Blog Archives
All Through The Night (Cyndi Lauper)
Ethereal electro-pop is a fairly loose term being bandied about at the moment. The resurgence of this reincarnation of early 80s synthesiser music has arguably been spear-headed by the Winding Refn film Drive. On this soundtrack, Refn invited Cliff Martinez to revisit the score he produced for the 1989 Steven Soderburgh film Sex, Lies, and Videotape. However, the sound emanating from Martinez‘ work goes back almost another decade: which brings us to All Through The Night. This song was written by Jules Shear -a modest 80s music producer that is also credited with the creation of the MTV Unplugged series. He wrote All Through The Night for The Cars and although they recorded the folk ballad, they did not release it on their Heartbeat City album, nor as a B-side on their Drive single. Shear, however, did his own recording and released the song on his 1983 solo album Watch Dog. The next year, following a failed collaborative effort between Lauper and Shear, Lauper decided she would record an unrevised cover of the song. During the recording sessions at NYC‘s Record Plant the track began to take on a new form and was completed in a style that epitomises the early 80s synth ballads which, as mentioned, seem to be experiencing a revival of late. Have a listen to this live version from 1984:
Circle Jerk
Do you consider 5.1 surround the real sound? No way that you would in comparing it to the Circle Jerk audio-visual bonanza that‘s coming your way.
This gig involves 100 speakers; all calibrated to immerse the spectator in an epic aural assault that will mesmerise & seduce, offend & embellish: with 5 huges rooms spanning the most of Revolt, a tailored warehouse venue in Kensington, get ready for the Circle Jerk (presented by the What Is Music? Festival). Featuring a cavacade of Sound and Media Art works, Live digital art, and Performance pieces; it is truly an event for the senses. At once you will find yourself surrounded by sounds and visuals -venture to any of the performance areas: there‘s the chilled Screening Room with Media Art installations conversing with Short Film and Video Art, the Ballroom with Live ensembles that will thrash through and manipulate sound as you‘ve never experienced. Dash into the Side Room to check a live performance piece, or make your way down to The Dock where gigs by the likes of Wrong Room will be splitting sound into the 4th dimension. Tickets just $12 (Con.) and $15 Full -totally worth it! Saturday, 10th December at Revolt, 12 Elizabeth St. Kensington (Metro Station is Macauley).
The Warriors
Californian hardcore group The Warriors have been making some of the most aggressive music of the last 9 years, and yet they seem to remain one of the most under-rated bands of the genre. Since their inception in 2002, the band‘s lyrical and sonic maturity is evident in the fact Marshall Lichtenwaldt‘s voice has seen significant changes between the groups‘ early, raw material to their current sound.
Combining the poetry of Rap-influenced lyricism and crushing metal-influenced riffs, The Warriors create a sound that will have you both engrossed and wanting to throw fists. The passion and aggression bleeding from each track is reminiscent of bands such as Rage Against The Machine that explore themes of social injustice and despair. These guys have largely remained under the surface through numerous record label and band member changes, and their varied progression in sound.
Listen to ‘Set The Stage‘ from their 2004 EP War Is Hell (Redux) below:
‘Monk Ey
This is one of the fresh, hip-to-the-game, young tings runnin‘ tings in Mexico City. ‘Monk Ey recently featured in Mexico‘s Street: Active Lifestyle magazine, mapping out his musical and contemporary cultural endeavours. He has achieved notoriety as the founder of Square Root Of Pi, known officially as √π and along with the Pi posse, they‘re lording it over the underground scene in Mexico.
I caught up with the mad monk in between his DJ gigs and the cutting edge live band, hip-hop and electronic music ensembles that √π is renowned for:
INFX: What kind of tunes are you working into your DJ sets at the moment?
‘Monk Ey: Old Chicago House, House, Disco, Acid And Techno, Basically.
INFX: What do you make of the club scene in Mexico City, And how do you fit in?
‘Monk Ey: It‘s Kinda Bizarre. It‘s Not Merged, It‘s Not United, It‘s Not Going Anywhere. Most Of It Are Playing The Same Tracks (Psycho Dubstep @ 160 BPM), It Sucks. It‘s Difficult To Push The People To Other Style Of Music. Some People Love My Sets, Others Hate Them. 120-130 BPM That, For Me, It‘s The Best.
INFX: Seems like they prefer the Happy Hardcore - When was the last time you dropped Acid in a club?
‘Monk Ey: Actually, A Month Ago. The Results… Everybody Loves It, Nobody Knows It For Real. When I Play Acid It‘s When The People Go Nuts Dancing And Screaming Like There Is No Tomorrow, But They Aren‘t Aware Of It. It‘s Like Acid Is A Party-Only Music.
INFX: It‘s a fucken party alright. Finally, though, tell me: Do you know of any mad real cocktail recipes?
‘Monk Ey: Indeed, I Do! A Friend Told Me About “Mascara De Gas“, Or In English, “Gas Mask“. It‘s A Drink With Vodka, Whiskey, Tequila And Fire. They Mix Up All, Put Flames On It And, Keep The Gas In A Glass Upside Down, You Take The Shot And Then, You Breathe All The Gas On The Glass, Then… You‘re All Dizzy. Ha!
Well, no doubt my man ‘Monk Ey will be busy gettin‘ dizzy all weekend. Big Up‘s to the monk, and stayed tuned for an upcoming exposé on the √π crew. Meanwhile, here‘s a sneak peek of ‘Monk Ey and the team in action:
The Process
A dreary mode of New Wave courts 80s Australian Rock with a lashing of Contemporary Pop.
Thus describes but one facet of The Process: an inspiring local talent that takes refuge in its curious sound. Sashaying between permeating chords, percolating drum beats, and aching vocals we are taken on a sonorous journey that feels uncomfortably detached; while lusciously immersive, all at once. “Ephemeral” vocalist and current guitarist Saxon Jorgensen so describes their sound. I must agree; but contrarily, this transitory and oblivious sound structure will confound in its complexity and absolution of musical mores. Personally, I feel that this is demonstrated amicably in tracks All Eyes, The Void and Before The Storm.
Following on from successful gigs at popular band halls including Roxanne Parlour & The Evelyn, The Process next week appear at the utterly remarkable Montsalvat. Amidst the French Provincial splendour, The Process will indeed grace and garble their way across the stage at this notorious estate -arguably the home of modern Australian art, and host to the Rolling Stones in 1973. But enough blather! Listen for yourself:
The Process @ Montsalvat, Eltham: Saturday May 14th from 7pm.
montsalvat.com.au
Music Nerdism Part 2
“Kill the Emos“
Today you can argue that one can still get this music per subscription to extra channels of cable or get that satellite radio crap, but really, what has happened is that music itself has been commodified and packaged where the music industry, not the artists themselves, say who you get to hear and what you should like. If you have money, you can afford to hear subcultural resonance, if you don‘t– HELLO KESHA! Commercialism and tin foil hats aside, we are getting gypped. (Don’t even get me started on small-town DJs).
Today‘s vacuous and post-apocalyptic landscape of reality television and the public‘s fascination with media whores of all calibres has eroded the fabric of entertainment as we used to know it. Now if you display any sort of “insider” knowledge on the next cool thing, you are a hipster. The negative connotations of such need not be emphasised in this piece of writing. Why bother? I have already heard what the mainstream has to say about it. The fact of the matter is this: we are an ignorant species despite our “civilised” demeanor. The more knowledge the average person does not know about something, the more one rejects it. It‘s better to throw rocks and scream like a monkey at the fire that burns rather than learn what it can do for you.
If you follow my metaphor you will see that what I really mean is that music and art are the provocateurs of critical insight. Our lives, our governments, our society as a whole; depend on the willingness to question what others tell us. To demonise something like one‘s taste for music that is “cooler than the shit you listen to“ is to play into the mob mentality mindset.
This can go awry in terrible ways. Emo kids in Mexico still get the crap beaten out of them for being douchey little emo kids. It‘s a problem that any Telenovela (Spanish Soap Opera) is not afraid to have a “serious dialogue” about. I kid you of course, but I did see an episode where a tearful mother asked her daughter if it was really true, “Eres..Emo?” (Are you Emo?)
-DJ Moshi Moshi
Imogen Heap
Matters of the heart have never been easy subject matter for me. When a conversation about the heart surfaces, I will only have two kinds of opine: positive or negative.
As a music junkie, I always have my soundtrack for things: be it good things or bad in my life. Music will always be supreme in expressing one’s feeling and it’s so close to real life; a composition will connect with one’s heart no matter what. I won’t talk about songs that may represent the good things; here is a lovely song that I’d love to hear thousand times when I’m in a bad state of mind.
I love this song a lot, it reflects the condition of this chaotic heart of mine.
Pain on pain on play, repeating
With the backup makeshift life in waitingEverybody says that time heals everything
But what if the wretched hollow, the endless in-between ?
Are we just going to wait it out
I heard this song for the first time during Imogen’s Live concert in Jakarta. Imogen Heap, as a well-talented singer, is really successful in singing this bitter song in a really wonderful way.
The concert was just amazing. All songs were performed in a strong and stable voice. She also did a good job binding the emotional feeling between the songs and the crowd. I can only sum up the concert in one word: fantastic. Previously, Imogen joined a British electronic music duo named Frou Frou and a multi-cultural British experimental pop band named Acacia. In her solo career, Imogen specialises in heavily produced and arranged singer-songwriter pop -incorporating elements of rock, dance and electronica. She’s famous for her skills in using manipulated electronic sounds. She performs all of her songs in a unique way; she sometimes tries to mix ambient sounds into her music. No wonder that she was nominated for two Grammy Awards in 2006 and also recieved 2 Grammy nominations -winning Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical for her latest solo album in 2009′s Ellipse. When it comes to Imogen, it’s always magic.
-Blommer22
Phoenix
Howdy,
Weekend, as in here, will be started tomorrow. A time to forget a series of unfortunate events of my daily life which in short term can be called “work“.
Music is one of the perfect runaways for me to release myself from my daily life boredom. No particular music in my playlist, even. Yes…I do separate it into several types of playlists; depends on its genre. Nothing can describe one’s mood better than music, this including me.
I got a suggestion a while ago to check on a song by Phoenix with the title If I ever feel better. I can say that I love this a lot. This song gives a real perfect relaxing ambience. I can dream of myself listening to this song in a real fancy lounge with few friends, cocktails and small dances around.
Taken from a source, it states that Phoenix is a French band which draws elements from an eclectic ’80s upbringing to arrive at their rock-synth sound. Love how the smooth vocal of Thomas Mars blends with synth. What a perfect fusion! Drown by the flow of the music, can’t stop playing it on and on.
Not mentioning how beautiful the lyrics are, which makes all the bitterness seems not so bitter. Sweet….!!
If I ever feel better
Remind me to spend some good time with you
You can give me your number
When it’s all over I’ll let you know
Dance, dance and dance ’til fade. Well, I guess my weekend is starting now…
-Blommer22
Two Door Cinema Club
I’m sat here listening to this disc; the latest offering from French powerhouse label Kitsuné. I picked up this release a few days ago and am quite glad I’d held off listening to it until I was in such a mood as I am in now.
Thus, the record is quite good; if but a tad heavily produced. The album; Tourist History opens with track Cigarettes In The Theatre, which strikes as a somewhat upbeat tune -jovial and easy to digest, melodic while establishing a sound of the European summer in the vein of a Killers or early Franz Ferdinand B-side. Tracks 3 & 4 move through with a charm of melancholic repetition that is to be admired; admonishing earlier typecasting mentioned for Track 1. The sound digresses with the cruisiness that is Something Good Can Work; however the songs continue to wind up when one is just beginning to immerse oneself in its quaint yet rhythmic beauty.
The standout tracks are reluctantly Cigarettes, I Can Talk, Eat Up and Something Good -insomuch as this is an album that demonstrates an excellent continuity and is quite certain to further impress on repeated visits. Hear it for yourself, perhaps?
-Rock The Boat
Faith No More – Melbourne 2010
Right! Just got in…
A fine show. Certainly, the prelude of Andy Kaufmann alter-ego inspired babble proved a continuous farce; but the set list was spot on.
I was inclined, though to flirt with the idea of a down-tempo approach to this live outing and the subsequent adherence to fans and their mode of life. Actually, to be honest these ideas made me think of the Rolling Stones playing ballads to geriatrics. Fear not though! That isn’t to define the quality of songs and performance, in toto.
Personally, I vied to hear ‘Crack Hitler’ but without which the bulk of songs from King For A Day and prior releases certainly satisfied. On lesser thoughts however, it’s Tony Clifton’s said invocation that may well play into Patton’s seemingly endless entertainment satire. Well done!
-Rock The Boat
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