New Acid House Kings album tracking
Acid House Kings and their label, Labrador, offer to follow the progress of the band’s new album online. The album will be titled “Music sounds better with you”. Also, there are Twitter accounts for Acid House Kings and for Labrador.
Song of the day: Of Montreal - Sex Karma
No words, just music:
Of Montreal - “Sex Karma” (Featuring Solange) by ModernMysteryBlog
Interpol - Interpol
Interpol - Interpol
[Matador, 2010]
The fourth album in NYC’s Interpol discography became a self-titled one. There was talk about returning to the debut, but Paul Banks dismissed it, saying that the album will have “elegant, orchestral quality” and “some really classical stuff”.
The album is of a gently kind. There’s as if more space and air than there was in the preceding Our Love To Admire (2007).
On Summer Well the music shakes off the remains of the sleep and starts to get pumping. Just in time - the following track is the album highlight, Lights. Upbeat, with a hint of the ’70s art rock, but less pretentious and with more focus on melodies. Barricades shows some raw sounds, without much noise in it, but with a forward rhythm section, after which Always Malaise (The Man I Am) the guitars give way to beautiful keyboards and everything drowns in slow and somewhat sad beauty. All Of The Ways in a while catches up the slow tempo, adding transparency to the album.
Stylistically Interpol is a step forward compared to its predecessor. The 2007 album was more “about noise”, here its about keeping you involved and in-the-mood throughout the whole album. There’s the post-punk meat to it, and at the same time your ears aren’t overloaded with noise, but pick up the narrative part of it. You follow the story of the album and the change from the beat to the slow, from the raw indie rock to the compliments towards shoegaze and dream pop, in the middle and towards the end of the album.
Read & Listen:
Interpol Myspace
Sufjan Stevens - All Delighted People
Sorry, this entry is only available in Russian.
Altar Eagle - Mechanical Gardens
Altar Eagle - Mechanical Gardens
[Type, 2010]
Altar Eagle are a couple: Brad Rose (a.k.a. The North Sea) and his wife, Eden Hemming. They play a beatifully boring shoegaze, which is becoming more and more adequate as summer turns into rainy and cooler fall. This is the music of static electricity, with the ability to get inside of you and tune your faders and knobs to its frequency.
Beneath the melody line there are rigid, dry, scratching metallic sounds that go in parallel with a slow change of gluey notes and vocals soldered into the music. A usual shoegaze dreaminess, simply put. Somewhat like Beach House (think male+female), but with the vocals more inside the music.
What’s interesting about Mechanical Gardens is that in the middle of the album, on Monsters, a shift of mood happens. From a blanket-y, soft ambience - a dive into an almost jumpy electronic feel, more pop-like than in the beginning.
The album is perfect for those moments when you need something to bring you noise on the background - quite loud, for you to lose sense of time and stay in the space created by music, and focus on the task at hand. I usually apply shoegaze to focused work. To block the ambience sounds. Altar Eagle provides exactly for this beautiful even background. Without details that would draw too much attention to them, and at the same time such music that would keep you at the same wave length.
Read & Listen:
Altar Eagle Myspace
ALTAR EAGLE - Mechanical Gardens by _type
Fever Ray - Mercy Street (Peter Gabriel)
The original song sends shivers down my spine. And now Peter Gabriel’s classic, “Mercy Street” is covered by Fever Ray, ready for release on Rabid Records.
Mr Scruff Sunday all-day session
This gem has been online for over a week now, but it’s still a fact that it makes a perfect soundtrack for the easy way of life. Especially nice for my working Saturday. All-day session by Mr Scruff and friends, 12 hours long, BIG CHILL indeed! Enjoy!
Part 1
Sunday Session at the Scruff Tea Tent, Big Chill, 8th Aug 2010 (Pt 1 w/DJs Pete Masters & Dr. Sid) by Mr Scruff
Part 2
Sunday Session at the Scruff Tea Tent, Big Chill, 8th Aug 2010 (Pt 2 w/Mikey DON, Mr Scruff & Kwasi) by Mr Scruff
Aroop Roy - Nomadic Soul
Aroop Roy - Nomadic Soul
[Freestyle Records, 2010]
Aroop Roy is an artist and producer living in Tokyo and (currently) in London, and traveling the world bringing jazzy and breakbeat atmosphere. Nomadic Soul is his debut album, after numerous collaborations with other artists as a producer - among these being Kyoto Jazz Massive, Bugz In The Attic, Patrick Forge, Laurent Garnier. Despite the fact that he was more dragged into work as a producer, he’s been catching up as a musician in the past years, writing material for Nomadic Soul.
it’s impossible to put Aroop Roy in a specific catalog folder. One moment it’s funky grooves, another he adds up rap (Stand Up with an American rapper Replife), then comes some Latin America (a gorgeous Too Long)… Funky The Lonely Years was recorded in a collaboration with Sacha Williamson, it sets up the mood for the whole album - upbeat and light, but confident dance. Ain’t That Sweet with female rap and soul vocals courtesy of Sara Gis and honey brass tunes is a definite dancefloor hit. Oi Do Do Le is another magnetic danceable ethnic piece on the album. And to conclude this 11-track wonder is a purely atmospheric and lightweight melodic Lilly (thanks to a British jazz vocalist Sarah Winton).
Nomadic Soul is a perfect debut and a very diverse album. Exquisite, light, diverse in style. Perfect for summer weekend parties or a buoyant workday night. Album coming out on Freestyle Records in September
Read & Listen:
Aroop Roy Myspace
Interview with Aroop Roy
