“Magic Doors,” the third single off Portishead‘s Third, is a dizzying, emotional collage where a radar-tracking device at the video’s beginning hones in on a pulsing, rhythmic blue solar system of noise. Once Beth Gibbons’ trademark vocals creep in, this figure transforms into a fast-paced, grainy, psychedelic reel, juxtaposing what appear to be home videos with images of robots, chalk-board scribbles, a banana, and even Gibbons herself–looking decidedly preoccupied. Via Stereogum. Words by Lulu McAllister.
Khonnor “Calico Dong Veil”
Vermont’s a cold, cold place to live, so what else is there to do in the far Northeastern state besides hole up in your house and make beautiful electronic music? Producer and all-around wonderkid, Connor Kirby-Long, has done just that, crafting the first lengthy release under his Khonner guise since 2004’s Handwriting. The latter–which he made at the tender age of 17–garnered much fuss, rave reviews, and was described with words like “breathtaking” and “evocative.” The forthcoming Softbo EP, due out January 20, will probably reap similar reactions, it being seven tracks of meticulously arranged, melody-drenched electronic music. He’s not too shabby in the track titles department either.
Softbo
01 Nibble-O
02 Pea Mag Gourmet
03 Kite Tits
04 Calico Dong Veil
05 An Ode to Gary Giggles
06 Infirmary 2
07 Huffin’ Hollow
Beirut Announces Double EP
Not all artists can extensively tour the world and simultaneously write massive amounts of new material. Beirut‘s man-in-chief, Zach Condon, just happens to be one of the lucky few. 2007 saw the release of the band’s The Flying Club Cup, a boat load of tour dates in support of the album, and enough new material written on the road for yet another release, due out February 16 of next year.
March of the Zapotec, though technically another full-length, is being billed as a double EP, with disc two, entitled Holland, featuring solo work from Condon under his Realpeople guise. Also of note should be the contributions from a 19-member Oaxacan marching band the boys enlisted while recording in Mexico earlier this year.
The double-disc package will be released via Condon’s own Pompeii imprint.
March Of The Zapotec
01 “El Zocalo”
02 “La Llorna”
03 “My Wife”
04 “The Akara”
05 “On a Bayonet”
06 “The Shrew”
Holland
01 “My Night With a Prostitute From Marseille”
02 “My Wife, Lost in the Wild”
03 “Venice”
04 “The Concubine”
05 “No Dice”
Photo by Luba B. Glade.
Hawkwind “Valium Ten”
JD Twitch is probably best known as a DJ and for being one-half of Glasgow’s legendary Sunday night party Optimo (which he conducts alongside one JG Wilkes), an event that’s seen everyone from Richie Hawtin to LCD Soundsystem grace its dancefloor. Twitch recently turned his attention towards another project though, releasing the MMM Betty! compilation under his Betty Botox moniker. Nine spliced-up, fairly obscure tracks from the last 30 years make up the compilation, which musically includes everything from kraut-rock to nu-disco. Here, Twitch has taken on British space-rock band Hawkwind. The original version of this track first saw light in 1982.
Inbox: Telefon Tel Aviv
Sure, we’re always curious to know about an artist’s upcoming release, most recent tour, or arsenal of analog gear, but XLR8R’s also got a curiosity for quirk. Thus, each week, we email a different artist and find out what makes them tick, in the studio and in life. This week finds us talking about the Chicago Cubs, Kurt Vonnegut, and enslavement of ex-girlfriends with Josh Eustis and Charlie Cooper, the boys behind Telefon Tel Aviv.
What are you listening to right now?
Josh Eustis: Grouper, Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill. I’ve burned it out; I play it so much. I’m also heavily jamming “It’s My Life” by Talk Talk, a very underrated record that hipsters overlook because it was popular. Everyone goes “Oooh, but see, like, ‘Spirit of Eden’ is the one, man…”
Charlie Cooper: I have to agree with the Grouper record. “Heavy Water” is the best new song I’ve heard in years. Also in heavy rotation are Fleetwood Mac (Rumors, Tusk), Danzig (The Lost Tracks of Danzig), Wire (Chairs Missing), Raekwon (Only Built 4 Cuban Linx). You can’t mess with Fleetwood Mac for sheer songwriting genius. Danzig is a major weakness for me from way back. This new comp of outtakes and rarities is actually really good. Mostly classic sounding tracks recorded in a more raw way–good shit. That wire record is so dope also. I can’t believe how ahead of their time they were. What can I say about Raekwon? Track after track of genius beats and lyrics. Love it.
What’s the weirdest story you ever heard about yourself?
JE: From Wikipedia: “Charlie Cooper is an avid shoe collector and has been known to take up to 21 pairs of shoes while on tour. During a show last spring in Moscow, Russia he had three outfit changes, including one “encore set” that featured a vintage pair of UNC (University of North Carolina) Blue Air Jordan’s with matching t-shirt. [Citation needed]”
CC: Guess Josh has me covered on this one. Someone is enjoying themselves.
What band did you want to be in when you were 15?
JE: Skinny Puppy, or nothing. Seriously.
CC: Would have been NIN, or The Cure, probably.
Worst live show experience?
JE: It’s a tie, I think. It was either the knuckle-dragging Rotterdam simpleton that threw a Heineken bottle at my head in Amsterdam or the ridiculous and reproachful hippy-trance-diva that yelled, “You fucking suuuuck, get off the stage,” while we were finishing our set and thanking both of the fans in front that enjoyed the show. Shpongle was on next. What can I say? She hurt my feelings.
CC: Ditto. Oh yeah, I remember playing a house party with Josh back in the day when we first started out, and this retard in the room kept heckling us and asking us if we were making the music or was it our computers. What a dickwad that guy was.
Favorite city to play in?
JE: Wow. Napoli? Rome? Istanbul? Ann Arbor? Those four, believe it or not, are all well in the running. We’ve had a blast playing shows in all of those cities. Istanbul was completely bananas. I was surprised.
CC: I love all those cities also. I have to add in Austin. Really great people out there who have been bringing us out and supporting us for years.
How do you, as your website states, “quantify and qualify nostalgia?”
JE: Good question. I have no idea. With a tape machine, or something, I guess…
CC: I’ll get back to you on that one.
What is your favorite thing you own?
JE: I don’t really care much about anything that I own. However I think that I would like to “own” my ex-girlfriend, make her my slave, or have some similar arrangement. She’s fantastic and I’m still hung up on her. A real catch. A contract of ownership thereof would really be swell.
CC: I’d have to say I love my Arp Omni II. It’s an old string synthesizer. I always loved the sound of them on all sorts of records. It’s like playing a really good memory.
Name one item of clothing you can’t live without.
JE: My Helmut Lang hooded jacket that Eliot Lipp gave me as a Christmas present in October.
CC: Hanes black no-tag t-shirt.
Your music most closely resembles which Captain Planet hero (choose one): Earth, Wind, Water, Fire, Heart.
JE: “After the Love is Gone” by Earth, Wind, and Fire.
What did you always get in trouble for when you were little?
JE: From the time I was about six years old up until about 13 years old I basically did not stop talking–or beefing in church.
CC: For always doing the exact opposite of what I was told to do. Sometimes it worked out, mostly not.
What other artist would you most like to work with?
JE: For me? Stupid answer, but Steve Reich. My lifetime dream is to play piano on a performance of “Music for 18 Musicians.” I know all the parts already, from studying them in college and practicing like crazy.
CC: I have no business in the same room as these people, but if there ever was a reason I’d like to work with PJ Harvey, Antony Hegarty, Bowie, Burial, Animal Collective.
What’s the last thing you read?
JE:Samedi The Deafness by Jesse Ball. Radical.
CC:Armageddon in Retrospect by Kurt Vonnegut. To me, [he ‘s] the most important contemporary writer. That’s just me though. R.I.P.
Complete this sentence: In the future…
JE: …all the hip kids will wear Z. Cavariccis and hyper-color t-shirts. Wait, we are already in the future.
CC: No worries… We won’t exist.
Stupidest thing you’ve done in the last 12 months?
JE: I allowed myself to become deeply emotionally invested in the Chicago Cubs. I watched well over one hundred games of this past season–irrevocably stupid.
CC: Oh man, you might have to bump a few articles to accommodate my dumb shit. I’ll spare you.
What’s next?
JE: I don’t care and I can’t believe that anyone else does, either.
CC: Lots and lots of jetlag.
Telefon Tel Aviv’s Immolate Yourself is out January 20, 2009 on BPitch Control.
MP3: “Helen of Troy”
Best of 2008: Abe Vigoda
LA’s day-glo tropical punks Abe Vigoda liked the ’90s revival: Guided by Voices sounds and goth disco.
What was your favorite album of 2008?
We have a tie! First, Portishead Third. We know this is, like, on most people’s list but it’s totally amazing! We were not fans previous to this record, but when we heard “Machine Gun,” we freaked out! It’s the most elegant post apocalyptic sound ever! “We Carry On” is totally insane, too! It’s our favorite song on the record. It has this really loud lead guitar part that’s sorta surfy in a really fucked way. Super class, super goth.
We equally love Parenthetical Girls’ Entanglements. This record is completely lush and full. It’s like Scott Walker and Jaques Brel. We like it a lot because it reminds us of a super warped musical, and the lyrics can be really cryptic, which is always rad. “Avenue of Trees” is a gorgeous song and our favorite on the record; it has really loopy strings, sort of like Philip Glass or something. Great!
What was the best music trend of 2008?
The ’90s revival! So many rad bands that remind us of Guided By Voices or The Swirlies! This does include our buds No Age but also Times New Viking, Vivian Girls, and Blood on the Wall. Also, although they are from the ’90s, the new Breeders record is soooo great!
What was the best style trend of 2008?
Goth. Not sure if its a huge trend but in our lives personally it’s the best thing! All of a sudden so many goth and industrial fans are coming out of the woodwork, which is really great and also been a large influence in our artwork aesthetic and with this new video we just filmed that is way goth.
What was the best 12″ single of 2008?
Hercules and Love Affair “Blind.” The song is so beautiful and the vocals are super mournful and pretty. We have had a blast dancing to it! We really like that this single was made this year, and we’re glad that really great diva disco/house is en vogue right now… Maybe the new Grace Jones record will be the biggest hit!
Best of 2008
Drop the Lime
Abe Vigoda
Bradford Cox
Andrew Jeffrey Wright
eLZhi
Cut Copy
Fucked Up
Evidence
Vivian Girls
Matt Furie
dj/ Rupture
Telepathe
The Death Set
Holy Ghost
Mochipet
CTRL
Plump DJs
Jose James
Worship Worthy
Peter Beste
Hercules and Love Affair
Magda
The Alchemist
DC Recordings
DJ Design Jetlag
DJ Design’s discography is modest compared to his prolific Cali peers like Madlib, yet he remains one of the most underrated producers from the Left Coast. From his beat work for his own group Foreign Legion to NYC’s AG, Design’s productions have always hit hard while rarely sounding redundant. On his debut LP, Jetlag, Design finally gets the chance to let his multihued production shine. Relying much more on synths than samples now, he still cooks up some of the most melodious loops around, as heard on the B Lloyd-assisted “All a Dream.” And, as he proves repeatedly, he can customize tracks remarkably well (check the menacing “Ferocious” featuring Guilty Simpson). His solo work here, like the bugged-out electro track “Gates of Steel,” may not mesh perfectly with the rest of the album, but it sure is a testament to Design’s sonic audacity.
Lemonade Lemonade
Song titles say it all on Lemonade’s eponymous debut. “Big Weekend” and “Blissout” are armed with the populist approach that you’d expect–a psychedelic hodgepodge of samples, wonky synths, and tumbling percussion for the indie-kid dance set. One can almost envision throngs of neon sneakers and flipped-up baseball caps when “Nasifon” launches into its clap-along house-flavored romp, or when “Real Slime”‘s wobbly dub influences are nearly cancelled out by ludicrous lyrics. Fittingly, the West Coast party is crashed during its final comedown moments. “Unreal” may feel like this zany trio has run out of uppers, but the loads of delay on the vocals and absolutely huge-sounding bass stabs make it seem as if the shit’s just about to go off.
Top 25: Portishead, Daedelus, Foals
We were too busy giving thanks this week to write out the usual Top 10, so instead, we’ve unrolled this list of our favorite albums of the year. Without further ado, we present, in no particular order (besides the fact that titles are alphabetized), the XLR8R staff’s quick ‘n’ dirty 2008 Top 25.
Atlas SoundLet the Blind Lead Those Who See But Cannon Feelkranky
Beach HouseDevotionCarpark
Brenda RayWalattaEM
Bun-BIl TrillRap-a-lot
DaedelusLove to Make Music ToNinja Tune
Dizzee RascalMaths + EnglishDef Jux
Flying LotusLos AngelesWarp
FoalsAntidotesSub Pop
Glass CandyBeatboxItalians Do It Better
Jeremy JayA Place Where We Could GoK
Kelley PolarI need to Hold on While the Sky is FallingEnviron
LindstrømWhere You Go I Go TooSmalltown Supersound
LoneLemurianDealmaker
M83Saturdays = YouthMute
MGMTOracular SpectacularSony
The NotwistThe Devil, You + MeDomino
PortisheadThirdMercury
SyclopsI’ve Got My Eye on YouDFA
SpiritualizedSongs in A & EUniversal
The MoleHigh as the SkyWagon Repair
Throw Me the StatueMoonbeamsSecretly Canadian
TobaccoFucked Up Friendsanticon.
Xiu XiuWomen as LoversKill Rock Stars
YellePop-UpCarolina
ZomesZomesHoly Mountain
Artist Tips: Tittsworth
Jesse Tittsworth might reside in suburbs of Virginia, but the music that he makes is undeniably Baltimore. The breaks-driven, chopped-up bangers on his latest, Twelve Steps (Plant Music), combine club music’s heavy low-end with bits of pop, R&B, and old funk and soul, and play as well on the dancefloor as they do beneath vocals from The Federation, Nina Sky, and Pase Rock. So how does Tittsworth craft Baltimore club tracks that make MCs wild out and dancers shake shakeshake dat ass? Read on and find out.
1. Less is more
Keep in mind that B-more club music is generally pretty minimal. Not techno minimal, but my favorite club tracks of all time breathe really well. There’s room for the drums to be big and for the bass to sound mean. Try not to overcrowd the mix with tons of notes and instruments.
2. Break ’em
Don’t be afraid to tear the drum breaks apart and rearrange a specific slice or slices. Assign the different sections to a keyboard or drum pad and experiment with the groove or sequence. Loop a section of one break and maybe layer it with a piece of another. Take the groove and replay it with your own instruments.
3. Keep it natural
Keep in mind the milliseconds that separate the live drummers in many club breaks from beats made on a drum machine or with software. Programs like Ableton are really good for getting everything on beat. The result is something that’s easy to mix but might not groove right. To get it natural there are times where I will turn quantizing off altogether. Turn away from the grid and just beat your rhythm in real time. Any controller will do–I’ll pound a keyboard, mouse, or even my laptop directly to get those notes to sound right. Programs like Reason also have a percentage function so you can quantize something a little closer without snapping to a cold beat.
4. Low-end theory
A big part of Baltimore club music is bass, so your low-end has got to sound right in the club. This might mean a lot of back-and-forth mixing from the car to the club to the studio, but don’t rest until it thumps in all places. Try to make sure things aren’t fighting in the low-end (do your kicks and subs get clouded together?).
5. Do your homework
You can learn from programs, studio techniques, tutorials, and all that but there’s also going to be a lot you will only get from context. Take the time to learn where club music came from–what made the pioneers and classic records great.
