Unpiano | Music Blog

Wish it was Summer but it’s not. I was going to try and sit on this one until then, but I get to excited and can’t ever seem to do that. Stephen Gardner and Ben Bailes of Chessie have both been around for a minute, messing around with electronic music all through out the late nineties and finally released Manifest in 2008 on Plug Research. Combined with 2001′s Overnight, you get an amazing combination of style and beauty that makes you reference all your favorite bands from last week. Try not to fall in love too quick.

From Manifest
Chessie – Intercity
Chessie – Long Bridge
Chessie – Poughkeepsie Aflame

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From Overnight
Chessie – Daylight
Chessie – K Tower
Chessie – S to U
Chessie – Eyes and Smiles

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Hmm… don’t see a super long shelf life here, even with a string of good tracks. Shit, but then again I have been wrong before. Nicki Minaj comparisions abound over the way her acting chops seep into the rhymes and that’s a good thing in my book. I guess, there is not much to say here yet except that “212″ (produced by the ever-amazing Jacques Greene Lazy Jay) is the jam and the video is a good time for sure. Too bad it’s not hot out anymore..

Azealia Banks – 212
Azealia Banks – The Chills

Bonus:
Azealia Banks – L8R (video)

I’m not really that familiar with Grizzly Bear, and what I have heard I wasn’t impressed with. However, their bass player (and sometimes producer) Chris Taylor has this side-project CANT that kills pretty much everything right now. It’s definitely not a dance record, but the sound set is closer to Neon Indian or LCD Soundsystem than it is to Radiohead. It reminds me of Matthew Dear, a techno producer who started making electronic pop/rock. Similarly, Chris Taylor isn’t a virtuosic singer, but his earnest delivery shines through and carries the songs. The heavy drums and synth patterns are definitely groove-oriented, but the quick builds give the songs more of a pop feel than you might expect from the intro.

This is the perfect come-down album for pretty much any drug or bar-hopping session, but it could be used really well as a pre-game for mellow nights out too. Best listened to with 2 or 3 close friends in a small apartment, loud enough so that it’s difficult to make small talk over the songs; all listeners should be inebriated to the point of being amazed by something small like a flute lick but too fucked up to verbalize what it was. Teenagers or adults with a lot of free time should feel free to obsess over the lyrics.

CANT – Too Late, Too Far
CANT – Answer
CANT – The Edge

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Remember the first Spank Rock album from a few years back? It basically broke “B-more / Philly Club” to the masses and the crew enjoyed some mild success with tours and DJ mixtapes. Years passed and we never got a proper follow-up; the producer, XXXChange was doing things with Mad Decent, and MC Spank Rock (as he is now known?) just kind of disappeared. Well apparently, he was in Berlin, recording some high-energy avant-rap with European Techno wizards, Boys Noize. It’s like everything good about Major Lazer without any of the bullshit irony or culture co-opting; minimal raps over house and dancehall beats with heavy dance-club influence.

The new album gets bonus points for the incredible name: Everything is Boring and Everything is a Fucking Liar. Boys Noize produced most of the tracks on the album, though XXXChange is back for a few. It’s a change of pace from the formulaic B-more sound, but keeps the high energy dance vibe perfectly. The fact-paced, filthy raps fit perfectly over the monster analog synths and booming 808 beats. Glad to hear this bizarro MC doing something new while retaining his integrity. Side note: I can’t believe nobody sampled Can’s “Vitamin C” in such a major way until now, but check out Energy for the best possible use of that sample.

Spank Rock – Energy
Spank Rock – Ta Da
Spank Rock – #1 Hit

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Bonus:
Spank Rock – #1 Hit (This is literally the best/weirdest video I’ve seen all year)

//photo by ryan muir

Let’s try something new this time around. How about instead of breaking down songs, regurgitating artist bios and trying to come up with new ways to describe the same old music, I drop the pretense and just say “Hey! This song is really really really good and you will love it, trust me.” And seriously, forget what you know about this band and start over with them right now. I predict this will be the new ‘Heartbeats’ (i.e. the song that makes all girls immediately start dancing). Anyways.. get excited. About everything.

Phantogram – Don’t Move
Phantogram – Don’t Move ft. Anthem (remix)

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Many new records make me feel a little guilty, as if they’re a little too cool for an aging hipster like myself.  Thank god for Blood Orange, which bridges the gap between being super hip and being so fucking catchy and fun that no one can deny it. There’s some Talking Heads / Brian Eno in the guitars, and the electronic drums with rock guitars concept owes a lot to TV On The Radio, but the sum of all parts makes for a funky pop record that isn’t trying too hard.  The whole thing comes off sounding easy and fun, even though the singer can sometimes sound a little disinterested.

There’s a lot to love on the record, but the clear stand-out winner here is ‘Sutphin Boulevard’.  The heavy sampled drums and spring-reverb soaked guitars will make you want to drive up and down the beach all night going 4 miles per hour while the sun sets behind you, alternating drags on a joint and pulls on a room-temperature beer. If they ever license this song for a terrible car commercial I am going to kill someone.  Go make it happen for yourself before that day comes..

Blood Orange – Sutphin Boulevard
Blood Orange – S’Cooled
Blood Orange – Are You Sure You’re Really Busy

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[Jesse’s Edit: The video for ‘Dinner’ is also the jam. So Summertime and mellow..}

Blood Orange – Dinner (video)

In 1984, Manuel Göttsching released E2-E4, an avant garde electronic composition that helped shape the sound of modern dance music. Continuing to experiment with synthesizers as he had with his previous band, Ash Ra Temple, Göttsching created a seamless ambient masterpiece where the interest all lies in the minute details. Many of the subtle rhythm changes and droning synth loops would later be heard in genres like Detroit Techno and Progressive Trance.

In many ways, E2-E4 owes a lot to Mike Oldfield‘s progressive rock album, Tubular Bells; the subtle build, long-form song structure, and guitar tone all draw heavily from the 1973 classic. Even the clean noodle-y jazz guitar solo in the later half of the piece seems like a nod to Oldfield, though the tone and synthesizer sound borrow heavily from Brian Eno‘s ambient records.

The name of the piece and the album art are both Chess references; the artwork is a chess board pattern, and the name refers to a popular pawn opening, moving the King’s pawn 2 spaces forward. Maybe the piece is just meant to be background music for a chess game, but it has to be that future-space-chess Chewbacca was playing in the Millennium Falcon.

Stream a 12-minute excerpt below, or get the whole thing here.

Manuel Göttsching – E2-E4 (excerpt)

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Tycho is one of the few solid hold-outs from the late 90′s / early 2000′s downtempo hey-day.  His last (and only) LP, Past is Prologue (previously released as Sunrise Projector), is a cult favorite that fits in perfectly next to Kruder and Dorfmeister and Boards of Canada.  The difference is that Tycho came out of nowhere, and receded back into the shadows shortly after.  About 10 years ago, his album came out with little fanfare, and was later re-issued by Ghostly International, giving it a little more exposure, but Tycho has remained in the underground for the better part of a decade.  We’ve all been waiting patiently for a follow-up LP, and we’re finally about to get it!  Ghostly recently posted the new song Hours on their Soundcloud page, and if it’s any indication, Tycho’s second LP, Dive, will be another downtempo cult classic.

P.S. This is not Chillwave, okay?  Dude’s been doing this for years and years, please let’s not say Chillwave in here.

Tycho – Hours

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Bonus:
Tycho playing “Coastal Brake” with his live band! (video)

Sometimes when you are feeling pretty low to the ground, plain old sad songs don’t cut it. Real depression calls for waves of sound to wash over you again and again, so that your breathing becomes thick and filled with bass. Belong’s album Common Era, released towards the beginning of the year, let’s it’s dying synths, fuzzed out bass and far-away drums pound on your heart like a driving rain that doesn’t let up until near the end of the record. Just my luck that they also happen to be from New Orleans. Whoa.. this post got hella emo huh. Oops, well sometimes people get sad and there is nothing sweeter than feeling sad and wrapping yourself up inside it. Don’t believe me, just ask Morrissey.

Belong – Never Came Close
Belong – A Walk
Belong – Perfect Life

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What if I talked like every other music blogger on the internet? When I dig around to find out more info on bands, I often hear this same language again and again to the point of where there is almost a script for this type of thing. Let me demonstrate: Gardens & Villa dropped their debut album this month on Secretly Canadian and has caused quite a bit of a stir lately. There must be something in the water down there in Santa Barbara, because these guys really have people talking. Ugh. See how easy it is to sounds like a douche? I know how hard it is to write something special for each post but Jesus, it’s almost insulting to the bands you claim to love. Anyways, let me say this about Gardens & Villa; The album is filled with some amazing slow-burning and at times unexpectedly dancey tracks that have occasional dark overtones. More importantly, they fucking killed it almost the whole way through – so go check it out before people talk it to death.

Gardens & Villa – Black Hills
Gardens & Villa – Star Fire Power
Gardens & Villa – Neon Dove

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