Posts by Jakub

This The Streets song came to me after Sam and I shared a few UK videos that we liked, the lyrics make me think about the times I use to be a silly worrywort in high school over girlfriends, ahh glad those feelings don’t come around anymore.

The Balearic sound is still ramping up into the rest of the world, slow disco seems to be creeping into the main stream even. iTunes has been in full support of Eskimo’s incredible Cosmic Balearic Beats series which volume 1 included this Homerun track that’s a full on epic bomb. I am still waiting for a song as gorgeous as this to make it to the masses, these instrumentals just have such thought out choices in synths and kicks compared all the studio club crap.

I actually found this cover art by OTT before I found the song. I can’t say i’m in full support of the song because of the vocal but that driving Telefon Tel Aviv low end synth keeps me from thinking about the bad vox, also a ton flute action for the flute fans out there.

UK’s Dub banger RSD puts out an extraordinary track called Good Energy, the beginning synth vividly remind me of ambulance’s in the EU in the 80’s and early 90’s and cold rainy days in UK/DE/PL, I can’t believe a simple dubstep track can give off such crazy exact memories.

The Streets – Blinded By the Lights

[audio:blinded.mp3]

Homerun – The Killer Storm

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OTT – A Shower of Sparks

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RSD – Good Energy

[audio:rsd.mp3]

Sad to think that never again will we ever get to discover such a look and feel in a TV show, elegance and hi end style in the aesthetics won’t ever reach this level again, especially with what is on TV now.

The Prisoner – Opening Credits

No matter how much you might hate certain kinds of music you can always find something that appeals to you unless you have a one track mind or prefer a safe and conservative lifestyle. So you’re definitely not looking for trance, you definitely don’t want what’s playing at Crunch gym, and your sick of what your friends are suggesting because the vocals make you uncomfortable or there are too many spare rolls or it gets too cheesy dreamy sounding. Maybe you just want one dancey anthem for the week, well i’m gonna do my best to help steer you in the right direction before you have a bad club remix of Pet Shop Boys on your hands.

The MFA – The Difference It Makes (Superpitcher Mix)

[audio:mfa.mp3]

Daso – Meine

[audio:meine.mp3]

Guy Gerber, Shlomi Aber – After Love

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Gregor Tresher – A Thousand Nights

[audio:1000.mp3]

Broadcast is back with a collaborative mini album with The Focus Group. Its a pretty psychedelic piece of work, this one song doesn’t give it justice, you might want to hear the whole thing. Look for them to put out the CD/LP on the October US tour with Atlas Sound.

Recent Pitchfork Media approved Volcano Choir should be a big hit among the bearded folk lovers and for the Bon Iver fans out there, yes that’s him singing. I love the gliding drive this song has, it makes me want to go back to the softer side of Broken Social Scene albums.

I don’t know anything about High Wolf but i’m glad I found them, this song alone could replace that Mum void that has been empty for about 5 years now. I can’t wait to wake up on a cold winter morning and have this be my alarm clock song.

Hemingway has fused 2 more genres that should be together and introduces us to Yacht-Funk, not bad I like the sound of that, loving the synth work, its nice to have someone remapping and adjusting this disco direction.

Broadcast & The Focus Group – One Million Years Ago

[audio:1millago.mp3]

Volcano Choir – Island, IS

[audio:isisland.mp3]

HIgh Wolf – Don’t Fuck With The Tropics

[audio:tropics.mp3]

Pelifics – Forever (Hemingway Remix)

[audio:hem.mp3]

Broadcast & The Focus Group Video

What can I say that hasn’t already been said about these guys, best feel good music video of the year.

Kings Of Convenience – Boat Behind video

I always loved the feeling certain lounge songs made me feel, its funny how it always made me think of vintage furniture that I wanted to own or made me daydream about specific Verner Panton and Eero Saarinen interior architecture, its so 2002.

Neon Indian I love your music man but that name is just too hipster for me, its like adding an expiration date to the project, so nice to hear Au Revoir Simone vocals anytime I can, really nice track.

I saw The Drums for the 5th time in like 2 months last night, again one of my favorite live performing bands around right now. If you live in the UK, check for live dates, pure pop fun and probably the best and most entertaining tambourine player of all time.

How can you turn down more Washed Out? its like lo-fi AM Gold with an updated modern indie touch. I like what Toro Y Moi did in this remix by keeping the feel of the song within that family of musicians sound.

Alpha – My Things

[audio:mythings.mp3]

Au Revoir Simone – Another Likely Story (Neon Indian Remix)

[audio:likelystory.mp3]

The Drums – I Felt Stupid

[audio:feltstupid.mp3]

Washed Out – Feel It All Around (Toro Y Moi Remix)

[audio:toroy.mp3]

I don’t listen to many lyrics nor do I rock out every week but these songs have been in my head, a nice little change up for a Tuesday. Some lyrics I think sound perfect with the song but once I look at them on paper they don’t look so special but here are few great moments:

“…I’ll keep you there / I’ll keep you there / So long…So long…” – Doves
My roommate brought up a good point, these guys should be bigger than Coldplay, after one listen of Rise I couldn’t agree more.

“…Shake shake / The clouds out / Shake shake / The stars down…” – Autolux
I saw these guys last week with some friends, they really brought out a diverse crowd, some frat guys, then also a few older vinyl heads, and shoegaze purists, either way they put on an amazing show, so much good guitar pedal work on the looping and echo.

Any sounds these guys make that aren’t words are great – Suicide

“…Maybe it’s not, oh who can say…” – The Horrors
The Horrors are the only band that I haven’t seen this year that I really want to see, I thing I want to know is if they can sell their look, its intense, I wonder if they break character?

Doves – Rise

[audio:doverise.mp3]

Autolux – Turnstile Blues

[audio:turnstile.mp3]

The Horrors – Who Can Say

[audio:whocan.mp3]

Suicide – Rocket USA

[audio:rocusa.mp3]

Maybe only a hand full of you have this release marked on your calendar, maybe even less than that but I doubt it, this release no matter how good it sounds musically to anyone its a piece of electronic music history and one of the most thought out gestures you could ever give to your fans. As a record label owner this project is the pinnacle of all releases and especially during a time where digital sales have almost equaled the same amount as physical sales. The Warp20 (Box Set) contains:

– Warp20 (1989-2009) The Complete Catalogue
(192 page book)
– Warp20 (Chosen): Double CD album
(Ten songs chosen by you (Warp20.net), ten songs chosen by Warp co-founder Steve Beckett)
– Warp20 (Recreated): Double CD album
(Twenty brand new cover versions of Warp songs by Warp artists past and present)
– Warp20 (Unheard): Triple 10” Vinyl
(Completely unheard tracks by Boards of Canada, Autechre and Broadcast)
– Warp20 (Elemental): CD album
(re-edits from Osymyso, made from sections, samples, & fragments of Warp music from the last 20 years)
– Warp20 (Infinite): Double 10” Vinyl
(hand-picked locked-groove loops from Warp tracks)

One song that i’ve waiting to hear was Bibio’s cover of Boards of Canada, wow okay just say that out loud, now that just makes my ears smile. The man can do no wrong in my mind, he grabs the melodies from the original and I can tell from the start he has heard this song more than 100 times before, I can hear how this song is probably really close to his heart, its such a confident cover with such contrast in style and small amounts of unique character sprinkled lightly all the way thru it.

This piano piece by Leila covering Aphex Twin to me rips away at the original and gets to the core of it all, almost like a psycho analytical reinterpretation of how Richard D. James felt when he made the basic parts for the original song. One thing Leila did which is hard to match it that the tensity is almost matched to the original which would make any drill n’ bass fan fall to their knees and it was all done here by only piano.

Pivot was one of the highlights for me during the Warp 20 year show, their live show was consistently innovative and kept my attention. They picked a hard cover to mess up, its Grizzly Bear’s Colorado which has a great vocals in it, the synths they added at the 3 min mark are a complete treat and really takes this song to a new level compared to the original.

My boss/friend Sam Valenti IV is a big supporter of Gravenhurst and turned me onto them back when I worked in the actual Ghostly Office years ago, I think he’d fully support this cover of Broadcast, it has all the signature Gravenhurst elements of guitar picking accompanied by a soft voice.

– Warp fanboy out

Boards of Canada – Kaini Industries (Bibio cover)

[audio:kainibibio.mp3]

Aphex Twin – Vordhosbn (Leila cover)

[audio:vordhosbnleila.mp3]

Grizzly Bear – Colorado (Pivot cover)

[audio:coloradopivot.mp3]

Broadcast – I Found The F (Gravenhurst cover)

[audio:foundgravenhurst.mp3]

Since the success of the first exclusive FREE EP that we did on ISO50 I asked for some musicians for more tracks of covers and edits.

Synth Pop guru D. Gookin takes our middle school favorite teen classic single 1979 by Smashing Pumpkins to a raw fantasy land of where Dan Deacon, Luke Vibert and Tortoise collaborate to do our bidding.

The Worst Friends duo take the gentler side of M83 and nudge it just enough to open up the track a tiny bit more, kind of like a bright break in the clouds to the originals cloudy day.

Everyone knows Snap, if you haven’t then go to a gym or club and give it about an hour during peak time and it will come on the speakers, I promise. Mux Mool switches gears and takes this roller skating rink classic and runs it thru the arcade and struts down the street with it while saying hi to all the ladies, a definite head nodder for the underground collectors.

Jerome Covington is new to the blog, a musician that I met at a bar while I was djing over a year ago, he did this cover for us at Moodgadget and its still a favorite to put on because it might be one of my favorite songs from when I was a little. The tempo of the original will always feel a bit too fast after you hear this, he added that touch that makes you want sway while you drive down the ocean coast.

If you brought your attention span today then this cover might be one of the more relaxing and rewarding ones, A Setting Sun aka Guardian does a number on Air’s Le Soleil Est Pres de Moi. The dusty howl gradually disperses while the recognizable sounds slowly creep in, it would make any Air fan smile.

DOWNLOAD THE FREE EP HERE

Smashing Pumpkins – 1979 (D. Gookin cover)

[audio:sp_dg.mp3]

M83 – You Appearing (Worst Friends edit)

[audio:m_wf.mp3]

Snap – Rhythm Is A Dancer (Mux Mool edit)

[audio:s_mm.mp3]

Paul Simon – Can’t Run But (Jerome Covington remix)

[audio:jc_ps.mp3]

Air – Le Soleil Est Pres de Moi (A Setting Sun cover)

[audio:a_ass.mp3]

I had to scan this Home Entertainment Center out of a vintage magazine for you all, imagine just having that control panel to drool over and look at or it just being part of your interior architecture of your home. I love that there is soo much space used with beige panels, buttons, reels, and wall design, thats what makes a ton of the design in the past more admirable to me sometimes.