Blog-achella-geddon 2012!: I came, ISAM, I conquered

It seems that every year there is one electronic act at Coachella with an audio/visual experience that tries to top anything done before. We'll get to this year's in a second. But first...

GIRLS is, to start, a band of two dudes, so eyes rolling already... I mean, can a couple of dudes who call themselves GIRLS even possibly be any good? (The answer is no.)

Jimmy Cliff I got no problem with... but since when did Tim Armstrong become the go-to White Guy Reggae Guy? Because he had a Ska band 20 years ago? It sure doesn't have anything to do with Rancid (who kinda lived up to their name... never a fan). I mean, the you only have to go as far as THE VERY NEXT ACT ON THE BILL to find dudes more qualified in White Guy Reggae...

IT'S THE HEAVY HEAVY MONSTER SOUND! But I don't need to write a whole post about Madness, do I? Do I really?... Didn't think so. You can go watch a video and get your skank on at the Facebook page however...

And I got nothin' against Cat Power, per se... but at this point, "meh". Which, one way or the other, is never a word anyone will use to describe...

Amon Tobin



Who he is: The Brazilain beat man has been around for quite a while now, and here's a fun fact: Not only is his real name Amon Tobin, his real name is Amon Adonai Santos de Araújo Tobin. That's a name you'd love to touch (but you mustn't)...

What he sounds like: Tobin is known for laying down some of the fiercest beats in Drum & Bass, but that shit is nowhere to be found on his new record/multi-media mindfuck ISAM. This stuff is atmospheric, disjointed and downright creepy...

Amon Tobin - Lost Found (ysi)

What I think: No matter what you think of the tunes, this show stands to be this year's Holy Shit Moment, right up there with past extravaganzas like Daft Punk's Pyramid, Etienne De Crecy's Cube, the Shpongletron and the Shadowsphere. If you haven't already seen what I'm talking about, enjoy this little teaser...



If you miss this for something like Afrojack, you are a fucking idiot.

(Too harsh?)

(Nope.)

Mice Are From Mars, Cats Are From Venus

Yeah, maybe I should have posted this one during the recent Women's World Cup (you know how I like to be on-the-fucking-nose like that), but honestly you wouldn't have been able to enjoy the music over the sound of the US team choking. Yep. I went there. THAT'S A WOMEN'S SOCCER TAKE, CLONES! STEP YO GAME UP! (Any Jim Rome fans reading this blog? Didn't think so...)



Anyhoo, Mouse On Mars! Two German dudes who have been churning out quality tunes for quite some time now and who I'd put up there in stature not far from the BoCs and Autechres of the world as far as props in the IDM-ish idiom. I'm not sure what that means, but it sounds kind of erudite, no? Vocabulary, bitches!

Mouse On Mars - Saturday Night Worldcup Fieber (ysi)

I would imagine that if you actually put a mouse on Mars, something like this would happen...



And thus ends your dignified, scholarly music criticism of the day. So, suck on that...

The Ol' Bait-n-Switch

I know it's House Music Friday and all, but I got this post half-written yesterday so suck on that...



... besides, this is a pretty hip selection. Dare I say, "buzzy" even? I know, I hate that word, too. But anyhoo, get a load of Africa Hitech. They are a Marvel Team-Up of two Electronic music veterans, Mark Pritchard (Global Communication, Troubleman, Jedi Knights & about 267 others) and Steve Spacek (who doesn't have as many aliases, but has done just as much with as many people). The result is one of the more unique records I've heard in a long time, the kind of record it's completely pointless to try and tag some lame genre on. Just call it some next level shit...

Africa Hitech - Light The Way (ysi)

But that's just one song. This thing is all over the place, in a good way. Some of it would make Aphex Twin go "damn"... after all, it is on Warp. And I'll leave you with this video of the boys in action, which is not so much notable for what they are doing, but for the comedy value of the dude standing behind them...



I bet that guy gets laid 30 times a day...

Have a great weekend, fuckos.

Fits of FURY!

Hey there. Been on holiday for a week. Forgot to mention that. For I am a bad person. But hey, here's a little sumpin' sumpin' to tide you over until regular posting resumes (WITH A FURY!!!)...



Shlohmo is another one of those wonky L.A. guys that are so hip with the kids right now... and despite (or because of?) his young age, he is possibly the wonkiest of the bunch. To wit...

Shlohmo - Hot Boxing The Cockpit (ysi)

Also, here is a cool podcast homeboy did for XLR8R. Back with that FURY on Monday...

Tee hee...

And now a return visit from an act we haven't heard from around here in almost 2 years. This is noteworthy because in the time I've taken to type these two short sentences, Gorilla Vs. Bear has put up 13 posts on Animal Collective...



It's an annual occurrence in these parts... a rite of the early winter if you will... they take to the Coachella message boards and scream, scream... scream for Boards Of Canada! And every year it proves as futile an undertaking as trying to find a laugh in Dane Cook's act or a brain cell in any Kardashian's head. But still they do it... and I don't hate, because if it ever happens I am ALL. OVER. THAT. SHIT...

Boards Of Canada - Sixtyniner (ysi)

"Sixtyniner"... tee hee... tee hee hee... tee hee hee... tee hee...

(three hours later)

tee hee hee... tee hee... phew...

Bizarre Beats and Gratuitous Profanity

Here's some very out there shit for you...



I don't think I've ever had a harder time trying to figure out the tag for a post than I have with this Dorian Concept record here. It's that fuckin' out there. So naturally I settled on IDM, because I am lazy and will use meaningless genre terms despite my rant yesterday. I'm a bundle of contradictions wrapped inside a paradox and shoved up a ferret's ass. Yes, this record is as weird as that last sentence. And kinda amazing. It's a young kid from Austria (Yep, I'm old enough to call 24-year-olds kids. Pass the Geritol!) who can program the shit out of some shit, let me tell ya. To wit...

Dorian Concept - Color Sexist (ysi)

BUT! It turns out the guy is also a borderline amazing keyboard player, too. Peep this live vid in a much more organic, jazzy vibe...



Sorry about the two minutes of dudes speaking German in the middle. Um, well I'm not sorry to Germans, obviously, but to everyone else...

Welcome to the waffle house

Was it just me, or did Barack Obama look like he'd had a couple glasses of champagne in the limo last night? I say because a) that would be awesome and b) he was acting pretty goofy dancing at those balls and had a Cheshire Cat-like grin on his face the whole time. Of course, I probably would get a little loose, too, if I was him... it might just be last fun he has for, oh... the next 8 years...



Today, the Tonegents debut of IDM superheroes Autechre. Here's the thing about the IDM (which is, ironically, a pretty stupid name for a music genre)... most people see that tag and think that the music is going to be unlistenable experimental garbage, and to be sure a great deal of it is (I'm looking in your direction, Venetian Snares). But there's a reason groups like Autechre... well there's a reason you've actually heard of them. Because while they do go off the deep end sometimes, they also sometimes drop really warm melodies and surprisingly straightforward - dare I say, funky - beats. And this song actually has a little bit of both. It starts out with the straightforward part and ends with the experimental part. Which part do you like best?

Autechre - Vose In (ysi)

Me, I like 'em both. Because "waffle" is my middle name. Well one of 'em anyway. The ol' birth cerificate reads Tonegent Steve Waffle Hummingbird McTonesterson III. My parents were a bit odd...

Does Tonegent gots ta choke a bitch?

After a year and a half and over five hundred posts, I'm happy to say I finally got my first DMCA notice! And by happy, I mean enraged... Actually got two in one day yesterday... one apparently from Ludacris' people for posting "Area Codes" and one having something to do with the sample source mix I posted last month. Pretty lame. Instead of just requesting I remove the links, Blogger actually went in and deleted my posts without warning, the fuckwaffles. I would have been happy to take the songs down, you know... but nothing enrages a Virgo more that having the completeness of my blog fucked with. So now I have to do what any real gangsta like myself would do and start beef with Ludacris... so... Ludacris, you can eat a syphilitic dick on a moldy French roll smothered in ass relish, punk. I don't know why your little bitch-ass has to mess with my blog when I even provided a link for the readers to go buy your shitty album... how come it's the artists who are already rich that fuck with bloggers? Much better musicians than you see blogs as what they are... good publicity! But you're to stupid to see that, so maybe you should just go get run over by a Hyundai on dubs after being ass-raped by Clay Aiken. Oh, and it's "mouth", dipshit... not "mouf". English! Learn it! Bam! Anyhoo, now how 'bout some mellow sounds to calm my seething bile...



... and those sounds come from the latest iteration of The Black Dog, which consists of the one original member who is not in Plaid and a couple of other guys. And after that rant up there, you've probably heard enough from me today, so let's just get to it...

The Black Dog - Train By The Autobahn (Part 1) (ysi)

Really good album, goes from ambience like that right up to some dancefloor-tempo numbers... not exactly what you might expect from The Black Dog, but I guess it's called evolution, homes...

Hey, look... bonus post!

Today's bonus content is one of those "Before They Were Stars" moments, but it doesn't involve anyone you know appearing in a laundry detergent commercial or as an extra on "Mannix"...



Before Jamie Lidell became the white-boy soul singing sensation that he is today, he worked with cool Techno-dude Christian Vogel in a project called Super_Collider. The sound was more of a glitchy IDM thing, but Jamie's vocals were present on many of the songs... a taste of what was to come. Hmmm... there weren't any jokes in that description... I am so fired...

Super Collider - Spillin' Visions (ysi)

Pretty good stuff, but ol' Jamie was just getting started. And despite the fact that he's touring the new album with a more traditional live band setup, I think he's at his awesomest when he's doing one of his self-sampling freakouts. Cue the YouTubes!



Wish I could do that...

Blog-achella 08: The Big Finish!

Okay, so while I've been plowing through the list, there have been some late additions to the lineup, so let's go through those first...

First off we have Vas Defrans reppin' North Hollyhood with some kinda interesting instrumental Rock. But they lose all points for being named after part of my balls...

... then, well... if it isn't Perry Fucking Farrell. You knew he'd worm his way on there eventually... it is tradition! Seriously, though, his fall from singer of one of the greatest bands of all time to unsufferable douchebag has been quite painful to watch, no?

Next, L.A.'s Jupiter's Ring, who appear to all be about fifteen years old, so instead of listening to their music, I shall shake my fist and yell at 'em to get off my lawn.

Moving on to Jesse Murphy, bass player of the fine Brazilian Girls, who apparently does some kinda DJ thing. Hey, as long as he doesn't suck as hard as Carlos D... wow, I've gone an entire Blog-achella without mentioning "fuck Interpol"... hey, not any more!

How about Redd Kross? I sorta remember they had a song once that I heard...

Which leaves us with the two big Friday adds...

Goldfrapp



Who they are: They are the diva Allison Golfrapp and um, some dude... but does anyone care about the dude? Nope. Hey, he knows what he signed up for... :P

What they sound like: Well, this new record certainly is a lot mellower than the last couple. No dance anthems here, but it's still very, very good...

Goldfrapp - Road To Somewhere (ysi)

What I think: I've heard that Goldfrapp put on a fantastic live show, and I would definitely add them to the "must-see" group for Friday... and I'll do the same for the next one...

___________________________

Aphex Twin



Who he is: He's Rick James, bitch!

What he sounds like: He's done everything from the most relaxing Ambient to the most brain-shattering Drill & Bass, plus a little bit of everything in between. I'd guess this set might be some of the recent Analord stuff, but there's no tellin' with this wacko. Here's a classic...

Aphex Twin - On (ysi)

What I think: From what I've heard he's just as likely to take the piss as rock the party... but I'd be there to see, fo sho!

----------------------

And to finish up this long-ass post, the Sunday rundown:

Must-See: Sia, Linton Kwesi Johnson, The Field, Dimitri From Paris, Booka Shade, Chromeo, Roger Waters (at least for a bit, ya gotta)... which is by far the weakest Must-See group of the weekend, but these are the only ones I'd have as a top priority, plus, when supplemented by...

Worth A Look: Deadmau5, Manchester Orchestra, Duffy, Kid Sister, Holy Fuck, Cool Kids, Autolux, Murs, Simian Mobile Disco, Justice, Spiritualized, Love & Rockets... once again you've had a fine day of music, which is what yer after, no?

Meh: Grand Ole Party, Shout Out Louds, Plasticenes, Annuals, Black Mountain, Metric, Danny Tenaglia, My Morning Jacket... please disperse, nothing to see here...

Teh Suck: Austin TV, Brett Dennen, I'm From Barcelona, Sons & Daughters, Gogol Bordello and an honorable mention to DJ Medi4, but you do have to option to not see him at Bonarroo...

And there you have it, another year of Blog-achella hits the fan. I have in the the past done a recommendations post when the set times come out, but it has always proven to be a futile excercise... hell, I don't even follow my own recommendations! Coachella's about goin' with the flow. So take what you've "learned" here and use it to have a freakin' amazing time, fuckers!

Boards of awesome-ness

Today, an act that people have been begging Goldenvoice to book for Coachella for years... the only problem being that these guys pretty much never ever play live.



And that act would be the "mysterious" Scottish brothers Boards Of Canada. Considering how damn good their music is, I can't blame people for wanting to see 'em. There aren't too many people who can touch these dudes' downtempo creations. But you don't get the sense that they don't play out because they're difficult twats (I'm looking in your direction, Richard James), rather that they just kinda carn't be arsed. I mean, you gotta get all the gear together, learn all the songs, slog around in a van... who wants all that bother? These dudes just wanna chill in their little cabins and have tea and crumpets or whatever it is that British people do in their little cabins... and I won't hate on 'em for that. Crumpets are good, yo...

Boards Of Canada - The Beach At Redpoint (ysi)

Just so you know, you pretty much need to own everything Boards Of Canada have put out. So put that on your crumpet and butter it!

Blog-achella 08: Mum's the word

Here's an act that has "sunset time slot" written all over it...

Mum



Who they are: A bunch of happy-looking Icelandic folk. They're just all so freakin' happy in Iceland, aren't they? As a matter of fact, I think I read a news article recently that said Iceland is the best country to live in in the world, based on economics, low crime rate, and the fact that Bjork will come to your house and make you cupcakes if you call her ahead of time. I wanna go to Iceland.

What they sound like: I'm gonna throw "a mellower Boards of Canada with the odd girlie vocal" at ya. Whaddaya think?

Mum - We Have A Map Of The Piano (ysi)

What I think: Like I said, a band like this playing outside while the sun goes down in the desert = fuck and yes. They better make that happen... but then again, Jack Johnson was booked to headline, so all bets are off.

Your Monday blog post

Just a cold, gloomy Monday morning, so here's some audio hot cocoa...



An ambient artist that I have become quite the fan of in the last few months is Mr. Jonas Munk, aka Manual, from Denmark. He's got a bunch of releases out, and this one, called Until Tomorrow is on the Morr Music label, which these days is certainly a stamp of quality if you're into the relaxed side of things. And who doesn't like to relax? The terrorists, that's who. They should just put this music on and maybe they won't be wanting to blow shit up all the time...

Manual - It'll Be Fine (ysi)

... see what I mean? I have no desire to strap on a vest of dynamite right this second. Thanks, Manual!

Acieeeeeeed!

Music from one of my all-time favorite wackos today...



So an artist puts out an album or a single and its' cool, but if someone puts out a "series", it becomes a must-have for me. Must be some kinda Virgo thing. Anyhoo, Mr. Richard D. James, aka Aphex Twin, aka AFX aka about 25 other aliases put out the Analord series a little while back... 11 12"ers of old school analogue acid... and it's the best work he's done in years if you ask me... Sure, he's a total nutbag, but you can't fuck with a dude who owns a tank and a submarine...

AFX - SteppingFilter 101

There's a CD version of a selection of the tracks called Chosen Lords, but that's for suckas. Get the whole collection.

And there is simply no way I can post about Aphex Twin without posting this...



Word.