日志

I complained last year about the over-accessibility of music and the lack of a clear musical direction in my life. Thankfully I had only the former to complain about this year and as far as complaints go, it’s an entirely self-inflicted one. z-soldier and I realized that we had a downloading addiction (52GB in 14 days; mediafire archives the new crack) and so this year we swapped downloading duties: when one of us was in charge of downloading, the other stayed `on the wagon’ so to speak; music would appear magically in our shared dropbox folder.

Two exciting new musical directions became visible to me this year. The first was a re-exploration of deep space synth and kraut sounds originally explored by the likes of Manuel Göttsching and Klaus Schulze with an occasionally noisy lo-fi aesthetic; with many of these artists releasing on tape-only labels. Unusually for me, the artists in this grouping are mostly American; they combine the Germanic inspiration with sounds from 80s American tv shows and the America of Blade Runner.
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...on Optimistic Underground of course!

http://optimisticunderground.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/emego104xs.jpg?w=450&h=452

Returnal 7"

Track 1: Antony on vocals with Lopatin on piano
Track 2: Fennesz remix, using original, Antony vers., and album elements

Seriously, if you're even merely familiar with Oneohtrix Point Never, check this out. In fact, if you're not familiar with any of the 3 artists involved, check this out.

"Simultaneously near-infectious yet more esoteric than the original, the track casts the newly focused vocals into a realm somewhere between the original’s stellar echoes and Antony’s intimate transmission, while providing the synths with both a rhythmic backbone and an environment utterly lacking gravity."

So yeah. It's awesome. And a MUST for any OPN fan.

Antony and the Johnsons
Fennesz
Emeralds
Tim Hecker
Skyramps
Black To Comm
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Under the Radar photo shoot: Antony and the Johnsons

Antony and the Johnsons
Antony & The Johnsons
Antony

Track: Winter Lady
Artist: Kate and Anna McGarrigle, Martha Wainwright
Album: Leonard Cohen I'm Your Man (2006)
Tags: female vocalists, covers, folk, harmony, live, my gang rotw
Video: Click the pic...

http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/dHYzVCdgJuY/default.jpg YouTube, audio upload


This wasn't going to be today's reco. I haven't had much time to research for it and to be honest, I am surprised at how upset I am, so apologies if it isn't very good.

This afternoon, it was announced that Kate McGarrigle has died of cancer at the age of 63.

You will read much better obituaries and tributes than I could write, so I will just make this personal.

http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465/1d/www.montrealgazette.com/sports/Singer+Kate+McGarrigle+dies/2458946/2459032.bin?size=620x400
Kate McGarrigle, 2003. Picture: Montreal Gazette

Readers will most likely know Kate McGarrigle was mother to Rufus and Martha Wainwright and was once married to Loudon Wainwright III.

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Well the year is almost over again and everyone is making lists of albums of 2009 so I'm going to too. This year I'm going do a top ten of My Albums which are the ones which I've went out and bought the real thing that you can hold in your hands. No downloads here if I couldn't be bother to find the CD it's not really here in front of me now so call me old fashioned. Plus a few other things which I think I'll start with now.

TRACK OF THE YEAR:
The Drones
Suicide is Painless
I've been waiting for this for a long time now. I don't know how many times I've watched the video for this song on JTV, it's a Triple J radio's Like A Version cover song. Volume five has just come out and I went out and got the CD just for this track, is that mad? It's got some of the most bleak and depressing lyrics ever written but The Drones members are laughing at them throughout the song which kind-off juxtaposed it. I've written a whole journal about this track earlier so have a look in my older posts if you want to know more.
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1. Lamb - Gabriel
2. Damien Rice ft. Doreen Curran - Eskimo
3. CocoRosie ft. Antony - Beautiful Boyz
4. The Postal Service - This Place Is a Prison
5. Yann Tiersen - Comptine D'un Autre Été: L'après Midi
6. The Veils - Jesus for the Jugular
7. Bon Iver - Skinny Love
8. Tori Amos - Caught a Lite Sneeze
9. The Chemical Brothers ft. The Magic Numbers - Close Your Eyes
10. Goldfrapp - Utopia

1. CocoRosie ft. Antony - Beautiful Boyz
2. The Chemical Brothers ft. The Magic Numbers - Close Your Eyes
3. Spinvis - Lotus Europa
4. Rogue Wave - Are You On My Side?
5. Venetian Snares - Hajnal
6. Sufjan Stevens - John Wayne Gacy, Jr.
7. The Magic Numbers - This Love
8. Spinvis - Aan de Oevers Van De Tijd
9. Bettye LaVette - Joy (Lucinda Williams cover)
10. Wolf Parade - Dinner Bells