Hello, Mr. Watson

Patrick Watson is a prolific Montreal musician who has toured with Feist, The Cinematic Orchestra, Amon Tobin, and James Brown. His 2006 album, Close to Paradise, is most generally classified as alt/indie, but perhaps is best described as experimental rock (others say he is a mix of cabaret rock and classical). Watson has been compared to artists such as Rufus Wainwright and Pink Floyd. I highly recommend his work, check out his myspace and these songs from Close to Paradise:
Man Under the Sea
Drifters is probably the best song on the album
Luscious Life
Giver
Daydreamer

Enjoy
-NB

Well Funky Brazilian Beats

Here's the new remix by the Rio duo The Twelves, Hurricane Jane by the Black Kids.  If you're a fan of Fred Falke you'll absolutely love these guys.   They make funky, groovy electronic music, epitomizing down tempo, "late night" dance tracks.  A lot of their music is available for free download off their myspace but here's an original that isn't, I Feel Fine, probably my favourite original Twelve's composition.  I'll also post below a video of a live session recorded for a Brazilian television station.  They have a unique live show; performing original pieces, doing on the fly remixes, and mixing in the traditional sense.  This video features their remix of New Young Pony Club's Get Lucky and a class unreleased remix of Radiohead's There, There.  Enjoy. 

Seeing as I've been watching a lot of the Mighty Boosh lately, I had to post a clip from one of their earlier episodes.  For those of you unfamiliar with the program, it's a cult classic in the UK, featuring Noel Fielding and the ruddy genius Julian Barratt (the one with the mustache).  Each episode is practically a fairy tale; a bizarre adventure featuring two ex-zoo keepers, shamans, a talking gorilla who moonlights as a DJ, and many more outlandish characters.  You can find full episodes on the internet so if you're as sick as I am with north american television, look no further, watch the Boosh.  

Big Ups

I just wanted to big up whoever posted a recommendation of our blog on craigslist, it's greatly appreciated as we're trying to up the traffic, get more music and whatever else we find of interest out there. It's been a good week, the Dutch are tearing up the euro cup, I got out of work early on Tuesday as the AC was broken; simple pleasures I suppose. Anyways, on to the music.

This post is really about Alex Gopher, a french producer who started out as a member in Orange; a french band also including Air and Etienne de Crécy. After the group dissolved, he broke out on his own, started a label and produced a widely popular 2001 album You, My Baby, And I.  In 2006 he released a self titled album of original material, harkening back to the style of Orange; pop rock tracks infused with the occasional electronic synth.  More recently he has been producing electro tracks, originals and remixes, that are marked most notably by his deep, distorted basslines.  Here's a wicked example, a remix of Fischerspooner's The Best Revenge and a more mild but equally as pleasing remix of Dada Life's Your Favourite Flu.  

I think i'll do a bit of a mini mix this weekend of some of the more recent music I've been listening to. Here's the last mix I made for a Mexican radio station.  It's more electro house than electro but I'm sure you will enjoy it none-the-less. Tracklist is below. Cheers.

Fischerspooner - Danse en France (DIM remix)
heartsrevolution - CYOA (Brodinski remix)
Chromeo - Fancy Footwork (Surkin remix)
Primary 1 - Hold Me Down (Foamo remix)
Beastie Boys - Open Letter to NYC (Chew Fu remix)
Crookers - Love to Edit
New Young Pony Club - Get Lucky (The Twelves remix)

First Vietnamese War

Just a follow up to Nestor's post.  This is the first song I heard by the Black Angels, The First Vietnamese War.  

New Rock

So here's something completely different: the prog/psy-rock band The Black Angels from Austin, Texas take two rock styles I love, the psychedelic madness of the 60's and the 'drone' of the Velvet Underground and Brian Jonestown Massacre and combine them in a very good way, dark and grimy like the VU, twisty and screeching like Hendrix or Pink Floyd.
Dig it:
-Doves really brings back the good ol' gritty classic rock memories.
-Mission District has a great build up and a cool riff
-18 Years really reminds me of Velvet Underground
-Deer-Ree-Shee has a nice Sitar touch, almost like the Beatles or Brian Jonestown
-Damn all these songs are awesome; You in Color shines as an emerald in a bag of diamonds
You'll just have to get their album 'Directions To See A Ghost for the rest, of which a 16 minute drone-a-thon is among the best.

Back to some usual fare, electro does not only exist in a purely 'electronic-genre' form. As we have seen in Aaron's previous post, there exists electro-rock which, in my opinion, can often be better for various reasons. Mainly that while some songs may be simpler, they have actual lyrics of verses and choruses, and involve musical techniques and forms that are more from rock than electronic music.


When I saw the Australian The Presets here in Montreal the other week I realized the above to be true. They are more like techno/psych-electro rock than I expected (having only heard of them from D.I.M. remixes) and man do they know how to put on an AWESOME show; especially given that they were sick and had traveled all over North America. The live drum kit was a nice change from grinding mind-numbing drum machines, and the vocals were well performed and had some interesting multilayered distortion. But most markedly the energy of both the performers and the crowd was what made the show: the people were more pumped up than at many straight-up electro sets, noticeably older, more stylish and less total neon noob. They were more there for the music, not the scene.
Anyway here's what you want from the album 'Apocalypso', which is actually worth purchasing (ha!). It should be noted that they are so much cooler live, and I must insist on you seeing them if you can.
-Aeons is a really pretty instrumental that The Presets used to segway between songs live
-Together has some of those distorted vocals I mentioned above, and is a great dance tune
-I wish I could play Yippyo-Ay to the many lovely ladies out there in Montreal, a certain C****** in particular.
-This song, Kicking and Screaming, has probably the best digialized distorted vocals of the album which was amazing to see live. Very catchy too.

Oh yea and here's a fun little song, found in the Computer Set mix but its good by itself: Paradis (Udachi Remix) by Lismore

Enjoy, spread the word and peace out

Côte Ouest

I just downloaded the Minitel Rose ep, The French Machine, last night; west coast french electro. They appear to be cultivating a fairly unique style; an interesting rock/electro hybrid. The EP features 7 tracks, all different from the next, filled with original vocals, familiar yet catchy chord progressions, sparkling synth melodies, choppy basslines, distorted electric guitars, church organs...I could go on but suffice it to say Minitel Rose create an accessible pop / club, but not exclusively club, sound. I've posted my favourite track off the Ep, Better Days (part II) and their official west coast theme song, Valerie Côte Ouest. Enjoy.

Here's a little bonus, a new Fred Falke remix of The Energies entitled Running Again.

Prole mix

So I'm off to my first day of work today, training and what have you. I don't think I've been up this early in months. Ugh. Here's a sick mix that is helping me wake up and with the notion that I'm gonna actually have to do all the things that come with working at a real job: waking up, going to work, putting in more than 3 hours a day of labor time. Whatever.
I'll post some newer stuff I've been listening to later on; the new Presets album and the Black Angels. Maybe some Patrick Watson too. Stay tuned. Until then,

Guns n' Bombs amazing Transmusicales Mix. It has that song with the refrain 'Is that your myspace man' which for some reason I identify with.

Enjoy.

Fem, Fire, Tre, To, Én, Null

Reprise, a Norwegian film directed by Joachim Trier, has garned a lot of attention as of late after its U.S. release May 16th.  A friend of mine who spent extensive time in Norway, where the film is set and its actors, writers, director etc. all hail from, recommended it, describing it as one of the best contemporary films he has seen in years...and I have to agree. I leave a proper review to the New York Times but i'll say this; the film centers on the disparity between ideals and reality, a pertinent motif for not only myself but my generation. The values and visions of society that we develop in our youth are promising and fill us with hope and drive to self actualize, yet when we are finally sprung into the real world, our preconceptions can be easily shattered.  Some of us adapt while others are utterly crushed when forced to accept the often sad truth of the nature of the world created for us.  It will become our live's work to reconcile our idyllic notions with the brutal reality of modern culture.  Reprise expertly addresses this fundamental coming of age process, moving the viewer to experience a myriad of emotions.  It's a fantastically entertaining and insightful film that surely will resonate with your own life and experiences.  Reprise is widely available for download if you can't find a local theater showing it.  I've posted the trailer below.  

Here's a class remix of Le Tigre's Deception by DFA, the original track is played during the first half of the trailer.

In the club

So here's a new class track that offers the perfect respite in a banging electro set.  I've seen a few DJs this year that grind out heavy sets, only to drop a few melodic, poppy gems, which the crowd goes nuts for.  I heard a new contender this morning by the Sidechains, hailing from Barcelona.  This group tends to be hit or miss but this track, Dance While You Can, is fantastic.  It's nothing revolutionary but they make all the right choices in their production to create an accessible and in every sense of the word danceable sound.  I'll post a few more in the similar vein for your listening pleasure.  Enjoy.

Surkin - White Knight Two

DJ Dig - Paramount (Rogerseventytwo remix)

(I took the photo last year while in Barcelona.  It's a close up shot of a mosaic in parc Guell)