Tuesday 22 September 2009

Raaaaaaar!



Converge. Are. Back.

As they are one of my favourite bands ever and wrote one of the greatest albums ever in 'Jane Doe', i shall say little more than this is them back to the top of their game. Short, sharp, brutal. Jacob Bannon still sounds like a demon possessed, Kurt Ballou reels out more unbelievable riffs (i'm still not sure how this man achieves what he does. We're talking Benjamin Weinnman with a lot more creativity) and the whole thing is over in a breathtaking single minute and forty one seconds with a breakdown in the last third that is going to cause so many injuries i can't quite believe it!



Converge - Axe To Fall

Buy from here

J.

Spells and Deception

INVASION - Spells of Deception from Marek Steven on Vimeo.



Yep, Invasion are back and my, how they've been missed.

Invasion, it has been too long since I had the pleasure of writing about the Moongazer EP. While this EP may come with dance remixes, thankfully, little has changed in the Invasion camp. Marek is still churning out heavy slices of distorted, and faintly sludgy, thrash brilliance, Zel is still pounding the drums as though the Earth, not merely life, depends upon it and Chan is blasting out soul vocals as though the hems of her robe were ablaze with the fires of hell.

Lead track “Spells Of Deception” is a slightly lighter piece, even utilising cowbell. Do not be fooled though, it is still a searing slice of early nineties influenced thrash that’s likely reek havoc wherever it may roam.

Conversely, “Behind The Black Gate” is darker and harder and thoroughly reminds me of, the much missed, Iron Monkey (RIP Johnny). If I’m honest, I’m struggling to write about this song as it just makes me want to run out and throw down somewhere.
On the remix, Scottish chaps J.D. Twitch and Wilkes (here under their Optimo guise, after their long running clubnight of the same name) keep things simple with a nice extended version of “Spells…” Effective. Boy 8-Bit takes us into house territory, stripping back a lot of the riffage and dealling out hefty doses of 4/4 beats and squelchy synths. Blokgolf keeps us somewhere inbetween the original and the 8-Bit mix, with a nice melodic-yet-brash remix, utilising more of the original (listen for the great use of Zel’s cowbell) with big electro loops running through it. Leading us out is N.A.M.E.’s grinding industrial piece which is probably my least favourite of the four mixes, but mainly for its linear direction in comparison to the other three remixes rather than out of actual dislike of it, it is definitely still worth a listen!

And here we have a nice little unreleased exclusive:

Invasion - Evil Forest


Buy from here


Love,

J.

X

Wednesday 16 September 2009

Apache



Here we have the new single, "Tropics", from the Brooklyn based Apache Beat. Produced by Martin Bisi (Sonic Youth, Afrika Bambataa) and mixed by John Agnello (The Kills, Sonic Youth, Andrew WK) it's a short, sharp slice of NYC indie.

The band will also be on tour with The Gossip and MEN in October across the US, for anyone of that persuasion.

Apache Beat - Tropics (Sendspace)



J.

X

Milestones



I just noticed, a little too late one might argue, that Plastic Cowboys has finally slinked surreptitiously past its double century of posts. So, well done, er, me i guess. Ha.

Anyway, for our first foray into our third century i thought i'd write about an artist i haven't really mentioned for about a year and half, when he dropped the limp bizkit sampling, absolutely crushing "Antisocial" on us. All violent bass and aggressive drops, Raffertie made his name through the same means as 16bit, an experimental cross between house and dubstep.

Now, however, he is experimenting with his own sound further and has come up with a Wild Beasts remix which is a much more stripped back piece of house music which really took me by surprise but also works very well and is one of my favourite tracks at the moment.

The opening may easily be mistaken for something in his earlier style, but the track rapidly progresses through stripped back melodies, almost tribal drums with the haunting vocals floating over the top, transforming the original into an eerie, late night piece of house that i've become rather fond of dropping in dark rooms. More of this please Mr. Raffertie.

Wild Beasts - Dancing On Our Tongues (Raffertie Remix)



Love,

J.

X

Tuesday 15 September 2009

Ghosts Of Venice




Descending from the lofty highs of the Youth Attack camp comes Ghosts Of Venice, a rather delicious filter house prospect that combines groovy basslines with the sound of 90's French house over bouncy beats.

Here we have remix of Feadz' single "Flashin'"which drifts and grooves throughout its five minute duration. If this is what Ghosts Of Venice is doing after such a short time in the production saddle, there is a lot (a lot!) of potential for this project to go faaaaar!

Feadz - Flashin' (Ghosts Of Venice Remix)

Love,

J.

X

Thursday 10 September 2009

Unseen original Day N' Night video

Kid Cudi - Day 'N' Nite [Crookers remix] (Directed by BBGUN) from bbgun on Vimeo.



In April of 2008, BBGUN directed the original Day 'N' Nite video for an unsigned Kid Cudi with a budget of only $250 of their own money. Since then, BBGUN has directed music videos for artists including The Roots, Fabolous, J. Cole, and Busta Rhymes.

I know the song is oooold now, but it's a cool vid and BBGUN seem to be onto a bit of a winner.


Check them out: BBGUN

J.


X

Friday 4 September 2009

Disco Balls




Hey all. Tuesday night, George Pringle album launch, good fun. Tables in the social adorned with roses, candles and bowls of all your favourite childhood sweets. Oh, and George herself performing after good sets from Young Athletics League and ChaCha. I decided to buy an hand wrapped copy of her new album (with ribbons, a tag with the title and tracklisting and a badge designed as a shining disco ball. Yum) and it turns out, as I suspected, it's pretty darned good. A review will be up shortly. In the meantime, it's back to some good old fashioned plagiarism (i'm not sure if that spelling is correct, but my computer tells me it is. Should i trust the US dictionary on Macs?).

Anyhow, to the songs. A couple of tracks from people I know next to nothing about other than that they make delightfully blissed out music. Think in the Enzo Ponzio Italo vein but with more gentle, fluid melodies.



First up the delightfully swirly Gatto Fritto:

Gatto Fritto - Hex



and the slightly more groove and funk laden Sally Shapiro:

Sally Shapiro - Moonlight Dance




Have a good weekend all!


J.


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