Music you're digging right now

Postby **SlappyMcGee** » 2009.11.13 (03:39)

I will be listening to the croons of Jeff Buckley for the next six hours.

http://nmaps.net/user/epigone · Postby **epigone** » 2009.11.13 (04:49)

I'm really digging Interpol and other similar jams.

Postby **origami_alligator** » 2009.11.13 (08:54)

Passion Pit - Manners
Santogold - Santogold
Ratatat - LP3

yes, stuff from earlier this year and I think one of them was from last year but I just recently got them.

I must say, Ratatat blew my mind with LP3. Starting to listen to Shiller I was thinking, "Okay, this sounds like Ratatat. Except there's something new here and I can't quite put my finger on it." It might have been the slow intro to what I would soon discover as simply gripping. It's like the intro to a story, describing the setting for what is to come, creating small plot lines here and there, preparing you for Falcon Jab. The guitar fading in and out is such a wonderful hook at the beginning. Continue listening as the music walks, skips and runs on all fours down a road. I think what makes this album so different early on is how they set up when each progression of the guitars would come in. It's not entirely off-beat, but it's not like previous Ratatat albums where everything was in 4/4 and guitar hooks came in on the first beat and ended on the fourth. This song presents us with progressions that start on the 2nd or 4th beat and continue on into a whole new measure. It begs you to continue listening. The road winds down and comes to a dead end. Good thing there's something happening in a nearby tree. Climbing upwards is Mi Viejo, twisting through the twigs and branches. Unable to climb with it though, it feels as though one has to run along with the music as it carves its way through the canopy above. There's a break of simply paying attention to following wherever the music is going, and then suddenly falling into a trance, building into a runner's high as Mi Viejo smoothly transitions to Mirando. What else is there to focus on except jumping over huge downed trunks to get out of this giant forest that is almost claustrophobic but not enough to make you panic, just enough to make you nervous. Again, I love the way the guitars play out in this song. It's reassuring that something new is happening in this album. Breaking out of the forest we start to hear Flynn, a sort of lumbering beginning, maybe to explain exhaustion. There's still something to be reached at this point, as there have been little plot developments that I've heard. It is like a recognition of the surroundings and the situation, possibly walking through a dusty plateau of some sort. Falling asleep at the end seems only natural here. What better to be called the Bird Priest than a dream-like trance intro. At this point it is almost like one has passed out from exhaustion entirely and is now dreaming weird things happening to them. Maybe leaping from one star to another, hoping that one doesn't slip and fall to the earth below, only to do so and be caught by something large but not recognizable. It's slightly creepy in parts of this song, which I think fits very well into the album as we've had hints of creepiness but haven't expanded upon it at all. The dream ends and as eyes are opened we are given Shempi, plodding along with certainty, a single bass drum leading the rhythm. It's like one awoke and knew exactly what they need to do. Less running as much as it is determined walking, then as the organs come in a caravan is spotted and it suddenly makes sense why we've been trudging through a desert. Joining up with a band of animal-people who are helping us cross a huge desert. It's late at night, and the moon is out, but the sun is starting to come up (around 2:20 in) and spreads light across the sky. Somehow we know there is something that will be out there waiting for us to progress. This is a transition song, it takes us somewhere but doesn't finish the thought for itself. Another fade-out that I realized I'm not too fond of. Imperials is rightly named. The caravan seems to have brought one to the gates of some city, which as it begs us to walk through the streets at early dawn one is subject to the eyes of criminals but it is too bright outside and there are too many people out to be hassled by criminals. Strolling through one busy street to another it suddenly occurs to us as we spot what we've been looking for: there is nothing that can stop us. This feeling lasts as long as the solo in the middle of this song. It's nice and empowering and scary all at the same time, but it is healthy. Something happens as the feeling is cut short by a single note. Dura is playing now, maybe another dream or a hallucination of some sort. Uncertain of where one is or what one is doing. Laying on the ground, alone, getting up and hearing voices that are not familiar. Breaking out of whatever door is closed to the room one has found oneself inside, staring at three faces which one does not recognize. The tension of the room increases exponentially by every second. Questions race through each person's mind, but nobody is sure how to respond. Failed attempts at saying something break the ice slightly, but now paranoia starts to creep in. As Dura ends quickly, Brulee takes over, a happy little track THAT DOESN"T FIT INTO MY STORY AT ALL DAMNIT. Oh wait, here we go, it's questioning time, but everyone is putting on a happy face as it's evident that we're dealing with old friends. Still, trust isn't the main theme of this song, just reminiscence. The recounting of a story here and there, slowly leading up to recounting why it is one came to the city and then asking how friends found and helped us recover. It's go time as Mumtaz Khan starts. Someone gave information about a missing person close to us or something stolen that was important to us. All questions are asked and then it's off to meet the next person to talk to, someone a little higher up the chain of command who may know a little bit more. Of course, extreme action will have to be taken to extract information. We're not fucking around here, folks, Mumtaz Khan is one helluva bastard to find, but we'll find him alright. Another abrupt end. Maybe a dead end again. No, Mumtaz Khan was hot on your tail and now it's time to hide away as we hear about the Gypsy Threat. This song is almost comical in a way. One minute we're being all badass, the next minute we have to find hiding. What a waste of time. We've skipped ahead a little bit as Black Heroes starts. Maybe we've already had our way with Mumtaz Khan and we became the hero of our story. It's the conclusion to something that didn't quite make sense all the time but was still worth the journey. It almost sounds like we've returned home with nothing. We're lost in our quest and there's no chance we're ever going to find what it is we're looking for or who it is we need to talk to. Still, it's refreshing knowing that we tried to do something. Black Heroes ends slowly, giving enough time to reflect upon the rest of the album. It fades out slowly as the story ends. Not tragically; not heroically either.

What a weird review.

http://nmaps.net/user/rennaT · Postby **Tanner** » 2009.11.14 (16:28)

L’autopsie phénoménale de Dieu, the debut record by Kreng, is a set of surrealistic pieces that wrenches comfort sounds from their contexts to show the compatibility of a multitude of styles, primarily melancholy chamber pieces, operatic vocals, and subdued jazz gestures. By virtue of careful placement within dark jazz atmospherics, these sounds thrive on sonic interchangeability and evoke a powerful, dynamic nostalgia.

The sheer density of gorgeous samples, and the inventive way in which they’re presented, is the defining characteristic of L’autopsie. Kreng’s experience providing musical content for the Belgian theater company Abattoir Fermé undoubtedly refined his ability to locate essential sonic elements and string them together for dramatic effect. For example, at the outset of the album, Kreng sets the mood with a spare piano bracketed by a Residents-like march circa Eskimo. Toys with hostile intentions give way to an adeptly blended mix of shrill, thin violin scrapes and distant background vocals to form a compelling, threatening groove.

Kreng is not content simply to pair gorgeous violin work and jazz drumming. His conceptual intent is instead to illustrate the malleability of sound, in a sense unwinding one sound to present another. In one moment the overtones of the vibraphone and the texture of ascendant brass and strings fuse in such a way as to form a stream that bears an uncanny resemblance to the piercing vocals that are eventually made the primary focus. Later, a tentative violin duo’s asymmetric melodies spiral upward before being engulfed by a grainy backdrop; the brittle violin melodies are transformed into a Xela-like dirge, replete with snippets of distant vocals churning alongside a bass amidst a murky dark ambience.

The steady, morose intonation of a piano is L’autopsie’s motif. Time and again, the piano grounds the music, lending the pieces an essential familiarity, a central referent that promotes compositional coherence for the listener. Kreng’s choice of dark jazz piano work, with that style’s foundation in both rote structure and half-time spontaneity, symbolizes the same character he distills from his samples. Such interplay between elements runs parallel to the interplay of the traditional instruments within L’autopsie. Kreng not only samples piano, but he incorporates an ever-so-slight trumpet and a sparing amount of drum brushwork. These disparate samples complement one another perfectly, in essence forming a conventional-sounding dark jazz trio. Kreng’s seamless placement of this trio within these pieces provides for effective transitions between the various elements, as well as a measure of organic-sounding balance to the frequently otherworldly samples.

Rhythm is incorporated in unusual ways throughout the album. Aside from the aforementioned brushwork, Kreng utilizes small sounds to subtly keep time. A child’s voice singing a simple melody, for example, is turned percussive by emphasizing certain syllables and juxtaposing those syllables against transparent background vocals. Elsewhere, a violin is played pizzicato, and its low end is accentuated to create a less invasive substitute rhythmic texture. Throughout the album, dirty vinyl pops just so, each imperfection looped and molded to draw attention to its choppy, percussive qualities.

This latter effect highlights the brilliance of L’autopsie. Each process gives rise to a satisfying stylistic result. One of Kreng’s methods is sampling, but Kreng’s sampling gives rise to a meta-layer--his sampling process also captures the physical act of sampling: the dirt on the vinyl that contains the source material. Instead of simply retaining the pops as sonic happenstance, Kreng takes the opportunity to transform crackles into microtonal percussion. L’autopsie’s surrealism is the byproduct of Kreng’s willingness to liberally conflate process and source material, by constantly collapsing one odd pairing into the next – suspended voices merge into instruments, only to be consumed by steel brushes.

Nostalgia is the most immediate emotional response to this record. Just as all sounds can move into one another, their infinite combinations giving rise to a singular feeling, so too, perhaps, do all experiences coalesce into a singular insight. L’autopsie phénoménale de Dieu is a complete work; one of shocking depth and complexity, yet its structure, each element, and its emotional thrust all are consistent. The album feels mysterious and artful, yet is comprised from simple, common components. Kreng’s dramatic presentation, his constructive virtuosity, is wholly dependent upon the singularity of sound, and it is this singularity of sound that points to something greater: the power of imagination to transcend and unify anything and everything into something beautiful.

Postby **Lenny** » 2009.11.15 (00:11)

Camille Saint-Saëns - Maestoso + Più allegro (mvt 4) - Symphony #3, op 78.
In case anyone missed my fantastic post on both #Music and Facebook, here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCKiZRWyv20

Yeah, fairly old music compared to what most people listen to, but I'd seriously recommend giving it a listen. You won't regret it.

----------------
Now playing: Ennio Morricone - A Fistful Of Dynamite
via FoxyTunes

http://nmaps.net/user/T3chno · Postby **T3chno** » 2009.11.15 (01:05)

Oh jesus christ, southpaw. That may have been the densest wall of text on this forum yet.

I've recently listened to Falcon Jab and I really enjoyed it.

http://nmaps.net/user/bobaganuesh_2 · Postby **bobaganuesh_2** » 2009.11.15 (08:19)

Scatman John - "Scatman"

bee bop bop ba dop bop! I;m the Scatman!

http://nmaps.net/user/ · Postby **Vyacheslav** » 2009.11.15 (15:10)

"Oh, hate the living...
The only heat is warm blood"

Transilvanian Hunger - Darkthrone

http://nmaps.net/user/n0_ma11y · Postby **n0_ma11y** » 2009.11.16 (02:05)

http://nmaps.net/user/SkyPanda · Postby **SkyPanda** » 2009.11.16 (14:54)

Vitamin String Quartet covers!
A fascinating and different way to enjoy the songs you pretend not to love. Many are even better than the originals.

http://nmaps.net/user/ · Postby **handofgod** » 2009.11.18 (02:44)

SkyPanda wrote:Vitamin String Quartet covers!
A fascinating and different way to enjoy the songs you pretend not to love. Many are even better than the originals.

indeed. They did a nice cover of the entire of Tools aenema, even those annoying ass intermission songs.

http://nmaps.net/user/Wizard2 · Postby **bugz** » 2009.11.19 (01:06)

Let There Be Light - Justice
Hollywood Swinging - Kool & The Gang
T. & F. - Bach
The Red Ambassadress - N.G.E. 2 Soundtrack
Thé à la menthe - Nikkfurie
For Reverend Green - Animal Collective
Piano Concerto #1 In B Flat Minor, Op. 23 - 1. Allegro Non Troppo E Molto Maestoso - Tchaikovsky

http://nmaps.net/user/donfuy · Postby **Donfuy** » 2009.11.21 (13:42)

Herbie Hancock, The Bird and The Bee, Tuxedomoon, dEUS, Gotan Project (a lot), Grizzly Bear (On a Neck, On a Spit!), Animal Collective (For Reverend Green is growing (these last two are my train companions)), Nouvelle Vague woo woo woo

Postby **SlappyMcGee** » 2009.11.23 (00:57)

Fall Be Kind by Animal Collective is sublime!~

http://nmaps.net/user/ · Postby **handofgod** » 2009.11.24 (05:43)

SlappyMcGee wrote:Fall Be Kind by Animal Collective is sublime!~

Bleeding and What would I want? Sky are my favorites currently.

http://nmaps.net/user/ · Postby **Studebacher Hoch** » 2009.11.24 (16:18)

I'm so late to the Death From Above 1979 party.

God, why did no one tell me how awesome this is.

http://nmaps.net/user/Cerberus%5B%5D · Postby **Cerberus** » 2009.11.28 (05:42)

http://nmaps.net/user/skyline356 · Postby **Skyling** » 2009.11.29 (00:44)

I've been revisiting an old classic.

http://nmaps.net/user/Leaff · Postby **Leaff** » 2009.11.29 (23:12)

Just because of what I said, Skyline. Am I right? ;-;

Lately I've been listening to some of this

with some of this

and this

http://nmaps.net/user/heatwave21 · Postby **heatwave** » 2009.11.30 (02:43)

Skyling wrote:

<3<3<3

Do you like free music? of course you do. (click!)

Postby **SlappyMcGee** » 2009.11.30 (03:25)

I've been listening to Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire's Thrill! It's fucking amazing.

http://nmaps.net/user/Mute_Monk · Postby **Mute Monk** » 2009.11.30 (14:37)

Tally Hall

Ruler of Everything rocks my world.

http://nmaps.net/user/donfuy · Postby **Donfuy** » 2009.11.30 (16:26)

WHAT HAPPENED TO PERCUSSION IN WATERMELON PAVILION OR WHAT THE HELL THAT AC ALBUM IS CALLED

I just checked some of it on the local Fnac store. I was expecting some *bumbumbumbumbum* and I got some *vziiiiiiumtoingsoftysounds*

http://nmaps.net/user/Tunco123 · Postby **Tunco** » 2009.11.30 (16:52)

www.nmaps.net/user/sidke · Postby **sidke** » 2009.12.01 (05:26)

and

So yeah, I enjoy makina. I've pretty much always liked M-pro, and now I found the mother-genre. :F

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