The Teenagers – Made Of
It seems the time has finally come. I became enamored with The Teenagers back in 2008 with the release of their album Reality Check. A little over two years later, they have finally decided to release a new track to their loyal legion of snotty hipster followers, via twitter of all places!
“Made of” is much more synth oriented than a lot of the tracks on their first album. While vaguely reminiscent of “Make it Happen”, the new track is a step in a different direction for The Teenagers. Save for the chorus, the songs seems to have been ripped right from an 80s teen dramedy, one more than likely starring Molly Ringwald in some capacity.
I’ve listened to it repeatedly throughout the day. While a little underwhelming at first, it seems to grow on me with every listen, so why not blog about it?
You can download the track off of their Pay With A Tweet page. It’s really as simple as it sounds, you press the pay button and all it costs you is a tweet. Small price to pay for a song this fun, I’d say anyway.
Nujabes, RIP.
On February 26th the world lost what I feel was the greatest DJ/Producer in the sampling scene, Nujabes. He was ripped from us in a car accident on the Tokyo expressways. (For those who haven’t seen them, I can assure you that those highways are absolutely insane. Seriously, highways through buildings?) His death was announced nearly a month later via the blog of a long time collaborator and friend, Shing 02
The music of Nujabes holds a very special place in my heart, and always will. I’m writing this so late after his death because I was reminded once again today just how important his music is to me.
Nujabes first rose to prominence in 2003 with the release of his first album, Metaphorical Music. His sound was heavily inspired by the late 80s/early 90s Jazz Rap movement. When the likes of Gang Starr, A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, and many others began using Jazz samples in their tracks, they opened the door to a whole new world of possibilities in Hip-Hop. Nujabes walked right through it, and found another entrance of his own.
While most artists of the style would use the samples as backing for their rhymes, Nujabes tended to focus more on the melodic side of Jazz, which is apparent through the fact that a great deal of his songs were instrumentals.
When he’d flip a beat, he would often make great songs sound even better. One track in particular, I feel, is the most telling of his talents, as well as the importance melody in music. “Luv Sic (pt 3)”, featuring the aforementioned Shing 02 on vocals, shows what Nujabes can really do with Jazz. Beneath Shing’s lyrics, a piano sample of “Tens (Calmaria)” by Ivan Lins is chopped and looped seamlessly. It was done so beautifully that it tends to give one an intesne feeling of euphoria when losing yourself in the track.
That’s exactly what Nujabes did for me and several others, he allowed us all to just forget everything and lose ourselves in the beauty of sound. I regret that I never got to see a live set of his; but what I regret more than anything is that I never got to thank him for all he did for me through his music.
I miss you, Nujabes. Where ever you are, I can only hope our paths cross in the next life.
Onra – High Hopes
Onra is the latest musician out of Paris being played to death in my life. A real student of the sampling game, he draws influences from all walks of life while creating some of the sexiest beats you’ll ever hear. His critically acclaimed debut, Chinoiseries, was laced up from a collection of vinyls he picked up when he visited Vietnam.
Onra became something of a beat making legend when his track “The Anthem” was featured in a Coca-Cola advertisement for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
While the Asian-centric sound is what he’s best known for, it’s not the only trick he has up his sleeve. He’s made tracks derived from the Bollywood style of music, as well as going all-out funk in his latest release. The heavy bass grooves, painted over by soul sounding vocals, of the latter (Long Distance) have provided me with many, many hours of head nodding.
My favourite track hitherto has been “High Hopes”. It’s the perfect Nu-Funk sound; it’s vaguely reminiscent of Private, which is always a plus.
Onra has yet to come stateside, but has toured extensively around his hemisphere. I can only hope that I get to throw down to one of his sets sometime in the near future.
“Let it Rain on Us Forever.”
Next month I’m going to see VNV Nation live for the second time. The are the band that first got me into the Industrial Dance scene, such is the case for a lot of people. This particular track is a remix by fellow EBM legends, Covenant. The original ‘Solitary’ is slightly more downbeat this one, but on the other hand it is physically impossible to sit still listening to this version. If you can, you’re pretty much dead form the neck down… no offense if you are though.
Crystal Method – London
This is quite possibly my favourite Crystal Method song, it’s a nice change of pace from their usual aggressive Big Beat style. This video is a “drug scene compilation” I found on youtube. If you’ve seen London, which is a wonderful film btw, then it makes sense to play this song over this video.
My 5; Favouite Albums of 2009 (So Far)
Discovery – LP
Combichrist – Today We Are All Demons
Combichrist – All Pain is Gone
Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – The Tenure Itch
Au Revoir Simone – Still Night, Still Light
Some for the Road.
I know, I said I’d be around a lot more, and that I’d be less busy… sadly it hasn’t been the case. Aside form my day job I have a writing gig for a website so when I am online I’m mostly doing that. I have SOOOOOOOO much music to share with you all.
Since I’ve been absent and so have me RSF colleagues, I’ll make this worth your while.
Here’s some of what’s been moving me lately.
Animal Collective – Summertime Clothes (Dam-Funk Remix)(Via Pasta Primavera)
Discovery – So Insane(Via Grand Panda)
Does It Offend You, Yeah – Epic Last Song (Lifelike Remix)(Via Akutou)
FUTURECOP! – BOOM!(via Akutou)
Au Revoir Simone – Sad Song (RAC remix)(via Winnie Cooper)
Santogold – Lights Out (Tepr Emo Remix)(via battery in your leg)
The Field – The More That I Do (Foals Remix) (via The Last Pop Song)
Frankmusik – Confusion Girl (Don Diablo loves to slowdance remix)(via PMA)
Katy Perry – Waking Up In Vegas (Calvin Harris Remix)(VIA PMA Blog)
Blue Sky Black Death – The Era When We Sang
Lorentz & M. Sakarias – Mayhem
And of course, like anyone else who’s been using Hypem The most searched song in the last month.
We Are Happy Plants – Apollo(VIA PMA)
Also guys, since I have been busy… follow our twitter
Love Sexy Magic.
So some people have told me about “Love Sex Magic” by Justin Timberlake being played on the radio for a few months now. I just took their words for it because I’d rather die than listen to the radio. No one runs the air over my head but me! Anyway, it’s not like I was surprised or anything. Come on, this is the modern day King of Pop we’re talking about. I’m at work, being only vaguely productive and mucking about Hypem I must have just listened to about 15 remixes of it and heard what i guess is the radio version of it which has Ciara sharing vocals with JT. It’s tight and all, but…
Justin Timberlake – Magic(Via Grand Panda)
The solo version is so much more amazing… and lovely… and sexy… and magic… I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.
