May 2008
29 posts
“Ook! is a programming language designed for orang-utans.”
– Ook! Ook? Oook! Ook! Ook? Ook!
Crooked Legs by The Acorn crooked-legs-by-the-acorn.mp3
I’m always surprised that I’m not bored by The Acorn. At first listen, their songs seem so simple and ‘traditional’. I don’t know what it is exactly that differentiates them from so many other bands that kind of sound like this, but there’s just something spellbinding about their songs to...
“Windows 95 and MacOS are products, contrived by engineers in the service of...”
– Neal Stephenson, In the Beginning…Was the Command Line
Feel the Love by Cut Copy feel-the-love-by-cut-copy.mp3
This is definitely the Cut Copy song I can most get behind. It’s an interesting melding of #Clap-Your-Hands-Say-Yeah and classic #New-Order house. Jangly acoustic guitars float over rich bouncing bass lines. The drums alternate between a disco-y high-hat/snare alternation and a more conventional indie beat. Nasal...
Teen Drama by Times New Viking teen-drama-by-times-new-viking.mp3 There’s a big contrast between this “new lo-fi” stuff and the original 90s sound it’s aping that I haven’t heard anyone point out yet: digital lo-fi sounds are worlds apart from analog ones. Where cheap tape recordings have a warmth to their distortion, this digital stuff sounds super bright to the...
Another Day by Times New Viking another-day-by-times-new-viking.mp3
I just watched an MTV News report on the rise of lo-fi music: http://perpetua.tumblr.com/post/34249893 in which #Times-New-Viking featured prominently along with #No-Age. No Age have been highly buzzful lately and I’ve really been trying to get on board, but I haven’t quite managed to succeed. I have to...
Let’s Make Love and Listen to Death From Above (Spank Rock remix) by Cansei de Ser Sexy let-s-make-love-and-listen-to-death-from-above-spank-rock-remix-by-cansei-de-ser-sexy.mp3
I always used to think that the “Death From Above” in this song’s title was a band name; it was a hipster offer: “let’s have sex and listen to cool music”. But now...
Knife by Cansei de Ser Sexy knife-by-cansei-de-ser-sexy.mp3
Rendering this dark, haunting #Grizzly-Bear song in neon plastic synth colors ironically makes it sound like #The-Knife after which it is almost certainly not named.
(via Grabb.it)
“What is it going to take for you to get the message that customers don’t...”
– Joel on Software, Architecture astronauts take over
“If you want to see what it looks like when we become our parents, check out the...”
– clapclap.org knows writers who use subtext and they are all cowards: Punk Grammar
Launch Yourself by Adem launch-yourself-by-adem.mp3
This was the first Adem song I ever heard and is still by far my favorite. The melody is choked full of hooks. The sound is warm and intimate. The percussion is playful and pushes things forward. The arrangement is original and satisfying. A lot of the rest of his work falls too far into the boring/generic area just adjacent to...
To Cure A Weakling Child/Boy Girl Song by Adem to-cure-a-weakling-child-boy-girl-song-by-adem.mp3
Really cool #Aphex-Twin cover/mashup here. The incredible musicality of #Richard-D-James era Aphex means that it often strikes softer-timbred (even classically-instrumented) musicians as good fodder. In this case, I thnk #Adem is actually right since the pleasantness of his tones...
Creator by Santogold creator-by-santogold.mp3
Woah! Crackly old vinyl sound, squeaky vocals, and beepy lo-fi synths. Very #MIA. Haven’t really heard anyone go this much straight after her style before. Santogold (at least here) isn’t as vocally exciting, but I definitely dig the production. MIA works with the best (esp. #Timbaland) and there’s lots of rich ground...
“he’s so bland he makes Maroon 5 sound like Fugazi”
– Fluxtumblr on Ryan Adams
“Thriller” (Michael Jackson cover) - Ben Gibbard thriller-michael-jackson-cover-ben-gibbard.mp3
Sincerity is Ben Gibbard’s super power. Except for the screams of pop recognition from the crowd, he almost manages to make Thriller into a murder ballad. It’s an impressive feat.
(via Grabb.it)
Lover’s Spit by Broken Social Scene lover-s-spit-by-broken-social-scene.mp3
This song is timeless: lush, beautiful, catchy, moving, and original. It has a similar quality to #Transatlanticism by #Death-Cab-for-Cutie — even though it’s made of simple parts combined in a minimal way, it’s still extremely expressive; somehow with each repetition it become more...
MP3: Brendan Canning: Hit the Wall [from the Broken Social
Scene Presents Brendan Canning: Something for All of Us…
LP] -mp3-brendan-canning-hit-the-wall-from-the-broken-social-scene-presents-brendan-canning-something-fo.mp3
It’s amazing how the signature #Broken-Social-Scene sound (big, buzzy, and driving) went from sounding so fresh it was almost avant-garde circa...
Bright Tomorrow by Fuck Buttons bright-tomorrow-by-fuck-buttons.mp3
Kind of like a more abstract #Dan-Deacon song, here. I like the way each element that comes in alters the feeling of the rhythm without actually breaking the four-on-the-floor pounding. Also, if you’re gonna have a bass drum on each quarter note for the whole song, it damn well better sound as good this one....
Borges Story Summary: The Approach to Al-Mu'tasim
A literary review of a fictitous 30s Indian pulp mystery in which a Muslim scholar quests for a mysterious figure as penance for killing a Hindu in a riot.
(full text)
Borges Story Summary: Et Cetera
Short précis of six stories largely drawn from the Arabian Nights.
We Carry On by Portishead we-carry-on-by-portishead.mp3
Wow. Another great new Portishead track here. This one is very #Silver-Apples — all buzzy analog synths, pounding bass, and huge drums — which is crazy since the one I just heard right before this ( #Deep-Water ) was a nice little ukulele ditty.
(via Grabb.it)
Machine Gun by Portishead machine-gun-by-portishead.mp3
Hot damn, this new Portishead record is awesome! There was much chatter about their #Coachella show, but I didn’t expect anything like this. Also after a ten year lapse, this record was talked about as their #Chinese-Democracy so how could it possibly fulfill expectations? But I’m totally into this: it’s like...
