Ricardo Villalobos - Fizheuer Zieheuer

Ricardo Villalobos - Fizheuer Zieheuer

I've recently been exploring Minimal Techno, a genre I have always struggled with in the past. I always find that some things need to be experienced in order. I've always enjoyed Drum and Bass as well as different producers who are generally labelled as IDM such as Aphex Twin (but everyone like Aphex Twin right? Even people who only listen to Punk and Metal seem to have a least some Richard James mp3s). Techno took me longer to understand however. I can remember labelling all 'dance' music 'too repetitive' which is kind of false (most Techno tracks don't have choruses and are much more dynamic than your average rock song) and yet kind of true. I can now see that repetitive isn't necessarily bad.

I can trace the musical path which lead me to Techno back to Dub. Dub lead me to Dubstep which lead me back to Garage and 2 Step which I had totally dismissed back when they were current. The precision and relentlessly on beat, light, almost fluttering sounds of 2 Step (in particular Horsepower Productions) taught me to see how minimal variations could seem like giant changes when backed by a steady 4 on the floor.

All of this leads me on to Fizheuer Zieheuer by Ricardo Villalobos. The album features just one track which is 37 minutes long. This is one song not a series of tracks mixed together. The drum track varies only slightly over the course of the song, in fact most of the song remains the same. A horn sample taken from a gypsy folk song enters after about 5 minutes and is looped, tweaked and cut in and out, sometimes in a very primitive fashion. It reminds me of mixing with tape decks: pausing and adjusting the speed of one element at a time.

The beats also vary over the course of the 37 minutes if only slightly. At certain points they seem to bounce off the walls and collide off of one another. When Villalobos accentuates the off beat it seems like a massive change of pace, in probably wouldn't seem so striking if you haven't heard the beat for over 10 minutes. A certain points the beat is run through some kind of echo chamber effect which briefly brings to mind Dub rhythms.

Philip Sherburne (who writes the excellent 'Month In Techno' Column for Pitchfork as well as his own blog) described the track's

"own interior dubscape (is) so minimally variegated as to be almost dizzying, like playing hopscotch on a moving sidewalk in zero gravity-- in a blizzard."

He goes on to say

"Villalobos finds perpetual motion in seeming stasis, using judicious filters and delay to ensure that no two bars are alike. His pinhead moonstomping is like the sonic version of micropsia, in which traditional perspective fails and objects lose their scale: echoes outgrow their sources and offbeats shadowbox their downbeats to death."

If that doesn't make you want to go out and find the track then I guess you just aren't ready to have your mind blown.

American Indie Vs British Indie

I watched a program last night called 'Later Live' which for any non UK readers is a live music show with a pretty eclectic range of guests. Well, it's about as eclectic as you would expect from the BBC.

There were two bands playing last night who would both be considered 'Indie' yet are very different.
The first was The Kooks who are an English band on Virgin records. The second was Yeasayer, a New York band on We Are Free records. The Kooks are typical of a lot of British Indie bands. They went to stage school and probably spend more time picking their outfits than writing songs. That's perhaps a little unfair, their songs are actually fun and catchy but they aren't exactly anything new. Their sound is boringly retro and they bring nothing new or unique. (This isn't something which only British bands are guilty of. Jet for example do exactly the same thing. Their biggest hit 'Are you gonna be my girl' is just a cover of 'Lust for life' with different lyrics). Johnny Borrell, who is no innovator himself, summed up The Kooks sound "It sounds like the band are literally rolling over, sticking their arse in the air and begging Radio 1 to fuck them."

Yeasayer on the other hand have an interesting almost tribal sound in a similar vein to Animal Collective. They use electronic sounds and are influenced by 'world' music (please excuse that awful phrase). Basically Yeasayer are inventive and dynamic whereas The Kooks sound like a band doing covers at a wedding. This serves to demonstrate the fact that what passes for 'Indie' over here is boring rubbish for NME reading students.

Yeasayer - 2080 Live

Biffy Clyro

I can't stop listening to Puzzle by Biffy Clyro. I had pretty much ignored the album when it came out for two reasons. Firstly the album artwork is awful. (The artwork from their second album was great, if a little bit rude). Secondly I tend to hate it when bands mellow out (I still haven't forgiven Idlewild).
The first track I heard of the album was 'Saturday Superhouse' which has a great video:



My favourite track however is 'Who's got a match'. How can any song with the lyrics "The midget is frigid I put it to you" in a strong Scottish accent be bad?


'Who's got a match' live 19-05-07

As I mentioned before, this album is a lot more mellow than Biffy's previous efforts. On paper I prefer their early sound which featured a lot of contrast between calm songs and manic shouting in a similar manor to Aereogramme. But this album is so catchy that I just can't resist. Maybe i'm getting old :)

Muxtape

Muxtape is a new site, created by Jstn which allows users to share mixtapes via a rather nice flash interface. The site is very simple. It allows you to upload up to 12 songs of up to 10mb each. To share your mix you just send somebody the link to your profile i.e yournickname.muxtape.com



The simplicity of the interface reminds me of a lot of cool sites like instapaper (which lets you save articles to read later in a newspaper format) and writer (the internet typewriter).
To try out the service I've uploaded a mix. This was a pain free exercise which is great especially when you consider that it was launched today.
My mix is similar to the one I posted previously via lastfm in that it is more of a mix tape than a DJ mix. In fact the main overriding theme is that the songs are all great but don't necessarily go together.
Listen here Thomaz.muxtape.com

1. Biffy Clyro - Now I'm Everyone
2. The Crimea - Loop A Loop
3. 3 Inches Of Blood - Goat Riders Horde
4. Jens Lekman - A Postcard To Nina
5. Burial - Archangel
6. Hot Chip - Don't Dance
7. Antipop Consortium Ghostlawns - (Original Version)
8. Le Tigre - Deceptacon
9. Lil' Wayne - Seat Down Low

The Rip Off Artist.

I'm currently listening to The Rip-Off Artist. There isn't that much information about him out there, so I can't be too specific. From his website I discovered that he is called Matt Haines and he has " retired from the music business." The album I'm listening to is called Pump and features 13 songs split over 69 tracks on the CD. If you are familiar with the record label, Mille Plateaux you will have some idea how this album sounds. It's more catchy and less minimalist than your average Mille Plateaux release however. Pitchfork describe it thus:

"electronic to be certain-- there isn't a single organic sound to be found here-- but outside of that broad disclaimer, it's hard to peg. Pump's roots are clearly in house music: more often than not there's a clearly discernable 4/4 beat, marked by repeated drum patterns and sounds which creep in then back out a few times over the course of a song; minute details that appear, then disappear, one by one. Meanwhile, Haines cycles through a seemingly endless catalog of goofy electronic noises which suggest everything from 60's library music to old-school Warp Records to kids' toy samplers. "

If that doesn't interest you then I give up! More info and some mp3s here.

Ashley Dupre, call girl and pop singer.

Governor Eliot Spitzer's little indiscretion with Ashley Alexandra Dupré (see photos) has created quite a buzz on the internet. Bloggers have been posting like crazy from the news of the scandal breaking, to Spitzer's resignation and now they are focusing their attentions towards Ashley Dupre. Dupre, or 'Kristen' as she was known has become an unwitting internet star. Or perhaps not so, unwitting as she hasn't yet set her myspace profile to private.



Dupre's page has a song on it which has been played 2068901 times, and I'm fairly sure that's not due to it's quality. It seems her work at the Emperors Club came second to her dreams of being a singer. Her encounter with the governor of New York may well help to launch her career. I would bet that she has a recording contract by the end of the week. The song, called 'what we want' is standard R&B, the beats are a bit dull and the vocals basic. With a bit of a remix it could become a hit, which says a lot about the state the charts are in.




The song is produced by Simon Illa of Unbreakable Music Group, who is, I'm guessing somewhat pleased about all the publicity.

Ashley Dupree myspace page
Spitzer Scandal news
Ashley Dupre, Millionaire?

Marnie Stern

If you liked my last post, you should check out Marnie Stern. Her guitar style is similar to Mick Barr's: full-on, layered noise as fast as possible. She also reminds me of another Barr due to her use of spoken-word passages and meta-narratives. “Nothing I do is esoteric,” She says. “I have constant references in mind for everything. Everything’s intentional.” This, combined with a guitar technique which can only be described as 'shredding' makes for quite a mix.

Stern's last album 'In Advance of the Broken Arm'
features Hella's Zach Hill on drums and production. Her sound reminds me of the bass and drums duo lightning Bolt although it is perhaps a bit more accessible as you can actually comprehend the lyrics which are looped and layered. As Brandon Stosuy put it in his review for Pitchfork.com:

"she sets up her own call-and-response (musically and lyrically), her sing-talk style cutting across the strings like a rogue auctioneer or cheerleader."

Here is the video for the single 'Every Single Line Means Something'



More songs and information can be found at Marnie Stern's Myspace page.