Förlusten av ansiktet, förlusten av långsamheten

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Mar 262010
 

Med elektronisk dansmusik tillåts en befriande ansiktslöshet träda fram i populärkulturen. Förutom i dansgolvens jagupplösning manifesterar sig anspråkslösheten i låttitlar (varandes dess enda textuella innehål, också musikens viktigaste berättelse) som i Simon Harris Only A Demo.

Jag lyssnade på a-sidan, Here Comes That Sound, och tänkte på hur ännu 1988 den mesta populärmusiken var nertyngt av behovet av en berättelse, i det här fallet vokalsamplingsväggen som först fick vikarera för pop-musikens behov av mänsklig närvaro. Genom att döpa b-sidan till något så anspråklöst som Only A Demo kunde ett långt språng framåt mot minimal och repetativ dansmusik äga rum. Det var sällan man lyckades med sådana här nakna kompositioner på den tiden. Men de har åldrats med värdighet. Hashim – Al Naafiysh (The Soul), Man Parrish – Hip Hop Bebop, Mantronix – Bassline och Simon Harris Only A Demo.

SNOW MUSIC

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Dec 212009
 

It’s snowing like it’ll never stop here in Sweden. Eternal winter is coming. The mental ice-age is upon us.

I’ll make my escape in a month, though, so I’m good. But until then, we have to adapt our listening to the seasonal changes. Here’s some music that fits better with the snow falling.

Aril Brikha – Departure In Time, Ex Machina

You want some lush synthesizers to watch the snow falling by with your sweetheart, but not feeling quite ready for Wham? Then you need to go see Aril Brikha, maker of romantic, Detroit-influenced, immaculately arranged techno tracks… soft like freshly fallen snow, visionary like the North Star.

Claro Intelecto – Warehouse Sessions

The coldness of electro and the openness of minimal techno that goes into this album makes it perfect for frozen landscape with clear skies.

Pole – Steingarten

Music to plow snow to. They’ve thrown some grooves into this, and the sounds are clean, like a public washing machine. Experimental electronic music taken a bit beyond the glitches Pole started their career with.

Dopplereffekt – Calabi Yau Manifold

The perfect soundtrack for your polar expeditions, both for when pouring over complex scientific data and for boldly going where no man has gone before.

BONUS:

Freddie Gibbs – From Tha G (youtube)

They ride lowriders in Gary, Indiana, too – it just looks really cold with the top down. Freddie keeping it gully all seasons, literally speaking. Snow won’t stop him from stunting. (I’m guessing the obligatory party people hanging in the background are at home sipping on hot cocoa.)

Eero Johannes debut on Planet Mu

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Jul 232009
 

Skweee-soldier Eero Johannes self-titled debut album on Planet Mu (label child of IDM-maverick Mike Paradinas, world famous for creating one of the hardest electronica tracks ever… well, at least it was the most uncompromising, beautifully controlled bloodsport BPM-beating of its era… seeing him live at Roskilde in 1998 was a defining experience for me) is the best I’ve heard in skweee so far.

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What is skweee anyway? I mean, the sound is pretty diverse on their compilations, with beats and ideas all over the place. I think it’s easier to see it as a movement: a dozen or so Swedes and Finns who have studied electro funk, dirty south and modern R&B thoroughly, and now apply what they have learnt on the vintage synthesizers, video games sounds and DIY-spirit that they’ve grown up on. More than anything else, it is the lo-fi aesthetic that defines them (with skweee referring to squeeezing out the most of their arcane equipment).

Noting that, it is interesting to see the very talented Eero Johannes spreading his wings here, sometimes lifting from the lo-fi valleys of home to sail among the clouds in the sky. Lipton Service Boy delivers euphoric electro pop. He mixes dubstep and new romantic influences on Sumuhumus and gets away with it. Hal Manifesto is both computer poetic and mad funky at the same time (which is quite an achievement, actually). Natt i spårvagnen and Mobile 363 are equally funky, while Eläin wanders out further into the electronica wilderness.

Delicately balanced between futurism and nostalgia, Eero Johannes is a multifaceted and innovative release that you ought not miss.

Now let’s see what kindo of show they put on live!

v/a – Museum Of Future Sound Vol. 2

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Jul 212009
 

This Flogsta Danshall compilation from last year is quite a good introdution to the skweee genre (wikipedia says that the name “was coined by Daniel Savio, one of the originators of the emerging sound. The name refers to the use of vintage synthesizers in the production process, were the aim is to “squeeze out” as interesting sounds as possible“).

The tracks are mostly pretty experimental, with a few more stable electronic funk tracks to keep things interesting (even though they’re also pretty out there). Using the immanent lo-fi aesthetics of the genre to punch out IDM and glitch-like material feels too easy, and not very interesting to listen to. Of those tracks, Eero Johannes’ Finnrexin, from his brilliant self-titled Planet Mu release, gets a pass thanks to its beautiful electronica vibes. Other than that – add some much-needed funk to the recipe or get out of the kitchen!

It is better to take the said dirty south and booty-influences of the genre seriously, crank up the bass, and skweeeze out some ass shaking, titty bouncing, sweat inducing, dance floor bangers. Well, they’re not quite there. Not yet. But with tracks like Drums’ Giants, Randy Barracuda’s Shock The Plankton and Metske’s Street they have written a new chapter in the book of electronic funk. For that I salute them.

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You can catch the Flogsta Danshall crew going live against the Harmönia collective at the Norberg festival this summer!

Nostalgisk nedåtgång? Fokuserad pånyttfödelse?

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May 262009
 

Jag har varit frånvarande: besökte min hemstad (vilket var ett tag sen sist), låg på sjukhus några dagar, slirade över i Danmark, där jag bl a såg Miss Kittin & The Hacker.

Det var första gången jag var på Vega, men blev inte imponerad. Stället verkar drivas mer av en slags yrkesmässig formalism än något annat (vad det nu skulle vara). Samma sak med konserten. Miss Kittin är den enda pop-stjärna jag bryr mig om, och på skiva trivs hon bäst i sällskap av The Hacker. Inte på scen dock. Inte den här kvällen åtminstone. Visserligen är den kyliga framtoningen en viktig del av musiken, men det såg ut som de mest ville ha det hela överstökat (en jämförelsevis dålig kväll för dom, enligt Youtube). Favoriter som You & Us, The Soundtrack Of Now, Kiss Factory, Electronic City och Emotional Interlude saknades medan menlösa mellannummer som Rayban maldes fram helt glädjelöst. De följde åtminstone mitt råd och skippade den där Elvis-covern. PPPO, som inte är vidare spektakulär på skiva, växte till att bli rent överväldigande live – kvällens höjdpunkt.

Men det var inte främst Miss Kittin jag syftade på med rubriken.

Jag har märkt att de rap-låtar jag tvångsmässigt lyssnat på de senaste veckorna handlar om rap. Meta-rap, på ett eller annat sätt; två svenska nostalgiska tillbakablickar om att förälska sig i konstformen, en som handlar om att lära sig skriva rhymes (som sista låten på Blueprint, fast nervigare) och en hyllningslåt till döda rappare över Dead Presidents-beatet. (Tack snälle, gode Gud att det i alla fall inte rör sig om bittra New York-skallar som gnäller över att södern tagit över, att det är för mycket brudar i videos, att ingen bryr sig om veteraner som inte gjort nåt bra på femton år, osv. Jo, iofs var den där låten med Jadakiss, Saigon och Joell Ortiz som hette Hip Hop bevisligen riktigt bra, men ni vet vad som menas).

Vilken är bäst? Ken Rings Hip Hop eller Stors Min Freestyle?

Ken Ring – Hip Hop

Stor – Min Freestyle

Hip Hop är perfekt; fräsch, samplingsbaserad true-school som gräver in sig i hjärtat och citerar Nas mellan Kens innerligt tillbakablickande verser på ett mycket passande sätt. Masse å andra sidan lägger undan sin nyvunna kärlek för autotune och märkliga svennebanansamplingar och levererar det som TLK-traditionen utlovar; ständigt moderniserad och egensinnig New York-boom bap med Dogge i refrängen och kicks och snares likt betongblock. Ken visar visserligen varför han förtjänar att kallas för Sveriges bästa rappare, men Stors verser visar att troninnehavet inte är säkrat för all framtid. Rimtekniskt är han förbi, vad han gör i studion i framtiden kommer avgöra. Och vilken låt som är bäst får sommaren avgöra.

Playboy Tre – Bleachers

Max Minelli – Dead Rapperz

Likt många andra bra rappare från de södra staterna i USA är behållningen med Playboy Tre inte flerstavigheter, punchlines, battle-raps. Istället är det uttalet, närvaron, hur han rundar av sina stavelser, de ord han väljer att använda, hans ekonomiska uttrycksfullhet som räknas. Här har man inte glömt hur man använder rösten som ett instrument. Som Lil Wayne alltså, fast rakare, smartare.


Playboy Tre, the story of a drunk loner

På en låt som handlar om skriva är det dock passande att texten står i centrum. Hela Bleachers är citerbar, fylld med skarpa bilder och iaktagelser, beslutsamhet, trots, desperation, magsyra och svindel.

” What’s the point in having dreams if you never try?
It’s my story, now everybody knows why…

I’m in an empty gym, beating on the bleachers,

trying to get my lyrics right…

They say I’m doomed… but I got tricks up my sleeve…”

Max Minelli låter mer New York, även när han vill sätta Pimp C på 100-dollarsedeln. Vi får alltså det bästa av två världar (minus videokameran och den 13-åriga flickan). Att lägga Dead Rapperz över Dead Presidents är genialiskt. Resten av hans mixtape är också jävligt fint.

Medan meta-hiphop traditionellt är nostalgistkt förbittrade historier som skvallrar om ett skapande som gått i stå och förlorat självförtroende och självklarhet är dessa fyra exempel fokuserade, hungriga, framåtblickande. Jo, som sagt, den mest intressanta rap-musiken kommer inte från New York längre. Men den regionala spridningen är ett löfte om en pånyttfödelse.

The Producer Of Planet Rock Speaks

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May 082009
 

Some Vodka brand interviews the legendary Arthur Baker.

Was wondering the other day, when I found the weird but cool track posted below while record digging, what he has been up to since he produced Planet Rock (I mean, that record is my age. I mean that record got mad kids and grandchildren already)?

The Crazies & Arthur Baker Vs Felix Da Housecat – Quiet Riot

Kraftwerk news but old

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Apr 022009
 

Old but news to me, according to Wikipedia:

“Florian Schneider, one of the two original co-founders of the pioneering German electronic group Kraftwerk left on 21 November 2008. Commenting shortly after Schneider left the band, the Independent newspaper had this to say about Schneider’s departure: ‘There is something brilliantly Kraftwerkian about the news that Florian Schneider, a founder member of the German electronic pioneers, is leaving the band to pursue a solo career. Many successful bands break up after just a few years. It has apparently taken Schneider and his musical partner, Ralf Hütter, four decades to discover musical differences.‘”

Perhaps The Hacker is right. Is Computer World the best album ever?

On the other hand, you can’t hate on someone if he prefers one of these meisterwerken.

“Along with their message about the unification of man and machine, it seems, Kraftwerk is suggesting that we are all citizens of the same global community. “This is because we live in Düsseldorf,” Hütter points out. “It’s in Germany but it’s only 20 minutes from Holland and a little more than half an hour from Belgium, not even two hours from France. It’s a very mixed area.”

The tunes Europe Endless and Trans-Europe Express also express this idea. “We travel a lot in Europe,” Hütter reports. “And it’s not like in America, where you travel a thousand miles and you’re still in America. Here we have to adapt to different situations more. And electronic music, I find, is by nature an international medium. Radio waves go around the world, and this music can be understood and can communicate with people all around the world. Our music has been called industrial folk music. That’s the way we see it. There’s something ethnic about it. Wherever you go, you never leave the modern world.” This is especially true of Düsseldorf, because the town was the center of German industry before World War ll and consequently was bombed and completely destroyed. The entire city today is newly built. “All our traditions were cut off” Hütter says. “It left a vacuum. We are the first post-War generation, and so we are the beginning of something new”

Because Düsseldorf is still heavily industrial, the sounds of industry have themselves had a direct impact on Kraftwerk’s music. “Our first album was recorded in a studio that was right in the middle of an oil refinery” Hütter recalls. “When we came out the door we could hear the sound of those big flames burning off the fumes – all kinds of industrial noises. Even engines are a kind of music. You can hear the harmonics in their tones. When you walk down the street you have a concert; the cars play symphonies. And we use this fact in our music. ln Autobahn the cars hum a melody. In Trans-Europe Express the train itself is singing.”

But in spite of this emphasis on sound effects, much of Kraftwerk’s music has straightforward tonality and simple, easy-to-understand melodic lines. Entire sections of a tune or even whole tunes may be played on a single chord. The music is invariably in 4/4 time, and virtually always falls into precise, regular, four-bar phrases. Which certainly doesn’t sound progressive when you describe it that way. The effect on the listener, however, is another story.”

(from Electro Shock! Groundbreakers of Synth Music; Greg Rule)

More arguments against Electroclash, etc.

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Mar 262009
 

Kraut-rockers Neu engraved a short burst of electroclash on their 1973 album Neu 2, arriving at the same formula more than 20 years before Le Tigre, Chicks On Speed and all them suckers. Sure, the old german experimentalists and the new feminist art-school poseurs most likely don’t employ the exact same ingredients cooking up a track, but listen to the song below and tell me that it doesn’t sound a lot like some nineties preset drum-machine patterns with generic attitude-screeches. The 70s wins again.

Neu – Super 78

France never was any good at popular culture (except rap music, and Daft Punk), something the documentary Generation Electro clearly shows. So the kids there have made their own version of breakdance (actually the same thing with the robots and the headspins replaced by metrosexual dance moves from old Backstreet Boys-videos) called Tecktonik or some bullshit. Or they just refer to it as Electro.

But what do the french know about electro anyway? Isn’t Miss Kittin french? Can’t she tell them off? On the other hand, she might be too busy desecrating Elvis-classics and talking shit about Frank Sinatra to inform an up and coming generation what is right and wrong.

Who knows about electronic funk? The dutch, the frogs’ neighbours in the north, that’s who. To balance out the hate, here’s a smooth one from Holland’s finest.

Dexter – Valve (Live)

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