genre: noise, avant pop
Imagine african noise group from Toho who make music which easily sums up everything good from the past decade. They are called Gobledic Sonic Front ant they are all that. And plus - the are awesome. Not many people know about them, but they are really no hipster horse shit adoration material. You ought to try them, there are elements of drone music, 8bit (or even less bit than that, this is Africa, dont remember!) and traditional togonese funk music called muhabwa (like James Brown shagging with Stockhausen with no condom on). They only made one album and as far as i know they work on new ep right now. There are no youtube vids available, but u may have a look at their myspace - http://www.myspace.com/gobledicsonicfront
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
OK. This is it. The last album. (This could go forever, I had some 100 other albums selected, but enough is enough.) Thanks for your tremendous support over 4 months and sorry for the HTML glitches from time to time.
KEEP SUPPORTING THE GOOD MUSIC. AND DO NOT TOLERATE CRAP!
good music = good music
čtvrtek, prosince 31, 2009
středa, prosince 30, 2009
Unclassics 121: Stars Of The Lid - The Tired Sounds Of (2001, Kranky)
genre: modern classic, ambient
Modern classical music goes pop! Who would ever predict that! I know a horse sh*t about classical music, but just like most of the "pop" people I got to this via ambient and chill-out music. Fuck expectations and genre boundaries, SOTL make very delicate and organic music which reminds me of a snowflake melting in your hands. Two hours of this might blow your mind, so be careful. (And oh, yeah - one more from Kranky catalogue. And they are the winners of our "best label of 00s" contest, congratulation.)
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
Modern classical music goes pop! Who would ever predict that! I know a horse sh*t about classical music, but just like most of the "pop" people I got to this via ambient and chill-out music. Fuck expectations and genre boundaries, SOTL make very delicate and organic music which reminds me of a snowflake melting in your hands. Two hours of this might blow your mind, so be careful. (And oh, yeah - one more from Kranky catalogue. And they are the winners of our "best label of 00s" contest, congratulation.)
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
úterý, prosince 29, 2009
Unclassics 120: A Sunny Day In Glasgow - Scribble Mural Comic Journal (2007, Notenuf)
genre: dreampop, fuzz pop
Warning: this music can give you headache. It happened to me once - altought it is in its core were beautiful music, all the fuzzy & noisy elements can do something to your brain. ASDIG might be the essential lo-fi band of our era (together with No Age), but in fact they work with the lo-fi elements in a very hi-fi way - never take any chances and always being very careful about every note.
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
Warning: this music can give you headache. It happened to me once - altought it is in its core were beautiful music, all the fuzzy & noisy elements can do something to your brain. ASDIG might be the essential lo-fi band of our era (together with No Age), but in fact they work with the lo-fi elements in a very hi-fi way - never take any chances and always being very careful about every note.
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
pondělí, prosince 28, 2009
Unclassics 119: Konono No 1 - Congotronics (Crammed Discs, 2004)
genre: bazombo trance music
There used to time when stupid white men admired Africans and their music for being "pure" and "authentic". They called it world music. Then came time when the Africans decided to fuck those jerks in asshole with iron pole. 00s was time when the west discovered that the musicians in Africa are no longer nice, but making rebellious, radical and agressive music. Konono No 1 from Congo play something called bazombo trance music and it is the most 'out there' music we heard during last decade - something like Ikeda or Raster Noton playd acoustically. This even at times sounds like warriors calling to arms - oh yeah, they are coming...
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
There used to time when stupid white men admired Africans and their music for being "pure" and "authentic". They called it world music. Then came time when the Africans decided to fuck those jerks in asshole with iron pole. 00s was time when the west discovered that the musicians in Africa are no longer nice, but making rebellious, radical and agressive music. Konono No 1 from Congo play something called bazombo trance music and it is the most 'out there' music we heard during last decade - something like Ikeda or Raster Noton playd acoustically. This even at times sounds like warriors calling to arms - oh yeah, they are coming...
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
neděle, prosince 27, 2009
Unclassics 118: Anja Garbarek - Smiling & Waving (2001, EMI)
genre: jazz, pop, experimental
Norwegian singer is a daughter of sax player Jan Garbarek whom I detest quite a lot. But she is OK, mixing smooth jazz melodies with glitch sounds. One of the collaborators was also the genius of Mark Hollis (ex Talk Talk). There is stunning version of a song Stay Stuned, whose magic was touched very gently by Robert Wyatt on his masterpiece Comicopera. (Wyatt sings on The Driver here.) Blissful album.
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
Norwegian singer is a daughter of sax player Jan Garbarek whom I detest quite a lot. But she is OK, mixing smooth jazz melodies with glitch sounds. One of the collaborators was also the genius of Mark Hollis (ex Talk Talk). There is stunning version of a song Stay Stuned, whose magic was touched very gently by Robert Wyatt on his masterpiece Comicopera. (Wyatt sings on The Driver here.) Blissful album.
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
sobota, prosince 26, 2009
Unclassics 117: Torche - Meanderthal (2008, Hydra Head Records/ Robotic Empire)
genre: metal, pop
Some smartass (like me) will try to persuade you that Torche play speed doom metal, which is fun. They are exciting and full of energy and at the same time very very HEAVY. like this:
_ _ ______ __ ____ __
| | | | ____| /\ \ / /\ \ / /
| |__| | |__ / \ \ / / \ \_/ /
| __ | __| / /\ \ \/ / \ /
| | | | |____ / ____ \ / | |
|_| |_|______/_/ \_\/ |_|
yep. Some jerks like driving car to old hard rock. Me? Only to Torche's second album!
but they are also like fuckin:
___ __ ___
| _,\/__\| _,\
| v_/ \/ | v_/
|_| \__/|_|
Beach Boys jamming with Black Sabbath. Git it!
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
Some smartass (like me) will try to persuade you that Torche play speed doom metal, which is fun. They are exciting and full of energy and at the same time very very HEAVY. like this:
_ _ ______ __ ____ __
| | | | ____| /\ \ / /\ \ / /
| |__| | |__ / \ \ / / \ \_/ /
| __ | __| / /\ \ \/ / \ /
| | | | |____ / ____ \ / | |
|_| |_|______/_/ \_\/ |_|
yep. Some jerks like driving car to old hard rock. Me? Only to Torche's second album!
but they are also like fuckin:
___ __ ___
| _,\/__\| _,\
| v_/ \/ | v_/
|_| \__/|_|
Beach Boys jamming with Black Sabbath. Git it!
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
pátek, prosince 25, 2009
Unclassics 116: Strategy - Future Rock (2007, Kranky)
genre: dub, ambient
One more Kranky horse in our project. How do they come with so many exciting acts? Strategy is Paul Dickow who does music in between dub, ambient and acid. Why rock then? Maybe it has something to do with the original description of music coming from Jamaica. The deep heavy vibes are there, the trip-out otherwordliness as well and the rest is out there. Tune in and trip out.
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
One more Kranky horse in our project. How do they come with so many exciting acts? Strategy is Paul Dickow who does music in between dub, ambient and acid. Why rock then? Maybe it has something to do with the original description of music coming from Jamaica. The deep heavy vibes are there, the trip-out otherwordliness as well and the rest is out there. Tune in and trip out.
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
čtvrtek, prosince 24, 2009
Unclassics 115: Deathspell Omega - Fas - Ite, Maledicti, in Ignem Aeternum (2007, Norma Evangelium Diaboli)
genre: avant black metal
I hate Christmas and you will do too!!! And nothing beats listening to black metal during Christmas Eve! I am looking forward to the moment children will be playing under the fucking Christmas tree and I will relieve all the stress listening to some Deathspell Omega. The french black metal scene blossomed to beauty during 00s and DSO are certainly the top act there. The thirt part of their unholy trilogy many times sounds like complete noise whiplash, but make no mistake - these guys are so smart they think about every note. OK, it may lack the pure mayhem of Mayhem and blasphemy of Blasphemy, but still - this is ultimate Christmas black metal album for you.
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
I hate Christmas and you will do too!!! And nothing beats listening to black metal during Christmas Eve! I am looking forward to the moment children will be playing under the fucking Christmas tree and I will relieve all the stress listening to some Deathspell Omega. The french black metal scene blossomed to beauty during 00s and DSO are certainly the top act there. The thirt part of their unholy trilogy many times sounds like complete noise whiplash, but make no mistake - these guys are so smart they think about every note. OK, it may lack the pure mayhem of Mayhem and blasphemy of Blasphemy, but still - this is ultimate Christmas black metal album for you.
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
středa, prosince 23, 2009
Unclassics 114: Califone – Roots & Crowns (2006, Thrill Jockey)
genre: folk, post-rock
Noone loves sad morons, but they make beautiful music like that, they can be forgiven. Califone balance between intimacy and the American "grandeur", but the manage to make the cliches sound fresh.
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
Noone loves sad morons, but they make beautiful music like that, they can be forgiven. Califone balance between intimacy and the American "grandeur", but the manage to make the cliches sound fresh.
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
úterý, prosince 22, 2009
Unclassics 113: Clark - Empty the Bones of You (2003, Warp)
genre: IDM
The reason we loved hardcore rave was that it was RAW. Not necessarily tough, masochistic, testosteron RAW, but take-no-hostages and fuck-you RAW. Clark is perhaps the only inteligent/serious dance music producer, who kept this rawness and on Empty the Bones Of You you can enjoy it at the most. Without listening you know it by just reading the tracks names: Holiday As Brutality or The Sun Too Slow or Gob Coitus. And the music sound just like that. We salute you, Chris Clark!!!!
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
CLARK plays in Fleda in Brno on 29th January!
The reason we loved hardcore rave was that it was RAW. Not necessarily tough, masochistic, testosteron RAW, but take-no-hostages and fuck-you RAW. Clark is perhaps the only inteligent/serious dance music producer, who kept this rawness and on Empty the Bones Of You you can enjoy it at the most. Without listening you know it by just reading the tracks names: Holiday As Brutality or The Sun Too Slow or Gob Coitus. And the music sound just like that. We salute you, Chris Clark!!!!
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
CLARK plays in Fleda in Brno on 29th January!
pondělí, prosince 21, 2009
Unclassics 112: Ulver - Lyckantropen Themes (2002, Jester Records)
genre: ambient, glitch
At the beginning of 00s Ulver showed us that metal is not about spikes and pentagrams but about doing whatever you fucking want - NO MATTER WHAT. And they did it: an ambient electronic album with no guitars and vomiting. It is in fact a soundtrack to short film of the same name, which makes it no less intriguing. It sound very beautiful, but I can still feel something sinister in it. Of course it makes sense with Burzum ambient passages, but the whole album of this? I suppose a lot of metalheads had problems with this and Ulver made their miserable live even more miserable - which means BETTER.
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
At the beginning of 00s Ulver showed us that metal is not about spikes and pentagrams but about doing whatever you fucking want - NO MATTER WHAT. And they did it: an ambient electronic album with no guitars and vomiting. It is in fact a soundtrack to short film of the same name, which makes it no less intriguing. It sound very beautiful, but I can still feel something sinister in it. Of course it makes sense with Burzum ambient passages, but the whole album of this? I suppose a lot of metalheads had problems with this and Ulver made their miserable live even more miserable - which means BETTER.
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
neděle, prosince 20, 2009
Unclassics 111: Bjørn Torske - - Feil Knapp (2007, Smalltown Supersound)
genre: electronic, space pop
The cold north Europe again and their unusual take on pop music - Bjorn Torske from Norway was making music since the beginning of decade, but the hype caught him with the space disco fever later on. Feil Knapp is an album of blissed out electronic pop from outter space (just like the best moments from Royksopp - minus the dull vocals - combined with the best moments of Lindstrom - minus the pretentious intelectualism. When listening to this music you suddenly want to kiss yourself, which is a kind of Buddhist Koan which the space disco people encounter quite a lot.
Big up to Smalltown Supersound!!!!
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
The cold north Europe again and their unusual take on pop music - Bjorn Torske from Norway was making music since the beginning of decade, but the hype caught him with the space disco fever later on. Feil Knapp is an album of blissed out electronic pop from outter space (just like the best moments from Royksopp - minus the dull vocals - combined with the best moments of Lindstrom - minus the pretentious intelectualism. When listening to this music you suddenly want to kiss yourself, which is a kind of Buddhist Koan which the space disco people encounter quite a lot.
Big up to Smalltown Supersound!!!!
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
sobota, prosince 19, 2009
Unclassics 110: Akron/Family - Akron/Family (2005, Young God Records)
genre: freak folk
If you havent met me yet, you should know that I am bit like Eric Cartman from South Park - short, fat guy, who likes to piss everybody. And just like Eric I hate hippies. Can't stand them. I know Eric would be very angry, if I told him I loved Akron/Family debut album. Sorry, mate, but this can't be helped. There is something inside me, something that would like me switch off computer and go naked in the wild. Can't fight it. Listening to this album after year brings back memories - and I realize Akron/Family are still MILLION times more interesting than Fleet fucking Foxes. Bleh, I hate those hippies!!! Wanna kill... (just joking!)
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
If you havent met me yet, you should know that I am bit like Eric Cartman from South Park - short, fat guy, who likes to piss everybody. And just like Eric I hate hippies. Can't stand them. I know Eric would be very angry, if I told him I loved Akron/Family debut album. Sorry, mate, but this can't be helped. There is something inside me, something that would like me switch off computer and go naked in the wild. Can't fight it. Listening to this album after year brings back memories - and I realize Akron/Family are still MILLION times more interesting than Fleet fucking Foxes. Bleh, I hate those hippies!!! Wanna kill... (just joking!)
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
pátek, prosince 18, 2009
Unclassics 109: Roots Manuva - Run Come Save Me (Big Dada, 2001)
genre: UK hip hop
At the beginning of 00s british hip hop was a bad copy of American posturing and an oasis of "old school" conservationists AKA the most boring thing ever. Than came The Streets and turn it upside down - just like Father Bam said: make hip hop your own thing. And the British did and behold it was good. They added plenty of reggae, spirit of rave freedom & pure UK weirdness. Roots keeps doing his own thing until today, but the second album is his pinacle.
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
At the beginning of 00s british hip hop was a bad copy of American posturing and an oasis of "old school" conservationists AKA the most boring thing ever. Than came The Streets and turn it upside down - just like Father Bam said: make hip hop your own thing. And the British did and behold it was good. They added plenty of reggae, spirit of rave freedom & pure UK weirdness. Roots keeps doing his own thing until today, but the second album is his pinacle.
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
čtvrtek, prosince 17, 2009
Unclassics 108: Boredoms - Vision Creation Newsun (1999/2000, Birdman, Warner Music Japan)
genre: noise
The 00s was a decade in noise and Boredoms might be THE referential point to the whole contemporary noise scene. Bands like Black Dice or Sightnings grew up on 90s japanoise boom and Boredoms was the most influential japanoise band in West. (They supported Sonic Youth, etc.) Just like Super Ae from 98, Vision Creation Newsun is no longer sonic whiplash that will make your ears bleed, but adventurous exploration of the beauty of distortion & weird sounds. Maybe it has more in common with freedom celebrating krautrock that with Hitler moustache machismo of Whitehouse. And in 2000 it was a revolutionary thing that noise music can be (this much) FUN (and I do not mean fun like in smashing-your-friends-head-with-beer-bottle fun.) Fucking head music! This is possibly the biggest legacy of Boredoms to our era. They got even weirder after that, changed their name on various occasions and alienated even the most hardcore fans.
(the album was released in december 1999 in japan, in the rest of the world the next year)
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
The 00s was a decade in noise and Boredoms might be THE referential point to the whole contemporary noise scene. Bands like Black Dice or Sightnings grew up on 90s japanoise boom and Boredoms was the most influential japanoise band in West. (They supported Sonic Youth, etc.) Just like Super Ae from 98, Vision Creation Newsun is no longer sonic whiplash that will make your ears bleed, but adventurous exploration of the beauty of distortion & weird sounds. Maybe it has more in common with freedom celebrating krautrock that with Hitler moustache machismo of Whitehouse. And in 2000 it was a revolutionary thing that noise music can be (this much) FUN (and I do not mean fun like in smashing-your-friends-head-with-beer-bottle fun.) Fucking head music! This is possibly the biggest legacy of Boredoms to our era. They got even weirder after that, changed their name on various occasions and alienated even the most hardcore fans.
(the album was released in december 1999 in japan, in the rest of the world the next year)
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
středa, prosince 16, 2009
Unclassics 107: Fiery Furnaces - Blueberry Boat (Rough Trade, 2004) - fixed
genre: weird pop
Dead grandmother album, blah blah, you know the story. Two siblings - The Friedbergers make strange pop music which may not be to everybody's taste. But you cant deny they are sweet and honest. Is this enough for an album to be included in Unclassics list? Nah, you have to genius as well (and as pretty as Eleanor.)
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
Dead grandmother album, blah blah, you know the story. Two siblings - The Friedbergers make strange pop music which may not be to everybody's taste. But you cant deny they are sweet and honest. Is this enough for an album to be included in Unclassics list? Nah, you have to genius as well (and as pretty as Eleanor.)
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
úterý, prosince 15, 2009
Unclassics 106: M83 - Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts (2003, Gooom)
genre: synth-pop, shoegaze
Cant explain what exactly draws me towards M83. They are French for starters - their music is deeply sentimental, which is something I hate as well. Well, here I am - getting so emotional about their second album. It is very blissful music, just like MBV, but more poppy and less pretentious.
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
Cant explain what exactly draws me towards M83. They are French for starters - their music is deeply sentimental, which is something I hate as well. Well, here I am - getting so emotional about their second album. It is very blissful music, just like MBV, but more poppy and less pretentious.
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
pondělí, prosince 14, 2009
Unclassics 105: Wolf Eyes - Burned Mind (2004, Sub Pop)
genre: noise
You are a sick individual, is my favourite phrase from 1st season of Office - and can be nicely used for describing Wolf Eyes. These guys are sick motherfuckers and their live concert in Austria 3 years ago is one of the most memorable moments of my concertgoing. (Me and Kubalik could have been the only people who stayed in the venue the whole concert.) Listening to their music is like when you let the devil scratch your soul. OK, this is awful metal cliche, but I can not come with anything better right now.
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
You are a sick individual, is my favourite phrase from 1st season of Office - and can be nicely used for describing Wolf Eyes. These guys are sick motherfuckers and their live concert in Austria 3 years ago is one of the most memorable moments of my concertgoing. (Me and Kubalik could have been the only people who stayed in the venue the whole concert.) Listening to their music is like when you let the devil scratch your soul. OK, this is awful metal cliche, but I can not come with anything better right now.
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
neděle, prosince 13, 2009
Unclassics 104: Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Worn Copy (2003, Rhystop)
genre: freak music, lo-fi, psychedelic pop
I remember buying this album on CD from one second (maybe third) hand shop in Vienna and listening to it for the first time on my way back on headphones (there used to be discplayers in the old old time, you know) - I can clearly recall the feeling of nausea when the music started. As if everything was wrong with the music and at the same time with the listener and the world around me. But later on I started geting to his weird/outsider world which seems to fascinate many people around the freak folk scene - he is the guy Animal Collective loved so much before they started loving Underworld (just joking!). They re-released the album on their Paw Tracks in 05. Try it and see for yourself. It has some pop appeal as well!!! Really.
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
I remember buying this album on CD from one second (maybe third) hand shop in Vienna and listening to it for the first time on my way back on headphones (there used to be discplayers in the old old time, you know) - I can clearly recall the feeling of nausea when the music started. As if everything was wrong with the music and at the same time with the listener and the world around me. But later on I started geting to his weird/outsider world which seems to fascinate many people around the freak folk scene - he is the guy Animal Collective loved so much before they started loving Underworld (just joking!). They re-released the album on their Paw Tracks in 05. Try it and see for yourself. It has some pop appeal as well!!! Really.
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
sobota, prosince 12, 2009
Unclassics 103: Moha! - Raus aus stavanger (2006, Rune Grammofon)
genre: abstract jazz metal
The name in the genre box (which I have just made up) may sum up everything. This is hell-of-a ride made by two norwegians guys who love doing abstract thing with their instruments. One of the two - Anders is also a member of Jaga Jazzist and Noxagt (which gives him rare treat being included twice in our list.) Noxagt might be a referential point, but Moha! is more abstract, more out-there and more about spacey smoked out grooves, which never ever go the way they were supposed to go. Big props to Rune Grammofon - one of the best labels of the 00s!
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
The name in the genre box (which I have just made up) may sum up everything. This is hell-of-a ride made by two norwegians guys who love doing abstract thing with their instruments. One of the two - Anders is also a member of Jaga Jazzist and Noxagt (which gives him rare treat being included twice in our list.) Noxagt might be a referential point, but Moha! is more abstract, more out-there and more about spacey smoked out grooves, which never ever go the way they were supposed to go. Big props to Rune Grammofon - one of the best labels of the 00s!
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
pátek, prosince 11, 2009
Unclassics 102: Sakamoto & Alva Noto - Insen
genre: ambient, glitch
I know you all want pretty melodies and harmonies, so here you are. Japanese pianist and composer Sakamoto is genius of neo-classical film music, which sometime gets so pretty you wanna kill yourself with a screwdriver. Thanks God, Sakamoto is also fan of experimental electronics and on this album he met with Mr. Noto himself. If there is anybody who is even less minimalistic than Alva Noto, I do not wanna know him/her, but pairing his digital pulses with Sakamoto's nice piano playing yield magnificient results here.
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
I know you all want pretty melodies and harmonies, so here you are. Japanese pianist and composer Sakamoto is genius of neo-classical film music, which sometime gets so pretty you wanna kill yourself with a screwdriver. Thanks God, Sakamoto is also fan of experimental electronics and on this album he met with Mr. Noto himself. If there is anybody who is even less minimalistic than Alva Noto, I do not wanna know him/her, but pairing his digital pulses with Sakamoto's nice piano playing yield magnificient results here.
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
čtvrtek, prosince 10, 2009
Unclassics 101: Gas - Pop (2000, Mille Plateaux)
genre: dub techno
The "oh-so ironically called" Pop is Wolfgang Voigt's last chapter in his underwater ambient series with Gas project. Do not expect nor Milli Vannili neither Madonna, Pop is heavy dose of 4/4 beats submerged and buried under the salvo of echo and delay effects. This is techno for creatures living 2 000 miles under the sea and it makes even more sense when listened together with the other three parts in Nah und Fern boxset. (If you manage to survive 4 hours of strange glitch noises, you have my deep respect!)
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
The "oh-so ironically called" Pop is Wolfgang Voigt's last chapter in his underwater ambient series with Gas project. Do not expect nor Milli Vannili neither Madonna, Pop is heavy dose of 4/4 beats submerged and buried under the salvo of echo and delay effects. This is techno for creatures living 2 000 miles under the sea and it makes even more sense when listened together with the other three parts in Nah und Fern boxset. (If you manage to survive 4 hours of strange glitch noises, you have my deep respect!)
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
středa, prosince 09, 2009
Unclassics 100: Khanate - Things Viral (Southern Lord, 2003)
genre: ultradoom metal, noise
There is only one album from 00s which deserves to get the number 100 - it is Khanate's second recording. Well, it would rather deserve the number 666, but there is no way I will keep this project until 2012. Words fail when you want to describe this dense, claustrofobic and ultraslow album. Four songs all filled with Dubin's gravely screams and O'Malley's slow riffs, however the king of this recording is Plotkin, who creates the subsonic soundscape around the catathonic metal. Khanate are the best nightmare of your life, the soundtrack to your last moments alive. And also one of the very best extreme music albums ever made on this planet. (Both lo-fi & raw debut and their last studio album Capture & Release is also very good, but maybe too sofisticated for its own sake, the same said about this year's post-mortem album Clean Hands Go Foul.)
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
There is only one album from 00s which deserves to get the number 100 - it is Khanate's second recording. Well, it would rather deserve the number 666, but there is no way I will keep this project until 2012. Words fail when you want to describe this dense, claustrofobic and ultraslow album. Four songs all filled with Dubin's gravely screams and O'Malley's slow riffs, however the king of this recording is Plotkin, who creates the subsonic soundscape around the catathonic metal. Khanate are the best nightmare of your life, the soundtrack to your last moments alive. And also one of the very best extreme music albums ever made on this planet. (Both lo-fi & raw debut and their last studio album Capture & Release is also very good, but maybe too sofisticated for its own sake, the same said about this year's post-mortem album Clean Hands Go Foul.)
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
úterý, prosince 08, 2009
Unclassics 99: The Books - Thought For Food (Tomlab, 2002)
genre: abstract pop, avantgarde, collage
This got Album of the year in Wire, so it is not as much unclassic as some might thing. I can see why the guys in Wire loved this mess of an album - it sheer weirdness, post-post everything collage music, who somehow still keeps its strange pop appeal. I must admit, I did not spend much time with the following books' lps The Lemon of Pink & Lost and Safe, but I hope when I get retired and have plenty of free time I am gonna dig it for sure.
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
CORRECTED - SORRY AGAIN
This got Album of the year in Wire, so it is not as much unclassic as some might thing. I can see why the guys in Wire loved this mess of an album - it sheer weirdness, post-post everything collage music, who somehow still keeps its strange pop appeal. I must admit, I did not spend much time with the following books' lps The Lemon of Pink & Lost and Safe, but I hope when I get retired and have plenty of free time I am gonna dig it for sure.
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
CORRECTED - SORRY AGAIN
pondělí, prosince 07, 2009
Unclassics 98: Tim Hecker - Harmony in Ultraviolet (Kranky, 2006)
genre: drone, ambient, electronic
The part of Tim Hecker's magic is the way he digs out beauty out of trash noises. On Harmony In Ultraviolet he created his masterpiece full of haunting moods and extraterstrial melodies. Listen with your eyes closed.
Hey, I am such a nice guy, I give you FLAC recording of this. Highest digital quality possible, but a bit larger file than usual.
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
The part of Tim Hecker's magic is the way he digs out beauty out of trash noises. On Harmony In Ultraviolet he created his masterpiece full of haunting moods and extraterstrial melodies. Listen with your eyes closed.
Hey, I am such a nice guy, I give you FLAC recording of this. Highest digital quality possible, but a bit larger file than usual.
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
neděle, prosince 06, 2009
Requiem za sníh, nebo surrealistický atentát?
Manifest umění hněvu podle Ferrymen Collective
Power Of The Exchanger / Síla měniče.
Scénář a režie: Ferrymen Collective. Česká republika / Finsko. 2 minuty 47 sekund. URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3bQ012TUwk
Subjekt je totéž co objekt, záleží na příležitosti...
- Egon Bondy, Poslední vzkaz
Za naprosté ignorance příslušných médií i jindy tak pohotové blogosféry (kde nezájem hraničí s psychickým vytěsněním) vystoupil z příšeří internetu umělecký artefakt zcela původního slohu. Ještě neovládl intelektuální salony, ale je veřejným tajemstvím, že je s jeho obsahem již obeznámena řada význačných očichávačů pražského kulturního establishmentu. Autoři setrvávají v anonymitě pod skupinovým jménem Ferrymen Collective, a my se jim nedivíme.
Děj filmu Power Of The Exchanger / Síla měniče je kontraproduktivní rozvádět: na neznámém místě v neznámý čas (víme bezpečně, že jde o zimu) se mladý muž vysoce individualizovaného projevu utkává se sněhulákem. Příčiny a okolnosti jsou neznámé, divák je však na závěr dvou a půl minutového díla ujištěn o výsledku, jenž mimochodem může vybraným jedincům způsobit jistý šok. Jde nicméně o vzácnou jistotu, již film divákovi poskytne... Minimalismus plochy umocněný až totální syžetovou inercí mohutně loví v nejtemnějších zákoutích kolektivního nevědomí euro-amerického publika. A je třeba říci, že výlov je to přesný a černý jako fernet. Čí jsou dehumanizované hlasy na pozadí? Jsou více součástí díla, nebo aktu jeho recepce? Temný severský ambient na pozadí filmu v žádném případě nenapovídá.
Mezi prvními spontánními reakcemi na Sílu měniče (diskvalifikujeme-li projevy nekultivované nenávisti) lze sledovat spor, zda je dílo pouhou česko-finskou odpovědí na Blair Witch, anebo nesnadný průnik depresivním humorem Ferrymen Collective otevírá pole pro komplexnější interpretační strategie? Humor Síly měniče vyžaduje ten nejserioznější přístup, vezměme tedy dílo vážně.
První plán tvoří nekompromisní změna paradigmatu zimy: ladovská idyla je titánským gestem odhalena jako dávno nepřiměřená pro podmínky globálních klimatických změn. Jednoduchá myšlenka dává rozehrát až pasoliniovské radikalitě v pojetí obrazu a reality. V nejsvětlejších momentech dějin se obvyklá dialektika umělecké tvorby převrací a princip Reality je testován principem Poesie – takový okamžik nám opět nastává: jakkoli je běžné, aby umělec reagoval na život a to, co přináší, nyní jsou instituce života nuceny reagovat na znepokojivě nové formy kinematografické básně.
Romantický koncept dialektického vztahu člověka a přírody jako boje z 19. stol. chápou Ferrymen Collective aktualizovaně na pozadí otázek žité současnosti. Je to kataklysmatická revolta vůči sněhuláku – falickému symbolu, v niž ústí jejich novoromantismus, dovedený do freudiánského důsledku. Neprozrazujeme čtenáři pointu díla, když popíšeme vedoucí úlohu sněhuláka v díle jako negaci zfetišizovaného lidského produktu jeho osedláním, zrušení zmrzlé struktury lidské činnosti primitivním gestem.
Přitom zůstává mnoho důležitého jakoby nedořečeno. Je filmový sněhulák-falus produktem Ferrymen Collective samotných, nebo jsme svědky polidštění cizí práce? Demonstrují černým obřadem na bílém pozadí tvůrci převahu nad svým vlastním fetišem? Nebo je sněhulák zástupnou obětí pro kanalizování umělcovy misantropie, a přichází tedy o hlavu proto, aby zůstal naživu jeho stvořitel, divákovi neznámý? Pak by sněhulák paradoxně byl obětním beránkem lidství! Jsou to pozoruhodné otázky, jež kladou necelé tři minuty Síly měniče.
I těmito otazníky je dílo jakýmsi temným protipólem Antikrista. Snad právě temná opozice může poslední film Larse von Triera zachránit před pádem do neporozumění. Spojení dvou současných antigeniů jako by se zdálo zakládat novou avantgardu, avantgardu hněvu – první uměleckou internacionálu cele patřící do 21. století.
Vyslovme to na rovinu: Síla měniče je riskantní analysou základní existenciální situace současného člověka – jeho absurdní střet s vlastním výtvorem. Film je tedy svrchovaným řešením dialektiky člověka a přírody, aktualizující novoromantická (výrazovými prostředky) a surrealistická (svým sdělením) stanoviska.
Přízrak umění hněvu, jehož je Síla měniče zásadní manifestací, je tím nejlepším, co přejeme době, kdy underground obsadil pozice nejprogresivnějšího komunikačního prostředku, aby se jaksi mimochodem pustil do boje s malomocnou strukturou průmyslové zábavy.
Debut předznamenává společenskokritický potenciál Ferrymen Collective, jehož plné uplatnění čekáme od budoucích děl. Máme co dělat se skutečností, kterou je třeba podrobit Síle měniče; přesně podle hesla: „Krev myje, oheň čistí“. Po zhlédnutí již není zda a jak, pouze KDY!
Napříště sníh bude KONVULSIVNÍ, nebo nebude vůbec
Roman Rops
Unclassics 97: The Microphones - The Glow Pt. 2 (2001, Krecs)
genre: indie folk, psychedelic
Changing name after each album is really a strange marketing plan, but Phil Elvrum is such a taleted guy, he can do anything he wants. The Glow Pt. 2 is perhaps his best work (although some recent stuff by Mount Eerie is not bad either). It is and album full of psychedelic folk stuff and there are chances that after listening to the whole album you might feel a little dizzy like after a rollercoaster ride. But you will be happy at the same time and want to try it again.
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
Changing name after each album is really a strange marketing plan, but Phil Elvrum is such a taleted guy, he can do anything he wants. The Glow Pt. 2 is perhaps his best work (although some recent stuff by Mount Eerie is not bad either). It is and album full of psychedelic folk stuff and there are chances that after listening to the whole album you might feel a little dizzy like after a rollercoaster ride. But you will be happy at the same time and want to try it again.
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
sobota, prosince 05, 2009
Unclassics 96: Otomo Yoshihide - Anode (2001, Tzadik)
genre: sonic mayhem
Yoshihide is the titan of japanese improv music and it would take an hour to list all the projects he put his hands on. Anode was made for John Zorn's Tzadik label with 11 other japanese musicians as and attempt to testtube Yoshihide's new rules for collective improvisation. There are 3 basic rules: Do not respond to other musicians, do not play melody and avoid all cliches. OK, fair enough. But is there any rule for the listener?
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
Yoshihide is the titan of japanese improv music and it would take an hour to list all the projects he put his hands on. Anode was made for John Zorn's Tzadik label with 11 other japanese musicians as and attempt to testtube Yoshihide's new rules for collective improvisation. There are 3 basic rules: Do not respond to other musicians, do not play melody and avoid all cliches. OK, fair enough. But is there any rule for the listener?
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
pátek, prosince 04, 2009
Unclassics 95: Benoît Pioulard - Précis (2006, Kranky)
genre: folk, shoegaze, experimental
Pioulard started wraping his fragile folk melodies in myst of reverbs and echoes already in 2006 before it got very popular. Précis might be simply one of the best debuts in 00s. (Sadly, the second album Temper was less spectacular.) Get soaked in his noisy melancholia.
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
Pioulard started wraping his fragile folk melodies in myst of reverbs and echoes already in 2006 before it got very popular. Précis might be simply one of the best debuts in 00s. (Sadly, the second album Temper was less spectacular.) Get soaked in his noisy melancholia.
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
čtvrtek, prosince 03, 2009
Unclassics 94: Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury (2006, Re-Up, Star Trak, Jive)
genre: trap music, hip hop
Pharrell & The Neptunes destroyed pop chart in the middle of the 00s, but then their creativity somehow dried out with boring rock attempts with NERD, terrible terrible Pharrell solo and countless copycat singles for pop starts. Thankfully, some of their stuff was more and more weird as they tried to return to form and created some of the strangest pop hits of the new millenium - Drop It Like Its Hot for Snoop, Hollaback Girl and Wind It Up for Gwen Stefani and of course this Clipse's album. Howerer, noone is sure when exactly the beats on this were made as the album nearly got lost admist labels merging chaos. Well, it says a lot about the state of pop industry when 2 of the finest black music albums of 00s made by the most - speaking about Hell Hath... and In Search Of nearly never got released. The beats are mega futuristic Bomb Squad-style with Clipse talking bullshit about crack game. This albums is not about them, and their career failed without the Neptunes help. If Pharrell & co. had made this album at the beginnings of their carreer, this would have changed the whole hip hop as we know it.
Also recommended by The Neptunes in 00s:
NERD - In Search Of (electronic version)
Kelis - Kaleidoscope
Kelis - Wanderland
Clipse - Lord Willin'
Justin Timberlake - Justified
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
Pharrell & The Neptunes destroyed pop chart in the middle of the 00s, but then their creativity somehow dried out with boring rock attempts with NERD, terrible terrible Pharrell solo and countless copycat singles for pop starts. Thankfully, some of their stuff was more and more weird as they tried to return to form and created some of the strangest pop hits of the new millenium - Drop It Like Its Hot for Snoop, Hollaback Girl and Wind It Up for Gwen Stefani and of course this Clipse's album. Howerer, noone is sure when exactly the beats on this were made as the album nearly got lost admist labels merging chaos. Well, it says a lot about the state of pop industry when 2 of the finest black music albums of 00s made by the most - speaking about Hell Hath... and In Search Of nearly never got released. The beats are mega futuristic Bomb Squad-style with Clipse talking bullshit about crack game. This albums is not about them, and their career failed without the Neptunes help. If Pharrell & co. had made this album at the beginnings of their carreer, this would have changed the whole hip hop as we know it.
Also recommended by The Neptunes in 00s:
NERD - In Search Of (electronic version)
Kelis - Kaleidoscope
Kelis - Wanderland
Clipse - Lord Willin'
Justin Timberlake - Justified
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
středa, prosince 02, 2009
KML's Best Albums of Y2K9
1. Michachu & The Shapes - Jewellery
2. Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Dimensions
3. Major Lazer - Guns Dont Kill People...Lazers Do
4. The Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
5. HEALTH - Get Color
6. - 10.
Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion
Raekwon - Only Built for Cuban Linx II
Fever Ray - Fever Ray
Moritz Von Oswald Trio - Vertical Ascend
Zu - Carboniferous
11. - 20.
Richard Youngs - Under Stellar Stream
Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Gnaw - This Face
Donae'o - Party Hard
King Midas Sound - Waiting For You
Untold - Gonna Work Out Fine EP
Matias Aguayo - Ay Ay Ay
Mount Kimbie - Sketch On Glass EP / Maybes EP
Shrinebuilder - Shrinebuilder
Japandroids - Post-Nothing
21. - 50.
The Very Best - Warm Heart of Africa
Martyn - Great Lenghts
Animal Collective - Fall Be Kind EP
Passion Pit - Manners
David Sylvian - Manafon
BLK JKS - After Robots
Cloaks - Versus Grain
Wolves in the Throne Room - Black Cascade
To Blacken The Pages - North
Maxwell - BLACKsummers'night
The Flaming Lips - Embryonic
Mulatu Astatke & The Heliocentrics - Inspiration Information
James Blackshaw - The Glass Bead Game
The-Dream - Love vs. Money
John Kirby - The Future Is No Longer What It Used To Be
Discovery - LP
Black meteroric star - st.
Nosaj thing - Drift
Paul White - The Strange Dreams Of...
Monolake - Silence
Dam Funk - Toeachizown
Khanate - Clean Hands Go Foul
Antipop Consortium - Fluorescent Black
Dudley Perkins - Holy Smokes
10-20 - Island
Kreng - L Autopsie Phenomenale
Eagle Twin - The Unkindness of Crows
Sonic Youth - The Eternal
Dexplicit - Digital Kinesis
Flight Of The Conchords - I Told You I Was Freaky
(sorry, I am too lazy/busy 2 write anything more about the albums, i promise i will add at least links to my reviews later on)
Unclassics 93: Supersilent - 6 (Rune Grammofon, 2003)
genre: avant-garde jazz
Norwegian post-jazz enssemble with Arve Henriksen and Helge Sten (aka Deathprod) as the leading heads knows how to make their music completely devastating. But on their 6 you find them they very in a very meditative mood, with heavy drones and slow slow passages of fricking beauty.
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
Norwegian post-jazz enssemble with Arve Henriksen and Helge Sten (aka Deathprod) as the leading heads knows how to make their music completely devastating. But on their 6 you find them they very in a very meditative mood, with heavy drones and slow slow passages of fricking beauty.
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
úterý, prosince 01, 2009
Unclassics 92: Theo Parrish - Sound Sculptures Vol.1 (2007, Sound Signature)
genre: techno, deep
Bleeping 808s and crude raw synth basslines, this is pure hardcore Detroit still somehow staying alive in 00s.
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
Bleeping 808s and crude raw synth basslines, this is pure hardcore Detroit still somehow staying alive in 00s.
)dl( get it while it's hot, I delete the files after 3 days
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