Providing a pitch-perfect account of one of our languages’ most intangible concepts, this impeccable folk ballad by Jason Molina under his Songs: Ohia moniker is written and performed with such sincerity that the result could bring a robot to tears.
Songs: Ohia – Soul (right click to download) 5:33 mins/ 192 kbps/ 7.63MB
Plastikman – Consumed
Slow and hypnotic, the aptly named title track from Richie Hawtin’s seminal 1998 release is a masterwork of minimalism, utilizing a clockwork bassline and muted kick as a canvas for a series of restrained acid and techno flourishes.
Plastikman – Consumed (right click to download) 11:41 mins/ 256 kbps/ 21.4MB
Depending on how this year pans out, I think we should all consider moving to Detroit.
Sure, the unemployment rate of the state of Michigan rivals that of war-torn Afghanistan, and the justice system is starting to resemble that of a spaghetti Western, lest we forget this is still the city of Motown, of techno and of Axel Foley, and it’s going for a steal.
The impact of a global financial crisis striking a manufacturing city within a country that doesn’t make anything has caused housing prices to plummet to three figure sums, bringing home ownership within grasp of even the least prosperous among us. In November, an unknown Canadian company purchased the 80 thousand capacity Silverdome stadium for about the price of a one bedroom condo in Vancouver. Of course, finding a job or a store that sells fresh fruit would be akin to finding the clitoris on a mermaid, but so goes the life of a new pioneer.
Written on the precipice of the city’s decline, Gil Scott’s Heron’s open -letter to Ronald Reagan offers an earnest response to an accident at a nuclear power planet that threatened to wipe Detroit from the map.
Gil Scott Heron – We Almost Lost Detroit (right click to download) 5:18 mins/ 160 kbps/ 6.08MB
As a bonus, take this Moodyman engineered radio skit set in the shadows of the fallen city.
Moodymann – Det.Roit (right click to download) 2:47 mins/ 256 kbps/ 3.99MB
The strongest single from this polymorphous kiwi band comes from their original incarnation of their 1986 debut album, Kaleidoscope World. Band leader Martin Phillips wears UK influences such as Joy Division and Wire plainly on his sleeve, at the same time innovating what would later be called the Dunedin Sound.
The Chills – Pink Frost (right click to download) 4:01 mins/ 192 kbps/ 5.52MB
Half Cousin’s MySpace page, describes the band’s sound as “Acousmatic”, the sort of made-up term I’d tend to deride if it weren’t so accurate. Their recent single release includes an entry by Brighton-based Fujiya & Miyagi, who successfully claim the song in their own sonic terms.
Half Cousin – Absentee (Fujiya & Miyagi Remix) (right click to download) 2:51 mins/ 192 kbps/ 3.93MB
Sweet Songs is a track I’ve only just managed to get my hands on again, concluding a long-running search made difficult by my failing to remember the names of either the song or the artist, thus requiring me to recite pieces of seventies sassy-black-girl slam poetry over and over, an embarrassing experience that inadvertently degrades both black and white people in equal measure.
Sarah Webster Fabio – Sweet Songs (right click to download) 5:10 mins/ 160 kbps/ 5.92MB
But the ends more than justify the means as my successful hunt not only yielded the afro-picked funk jam that alluded me for so many years, I was also introduced to another gem from the album- a lush and passionate piece of blues poetry that makes me feel like I’ve just tracked down a long lost love only to fall in love with her deep and sultry sister.
Sarah Webster Fabio – If We Come Soft as Rain (right click to download) 3:18 mins/ 160 kbps/ 3.77MB
As featured on August’s Sexier Than Lingerie mix, this impeccable remix from the illusive Salt City Orchestra camp turns this respectable Underworld track into something I would comfortably refer to as classic.
Underworld – Cups (Salt City Orchestra Remix) 9:23 mins/ 320 kbps/ 13.8MB
Born in Kansas before transplanting to London for a stint at St. Martin’s and some British pedigree, pop/ folk artist Piney Gir has recently released this earthy single, perhaps as a purge before embarking on a reported electronica project.
In a perfect world, this song would be ubiquitously popular as I imagine it being played in a centuries old pub with the patrons singing along red-faced, joyously swinging their pint glasses back and forth with the rhythm and knocking them back with a roar of unspecified laughter when the tune is finished.
Piney Gir – Of All the Wonderful Things 4:19 mins/ 320 kbps/ 9.91MB
Now months after the death of Michael Jackson, and with the mind-numbing cable news coverage having only recently subsided, we are undoubtedly due for a wave of work inspired by artists revisiting the catalog of the late pop mogul and accomplished kiddy fiddler. In that vien, the eponymous track from Lindstrom and Cristabelle’s recently released “Don’t Stop” EP offers up an unapologetically derivative throwback to “Off the Wall” era MJ.
Lindstrom and Christabelle – Baby Can’t Stop 6:13 mins/ 320 kbps/ 14.6MB
Another notable highlight from the duos recent record, Lovesick, has been discretely remixed by Fan Death, an American band named after a South Korean urban legend which claims that an electric fan left running overnight will kill everyone inside the room.
Lindstrom and Christabelle – Lovesick 3:16 mins/ 320 kbps/ 7.60MB
In what could best be described as hip hop’s answer to National Geographic, GZA confirms his place as the most gifted lyricist to emerge from the expansive Wu Tang Clan by spitting an impeccable string of animal metaphors in a grand analogy between street strife and life in the jungle.
GZA – Animal Planet 4:16 mins/ 192 kbps/ 5.88MB
B. Fleischmann adds a richly textured backing track to Daniel Johnson’s sympathetic retelling of the story of King Kong, doing more in under 6 minutes than what Peter Jackson managed in over three tedious hours, and without the painful experience of having Jack Black look deadpan into the camera explaining that it was beauty that killed the beast.
B. Fleischmann – Phones, Machines and King Kong 5:44 mins/ 192 kbps/ 7.18MB
Additionally, for those who prefer producers show their work, the original sample:
Daniel Johnston – King Kong 5:43 mins/ 192 kbps/ 7.86MB
Had Elvis been alive today, I expect he would think as highly of Germany’s techno scene as he would about the invention of The Stairmaster. Still, no reason not to have Richie Hawtin and Guido Schneider give The King a full Berlin make over.
Elvis Presley vs. Richie Hawtin and Guido Schneider – Visual ID 7:39 mins/ 192 kbps/ 10.5MB
It would seem remiss not to post this song as it’s probably the one I’m listening to most often when writing. It’s a shame that “background music” has emerged as a derogatory term, having been cannibalized by Café Del Mar and the like, because there is room for genius in music that allows the listener to tune out.
Such is the case with this standout from Papa M’s background opus Live From a Shark Cage. Taking its time and earning its keep, Drunken Spree gives you space to focus on other things; whether you’re painting illustrations for a children’s book, making a stew, or plotting to rig an election in a small South American country, you can be left alone with your thoughts until the seven minute mark when a slow drum beat and restrained vocal accents gently remind you that you’re in the presence of genius.
Papa M – Drunken Spree 9:05 mins/ 192 kbps/ 12.4MB
Sticking with the theme of anti drug messages that make you want to take drugs, this electro-house banger received an almost cultish reception upon its release in 2001, but hasn’t quite had the resurgence I would have expected from something so cheeky.
Green Velvet – La La Land 3:21 mins/ 192 kbps/ 4.61MB
While it’s easy to laugh at the Reefer Madness era of anti-drug propaganda, it has to be said that the eighties and nineties weren’t much more sophisticated. Nancy Regan’s “Just Say No” campaign was as memorable as it was ineffective, and the this is your brain on drugs ad didn’t change my mind about drugs either way, though it did put me off eggs for a while. Bizarrely, the PSA Paul Reuben made as a deal to get out of his own drug charges was painfully misguided- something about Pee Wee Herman looking deadpan into the camera telling me not to do crack made me want to do crack more than I ever had before or have had since.
Quite similarly, though perhaps deliberately, this appropriately named psychedelic funk band offers up an ecclesiastical warning that will make you want to go out and get a big bag of drugs.
Drugs – Brain on Drugs 6:59 mins/ 320 kbps/ 16.0MB
It’s possible that French remix duo Chateau Flight did just that when approaching their 2002 remix project, applying a delicate touch that sounds almost conspicuously laid back compared to the rest of their catalog- dedicating over half of the track’s seven minute running time to the hypnotic buildup before dropping a deep and unobtrusive beat.
Drugs Vs. Chateau Flight – Brain on Drugs 6:52 mins/ 192 kbps/ 9.45MB
Led by brothers Roger and Larry Troutman, Ohio funk band Zapp’s is perhaps better known to the next generation for how extensively they were sampled during the golden age of hip-hop, second only behind the Godfather of Soul himself- Brown being among the funk pioneers to receive a shout out on this tribute to the genre.
Tragically, in complete contrast to the songs title, apparently “it” did really matter as the two brothers perished in a gruesome murder/ suicide over a business dispute years later.
Zapp and Roger – It Doesn’t Really Matter 5:28 mins/ 192 kbps/ 7.51MB
I hadn’t thought much of minimalists Captain Comatose since back in 2001 when their single Comatose Captain was part of the rotation. Having heard this recent rendering of a single I apparently slept on, it has to be said that distance has made my heart grow fonder.
This minimal disco remix by Tobi Neumann and Thies Mynther under their Glove moniker is so mindnumbingly cool in almost makes me sick to my stomach, applying a post coital inflection to the 2005 original, which boldly asks the question, “how well can you dance with a drink in your hands?”
Captain Comatose – Up In Flames (Glove Mix) 7:30 mins/ 320 kbps/ 17.1MB
And while I’m waxing nostalgia, the Captains original overture as featured on Playhouse’s groundbreaking 2001 complication, Famous When Dead.
Captain Comatose – Comatose Captain (5-8 Mix) 6:47 mins/ 256 kbps/ 12.4MB
In contrast to an earlier post on Kompakt standout Matias Aguayo, my reaction to his recent single Rollerskate, like that of the accompanying album, has been somewhat mixed. On one hand, Aguayo assuredly reaffirms his position as the labels most innovative voice, crafting original compositions against the backdrop of a genre that fetishizes convention. On the other, where the production on his last album was a masterstroke of clarity and depth, the sonic style of its predecessor sounds deliberately thin, sometimes to the point of being frustrating.
This assessment was shared by friend of the blog Solomon, who has filled in the gaps of this otherwise remarkable single with an exclusive edit that skillfully realizes the force and depth the original composition demands.
And for a bonus selection of various rollerskating themed videos, visit the Electric Adolescence Facebook page
Matias Aguayo – Rollerskate (Solomon Remix) 6:05 mins/ 256 kbps/ 11.1MB
Deep and cold vocal tones express an odd view of friendship on this sadistic classic house track – the perfect antidote for those who have been exposed to too much Ibiza house, with its bongo drums and tepid lyrics about wine and joy and sunshine.
Phuture – Your Only Friend 4:46 mins/ 320 kbps/ 10.9MB
You can color me surprised by my own reaction to the recent Whitney Houston single, or even that I had one at all. Being neither fan nor detractor of the songstress, I also didn’t pay much attention to her demise, through osmosis digesting some grizzly footage of her and Bobby Brown wallowing in a tepid pool of some sort of shared filth.
When perusing the Italians Do It Better blog, I came across label chief Mike Simonetti’s edit of Million Dollar Bill, and just assumed he had updated the production on a forgotten track from her back catalog. Then I saw the accompanying video and was as impressed to realize it was a new track as I was that Houston showed no signs of her time spent in the gutter. So I have to give credit where credit is due- in what could be the greatest crackhead comeback of all time, she has seemingly aged with the quality that makes us remember a time when the term “diva” meant more than just a cunt with a record deal. It’s Whitney, bitch.
Whitney Houston – Million Dollar Bill (Mike Simonetti Edit) 5:08 mins/ 320 kbps/ 11.7MB