music and notes : : notes and music

It's a funny thing.

If you've ever had anyone close to you die, you may have noticed that in the first year or two after their death it's the anniversaries that can really lay you low. (Their birthday, your birthday, etc.)

But after a few years, (at least, this is what I've found) anniversaries no longer hold quite the same sway over you -- their meaning or significance has ... perhaps faded ever so slightly with time? Your feelings haven't faded, it's just that they'll overtake you at seemingly quite random, surprising moments.

Sometimes there might be a trigger. Like an old song buried deep in a now rarely used playlist.

I have this one song -- it's a very personal, very old favourite. I don't know if anybody else in the whole wide world knows this song, except the extraordinary being who created it, (and perhaps a few of her especially intense fans.)

I've always found this song exquisitely sad. And profoundly hopeful. And very, very, beautiful. (A bit like grief, I suppose: Sorrow and hope (and beauty) intricately intertwined.)

Here we are, then, (and thank you Ms. Hersh):

Labels: Alternative, Indie, Kristin Hersh

F*cking awesome.

That is all.




[Amanda Palmer - MySpace] [Dresden Dolls - MySpace] [Who Killed Amanda Palmer - Amazon]

Labels: Amanda Palmer, Experimental, Indie, Rock

Hailing from Paris, France, Etyl is (to all intents and purposes) chanteuse Eglantine Hermand.

Hermand has two albums under her belt so far -- La Tortue from 2005 and Les Souris, which was released in March of this year. (And which, unfortunately, stinky old iTunes Canada does not carry.)

Ranging in influence from pop, to electronic, to jazz, Ms. Hermand has a thoroughly distinctive voice and style and I, for one, am hooked.

I guess maybe I'll have to go hunt for her album the old fashioned way? Like in a store? Where they sell you a little box with a shiny disc inside? Crikey...

You can always go and check out her MySpace page, and I would, if I were you. It's well worth it.

Meantime, here's "J'me Fais Mal" from Les Souris:

Labels: French, Indie, Pop, Video

Midnight Juggernauts started out as a couple of blokes from Melbourne, Australia.

They first made a blip on my musical radar with their awestastic remix of Dragonette's "I get around".

Then they went and put out a gleefully bombastic blast of awesomeness called Dystopia. And now they tour with the likes of Justice, Crystal Castles, Klaxons, Holy Fuck, etc, etc.

Anyway.

They have that dirty, woozy, spiraling sound* that always makes me feel slightly drunk and stupidly ecstatic. (Or ecstatically stupid?)

Either way, it's good times. Here's "Tombstone" (the Popular Computer Remix):





*First honed to perfection by Vitalic (<-- And you follow that link at your own peril. You have been warned.)

[Midnight Juggernauts - MySpace] [Band website]

Labels: Club, Electronica, Indie, Psychedelic

So from buchata to tango we go...

May I introduce Bajofondo, a music collective from -- respectively -- Argentina, Uruguay and North America.

They've been compared to the Gotan Project (which, in my humble opinion, is a marvellous compliment) and, indeed, Bajofondo's modus operandi is their deep and abiding love of tango.

They take this cherished musical genre from Argentina and Uruguay and perform a kind of cross-pollination -- fusing elements of electronica, house music and hip hop with the more traditional forms and instruments of tango.

The result is a most heady and savoury brew.

Such is their cachet, in fact, that all kinds of indie royalty (including Elvis Costello) signed on to their recent album Mar Dulce.

Two of my favourite tracks from the album are "Pa' Bailar" (featuring Ryōta Komatsu), and the hip hop-inflected and incredibly catchy "El Andén", with Mala Rodríguez on guest vocals:





[Bajofondo - MySpace] [Ryōta Komatsu - Website] [Mala Rodríguez - MySpace]

Labels: Electronica, Hip Hop, Tango

In keeping with our recent vacation, I've decided to haul out an old, old favourite of mine.

And no matter how many times I hear it, it has a most curious and embarrassing effect on me: I am unable to restrain myself from singing along loudly, passionately and wholeheartedly -- in tortured, mangled Spanish.

Dubious, yes. But an unabashed pleasure nevertheless.

It's a laid back summer-with-the-car-windows-rolled-all-the-way-down,
radio-turned-all-the-way-up, sing-along-at-the-top-of-your-voice kind of song.

And while, technically, it's from the wrong country (the singer is from the Dominican Republic), it's a sound we heard again and again while in Mexico.

So, here it is -- "Tranquila" by Luis Vargas:




[More on Luis Vargas] [Putumayo - Republica Dominicana]

Labels: Bachata, Latin, Repulica Dominicana, World

I've played this song about -- oh I don't know -- five thousand billion gazillion times now? And it still has the ability to make my extremities tingle.

That's right: Extremities.

Tingling.

I know that sounds sort of rude, but have you heard this song? If you've heard this song, then you'll know exactly what I mean.

Yes, it's kind of dorky. Yes, it's all gangling, awkward angles and blatant 80s influences.

But it's sexy -- as -- hell.

Listen to the way the song appears to fade out around the 3:04 mark ... and then the way it kicks back in with that bass line?

Go on, just try and tell me that it doesn't bring on all kinds of tingling of the extremities.

You can try. I might believe you. Thousands wouldn't.




[Azzido Da Bass - MySpace]

Labels: Club, DJ, Electronica

When I first heard this song, I thought I was listening to Beirut.

Then I thought, oh no, wait, it's Radiohead.

Then I thought, holy crap, it's Vast. And: Holy crap, the handclaps!

I love this song, it's my new favourite ever, ever. (For today, obviously. Shallow and fickle as I be).

I love the melodrama and the angst of it, and -- I can't believe I'm going to write this -- the sweeping trumpet. (There, I wrote it.) But I do. I love it all.

And in case you're wondering, you are, in fact, listening to Get Well Soon, the music project brainchild of 25 year old composer and multi-instrumentalist, Konstantin Gropper.

He's a marvel. Watch this space.



[Get Well Soon - MySpace]

Labels: Folk, Indie, Pop

At only 22 years of age, the prodigious (and disturbingly talented) Zach Condon has already released two albums.

Better known to the world at large as Beirut, Condon's music is an enchanting blend of folk-pop, heavily influenced by Eastern European folk and balkan gypsy music. Despite his youth, and the fact that he grew up in Santa Fe, New Mexico, his music has an unmistakable old country feel, and a maturity that belies his tender years.

His music is boisterous and romantic, the kind of thing you might imagine yourself listening to in the Mediterranean somewhere, late at night, under the stars, seated round a large table with a gaggle of strangers made fast friends through a day of drinking and revelry.

Suffice it to say, it's not the kind of thing you would expect to hear in a club.

Until now.

DJs Fredo & Thang, from the Gameplayer label, have released a mash-up called "Beirut Disco".

Dub inflected beats and snatches of spoken french are woven through swathes of organ and Beirut's slightly nasal vocals to create some kind of gypsy folk electronica hybrid.

It's Beirut gone urban.

And whether in a club, or sitting on a terrace drinking a beer, Beirut Disco is the perfect accompaniment to the heat and bluster of summer.

Labels: Electronica, Folk, Pop, Remix

What starts out like Elastica before morphing into Interpol by way of Joy Division?

It's not a trick question, and okay, I'm doing those annoying reductive comparisons again, but really, Baltic Fleet have to be heard to be believed.

And trust me, I'm not slighting the band in the least. Anything that starts out like Elastica before morphing into Interpol by way of Joy Division has me from the get-go.

When I say 'the band' I really mean Paul Fleming, keyboard player for Echo and The Bunnymen. Baltic Fleet is his baby.

He apparently wrote the album when he was on tour with the Bunnymen, trying to capture, in music, what inspired him in each city around the world.

While Baltic Fleet is a new discovery for me, a quick listen to the myspace page suggests to me that the band (ie, Fleming) is going to be huge.

He certainly deserves to be.

One of my favourite songs (out of an already incredibly strong line up) is "3 Dollar Dress".

It's hypnotic and savage -- a driving slice of indie rock heaven.

And what's more, it starts out like Elastica, before morphing into Interpol, by way of Joy Division...

Here's "3 Dollar Dress":



[Baltic Fleet - MySpace] [blow up records]

Labels: Electronica, Indie, Pop, Rock