Archive

2012

Frank Ocean Live

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April 14, 2012
2012, Live
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Wish you were at Coachella? While this won’t remedy the fact that I’m not able to see Kendrick Lamar, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dog, M83 and many more. It’s still pretty cool that someone finally decided to do live streams from the festival.This year there are live streams from some of the shows at Coachella including this awesome set by Frank Ocean who is backed by one of our favorites, BadBadNotGood. You can watch around 40 minutes of the set below and be sure to check out the live stream page here.

Sasquatch Artist of the Week: Active Child

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April 13, 2012
2012, Festivals
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Nine weeks ago, the Sasquatch Music Festival lineup was released to much fanfare. Like all festivals, some hated the lineup while others loved it. For the more levelheaded, it appears to be a very balanced lineup with a deep undercard. From here on out we will be underscoring the lesser-known Sasquatch artists by highlighting a different artist each week. Beyond delving into each artist’s bio, sound, etc., we will attempt to give some insight into what will make their performance at Sasquatch so amazing.

Some of the most captivating music is made when artists seek to combine elements from a variety of styles, generating distinctive, unique subgenres all their own. Additionally, I am always fascinated by artists who draw from their own wide-ranging (if not traditionally related) talents, amalgamating their skills to create something entirely novel. It is no surprise, then, that I was instantly drawn to the music of Active Child, the production moniker of New Jersey native Pat Grossi. Grossi has crafted what I consider to be a truly unique combination of the new and the old, the majestic and the innocent. As a child, Grossi began soaking up music as a member of the Philadelphia Boys Choir. He was also heavily influenced by the heavy, epic rhythms of ‘80s dance bands such as New Order. Add in his dexterity on the classical harp and a propensity for expressive lyrical imagery, and you have a musical entity that is both idiosyncratic and extraordinary.

In his work as Active Child, Grossi manages to fuse his own exquisitely naïve choirboy-style falsetto vocals (reminiscent of the work of James Blake and Justin Vernon) with powerful ‘80s synths and deep, sweeping drum patterns. The dramatic rhythms and crisp handclaps present in the choruses of several Active Child tracks evoke some the same feelings brought on by the work of M83. Additionally, the delicate, angelic qualities of the live harp provide a certain ethereal quality, counterbalancing the intensity of the other instrumentals. Active Child’s music is part classical masterpiece and part electronic gem.

Rossi released a cassette-only EP called Sun Rooms in early 2010 via Mirror Universe, and then went on to release a second EP, titled Curtis Lane, on Merok Records in May 2010. Curtis Lane was received well by various critics, and in August of 2011 Grossi released a full-length album titled You Are All I See. He has since toured with both James Blake and M83, proving himself as a strong performer as well as studio artist. On his tour in August and September of 2011, openers included Com Truise, fellow Sasquatch! 2012 performer and Artist of the Week feature. Active Child’s Sasquatch set will be on Sunday evening at the Yeti stage.

Below, watch the videos for “Playing House” (featuring How To Dress Well) and “I’m In Your Church At Night.”

Clams Casino Remixes Joyce

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April 13, 2012
2012, New Music, Remixes
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For those of you who are missing out on Coachella this weekend, here’s a little something to brighten this rainy LA morning. The name Joyce probably doesn’t ring a bell. It’s the new moniker under which Katherine Fussey, niece of acclaimed guitarist Mick Ronson, has released a catchy, echoy-instrumental single, “Keep The Lights On.” It’s an enjoyable track in and of itself, with its head-bobbing rhythms, simple synth melodies, and bright, exclamatory vocals. But as we have seen thus far, it is very difficult to find a piece of music that cannot be improved upon through a little rework by our dear friend Clams Casino. He has preserved Joyce’s bubbly vocals, as well as the ease and abandon she displays in the original track, but at the same time he manages to throw in all of his trademark humid cloudiness, as though “Keep The Lights On” got lost in the rainforest or on a deserted island, and never had any desire to leave. It’s smooth with just enough crunch. There’s a lot going on in this remix, but it’s far from overwhelming; it’s the perfect balance of complication and repetition. Stream Clams’ remix here, and head to Joyce’s SoundCloud to hear the original track.

New Oddisee Track

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April 11, 2012
2012, New Music
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A new track from the ever impressive Oddisee is always a good thing. Oddisee is as equally talented as a rapper as he is a producer which puts him among my favorite artists.  This track was released to satiate his fans until the release of People Hear What They See, set to be released on June 5th by the always on point Mello Music Group. This will be his debut album and make it’s way onto your radar for  fresh new hip hop.  Here’s what Oddisee’s had to say about the album:

“This album is about influence, inspiration, perception & reality. Every song was written in an outside environment, so that I could observe the subjects that would become my subject matter. All too often in Hip Hop, reality is limited to that of the artists own, actual experiences. People Hear What They See is my attempt to liberate the MC from those constraints & allow reality to be penned other than my own. Listening to congressmen & lawyers converse on the steps of the supreme court inspired ‘American Greed’, Watching a couple argue over the phone in a bar inspired ‘Maybes’. By having a visual representation of my subject matter, my hopes are that the listener will see them through the worlds & melodies of my songs.”

You can stream and download the track below.

Stream a New Track from London’s Kwes

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April 11, 2012
2012, New Music
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24-year-old London-based producer/instrumentalist Kwes has been making music for many years; however, it seems only recently has he been noticed by the blogosphere. His story is intriguing. He began playing the keyboard at age five, experimenting with many instruments throughout his youth. Kwes has a fascinating condition known as color synesthesia, which means he associates different types or tones of music with particular colors. As he told The Fader back in 2010,

“…each note on the 12 tone scale equates to colour, any chord surrounded by whichever note I’m hearing will be a version of the colour. Generally it looks like this to me: G – orange. D which is always yellow/green, E which is yellow/gold, F which is violet/blue, C-Blue, A-light blue, B-yellow/gold/green. Also it’s something that is quite unobtrusive, it’s pleasantly normal. It’s what I’ve always seen so I’m not startled or surprised by it, every time I hear music it happens.” (Via.)

Kwes released an EP called No Need To Run in June of 2010 via Young Turks, and he has worked with the likes of The xx (producing an early version of “Insects”) and London experimental/grime musician Micachu. Additionally, he has a new four-track EP coming out on May 1st via Warp; this one will be called Meantime. Today, you can stream a brand new track off the upcoming EP. This 7-minute track, titled “lgoyh,” is melancholy yet hopeful, as though Kwes is singing of unrequited love. The song is quite different from “bashful,” the other single off Meantime that was released back in March, proving that Kwes employs multifaceted production techniques and musical influences. Stream “Igoyh” below.

New Track and Video from Simian Mobile Disco

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April 10, 2012
2012, New Music, Videos
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The wacky London analog-electro production duo Simian Mobile Disco has a new album, Unpatterns, coming out on May 14th. The group will be touring throughout Europe and the US through July; check out their tour dates after the jump. Today, you can stream the album’s sixth track, “Put Your Hands Together,” right here:

We also bring you the brand new video for “Seraphim,” which is a weird montage of people performing eerily mundane activities.

 

The tracklist for Unpatterns is as follows:

01. I Waited For You
02. Cerulean
03. Seraphim
04. A Species Out of Control
05. Interference
06. Put Your Hands Together
07. The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife
08. Your Love Ain’t Fair
09. Pareidolia

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Interview: Move Over Trailer Park Boys, Ryan Hemsworth is Taking Over Halifax

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April 9, 2012
2012, Interviews, New Music
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The ability to network on the web is a key skill for any young artist to possess in today’s music landscape. I’m not going to get into the demise of the record industry here (the New York Times produced a great infographic on the subject), but the resonating effect of the drop in record sales has been palpable. Connecting with artists, labels and collectives from across the country and world should be a key goal for any artist on the come up. Recently, we spoke with an artist who has utilized the web to astounding effect. Ryan Hemsworth is a 21 year old producer from Halifax, Nova Scotia on Canada’s far east coast. Halifax resides in a quiet corner of Canada, known more for its harbor and the cult TV favorite, Trailer Park Boys, than any form of hip hop or electronic music scene. As nearby Toronto and Montreal have gained notoriety for their abundance of innovative, young producers (Jacques Greene, Lunice, Zodiac, etc.), Halifax has remained a sleepy coast city. Hemsworth has responded to the lack of a local scene by extending roots to New York, Oakland, and even Paris. He is a member of the Green Ova crew, and has done extensive production work for Main Attrakionz and Shady Blaze over the past several years. More recently, the Bromance Records crew (Brodinski, Gesaffelstein, etc.) has been showing Hemsworth love. As a result, Hemsworth’s brand of “cloud dance” as he jokingly terms his music has become wildly popular in blog world, via remixes of artists as disparate as Grimes and Three 6 Mafia. Hemsworth is one of the most talented artists making music right now and has his foot in the door of stardom. I would not be at all surprised if he has a Clams Casino-esque presence in blog world, or if he has his hands on this year’s LiveLoveA$AP. Hit the jump to read the whole interview. You won’t regret it. Find Ryan at:

Facebook

Twitter

Soundcloud

Bandcamp

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Enjoy Easter With New Jay Electronica

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April 8, 2012
2012, New Music
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What a week for new music. To top it off, we have the mysterious Jay Electronica (finally releasing the full version of “Dear Moleskine”. A snippet of this track was released in 2009 with a short video to accompany it (watch here). The slick track was produced by Just Blaze and is predominantly an instrumental track with a short verse from Jay. After following the man for such a long time, you begin to appreciate every little snippet he puts out. That being said, he needs to just drop the album already. Stream the track below and enjoy.

Ballroom Dancing and Bass Music at Beat Cinema

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April 5, 2012
2012, Interviews, Live
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Photo by Madeline Feig

The Inland Empire is known for suburban sprawl, biker gangs and not much else. It is the region East of Los Angeles that stretches from somewhere around West Covina to San Bernardino. Despite its proximity to LA, it is about as far a stretch from the beaches of Santa Monica, art galleries of Culver City and clubs of Sunset Boulevard as you can get in the state of California. So it came as a huge surprise when we found out that a beat scene (albeit a small one) is present in the quiet town of Claremont, CA. A few weeks ago I was introduced to Beat Cinema, a hip hop, experimental, beats, funk, soul and psychedelic night at the Hip Kitty Jazz and Fondue Lounge. Claremont is a small college town swimming out-of-place in the extended suburban and industrial sprawl of Los Angeles county. It is known fondly as “the city of trees and PhD’s,” and couldn’t be more displaced from the streets of Lincoln Heights where the fabled Low End Theory takes place.

There was no doubt in my mind that I had to check Beat Cinema out. Low End Theory is a mecca of sorts for people like us, and the idea that Beat Cinema could provide at least a portion of the culture, community and musical talent supplied by LET was enticing to say the least. We spoke with Beat Cinema’s founder, Rick, about a possible interview. This Tuesday, the night’s bill boasted (DJ) Nobody, Portland’s Quarry, Alpha Pup rep Dot and all the club’s usual residents, so we decided to make an appearance.

As we walked into the Hip Kitty around 9:30, we were greeted by leather-wrapped booths and a large upscale bar; the venue was, in fact, a jazz club. The only real indication that this was Beat Cinema was the assortment of turntables, mixers, MPD’s, and APC’s on a long table at the front of the room. We found Rick and walked out to the patio to get the interview started. Outside, there was a DJ playing some Domo Genesis, a black and white film being projected on the far wall and (DJ) Nobody mingling with the crowd. This felt more like it.

Beat Cinema first started out as a movie night curated by Rick and his sister. Rick started DJing in between films as a sort of intermission, and eventually got the idea to combine the two concepts; thus, Beat Cinema was born. Rick says his motivation to begin the project stemmed from fatigue and annoyance after one too many 40-minute drives into LA to see shows. Beat Cinema’s debut featured The Gaslamp Killer and Ras G back in September of 2009 (an event Rick still considers one of the best Beat Cinema’s), and the concept took off from there.

In the years since, Beat Cinema has brought in a wide variety of impressive guests, such as Samiyam, Mono/Poly, Tokimonsta, KNXWLEDGE, Salva and more. Dublab took over for a night and Daedelus, Matthewdavid and more made appearances. Despite the impressive list of artists they’ve brought in, Rick likes to keep the night low-key, preferring to avoid the type of promotional flyers that he considers “litter;” according to him, 90% of the beat scene probably hasn’t heard of Beat Cinema. It really is a hidden gem nestled in the expanse of the Inland Empire. Cult classic films still regularly, but the emphasis is now decidedly on the music.

This is not your average club night, though. The crowd is slightly older than you would expect, and there is far more milling about and socializing than dirty dancing. In one perplexing moment, a middle-aged couple began ballroom dancing in the middle of Quarry’s set. With stuttering bass music blaring, the couple pulled off moves with aplomb as the younger crowd watched from afar with wry smiles. Like I said, this is a far stretch from your typical LA club.

In the middle of the conversation, Rick told us a story about his roommate’s birthday party a few weeks back, where Flying Lotus just happened to play his new album for the party guests. It goes to show that even out here in the desert, the sense of community in the beat scene is still apparent. Claremont is far removed from Lincoln Heights, but Beat Cinema is closer to Low End Theory than you’d think.

New Teen Daze

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April 5, 2012
2012, New Music
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Teen Daze just released “The Future” off of his upcoming album, All of Us, Together. The album is set to come out on May 22nd. Like most Teen Daze tracks, “The Future” is blissful electro pop that has proven to be his forte. Teen Daze is a master of making these feel good dance tracks. Stream the track below and check out another track off the album from our previous post here.