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About Aurgasm

Launched two years ago, Aurgasm has developed into a destination of passionate music lovers around the globe. Its audience includes music mavens, critics, journalists, and bloggers—a highly influential audience. It has been profiled in The Boston Globe and mentioned on MSNBC.com, BoingBoing, Kottke, del.icio.us, and digg. Aurgasm specializes in everything not under the American rock umbrella—music such as: downtempo, folk, nu jazz, chanson, scandinavian, jazz, cuban, brazilian, electro, soul, jump blues, bluegrass, film score, and electronica.

About Paul Irish

A young man of twenty-five years, Paul's interest in music was initiated by his parents' rock band, playing The Standell's 'Dirty Water' in his basement. Since the mp3 format appeared on the internet, Paul has been eager to find his next favorite song.

His interests include: user experience design, emerging web trends, ecommerce, branding, maps, product design, typography, information design/overload, & sustainability.

Contact

Paul Irish
email: paul [atsign] aurgasm.us
AIM: Paullll Irish
Myspace: Paul's myspace
I listen to everything I'm sent, but I prefer music that isn't by a 'band'.

Contributors

Julija is an art student in Vilnius, Lithuania fond of wine and contemporary design. Andrew (blog) is a travelling Scot who writes and currently lives in London.

Tom y Joyce

nueva bossa-nova // brazilian lounge
The ocean waves roll in. Birds twitter in the distance. The warm Brazilian breeze brushes past your body, your cotton cropped pants comfortable and airy. Some soft bass hits your body, a gentle keyboard line floats in your eardrums. A luscious Portuguese voice serenades your soul. And then, the sound of drumsticks dropped by that gorgeous dark-skinned girl.
Put yourself on this Brazilian beach right now.

Tom y Joyce - Vai Minha Tristeza

Paul Irish on 10/28/2004 2 comments

2 Comments:

  • Anonymous said on 10/29/2004 01:16:00 AM :

    Very purty and smooth like fine rum, not the crappy kind Republican pirates love so much. Go Calcetines Rojos!

    --sherrie
    www.citizenrobot.com

  • Anonymous said on 5/10/2005 12:36:00 AM :

    Buenisimo!

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The Standells

rock 'n roll // 60's garage rock
I just gotta throw some love on my Boston boys. 1918! See, my parents used to be in a rock 'n roll band, and as a rambunctious music-loving six year old I always boogied down at their jam sessions. My mom tells me I requested 'Dirty Water' at every single practice and I totally can now understand why. It's got a gritty feel, very Stones-ish, and the guitar line snags ya.
'Cuz I LOVE that dirty water.... Ooooh Boston, you're my home!

The Standells - Dirty Water

Paul Irish on 10/28/2004 3 comments

3 Comments:

  • Anonymous said on 10/29/2004 11:27:00 AM :

    hey I think those people at MFR posted this song. or something.

  • Paul Irish said on 10/29/2004 11:46:00 AM :

    Haha. They absolutely did. And they beat me to it, too. But damn it, I have emotional connections to this song and I'm a Massachusettsean, too! So I retain the right to post it, albeit late and redundant.
    Monkeysars actually beat everyone to it. It's a great, classic song, can you blame us for lovin' it?

  • Paul Irish said on 8/20/2006 06:30:00 PM :

    (For anyone that missed the context, I posted this when the Red Sox won the World Series, ending their 86 year losing streak.)

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Spek

bouncy pop // hippie hip-hop
Playful giddyness. Spek is a Canadian-born Hindi guy that throws together some upbeat hip hop pop. Yet, I've always pictured him as a white guy from cali that yo-yo's at a funeral. His music is totally accessible (even girls will like it) yet particularly unique. This track hit my hard drive thanks to the long-forgotten audiogalaxy and still rocks my bedroom.
Put on the sunglasses, sip your lemonade, look at the cute girlies, and drop this ditty.

Spek - Smell The Coffee

Paul Irish on 10/26/2004 2 comments

2 Comments:

  • Anonymous said on 10/28/2004 04:08:00 AM :

    hippie hoppie poppie hip hop. this is like some Nelly Furtado. whoa. it was nice for me to stumble upon this though, as an Indian from Montreal too like Spec but i'd never heard of him before. this is a single that i could totally listen to repeatedly, even though its not usually my kinda thing.

    but hey if anyone is interested in more good Indian music, i have stuff by Indian electronica producers Talvin Singh and Karsh Kale on my website... not to mention bollywood disco funk from the '80s right now!

    su | www.aumsupreme.com

  • Prentiss Riddle said on 11/17/2004 03:15:00 PM :

    Very cool track! And not what I listen to, either.

    Totally pointless pedantic aside: a person can't be "Hindi". Hindi is a language, Hindu is a religion, Indian is a nationality (and, in a pinch, more or less an ethnicity).

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1 Giant Leap

worldbeat // global fusion
Soothing diversity. 1 Giant Leap was a project formed to "capture and weave together a unique fusion of sound, image and spoken word from some of the world's most happening musicians, authors, scientists and thinkers."[site] The album showcases music from Senegal and Ghana and features incredible collaborations. (Baaba Mall, Speech, & Revetti Sakalar).
The Cinematic Orchestra reworked this global feel into a tasty groove that ranges from calm and serene to aurally engaging and complex.

1 Giant Leap - The Way You Dream (Cinematic Orchestra Remix)

Paul Irish on 10/26/2004 1 comments

1 Comments:

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F i A S C O

electro-porno-kitsch
Sex. Video. Ya-boos. F i A S C O, aptly named to reflect its absurd overexcessiveness, crafted together this delicious quasi-porno-video morsel. It's bringing the ultra-sex of Mount Sims, adding in a handful of porno actors, the voice of David Bowie (or maybe Oingo Boingo) and spinning it in a superbly edited video showcasing the most hilarious sex strips and peeks I've seen. They apparently have no other songs, and their first show ever is this Saturday, but the video is making a loud splash. WARNING: NUDITY(!!!)
Give me a good excuse why you don't want to see 80's hair-dos and breasts. k. Thought so.

F i A S C O - Those Feelings (video)

Paul Irish on 10/19/2004 4 comments

4 Comments:

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Gustavo Santaolalla

guitar // argentinean folk
Delicate guitar work. Satisfying quiet. Despite his appearance, Gustavo creates some music that is gentle and warm. His recent CD, Ron Roco, could have been recorded in 1875 in the hills of Argentina and you'd hear nothing different. All he gives us is intricate but simple guitar work; beauteous complexity, masked as a consumable and melody.
This is music you'd play to quiet your darling newborn baby girl.

Gustavo Santaolalla - Gaucho
Gustavo Santaolalla - Pampa

Paul Irish on 10/18/2004 5 comments

5 Comments:

  • Anonymous said on 10/19/2004 05:06:00 AM :

    B -E -A -Utiful.

  • darío said on 10/23/2004 01:19:00 PM :

    Damn God, this post was superb!!
    Thank you mate, as argentinian, I´m very proud of him & my nationality. All said.

  • Skoodog said on 10/24/2004 02:22:00 AM :

    Did a little research, and apparently he did the motorcycle diaries soundtrack, and I guess has tracks on 21 grams and amores perros?

  • Nick Francis said on 10/25/2004 09:39:00 PM :

    Thanks for these beautiful selections. I think there are several kinds of string instruments played on this recording, not just the guitar. Perhaps another South American instrument, like the chorango or something.

    Anyway, you have a beautiful site; well designed, and your musical tastes are cool. Was referred to you by Oliver at Soul Sides. I'll keep stopping by. Thanks.

  • Jason said on 10/26/2004 09:58:00 AM :

    A beautiful track, especially first thing on this unseasonally warm New England morning. The NPR music managers will surely use Gaucho for a music interlude next chance they get... Stopped by after reading the nice review at Soul SIdes. An attractive design indeed. Thanks!

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Skalpel

downtempo \\ polish jazz
If you like The Cinematic Orchestra, you'll definitely like Skalpel. This pair of Polish DJs make a very similar sound: a deep, dark and jazzy solid groove. "Their aim is to resurrect the dusty & smoky spirit of 60s and 70s Polish jazz and then reimagine it for 21st century audiophiles."[officialsite]
This music sets you back into a jazz bar in a back alley of Rotterdam. Inhale it.

Skalpel - Scuplture
MP3 remix competition of their single 'Break In'
Videos (real media), full tracks, and an interview

Paul Irish on 10/09/2004 2 comments

2 Comments:

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ILS

nu-skool breaks // hip hop // drum 'n bass
Mind-stimulating dance music. ILS, aka Ilian Walker, was picked up by breakbeat godfather Adam Freeland after the promo Idiots Behind The Wheel hit Adam's ears. The sound that he heard was something new: instead of an targeting the hard body-moving breaks and drum machine sounds of standard breakbeat, "ILS succeeded in bringing a deeper, jazzier, more intelligent flavour to the genre without losing its trademark punch."[BBC Collective] The following tracks are off his latest release, Soul Trader.
This breakbeat's got an organic, natural feel that gets your body and mind into the groove.

ILS - No Soul
ILS - Prohibition

Paul Irish on 10/07/2004 1 comments

1 Comments:

  • Anonymous said on 10/28/2004 06:29:00 AM :

    wow at first i was cynical 'cuz of the "deepier, jazzier, flavor" but luckily i turns out that i should've embraced it. i think ILS makes it work 'cuz he takes a more minimal approach than, say, Jazzanova or DJ Food (yuck).

    thnx aurgasm! this was a great find. pleasantly surprising.

    su | www.aumsupreme.com

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Joe Cuba

latin jazz // boogaloo
Bailar bailar! You'll find yourself whistling along with this track soon enough. It's the piano chops that get your hips moving. No wait, its the string bass underscoring the piano rhythms that put some fire in your feet. No, it's absolutely the intense xylophone solo. Hmm, maybe it's the energetic yelling and screaming. I just can't place my finger on what drives this song, but..
"El Pito" has stolen my hips 'n feet and has got me doin the salsa. Aye yai yai!

Joe Cuba - El Pito

Paul Irish on 10/04/2004 3 comments

3 Comments:

  • thebeathunters said on 10/05/2004 04:20:00 AM :

    hi paul

    that's some frenzy conga here!
    thanks to comment on my post too, but what do you mean exactly by atom feed?

  • Anonymous said on 10/22/2004 10:22:00 AM :

    Great song! As I listened closely, I could make out the words, "I'll Never Go Back to Georgia". Where have I heard that before? It's Dizzy Gillespie: 'Manteca'. Did some research and turns out he composed that tune with Chano Pozo.

    http://www.jazzitude.com/bldizzy_thingstocome.htm

    It's so cool how you turned me on to a new tune that magically linked back to something that I already know and love, encouraging me to go back and learn new things, and in the process learning to appreciate it all even more. Thanks.

    -chris

  • Anonymous said on 10/26/2004 02:11:00 PM :

    Great track. NYC in the seventies was on some serious shit.

    Track is found on Nu Yorica! Roots compilation if I'm not mistaken. All the Salsoul Nu Yorica! comps are blazin'!

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Mathieu Boogaerts

french minimalist pop
Cute playful bounce. For all the people I've shared Mathieu with, "cute" is the most used descriptor upon first listen. It was definitely his fragrant and clean sound that first attracted me to him. His American fans affectionately call him "Booger" and he's collaborated with Yann Tiersen (composer of Amelie). That's reason enough.
Boogaerts wields a unique pallete of sounds to create these simple and likable tunes. Listen in.

Mathieu Boogaerts - Sens
Mathieu Boogaerts - Ou

Paul Irish on 10/02/2004 4 comments

4 Comments:

  • thebeathunters said on 10/04/2004 09:14:00 AM :

    hi
    strangely, most of your posts appear in that strange unicode characters so it's damn hard to deal with it on a regular basis...
    i face the same problem in my own blogspot (the naugahyde life) so maybe it comes from my mac and i just don't have the font i need to read it... anyway, great selection of tracks, as bahamadia and jill scott are both some of my faves, you can catch some own remix versions of their stuff at http://thebeathunters.free.fr in the music section... nice to see some french bloke (or is he belgian?) i'm gonna post some tracks from another french guy, katerine, that hopefully you'll enjoy
    seeyainblogosphere
    phil

  • Crystal_E said on 10/04/2004 08:43:00 PM :

    I found this via your comment on Fluxblog. This is a great blog and I love almost all the tracks! Especially the Red Astaire song. Keep up the good work!

  • Anonymous said on 11/10/2004 07:35:00 PM :

    ooh, i loved these two. also enjoyed joe cuba. thank you very much for this quality blog ^_^

    - kathy at apu dot edu, http://home.apu.edu/~kathy/, http://kapu.apu.edu

  • Anonymous said on 6/24/2005 11:59:00 AM :

    It is wonderful to see that there are Americans enjoying his deliteful music. He has become my favorite singer and I love his fantastic sounds.

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