Posts in Music

Many of you know Michael Cina’s work as a Graphic Designer but he also has a great taste in music, he set some time aside and shared some music for the ISO50 readers, enjoy:

Supersilent
I am waiting for my copy to come, I preordered this half-way into
listening to an advanced copy last year. I think Supersilent is pretty
good (I love Deathprod), but this is Supersilent at their best. Parts
of the lp hint at a sparse Miles Davis when he was in his fusion
years, other songs sound like Vangelis. They really precisely capture
tones and moods on this album.

Talk Talk
I have been on a steady stream of the last two Talk Talk lps for the
last six months or so. There is something hauntingly beautiful about
these sincere records. From what I understand, they locked themselves
in a dark room and didn’t talk with anyone while making these albums.
You can hear it, you can hear the room swallowing you.

Nicolas Jaar
I won’t pretend that I know anything about Jaar, as I don’t, besides
he is somewhat connected to the Wolf + Lamb crew. You can tell from
his production, that he loves sound. He seems to be expanding off of
the road that Matthew Dear has paved and is making his own way. I am
looking forward to see where he goes with his music.

The Blue Nile
One of my friends Rob turned me onto this a little while ago. I have
heard of the band but really never knew what they did. This is the
second song is off their “Hats” full-length. It’s magic from start to
finish. They really create a vivid picture in this song.

Hey IS050 gang! Mr. Alexander was kind enough to ask for a guest post on some music I enjoy. I decided to mostly feature some music which has inspired and surrounds my Sepalcure project (alongside the talented Machinedrum). These are the repeats – the jams I can listen to over and over without ever wearing em out.

1) Mount Kimbie – Sketch on Glass

A near unbearably long intro, IDM inspired percussion and a final vocoded 1.5 minutes to die for. I remember heading over to Fort Greene Park last year when this EP dropped just to sit under the trees and listen to this jam on repeat. Took the day off just to do so. I know I looked at the clouds a bunch.

Seriously though. Check these guys – they are some seriously talented kids with an equally engrossing live show. Whenever Jakub writes about how IDM is back, just under a new guise, it makes me think of our Hotflush label mates, Mount Kimbie.

2) TRG – Broken Heart (Martyn’s DCM Remix)

Without this track, Sepalcure may never have happened. #realtalk

I remember a friend sending me this in late 2007 and my subsequent loss of the ability to listen to anything else. The chords, the vocal, the wooden snares – I can honestly say this track got me back into dance music in a big way. There was literally nothing else like it at the time. Wooden snares are a dime a dozen these days (I’m guilty of abusing the shit outta them myself), and with this broken beat take on dubstep and techno at an all time peak, maybe its a good time to look back at where it all started.

3) Falty DL – MY FRIENDS WILL ALWAYS SAY…

Prolific is an understatement. Drew Lustman has had over two dozen releases in the past two genre-spanning years. Weaving everything from IDM to Disco to 2 Step to Acid, homeboy Lustman is one to watch in 2011. There’s a great story somewhere in there about him being at a Percussion Lab rooftop party years back and deciding to move to NYC because of it but we’ll save that for another time. The thing I love about Falty’s production is you can almost immediately tell its him. In a genre saturated with cookie cutter preset tracks, thats something special.

This track is one of my favorites of his – takes a great idea and keeps it simple. The chords, vocal sample, garage beat – its prime goose bump material.

4) Johann Johannsson – melodia (iii)

One of the saddest pieces of music I’ve ever heard. This one oozes melancholy and defeat. I actually think I cried a bit when I saw Johannsson perform this at Le Poisson Rouge a couple years back. The whole Fordlandia album holds a special place in my heart – one of those places you don’t necessarily want to revisit, but was vital to have during a particular time of your life. I feel like this is a good counter piece to the aforementioned dance music gems. Music with an entirely different purpose. You may think Burial sounds pretty good in the rain, but it doesn’t match the absolute gut wrenching, soul destroying event which is “melodia” in a downpour. I made myself promise to listen to less sad music last year though, so thats all on you.

Benoit Pioulard is no stranger to this blog, I might post about him quarterly at the very least. This Portland lo-fi vanguard has always turned me onto good music so I had to pick his brain for his latest picks. Don’t read into the Bobby Vinton choice too much since he recently was married, congrats Thomas.

Memoryhouse: Caregiver – We’ve all felt like ghosts at one time or another.

Nat King Cole: Calypso Blues – We’ve all felt homesick at one time or another.

Infinite Body: Out to Where I Am – We’ve all felt the extraordinary depth of the universe in our chests at one time or another.

Bobby Vinton: Mr. Lonely – We’ve all felt lonely at one time or another.

My partner and I have run our label Moodgadget with a logo that, from the beginning, we intended to be an animated character. After 4 years of talking about it, over the holiday we finally made it happen. This is just one of many episodes coming together and I can’t wait for you all to see the rest. Below is a bit more information if you’re still scratching your head:

GENERIC MAN [the man behind the Moodgadget logo]

Our logo for the label has always been a mystery to people. The reason we picked it was because in our minds, it had life to it. Not only can Generic Man sit on a record sleeve, but he can sit in scenes, float across landscapes in his pod and hopefully one day people will be able to sit inside one.

The idea for this series is to have like-minded music lovers and/or new listeners realize their individuality as a listener. Most people don’t stop listening to TOP 40 music (which is totally fine) and never will think twice about this because they don’t care to dig for something they don’t know about. For those of you who have found this video, maybe you can relate to Generic Man.

Directed by Adam E. Hunt
Story by Jakub Alexander & Adam E. Hunt
Music by Teeel – Triangle Waves [Out on Moodgadget February 22nd, 2011]

As for the song in the video, it’s from artist Teeel whom we debuted on the ISO50 Dry Waves compilation. It’s beautiful slow synth material that oozes melody. Enjoy the free MP3 below.

FREE DOWNLOAD: Teeel – Triangle Waves

2011 is already off to a great start, i’m going to try out a few different series with the playlists all thru the year. The one i’m most excited about are these Guest Music Posts, here’s the first one by New Jersey’s synthwave prodigy Com Truise:

Mesak, one of my favorite producers right now, it’s like next level computer funk.

Oneohtrix Point Never is slowly rising to the same pedestal I put Boards of Canada on, and that’s saying a lot. I think anything Daniel Lopatin touches is sure to be golden.

The System, pure oberheim funk. Being that David Frank is one of my all time favorite producers, I’m always blasting his jams.

The Samps just dropped a new EP on Big Love, I got the vinyl in the mail about 3 weeks ago, it hasn’t left the deck!

Also, remember the ISO50 Dry Waves compilation? here’s the official video for Com Truise’s Fairlight

Will Wiesenfeld aka Baths is sharing his side project Geotic with everyone for free. You can download Mends here. Its a collection of songs that sounded like he had an all instrumental jam session with Bibio & Benoit Pioulard at a creek and it was documented on cassette. Enjoy and thanks Will!

Image by: Adam Parker Smith

Happy New Years ISO50 readers! for most of us its back to the grind but I won’t talk about that instead I was thinking about hitting the ground running with a DFA Records playlist of some of my old favorites! I joined a gym yesterday, anyone else doing that? i’m not chubby but I do want to be healthier and since I don’t play hockey anymore this gym idea sounded good. I hope you like the pace of this playlist and maybe you can use it for other things other than working out, here’s to passing out the first day.

I went to see Tron Legacy in 3D twice over holiday break and i’ve had 2 songs from the movie lodged in my head. End of Line which is just pure sleek synth danger that you’d listen to while yooooooooou droooove a motorcycle at night…. wait that works out perfect. As for The Game Has Changed, now that intro synth line just floors me, I remember when it started and I got goosebumps right away, nice job on that one Daft Punk, you did it. To fill out the playlist I added this super rowdy David Carretta track that I’ve loved for the longest time, I couldn’t rip my vinyl so I had to jack a mixed version from iTunes. Also, another slow electro classic in my mind is Miss Kittin & The Hacker’s Stock Exchange, such a cold attitude, I love it.

This is the second synthesizer app I’ve come across this week that has a really solid interface. This app was created by KORG. Although I believe the design is strong, I am unsure of how finicky the controls would be on such a small device. I’d be curious to know if anyone used this app or ones alike it before?

There is another app floating around right now called Synthesizer 76 that is equally impressive. However I’m not sure if its available via the iTunes store yet.

I wasn’t able to stop at 50 songs for 2010, these were definitely worth mentioning and all sat in the Top 50 list during the shuffling, not only are all of them great musicians but these as a playlist felt great to share.

60. Spirituals – Manzanita
59. Laurel Halo – Embassy
58. Viernes – Entire Empire
57. Nacho Lovers – Deeper (CFCF Remix)
56. Winter Hinterland – No Logic
55. John Roberts – Navy Blue
54. Seams – Hung Market
53. Best Coast – Boyfriend
52. Nice Nice – A Way We Glow
51. The National – Bloodbuzz Ohio