unorthodox sample use / Sweden+Brazil

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Wish I could pick out more samples from The Field, but I've only been able to discern a couple on account of how chopped-up they turn out after Axel Willner subjects them to a -finally- cathartic cut-and-paste regiment.

Anyway, here's the cut:



From 6:40-7:10 or so you should be able to hear:



Yes, Aquarela do Brasil by Ary Barroso. I have included the Geoff Muldaur version here, because it is creepy - and pretty much the only piece of music used in Terry Gilliam's Brazil (1985) - one of my favorite films. 0:05-0:10 is the clearest place you can hear The Field totally rip off the riff and make it into something equally good. 


As an aside, The Field is techno music that I think nearly everyone could enjoy.  Listen to it while drawing.


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new music reviews for April: Prussia

actually just this. be sure to listen all the way through.

Prussia is my favorite band so far this year; like skinny-baby Frank Blacks singing songs made for girls to sing in the 1960s. Seriously, I don't listen to many "band-bands" (groups of young white men playing real instruments) these days without shrugging my shoulders and thinking "eh, it's been done." Prussia - total exception to that expectation. Lovely music.

some interesting pieces I heard or saw or sometimes both today

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1. Keri Hilson - Pretty Girl Rock



I hated this song when 101 the beat jam started playing it all the time earlier this year. Then I caught the first 12 seconds of the song, which reminded me of Depeche Mode. Warmed me up a bit, industrial sounding shit usually does. Delightfully surprised with the video - pretty basic decades-of-inspiration theme. Camera quality corresponds to its respective decade. Ending makes me want to puke though. Audibly...The chorus is the weakest element of the song. First two verses are fun though. Sucker for that repetition in the first line of the first two verses. All downhill from there.


2. Tyler, the Creator feat. Earl Sweatshirt - "Assmilk"



This is the sickest thing ever all year forever. I am in disbelief at how good these children are at virtually every aspect of their craft. Analogy: The Outkast that wasn't living their developmental years during the great happiness-stability facade that was the 1990s. And the internet.


3. Bibio - "Jealous of Roses"



Many options for a favorite part of this song. The natural effect of practicing audio-sample bricolage.

4. Daedelus - "Slowercase D"



I just got this album today. Some of it is a bit too joyous for my taste I am afraid. Slowercase D, however - sounds like people being pulled back and forth. Underground. Perhaps a sinister character is giving orders.


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in the 1800's

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why is classical music so dramatic, especially Tchaikovsky?

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to make it memorable. without an internet stream or .mp3 or CD or cassette or record or piano roll all i have is my memory of the performance.

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dramatic music is easier to remember than subtle music.

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i would die if i could not listen to music at my convenience. i would die inside.

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now it sounds funny, now the most dramatic and beautiful and cathartic pieces are used to buttress romantic comedies and just comedies and men slipping on bananas and items falling in slow motion that are valuable and will cause a major disruption in the plot if that vase breaks.

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now they sound funny, but then i couldn't make my life into a film like i can with earbuds and pot and depression caused by other things.

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please, don't think of Monty Python, think of how actually the first couple minutes remind you of being away for so long, of being away for so long from the one you love and being alone, being alone for so long away from everyone you love.

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5 Songs You Haven't Heard Yet

pink headphones playlist 11 Feb 2011



LFO - "Freak"

Not the LFO you remember. I wish I could convince you that summertime girls band morphed into this, but you would never believe it after hearing. Two films I have seen within the past year used this song - "Enter the Void" (A+) and "Hard Candy" (B...ish). "Freak" is the type of song that translates so well visually, into mood or art. 2:28-3:33 makes me want to light all stringed instruments on fire. Wikipedia informs me the song charted at #79 on the UK singles chart. That would never, ever happen in Merica.



Cut Copy - "Take Me Over"

I am senselessly attached to "In Ghost Colours" (2008) - the album kept me from becoming subsumed by depression the fall before last. No, that's an understatement. The album kept me from killing myself. CC's new album reminds me of my previous life in 80s Manchester. CC in general is Manchester/New Order; since I died of an OD in the mid-80s, hearing CC reminds me of living.



J.Dilla - "Mash"

I am desperate to learn from whence came that piano sample. Voice sample sounds like Obama - conspiracy.



Method Man and Redman - "How High" (Tokimonsta Migrane Mix)

I feel unstoppable blasting this while navigating 15 mph rush-hour traffic in my 1999 Oldsmobile. I patiently await for my exit; I patiently wait for the day hip-hop utilizes the wealth of creative production artists currently signed to Brainfeeder. Right there in LA.



The Stranglers - "Walk on By"

The version is hypnotic. Americans, the Stranglers are so much more than "Skin Deep." Something genuine in the way he croons "I just wanna cry" with the "y" all emphasized and drawn-out like the real thing. Tell me the bass isn't sexy-angry. No, it's not? Fine, go get laid by no one. No one worth getting laid by.

Total Anatomy of Sampling: Case Study RJD2 "Ghostwriter"

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I am obsessed with instrumental hip-hop music for two reasons:

1. Listening to instrumental hip-hop throughout the day makes it easier to buttress the grand illusion that my life is a movie scored by incredible beat-makers.
2. More importantly, instrumental hip-hop allows anyone, not just me, to unconsciously survey the history of pop music as a result of IHH's fucking awesome use of samples.

To demonstrate, I have selected a song that everyone likes, RJD2's "Ghostwriter."

First, listen to the original:

Incredible, right? But where did it come from? See if Paul Desmond's "A Taste of Honey" (1964) sounds familiar:



How about those angelic voices? Would you believe they're from Elliot Smith's "I Didn't Understand?" (1998)



And the generally awe-inspiring horn section, which someday I hope to listen to while robbing a bank or something, is taken from Betty's Wright's "Secretary" (1970-something)



And there you have it. I'd recommend Derrida's essay "Structure, Sign, and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences" if you are interested in understanding the sort of meaning and method of such musical bricolage.