GP's music picks

[Gaijin Punch]

Okay, I'm far too tired to write some amazingly clever shit about some great music, but I will add some links and a few words. Dicking around on emusic (last Spring, actually) I ran across Level Live Wires by Odd Nosdam. Really, really interesting. R&B/Hip Hop style beats thrown over really soft music... some w/ lyrics. Definitely original.



I wound up getting [url=ttp://www.amazon.com/More-Wig-Ohio-Odd-Nosdam/dp/B000095S95/ref=pd_bbs_6?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1236869800&sr=8-6[/url]No More Wig for Ohio[/url] in the Fall before a trip to Hawaii. It was, as well, very original and whacky. Nobody has ever made a bunch of random samples and beats go together so well.



If nothing else, one should seek out Kill Tone, and The Kill Tone Two (both on Level Live Wires. Untitled Track 2 on No Wig is also wicked.

[Gaijin Punch]

Time for something a bit more above ground. I've been a New Order fan since pretty much the late 80's when I started to realize what music was. Unfortunately, they aren't the strongest live band. I've seen them before, and they definitely benefit from the studio. Their shows are good, but they're a bit more "down to Earth" than someone like The Cure or Depeche Mode live. However, sometimes they shine. Apparently they finished each night of their 2002 tour with Your Silent Face which has always been my second favorite New Order track (first goes to the re-recording of Temptation on Substance). An odd choice as I don't even think it was a single. Anyways, the track in question is a perfect way to end a night - on a full, but down note. I always loved going to clubs and having the DJ throw on one last record, kinda chill, kinda slow, but still loud.

[Greatsaintlouis]

WISE FWOM YO GWAVE!

The wife gifted me with a nice 4GB Sansa Clip+ for Christmas (into which I immediately threw a 4GB microSDHC card) after hearing me bitch forever about the annoyances and shortcomings of iTunes, and included in the box was an emusic ad that promised an additional 35 free credits for starting an account. On the strength of the various albums touted earlier in this thread I decided to sign up for the $12/24 credits/month plan and discovered to my delight that the deal with my music player actually provides 50 free credits! I've mainly been exploring, looking for stuff I recognize, following links to similar stuff I might like, and double-checking music blogs I trust for suggestions.

Found some pretty sweet stuff so far, and there's enough variety it's pretty overwhelming. On recommendations from this thread I've picked up Tetsu Inoue's Ambiant Otaku and Citrus by Asobi Seksu, but I haven't really listened to any of the downloads enough to formulate an articulate opinion. I'll put more in later, but for the time being, does anybody else have any new recommendations from the last time this thread was added to?

[Gaijin Punch]

I've let my emusic account laps b/c they started charging more, and I
didn't have enough time to get all the downloads I wanted before they expired. I might start up again, but I'm good for now.

Not sure if I mentioned it in this thread, but S/T by Electric President is on Moor Music I believe and is great. There's also a few albums by Odd Nosdam, all of which are good. Not sure what else is out there these days.

[Greatsaintlouis]

Yeah, one of the big problems I can foresee is sitting down and sampling everything I'd like to download. In stark contrast to my early college days, I don't really believe in the non-album experience anymore, so that just leaves a lot more to sift through.

I apparently joined at a good time, as Warner just opened up a very large part of their catalog for the service. It went from having two inconsequential Tom Waits albums to the man's entire discography (despite filing The Heart of Saturday Night as a live album) as one example, and I'm really pleased at the amount of familiar faces I'm finding there. Plus, the whole DRM-free bit really makes it for me--got a couple of albums I foolishly downloaded off of iTunes that are trapped in their crappy proprietary format, and I'm not at all keen on the idea of burning songs to CD (or a CD image) and then ripping them back to PC in a normal format. The only way emusic would be any better is if they sold songs in FLAC. Of course, I'd definitely have to get something more substantial than a 4GB addon card to my player.

[Gaijin Punch]

I mixed this. Enjoy.
Link

[Greatsaintlouis]

Holy crap, is this really over an hour long? I've got it playing in the background right now. I've been tentatively dipping my toes into the huge amount of electronic music on emusic lately, and the sound of this struck me as a track from the new Caribou album going back in time to appear on Warp's Artificial Intelligence compilation. I like what I've heard so far, though it might be later in the day before I can sit down and take in the whole thing.

What did you use to put it together? I've been fooling around a bit with some basic software that doesn't require much of an investment to tinker with--Propellerhead's ReBirth (which they graciously released for free after Reason became the new weapon of choice) and the Korg DS-10 cart, which is surprisingly feature-laden for something so low on the amateur scale.

[Gaijin Punch]

Okay, my original post was supposed to say, "mixed" this. Sorry. And yes, it's over an hour long... meant for working out to. I bought the tracks from Beatport/TrackItDown etc.

I used Traktor w/ a VCI-100, but that was really overkill. I never use the automatic shit that comes w/ software solutions. The wave display is about the only feature I use, since I can't hold up my lighter and look at when the next break on the record is coming up like I used to. Don't smoke anymore either.

[undamned]

I mixed this. Enjoy.
Link

Cool, listened to a few minutes of it

If that's the kinda stuff you're into, you might dig this Popof playlist I made.
-ud

[Gaijin Punch]

I actually got a Popof remix the other day. It's pretty good.

[undamned]

I actually got a Popof remix the other day. It's pretty good.

What's funny about his remixes is it's usually so unlike the original track that it sounds like an original Popof track
-ud

[Gaijin Punch]

Seems that's what all remixes are these days. Some of my best tracks are remixes of awful ones.

[Gaijin Punch]

Pull Your Pants Down

This one has a Popof track in there, just for undamned.

[citcelaid]

GP, what do you think of Caribou's latest album?

[Gaijin Punch]

GP, what do you think of Caribou's latest album?

Never heard it. Got a link of a sample?

[citcelaid]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRTzuutL6mA

[Gaijin Punch]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRTzuutL6mA

That actually sounds pretty good, and I see Beatport has it. Might have to grab it later. My cart is at about $90 right now. :|

[Greatsaintlouis]

You can stream the full album on the label's store page: http://www.mergerecords.com/store/store ... log_id=703

I picked it up on release at eMusic, and really enjoy it. I've heard a lot of praise for his earlier album "Start Breaking My Heart", but as it's a two-disc affair that would take just two credits shy of my monthly eMusic allotment I haven't decided to spring for it just yet.

[Gaijin Punch]

Tim Green Essential Mix: 2010-06-05. This is just fucking crazy. He'll be playing at Womb this Saturday if anyone is going to be in town. I will be there with full raging boner.

[Gaijin Punch]

Casino Versus Japan: Night on Tape



I've been out of the "quiet" music scene lately as I let my emusic membership lapse. I just don't want to have anything less than 320kbps, and they don't offer it. I can also get a lot of it elsewhere at my leisure for similar costs. Anyways, I did some digging around and found one of the stars of this thread, Casino Versus Japan, has put out a new album.

Night on Tape is actually a collection of 20 previously unreleased tracks. The one theme they have, is that they are rather dark compared to a lot of his other stuff. Still nothing when compared to the likes of standard Dark Ambient artists, but there's no real happy tracks. In that sense, I'd say this is a lot closer to some of Freescha's offerings, which can be a good thing.

I'm personally waiting for something that matches Whole Numbers Play the Basics. But, while this isn't a new "album" per se, it's still a good listen.

[Greatsaintlouis]

The vinyl version that comes with the limited edition of the album sounds awesome, if you're able to pick it up.

CVJ's first album got a digital re-release on various outlets recently as well; have you had a chance to give that one a listen?

It's unfortunate that eMusic doesn't just do 320 CBR, but all of the albums I've downloaded have been at a fairly high quality variable bitrate that sounds pretty decent to my ears. I've heard thirdhand horror stories of ‾160 CBR songs, but a lot of these reports seem to be from a few years back, and I've never run into anything like it myself.

[Gaijin Punch]

CVJ's first album got a digital re-release on various outlets recently as well; have you had a chance to give that one a listen?

I did. I actually scored a hard copy ages ago for about $30 which I was shocked to get, since it was going for over $100 or so on Ebay at the time. I thought I got lucky, but maybe the digital release had just been announced or something.

The problem w/ < 320Kbps is mainly for DJs that have the ability to play in clubs with massive systems. 128k will destroy your set & credibility. 192 will do basically the same.

[Gaijin Punch]

I have 2 mixes up on my soundcloud page that may roll soon. Well, one will.

Bangin' Hookers is about 127Bpm (kinda fast for me) and I'm pretty proud of it. Definitely a nice groove. The tracks do most of the work but the mixing ain't bad, if I do say so myself.

Deep Doo Doo is just that. Really deep tracks, running at (I think) about 122 Bpm. There's a few really fucking dig on this. While it's not the best thing to run to, I rank it amongst one of my better ones.

I've got a couple of others I'll put up soon which will give these the boot! So act now. Both are 320Kbps & about 90 minutes so rather large...comparatively.

[Gaijin Punch]

I listened to Tycho/ISO50's Top 50 songs of 2011 list the other day, and found some gems. They listed one of the track's from an LP by Trouble Books & Mark McGuire. After searching, its seems the vinyl is sold out, but you can download MP3/FLAC versions (amongst other releases) directly from the label. Enjoy.

[Greatsaintlouis]

Wow, I've really gotten out of the forum-going habit lately.

That Trouble Books & Mark McGuire album is pretty wonderful; I really love the idea of label putting up their out-of-print work for free download. Especially with these smaller and very niche labels, you can bet that if they ever did decide to make another physical pressing they'd still have plenty of takers despite the freebies.

In sort of a similar vein, Type Records has all of their releases streaming from their website: http://typerecords.com/releases. I went there for the streaming Helios and Goldmund releases and haven't really listened to much else, but there's quite the back catalog for your free and legit sampling.

GP, I assume you heard the new Tycho album? What did you think? I'm really impressed with the direction it took--the existing year-old singles really sound like they belong, and the whole album kind of moved away from the BoC-esque sounds of Past is Prologue, which is something a lot of reviewers seemed to get hung up on.

Over the past year, I've been really binging on current releases and the back catalog of Ghostly International, which is a label that ought to be right up the alley of anyone who likes most of the music mentioned in these past four pages (if everyone's not already in tune with it; it's nowhere near as obscure as some of the other stuff mentioned here).