Home»Archive for April, 2010

Now These Shackles Graze My Knees

Apr 28th, 2010 1 Comment

Well it has been 6 whole months since the last Derogatory Playlist and the longer I left it the harder it got to put one down as my long list of dance tracks got stale. I came to the decision that I just had to make the post sooner rather then later so I am able to move forward. This playlist will be a little different to the others as it has been 6 months of tunes shrunk down to 11 carefully selected tracks. What you have below are 11 tracks I have heard over the last 6 months new or old which have stayed with me until now – from 2009’s Die Verboten which I heard for the first time this week, to the 1997 Jam & Spoon track I stumbled upon earlier this year. From Krautrock to dubstep, disco to funky house, electro to psy trance and progressive back to electro. There were no rules with this playlist and that is why it probably will not flow as well as the others (starting with a 20 min track will probably not help either). I hope for those of you who have not heard some of the below tracks you really enjoy the levels they can take you.


A Derogatory Playlist PT XVI

Download the Complete playlist zipped

1. Die Verboten – Live in Eivissa
2. Bat For Lashes – Pearls Dream (Skream Remix)
3. Tensnake – Coma Cat (Original Mix)
4. Holy Ghost – On Board (feat. the DFA Celestial Choir)
5. UNKLE – Heavy Drug (Surrender Sounds Mix)
6. Gramophonedzie – Why Don’t You (Original Mix)
7. Gorillaz – Stylo (Alex Metric Remix)
8. Jam & Spoon – El Baile
9. Two Door Cinema Club – Undercover Martyn (Softwar Remix)
10. Sherlock’s Daughter – Kids (Alison Wonderland Remix)
11. Das Racist – Combination Pizza Hut And Taco Bell (Wallpaper. RMX)


I highly Recommend

Live In Elvissa – Die Verboten

I have been hanging out to hear this track for over 3 years ever since I first heard that Soulwax was going to team up with Riton and produce an experimental Kruatrock band. Live In Elvissa is the only track to be released from the group and was released on a limited edition vinyl pressing of 300 last year. I regretfully did not get myself a copy of this as I could not justify the postage at the time. Due to this error I did not get a chance to hear the track in its full until I received this vinyl rip from a dude over at the Soulwax – thanks Lynxx.

Live in Elivissa is a 19 Minute journey through the parallels of instrumental electronics with incoherent conflicts of sounds creating a quest for the main melody. Riton and the Dewaele brothers use a combination of their excellence in composition and electronics to funnel surrealism from their mind into our ears, where a world of sliding synths and stabbing melodies chase each other into the abyss.

Bat For Lashes – Pearls Dream (Skream Remix)

I am glad that a dubstep mix made it into the playlist as it is reflective of my slight fetish I have had for the genre in the last 6 months. Bat For Lashes were quite a big band of last year and the vocals work perfectly in-front of the deep frequencies and off beats which help keep the track dark and cold. Similar to his Chromeo remix, Skream has managed to really exploit the most underground sounds into a final product of pop.

Holy Ghost – On Board (feat. The DFA Celestial Choir)

This Holy Ghost cover of Friendly Fires On Board was one part of a joint EP they released earlier this year where both bands covered each others tracks with Friendly Fires doing Hold On. I think most people agree that Holy Ghost was the band out of the two who hit the spot with their version of On Board featuring the heavenly DFA Celestial Choir (I think I hear Nancy in there). I was thinking of posting the Celestial Choir Dub Version but I now believe that the vocals do add to the track. The big bass synth dominates the track throughout holding the chords together as Holy Ghost’s DFA disco style dances over the rest.

Gramophonedzie – Why Don’t You

It is not often I will post a house track on this blog as I do not really get the chance to listen to enough of it to find the good stuff. I have a feeling though that House may be making a return to the mainstream (Yolanda Be Cool as an example) as electro starts to get more distorted and girls get sick of sharing dance floors with sweaty, teeth grinding alpha males while the sound of a chainsaw screams from the speakers. House is more classy then electro and there is always a place and time for it. Gramophonedzie has tapped into this new sub genre of house which mixes vintage records with house beats creating a somewhat cabaret feel about it. The track will keep you moving for the first minute and a half with a simple funky intro. The interesting part starts after this when it cuts into the sample of the old record that then drops back with the beat. I believe that this will keep a dance floor very happy.

Jam & Spoon – El Baile

El Baile was produced in 1997 by the duo Jam & Spoon who clearly had massive influence on trance in the 90’s and today. I love unexpected variation in genres and El Baile has to be one of the biggest jumps I have ever heard from sweet Spanish guitar and vocals to rolling bass and deep beats similar to modern psy trance. The track continues to progress into an electronic monster with break downs cued by the sweet acoustic guitar.

Sherlock’s Daughter – Kids (Alison Wonderland Remix)

I received this track earlier this year over email and made a promise to myself that I would post it at some stage. Sherlock’s Daughter are an indie rock band from Sydney who are starting to poke their head into the scene. The vocals on the track allow for a perfect back setting for Alison to come over with some quality electro production which is the focus on this remix. Big synths stab as they run cleanly through the chords creating a true indie dance verse. The soothing female vocals are perfect for breaking down the track and it is evident that Alison has her fingers on the pulse when it comes to laying down tracks. I look forward to hearing more from her in the future.

Alison Wonderland’s Myspace
Sherlock’s Daughter’s Myspace

Thanks once again to Adso for the great posts over the last couple of months – he has got me into some fantastic bands as I am sure he has done the same to many of you. I will be back soon with another album post as the good ones are starting to stack up again with many more on the horizon!

Thanks

Jimps

Never Call Me A… Derogatory Term

Apr 22nd, 2010 1 Comment


After listening to The Morning Benders a lot, I wasn’t keen to listen to another band from the same crop of sunny, fuzzed out indie pop, so I was pleasantly surprised to find Wild Beasts’ latest Two Dancers full of crisp drums, running bass lines and distinct vocals. Fans of Jimps’ favourite band of last year When Saints Go Machine will love this stuff. Opener The Fun Powder Plot is, from what I can tell, a song about cocaine, and is just as addictive as it (from what I’ve heard of course). With its almost break-beat drumming This Is Our Lot is my favourite cut off the album, while the obligatory, usually instrumental track near the end on almost all indie albums, here called Under Belly, is actually quite an entrancing piece of work. I was really edgy on a flight home last weekend and the second half of the track eased me down a lot I just wish it wasn’t cut short.

 

 

Wild Beasts – The Fun Powder Plot

Wild Beasts – This Is Our Lot

Wild Beasts – Under Belly

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’d never heard of Itch-E & Scratch-E before this track but apparently they are Australian electronic music legends. But I will be looking out for anything they do now because the track below is possibly the most bad-ass electro song I’ve ever heard. Usually I would be against lyrics in a track as menacing as this, but here New York MC MDNA’s fierce but dirtily humorous taunts add to the song’s brilliance. It would be fucking incredible on large speakers.

 

 

Itch-E & Scratch-E – Other Planets (7″ Mix)

Itch-E & Scratch-E – Other Planets (Itch-E & Scratch-E Black Hole Remix)

 

Have a good weekend,

 

Adso

 

 

Who’s In Your Mind?

Apr 15th, 2010 Leave a comment






Bit of a different flavour to start off this week. Below I have a couple of new tracks from Sydney producer Richard In Your Mind off of his recent Summertime EP. I’d never heard of him before so the first time I heard Make It Chill I thought it was a classic from the 90s. Even if you’re not a hip-hop head, Make It Chill is a must download. It’s by far my favourite song at the moment. There are some classic lines in it, my favourite comes at 2:30, just remember it’s very tongue-in-cheek. The other song I posted is from the same EP and sounds something like big band drum-n-bass. It seems like he’s trying to find his sound for the future on this EP so hopefully he’ll bring out a full length soon.

Richard In Your Mind – Make It Chill

Richard In Your Mind – Summertime Boogie, Do The







More laidback music next from a not very laidback sounding band, The Morning Benders. If you like Grizzly Bear you’ll love their new album Big Echo, probably because it sounds like Grizzly Bear which is probably because Grizzly Bear’s guitarist Chris Taylor produced it. Album opener Excuses is an awesome track after two listens and All Day Daylight has some really catchy instrumentation, especially the hand claps. If you read my posts at all you will have noticed that I froth over slow building tracks that progress to become something thunderously epic after starting from something so calm and peaceful. Stitches is one of those tracks.

The Morning Benders – Excuses

The Morning Benders – All Day Daylight

The Morning Benders – Stitches

If you trawled the blogs downloading every banger you could get your hands on like I did in 2008 you might have heard Solid Gold by The Golden Filter. Well after two years they have come out with their debut album Völuspà. Overall I think they’ve nailed their sound very well for a debut album. In saying that they’re at their best when on up-tempo tracks, I would’ve loved if they had a track as good structurally as Stitches above. My favourite track is opener Dance Around The Fire. It is electro at its finest – punchy drums, deep bass, shrieking strings, rolling synth stabs and breathy female vocals. Look Me In The Eye follows on from Dance Around The Fire well and Thunderbird is a really funky track that closes the album with a bang.

The Golden Filter – Dance Around The Fire

The Golden Filter – Look Me In The Eye

The Golden Filter -Thunderbird

Thanks,

Adso

Another One?

Apr 8th, 2010 3 Comments










What is going on? Two Derogatory posts in a week? Crazy. Thanks for reminding me Jimps. I’ve been listening to a few great albums lately but the one that stands out the most is Gorillaz’ Plastic Beach. It is by far and away the best thing I’ve listened to this year. So if you’ve neglected to listen to the whole thing or have been put off it for some misguided reason then I highly recommend you give it a go. As is always the case with Gorillaz albums, the singles are not the best songs. The best track, Empire Ants, can be found in the middle, and just when you think it’ll be an intermission track with nothing much to it, it morphs into a dance floor monster. It is pure gold. I’ve got a little treat for all those who know exactly what I’m talking about, the edit below extends the last 2 short minutes of bliss into 4 minutes making it perfect to play at a party. The titular track is actually my favourite, but each time I listen to it I seem to find a new favourite so isn’t really fair. Pirate Jet is the album closer and sounds to me like, if Plastic Beach were a movie, that it would be played as something sick happened at the end of the movie and ‘To Be Continued’ rolled up on the screen.

EDIT: The Empire Ants Edit is now fixed

Gorillaz – Empire Ants (Feat. Little Dragon)

Gorillaz – Empire Ants (Club Clique Dancefloor Edit)

Gorillaz – Plastic Beach (Feat. Mick Jones & Paul Simonon)

Gorillaz – Pirate Jet


Another album I’ve been digging is the James Mercer of The Shins and producer Danger Mouse of Gnarls Barkley, Gorillaz’ ‘Demon Days’ and Beck’s ‘Modern Guilt’ collaboration called Broken Bells. It sounds a bit more upbeat and electronic than The Shins but a bit less beat-driven than Danger Mouse’s projects above. The tracks below are my favourite so if you like them I suggest you get their self-titled album.

Broken Bells – The High Road

Broken Bells – The Ghost Inside


A new project by the two guys from Poney Poney (the only thing they did was have an awesome track that was produced by Xavier from Justice which I’ve posted below) is quite big on the blogs at the moment and for good reason. I love that Poney Poney track and have been hoping since they put it out that they would bring out an album, but I can’t complain ‘cause now they’ve come back with a new (shit) name and apparently have a full album again produced by Xavier due out in August. Also, the new tracks are sweet.



Jamaica – Short and Entertaining

Jamaica – I Think I Like U 2

Poney Poney – Cross the Fader (Original Mix)

I’ll be back next week with some tracks and albums from The Morning Benders and The Golden Filter.

Cheers,

Adso

Y Is Just So Vertically Vast, And The Infinity of X Disappears So Fast

Apr 6th, 2010 1 Comment

Well it has almost been a couple of months since I last posted and although I have been listening to many albums in this time there has just been a few which have been receiving the attention they deserve – enough attention to post about anyway. I am hoping I can make a quick return once some of the others have been broken in a little more.


We Have Band – WHB

I have only had We Have Band’s debut album for a week yet it is already the album I have been most excited about this year. It could be too early too tell as I am still in the very early stages of listening to it however I believe that this could definitely be one of the stand out’s of the year for me. The band has been getting around for a couple of years with a few singles however I had heard nothing of them until now (except for a Bloc Party remix they did). I would consider them indie-electro-synth-pop, with similarities to The Rapture, New Young Pony Club, Hot Chip, and my favorite band of last year When Saints Go Machine. Although there are many similarities to other bands they have a truly original and complex sound that instantly grabbed me.

The track of the album for me is ‘Hear it In The Cans’ a perfect pop song with potential to rope in an instant fan base with radio play. I find the track just so cool with an outstanding composition, the intro and chorus will have you singing along before your first listen is up however it is the verses that really stand out for me. There are two separate vocals lines in the verse panned right and left respectively in each speaker, completely unrelated yet entwined like a knot together to make one. You will find yourself with both lines in your head unable to decide which one to follow yet perfectly happy with the confusion.

I have posted a couple of other tracks below for a taste of the album. Divisive is rolling synth number, separated by running bass and flowing vocals. Honeytrap is another track that is defined by the vocal variations. Three different voices are used to create a truly original piece that is broken down at about 2 mins with the addition of the female vocal which sharpens the entire track and creates the edge.

Due to the fact that I am in the first week of listening to the album I am hoping that this feeling is just not hype and it continues to grow rather then letting down.

We Have Band – Hear It In The Cans
We Have Band – Divisive
We Have Band – Honey Trap

Two Door Cinema Club – Tourist History

Adso posted a couple of tracks from these guys awhile back (almost a year) and they have finally released their debut album Tourist History. This album has been the one that I have been listening to the most in the last month. It seems as though the Indie Dance sound I enjoyed so much a few years ago which has been manipulated and failing to hit the same spot recently has finally been brought back by a string of bands who are doing it right – how it use to be done. Two Door Cinema Club are making tracks that sound like the really good remixes of indie bands a couple of years ago. The originality I found in We Have Band above was not really there as much on this album. The tracks all seem to follow the same formula that works without fail, however at the end of the day I always need a little more variation. The album is almost like electro pop punk, with fast chorus’ and slow broken down verses which are concentrated by bass and drums and strong vocal hooks. I am pretty confident that we will get an opportunity to see these guys this year in Australia, maybe at Splendour or Parklife – I sure as hell hope so, as they would be so much fun live.

Two Door Cinema Club – Undercover Martyn
Two Door Cinema Club – Undercover Martyn (Softwar Remix)
Two Door Cinema Club – I Can Talk
Two Door Cinema Club – Eat That Up, It’s Good For You

Massive Attack – Heligoland


I have not listened to that much of Massive Attack’s catalog, only ever owning Mezzanine and well after it was released. Heligoland has taken a very different approach with relying on a range of guests to lay the vocals with the more known collaborators Tricky, Shara Nelson and Mushroom now gone. The album is really something special and takes you on a bass heavy ride with strong melodies and harmonies to keep you in check. My favourite track would have to be the opener ‘Pray For Rain’, which features Tunde Adebimple from TV On The Radio on vocals. I got the Itunes Delux version of the album which included 5 remixes, one being the Tim Goldsworthy remix of ‘Pray For Rain’ which I think adds to the greatness of the original in true DFA style. ‘Paradise Circus’ is another fantastic track on the album, which is also made better by Gui Boratto’s minimal progressive remix. I was unable to go see them live when they just recently toured a couple of weeks ago for a few reasons I still regret. I did get to see Delphic on the Thursday though and they were the best live act I have seen this year so far.

Massive Attack – Pray For Rain
Massive Attack – Pray For Rain (Tim Goldworthy Remix)
Massive Attack – Paradise Circus
Massive Attack – Paradise Circus (Gui Boratto Remix)
Massive Attack – Rush Minute


I am currently trying to sort though the dance music I have stored over the last 4 or so months to put together another Derogatory Playlist and hope to do this sooner rather then later so I can move onto some newer tunes. Sorry for not keeping the blog upto date as of late, I hope to move it forward in the future if you the readers are still keen.

Thanks

Jimps