Werkha* – Le Roitelet (NAT)
I really like the contrasting sounds in this track from Manchester DJ Werkha, which is out on the Cool Kid Music label. The energetic, ultra modern beat and the languid, silky smooth vocal (there is also something alluring about French too, right?) shouldn’t really compliment each other but somehow they just do.
/RjK
*Artist #559
Mark Farina* – Dream Machine
This is Monday morning listening. I need something quiet and chilled out to ease me into the working week, especially after a busy few days. This does the trick.
Mark Farina is a Chicago House DJ who I listened to a lot in university, I haven’t heard much of him recently but this still sounds great.
/RjK
*Artist #557
Todd Terje* – Inspector Norse (Helen Chandler guest post)
This is my favourite song at the moment. I’ve been listening to it intensely for about a month now, and when I say ‘intensely’, I mean at least twice a day.
I moved to London 3 weeks ago. It’s been exciting and frustrating and tiring and challenging. On the tube in the mornings, when my hair is stuck to my face with sweat and I’m trying to avoid eye contact with the person I’m almost nose to nose with, Inspector Norse’s tireless disco-esque beat still makes me smile. Properly smile. Like a crazy person on the tube.
Benoit and Sergio – New Ships
This is a little more up tempo than the usual tracks I post on Sundays. However, this has infected my brain over recent days. Berlin/Washington, DC duo Benoit and Sergio make accessible house music, including the utterly hypnotic Walk and Talk which was a big blog favourite in 2012. Or in the words of Resident Advisor:
…a sense of place and narrative infuse their rhythms and melodies, transcending the confines of “tech-house” or “electronic pop” and entering a genre-free realm of cinematic imagery and visceral pleasures…
Not sure I would go that far! Solid track though.
/RjK
Aphex Twin* – Alberto Balsam
I caught up with regular guest contributor Matt over the weekend who is my main man for all things minimal and mellow having introduced me to Grouper, who has subsequently become a blog favourite.
Mellow is definitely what I like to aim for on Sunday evenings and this certainly fits that mould well. Richard D. James who is better know as Aphex Twin is a prominent DJ and maker of ambient music. Matt also pointed out that there is a pretty good steel band version of this track.
/RjK
*Artist #540
Burial and Four Tet – Ego featuring Thom Yorke
It has been a rather mellow week on the music front for me (Salt-n-Pepa excluded). This is another minimal track, which I think uses Radiohead front man Thom Yorke’s voice to excellent effect. I really like the quiet, hypnotic sound.
Burial is a south London DJ who was a pioneer of Dub Step music. This is the second track I have posted in recent months that features Four Tet’s input after his remix of the Malian song from a few weeks ago.
/RjK
LCD Soundsystem – Someone Great (Helen Chandler guest post)
A friend said to me recently, upon hearing Someone Great in a bar in Dublin at closing time – ‘I remember hearing this song for the first time back in 2007 and just feeling really sad.’ I’m not surprised, I think it’s one of the saddest songs going. ‘There shouldn’t be this ring of silence, but what are the options when someone great is gone?’ If you read that like a sentence and not like a lyric, it would floor you.
The beauty of what James Murphy does is that he makes you forget you’re listening to a sad song. He sets everything to a cleverly-constructed undercurrent of electronic bliss, which means that his songs get played in clubs and listened to in bedrooms in equal measure.
The official video for this song is lovely but the track itself is sped up in it, presumably because it’s the single version. I was loathe to include it here, because I prefer the album version, which takes its time.
/HC
Phantogram – When I’m small
New Your hipsters Phantogram were favourites of mine from last year, with their track Don’t Move being a particular highlight and making it into my Top 30 tracks of 2011.
I really like this too, it is simple, elegant and hypnotic. A pretty powerful combination.
So I am back in my old ‘hood London for a few days. Looking forward to catching up with a few of my old buddies.
/RjK
LV* – Work featuring Spoek Mathambo (NAT)
Shlohmo – Rained the whole time
LA DJ Shlohmo has been a fairly recent discovery for me but I certainly like what I have heard. His washed out sound is a perfect, mellow way to end a hectic Monday. Also, the title of this track is particularly apt given the downpour of biblical proportions earlier today in Dublin.
/RjK