TRMW Archives

* FYI, this stuff is old. The current TRMW is here.

November 2, 2005

Unreleased Alan Singley Jamz! (mp3)

Alan Singley

Last week my friend Alan sent me a few mp3s off his new album, which the id3 tags tell me will be called Lovingkindness. Alan’s currently 10 tracks deep into the recording of this thing, which will come out early next year on the budding Slow January label.

For those who have not witnessed the genius of Singley, he makes rough and jangley indie folk stuff with a deep and whimsical sense of humor, and lots of light. One point of comparison would be Jonathan Richman, but it’s ultimately hard to pin Alan down to any one reference point, which is saying something these days.

Alan’s last album Audiobicyclette was mostly mellow and slightly trippy, a distinctly Portland mix of bikes, porches, rain, parties, and the occasional bout of deep brooding angst. It’s really good.

From these two mp3s, it seems like Alan is moving towards a more garagey, rough pop sound. I liked the old stuff, but I like this just as much. It reminds me of Steve Miller Band (a rare and good thing), old Beck, and other things too shadowy to recall.

If all goes well I will be helping get the word out about this record to magazines and such. I really hope that happens, because these mp3s are great and Alan is a crazy talent. Ok, here’s the frikkin’ mp3s!

Alan Singley + PANTS MACHINE - Short Sleeve Stumblah
Alan Singley + PANTS MACHINE - Bruises

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October 14, 2005

Indian Jewelry (mp3)

indian jewelry

I saw this band open for The Planet The last night at Holocene. I’d read some good things about them on listservs and stuff (mostly from the E*man), and was stoked to check them out. Their sound is kind of a mix of bassy electro stuff like Alter Ego, tribal drumming a la Tussle, and weird psych rock like… um, I can’t think of an example right now. They filled the whole room up with fog, then went ballistic with the strobe light. It was pretty fucking trippy, maybe too trippy, depending on your personal trippitude. I was pretty into it, bought the above 7″ and am pretty into that too. The first track captures what I like about them – that unique mix of electronic and psych styles – and the other two don’t really grab me. I wanted to post that first track but I can’t find it online, so here’s one that’s kind of similar:

Indian Jewelry - Going South

Also, The Planet The are awesome. They are on tour now, and very much worth seeing.

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September 1, 2005

Ninja High School (mp3)

I just read about these guys on Pitchfork, checked out their website and, dude, they are super good. Self-described “positive hardcore dance-rap band from Toronto”, their music mixes stoopid shouty rap with electro beats and basement punk flava. Really fun music for Friday noontime with the sun streamin’ in my window. Pitchfork says they just got signed to Tomblab so I’m guessing we’ll be hearing more, and that’s a good thing.

I’m feelin’ this!:

Ninja High School - By Purpose Not By Plan (Sex Nerds Mix)
Ninja High School - Shake It Off

Ninja High School – By Purpose Not By Plan (Sex Nerds Mix)

* totally jacks the talking heads, in a good way, not a bad way.

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July 18, 2005

Jamie Lidell (mp3)

Yesterday, THE FIRST DAY OF SUMMER (finger crossed), came back from the pool with a sunburn on my neck, rinsed off, set up the perpetually askew record player, and put Jamie Lidell on the turntable. I’m pretty sure that’s exactly how you’re supposed to listen to this record: sundazed, fresh, scattered. The album is pure joy on a floppy disc, classic motown and disco soul bumping up against Prince-via-Basement-Jaxx robofunk. It was perfect, the music and me connected by a cartoon smile and the sunshine between us. Later on I pick up the album sleeve and what does it say?: “This record is dedicated to you.” This is my summer jam and Jamie Lidell knows it.

Jamie Lidell - Multiply

ps: peep this amazing video of the man in crazy glam-futuristic performance

pps: while we’re on the subject of this really exciting genre-fucked electronic crossover music, this mugison mp3 is amazing. yet another reason soundslike might be my favorite label on the planet right now (others being brooks brooks BROOKS, soft pink truth, matthew herbert, 8 doogymoto).

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June 10, 2005

Spittin’ Out Pet Sounds (mp3)

Finally listened to Hippocamp Ruins Pet Sounds. My friend Ben from Metempsychosis asked me to participate in this crazy Beach Boys remix project a while ago, but I was too lazy to take part. It ended up rocketing through the blogosphere, landing on Pitchfork, getting way more attention than anyone ever thought it would.

The music itself is mixed; some of the remixes are really cool, some are pretty boring, and some suffer from the IDM producer’s signature problem of focussing too much on production tweaks while clearly being tone deaf.

The version of “Don’t Talk (Put Your Head on Shoulder)” in particular, comes this close to something brilliant, layering Wilson’s pastoral haziness over chopped up ravey arpeggios, but fails by being completely out of tune/sync with those gorgeous vocals. That would be fine if this were the intended effect, but everything else is so perfect… I kinda doubt it.

jerohme spye - don't talk (talk wake walk take)

The standout for me is this totally absurd piece of musical stoopid-geniusness.

kidgloves and autistici - pet sounds (zoophilia)

…and that really just speaks for itself.

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May 27, 2005

Portland General Electro (mp3)

pge-button

Biked down Belmont and got shakes with Barrett from Portland General Electro, which is a very nice thing to do on a hotter-than-satans-nipples day like this. Looks like I’m gonna be doing promo for their new/first album, and maybe a little tour action to follow. Barrett gave me the not-quite-final version of the album, and I’m bopping around in my desk to it right now. It’s called We Are PGE and it comes with a swanky button, as shown above. There some monster tracks on this thing, total hard electro perfection, like Black Strobe minus the coke-monster edge with ultra pop hooks. Chris’ background making drum ‘n’ bass tunes manifests in finicky hi-hat syncopations and squiggly filtered synth riffs, both of which set PGE apart from some of their more straightforward boom-clap electro contemporaries (not that that’s a bad thing). Here are some MP3s for you all to enjoy on this fine Friday afternoon.

Portland General Electro - Model 46-L
Portland General Electro - Robotica

Also, if you’re looking for something to do tonight you might consider seeing the the Snuggle Ups, who are opening for their favorite band ever, Architecture in Helsinki, at Doug Fir. They are so all-capitals STOKED! Or you could see Caribou + Junior Boys, or Mahjongg, or Kim Hiorthøy. Sheezus! When it rains it pours, my friends, and it’s comin’ DOWN tonight!

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May 18, 2005

Autechre (mp3)

In honor of Autechre’s show at Berbati’s tomorrow night, here’s a couple totally amazing mp3s. Autechre were/are torchbearers of the electronic / IDM genre, right up there with Aphex Twin, mu-Ziq, Black Dog, etc. They started out by simultaneously slowing down and slicing up techno, making room for desert-landscape melodies and sci-fi noir ambientude. That phase peaked with the amazing Tri Repetae++ album. Then they got really really into their DSP plugins, released the equally amazing LP5, and gradually disappeared up their own cyborg asses (taking pretty much the entire IDM scene with them). That’s not really fair though; I listened to their new one Untilted (NOT “Untitled” – tricky!) the other day and it’s actually pretty good. OK, here’s some music:

Gescom - Viral Rival (rmxd by ae)

Gescom is Autechre plus a rotating cast of friends, so this track is essentially Autechre remixing themselves (confusing, right?). It sure sounds like Autechre, and my favorite kind – perfectly anti-funk machine beats and lonely cellphone melodies peeling out over the void. It’s taken off the This 12″ they released on Skam in 1998. I just discovered it in the back of my hard drive, dusty and digital, waiting to blow my mind. So good.

Autechre - Second Scepe

I don’t know where to start with this song. Taken from the Anvil Vapre EP (also on the second disc of Tri Repetae++ in the USA), this is definitely my favorite Autechre track, and yeah probably one of my favorite pieces of recorded music ever. The five notes that come in towards the end are sublime. Locking into stumbling cricket-snap percussion and mournful synth pizzicatos, they pin the tail on the mechanical donkey and peer out over galaxies with a tear in their eye. OK, so notes don’t have eyes but I can only blabber and efuse and say beautiful over and over again, so you’re probably better off just listening to the song. (The Wire described it perfectly in their “In Praise of the Riff” issue, which I unfortunately can’t find online.)

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May 12, 2005

ATOM SMASHER VS HELIX COUNTER (mp3)

Here is an mp3 from a Clap Amp practice sesh. The song is called Atom Smasher vs Helix Counter. I’m pretty stoked on this recording, especially the middle-to-end part. Pat’s singing and lyrics are awesome, and Ryan’s beats be bangin’. Keyboard player sure sucks though. The awesome dudes over at 20 Jazz Funk Greats are diggin’ it, which makes my heart swell with evil pride.

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April 22, 2005

8-bit Brazilians and the Beverly Hills Cop Theme

The over-wonderful Minusbaby (fellow Metempsychosis expat) makes nice things like this in his sleep. Rad.

And while we’re rocking the 8-bit stylee I should probably link to these dudes. I downloaded this awesome remix of “Axel F” aka the Beverly Hills Cop theme from them a while back, which I hope to drop into a DJ set somewhere someday. While yr at it, peep this awesome polyphonic ringtone version, and following on the last post, this kickin’ Israeli trance remix (YES!). The original version of this song is seriously the first piece of music I ever really loved, which I think explains my continued utter synth-geekdom / tendency towards all things electro. I distinctly remember getting frozen yogurt with my mom after hanging out at gym daycare while she did aerobics (can this scenario be any more 80′s WASPy?), this song playing on the radio, and glorious visions of patterned light tunnels and the future unfolding in my baby mind. Clearly, I was born to be a raver.

Speaking of which, new solo deejay name idea as of last night = DJ Harshmellow. Hot or not, people? HOLLABACK!

8bitpeople - Axel F

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February 16, 2005

I’m starting to get really excited about the Blitzen Trapper CD release show, taking place this Friday at good old Berbati’s Pan. I booked the whole thing myself, which I don’t usally do. I’m very stoked about how the lineup came together – varying degrees of “artsy” and “poppy” overlapping in nice ways. These are three of my favorite bands in town on one bill and it feels good to be a part of that. Check out the long-winded press release I wrote for it here.*

Here’s my first ever MP3-bloggy link:

Blitzen Trapper - Summer Twin

Here’s the awesome poster, designed by the B.Trap:

Blitzen Trapper Field Rexx CD Release poster

fig 17: cum, join us.

Do get there early so you can catch the Graves, who never play out and are very talented in a low-key way. Just listened to their first album again this weekend, and yeah it’s still very nice. The Kingdom are great too, and I’m not the only who thinks so – they just got signed to the only biggish label in town.

Steve and I (CUM LAZER) will be in full effect too, dropping poorly mixed heat between bands and afterwards. I’m hoping to instigate full-on dance party action before the night is out, which would would be a first for me in those vaunted Greek halls.

Sort of funny story: the wonderful lady who books Berbati’s, Chantelle Hylton, took the liberty of putting us on the venue calendar as “special guest superstar deejay duo CUM LAZER!!”. I thought that was cute. I also mentioned us in the press release for the show as CUM LAZER DJs – so as not to imply bandness. The end result? The “superstar” bit made it into all the calendar ads in the papers, and the Mercury listed us as CUM LAZER DJS (which sounds like the lazer coming back from the future to save the present). Thus my attempts to avoid confusion only create more weird ambiguity, which makes perfect sense. CUM LAZER: it’s all in yr mind. TRIPPY!

Also, ramen actually smells really good after all the water in the pot has evaporated due to compulsive blogging whilst boiling noodles, some of which are now cemented to the bottom of said pot in an appealing brain-like pattern. They smell like mac ‘n’ cheese when you leave it in the stove longer than you’re supposed to, which I do, because Grandma always made them that way. In short: I *heart* burnt noodles. Not sure about the band though (figure 18).

Burnt Ramen

fig 18: burnt ramen (butchered hens rule)

* (I don’t think I’ve mentioned this yet on the ol’ blog, but I do music-related publicity for my (meager) living, and one of the things I’m doing right now is promoting this album. I booked this show and sent out a press release, hoping that local music scribes might take the occasion to get PUMPED on the Trapper and inform the public, thereby causing all of Portland to realize the pop genius lurking in our midst. The cynical/smart among you will be reading $$$ into my enthusiasm, but trust me: I feel this band, LOTS. They are indeed wonderful and they deserve to be heard. This is my mission.)

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