Not your typical Diplo remix. He take’s the beat from the Beastie Boys classic “Paul Revere” and added a few new kicks and fills over it. I couldn’t really listen to it for long because I couldn’t get past Bart Simpson trying to be an MC. It needed harder-hitting beats to distract me from MC Bart.
Nobuko Hori xtoyourmilkyhair
Nobuko Hori’s debut album finds the visual artist and song remixer pushing her keen aesthetic senses of sound and vision full throttle. Her debut album, xtoyourmilkyhair, finds Hori pushing her keen aesthetic senses full throttle. From a collagist’s viewpoint, Hori succeeds. Her cut-and-paste debauchery on songs such as “Talk to You” and “Nuine” meshes experimental pop with blaring electronics and doubled chants while altogether eschewing any linear cohesiveness. She even manages to tone it down a bit with hushed vocals and chiming keys for the bedtime-sounding lullaby “OOO,” but her thirst for detuned gadgetry will make it an all-nighter.
Bioshock: Season-Ending Shocker
We chat with Ken Levine, Creative Director of 2K Boston and the mind behind one of 2007’s greatest videogame successes, BioShock.
XLR8R: How and when was BioShock born?
Ken Levine: I’d say we’ve been thinking about it since around 2000, but the ball really got rolling in 2004. It went through a lot of iterations, but we really settled into the BioShock we know now in late 2005.
Did you think BioShock would become as huge as it was?
I think the team and I were pretty surprised. I’ve done this long enough to know that it’s almost impossible to tell if other people will love the thing you love. I’ve made enough games that didn’t do well that I stopped trying to guess. We never set out to make a game that doesn’t sell well; we set out to make exactly the game we wanted to make and we’re thrilled that people seem to dig it.
Did anything specific influence you for BioShock?
It was a day that my wife and I spent at Rockefeller Center in New York that sealed the deal on the visuals of the game. I had been there a thousand times but it never occurred to me that it would work visually in a game before. As far as other influences, The Shining is the novel that taught me what scary was. Also, certainly Fight Club, The Hudsucker Proxy, and Logan’s Run for movies. And of course, riding over it all was [Ayn] Rand’s The Fountainhead.
What are your personal gaming habits? Any favorites?
I play a bit of everything–Jeanne D’Arc on the PSP, Halo 3, and I finished most of the new Zelda on DS, too. I’m looking forward to Hellgate and I think I’ll never stop playing Civilization as they keep making them.
The music in BioShock contributed largely to the game’s mood. Do you think that the role of music in games has reached a level it deserves?
I wasn’t a fan of music in games until BioShock. I never wanted music in our games, I thought it got in the way. It wasn’t until Emily Ridgway showed me what she and composer Garry Schyman could do with his beautiful score that I believed in it. Now I can’t imagine BioShock without it. Selecting the licensed score to BioShock was also a great joy for me. I got to connect with my dad, who pointed me in the right direction (he was a young man during the period). And I got to know artists like Django Reinhardt and Bing Crosby. (Moby and Oscar the Punk also remixed several tracks for a BioShock EP–Ed.)
Are you pleased with the state of gaming?
I’m pretty happy with the state of things. Downloadable content really rounded out games for me. I was worried niche products would disappear, but the internet lowered the barrier of entry. The handhelds are now powerful [enough] to support real gaming, so there’s always an option no matter where you are.
We’d say you’ve had a hell of year. How do you feel about it now that BioShock is out?
I’m glad it’s over, but I really miss working on it. The experience of building the game with the team was without a doubt the highlight of my career.
Skream “Pass the Red Stripe”
Destroying soundsystems worldwide with his DJ sets and productions alike, Skream has proved himself to be a true master of sonics at just 21 years old. His musicality and mature approach to writing tunes means that pretty much any of his recent records would be eligible for mention here. The one that has been causing maximum damage all over the festival circuit for me this year is “Pass the Red Stripe.” Not much to say other than if you play this record at the right time to the right audience you will have no choice but to reload it many, many times. Careful you don’t cause a riot.
M83 Announces New Album
It’s not even January and Frenchman Anthony Gonzales has announced the release and tracklisting of a new album, Saturdays = Youth, under his M83 moniker. The goods are slated to drop April 15, 2008 on Mute.
For this, his fifth studio album, Gonzales enlisted the help of Ken Thomas (Sigur Rós) and Ewan Pearson (Tracey Thorn) for the production, and from what we’ve heard of the album, he must have needed a cathartic dose of big room sound after September’s lush, gentle Digital Shades release. Tracks off the new album still contain those escalating synthesizer progressions Gonzales is known for, but in a much heavier, more aggressive fashion.
Tracklisting
1. You, Appearing
2. Kim & Jessie
3. Skin of the Night
4. Graveyard Girl
5. Couleurs
6. Up!
7. We Own the Sky
8. Highway of Endless Dreams
9. Too Late
10. Dark Moves of Love
11. Midnight Souls Still Remain
Best Music Technology of 2007
Ableton Live 6
Make a new banger in the airport, then pump out the jam in a club hours later. It’s a traveling producer’s wizard wand.
Curses, Institubes
I had my doubts about it, but Ableton has really made Live work as a sequencing and performance software. It’s very customizable and easy to use.
Mochipet, Daly City Records
Fuck, fuck, fuck Pro Tools.
Laurent Bardainne, Poni Hoax
Ableton is so easy to make tracks with that it makes me weep tears of joy. Live performance possibilities are enormous when coupled with Triggerfinger or any of the MPC emulator pads.
Oliver Mak, Bodega
Serato Scratch Live
Serato is the bane of all serious DJs because of the preponderance of blog house DJs that can’t mix, but I still think its an excellent tool and it lives in my record bag right next to the always-necessary vinyl I take to gigs.
Blair Carswell, Music For Robots
It still has yet to crash on me.
Kid Kameleon, XLR8R writer
The Yamaha QY100
My mini-band in a box. I’m writing my whole album on it.
Pigeon John, Quannum
Echoplex
We used this effect unit on nearly every song on our new record while recording at DFA. Tom Verlaine from Television had one. Whenever anybody would ask “Hey, what does this song need?,” I would always reply with “Tuned feedback through the Echoplex.” “Right you are, Tim.”
Tim Hoey, Cut Copy
Boss DD-6 for Vocals
Instant three-part harmonies!
Charlie Salas-Humara, Panther
Spectrasonics Plug-ins
I’ve been very happy with the quality of the Spectrasonics plug-ins. They all sound great and bring an unexpected natural feel to each song.
DJ Ulysses, Scatalogics
Acid
‘Cause the name rocks and nobody except us is using it. I use it cause it’s simple and it’s just everything we need to compose songs. I don’t know how people can make music on Logic–it’s a different language to me.
Dorian Dumont, The Teenagers
Bias Peak Pro 5
Without Peak Pro (coupled with my iPod nano and Griffin iTalk recording device) for transcribing interviews, I basically wouldn’t be able to do my job.
Ken Taylor, XLR8R
More Best of 2007
Switch: Artist of the Year
Sage Francis’ Top Five Albums of 2007
Best Artists of 2007
Best of 2007 by Cameron Bird
Best Albums of 2007
Best Singles of 2007
Best of 2007 by Busy P
Best Live Events of 2007
Best of 2007 by Dust La Rock
Best Visual Artists of 2007
Best of 2007 by Dirt Crew
Best Music Trends of 2007
Best Style of 2007
Best of 2007 by Mochipet
Best of 2007 by DJ Ulysses
Mark Farina Live in Tokyo
Chi-Town’s Mark Farina brought his love of sax-dipped notes and jazzy house to his adopted city of San Francisco many years ago, and his following has endured. His Live in Tokyo mix opens with some unnecessary intro in Japanese, but quickly melts into the mellow instrumental and vocal-steeped house grooves that Farina is known for. With this type of house music, a little variation goes a long way; if anything, Farina keeps his mix a bit too locked at the same flow throughout most of this set. Look for Greenskeepers’ “Trouble” and Freaks’ “Boiling Point” to add some funky, hip-swiveling snares and percussive edge to this upbeat mix.
Ghostwood “Red Version”
Modular welcomes its latest signing, Ghostwood, and clears the party away to make room for the band’s somber, thoughtful indie rock. The Sydney, Australia-based foursome delivers an emotional track of brooding melodies and beautiful soundscapes on its forthcoming digital-only EP.
Eprom “64 Bytes”
If you haven’t heard psyphy–the tripped-out cousin of hyphy–Eprom will ensure you’re familiar with the glitchy, hacked-up version of hip-hop before springtime arrives.
Favorite MP3s of 2007
Choosing the best tracks from the dozens upon dozens of MP3s we posted this year was a tough job, but, after much debate and many listens, the web staff agreed on its 20 favorite tunes to grace XLR8R.com in 2007. Some tracks here, like “D.A.N.C.E.” by Justice and Digitalism’s “Pogo,” saw airplay on every music blog from San Francisco to Johannesburg, while others, like Odd Nosdam’s “Fat Hooks,” came from up-and-coming artists you’ll surely see more of in 2008. Cover stars Modeselektor, Tiombe Lockhart, and Battles made the list, as did Detroit hip-hop veterans Phat Kat and Black Milk. And, of course, our favorite IDM-via-hip-hop noisemakers, Daedelus and Flying Lotus. Enjoy, and be sure to clear some space on your iPod for more tracks to come in the new year.
Modeselektor “2000007 feat. TTC”
Tiombe Lockhart and Waajeed “The Overtaking”
Liars “It Fit When I Was a Kid (Crystal Castles Remix)”
Drop The Lime “Hear Me (Monster Mosh 4×4 Dub)”
New Young Pony Club “Ice Cream (Van She Remix)”
Phat Kat “Cold Steel feat. Elzhi”
Black Moth Super Rainbow “Sun Lips”
Black Milk “Sound The Alarm feat. Guilty Simpson”
Flying Lotus “Dance Floor Stalker”
Pictured (clockwise from top left): WHY?, Modeselektor, New Young Pony Club, Turzi, Phat Kat, Wiley, Black Milk, Justice, Flying Lotus, Daedelus.
