After about a thousand plays over the past month, my hand now automatically scrolls to the D’s in my phone when I start my car in the morning.  If you ever have a need to kick-start your morning, there is little more effective than blasting “Nike“ while chugging a coffee:

Starting his career as a bass player for Joakim and others, Juan de Guillebon began in the Paris electronic scene at 14 and has been on the expanding fringe of music ever since.  His debut album Taki 183 vacillates from light to dark, from synth-pop banger to minimal trips, from dreamscape to the dark side of the moon.  As a whole it covers a massive portion of the electronic spectrum, while still making sense as one unit.  As a professional clown I know once said, “devastatingly diverse but fanatically focused”.

Now, if you just heard songs like “Nike” and  ”Matthias & Charlotte“, you might miss the darkness that creeps into this album.  ”Fantasy” is accompanied by a twisted and startling video that begins with innocence and ends with atrocity.  NSFW, NSFL, involves anime, aliens, and is, like I said, twisted.  Not for the faint of heart.  

Anyway this album is a real monster, check out the entire thing here.  Scroll to the bottom for the player.  DyE SoundCloud page here, with remixes.

Cheers,

Kelbs

Especially for this post, I am going to go as light as possible on “analysis” and stick to “listening to this album is like eating marshmallows – fluffy and delicious”.  The reasons are many, but first and foremost is that I/we have no real business critiquing artists who are daily creating new sounds, new genres, and expanding the musical library exponentially.  Second, this is not the type of album that needs to be picked up and looked at under a microscope.

Tycho is Scott Hansen, an artist and producer from San Francisco.  His new LP Dive continues where The Past is Prologue left off – swirling pleasantly into oblivion.  Catchy rhythms, ephemeral vocals, and glassy hooks make you sit down and stay a while.  Strolling through “A Walk”, Scott Hansen drips “Hours” into a “Daydream”, and “Dive”‘s down to the “Coastal Brake”.  If ever song titles were emblematic of the atmosphere presented, Dive effortlessly does so.

Take a listen –  light and refreshing doesn’t begin to cover it.

Tycho – Hours

Tycho – Coastal Brake

Tycho SoundCloud

Scene: Neon Sullivan (Com Truise opener)

Setting: Lincoln Hall

Attendees: Various performers of Barnum & Bailey

Concert Notes: Alan Palomo has added a person or two to his Neon Indian live band since last year.  This change, in addition to the slightly less wacky nature of Era Extraña, results in a Neon Indian that hits the stage harder than before.  While I was a bit distracted by my fellow blogger Duchovny’s parkour style attempts at grinding on the handrail, I saw an act that is much more capable of rocking larger venues.  This was especially made possible by not spending half the show using his wonky magic wand instrument routine (though that is awesome).

Security Notes: While the show largely went by uneventfully, one patron managed to backflip himself over the right side railing approximately 45 seconds into the show.  He was informed this was strike one – and was later asked to drink coffee, and then water.  When said patron was observed hurricaning a Guinness, he was then shown the exit (this was akin to putting a cat in a bathtub).  A compatriot then asked to be kicked out with said original patron, and we obliged.

The teaser for his budding touring career is a pretty convincing argument to move to Paris and scum around the neu disco scene.  It sometimes seems like half of all the new music I’m listening to is French, whether its electronic or not.  Anyway, check it out:

I’m no expert on the matter, but the video shows some snippets of him using a launchpad (the keyboard) and ableton live (the software).  The fact that technology makes this type of thing accessible to anyone is mindblowing.  Here is him using this setup for a short mix – this video went viral a few months ago, and its easy to see why.

There are few people who have gotten so much hype over so little actual production – his anthology is currently a short stack of remixes and a few original tracks.  His sound is incredibly crisp and clear, and making many of his own sounds gives it his own flavor – he says he never samples for his original tracks.  Hopefully his tour expands and comes to Chicago eventually – it will be interesting to follow his career.

http://soundcloud.com/madeon

Do androids dream of electric sheep?  Do robots sing electro?  I think yes.  Tape Deck Bros are a Canadian electro duo – the best thing out of Canada since Nickelback.  These two tracks have been hanging around for a while but really caught my ear today. Nothing like stumbling on some fun tracks for the weekend.

Does this signal the return of the blog?  We’ve been in a serious coma the last few months, so maybe this will wake us up. Blackbeard is about to show Acapulco what seersucker suits are all about – I’m sure he’ll bring back some club bangers with him.

Peace, love, and electro,

Kelbs

Props to deathelectro for showing me the way of Tape Deck Bros.

Alright folks, this post is going to be a big jumble of styles, just a few songs I’ve been into lately.  Hope you will be too.

So this first track pairs up two electronic giants – a Groove Armada track remixed by the Bloody Beetroots.   The Beetroots manage to keep this track out of Bellevue – as far as their stuff goes, its pretty tame.  That being said, its super catchy and b0uncy, so check it out.

Fun track, remixed by Baby Monster.  They’re entering stage left with some solid remixes of late.

Next is a track with some frog yapping – people seem to have pretty strong opinions on French.  I don’t know where I was going with that, except to say that no one sounds as hilarious as some Germans.    The song has a loungey feel, plus some strings.

Lastly, a song by I Am Finn, remixed by Van She.  Don’t really know much about either of them, but this track really gets moving a few minutes in.  I’m a sucker for a big build and break.  They throw in some Imogen Heap style harmonic autotuning nonsense later on, the jury is still out on that part.

Thats way too many band/dj websites to link, so look them up yourself.

Pow,

Pow

Beep beep beep beep boop boop beep beep beep beep thump thump thump thump thump thump beep thump beep thump beep thump beep beep beep beep boop boop beep beep beep  YOU COULD beep thump thump thump thump thump thump beep thump beep YOU COULD BE MY thump beep thump beep beep beep boop boop beep beep beep beep thump thump thump thump thump thump beep thump beep thump beep thump beep beep beep boop boop beep beep beep beep thump thump thump thump thump thump MOON HITS THE MIRRORBALL beep thump beep thump beep thump beep beep beep beep boop boop beep beep beep beep thump thump thump thump thump thump beep thump beep thump beep thump MOON HITS THE MIRRORBALL HONEY beep beep beep boop boop beep beep beep beep thump thump thump thump thump thump beep thump beep thump beep thump.

As usual, this won’t fly if you only have, like, laptop speakers, so play it large.

——–>>>>> More info here <<<<<——–

Kelbs

Dear upstanding citizens,

If you were thinking you want to be more like Mike, here’s your song.  There are no single gloves, crotch grabs, or pedophilia, but it will surely melt your face like a blowdrier to the King of Pop’s mug.  Have fun.

Love,

Kelbs

By far the hardest part of this post was having to look at that damn picture the whole time.  Sorry about that.

Into to a new week, and new things. The Album, the debut full-length release by the San Fransisco-grown Girls, is a great way to round out a week with 5% of your ear drum function remaining.

Centered around former Children of God cult member Christopher Owens, The Album combines an oldies California Beach Boys-era groove (not unlike The Drums), but with Owens’ powerful own vocals, much like a modern Elvis Costello.

All of this is done in what seems be an increasingly popular lo-fi style. The result is both fun and powerful, relaxing and inspiring, and altogether easy on damaged robot ears.

Renew your Lust For Life

God Damned

See the Morning Light in your friend’s destroyed apartment at 8am. Did I mention Chromeo / Crystal Castles / Boyz Noize was awesome?

The album is great listen all the way though, check it out.

Deadmau5 in Chicago on the 20th, preview upcoming.

Duff

Not a ton of action around here lately – is the Midwest seasonal depression kicking in already?  Could be time to pack the bags and fly south.  Either that, or settle in for the long haul and pray that the winter isn’t as cold as summer was.

In music news, I’m signing up for piano lessons.  Yes, get excited, I’m sure I’ll be composing masterpieces in a few weeks.  I figured I’d post a song with some most excellent piano.  Nina Simone’s Sinnerman – its been featured in everything, sampled all over the place – I’m sure you’ll recognize it.  Superfresh, this is not (1965 release).  That being said, the clip below cemented it into my memory.  (Spoiler alert if you haven’t seen the Thomas Crown Affair)

Stream or Download:

Love,

Ray Charles