Nonwrestler Blog

Weekly mp3 #95: Major Lazer - Cash Flow (Classixx Glass-Bottom Dub)

Mad Decent, Major Lazer's label, have this track up for download under the title What did they use of the original Classixx remix!!!" Punctuation aside, it's a fair question. Some little bits of vox. Same chords?

A downtempo house beat starts things off. In comes a bit of synth bass and some absurdly big handclaps. Breakdown to some echoing vox and ... hey, whaddaya know? It's a downtempo house track. Plenty of different parts weaving around - lots of 80s synth vibes. Some distant slide guitar and arpeggiating synths combine at times to make something suspiciously like Tangerine Dream's oft-sampled / covered / re-hashed 'Love on a Real Train'.

As this track has close to zero to do with Major Lazer, I'm not even going to bother linking to them. If you like this at all you'll be more interested in following up on Classixx who are two guys from LA. Throughout 2009 I listened to a lot of this kind of gear and I reckon Classixx actually write decent licks (lixx?) more often than most.

Labels: music, weekly mp3

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Weekly mp3 #94: Toro Y Moi - Blessa

Download this absurdly sunny tune (and 3 others if you like) from RCRDLBL.

Backing vox of the drawn-out "Ahhhhh" variety start the track, half-suggesting a contented sigh as much as 60s pop. A loud burst of slide guitar drops in seemingly out of nowhere, bends completely out of shape in a way I can't even begin to do justice to, and then surges up again in a canyon-size wash of reverb. Turns out that's just the intro, and the track switches direction with a bouncy backbeat and bassline, the backing vox laying out some chords. The guy starts singing, and it's hard to say whether he's harking back to Brian Wilson or just been listening to Panda Bear or Atlas Sound doing the same. From here it's basically just a really mellow little pop song. Somewhere towards the end, everything breaks down to a shambling guitar lick and then the song gives up the ghost.

Although this is a full song, the overall feel reminds me quite a lot of the El Guincho mix of Kuroma I wrote about 40 weeks back...

Chaz Bundick is a wild enough name, so not sure why the guy goes by Toro Y Moi for his music. I was not exactly shocked to hear he's from Southern California. Am really hoping the album is as good as the best of the MP3s I've heard.

Labels: music, weekly mp3

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Weekly mp3 #93: Hulk - Elephant Memory

The Frozen Elephants Music net label released this track on its first compilation, The Map Is Not The Territory.

Little snippets of a woman singing give way to plucked strings. A higher plucked instrument is fitfully accompanied by pizzicato bass. Is that muted brass or distant foghorns passing through? Are we lost at sea? Should I be happy about this? (Because I'm pretty stoked.) The vocal fragments come and go and the track shifts restlessly. Higher drawn out notes might be strings. Lower drawn out notes definitely are strings, and are playing something quite beautiful. Is that an old film projector left running after the end of the reel?

Irish producer Hulk evidently runs a label called Osaka. He's released some other good stuff and seems to be good. I picked up his most recent album last year via Amie Street and it's pretty good.

Labels: music, weekly mp3

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Corey Haim + lots of drugs

I found this video pretty sincerely odd. He seems so broken. The Youtube uploader wrote this about it:

After Corey fucked himself up on tons of drugs (vicodin, valium, percodin, soma -which was the killer according to him on his THS) and was negatively plastered all over magazines he attempted to convince the public he was better by making this video. The purpose of the video was immediately defeated the minute they began taping Haim. Corey was obviously on drugs (probably his favorite combo ten valium 10 mg, 10 vicodin extra strength and 15 somas)and made a complete fool of himself, He's obviously delusional in this believing he has some musical ability.

the lucky guy is probably out swimming with dolphins and sea horses right now. He still bangs on keyboards according to his E! THS, however his ability has not improved.

If you're looking at this via Facebook you're missing an embedded video. Click "View Original Post" down the bottom.

Labels: youtube

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Weekly mp3 #92: Mulatu Astatke & Menelik Wossenatchew - Fikratchin

Get this from The Fader magazine.

Heavier rhythm than the tracks from the Broken Flowers soundtrack, which is surely the most famous Mulatu Astatke stuff outside Ethiopia, and this is a vocal track rather than being led by those huge modal horn lines. Classic jazz rhythm section - drums played with brushes, bass (well, guitar) and piano. There's a pretty solid backbeat there, but there's also enough craziness in the timing on both bass and drums to mess with my head whenever I pay enough attention. Mr. Wossenatchew's got a light tone and the whole thing's pretty restrained.

These guys are both from Ethiopia and this track was recorded sometime between 65 and 75. There have been some interesting interviews with Astatke online, such as on the StinkInc blog and The Quietus.

Labels: music, weekly mp3

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