Don't Be So Emozioni

Monday night, to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, I went out with a friend to a neighborhood bar. I was immediately struck by the difference of the crowd compared to most nights. There were more guys who looked abrasive, brutish, who looked as though they were humored by the possibilities of a fight. When it came time to dance--called by the alcohol and music--I felt as though we had introduced a new language of dancing to these people. Out of the corner of my eye I would see them staring whistfully at us. We would move silently in our own space and then suddenly traverse the entire dance floor because we could. Other girls, I imagined, desperate to express themselves in a similar way, "freaked" each other. When, after short respite, we took once again to the hardwood floor, people would follow suit immediately and join us, as though we granted them permission to do so. It was a bizarre but enjoyable experience.

In anticipation of his newest album's sortie, Sebastien Tellier speaks on influences in this interview. His grasp of English is indeed "charming." It's always fun to see how people of different tongues express themselves in one's own language. They are excited about words and phrases that we have always taken for granted. You understand that excitement when you study a new language.



This song is perhaps my favorite. Tellier says it has to do with missing (manque) a woman, though it is not a sad song. It was apparently the top single of 1976 in Italy.

Lucio Battisti - Ancora Tu

I've been obsessed with this song lately. Mateusz scoffed when I told him that. He says that the original is better, but I can't get enough of this one. It starts off kind of similar to Busy P's "Rainbow Man" with a churning deep synth sound, but then when the song blasts off into its fullness it feels like your swimming in butter, only much less fattening.

Bag Raiders - Nil By Mouth (Knightlife Remix)

Otherwise, the gap between indie-emo musicians and DJs is getting smaller and smaller. Recent remixes of songs you never thought would end up in a club have never sounded better. For instance, "Golden Cage" by The Whitest Boy Alive speaks of sad things, but Fred Falke assures us, in his remix, that it is not a sad song. Thanks Fred.

The Whitest Boy Alive - Golden Cage (Fred Falke remix)

C'est Dommage

It appears as though our last blog post of two videos (ahem) has put a spell over all of us here at LetThereBeNight. What better way to reinvigorate from a daze than to post new music from Ed Banger?



Monday was a huge day, at least for a particular population: Justice sent out their new remix of DVNO to the blog-world. Many people aren't particularly fond of it, and feel as though the innovative half-life is slipping away from the French boys. As far as our opinion is concerned, we're not concerned. One thing can be noted, though. More and more so, the Justice sound is resembling the always newly acquired electronic mannerisms developed by one man killing machine SebasiAn. If SebastiAn's unreleased Motor makes use of a tiny repeated sound bit winding into a higher octave, then it's clear the Justice remix emulates this technique, but the sound bit winds down. And the SebasiAn single has yet to be released! Friendly co-operation, or unfair operation?

Perhaps to make it a neutral commentary, since the beginning of both SebastiAn's and Justice's musical genealogy, both parties have been heavily influenced by their frequent use of the Pioneer 1000 Mk3 while DJing, its precise loop functions and pitch bend. Starting a DJ set with a split-second loop under a high-pitch is hallmark SebastiAn, and that live improvisation has led on to influence production in the studio.

Justice - DVNO - Justice Remix (zshare)




In other Ed Banger news, we have finally gotten our hands on a copy of the SebastiAn remix of Scenario Rock's "Gotta Move On." There has been no other Sebastian remix on such DL. Here's a copy of a high bit-rate version, not the 96kbps version that's been floating around like a whore in dire times. SebastiAn's Motor will be available on Ed Rec Volume III scheduled for release in May.

Scenario Rock - Both Gotta Move On - SebastiAn Remix

Tempest

Laura Marling - Ghosts



Pnau - Baby

Back at it

Since the last remix of "Ce Jeu", The Twelves have put out an excellent 30 minute mix. While in large part they belong to and are influenced by the sounds coming from other places around the world, their is a consistent fresh breath to what's going on with their music. Included in this mix are three new remixes. The Twelves write:

"The Black Kids remix will be a iTunes exclusive on the single. The T.O.D. remix has no release date yet."

The Black Kids remix can be heard in its entirety at their myspace. As for the Chromatics remix, it was done in the spirit of fun. Hit these guys up on their myspace: things will only continue to get better.

1 - Wendy Carlos - Title Music from A Clockwork Orange
2 - Revolte - Weak Generation
3 - Michael Jackson - Thriller (instrumental)
4 - Chromatics - In The City (The Twelves Replay)
5 - Datarock - I Used to Dance with my Daddy (Metal on Metal Remake)
6 - Lifelike - So Electric
7 - Theatre of Disco - YOA (The Twelves Remix)
8 - Boys Noize - Feel Good (TV Off)
9 - Thieves Like Us - Drugs in my Body (The Twelves Replay)
10 - Le Knight Club - Rhumba
11 - Les Rhythmes Digitales - Hypnotize
12 - Black Kids - I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You (The Twelves Replay)
13 - M.I.A. - Boyz (The Twelves Replay)

Noon Hangovers

Shadow Dancer is an alum of Boys Noize, signed under Mr. Riddha's label. This particular jam is packed with a variety of synths and electronic sounds that play particularly well when they come together; the breaks are adjusted with voice coder bits and other vocal samples, and the melody is decipherable in spite of how busy it is given the monotony of the of the rhythm section, which is a solid platform for the song to build off of:

Shadow Dancer - Daytime Drinking

Give Shadow Dancer some love on his myspace.

Least Likely to Run a Marathon

The other day I was surprised to learn that several people I work with (and their respective significant others) attended The Hives show a few weeks ago. We were all eating a casual dinner after work and I thought to myself, "That's weird, I don't know anyone who likes The Hives that much... there's a lot of great bands from Sweden, but I never thought of The Hives as one of them." Perhaps it was presumptious of me, but it surprises me to find a trend has developed without my knowing it.



In any case, it seems like everyone is coming down with a case of Stockholm Syndrome. Of the recent Swedish offerings is 21-year old Lykke Zahrisson, who's thankfully changed her musician's name to something that flows off the tounge a little easier, Lykke Li. She received some help with her album, Youth Novels, from Bjorn of Peter, Bjorn & John (they seem obsessed with us young folks). The recent single from the album, "I'm Good I'm Gone," is a promising, catchy pop tune. Listening to it, I can't help notice the similarities between Lykke Li and Feist. The title alone bares a striking similarity in stressed syllables to Feist's "My Moon My Man"; they even have the same construction. Both songs build over a looped 4 note rhythm lower-register piano melody. However, Lykke Li's voice is a little less deeper and stronger than Feist's; she sounds more teenage-y, pop-y, school-girlish(-y?). Whether or not the similarities are deliberate, it may give Lykke Li an extra push into the limelight. Feist was recently nominated for a handful of Grammy awards, which means the world is more than ready for Lykke Li.

Lykke Li - I'm Good I'm Gone

For all you girl-group lovers, this one's for you. Those Dancing Days is an odd enough name for a band, but somehow it works (and wow, they're so cute!). Nonetheless, these Swedish girls might confuse you at first: is their sound pop, Clash-revival, Northern Soul, or circus music? A song like "1000 Words" might throw you for a loop on first listen. Within the first few bars you'll think you've played the wrong track, "Oh, this is 'London Calling.' Oops." But keep listening, "Oh no, it's a new Amy Winehouse song... wait a minute, Amy would never use circus organs like that." That's when you explode.

Those Dancing Days - 1000 Words

All of it makes me excited to one day touch Swedish ground. What kind of people live there? What kind of strange things do they think when they watch the sunset? What do they say to one another when they wake up in the middle of the night? Do the high school teachers have smoke breaks? Most importantly, are they uptight about bathroom etiquette?

I.N.T.R.O.

Greetings.

It's my first post after several failed tries cuz i'm lazy and a bit of a technomoron. But to no avail, I think I could be for blogs what Obama is to politics (probably not but I'll try). For the first post I'm just gonna try to bring it back a bit; nothing new and bombastic just one of my standards for music.

The track is called Lo-Fiction produced by Finnish electronic and house master Jori Hulkkonen in collaboration with Jerry Valuri. I don't need to say much about this track; Valuri's lyrics are wtf, but become necessary in their melody and in their delivery, not so much in logic. The steady beat of the drums and the quick, sputtering bassline join very well with the synths in creating an archaic and gothic atmosphere to the song. Enuff talk, chek it out:

Jori Hulkkonen ft. Jerri Valuri - Lo-Fiction

Hit Jori up in his myspace page and give him some love.

P.S. Check back soon for Top of 2007; I know, i know it's March, but I worked my tushie off writing it.

Is Iron Man Real?

I've been seeing the Iron Man movie previews everywhere. And, unlike in cartoons, Iron Man in the movie looks real! So my question is quite simple, is Iron Man real? Have we been blind to his presence all along?

Lately it seems like we've been prone to post more about the female singers of the eclectro scene, and rightly so because thems some fantastic divas lately. But equally exciting are what the males have to offer. And they shouldn't be hard to find. Already this year there is a lot to be excited about, with new music from some big names, Jamie Lidell and Gnarls Barkley's Cee-Lo, but let's dig a little deeper.



Sam Sparro presents something of a paradox; he just may well be this generation's Eric Burdon. Despite his huge voice, when you take a look at his photos you might be surprised to find he's something of a, well, underfed, short haired, leaping gnome. But the fact remains, Sparro has an amazing voice and it is used well in "Black & Gold." If the rest of his tracks are as well produced as this, we can expect Sam Sparro to become more of a household name.

Sam Sparro - Black & Gold

This next one is an instrumental, but I like it better than what's getting a lot of exposure lately. Kelley Polar may not be a recognizable name either, but unlike most musicians these days he is classicly trained, having studied at Juilliard (though he was later expelled). His tracks are nicely polished, but gritty enough to be played on the dance floor, much like Matthew Herbert. If anything, from what I've heard from Kelley Polar's newest album I Need You To Hold On While the Sky is Falling, his songs are interesting to listen to. Dust off that disco ball, and check out this track.

Kelley Polar - A Feeling of the All-Thing

Finally, what would a post be without a monthly check up on our friends from the Justice Department? Justice must be hard at work on side projects, but that doesn't mean they can't keep turning out their own gems. An awesome video for the mediocre "DVNO" popped up recently. As is the case with all Ed Banger art and media content, this one is produced by So Me. What is clear about this video is that So Me and Justice are well aware of their demographic: kids who woke up every Saturday morning in the '90s to watch cartoons. The video references probably about twenty production company motion graphics that seeped into our subconsciousness after watching so much TV. The two ones not referenced that I can think of is DIC (the little girl saying it, and the logo coming through the window) and then after every Simpsons episode, the movie theatre where someone says "Shh," and the logo is shown on the silver screen. If I weren't lazy, I'd research every graphic animation because some of them seem to be on the tip of my tongue, especially the last one, which is a nice finale to the video: the Justice duo playing the piano together and flipping off a page which turns into a J. Enjoy!