an audition. Mayall listened and was impressed with McVie. So, Mcvie, with no formal training in music, was accepted into the Bluesbreakers. Mayall gave him albums from B.B. King and other blues musicians to study.
Before Fleetwood Mac, there was the Bluesbreakers, who would later become known as a talented platform band, where English musicians went before becoming famous with other acts (kind of like The Yardbirds). Musicians like Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, Mick Taylor, “Sugarcane” Harris, Andy Fraser and Aynsley Dunbar played with the band. The band was exceptionally talented and it sustained itself with tremendously talented musicians.
After Clapton and Bruce left the Bluesbreakers (they would later form Cream), Mayall added guitarist Peter Green in 1966 and soon after added drummer Mick Fleetwood. I bet you see where this is going. McVie developed a great relationship with Green and Fleetwood and after Green was replaced by Mick Taylor he started a new band which he called Fleetwood Mac, after his beloved rhythm section of Fleetwood and McVie. It didn’t take too much convincing to get Fleetwood over to the new band and after McVie became dissatisfied with Bluesbreaker’s move towards Jazz he joined the new band in 1967.
The rest is history.
Here is McVie playing “All Your Love” with the Bluesbreakers (Eric Clapton on guitar).
With magic fresh on our minds we walk across the war-torn elementary school field. Hues of red in the sky discolored the smoke which blocked our vision and filled our noses with the scent of burnt elements. Flashes in the sky hastened our wavering walk, our destination a celebration of a baby nation.
I felt like this song would be an appropriate one for today purely based on its title. Fireworks, by Animal Collective, is probably the most popular and likable song from one of their more bizarre albums, Strawberry Jam.
The song starts with a beat that could only make sense if you accidentally inhaled a lung full of salvia divinorum while watching an episode of Spongebob Squarepants, consequently forgetting to exhale. The vocals do their part to attempt to cheer you up as you spin hypnotically into a severe feeling of strangeness. You slowly realize that there is nothing to make out of this song, yet you won’t stop listening to it because you like it.
It is something in between the lyrics and that feeling that your insides are being twisted into rope which resembles the bulk of the song. The result is a mind-bending psychedelic horror which Animal Collective is rightfully and most of the time unknowingly known for. The transitions in this song float as if time were optional and the closer you listen to it the more bizarre and unearthly sounds you will uncover, a dirty pleasure sort of like philosophically pealing apart the essence of joy. The melodies are cute and friendly, but the way in which they are used can only be reminiscent of a horror house disguised as a sunny beach, waiting for you to fall asleep so that it can reveal its true face when you wake from a peaceful nap. It switches from being mellow and cheerful to intense and upbeat like someone actively splitting their personality so as to only keep you interested in what they have to say slightly longer.
Hopefully you watch some fireworks while listening to this song. The two go very well together. The song really isn’t even about fireworks, but every time that one line mentions fireworks, you will get a fuzzy feeling inside. And fuzzy feelings are sort of what fireworks are all about after all. Too bad my cats don’t agree.
The Music Court 