Posts by Jakub

I often like to click on ISO50 commenters links connected to their names just to see what there all about and recently clicked on AndresM and found out what they(I guess a couple shares this account? :] ) wanted for Christmas hah, It was this close to affordable alternative to a Super 8mm video camera but in digital called a Zumi. Here is a pretty decent example of footage, not bad for the 170USD price tag:

Now for the music, I think everyone will be very happy to hear this Swod song and give this Lusine track a try, the second half of it builds like a Lusine classic.

PART ONE: MANITOBA aka Caribou

I remember it hit me and it hit me hard the day when I sat down with Manitoba’s(now goes under the name Caribou) Start Breaking My Heart, it was the beginning of my relationship with being addicted to buying electronic music on its release day and following artists that weren’t just on the radio or what I heard from friends. During that time I had this surge of wanting to build furniture, design clothes, I drew almost daily and wanted to do interior architecture for minimal homes and this was just the crazy uncontrollable push that kept my gears turning in the middle of the night. These songs all have this feel to them of a perfect soundtrack for a creative loners world, plenty of detail in the melodies and familiar sounds from childhood shows and toys.

We are back to the regularly scheduled program everybody, 4 songs a day. So today I woke up like usual which is one eye open reaching for my iPhone and checking email, twitter, and facebook before heading to my email and deleting the emails I just read from bed but one thing I noticed was a ton of twittering about a new song by The Knife which was a nice jolt. The song is amazing, it has a great experimental build into this well composed orchestral piece which really relies on these muted beautiful steel drum melodies and outstanding vocal ranges, everyone making pop music should feel some sort of shame after hearing something that is musically moving in a creative direction but keeping their sound and taking chances.

Coworkers have been telling me about Sub Pop’s Avi Buffalo for months now, I found this song from a Daytrotter live session and I blew me away. Lately if i’ve been listening to anything like this its only been slower stuff from Kurt Vile, Bon Iver, Elm From Arm or Midlake so this was a nice change in gears.

Wow what a great remix by Nosaj Thing, so thick and warm with a nice pop but it must be easy though if you have Charlotte Gainsbourg vocals to work with, can’t really screw that up.

If I could hear one song live and it to keep growing and building it would have to be this Casino Versus Japan song, I heard it live at the Tycho NYC show and I had to roll my tongue back into my mouth and hold my jaw from hitting the floor. The sounds that you get when you’re half way thru bring back so much nostalgia for me, they’re so gentle and dreamy but in a whole different way than what shoegaze does for some people.

I’m very excited to announce that Pop Ambient 2010 is out on January 18th, 2010 on Kompakt which will mark the 10th release in my favorite compilation series of all time. Here is one song from each year, I hope it relaxes you and you end up finding a few new favorite ambient songs.

Mux Mool just dropped his new single this week called Lady Linda which features 2 tracks from his upcoming LP Skulltaste on Ghostly International coming to us in March 2010. If you like what he did for Adult Swim or his Drum EP then this track has a mixture of that with hints of fantasy video game music specifically Zelda for the Nintendo 64 with a hip hop wobble.

With Lusine’s recent remix of Tycho’s Coastal Brake becoming played so often here at home I decided I needed to up my back catalog of some of his older releases. I have so many favorite tracks of his but I felt Risa was a nice replacement for a 5 hour energy drink on this hectic Monday.

…okay get ready, this might be the rowdiest track i’ve ever posted on ISO50 but its soo soo good, it puts Diplo and MIA deeper in the old news section of Spin and Billboard. Sleigh Bells will take over Brooklyn any second now, I can already feel the rumbling.

Matias Aguayo had a great 2009, his label Cómeme is one of the more forward thinking labels that are taking chances out there. I looked at his style and I always think of Weekend At Bernie’s clothing and that color palette from the VHS cover art meets maybe what Ibiza was in the early 90’s maybe thats because the intro to this song reminds me of Pump Up The Jam by Technotronic.

I know starting out the year with a non music post from my end isn’t what I should be doing in my mind but its Sunday and before we get back into our consistent groove I wanted to share some prank calls from the very unique Longmont Potion Castle. His subtlety and choice of words some of the time really make these worth listening to over and over. He has this lazy and broad reply attitude that keeps people on the phone which I really admire and I think thats what made me want to share these with you all. If you like any of these there up on iTunes.

**Note some of this is NSFW

CHOP CUP from :weareom: on Vimeo.

I thought I should share this since the video treatment and unpredictable ending made watching it over and over a good time waster.

On top of wanting to travel the world this upcoming year I think one thing that I want to do along with seeing the new city is to hear Peter Broderick play live there so I hope the man tours this year so I can have some options. This beautiful collaboration called Blank Grey Canvas Sky by Peter Broderick & Machinefabriek has calmed me at airports and let my imagination walk slow and happily before I go off and sleep, highly recommended.

I wasn’t too impressed by the new Joe Goddard LP, his work with Hot Chip always excited me, and this song Lemon and Lime (Home Time) is more of what I wanted but instead a good portion of the LP has a ton of preset sounding synth work which was rough at times to sit thru. This track was well worth the purchase of the LP but man only if I got more of this sound i’d have it on repeat.

ATTENTION: this DJ Sprinkles Midtown 120 Blues album is my jam, soft 4/4 IDM meets deep minimalistic house, let it ride out don’t just judge it by the intro, it will reward you after the breakdown.

Horror fascinations for a music video and odd dark pop sometimes can be done well and Salem pulls it off but I think i’ll just stick to listening to the music and not getting too close to reading into the bands interests.

The holiday break has been great and I hope you all have been finding some time to rest and listen to new music. With this new playlist option I wanted to maybe drop in and make a few select artist playlist and why not start with a favorite like Cocteau Twins, let me know how you like these and if they flow well and if you want a few more.

#10 City Center – “City Center” (Type)

City Center ISO50 posts: 1 / 2 / 3

#9 Neon Indian – “Psychic Chasms” (Lefse)

Neon Indian ISO50 posts: 1 / 2 / 3

#8 Various Artists – “Pop Ambient 2009” (Kompakt)

Pop Ambient 2009 ISO50 posts: 1

#7 Junior Boys – “Begone Dull Care” (Domino)

Junior Boys ISO50 posts: 1 / 2

#6 Atlas Sounds – “Logo” (Kranky)

Atlas Sound ISO50 posts: 1 / 2

#5 Kings Of Convenience – “Declaration of Dependance” (Mawlaw 388 Ltd)

Kings Of Convenience ISO50 posts: 1 / 2 / 3

#4 Fever Ray – “Fever Ray” (Rabid)

Fever Ray ISO50 posts: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6

#3 The Horrors – “Primary Colours” (XL)

The Horrors ISO50 posts: 1 / 2 / 3

#2 Washed Out – “Life Of Leisure” (Mexican Summer)

Washed Out ISO50 Posts: 1 / 2 / 3

#1 The Drums – “Summertime!” (The Drums)

The Drums ISO50 posts: 1 / 2

2009 was a creative year for musicians like City Center who has the perfect voice and a natural sense for lo-fi singer songwriter material, if you’ve worn the groove out of your Panda Bear record then look no further and pick up his self titled LP. We saw Dubstep take over in the US and UK clubs with unique takes on albums from Martyn, 2562, and many others. Animal Collective and Grizzly Bear showed the top 40 charts that indie rock has a big say in what people want to own and even Jay-Z thought so. Lo-fi is back on all different levels like surf, folk, and a fusion of a ton of different genres which really had a big impact on my daily listening.
I’m not going to ignore that some people didn’t like my #1 song and #1 album of the year and I kind of want to share why I liked it so much. At first they were a band that i wanted to sign but after seeing a few shows of them playing live I was hooked, soo much energy, passion and catchy parts plus the band is just fun to watch, the tambourine player even was more hyper than any musician I saw all year. The songs all have this mash of a lot of music that I grew up on and still to this day listen to frequently. I see them as a band that can jump into the top 40 and get a budget to be a great band to see live and I guess the live show did it for me this year and I loved sharing the bands songs with friends, so I guess those are some of the reasons why I loved The Drums release.

HONORABLE MENTION:
Telefon Tel Aviv – Immolate Yourself

*Please note I did not include any releases by Ghostly International, Moodgadget, remixes, Tycho songs and ISO50 exclusives just to make this a fair collection. If you like this list then take a second and check out ISO50’s 2008 list.