Zack Sekoff is a 15-year old producer from Los Angeles, California, whose dream is to play Low End Theory before he's 18, which may not be a wholly unreasonable feat if he keeps pumping out shit like this. His sound's certainly got some room to grow, but then again I wasn't remixing Bilal at 15.
Now I can't say he's my favorite lyricist (yet), but any high schooler who's on a Brainfeeder tip and writes lines like "doin big things / Nicki Minaj's ass" is good in my book. Keep your eyes on this kid.
Hello out there! Here i am, floating back from the depths of space to make my return to the blog. I've missed you, and i've been listening to lotsa thangs. Heres a dump of tracks for.. well.. listening. Look for the zip, and a special video gift at the end...
Session Cats - Flying Lotus From the 2006 demo tape, super hip-hoppy and dilla-y (?). Comin out of nowhere, FlyLo
Party Animal - Hudson Mohawke NEW HUDSON MOHAWKE. HudMo gives Gucci Mane a whole new context with this lovely little party starter. This is from Pleasure Principle, a limited vinyl-only release with a handful of pop remixes. If you can get your hands on it, I highly suggest you do.
Latenight - TOKiMONSTA From Bedtime Lullabies, came out in 2008. If you can tell me in the comments which more recent song samples this one, i'll give you a prize....
Safari Disco Club - Yelle You gotta love the intro to this song... and the whole song. Even though i can't quite understand what Yelle is saying (read: its in french), i'm taken away by the synth dance pop.
Hairy Candy - Tobacco Tobacco is one member of Black Moth Super Rainbow, an all-analog psychedelic group. They remind me a little of the rolling stones, but even more synths... glorious
Cruel - St. Vincent On a different note - some new St. Vincent. If you don't know St. Vincent, you should definitely check her out - there is some beautiful musicmaking going on here.
Thundercat has a hell of a resume. He shredded the electric bass on almost every track on Flying Lotus' recent opus Cosmogramma (even singing on one), as well as joining Mr. Ellison onstage at Low End Theory that one time; he's even jammed on a few Erykah Badu albums...and now he's got a solo record, The Golden Age of Apocalypse, coming out via FlyLo's Brainfeeder label, which the soaring flower himself had a hand in producing.
And you can listen to the whole thing below for free. I suggest you do so, this is some genre-bending shit: jazzy, funky, electrified, and soaring far into the future at speeds faster than light itself...
Make sure to cop this album when it drops on August 30th – as a lover of both old-school jazz and all the Brainfeeder/Low End electronic-future-beat-shit, I can safely say that this is shaping up to be a game-changer.
With minimal fanfare, Flying Lotus put up Lover's Melt 2 up for download on his facebook page. Naturally, i haven't been able to download it yet because every other flying lotus fan in the world is trying to. however, he recommends that one share it with anyone that loves music, as all the tracks on there are perfect for summer and many are his all-time favorites.... which means it must be pretty epic.
Seeing as we're blogging in small bursts now (more stuff soon...spring break approaches, and what else am I gonna do but listen to music and blog about it), I figured I'd keep up the pattern. Good news, kids:
from the new Ed Banger comp, Let The Children Techno. Good to see them back in action, and even better to see them pulling FlyLo under their wing. If you don't know Ed Banger, you probably know Justice or Mr. Oizo or Uffie, and that should be all I need to say.
This is a long post and its late so i will be quick about it, but theres a lot i have to share.
CC NEWS BULLETIN: A. If you don't already know, FlyLo has come out with another piece of his black magic to scan a Cosmogramma proof of purchase (be it booklet, cd, vinyl label, whatever) to give you a free download of alt takes from the album. Do it if you bought it. They are awesome (cf attached example). Cosmogramma Trigger/// ///Galaxy in Janaki (2008 Version) - Flying Lotus
B. Daedelus has done a mix for International Tapes. I have yet to listen, but the track list is all over the place. If you know Daedelus' live performance, you know that is the best thing you could possibly ask for. Its bound to be epic. We All Have Magical Properties Mixtape - Daedelus @ International Tapes (via 92bpm)
C. One of Passion Pit's members has put together a mixtape (released through RCRDLBL) that includes some really good remixes by PP as well as some other very cool tracks that they like (including an awesome remix of Proxy's 8000). Check that out, its free and we love them. Passion Pit Mixtape @ RCRDLBL
ALBUM(s) OF THE DAY(s)
Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010)
Uh-huh. Okay… hmm. Um. I don’t know what to say about this album. I have more questions than I do statements. Who ARE you, Mr. West? Or, who do you THINK you are? Where is the substance in this album? [referencing various consumer products and popular personalities doesn’t mean anything] What are your lyrics about (as cool as it sounds, how exactly does one put a pussy in a sarcophagus)? What IS your fantasy? [actually please don’t answer that] Why has this album gotten so much critical praise? I don’t understand. Mr. West’s Dark Twisted Fantasy IS an impressive studio effort, but as a whole, it falls way short of the hype. Sure, Monster and Power are cool (especially Monster - what a collab, and very energetic.. nicki minaj saves the day). But per my previous album review, the lyrics are important along with the music. There is nice layering and detail to the music, and its obvious that a lot of effort (and multitracking for gods sakes) went into it. It definitely has its moments but there aren't enough of them! As for the libretto [can i call it that? i’m sure he would] it just.. doesn’t make sense. Sorry Kanye, I can’t play along with your dreams.
Now for something completely different:
The Tallest Man On Earth - The Wild Hunt (2010)
This is one of the greatest albums I have heard in my entire life. I mean that seriously. Since his previous album (Shallow Grave, 2008) Kristian Matsson’s sound has seasoned and become even more intense and honest. He is a masterful musician, going solo on every track but having the presence, focus, and finesse of an entire ensemble of artists. This comes through even on recorded media; try seeing him live. I have never seen anything like it.
Having seen his live performance is by no means a bias, however, as I judge this studio album. The songs of the Wild Hunt are genius. The Tallest Man takes full advantage of his musical resources, his songs flying across all the strings of his various instruments. His voice is powerful, raspy, carnal. You can even hear his microphone clipping in a few places, but it adds to its gravelly, genuine grace. Lyrics are soaked in meaning. Some songs (like “King Of Spain”) seem to make little sense until one line elucidates the entire song’s meaning. Others are extended metaphors (“The Wild Hunt”) or even just abstracted conversations (“The Drying Of The Lawns”). Whatever the song, there is little meaningless wordplay like I might find in some pop albums (c.f. previous review), and misunderstanding a verse just makes me want to go look up the lyrics and read them over and over ‘till i understand. He has so much creative, even (dare i even say?) spiritual energy and power that I can’t help but be overwhelmed every time I listen. An amazing work. Please, please, please buy this album. If you to hear something truly special, you will find it instantly.
i'm so proud it even warranted new album artwork. anyway, i made this mix with my new (as of new years eve) MIDI controller that has been excessively mapped to my preferences. i hope you like the results - i tried to make a mix of just electro bangers, so the first 30 mins are just that. but i couldn't not drop whats in the last few minutes, if you know what i mean (COUGH 1983). enjoy and spread! go forth and prosper!
(Moar) Ghosts N Stuff (Feat. Rob Swire) - Deadmau5
Drugs (Nguzunguzu Remix) - Ratatat
1983 - Flying Lotus
Make Our Day (VIP Mix) - Funtcase
Animale (Datsik Remix) - Don Diablo Feat. Dragonette
Dancehall Queen (Original Mix) - Robyn & Diplo
*if you are looking for any of these tracks, you can find almost all of them at Apes With Barrels. Because they are awesome. the bloggers i mean. but the tracks too. ~patkins
ps album-a-day has been pushed back, double review tomorrow. i just didn't have time for it today..
"Hip-hop is alive and well, and Flying Lotus is a big reason why. Of all of the records I heard in 2010, none took as many chances, or broke as many conventions, asCosmogramma. Listen to "Do the Astral Plane": Driven by a looping bass riff, the piece uses samples to not only add texture to the beat, but also provide focal points for the listener. Throughout Cosmogramma, Flying Lotus stretches the palette from which most beat makers work, fitting jazz and dub-step into unconventional nooks and crannies. By leading with synths, saxes, harps and strings, he's moving focus from the MC to the beat maker. Hip-hop is moving in many directions, but it's safe say that Cosmogramma offers a glimpse into the genre's future by championing a sound that celebrates its founder, the DJ." (Sami Yenigun)
yeeea.
Bonus: Hootenanny - Cepia More from the newest addition to Ghostly International Records.
So I'm getting a little tired of taking in so much music and not being able to get it out fast enough. Because of this I have decided to write a MASSIVE post with tons of stuff in it so i can stay away for a while. There are three categories: Indie, Beats, and Mixes. Look for folders at the end of each section to download everything.
INDIE Postcards From Italy (Beirut Cover) - Florence and the Machine Self explanatory. I love florence. Like The Wheel - Tallest Man On Earth King Of Spain - Tallest Man On Earth This guy has literally become one of my favorite artists of all time. These songs have so much soul, so much spirit, so much beauty... The Blues Run The Game (Jackson C. Frank Cover) - Laura Marling Another great folk song.. Laura Marling rules. Cold House - Teen Daze Chillwave meets the beat scene - lovely, delicate arpeggiated synths and atmosphere. perfect homework music... Minequest Try 03 - Deadmau5 This is a lot like the above, except its Deadmau5. Essentially a re-edit of Everything You Are, i wish this could go on forever... Scandal At The Parkade - Owen Pallett Classic Owen Pallett.. sounds like a string quartet sensibilities meet indie lyrics and vox. So good. Travel Broadens the Mind - Deerhoof Very interesting Deerhoof. Based on Congolese street music, this song reminds me of some of the beat music we post - complicated rhythm meets deerhoof's bass heavy/high lyrics sound. loovveeeee Down By The Water - The Decemberists This is going to come out on the Decemberists' forthcoming album in January.. they have this out for free for the price of my email. Enjoy. Good Night - Ellul I don't know anything about this because i found it in a mixtape. However, this is like Owen Pallett + Shitgeto + Teen Daze + awesome. Worth the listen. South Carolina - Tennis Okay, i DO know about these guys. Tennis is a husband-wife duo-turned-trio from colorado. They produce really warm, happy, vintage pop-inspired songs that make you just want to dance around with someone you love. Here is a collection of a few of their songs: Tennis.zip Their album, Cape Dory, comes out January 18. Gold Panda - Parents For El Langosta, because he likes Gold Panda.
Swimming - Mike Bigga This is another FlyLo produced rap song.. but, do you know that track from anywhere? OH YEAH, THATS CAMERA DAY FROM Pattern + Grid World. What a concept!
Concentration Mix - DJmus* (dedicated to our friend Mariel) This is supposed to be something you can play in the background while you are working on something important... mostly beats but also some various indie selections. Track List:
Weird Fishes/Arpeggi - Radiohead Everything In Its Right Place - Radiohead Mouthwash - Kate Nash Moon Hits the Mirrorball - Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs In Heat (Javelin Remix) - Health Comeandgetme - Steveandi Mirrorage - Glsr Gravel - Juj Tokyo to LA Steez - Hashim B. Nemo - Gobble Gobble Light #1 (Take Remix) - Nosaj Thing 7am (Devonwho Remix) - Shlohmo Trilingual Dance Sexperience - Dorian Concept Adrift (Shigeto's Adrift Adream Remix) - Tycho And We Gonna (Samiyam Chopsticks Remix) - Shigeto Bestdream - Etherea Wayward (Gobble Gobble Remix) - The Joe Sounds of Symmetry - Dntel
....and thats about all the cool stuff i have at the moment. Hopefully i will be able to leave you with this for a while and let El Langosta put something up. But for now, i hope you enjoy all this stuff!
gah. so freakin good. brilliant animation, written to a psychadelic groove...put this on your "watch-while-stoned" queues. (though it's still great sober)
BONUS: two bangers by Mux Mool and Devonwho respectively, found over at 92bpm (GREAT BLOG, FOLLOW IT). Mind-blowingly deep kick drums on the Mux Mool joint, thick dense bass on the Devonwho. Whip out your headphones/subwoofer and prepare to have your soul massaged.
BONUS part deux: another banger, courtesy of XLR8R (what a boss website), this one a remix of Shigeto (who I will post on SOON) by Mike Slott. Who is the fuckin tits. Want proof? Check out his INCREDIBLE remix of Flying Lotus:
Oh lordy this is a trip. Cosmic rhymes over a Cosmogramma beat ("Nose Art"). Trippy as hell but god I love it. 0. kills it. Every time. You should read up on him. The dude's supposedly got a tape coming out in the near future, but until then the world waits with bated breath...
Hellooooooooooo here's my latest mix. Its called an eclectica mix because it has some pretty random things.. and the mood changes a lot. should be good for homework, and stuff.
This came out a couple months ago with the release of Rubber. Classic FlyLo, but I haven't seen it posted anywhere. Anyway. A lot of playing with downbeats. Very Cosmogramma-y
But in all seriousness, this is a good thing for mankind. He's saying that the Pattern + Grid World EP is more of a return to the beat-oriented side of his music, as opposed to the deeper, more conceptual direction he took on Cosmogramma. Which we love. But after that cosmic journey through the universe, I'm excited to see what those beats are going to sound like. Also, who can argue with these track names??
1. Clay 2. Kill Your Co-Workers 3. PieFace 4. Time Vampires 5. Jurassic Notion/M Theory 6. Camera Day 7. Physics For Everyone!
Love. Here's the leaked song, I like it a lot. Sweet bass riff.
So Low End Theory is this weekly event at the Airliner club in Los Angeles. If you follow the LA Beat Scene, you'll probably know what Low End Theory is. For those of you that don't, it happens every Wednesday night, and it's where such experimental electronic beat-masters as Flying Lotus, Daedelus, Take, Shlohmo, Ras G, and (more recently) Baths go to showcase their work and live skills.
Their schedule for last Wednesday just said "Very Special Guest." This was my first time going (I wanted to attend the show a week before featuring Asura and Jonwayne, but I couldn't), so I wasn't sure whether I wanted to take a chance with whoever this was. But my friend Jeremy did a little facebook stalking, and the facebook profile of one Steven Ellison said he intended to play the Airliner on Wednesday. For those of you who weren't aware, that man also goes by the moniker Flying Lotus.
So Jeremy and I flipped a shit and made our plans. Prophet Zachariah, of the anti-pretentious music/film blog The Boy And Colors, was also in attendance. And man, was it a night.
So we walk in the door in the middle of Take's set. Take is one of my favorite beat music producers, his most recent record Only Mountain was incredible. Aside from programming some of the most innovative, non-repetitive drum patterns I've ever heard, he's a synth master; his production style just saturates you with them, from these thick, heavy bass sounds to all the little high-pitched blips and arpeggios riding on top of the mix. And on the legendary Low End soundsystem, all of it (especially the bass) just came to life.
I've posted this gem before but I felt it was appropriate for this review. Also it might be my favorite Take track.
By the way, there's a reason they call it "Low End Theory." Those subwoofers are on another level. This is bass that you can feel pouring into your ears like hot wax at the same time as you're feeling it rattle your ribcage. And not in an unpleasant way, it's really quite awesome. Even though it sometimes would eclipse other elements of the song playing, I have a feeling that's the point of seeing music in such a venue.
But yeah, Take's set (or what we caught of it) was fucking fantastic. Couldn't see much of it because the place was PACKED, but damn did we hear it. We got better positions for the rest of the acts, though.
Next up were some of Low End Theory's resident DJ's (Nobody, Daddy Kev, The Motherfucking Gaslamp Killer, and D-Styles), who pretty much all played dubstep sets, with some hip-hop in there for good measure. Nobody had the best set aside from Take and Flylo, he's a fantastic DJ. The others were definitely awesome too (can't speak for D-Styles cuz we missed his set), except that I think the crowd just got tired of dubstep by the end... Also: Gaslamp Killer was fucking RAW. He has the most fantastic stage presence ever, he pretty much physically acts out the bass sounds, which is really how I think you ought to DJ dubstep. Also he used a fucking iPad as a MIDI controller of some sort, manipulating beats on the fly. Pretty damn awesome, good to see the stupid gadget is good for something... Here's some video of Gaslamp killing it earlier in the evening.
Well, in the middle of Gaslamp's set Flying Lotus started wading through the crowd, and after another 15 or so minutes he'd finished his setup, and the show began. It took that long because he had a live bass player (Stephen Bruner aka Thundercat) and drummer (Ronald Bruner) to set up as well. Researching this post, I just realized the two are brothers. And they are tight as hell.
Thundercat is a fucking fantastic electric bass player with legitimate jazz chops. He riffs like a mofucka, which you can hear on FlyLo's last album, Cosmogramma. Specifically on "Pickled!", though he helped write and sang on "MmmHmm" as well; that's a more downtempo track and one of the more beautiful on the album in my opinion. Ronald Bruner is a jazz drummer of epic proportions. He's played with Austin Peralta, an alumnus of my school who is coincidentally signed to FlyLo's Brainfeeder label. Just watch this if you need proof of his chops.
Well, needless to say they fucking killed. They played in sets of about 10-20 minutes, with little breaks to orient the musicians (the drummer had never sat in with FlyLo before, which didn't even matter because he caught on in seconds, and nailed every pause or break. ah, the power of jazz). Mr. Ellison played about 50% new or unfamiliar material, 40% Cosmogramma, and 10% of his older stuff. Every once and a while he would cut out almost every element of the track that was playing and just let, say, a hihat or keyboard part play while the brothers Bruner just tore it up. Those breakdowns to just live bass and drums were fucking transcendent. Just wow. Brilliant musicians doing what they do best on the fly...it was like watching live jazz. Even when FlyLo was playing a song over the live music, all three of them were interacting and giving and taking and fuck was it awesome.
The best set by far was the fourth one. The rest had been at a hip-hop/dubstep sort of tempo, and then after a break flylo just brought out "Do The Astral Plane." The crowd went insane, and this was in a room about the size of my living room, mind you. And that set just went on in the same vein: he sped up the vocal from "Tea Leaf Dancers" and played it over "Astral Plane," then he kept dropping experimental electro house, banger after banger, and the brothers Bruner just rolled with it, keeping up that same intense jazz energy they'd had the whole night.
On the whole one of the best live shows I've ever been to. Anybody who says that playing electronic music live is essentially just DJing needs to see Flying Lotus. He plays with a live band a lot nowadays. And if you really want to have an epic Wednesday night, go to Low End Theory. The vibe there is amazing. The producers and artists are there to showcase their work, and they're just hanging around during the show so you can freely interact with them. The audience is there to see the work and have a good time, so weed and alcohol consumption, while still extant, is at a really reasonable level. People just seemed very chill and friendly. I think my work here is done. Til' next time, folks...
I stumbled across this guy a couple days ago. he considers himself a beat music artist (think 0., Shlohmo, et al.) and i agree but this album has a very different, interesting and lighter vibe to it than some of the stuff over at WEDIDIT. Check him out. all his stuff is posted for free on his site.
A tribute to my hometown. Ripped this from a live set Ben did for All Songs Considered over at NPR. An amazing live set, it's online for free, download it on iTunes from the All Songs Considered Podcast if you're a fan, even if you've renounced Death Cab (especially after they sold a song to the Twilight soundtrack...). (also grab this)
ON TO THE REAL STORY TODAY, FOLKS:
This EP was posted about two and a half months ago at the WEDIDIT Collective (arguably one of the most "with it" places on the interwebs), and I've returned to it regularly since then. LandLord is a collab between GroundIsLava, a badass producer and WEDIDIT homie, and Jake Weary (credited here as just "Weary," I think) who I have yet to research but I promise a post at some point. As far as I can tell, GroundIsLava produces and Weary sings, but don't quote me on that.
Anyway, some of my favorite beat music jams are vocal tracks (RobertaFlack by Flying Lotus, Ooops by Hudson Mohawke [a more mainstream song than most beat music but similar vibe to LandLord] and everything 0. does), so to hear these guys on this EP combining all the glitchy, hip-hoppy production of the beat music movement with really killer, soulful vocals, really makes me happy about music nowadays. These guys have said that "future r&b" is pretty much what they're going for here, and I think they NAIL it.
My personal favorite track. Great synths, thick beat, and AWESOME vocal production (the same can be said for pretty much the whole album). PLUS it comes with a catchy chorus, guilt-free! "I'm so down for you, down, til the ceiling's the ground..."
The other tracks on here are great too. "Animal" is fierce and ominous, another killer chorus with nasty-ass vocals. "The Upset" has this awesome 8-bit feel over a stuttering beat and bassline, and these wobbly square synths that these guys seem to love so much. And there's instrumentals too, for those of you who like your boom-bap without too much vocal saturation ("Airport Security Sabbatical" and "Bluetooh Narcotics"), though I'm all for it.
P.S. All Songs Considered has an awesome series called "You've Never Heard....[album name]?" where they ask young interns to review classic albums. Pretty neat to hear fresh perspectives. God I love NPR. Check it.
Alright, let's be straight here. This is a music blog. We share music. Sometimes by giving it away for free. But we try to maintain some sense of ethics while doing so.
Music posted here is for promotional purposes only. If you have any copyright-related objections please comment or report or whatever and we'll take down the offending link.
On music submissions: email links n shit to dr.dr.musics@gmail.com or shnaily@gmail.com
