A.S - Mixing 14 years experience of Sternberg Clarke placing live music in high-end hotels/venues (SC is the first agency to introduce live contemporary electronic music to London’s top cultural arts locations such as The National Gallery, Royal Acadamy of Art, The Tate Modern and Somerset House) with music director/ DJ Carlo Rossi's vast music knowledge was a match made in the great skies above. As a venue music supplier, DJ and consultant we can be something of a scrutinizing customer when we check in for a weekend away at a beautiful hotel, go to an exquisite event, or glamorous boutique, It never ceases to amaze us how many wonderful brands which have invested so much time, creativity and money into their interiors seem content to play Café del Mar, Buddha Bar on repeat, or to fill their guests’ music library with Classic FM compilations. Such CDs have their uses and their success can’t be denied, but, isn’t a visit to a boutique or top end hotel all about escaping the mundane and the familiar? We want to be wowed with a unique hotel experience. That feeling of a musical experience is what Music Couture is about after all.
Why is music so important in hotels/boutiques/venues?
C.R - It’s absolutely crucial to get the music right. As savvy guests, we all know that hoteliers, boutique owners and event organizers have to make sure the interior design is stunning, the menu and wine lists are mouth-watering, and (in hotels) the bed and its linen are of the highest quality. All of those factors hit us directly through our senses of sight, taste, smell and touch. Sound is the missing part of this sensory jigsaw. It's often ignored, yet hearing is our second most important sense after sight. When a property gets the music right, it has an emotional impact on us as soon we cross the threshold. It’s this that is an essential part of a hotel’s sensory branding. That’s why brands that want to stand out need to sound different as much as look it.
So how do so many hotels get it wrong?
What does MUSIC COUTURE do?
A.S - With our experience covering music consultancy and supplying top music acts from our entertainment agency to many of the world’s biggest clients, Carlo began Music Couture to offer hotels consultancy from real music experts. Carlo began working with Sternberg Clarke after being head hunted by us 5 years ago when we heard about his name via DJMAG from the chart-topping 'Tsunami' chill-out compilation with Organic Records. Since then he has become a huge success for our agency, DJing constantly at many of the most prestigious events across the globe which have included the BAFTA’s and A-list film premiers and this year we appointed Carlo as head of our contemporary music department. With Carlo’s vast experience Music Couture has an ever-growing music library which now covers over 100 genres spread across nine decades, including the latest finger-on-the-pulse releases. This incredible library, alongside our music-programming experience, allows us to offer a hotel/brand a unique signature sound that reflects its character, location and ethos. We spend a great deal of time sourcing music that fits our clients’ identity and then painstakingly piece together these totally unique play-lists for each time of the day and for different areas within the property. These play-lists are exclusive for our clients and never copied.
What separates you apart from the herd?
A.S - What we offer where other Music stylists come short is our ‘total cross branding’. As we also offer live music to your hotel, we can create an overall and complete branding where other styling companies can just design a playlist. We believe this is enormously important as the live music and the sound that is heard throughout your hotel should be complimentary of each other, creating a visitors complete unique experience of the hotel. We pride ourselves on our clients getting good press and guest feedback that mentions the quality of the music. The London Paper & The Times recently reported that the Andaz has now been voted the No.1 ‘best high-end’ party hotel in the world. Channel 5 in France in July 10’ filmed a documentary focusing on the changing face of contemporary hotel culture that highlighted the Andaz’s attention to detail and its ground breaking customer/staff experience and featuring Carlo and its extraordinary style of music.
C.R - In today’s lifestyle dominated age, the use of music as a lifestyle choice is a critical element of hotel design. Music provides a mainline to your guest’s consciousness – music helps define who they are, how they see the world and vitally how they value your brand. Music Couture makes music a primary tool in the creation of a cohesive brand statement for your organization and your customer’s experience. Our aim is to enhance brand loyalty through the selective and creative application of the ‘visitor’s experience’.
Why are MUSIC COUTURE a cut above the rest?
A.S - It's not that we think we're better, but we have a huge passion to create a high quality policy to ensure that you consistently play only the best music selection possible for your hotel(s)/boutiques/events so as to convey a uniform message according to your brand standards. To make this possible it's vital to make use of a professional styling consultancy service that handpicks not only the popular tunes but the hidden gems on the albums and B-sides.
I believe there is no other music styling company has a director who DJs over 150 days a year in the widest array of high-end venues and events that are constantly pushing the boundaries of identity and the experiential. Carlo lives, eats, breathes and performs music to audiences from the ages of 20 to eccentric artists/film makers/writers in their 70s which gives him an unparalleled experience in music styling.
I believe there is no other music styling company has a director who DJs over 150 days a year in the widest array of high-end venues and events that are constantly pushing the boundaries of identity and the experiential. Carlo lives, eats, breathes and performs music to audiences from the ages of 20 to eccentric artists/film makers/writers in their 70s which gives him an unparalleled experience in music styling.
What kind of hardware does MUSIC COUTURE use?
C.R - Traditionally, most hotels use multi-CD machines to create their musical atmosphere. This has two major flaws; a reliance on hotel staff members to manually change CD’s periodically and secondly, all single artist albums or multi-artist compilations include tracks covering a wide range of styles, genres and tempos. Additionally it is likely that only a few good, suitable songs will be on each CD. Of course, key CD’s can also go missing and staff may take the opportunity to play their own music choices.
Using a Satellite or CD system from a background music supplier can eliminate the issues of using consumer CD’s. However they will only provide a range of ‘generic music channels or programs’ designed to appeal to a widest possible range of applications and outlets. The service they provide is not tailored to the exact requirements of each music zone in each venue. Through our partnership with C-Burn - our hardware music system, we provide you with complete audio control and the flexibility to reflect the personal identity of each property and delivering your branded sound is what the Music Couture consultancy will deliver, allowing you to provide, through the music you play, a consistent sense of elegance, taste and style
0 (44) 0790 355 0438 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Music Couture's Top 10 evening grooves of August 2011 for Tom Aiken's Terrace at Somerset House. The Aldwych
1. Oliver Koletzki & Fran - Echoes
The producer and DJ Oliver Koletzki and singer Fran are still firmly riding on the fast track to glorious pop music. After the first single “Arrow and Bow” of their new album “Lovestoned” they now release “Echoes”, both as a maxi single with four different remixes and a vinyl edition that includes three of the remixes. But let’s start with the original, which is easily one of the strongest and most powerful songs of the album. It is here where Koletzki’s background as a producer of house and techno meets with Fran’s ability to create divine lyrics and perform them with her unmistakable voice. With it’s groovy loop, some softly floating pianos and great musical synthesisers the track reminds of pop tracks by the likes of Mia or Morcheeba. A sure hit, for the dancefloor, the living room and the radio station!
Stil vor Talent’s goldfinger Niko Schwind who takes some of the best parts of the original vocal and bassline and adds some surrounding percussions and effects. By adding some strings to the vocal on the breakdown, he manages to create an eery moment that is juxtaposed by the pure beauty of the rest of this techy remix. After the original Version it is the Hamburg-based house don Solomun who drops a fat acidy bassline onto the sweet vocal and perfectly manages to have everyone going wild while at the same time hugging each other. Add some typical empathic strings and this is the ideal sundownder track. And, Solomun, like all of the remixers seems to be very much in love with Fran’s vocal. And to be honest, we can’t get enough it ourselves. Oliver himself ends the remix session and turns “Echoes” into a softly clicking understated piece of tech-house that evolves with every added sound from the original. The track is like a breathing organism that delicately speaks with Fran’s voice and slowly moves towards a blissful breakdown that includes chirping birds and piano magic.
2. Marek Hemman - Left (feat. Fabian Reichelt)
Marek Hemmann has grown into the electronic music as a hunter, collector and true connoisseur of tones and sonics. It all began in the beginning of the 90’s with a guitar whose sonic spectrum was far too limited for him. The discovery of the samplers and the synthesizers suddenly opened new possibilities where the acoustic world could be conserved; it was now possible with sound and noise on synthesizers to create what the human ear has never before experienced. The reason for the sonic passion was delivered to him via the techno parties late 90’s in his home area of Gera which was soon a weekly anchor for electronic experimentation. Here was to be found deep and delightful connections with people, rhymes, light and sounds. Until the first live gigs would come just a few years later, he made music for himself and his flat mates. This emboldened him to eventually begin to play his music live, leaving behind self-doubt and found with his first gig his calling as a live act. From then on he refined and improved his sets from which grew the distinctive Marek Hemmann sound; a sound with a minimum on technique but rather a very wide diversity of noise and tonal sensibility. The result is a substantially reduced electronic dance music which having a solid house foundation orbits its original state. Deep bass meets voice fragments, shakers, and percussion carry the rhythm; a funky minimal techno with plenty of space for other musical elements. Always on the search for the perfect groove and catchy melodies which fit snug and comfy in the ear. Since 2005 Marek Hemmann lives in Jena where his home, studio and label are in the immediate vicinity. Here he has the required distance for travel on the weekends, the locale allows for inspiration from the student life, and his creativity to flourish. After innumerable remixes and a handful of singles, in fall 2009 his debut album ‘In Between’ was published on the label Freude am Tanzen.
With 'Left' Marek Hemmann delivers his first vocal-led release, stepping into the pop infused sphere of dance music with great accomplishment. His clear understanding of pop is merged with his house and techno tendencies, creating a classic sounding song boasting a hypnotic groove and enchanting melody. So typical for Hemmans handwriting, but also so refreshingly done. The voice is added perfectly to the soundscape, underlined by a modulated string arrangement, and a sunny euphoria of a catipulting bassline.
3. Mock & Toof - Shoeshine Boogie
I guess – I've never asked – that part of the reason this website doesn't list the name of the record label in their album reviews is to counteract the scourge of priapic-on-their-own-nerdery judgmental skimreaders who cursor-scoot around the net, clocking the initial column inch or two of record reviews and deciding whether or not it's going to be worth their while continuing based on the information afforded them in these brief seconds. Mock & Toof are a duo from London and Tuning Echoes, their debut album, is NOT on DFA Records. Are you still there? Is that cool with you? They have however had enough releases on James Murphy's 'achingly hip' label (note to self: start up a label called Aching Hip in the next decade) to be considered a 'DFA band', so it's not like I'm keeping you reading on entirely false pretences. (The album's actually released by Tiny Sticks, which is ran by the duo themselves and which has put out plenty 'nuff electro and cosmic disco twelve-inches to have established a perfectly credible name for themselves, thankyouverymuch.)
Still. Music nerdery (priapic or otherwise) is more often than not absorbed by osmosis rather than consciously learnt, and in this benighted age, faceless outlets be vyin' for your attention – so it's understandable that people make snap decisions about the worth of someone's art based on a scant dribble of detail. Maybe you already think Mock & Toof are gonna be some sockless exhibition-launching waft of mezzobrow cod-sophistication and ruthlessly correct musical references. If you have those presumptions, Tuning Echoes is likely not for you, but if you're not quite that stangry, it's not half bad, it's actually brilliant.
They start by half-suggesting to you that they have elected to do the wallflower shuffle for their first full-length, in lieu of the dancefloor appealing for a solid hour or so. 'Farewell To Wendo' is wistful, danceable post-punk with a German woman, name of Pollyester, singing "Murder me with orgasms / Formula! Formula!" and other such common sense. A bit Stereo Total and a bit Junior Boys, it suggests that Mock & Toof matters have taken a turn for the indie, after the club-ready warmth established on previous wax. Across an – overlong – 65-minute album, this proves to be largely a red herring. The 13 tracks here are rooted in electronics, pretty much without exception, but chilly, chiming guitars aren't off limits for numbers like 'Move Along'. Vocals are exclusively handled by either Pollyester or Gavin Gordon, a Glaswegian singer who is by no means a bad fit for M&T's brand of evocative silk-spinning, but who would be equally at home atop a dad-rocking indie-folk combo like Frightened Rabbit or similar.
If you wanted to be snarky, you could say that Mock & Toof aren't exactly a young person's concern as it is. I mean, these guys introduced themselves to the world with a bootleg Madonna edit and seem to be chiefly enjoyed by men in their mid-to-late thirties with well managed facial hair. In 2010, though, we should really be over the notion that dance is for ver kids; childishness can benefit it greatly, but in the right hands so can maturity. As it is, you sense it's M&T's dual experience that's responsible for this album's finest moments. Pollyester is a dream topping for the squealy keys, Malaria!-ish blank verses and vintage disco-pop refrain of 'Shoeshine Boogie'; elsewhere, most notably 'Norman's Eyes', she suggests that her plus band might even have electropop hitmaker potential in them – a Little Boots rather than Gaga-sized hit, but still something to ponder.
4. Kraak & Smaak - Dynamite (feat. Sebastien)
Music Couture's Top 10 evening grooves of May 2011 for Philippe Starck's St Martin's Lane Hotel. Covent Garden
1. Ellen Alien - Bim
Ellen Allien has never compartmentalized. In fact, her persistence as a techno standard-bearer of sorts is in part supported by her many pursuits: solo artist, label head (BPitch Control), DJ, fashion designer and, most recently, Time Out tour guide.
Built from vinyl sides and cased in Allien's usual dreamy radiance, the crackling nocturnes of her recent Boogybytes Vol. 4 slink along a crisp carpet of throb. ButSool, her first album of solo material in three years, is something else. Largely devoid of techno's percussive ligament, that steady conveyor belt chug that effectively parades Allien's selections throughout Boogybytes, the clatter on Sool is set against steely, reverberant silence. A stealth move away from the bustling pleasures of dance music, it could be a transitional work for Allien.
The most drastic difference is the influence of producer Antye Greie, a.k.a. AGF. Allien diced, dashed and generally mutated her voice years before crossing paths with this prolific "poem producer." Instead, what changes under AGF's tenure is Allien's method of assembly. While past albums inched towards something like techno-fortified, glitch-sprinkled avant pop, Allien has now delivered a suite of noises and tones that deserves the library-catalog classification of "electronic music." While I can't say if Allien is really turning real dials or patching frequencies, the genre’s starkness is all over Sool's electric splatter of trembling specks and lucent trails. Tracks are comprised of a few scattered elements, spikes on the radar screen that clash in the monochrome night.
Entering though "Einsteigen," Sool briefly glimpses the world it'll wall off. Tape starts rolling in an Ubahn station and continues out onto city streets. But the indiscernible conversations and pattering footsteps are gently nettled by modulator spasms. By the time we reach "Caress,” everything is enveloped. Far from the tender touch of its title, the track is icy hot. Allien's trademark flutter-flickers – those stuttering jump-cuts of clouded voice – bounce to a tensely-taut lock-groove. On 'Bim,” a busted paleo-beatbox loop and gaseous spurts skirmish with Allien's helium-smeared gasps. "Sprung" slathers dubstep grease over the dot matrix serialism of a clipped thump. In its echoes of analog mechanics – the snap-clickety-snap of a camera shutter ("Ondu"), a Xerox machine shuffle ("Zauber"), the slow tear of cloth ("MM") – Sooleschews techno's megalopolitan CG vistas for an almost post-punk sensibility of fractured, dustbin futurism. Nowhere is there a reliable Allien anthem, those whirling cascades of crushed metal and incandescent melody that usually filled out at least a third of an Allien longplayer. The closest to such song-like formations is the relatively slight "Frieda,” a sketch of a ballad dedicated to Allien's recently deceased grandmother. But it seems an afterthought.
Hypnotically inert, Sool gives us Allien the austere lab technician. She's far more social on Boogybytes, but if I'm going to choose a side of Allien, I'll forego riding with her down those smoothly-paved, cleanly-merging lanes and head for a bumpy trip through the rutted trashscapes of Sool..
2. Amadou & Mariam - Sabail (Damian Marley feat. Nas)
Distant Relatives is Nas and Damian Marley, a heavy hitting combination, especially on their track “Patience.” It expands on the haunting song “Sabali” by Malian legends Amadou & Mariam, creating a trifecta of African diasporan music with enough gravity to have its own moons. The cosmic metaphor here is inspired by director Nabil Elderkin. The video, like the track, meditates on the mysteries of human life and the limits of human knowledge and power. It’s a gorgeous pageant full of esoteric imagery, in which Amadou & Mariam appear as astral guides or ancestral archetypes and Nas and Damian Marley are philosopher kings unstuck from time.
I think I had a dream like that once. Don’t get me wrong, this is an incredibly powerful and questioning song made even more impactful by a fantastic video of mythic proportions. Just don’t watch it if you are on mushrooms. But do watch it.
3. Iron Ways - Madrid
One of my favorite things to do when listening to music is to envision what type of scene in a movie it would fall into, or where I would like to be listening to it. When I listen to Toronto three- piece psych-tronic band Madrid, I picture myself cruising with the windows down on a hot summer day, in a hot car I don’t own, with some kind of companion TBD. There could be no better time for this record to drop than in the dreadful, blustery days where you’ve reached your limit and at the slightest sign of warmer weather, uncover those vintage surf shorts you’ve kept buried beneath your snow pants.
Two weeks from now Madrid will release their sophomore record Original Message, the follow-up to their critically acclaimed album Warm Waters. A little grittier than their previous record, Original Message still goes down smooth like a fine cognac and leaves the listener with a feeling of tranquility. Songs like “Iron Ways” and “Reply (To Everyone)” evoke feelings of lazy afternoons, but are upbeat enough to keep you from dozing off, ready for the next track.
Each song incorporates different instruments from the last, whether it be light the strum of Adam Perry’s acoustic guitar or whirring electronic reverberation, Madrid likes to keep your ear drums guessing. Their next single “Bam Bam Brother” provides insight to Madrid’s more spastic and darker side as thunderous electronic twangs interfere with a particularly jaunty tune. As one of the dancier tracks on the record, this single is sure to move those stiff winter bones.
Like the soundtrack to a movie, Original Message can easily become the soundtrack to your life. Taking a peaceful stroll through the woods? There’s a track for that. Trip over a log and spiral into a rage? There’s a track for that, seamlessly transitioning into a new tune to put your rage at ease. Whatever your mood, Madrid’s dreamy melodies and unique sound will find a way to get you moving. With an extensive Canadian tour well underway and an upcoming performance at Toronto’s El Mocambo, it might be well worth it to check them out before they’re selling out amphitheatres.
4. Buriel / Four Tet - Ego (feat.Thom Yorke)
Last month, Radiohead surprised everyone by announcing a brand new album, The King Of Limbs, just days before it was released. The fact that the initial release date was bumped forward by a day and heralded by a Thom Yorke workout video only added to the excitement. Well, on Tuesday the time came for Yorke fans to get excited again, as details of a vinyl-only single with Four Tet and Burial emerged. The double A-side, Ego/Mirrors (limited to just 300 copies), will be released through Four Tet's Text label.
Below is a radio rip of Ego, a six-and-a-half minute track that builds from a fairly standard, intricately programmed opening before Yorke's plaintive croon emerges from the fog to create a surprisingly melodic centre. Strange percussive tweaks and odd keyboard lines rise and fall throughout before a beautiful piano flurry emerges around the five-minute mark. This creates a rather more warming coda to the chilly opening. Ego/Mirrors was released on 21 March and could only be pre-ordered online – although be warned that the first supply of stock has inevitably already sold out.
5. Ice Cream - New Young Pony Club
“Let me give you what you’d like/I can make your mouth run dry” robo-smooches Tahita Bulmer like a space-age pleasure-droid licking on a scoop of Funky Spunky Ben & Jerry’s. “Drink me like a liqueur/Come and dip your dipper/Show me what you’re here for, guy”. And this after already making lewd suggestions about being “the sauce you crave” and a “chocolate-flavoured love theme/Treat that treats you so mean”. NYPC’s latest electronic delight has plunged us, chopped-nuts deep into Vienetta-based sexual innuendo, on a fast track to highly inappropriate references to chocolate fudge brownie.
Even though this track is now 3 years old, the west-end has much missed out on the anything quirkier than the Tin Tins. So, while revamping St Martins Lane's soundtrack it was only inevitable that a few gems from the last 5 years are gonna make their way onto the playlist. This track is just plain awesome. Narrowly sidestepping the urge to describe ‘Ice Cream’ as new rave’s first chill-out tune (look, they started it!), we’re certainly on a more laid-back tip here than the jabbering-amphetamine-freaks-locked-in-an-air-raid-siren-factory ‘vibe’ we’ve come to expect from Klaxons or Shitdisco – or even from other NYPC tracks like the infinitely perkier ‘Descend’. The bass lopes casually along like a smack pimp cruising the bar at a Rapture gig; a couple of Franz Ferdinand’s guitars are having a drunken knife fight in the corner and the whole thing builds to a wonderfully hazy K-hole disco-frug, wherein Tahita strays from her Häagen-Dazs hedonism to become “sick like Sid & Nancy/Wicked as a joyride jaunt”. The sophisticated sex sirens of the New Glowstick Generation; let NYPC melt down your chin.
6. Lover Lover - Freebirds
Lover Lover features the vocal talents of Eleanor Bodenham and the superb songwriting of Martin Craft (M.Craft, Jarvis Cocker). The timeless and elegant-sounding Freebirds comes out next month on limited 7″ vinyl and download as the debut release for Cross Keys Records. Set up by Parlophone's Alex Eden-Smith, it describes itself as 'a homespun label founded by a cohort of vinyl addicts'. Backed with The Fire, both songs are produced by Nick Littlemore (Empire of the Sun, Pnau) - they certainly come with his signature dreamy pop stamp, ensuring that the label, and Lover Lover, is off to a captivating start.
Music Couture's Top 10 Breezy Chill Out Tunes of April 2011 for the Andaz Hotel. Shoreditch
1. Eskmo - Cloudlight
Sometimes I stumble onto new music or visual which just moves me. I don’t have any insightful or witty thing to say about them, they just spark something within me and before I know it, that is exactly what these two videos by Eskmo have just done to me. Two seconds ago, I had never heard of Eskmo, two seconds ago, this was just another day. Now… mmm
Okay, this is it. Suck in a little Cloudlight Ninja, digest it, and then when your ready to pass this little feast on…
For his new album entitled “ESKMO” (Ninja Tune), Brendan has abandoned the structures of making tracks for the dance floor and the 12” single format, and followed his vision. “Before Warp and Planet Mu I kind of fell into the game of making tracks to get released on smaller dance labels, having to cater to ‘dance’ formulas,” he explains. “Over this past couple of years, I feel I’ve let go of that, and just started writing the songs I want to write. I got back to what excited me about making electronic music when I started out, creating these little universes with sounds.
The album was, he says, "written over a six month stretch in the middle of a whole bunch of personal relationship-type stuff, a lot of deep life-experiences happened that helped the music just bleed out of me. I just poured all those feelings into the music, it’s very cathartic. This is the first full body of work where I’m singing all over it, and allowing myself to get over that furlough of expression.. and it has been really liberating.” He goes on to say “Just like anything, I’m sure some people will connect and some won’t at all, but that’s not what this is about for me. Sound has always been a grounding purpose in my life. If you don’t dive into yourself as deep as you can, then what are you doing it for?“
The first release on the label following Ninja Tune’s 20th Anniversary box set signals a brave new chapter for this artist, and for electronica itself. Dreamy, haunting, full of ghostly funk and inventive sonics, Eskmo serves up electronica with a most human heart.
Okay, this is it. Suck in a little Cloudlight Ninja, digest it, and then when your ready to pass this little feast on…
For his new album entitled “ESKMO” (Ninja Tune), Brendan has abandoned the structures of making tracks for the dance floor and the 12” single format, and followed his vision. “Before Warp and Planet Mu I kind of fell into the game of making tracks to get released on smaller dance labels, having to cater to ‘dance’ formulas,” he explains. “Over this past couple of years, I feel I’ve let go of that, and just started writing the songs I want to write. I got back to what excited me about making electronic music when I started out, creating these little universes with sounds.
The album was, he says, "written over a six month stretch in the middle of a whole bunch of personal relationship-type stuff, a lot of deep life-experiences happened that helped the music just bleed out of me. I just poured all those feelings into the music, it’s very cathartic. This is the first full body of work where I’m singing all over it, and allowing myself to get over that furlough of expression.. and it has been really liberating.” He goes on to say “Just like anything, I’m sure some people will connect and some won’t at all, but that’s not what this is about for me. Sound has always been a grounding purpose in my life. If you don’t dive into yourself as deep as you can, then what are you doing it for?“
The first release on the label following Ninja Tune’s 20th Anniversary box set signals a brave new chapter for this artist, and for electronica itself. Dreamy, haunting, full of ghostly funk and inventive sonics, Eskmo serves up electronica with a most human heart.
2. Laura Marling - Flicker and Fall.
3. Therapies Son - Yellow Mama
Therapies Son, aka Alex Jacob, has signed up with Transparent Records for the release of his debut EP. The five track 10" record is called 'Over The Sea', and it'll be released through the label on 30th March. Californian newcomer Alex Jacob is the person to finally write a song that sounds like MGMT covering John Lennon’s ‘Give Peace A Chance’, complete with Super Furry synth squiggles.
4. Nicholas Jaar - Balance Her Imbetween Your Eyes
One of my favorite aspects of Nicolas Jaar's debut full-length, Space Is Only Noise, is how thoroughly it scatters Techno's misconception. Space is leftfield electro-pop, far-flung and without reserve, but it is also patient, quiet, and small. Jaar is a Providence via New York via Chile producer. He is 21, he attends Brown University, and he already has several well regarded singles and EPs to his name in addition to running the Clown & Sunset imprint. Requisite hot remixes: check. He exhibits all of the earmarks of a rising techno star: He remixes dance music, and his early singles were released as 12"s on dance labels. He counts Chilean techno giant Ricardo Villalobos as a prime inspiration. Little with Jaar is straightforward, however. His father is an acclaimed visual artist. His mixes play like outsider pastiche. There are conflicting reports about whether his downtempo beats-- usually clocking between 90 - 110 bpm-- actually move dancefloors (Jaar himself is skeptical).
Just as Jaar's treated instruments blur the line between digital and acoustic, his voice-- calm and husky, somewhat affected-- saddles up to the soul samples and film dialogue that pepper the album and confidently blends. He hums earworms-- "Replace the word 'space' with a drink and forget it"; "Too many kids finding rain in the dust"-- that ripple across his productions. These voices-- Jaar's own or samples-- are more than melodic placeholders. The gentle house balladry of "I Got a Woman" uses a looped Ray Charles refrain and French film dialogue to evoke something more specific than the electric pianos and breakbeat can. Jaar is akin to labelmates DJ Koze and Dave Aju, who weave voices among beats in counterintuitive ways. Space never feels like a showcase for Nicolas Jaar; it's just a modest and well-decorated gathering place for some things he loves, a place for them to interact. This teetering restraint masks the true weirdness of Space Is Only Noise. I could understand someone finding the intensely self-contained Space a bit claustrophobic, but the album is most rewarding when you just grab a seat at the table. Because when Jaar chants "Grab a calculator and fix yourself" I don't sit there and think, "Gosh, why am I listening to electro-acoustic downtempo future-jazz?"; I go look for my calculator.
5. Anthony And The Johnsons featuring Bjork - Fietta
Some records are immediately accessible and easy to digest in a short period of time, other records take weeks, months, maybe even years to plumb the depths of and grasp in full. Antony & The Johnsons "Swanlights" is the latter. So anything I write here is going to be cursory at best, since even after two weeks of listening to "Swanlights" I am really only just beginning to unpack its contents. All of Antony's familiar themes are here: nature, mortality, transformation and rebirth. He begins and ends the album declaring that "everything is new," after, of course, a cycle of physical and/or metaphorical death and rebirth. That part of the album is fairly easy to grasp. And, par for the course, Antony's preternatural voice elevates his sometimes knotty naturalistic poetry to heights unimaginable by other artists, but this is what we have come to expect from an Antony & the Johnsons album. Even though each of these characteristics are extraordinary in comparison to other artists, for Anthony & the Johnsons these kind of achievements are just another day at the office. The album heads to a meditative stance with "Fietta," featuring Bjork on vocals backed by Antony. The song vacillates between haunting sparseness and lively purpose, and is generally what you would expect from such a pairing.
6. Belle & Sebastian - Blue Eyes Of A Millionaire
For their eighth album, and first for four years, B&S have reconvened after extra-curricular dalliances, such as Murdoch’s God Help the Girl and drummer Richard Colburn’s Tired Pony, to reclaim their crown from, well, no one. There’s simply no one else like them. There are some vague photocopies featuring people who you’re surprised are allowed out of the house, but for a British band as unique, as special, as Belle and Sebastian, you really have to travel back to the days of The Smiths.
Muscular pop of the finest variety is on the agenda here. Opener I Didn’t See It Coming explodes into a glorious widescreen chorus noise, and Come on Sister is a polite glam stomper. I Want the World to Stop finds the band in a state of exhilaration, scarves-aloft melodies that smell of talcum powder rising high. Guests lend their weight to proceedings, too: Norah Jones’ honeyed tones illuminate Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John; and An Education star Casey Mulligan sings on the jaunty title-track. Both settle in effortlessly. The band’s own Stevie Jackson’s I’m Not Living in the Real World has a flavour of early Blur about it, and Sarah Martin’s leads I Can See Your Future fit splendidly into the band’s oeuvre.
Write About Love is a cracking pop album and a fine addition to a great band’s already impressive catalogue. Had it been released a few months ago, it would’ve literally been the sound of summer. As it is, in a dank and damp March, it’s the perfect accompaniment to a plateful of cakes. Marvellous.
7. Sujan Stevens - Too Much
8. Summer Camp - Veronica Sawyer
British electronic folk artist Jeremy Warmsley and singer Elizabeth Sankey are Summer Camp (the latter doubles as editor of London’s Platform magazine). Up to now their music has reminded me of a British Matt & Kim, with exuberant pop vocals, strong beats with a touch of off-kilter psychedelia akin somewhat to High Places. Their latest EP, Young, dropped this week on Moshi Moshi records with lead track “Veronica Sawyer”. In its seductive slow jam, which sounds like its straight out of the US sometime in the 70s with almost atonal backing vocals reminiscent of Dirty Projectors & Bjork. If quality psychedelic post-punk surf pop is your thing, then this one is for you. Full length is due in Spring 2011.
Summer Camp’s viral's have been pretty legendary so far - “I Only Have Eyes for You” began with a Heathers sound byte — and they’ve cited John Cusack as an influence — but this video for the gauzy, infectious “Ghost Train” digs deeper into movies. It re-purposes scenes from the formerly X-rated 1969 film Last Summer. Yes that’s a young Barbara Hershey from your favorite tear-jerker movie Beaches … on a beach (Fire Island)
9. Emika - Double Edge
Darker than a Tim Burton film, 'Double Edge' drones within your skull. It's dub, hypnotic, and haunting. The focus of the sounds within human nature recorded "on a cold winter's day" trouble you even more when listening to Emika. Its Burial, with a female sat behind the wheel. Nothing really picks up, there is no dynamic within 'Double Edge', but it is artistic and an experience to listen to. The emphasis on "dark" needs to be enhanced and taken on the chin. Some could say a little too disturbing. With no biography, and so much mystery behind Emika, it's a little intimidating.
She wants to make music that can be listened to, taken away, swirled around and thought about. Intelligent and intriguing, she has dream-like music making qualities which leaves much to the imagination. Just don't listen to her music whilst walking home late one night; it may be an experience and a half. There are glitches, vocal drops and a killer piano riff that makes 'Double Edge' so haunting. Emika is an artist with some raw distribution of her emotion, delivered in a freaky way. She is an electronic artist on the run from her own fantasies.
10. Baths - Lovely Bloodflow
Baths, AKA Los Angeles electronic music prodigy Will Wiesenfeld, has one of County Grind's favorite albums of the year not created in our local environs in Cerulean. And indeed, "Lovely Bloodflow" and its stutter-step beats and helium vocals can be credited for a heaping portion of this infatuation. Now, in terms of a visual, we enjoy Bruce Campbell movies plenty, but imagining the red (or blue) liquid pulsing naturally inside its proper vessels is as lovely of a thing as any.
For the "Lovely Bloodflow" clip, however, a dying Samurai warrior gets something essential punctured, and he's losing a lot of that blood. So where's the lovely part? His spirit tries to leave his body via green smoke, but some masked healers aren't ready to let him pass on -- until he sees one last beautiful sight. Watch the clip created by Young Replicant below.
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