Unpiano | Music Blog

//photo by kit crenshaw

Lazer Sword’s self-titled debut album was largely underwhelming to me.  It wasn’t bad, but it was “Glitch-by-numbers” and felt more like a re-hash of well-worn concepts that had already been extensively explored.  I was pleasantly surprised to hear a real change of pace on the second record, and the new blend of styles is pretty incredible.  Maybe it took them signing to Modeselektor’s Monkeytown label, or one of the dudes moving to Berlin, but the duo is embracing a much more minimal, atmospheric sound that sounds a lot more natural and a hell of a lot more interesting.

They still draw heavily from genres and synthesizers from the past, but the blend sounds authentic and easy.  808 and 909 drum machines give everything a classic 90′s feel, there’s hints of Acid House, some Juke rhythm, and Detroit Techno holding the whole thing down.  It’s the kind of thing that could fit into a set after a classic Carl Craig and blend perfectly into some 70′s Kraftwerk.  If that last line doesn’t sell you on this, I don’t think we can be friends!

Lazer Sword – Toldyall
Lazer Sword – Point of Return
Lazer Sword – Missed A Spot

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Just a quick follow-up on the live Modeselektor appearance in San Francisco: the show was bonkers.  The moments leading up to the headline were tense, featuring a DJ unknown to most of the crowd (myself included) playing insanely fast and loud Juke mixed with Drum and Bass.  Anxiety bubbled up in pockets as people pushed their way into the main room, bumping beers out of hands and separating couples.

The tension came to a head, and finally Modeselektor took to the stage and opened with the slow and infectious Grillwalker.  At this point the club was too crowded to move about freely, and everyone hypnotically bobbed in time together, completely losing themselves in the gigantic sound system.  Modeselektor knows exactly how to control a crowd and they had people losing their minds all night.  The build into up-tempo classics was quick and it felt like they were enjoying themselves as much as the audience was.

These are the magic club experiences that keep people chasing the dragon, doing key bumps in the bathroom after a 20 dollar cover for Euro House night on a Wednesday.  Skip all that shit and just keep your eye on when the Monkeytown artists are coming around.  You can still do some bumps in the bathroom, but I guarantee a good time without it too.

Modeselektor – Grillwalker

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//crookers ft style of eye & carli – that laughing track

I’ll post about their first legit release real soon, but diving into the rabbit hole that is WEDIDIT COLLECTIVE brought me this fucking gem of a video. Tim and Eric have nothing on this insanity.  I don’t even know what drug combination causes this sort of thing, I’m going to guess ketamine and bad acid.

Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury are such bona fide, fully fledged nerds, they made a vintage-synth record in the style of classic Wendy Carlos based on the city from Judge Dredd comic books.  The full title of the project is Drokk: Music Inspired By Mega-City One.  This sounds disastrous, like making a MOVIE based on the Judge Dredd comic books, but it’s a lot closer to Blade Runner than it is to Demolition Man.  You may know Geoff Barrow as a key member of Portishead, and the atmosphere he helped hone in that band is front and center here.  Every track is pulsing with analog synth heaviness, and it ranges from deep ambience to krautrock style no-direction jams.  All in all it makes me want to blast some laser beams and fly a spacecraft into an asteroid belt, and I think that’s what they were going for.

Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury – Dome Horizon
Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury – Helmet Theme
Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury – Scope The Block

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You probably remember Mr. Oizo for his 1999 classic video for Flat Beat, featuring the yellow muppet Flat Eric.  He never really managed to eclipse that song or video, so over ten years later, he brings the puppet back to promote his new EP, Stade 3.  The EP is good (and right now it’s free, so you can’t really complain about that), but the promo video is hilarious.  It’s probably the best muppet-playing-chess video I’ve seen all year.

Even if you don’t really want the EP, I recommend checking out Oizo’s website, it’s done up like an old school grey Mac, complete with shitty old computer sounds and a giant pixelated cursor.  Check it out.

Holy shit, how is Summer not here yet? As maybe you can tell by now, all I like posting about are jams that you can blast at 3am while riding your bike through the warm misty night. I try to be patient and hold these songs until they are more appropriate, but patience is not one of my virtues. Since I have no willpower, your job is remembering to go back and play these songs when it’s time. Deal? Okay then.

David Speck has been hiding out in San Francisco making his synth-heavy classics for a minute now and has had releases on heavy hitters like Mexican Summer and Voice Academy in the last couple of years. There is definitely some Haunted Graffiti in these songs somewhere, but there are so many other influences that it ends up emerging as a cohesive project of it’s own and you forget that reference in seconds. When the guitars drop in and dance around on top of the heavy bass, something happens that you can feel all the way to your fingertips. Now take your fingertips and run them through your hair. Feel that electricity? Me too.

Part Time – Night Drive
Part Time – I Wanna Take You Out
Part Time – In This Filthy City

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The new thing in the UK is a sort of mix between Chicago Juke, Baltimore Club, and post-dubstep half-time beats.  Think short vocal snippets repeated ad nauseam over insanely fast and syncopated 808 beats.  It’s actually surprisingly fresh, especially considering how derivative it is.

Addison Groove had something of a hit a couple years back with Footcrab, a bizarrely funky tune that really showed his Juke and B-more club influence.  To further reinforce this, he features Philly / Baltimore heavy hitter Spank Rock on two songs.  Not every song on the album is a bona fide club banger, but the ones that work, work really fucking well.  Bad Things is probably more in line with what Spank Rock fans wanted from his last album; the frantic grooves are infectious and the sound set is classic.

Roughly 50% of the fun of this album comes from feeling your brain rattle in your skull from an 8-foot bass bin, so please don’t even try this on ipod headphones or your macbook speakers.  If you can’t feel the 808 kick drum, you’re not going to understand this one at all.  If you have a decent system though, crank it and have an impromptu dance battle with your roomates; Footwork or Hip Roll battles, your choice.

Addison Groove – Bad Things (ft Spank Rock)
Addison Groove – Skylight
Addison Groove – Entropy

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Bonus:
Video for Bad Things (it’s badass)

After a long 4 year wait, the Berlin-based duo Modeselektor returns with their 3rd LP, this time on their own label, Monkeytown.  The album is bizarre and really runs the gamut of styles, but you can hear the constant undertones of angular German electronic production.  Heavy electro tunes like Evil Twin showcase the duo’s production skill with the high energy lead synth playing in odd time against the rhythm.  This is instant classic techno, but it’s a little too weird to go mainstream.  This is highlighted by their choices of guest vocalists; in addition to the usual suspect Thom Yorke, avant garde rappers Busdriver and Antipop Consortium lay down abstract verses over spacey Techno.

All in all the album sounds more like a collection of singles, each an experiment on a concept, and that’s great for an electronic group accustomed to releasing singles and EPs.  Modeselektor is on tour supporting the album, and I highly recommend going to see them live.  I caught their show in Montreal over the summer, and it was absolutely insane; they didn’t even hit the stage until 1:30am.  Pre-sale went quickly, and I won’t be surprised if it sells out, so I’d get a ticket sooner than later.  SF people, I’ll see you at 1015 Folsom, Friday the 13th!

Modeselektor – Shipwreck (ft Thom Yorke)
Modeselektor – German Clap
Modeselektor – Berlin

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Bonus:
Video for Evil Twin (featt Otto von Schirach)

Man fuck a Sunday. This is starting to become the worst day of the week. Like the day that everything starts caving in on you, feel me? I dunno, maybe I should clean up a bit. My mind is starting to feel like a junkie again and I may be fucking up. Dang, that just felt like a LiveJournal entry from 2006 (shout out to Jane). Anyways, good thing Jim-E Stack came through and remixed the fuck out of ASAP’s Purple Swag. Killed the original and made me want to lean at 45 degrees all damn day. Even screwed the original video to keep it consistent. Those dragged out synth notes sound like a deep breath and that Baltimore kick bugs it out a bit. When I listen all I hear it “chill son, it’s gonna be okay”.

ASAP Rocky – Purple Swag (Jim-E Stack Bootleg)

Shakes Gown, who we mentioned a while back, have released a new album entitled Nikko’s Cafe and are playing tonight at The Knockout. It’s always fun to watch such an indie-rock-centric city like San Francisco get freaked out when these guys start playing and realize that it won’t be as easy to digest they thought it would be. Sort of like when you get 10 pages into Tolstoy and you’re like “fuck, I actually have to try here”. Anyways, keep an eye out for the new songs to start popping up and go to this show and get weird.

Crocodile Nest by Shakes Gown