Posts from 2005

DJ Format/Abdominal

Tuesday, March 8th, 2005 by Andrew Ladd

conscious hiphop // old-school

I know you can’t see me, but I think it’s only fair to tell you that I’m not Paul Irish. I’m Andrew from #644, and Paul has kindly agreed to let me borrow his audience every now and then. Hi!
DJ Format has the remarkable talent of channeling the sound of laidback, funky hiphop, a feat all the more impressive since he’s an awkard white guy from the south of England. Abdominal is an MC from Montreal who’s as lyrically silly as DAISY age hiphop at its finest. Together, they blow my mind. ‘Ill Culinary Behaviour’ is irresistable, and ‘The Hit Song’ does just what it says on the box: hits the spot, every time.
Old-school hiphop from the old-school continent

DJ Format feat. Abdominal – The Hit Song
DJ Format feat. Abdominal – Ill Culinary Behaviour
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Four Tet

Tuesday, March 8th, 2005 by Paul Irish

folktronica // indie electronic // post-rock

Just got my paws on a smooth new gem and found our friend Kieran Hebden tossing a track on. Everything Comes And Goes is an unusual take on a Black Sabbath cover album, full of “interpretations and mutilations” of classic Sabbath songs. Some, like Matmos’s sparse and sporadic “F/X”, feel more like inspirations from the originals; others take Sabbath’s songs and mimic them in alternative genres: country, space-rock, acoustic, and garage rock. The Four Tet stands out as the most polished and poignant song — delivering the melody you know, but in a new comfortable light. Just because I love the guy, I’ve also posted his skillfull take on “Breathe Me” by Sia Furler (vocalist from Zero 7).
An intimately acoustic and earthy sound.

Four Tet – Iron Man
Sia – Breathe Me (Four Tet Remix)
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Deep Thinkers

Wednesday, March 2nd, 2005 by Paul Irish

innovative underground hiphop

I love my public library. I used to go weekly to borrow 18 CDs of random stuff I’d never heard. Sometime in 2000, I picked up a Best of Bellydance album to check out. To my ear’s surprise, Track 2 (Hossam Ramzy – Khusara Khusara) was the original song sampled for the number 1 single at the time, Jay-Z’s “Big Pimpin” (and now it’s used again in M.I.A.’s “Bingo”). Now if bellydance can work in hiphop, Deep Thinkers prove gypsy can as well in “Kiss the Sky”, albeit cut up in a deconstructed style alongside vocals from Wu-Tang and Busta. The Thinkers keep it creative in “Interruption with Substance” using a choice sample from Four Tet’s old folktronica group, Fridge.
A new imaginative, passionate, and conscious force in hiphop.

Deep Thinkers – Kiss The Sky
Deep Thinkers – Interruption With Substance

Fridge – Cut Up Piano and Xylophones
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ReBirth Brass Band

Monday, February 28th, 2005 by Paul Irish

big band // new orleans brass band

Every song starts with a tuba. Not just your standard oom-pah oom-pah ploppy tuba, no sir – this comes at you ferocious. Following after the famed Dirty Dozen Brass Band, the ReBirth crew throws together a vivid concoction of loud, bright brass slamming you from all angles. You can immediately hear how much they love the music they’re making – the invigorating energy just streams right out of their horns. They don’t stress about slipping a clam, they just let it all hang out.
Listen in on the New Orleans brass band jam session.

Rebirth Brass Band – You Move Ya Lose
Rebirth Brass Band – Chameleon
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California Guitar Trio

Monday, February 28th, 2005 by Paul Irish

instrumental guitar // new acoustic

I woke up really early this morning. I thought I had to be late and my boss would be calling soon to hound me. But, instead, I have an hour of me time before rolling out to work. These two songs by the California Guitar Trio are the perfect complement to this quiet morning. “The Marsh” begins as simple as could be, but soon a sonic sophistication develops — harmonies are voiced, counter-melodies balance the sound, and intricate musicianship comes off smooth as fresh linen. “Led Foot” sounds unmistakably like Blue Man Group at the beginning and takes a similar, aggressive approach to the song; be sure to catch the acoustic interplay at 2:50.
Monday morning music. First, soak in the sunshine, then get moving, mister.

California Guitar Trio – The Marsh
California Guitar Trio – Led Foot
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Amos Lee

Thursday, February 24th, 2005 by Paul Irish

folk-soul // roots blues

When I learned that Norah Jones was on the eminent Blue Note label, I was flabbergasted. And when I learned that her father was Indian music icon Ravi Shankar, the Blue Note connection felt a little less impressive. But Blue Note’s latest sign got there solely by his own “folksy, flannel-and-denim sound with sultry R&B. Taking from his influences Bill Withers, John Prine, Stevie Wonder, and Neil Young, Amos writes music from the heart, and presents it straight up. He’s down to earth, and puts genuine heart and soul put into this music.
Fall into this pared-down acoustic soul and let it take you.

Amos Lee – Arms of a Woman
Amos Lee – Dreaming
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The Books

Sunday, February 20th, 2005 by Paul Irish

cut-n-paste acoustic folk // electri-experi-indie

“skippy, choppy, and destructed… “blipworld / fakegrass / speedblues / chamberclick / eccentrock / country&eastern / glitch post-anything music with samples, closely followed by ‘food band’. “quick surges of crowd noise, vibraphone, guitar and bits of violin. “they manage to squeeze every last ounce of beauty from these commonplace sounds and let them carry the songs here. “their brilliant reassembly of tone into tune simultaneously created a genre and perfected it. “also the sounds you use seem to be all fragments, like “found objects” really. “We love beautiful surfaces that flow and pull us in, but we also love depth and nuance and invention…
“We are always trying to find that balance between emotional accessibility and musical innovation.

The Books – An Animated Description Of Mr. Maps
The Books – Enjoy Your Worries, You May Never Have Them Again
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Mawglee

Sunday, February 20th, 2005 by Paul Irish

chill-out // downtempo

Despite being a significant fan of downtempo electronica, I have to admit it’s difficult for a downtempo track to “jump out” at you. I mean, the whole point is that they are chill and unobtrusive grooves. But when I was listening to one of CPI‘s choice mixes, this Mawglee track made me stop what I was doing, turn up the volume, and drown in the sound. Starting out with a slightly disorienting hollow hall sound, Mawglee soon drops the song’s killer wheelbarrow bass. Just as your head’s starting to nod, the song’s body is stripped out. When he hands it back with a subtle dulcimer trickle, you just gotta love him for it. (Hat tip: brother Scissorkick blogged this Brighton cat before, giving some love to his funkier side.) Mawglee’s got releases on Tru Thoughts and Bastardjazz. Click up.
Downtempo that’s dynamic in structure, but remarkably lucid.

Mawglee – Dreaming
more mp3’s on mawglee.com
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Leo Delibes

Thursday, February 17th, 2005 by Paul Irish

1800’s classical opera // romantic ballet

Calm gliding elegant brilliance. This magnificent piece touched my ears first when I heard a brief moment of it in Carlito’s Way, but many others were familiarized with it in the 1990’s by a British Airways advertising campaign. The “Flower Duet” is from Delibes’ celebrated opera Lakmé, and in which a woman is aided into her bath by her ladyservant. Tchaikovsky was so impressed with Delibes that he rated the composer more highly than Brahms.
Heaven’s golden angels singing exclusively for you.

Delibes – “Dúo de flores” from Lakmé (1883)
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Limp

Sunday, February 13th, 2005 by Paul Irish

experimental // shoegazing // idm

In elementary school, you like girls. In middle school, it’s cute girls. In high school, it’s cute girls in the same classes as you. By now, you have an (un)determined set of specific criteria by which you select potential mates. Your personal maturity and development has made romantic compatibility into an elusive and challenging goal. Now personally, this song feels like it finds the nooks and crannies of my musical compatibility and fills them to fulfillment. Nothing exceptional stands out audibly, but it gives me the exact sonic mood that I need — in this case, complex beauty.
The electronica cover and original of a classic shoegazing tune.

Limp – Souvlaki Space Station
Slowdive – Souvlaki Space Station
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