I have been on a real 90’s kick since realising I am part of the Wonderwall Generation and posting the Oasis classic Champagne Supernova a couple of weeks ago.
This is a cheesy hip hop classic of the era. I love the band name, just the wrong side of preposterous which is just the right side of perfect for a Hip Hop group. Also, the intro here is just ridiculous but great at the same time. All my guilty pleasures seem to have a healthy does of excess about them!
/RjK
*Artist #599
One of the very best things about writing for this blog is getting sent music. This is sometimes bands or DJ’s sending me their own tracks but more often just my friends sharing music that they are excited by. Whist I don’t always share it, I never tire of feeling the warm glow of people’s enthusiasm. Also, I’m frequently introduced to artists I wouldn’t otherwise have encountered.
Darkstar are one such band. A friend (thanks Maggie) sent them along this week and I have been listening to them repeatedly since. Its dreamy and fragile and has rather hypnotised me.
Their album News From Nowhere is out on Warp Records on February 4th. Check it out
/RjK
*Artist #598
I know that I am late on Jessie Ware as she has received significant publicity over the past 18 months. Frankly, I had somewhat dismissed her as being a little too “pop” for my taste.
However, I heard this track over the weekend while out and about and I haven’t been able to shake it from my mind since. Also, once I got home and checked out this video that I realised she reminds me more than a little of Sade, especially stylistically here.
Jessie Ware:
Sade:
/RjK
*Artist #597
A nice simple and smooth track to ease you into the week. It’s from Mary Wells who is one of my favourite Soul vocalists.It has that classic early Motown sound – pure, almost naive and full of perfect harmonies.
Mary Wells:
/RjK
I had been racking my brain trying to work out where I recognised the Fela Kuti track I posted last week from. It finally struck me that it was this gem from InI. It was produced by Pete Rock who, along with DJ Premier and J.Dilla, is one of my very favourite hip hop producers.
I love how languid it sounds and also can’t help but admire his imagination managing to take the Afrobeat classic Water no get enemy and end up with this is quite a leap!
/RjK
*Artist #596
This summer, The Knife will tour for the first time in 7 years. And even then, they only ever toured once in that incarnation. I missed out on tickets for the London show this May, which would have been handiest for me as I live there, but managed to get tickets to see them in Berlin instead. It appears I’m going on holidays.
Anyway, ticket-bragging aside, I want to talk about Pass This On from their 2003 album Deep Cuts. This album became popular after Jose Gonzales covered its opening track Heartbeats and it was featured in a Sony ad. Their follow-up, 2006’s Silent Shout is one of the best albums of that decade.
What I like most about Pass This On is those calypso drums. They’re so mesmerising. The song is poppier than anything else The Knife have done and it would be easy to bop along to this without getting too deeply involved. The lyrics are on the playful side too – I’m in love with your brother/ What’s his name/ I thought I’d come by to see him again. There’s no escaping a dark undertone that always exists when Karin Dreijer sings and that lurks on the edges here.
I rediscovered this song a couple of years ago through Jamie XX’s BBC Radio 1 Mix, which I played relentlessly for months and features Pass This On mixed seamlessly with Jamie’s own Far Nearer. I rediscovered lots of tracks off the back of that mix actually, most of which deserve their own posts. In fact, that mix deserves its own post.
Over the years, I’ve been a fan of other tangential Knife projects, such as Olof Dreijer’s Oni Ayhun EPs. OAR003-B is a particularly enjoyable 10 minutes of minimal techno.
This post has veered off on many tangents, but I suppose that’s the nature of writing about The Knife. Everything they touch is gold.
/HC
Posting Oasis last week got me to thinking about Britpop. Those happy 90’s! Supergrass were a band who knew how to make a radio friendly pop song and this is a perfect example. A pretty good video too here, is the intro a little homage to Queen?
Have a great weekend. This is something to help it come a little quicker and help run out the clock this afternoon.
Can you hear us pumping on your stereo?…
/RjK
I have often found myself surprised by the journeys that writing this blog has taken me upon. Perhaps the most surprising (and most fruitful) has been the exploration of World Music. I have found so much music that is joyous and pure and that I couldn’t have conceived of two years ago.
Speaking of which, if you had told me that I find myself listening to (and enjoying) a Radio 3 program called World Routes I probably would have laughed. But this is the situation I find myself in.
It was through this avenue that I discovered Malian musician Vieux Farka Touré. His music is so striking and I like how it sounds so timeless. Even though this track is taken from his 2008 album Fondo, it sounds like it could easily be centuries old.
/RjK
*Artist #595
I was talking to a friend and fellow blogger on Saturday about some potential improvements to 365 days in 2013 (look out for the fruits of our labour in the coming weeks).
While we were talking he played Tom Vek’s 2011 album Leisure Seizure. I really liked the album at the time but never got around to posting anything from it. It’s release was rather exciting given that it came after and six year hiatus and that 2005’s We Have Sound featured C-C (You set the fire in me) which was abd remains a massive favourite of mine and which I posted much earlier on in my blogging journey.
The thing that strikes me about both tracks is the sense of urgency. I really like that quality in a song.
You’re not really listening to me…
/RjK