Aurgasm

Kicking things off is a mash-up of the recent worldwide pop hit, Sexyback, with the 1984 pop hit, Sunglasses At Night. This track bridges two dance classics spanning over two decades.

Highly architected electronic pop where adroit melodies meet a barrage of synthesized subtlety. Each turn of the music is unexpected; each bar maintains a heavy dose of complexity that keeps your ears engaged all fifty times you listen. I’ve heard this type of music described as bleepy-bloopy, which I’ll admit is appropriate, albeit a bit classless. Trentemøller, a Dane who creates all his music in Acid, takes a tack similar to the sonic landscapes of Telefon Tel Aviv and Télépopmusik. Thought. Aesthetics. Intelligence.

Busking in the New York City subway convinced Miss King that pursuing a career in music was worthwhile. Passerbys would ask for CDs, and while she didn’t have them initially, a performance at The Knitting Factory and a chance encounter with Velour Records head Jeff Krasno changed all that. Kaki King’s notoriety developed from her fret-tapping technique (video) featured on her earlier instrumental CDs. With her latest release, her imaginative songwriting and manual talent meet her tender voice.

Mara Carlyle has good and talented friends: her husband Andy is in Plaid and they both are friends with Matthew Herbert. Mara has tried many genres, singing with Plaid (who helped with the final touches of her debut album) and the Matthew Herbert Big Band project, Jamie Lidell and Dani Siciliano. She plays the piano, the saw, made jazzy ukulele cover of Lidell’s “Game for Fools” and in one of the interviews talks about her first DJing experiences. The Lovely (2004) is a mixture of jazz elements, classical styles, folk and electronica.

I can’t say that you Aurgasm readers often tell me what music I should be hearing (lord knows I get an earful from promoters), but one name that’s been thrown my way many times is Fat Freddy’s Drop. And if the popularity of the last multi-reader suggestion, Rodrigo Y Gabriela, is any indication, you’ll likely enjoy these guys as well. Not content with whipping up killer beats, they often lay down soulful R&B vocals to glide effortlessly into your ears. Last year, this seven-piece set picked up all four New Zealand Music Awards they were nominated for, as well as scoring Gilles Peterson’s Album of The Year.

Word has it this duo met from a Craigslist ad. Now I bet you’ll be surprised of that fact when you listen. An indie rock group looking for a drummer—Craigslist, I’d expect; but this tasty concoction of classic spy film score, 50’s cha-cha, 60’s pop and modern electronica surprises. It’s the type of music you swear you’ve heard before; the production well-crafted by beatmaker Kiran Shahani, formerly of the Supreme Beings of Leisure. I’ll warn you in advance: this album will draw the passion-poised lover out of you.

From the liner notes:

The Symmetric Orchestra reflects the spirit of Mali’s new democracy since 1992— a spirit of equality, and creativity. There’s a public in Mali today that loves traditional music — griot music — but not the griot milieu. With the Symmetric, they feel free to enjoy this music without the obligations of tradition. And this gives us the freedom to present the tradition in new ways.

That quote is enough, I’m sure, to make any Cultural Studies critics reading wet themselves, and I’m going to give them a little more: TDSO is one of those deftly textured creations that evokes equal parts timeless and contemporary, diffuse and situated. Try listening to the soft chants on ‘Mamadou Diaby’ without thinking of Four Tet, and the virtuoso piano on ‘Africa Challenge’ without hearing the tango. It’s beautiful.

From her first solo album Likes… (2004), Dani Siciliano has shown that she is much more than beautiful vocals for dancefloor-oriented tunes on collaborations with Matthew Herbert. A vocalist, producer and DJ, original and witty, Dani returns with her second album Slappers (2006). Once again Herbert is sharing production duties with Dani. Yet having background in both night clubs and jazz combos, she has her own knowledge of music. Dani creates her own sound by combining the elements of house, disco, blues, pop, electronica and even a little country with an instrumentation that includes teacups, spoons and such.

The time of 60’s folk-revival shamanism may be long past, but its embodying awe of life in untapped American places carries on in the wise, mellow songs of The Court & Spark. The titular homage to Joni Mitchell speaks for itself, bringing to mind mature melodic landscapes lush with histories both cloaked and unraveled. Among the eclectic collection populating Absolutely Kosher Records, this band is by far the most creative; their mix-and-match combo of gently accented vocals, bells, tape noises, horns, slide guitar, and everything inbetween sure sounds great on balmy summer evenings.

I don’t want to be too self-congratulatory, but I have heard that David Byrne reads Aurgasm and Nic Harcourt (of KCRW) frequents mp3 blogs. But it’s really unknown what use mp3 blogs have been, or will be, to the music industry at large. Let’s assume for a moment that producers follow mp3 blogs as much as they crate dig in their search of the next great sample. Follow me down this path, will you…

uk pop ← new orleans jazz
If you didn’t already hear, Lily Allen is ‘the next big thing’. Music geeks have been pushing her, wanting her songs will blow up in the US mainstream for a while. She’s definitely got the appeal potential: crisp and fun production underneath her own gritty urban storytelling. Her track “Knock ‘Em Out” was released as a B-side, but is now getting as much attention as her released singles.
Lily Allen – Knock ‘Em Out from Alright, Still (2006)
If you’ve been with Aurgasm for a while, that opening that forms the basis for the track might sound a little familiar. In December 2004 I shared a track by New Orleans pianist Professor Longhair. Take a listen:
Professor Longhair – Big Chief (1964)

cuban mambo → chicago hip hop
Around the same time, a little more south, a Cuban vocalist by the name of La Lupe was gaining notoriety for her energetic live show and, quite franky, her near-insanity. Before joining Tito Puente’s tour, her fan-base included Pablo Picasso, Jean-Paul Sartre and novelist Ernest Hemingway, who called her act, “the art of frenzy.” Last October, I dubbed her song “Fever” as an mp3 gem in The Link List.
La Lupe – Fever (1961)
Chicago’s Rhymefest is best known for penning Kanye’s Grammy-winning single “Jesus Walks”, but you’ll hear that La Lupe track repurposed in this new single off his LP.
Rhymefest – Fever from Blue Collar (2006)