Band / Artist: John Harrison with the Wichita State University Chamber Players
Year: 2000 (1725 Originally)
Genre: Classical, Orchestral, Baroque
My Review:
Recorded when I was a highschooler, and written before my great great great grandparents were probably born, this recording of a recital of Vivaldi is great. I was never much for this piece as a kid, but now, I think I can groove to it, especially since I've learned how to love jazz and more historic fare.
Anyway, Vivaldi was a big Baroque Classical creator, who was a virtuoso violinist. A lot of his compositions were written for the all-female music ensemble of "Ospedale della PietĂ ", a home for abandoned children. Sad thing, he wanted to get more funding for his creations, but it all fell apart after he moved to Vienna. He died a year later, broke.
Anyway, enough sad stuff. Enjoy a pleasant and generally uplifting orchestral album.
I used to have AdSense advertisements active on this blog, but I didn't really ever make money off of it. I think $1.40 since I started the blog back in 2013. I always kept it on in the early days because I wanted to eventually try to make the blog into a hopeful part time job of my own, and then make some potential ad deals with record labels or something. Something that I could be proud of doing as an interesting chapter in life.
Originally I expected that as time passed, this blog could be something more of a useful thing to people, or that it would be a larger part of my life. I suppose, looking out onto time and trying to guess where the winds will blow you is always a gamble.
So here we are now...
Corporations have gotten to be pretty lax about giving a shit about what happens to you as far as advertising and tracking. People have a slim number of options to avoid the intrusiveness and overwhelming presence of ads, cookies, trackers, and whatever else. Its amazing how in depth this has become since this blog started.
The general peoples have moved away from personal ownership of music, and instead tend to stick to the "netflix" method, streaming under pay or for free. These groups follow something that Frank Zappa once explained in the video below.
Making critics, playlist DJs, digital venues, all into fairly thinly veiled tastemakers that connect to a number of labels or avenues of commercial power. Engineering your experiences, and locking down music and art as mostly a product to monetize your experience for as little incurred cost as possible. In a lot of ways that means that the goals of this blog are only set to focus on a dwindling portion of society.
I'm not against any given band, platform, radio station, or genre. I'm not against any way of enjoying the things you enjoy. I make the posts on this blog because I enjoy it so much, I love rolling the dice on a random new album with nearly no reference, and hitting jackpot on an amazing new set of songs, or interesting band to follow. I love the thought of sharing that with people, the excitement of being able to pass on that spark to another person who could be really interested.
I fell into a place over the past few years where I had my life turn upside down, where work took over a massive portion of my time, personality, life altogether. Soundcloud nearly died. Facebook monetized, leaving any sort of social sharing to fade away unless you pay for "exposure". Google Reader died, then Digg Reader died, probably a few more. I lost a job, a car, bought a house. A lot of the things that this blog was planned with have changed or ended, and it has been seldom when I was feeling like I was ready to do anything here.
Many things have changed, and now that the world is finally putting out changes to the advertising policy thanks to Europe. I never have made money here, but I still enjoy posting here as a hobby, and I can always hope that something good will come up in the future.
Anyway, TLDR; I turned ads off for the blog, and I'll keep posting here when I can. If you like this blog, please comment to let me know what you'd like to see.
Band / Artist: Psilodump
Year: 2004
Genre: Chiptune, Breakbeat, Electronica
My Review:
"Memories may become corrupted but beauty remains. Still, that is no excuse for acting blind … or maybe it is … what you have lost might not just be your memory."
I know I posted this before.. but I loved this one so much, as it was the quintessential chiptune album to really get me into the genre overall. I know I always loved music from my genesis games, but this just represented a new way to see that music, as not just a nostalgia for a game, but as an instrument being used, as bit compression midi representing a boundary box to work in. Its only 4 tracks, but even today it holds up as a flagpost for the rest of the chiptune music I enjoy.
Band / Artist: Kabjanak
Year: 2015
Genre: Prog Rock, Trip Hop
My Review:
Dat beat doe... jeezum. Reminescent of 70s acid trip jam, and laced with trip-hop beat layers and samplings used like ghost masking. It has a lot of skill and agility in how it flows, using all of these influences to form a whole all its own.
Kabanjak is a German artist, who i believe plays a number of instuments, and is the kind of guy to be sharing other musicians works on their own FB band page. Dude track 3, 7th gate, GOD THAT IS GOOD. Never did I think I'd see Prog and Trip-hop merged, and so well on that.
This one really works well alongside L O N E R, who I posted recently. I probably should look at putting them together on one mix.
Band / Artist: Good Throb
Year: 2014
Genre: UK Punk, Punk, Thrash
My Review:
I really wasn't feeling this the first time I heard it. Not in the least, and here we are, like 3 years later and I'm really digging it. "No Taste" really sticks and I'm all for their sound, and their commitment to sharing their jams.
They hail from London it seems, and since I've heard this sound so much out of UK punk, I labeled it as its own special thing. I hope they wander over the pond and stop in Nola one day, it'd be cool to enjoy their stuff in person.
If you like this, then listen to their EPs, they are pretty rad.
Band / Artist: L O N E R
Year: 2016, 2017
Genre: Trip Hop, Trap, Chillout
My Review:
SO CHILL. Its titled on the soundcloud stream as "Sad as Fuck Hip Hop". I love the feel it has, of former triphop singer, an acoustic edge, and this lightly witchcrafty feel to it. You need to hear this one. Apparently its a musician named DMT, and a singer named Kelly Anne Corfield. I don't know much else, since i saved this ages ago and forgot to post a review on it.
Also because its worth hearing as well, here is a more rough album that has a really great sound to it as well, if maybe a little more rough around the edges. I might even like this one a hair more potentially. If they evolve this well over a 1 year run, I'm excited to hear how much farther they are going to go.
Band / Artist: LITTLEBABYANGEL
Year: 2018
Genre: Alternative Hip-Hop
My Review:
This one is a really interesting one. Really unique beatscape, and a delivery that feels raw and catches my attention. It does have a sorta sad quality throughout that I could see not being everyone's cup of tea, but its definitely one that I would want to take a little time for.
Here was a quote from the email notice for this one.
This is 'GADA' - the debut tape from Littlebabyangel. Eleven songs played and produced by Stephan Armstrong and his childhood friend Cameron Morse. The tape is free. You're getting it first.
One of the guys that started LuckyMe grew up in the Highlands of Scotland and as a young kid he was on a chain-letter network where people swapped mixtapes. We mean actual tapes. Actual letters. You'd post lists of the tapes you had to the next person on the network, and they'd hit you back asking which ones they want dubbed. And you'd send them the copied tape along with the checklist for the next person; moving bootlegs in from New York to London and up the UK. Hand to hand, he was getting new music sent to the middle of nowhere. We need something like this now. So we're asking you to start it. This record isn't public anywhere. No stores. It's just on this link. It's free. Forward the mail to someone. If you receive the mail from someone you know, you can forward it on too. We're not putting this out any other way right now.
I don't yet know much about the artist or label, and wanted to share faster than looking into it too long. Anyway, you should listen to this one. Also take your time on that site, its really interesting. I'm curious about the story being brewed here.
Band / Artist: ïŒłïœïœïœïœïŒïŒïŒïŒ
Year: 2018
Genre: Vaporwave
My Review:
This works for today.
A concept album about the last days of a department store. Each track gets progressively darker - glitch and distortion echoing in the ruins
Band / Artist: Richard Houghten
Year: 2017
Genre: Folktronic, Experimental Rock, Covers, Acoustic
My Review:
This is different. The entire recording is made through use of an acoustic guitar that has been manipulated to create wild soundscapes, covering tracks by Aphex Twin, Orbital, Dj Shadow, Bonobo, David Lynch, and more.
I am really liking hearing the cover of Aphex Twin's "On", or Orbital's "Halcyon & On & On" for sure.
It's a good mix to add to a chillout set, for sure. Only part of this that I would rag on, is the cover art. Not the worst thing I've seen, but I'd offer to help work on it if it were a friends piece. Thats just me being an art major, nitpicky asshole type.
Anyway, the songs have good depth, play in a very complimentary way to one another, and leave me with a great morning playlist. I might reach out to this guy and ask if he'd like to be involved in a project I have going.,.. but thats something I'll share with all of you a bit down the road, when I have my house in order (its almost there!) Richard Houghten - All Guitars 2
Band / Artist: Calexico
Year: 2017
Genre: Americana, Indie, Country
My Review:
Okay, so after years of seeing this band come up in connection with others I was listening to, like Iron & Wine or Wilco, I finally saw this sampler and decided to give them a listen. Its GOOD, but I don't think its quite my cup of tea.
That being said, I know it is quality music, and I know that it carries a lot that people would enjoy, so I wanted to share this short sampler album with you all. If you enjoy this country indie sound, then love this and give them support.
Alright, back to cleaning house in the middle of the frozen night. I've got a walls worth of drywall to remove. Calexico - Calexico Sampler 2017
My Review:
I have insomnia. Thats neither here nor there, because this is a pretty awesome hip-hop album.
Lots of really impressive sampling work and really solid, soothing beats with a pleasant subdued method of rhyming. I enjoyed this a lot, listened to it about 3 different times while busy and found I'm getting more into it as it keeps playing.
Band / Artist: The Heroic Enthusiasts
Year: 2017
Genre: Synth Rock, New Wave, Alternative Rock
My Review:
Retro EIGHTIES SYNTHROCK. It is reallllllly good. If you like Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys, or Echo and the Bunnymen, then this would be a good one to listen to. It has a little dreampop, and a lot of new wave. Here is a link to their website.
Another weird detail, their name may be inspired by the poetic book, The Heroic Enthusiasts, which I've linked here. Written by Giordano Bruno, he was artistically presenting the argument that not only was the earth not the center of the universe, but so too was the sun just another of untold numbers of stars, spinning across the cosmos.
Band / Artist: Fed.
Year: 2015
Genre: Jungle, Breakcore, Drum and Bass
My Review:
Some days, jungle is just a good way to start out the day. Today, that is the case for me. Plus the art has a kitty.
I've heard a few things from Fed. in the past. Best I can remember, this is my favorite. Its much more wild and jazzy, which is really getting me going. It rolls into hiphop or anthem house or reggae, then wildly dissects it, then pulls back to lounge jazz, only to fuse both into the next wave of crazy breakcore wildness.
If this is your jam, here is a long list of other works by the artist (Igor Fedshin)
Band / Artist: Head For the Hills
Year: 2017
Genre: Bluegrass, Country, Indie Folk
My Review:
Here is a nice, well composed album of Chill Bluegrassy music, with that country flair that always makes me think about my Grandfather, and lyrics that have a pleasant amount of wisdom and introspection. I really like that they have earthy voices, and seem to come at their music from a raw perspective.
Here is the description of the album from their website.
Potions and Poisons is the fourth album of original music from Head for the Hills, the Colorado based post-modern bluegrass outfit of Adam Kinghorn, Joe Lessard, Matt Loewen and Sam Parks. There’s no reinvention of the wheel here--no computer programmed banjo rolls or digitally arpeggiated fiddle lines. Instead we find Head for the Hills at the peak of their powers of musical alchemy, building little worlds of sound from the detritus of bluegrass, jazz, hip hop, folk and soul. Potions and Poisons is a look at the darker side of love, lust, and life; an examination of our affinity for and aversion to the things that make us fragile but human. Recorded at home in Colorado with the band’s go-to engineer, Aaron Youngberg (Cahalen and Eli, Martha Scanlan, Grant Gordy and Ross Martin), the record features appearances from Bonnie Paine (Elephant Revival) on vocals and washboard, Erin Youngberg (Uncle Earl, FY5) on vocals, and a lush string section. Potions and Poisons is the most Head for the Hills record yet, and in the great tradition of bluegrass (and soul and folk and old time music), it delivers some bitter pills, but the ten new original songs are more than a survey of the human condition. This is reflective but buoyant music, restorative and full of vibrancy.
Band / Artist: Blind MIC
Year: 2017
Genre: Hip-Hop, Trap, Trip Hop, Chillstep
My Review:
This music is actually really calming to me, but it feels like some kind of "we're gonna die so whatever here comes the grave". So yeah, I feel oddly conflicted about this album but I do like it enough that I've played it repeatedly.
I would love to say more, but I've been working myself to death this week, too tired. Good trip-hop/trap thing with a UK feel and drug and drinking references. Y'all have a good one.
Band / Artist: Gosprom
Year: 2011
Genre: Trip Hop, Acid Jazz, Electropop, Alternative Pop
My Review:
So I probably downloaded this album back in 2014 or 2015. I am now at the point that I am reviewing it. Not because it was bad, just because I don't think I was ready for it yet. Really mellow, with a melding of electronics, jazz, and glitch, in a way that reflects a melody that I can't help but to really love now that I've spent my time in New Orleans and had the jazz seep into my life.
That being said, this is a more relaxed, atmospheric album, that plays in areas more like a demanding stage piece. I really enjoy putting it on for the night and having some work to get finished while it plays, so I can perk up and dance about a little when it behooves me.
So yeah, hope you like a weirdly drippy/glitchy russian electro-jazz-trip-pop album. I'm gonna listen again now.
Band / Artist: Gener, Very Proper Dragonflies, Cousin Silas, Cosmonauts Day, Naomi Wachira
Year: 2004, 2015, 2017
Genre: Folk Reggae, New Wave, Post-Punk, Post-Rock, Drone, Ambient, Dream Pop, Pop Rock, Prog Metal
My Review:
Gener - Les dones (Al Pagoda Remix)
This is pure ear candy. It has a great retro sound with a beautiful melody over it. So pleasing. This Spanish netlabel seems to always have good stuff.
Very Proper Dragonflies - Swingin' Single
This one is really cute too, with that older feminine-ish new wave sound that once was, and I sort of miss. If the first track isn't really doing it for you, you need to give the second track a shot, its really really good. Like, next VDay mixtape good.
Naomi Wachira - Beautifully Human
Now for some folk reggae, in all of its calmer, and "everything is gonna be alright" glory. I am going to need to dig further into her music.
Cousin Silas - Quiet Afternoons
And now to a really long relaxing ambient post-rockish drone of soft pads and melodies unfurling at the speed that flowers bloom, to get you into a nice soft meditative state.
Cosmonauts Day - It Got Them
And finishing the whole thing out, and bringing you back up for the day ahead, here is a nice prog-metal, post-rock jam out with just enough creepy to make it really fun.
My Review:
During a period where I was halfway involved with the blog, I got a message from Kansas City based producer and DJ Keith Rich, otherwise known as MemCave, who I have posted here before. He gave me a copy of a soon-to-be-released album, Color Fire. I wanted to post it, but with everything going on, I didn't get to it for so long, that I couldn't justify trying to post the link to download while he was selling the album on bandcamp.
So fast-forwarding to now, I was going back and revisiting artists, and saw that he released the album under a Name-your-price setting, and since it has been a number of years, I feel okay in sharing it with people.
I listened to this album in the car for a really long time, and I am glad to share it with people. I was really down on myself for not sharing it before when I had the chance, so I hope you all enjoy it. There are these great repeating beat sets, with all this lush flourishing warm noise surrounding it and emotional melodies.
I strongly encourage you to give this a listen. And if you see this MemCave, I'm glad I got to share this one for you finally.
Band / Artist: Amyl and the Sniffers
Year: 2016, 2017
Genre: Garage, Pubrock, Punk
My Review:
If you like X-Ray Spex, and other femme fronted punk, then you'll love the hell out of this. These guys are in Melbourne, Australia, and they play hard, and very fun punk rock.
