Two New (Old) Mixes To Massage Your Brain!

While traveling I usually somehow am able to pop out a mix during the down time at chill out spots I find on the road.  This year I was able to pop out two, but only because one of them is an older mix I ended up remastering and cutting a track out of just so I could get it past Soundcloud’s psychotic ‘Automatic Content Protection System’.  The first mix, which is the new one, is something I’ve wanted to do for a while, but hadn’t quite figured out how to go about it quite yet, until this trip.  This new mix came in handy over and over on 10 hour bus rides through Indonesia and Malaysia this year!

I’ve wanted to do a mix of Phish songs for a while, but was never really sure how as the band does this themselves every time they play, and much better than I could do DJing their live tracks; plus this could never be done as there is just too much awesome to choose from. There’s also a lot of songs the band just doesn’t really play as often in a live setting that I absolutely love that are on the chiller, more acoustic side of Phish. So in that thought process I thought, ‘Why not make a downtempo Phish mix?’

What you have here is just over 2 hours of Phish songs, solely from the LP’s and one EP – all studio recordings. I tried to fit something in from each one of the LP’s and sadly ‘Round Room’ just didn’t produce anything for me personally for this setting, even though we all know when played live those songs are incredible! The songs within were carefully chosen as my favorite beautiful, more melancholy, and softer sounding tracks; with a few oddballs in there to mix things up a bit. There is no jamming, no noodling, and no whale calls or signaling aliens here. This is the relaxed side of Phish. To me this is some of the of the most beautiful music the band has ever released, and so I’m celebrating it here.

Some of you will love this, some of you will loathe it – BUT for those of you who think Phish is only about the jams and the guitar masturbation, I urge you to check this out – I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how calm the band gets.  You can even almost fall asleep to this!

::: Slow Enough For You? :::

Bliss > Billy Breathes (Billy Breathes – 1996)
Eliza (A Picture of Nectar – 1992)
Mist (Farmhouse – 2000)
Train Song (Billy Breathes – 1996)
Catapult (A Picture of Nectar – 1992)
Strange Design (Free EP – 1996)
Horn (Rift – 1993)
The Oh Kee Pa Ceremony (Lawn Boy – 1990)
Wingsuit (Fuego – 2014)
What’s The Use (The Siket Disc – 1999)
Length > Horse > Silent (Rift – 1993)
Lifeboy (Hoist – 1994)
Farmhouse (Farmhouse – 2000)
I Been Around (Joy – 2009)
Manteca (A Picture of Nectar – 1992)
Winterqueen (Fuego – 2014)
Driver (Farmhouse – 2000)
Waste (Billy Breathes – 1996)
Scents And Subtle Sounds #1 (Undermind – 2004)
Fast Enough For You (Rift – 1993)
Talk (Billy Breathes – 1996)
The Inlaw Joise Wales (Farmhouse – 2000)
Roggae > Wading (The Story of the Ghost – 1998)
Swept Away > Steep (Billy Breathes – 1996)
Faht (A Picture of Nectar – 1992)
Brian and Robert (The Story of the Ghost – 1998)
Dirt (Farmhouse – 2000)
Dog Faced Boy (Hoist – 1994)
Secret Smile (Undermind – 2004)
Bug (Farmhouse – 2000)
Army Of One (Undermind – 2004)
Cars Trucks Busses (Billy Breathes – 1996)
Sleep (Farmhouse – 2000)
Grind (Undermind – 2004)

Unfortunately due to this entire mix being songs that were put out by Elektra Records, I had to find not the best site that would actually intake the mix without rejecting it due to ‘Content Violations’.  You can stream the mix with annoying banter every so often without creating an account, or you can download it by creating an account.  You can do that at this link:
http://www.mix.dj/video/4786125/slow-enough-for-you/

I’ve also made it easier to download in case you don’t want to sign up for a Mix.Dj account (which I don’t blame you).  Here is that download link via Dropbox:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/tyyhkwnww0x89o1/Sirius%20Sanuk%20-%20Slow%20Enough%20For%20You%3F%20%28A%20Phish%20Mix%29.mp3?dl=0

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Nival Sapien Adoration was recorded January 1st, 2009 at the Ashworthian Pantheon, Seattle using a Pioneer 500, two Technics 1200’s, one Pioneer CDj 800-MK2, and one Technics SL-DZ1200.  It was mixed within the walls of hibernation during the last days of 2008, and recorded on the first day of 2009.  By sadly removing the gorgeous Sigur Ros song from the beginning of the mix, I was able to sneak it onto Soundcloud finally.  I also remastered it to bump up and clean out the levels a bit.

:Tracklisting:

Arovane : Tomorrow Morning/Seaside : City Center Offices : 2000
Amorphous Androgynous : Mountain Goat : Astralwerks : 1993
Adam Johnson : Trinity : Merck : 2003
Tycho : From Home : Merck : 2006
Proem : Place Gun To Head : Merck : 2004
Lackluster : Cull Streak : defocus : 1999/2000
Telefon Tel Aviv : Your Face Reminds Me Of When I Was Old : Hefty Records : 2001
The Album Leaf : Brennivin : Acuarela Discos : 2003
Deru : Soulik (Lusine Remix) : Delikatessen Records : 2004
Lusine : Auto Pilot : Ghostly International : 2004
Playing With Knobs : Slowbird : audiblebicycleday : 2008 (SEATTLE!)
Gel-Sol : Unifactor : Upstairs Recordings : 2007 (SEATTLE!)
Osiris Indriya : Gifted : No Label/Entheogenetic Label Group : Unreleased/2007 (SEATTLE!)

You can download and/or stream Nival Sapien Adoration here:
https://soundcloud.com/skoisirius/nival-sapien-adoration-2015-rmstr

Really hope you enjoy one or both of these!

Much love.

~SS~
soundcloud.com/skoisirius
twitter.com/skoisirius

A New Mix: Filthy Shed Seshions I

Well, well, well.  What started as a filthy, dirty, and grimey mix last year while I was living in a shed became a filthy, dirty, and kind of grimey epic mix spanning across the deeper side the real deal dubstep – at 140bpm of course.  What was interesting about this one is that the 25 minutes or so that started the whole basis of this mix didn’t actually end up making the cut in the finish, which had never happened to me before.  Really fun to watch these things change and morph as you play with different tracks and figuring out the puzzle of how they will eventually fit together.  Regardless, what this means however is that ‘Filthy Shed Seshions II’ will be birthed at some point – hopefully not too far into the future.

Really stoked on this one.  With everything from your classic Kryptic Minds sound to the futuristic genre pushing Goth-Trad to the newer Deadbeat (140 Deadbeat?!  Yes please!) to the Latin grooves of Mala to some Radiohead sampling iTAL tEK, this one is sure to keep you moving until the finish line where it eventually chills itself out.  Sit back, turn up the bass, and enjoy!

Downloadable here: https://soundcloud.com/skoisirius/filthy-shed-seshions-i

::: TRACKLISTING :::

Dusk + Blackdown – Drenched
Godspeed You Black Emperor! – The Dead Flag Blues
Dusk + Blackdown – (Keysound Rain)
Kryptic Minds – Hybrid (Biome Remix)
Biome – Two Way
Killawatt & Thelem – Kaba
Kryptic Minds – To Feel
Gantz – Cave Dance
Pinch & Shackleton – Torn & Submerged
Dusk + Blackdown – Iqbal’s Groove
Formless – Hidden Realm
Gantz – Choke
Pangaea – Neurons
DJ Madd – Secrets
Headhunter – Clone
Goth-Trad – Departure
Deadbeat – The Elephant In The Pool
Kryptic Minds – Askum
Biome – First Light
Mala – Calle F
Vancore – Who Am I
Oceania – Grow Wild
Vaun – Listen
iTAL tEK – Deep Pools
Kryptic Minds – Time Flies
Hyetal – Black Black Black
Vaccine – Anaesthetic

RūdElgin Drops A New Heavy Hitter: RūdE Moods Vol 2

Well well well…it’s been way too long since any info has been pushed through this blogspace…once again.  On that note, here’s a quick lick of information regarding so BASS.  And some heavy BASS at that.

The old homie Elgin Hakala just dropped a new heavy hitting dubstep mix of the most excellent kind.  Deep, dark, agressive, and airy, completely with not a lick of cheesey Americanized falsestep whatsoever.  Having not heard a mix from Elgin in a while, I was extremely excited to see him toss out a mix of the exact same type of true grimey dubstep that I’ve been into for the past couple years.

With an incredible tracklist mixed to keep your body in the groove, this one will be loved by anyone into the deeper side of the step…fans of Kryptic Minds, Biome, DJ Madd, Truth, Versa & Rowl, Osiris Music, Deep Heads, etc will absolutely love this business.  GET IT.

Lights down, heads up, this one’s a percy and it’s for download at Elgin’s Soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/rudelgin/rudemoodsvol2

Spaciously Heavy New Album From Portland’s Natasha Kmeto!

On a random whim today I heard about a brand new album release from an artist I’ve heard a bit from, seen a few times, and met once or twice: Natasha Kmeto.  I first heard about Natasha through a series of events from Live’n’Love Productions up in Seattle, run by an old homie, Kyle.  Somehow Kyle had stumbled across her (as she’s from Portland, OR), and started booking her at random L’n’L events.  Believe I eventually saw her at one of the Photosynthesis Festivals of years past, and I remember being fairly stoked at how avant-garde the approach was to her own music.  I’ve since moved to the middle of no where California, and only heard a tiny snippets about her, here and there, until today.

It’s not often I toss down $10 for a 30-minute album without having heard most of it, but knowing she’s in the extended Fam, I went for it – and I’m quite happy I did.  The album starts out with the title track ‘Crisis‘, potentially my favorite off the album after a few listens.  Synth heavy and semi-retro sounding, her gut-wrenching vocal pulses wash over you as a very minimal trap beat exercises itself beneath all the other layers.  If all trap sounded like this, I’d listen to a lot more of it.  The album progresses into ‘Idiot Proof‘ which brings to the table a more vocal oriented track, letting everyone know that she ‘needs peace from all the things she’s supposed to be’.  Not knowing Natasha well enough, I’m not exactly sure what she’s talking about, but she gets the point across easily in minor chords with a very distant house beat in the background, surrounded by heavily arpeggiated synths.

The album is very mature, spacing out the tracks where her voice is the focal point, with many tracks consisting of clever vocal layers without any real singing in between.  I rather enjoy when someone who does get into vocals, uses them in this way, so that the entire album isn’t dominated with literary opinion, allowing other tracks to emotionally speak for themselves, without getting the ego involved.  ‘Take Out‘ is another vocal heavy house oriented track that has a very spaced out 80’s synth-wavey atmosphere, again, politely spacious – making it is quite obvious that Natasha truly knows how to make sure her sound voids are never messy.  Though it seems strange to admit, the album really has a dark and futuristic R&B setting going on throughout, which turns out to be quite rather brilliant.  I can’t really say it sounds like much else I’ve heard, even lately.

Overall, the spaciousness, the darker tones, and the very minimal usage of many points in electronic music make this album quite a solid output in my book.  My one complaint – it’s just too short!  Multiple of these tracks have me going strong at about two and a half minutes, and then they’re done!  I’ve never understood why certain artists love to build people up, just to drop them…Mount Kimbie and Odesza are a few others to name randomly – the builds are there, it crescendos, and finishes.  Personally I enjoy more time inside these fantastic spaces created by the artists.  That said, it’s not my music, and Natasha has created a short, but incredibly solid LP here.  Highly recommended!

More info on Natasha and the link to purchase the album (on tape for $7 if you’d like!) below:

http://www.natashakmeto.com/
http://droppinggems.bandcamp.com/album/crisis

Excellent News: A New Machinedrum LP On NINJA TUNE Is On The Way.

STOKE.  Checked my What.CD Top10 List before bed, and what did I see?  A new Machinedrum single?!  Well that’s about as good as it gets these days in the more progressive side of bass music as far as I’m concerned.  After “Room(s)“, his last major output in 2011 for Mike Paradinas’ Planet Mu, I become completely infatuated with Travis Stewart’s Machinedrum moniker all over again (as I had once before in the Merck Records days).  “Room(s)” took a look at current bass music rooting itself in juke, and spashed elements of breakbeat, jungle, drum&bass, house, and dubstep all over itself.  There’s even a gorgeous pure ambient track to finish the album out – I’d honestly never heard anything like it!  The album got me into the whole juke/footwork sound, along with expanding my palate as a whole, surrounding my intellect with just where bass music was and could be headed at that point in time.

Back on track – so to see this new single pop up, and listed as being released on Ninja Tune (only one of the best labels of the past twenty years), you could pretty much say I had a minor freak out.  Downloaded it right quick, popped my Sennheiser’s on, and let myself bask in more glory.

Immediately something is different comparatively speaking against “Room(s)“.  The tempo is all the way up at 172bpm!  We could be looking at a drum&bass track here, but no, as the track unfolds, pitch-shifted vocal edits (most likely Travis himself as on “Room(s)“), and a very broken kick drum open the track up.  About two-plus minutes in, it fully let’s itself go into a whirling drum&bass backed juke oriented head bobber.  The drum work is excellent, of course.  Politely layered and spaced well, hi-hats and snare rolls float on top of the jukey kick drum.  The new speed doesn’t muck up at all where he has been on the last album.  After a solid minute of getting hit hard, the track breaks down into a beautiful and spacious forty seconds of bliss before dropping the broken juke oriented kick drum all over your ears again.  These broken parts I can see dancefloors having an interesting time with, but when he really lets the track go, it really is clearly made for some serious breakbeat style dancing – whatever your pleasure.

Suffice to say, I am extremely excited for this release – “Room(s)” was in my Top 3 of 2011, and I could place a safe bet that this may make that same list for 2013.  Here’s the track on Youtube for ya:

A 66Psych Fest Experience by Sam Love

Sound Blast

This year’s Austin Psych Fest helped me envision the future of music festivals and what psychedelic music is bringing to the fields. Some of my favorite anticipated acts were Om, The Warlocks, Clinic, and Acid Mothers Temple. I’ve chosen to only highlight a few of the distinctive bands that my mind absorbed and swirled around to. The Black Angels, Deerhunter, and a newly discovered favorite of mine, Man or Astroman?

Last year at Emo’s, I cut out early during The Black Angels‘ set to catch Peaking Lights, so I really wanted to be there for their Sunday performance. I absolutely love this band; I feel I owe it to them for cracking my eyes to an entire genre of heady rock music today, mostly by way of Psych Fest. They made magic on Sunday night. They opened with “Vikings” off of Directions To See A Ghost which was super…

View original post 608 more words

A coherent transmission from the Realm of Boards of Canada…FINALLY, as it’s only been eight years!

Well, well, well.  Looks like all the tricks in the past few months have finally, and truly, led up to something!  This evening on BBC Radio, the first ‘single’ (funny saying that about something BoC releated) off of the new Boards of Canada album was officially released over the air.  This subsequently spawned a load of Tweets and Blogging from anyone and everyone paying attention including, but not limited to: XLR8R, Helios, Warp Records (duh), Richard Devine, Tycho, Bleep (duh), Detroit Underground, AND even Boards of Canada themselves (who all of a sudden have a Twitter account with around 16,000 followers and growing, which you can find that account here: https://twitter.com/boctransmission.

Along with the announcement comes the ability to purchase the single digitally from Bleep, which can be done here: https://bleep.com/release/44127-boards-of-canada-reach-for-the-dead .  NOTE:  If you pre-order the album in either format (Vinyl or CD) you will instantaneously get a download of an MP3 of ‘Reach For The Dead’.

Even further, and more exciting, was the drop of an HD video of your usual nostalgic visuals to accompany the new track on BoC’s official webpage: http://boardsofcanada.com/.

Though, since I love you all, here is the video, embedded, so you don’t even have to think about clicking away from TravelsAndTuness:

The track itself…how is it?!  It’s Boards of Canada.  I mean, I’ve only heard it a few times now, so I’m not going to spout out some random nonsense of an opinion after hearing this so recently.  Something I’ve had to learn over and over with new music I’m excited about is simply to not expect anything!  Let it flow over you, and form an opinion later!  That said, the track is very moody (surprise?!), has a bit more crispness to it on the drums then many BoC tracks I’ve heard, and is full on deep in synth (surprise?!), riding throughout almost the entire five minutes.  It’s fantastic.  It’s Boards of Canada.  There’s a whole album coming out we can all process and think too much about very soon…in about two weeks!

This is where I would normally say: WINNING!

Four Tet Randomly Drops New LP of Old Material!

Four Tet Randomly Drops New LP of Old Material!

WOW.  If you’re a music lover in the electronica or jazz world and don’t know Four Tet already, then, this is a great place to start!  For everyone else that hasn’t been hiding under a rock for the past 20 years or so, THERE IS A NEW FOUR TET RELEASE!

Apparently this is all material written from 1997 – 2001 or so, meaning – more tunes that sound like ‘Rounds’ (which is hands down, one of the best pieces of contemporary music to date)!

It’s currently available for a FREE DOWNLOAD on his Soundcloud ( https://soundcloud.com/four-tet/0181-1 ), so get on over to it and soak in the bliss!

Injoy!

Music for the Ear…as of late. The Third.

August 15th, 2012

What what.  Seems I can’t keep up with myself on these.  Ah well, been busy!  In the headphones and on the Mackie’s…noise, psych-rock, some steppin’ thing called chillstep…it’s all over the place As of Late.

: Speck :
: Harmonia : Echotourist : 2012 :
~ ambient, drone, noise, experimental, modern.classical ~

Over the top excitement on this one!  I’m currently on some sort of third or fourth listen of this new album from who seems to be a fairly new artist, Speck.  I am utterly floored.  Inside of ‘Find Me, Find Me’ I am completely lost, yet drifting in a sense of my own dismay, and enjoying it!  The distortion on the guitars throughout this album is not for the faint of heart – Speck requires all of your attention and will to hold on.  Moments of intensity almost unbearable at times will float right into pockets of beauty, often lead by a grand piano, or maybe a harp.  Breathtaking.  Very remniscent of Christian Fennesz’s various works, yet even drier on the noise sections of the pieces.  I am taken aback by how well put together this entire 41 minutes are.  The two ‘Harmonia (Hymn)’s are particularly standout, although the length of the album really runs together as one piece quite smoothly.  Through the pieces lush riffs of melancholy vibrations lurk in the foreground, while pieces of what may be Speck’s life come twirling out at you in random patterns, making for a very disorienting ride…ride the waves of static, if you will.  I’d never heard of the new Echotourist label before, but I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on them.  If you’re a fan of noise, drone, field recordings, or of course, all three – this is not to be missed.

Catch free downloads from Echotourist at their Bandcamp page: http://echotourist.bandcamp.com/

: The Black Angels :
: Passover / Directions To See A Ghost : Light In The Attic : 2006 / 2008 :
~ psychedelic.rock, garage.rock ~

What can be said about The Black Angels?  They are by far one of my favorite active bands of the time.  I was introduced to them through a friend and was instantaneously sucked into their swirling tribal spiral.  The on-point repetitive drumming through many of the tracks add an element of hypnosis, pulling you in even deeper to the realm of the late 60’s and early 70’s guitar heavy era.  Groovy at times, if you will.  Guitarist Christian Bland’s guitar lines are wet with pedals as can be, continuously.  Flange, distortion, echo, and more…classic elements sounding fresh and inviting to your ears.  Alex Maas’s vocals are soothing to the ears, pulling feelings of Morrison through your brain again.  I had the pleasure of seeing them live (finally) this year in their hometown of Austin, Texas during their annual festival the Austin Psych Fest.  Four days of 8-10 hours of non-stop rock music bliss.  Their set was definitely a highlight out of the 50+ bands.  While the group now has three full length’s, the first two are just enough in a different direction to really hold them in a special place in my heart.  I will continue to follow this incredible project until they quit or disband, and know I will listen to these albums over and over for years to come!

: Stumbleine :
~ chillstep, chillwave, lo.fi, electronic, shoegaze ~

Alright, think of taking a bit of Burial, Baths, My Bloody Valentine, Boards of Canada, Shigeto, and maybe even a bit of newer BT, smashing them all together seamlessly, and rather politely.  That is the best way formulated to describe the sound heard from this project.  Almost 40 tracks I’ve gone through from Stumbleine now and I’m sucked in every time.  This could easily the closest sounding to what may be true chillstep.  Lush fields of nostalgia and new found love right after you lost a love are all around you.  Bask in it, if you will.  ‘Glacier’ from The Night Before is quite possibly the most listened to selection at the current moment.  The soft echoing vocal calls you into the state of mind being spoken to you throughout this uplifting three minutes and forty four seconds of pure joy.  Catchy popped riffs elegantly executed on top of the triple-clapped, crunched, and extremely wet snares; a style that has been becoming more and more of a standard within certain brands of subgenres of dubstep.  Not much information has come out so far about Stumbleine.  I honestly couldn’t find much intel out there in the good old World Wide Web besides the facts that the project is from the UK, joined Crackbook on 12/14/2010, and has a ton of music on their Soundcloud for you to fall in love with.

: Sensiva :
: Giosun : Sensotech : 2005 :
~ downtempo, idm, ambient, pre-glitch ~

This has to be one of the most amazing albums of it’s kind.  Every time I listen to it, which is somehow not more often, I am taken aback by mesmerizing beauty unfolding in my ears.  Each track is carefully gliding right through your senses, filling them with another land, not far off, but just within reach over the horizon.  The weather is beautiful, if you will.  Being the only release on Sensotech, Russian Artem Galukhin (Артём Галухин) delivers a true masterpiece, one even the brothers of Boards of Canada, whom it seems to be partially inspired by, would appreciate.  The pieces are synth haunting heavy throughout, yet always reminding you at all times how beautiful life actually can be (and is).  Multi-layered drum sections allow you to gently ride the river down this immense drone filled cavern.  Unfortunately Sensiva hasn’t been heard from in years at this point, but one can always hope that more material may surface someday.  Definitely can sense this one being a favorite for many many years to come.

Phish
~ rock, jam.band, folk, space jazz ~

This may surprise some of you to read this.  Well, be surprised, be very surprised.  I absolutely LOVE Phish.  My first girlfriend ever introduced them to me through the “A Live One” live CD on Elektra back in 1996 or so.  Since then I’ve had my waves of going in and out of listening to them non-stop, and this summer has been one of those IN times.  Massively addicted with no end in sight, if you will.  Along with the incredible collection of live shows that what.CD has to offer, and working outside (Phish goes great with the outside, don’t ya know?), there has been “way too much” Phish going on around the property according to my roomie.  Beyond that I will say nothing, but I will list off a few of the selections I’m listening to on repeat lately:

Hampton Comes Alive – Wading In The Velvet Sea, Sabotage (Beastie Boys), Mike’s Song
“A Live One”: Gumbo, The Squirming Coil
2012/07/01, East Troy, WI: Gotta Jibboo, No Quarter (Led Zeppelin), Farmhouse, Happiness Is A Warm Gun (The Beatles)
2012/07/08, Saratoga Springs, NY: Foam, David Bowie, You Enjoy Myself
July 4th, 2010, Alpharetta, GA: This set is over the top!  Bowie, Jibboo, Ghost>Waste, and a Mike’s Groove with Mike’s Song>Tela>Harpua>KILLING IN THE NAME OF (Rage Against The Machine)>Harpua>Weekapaug Groove.  Encore with First Tube.  Incredible show!!
Field of Heaven, Fuji Rock Festival, July 31, 1999 – Niigata, Japan: 2001

Wen
: Unreleased/Soundcloud :
~ post.dubstep, minimal, 130bpm, bass.music ~

Glorious.  Stumbled across this thickness through a good old friend of mine who knows more about the true sounds of dubstep as a whole more than anyone I know.  He sent me over to his Soundcloud page, and the evening I decided to check it out, I ended listening to everything he has posted up, possibly multiple times.  Extremely minimal, lush, subtle, cleanly dirty, and at a different than normal speed than most songs in what’s subgenre.  Some of the best dubstep I’ve really…ever heard!  Reminiscent of Kryptic Minds’s extremely clean yet spacious sounds, yet bringing in more of a light tough of Eastern influence instead of locking you away in the basement the whole time.  Completely blown away.  Wen has no official releases yet, but the mind’s behind Dusk + Blackdown seem to be keen on the youngster, with rumors of some output on their Keysound Recordings.  We can only hope.  Until then I will continue to soak in whatever he puts up on Soundcloud, which by the way is at this link: http://soundcloud.com/w3n/tracks  Excited to see what the future hold’s for this newcomer!

Badaboom.  ‘Till next time.

~S~

Music for the Ear…as of late. The Second.

June 29th, 2012

Music, music, music, Life, music, music, MUSIC!  It doesn’t stop.  Overload the ears, but be nice to them with a safe listening volume.  Brain swell.  Incredible.  Little mix of old and new on the ear drum As Of Late:

: Meshuggah :
: Catch Thirtythree : Nuclear Blast : 2005 :
~ metal, progressive.rock, doom 

Pure, unfiltered, and in your face.  Sweden’s Meshuggah step up their game quite a bit here with the experimental 47 minute opus “Catch Thirtythree“.  The band’s 5th album, and only piece of this nature to this date, has always been quite the difficult listen – but can be extremely rewarding beneath the heavy and more often than not darker undertones of the piece.  Stepping into a more texturous flow inside themselves, layers and layers of guitars come whirling out at you, with electronically sequenced samples of the drummer (in place of the drummer physically playing the kit) for the first time in the band’s career.  Jazz elements present themselves at times.  The album is lyrically said to float through specific paradoxes, hence the title “Catch Thirtythree“ (as in the phrase ‘catch twenty-two‘).  Complete with an intermission or sorts during ‘In Death – Is Death’, this is the one space on the album where everything isn’t driving at full speed metal ahead.  After death or course is an awakening, and you’ll definitely find one if you’re able to push through this opus.

: BT :
: If The Stars Are Eternal So Are You And I : Laptop Symphony : 2012 :
~ ambient, glitch, experimental, modern.classical ~

BT.  The man has simply been all over the place with his music, and all over the world because of it.  I used to see him back at NAF Studios, full on rave status Dj, blowing up trance like there would never be an end to that style of synth line (is there yet??).  He’s made dance music, soundtracked, and he’s also put out some extremely beautiful experimental works.  2006 brought the first of these more experimental works, “This Binary Universe“.  I’d never listened to BT‘s music on the regular until that point, but that album, along with the incredible video work from LA’s Scott Pagano, one of my favorite visual artist’s, had me as a quick convert.  “ITSAESAYAI” is said to be the follow up to the beginning of a new direction for BT.  “ITSAESAYAI” provides you once again with beauty from all ends of the spectrum.  With seven tracks ranging from the 7 – 14 minute range, the journey  had me sucked in the entire time the first listen (which proceeded to be three full listens the day I got it – something that very rarely happens around here).  The disc is mainly comprised of gorgeous waves of ambient pads fluttering with organic instrumentation, glitch of the most precise nature, and every once in a while, bassy beat driven sections spanning from dubstep, to chilled out techno, to glitched out breaks.  I can definitely see this being on my ‘Top 10 of the Year’ already.  Even though I believe the whole album is incredible, ‘Our Dark Garden’ has been standing out quite a bit – one of the more vocal driven tracks on the album, it brings you to a place of pure bliss if you let it, gliding through a land of harmony…with loads of fluffy clouds to lay on.  A masterpiece of an album…highly recommend checking this one out.

: Broken Social Scene :
: You Forgot It In People : Arts & Crafts International : 2002 :
~ indie.rock, experimental.punk, art.rock, ambient, post.rock ~

Broken Social Scene’s second album witness’ the band changing up a few aspects quite heavily – one being adding numerous members to the group, and two being to start pumping out forward rock jams, a drastic change from their mainly post-rock ambient styled first album “Feel Good Lost“.  One might think this could get quite messy.  Well, they pull it off, and it’s done so well that it’s still my favorite album of theirs!  Starting off where “Feel Good Lost“ left off, the album starts off with a post-rock ambient piece, and then leads directly into where the sound has grown up – rock based grooves with plenty of experimental noise of all sorts going on underneath.  Horn sections, waves of ambience, static based noise, tons of guitar distortion, and epic amounts of screaming through plenty of filters of many types.  This almost sums up the album, except you end up with pieces like the widely known ‘Anthems For A Seventeen Year-Old Girl‘, ‘Pacific Theme’, and ‘Looks Just Like The Sun’, hitting elements of ambient based indie folk tunes, making you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.  ‘Anthems’ specifically has a special feel to it – they’re not joking around with that title – you feel like a seventeen year old girl hanging out in her room starting at the mirror and wondering about her emotional state.  ‘Pacific Theme’ takes you on a drive on Highway 101 through Northern California and Southern Oregon, exploding in on itself in one of the grooviest grooves ever right around the 4:10 mark.  The album consists of segments of similar sounds, usually three to four songs at a time, which makes the whole journey feel extremely conducive.  All in all, absolutely spectacular album, and now a for sure classic for the books!  Have to toss out another shout out to my old friend Steve Salisbury for turning me on to these guys (and this album) way back when!

: True Dream :
: The Night Again : 4×4 Records : 2011 :
~ pop.rock, doo-wop, folk, indie.rock, ambient ~

Seattle based Danny VanHollebeke comes marching out of the ether with his first full length LP under the alias True Dream.  The layers of which this pop masterpiece consist of make it easy to tell that nothing but the utmost consideration, concentration, and careful attention to detail have been placed into this work. Having spent seven years putting the album together with all it’s finishing touches, a story is woven here, a story of life, feelings, and consciousness at it’s level of striving for love.  The album presents itself to you in the form of pop, but boasts elements of waltz, ambient, metal, 60’s, 80’s, dream pop, doo-wop, and indie rock – all enveloped by a layer of light experimentalism to infuse it all together.  As Todd Hamm of the Seattle Weekly said, “think doom-wop”.  Even deeper we find out that all aspects of the music, including the vocals, are played and made by VanHollebeke.  At only 32 minutes, the piece will quickly bring you from happiness glee to reverent melancholy, keeping a fairly moving undertone throughout.  Personal favorites?  The whole thing!!  From the moment the title track reached my ear, and all the way through to the Brian Eno inspired ambient ‘Decomposition‘, Danny’s album has me captivated and invested, repeatedly.  I purchased the finished product sometime last year, it has been through constant rotation on all my players – at home base, and on the road.  You can find True Dream’s “The Night Again“ on iTunes here:  |— CLICK —|  Fantastic work Danny!

: Demdike Stare :
: Elemental : Modern Love : 2012 :
~ dark.ambient, industrial, drone, techno, witch.house, experimental ~

Since 2009, the illusive Lancastrian outfit known as Demdike Stare have been birthing into the Universe some of the world’s most unusual and forward thinking sounds inside of the dark ambient/drone, witch house, and experimental realms.  Really though, their music is flat out at times, indescribable.  Hinting on elements of tribalism, folk, and neo-paganism, it seems as though Sean Cantry and Miles Whittaker are attempting to call back in the witches who were once running around rampant in the area the group comes from, especially with the “Demdike” name hailing from Elizabeth Southern, the supposed leader of the Pendle Witches.  After their three part release in 2010, I knew never to miss anything from the duo again.  Released as four parts on colored vinyl, with a full double-disc CD release in 2012, this new collection of works leaves you feeling as though some sort of ancient underworld Earthen being has gobbled up your thought processes, and spit them out into a dark new reality that makes you feel…haunted!  Even as OCD in describing genres as I love to be, this disc leaves me so floored that it’s hard to put into words.  Take the track “Mnemosyne” for instance – their is a backbone of some stripped down 135bpm dubstep styled beat in there, but beneath that, you feel as though you’re in the middle of a longhouse in the 1600’s and the coven you belong to is about to sacrifice some sort of lamb or goat or small furry animal – AND it’s a joyous occasion.  Elements of dark drone plaster the album, taking over sections of otherwise beat oriented music, out of no where.  Little nods to Aphex Twin’s more twisted and disturbing sound experiment works come out of the woodwork at times, making me think back to a track off 2001’s “Drukqs“, ‘Gwarek2‘, by far one of the more perverse 6 minutes of sound my mind can really think of.  All in all I could sit here and try and describe “Elemental” to you all day, but really you just need to bust out your best pair of speakers, turn off all the lights, sit next to a fire (inside or outside), and let yourself immerse into another world.  Genius work!

 : Scuba :
: DJ-Kicks : !K7 Records : 2011 :
~ 2-step, dubstep, techno, bass.music, ambient, glitch ~

If you haven’t heard of Paul Rose’s Scuba at this point, you’ve definitely been hiding under some sort of rock underneath the top layer of soil of the Earth for the past…oh, five years or so.  Probably more.  The official headmaster of one of the most forefront running labels out there today, Hotflush Recordings, Rose has been helping advance the sound of 2-step and dubstep alike now for over 10 YEARS – amazing really!  Everything this man touches that I have found, I have been into (minus maybe two or three songs on his latest LP, “Personality“).  This edition of the DJ-Kicks series is absolutely no exception.  Starting off with a lovely deep ambient piece to set the mood, from Hotflush’s Sigha, the mix begins with a churning of techno cross bred with 2-step influences and does nothing but pick up and get groovier from there.  Sitting around 132bpm for the length of the mix allows the blend between the crossover of styles to mesh flawlessly .  Track selection, programming, mixing – PERFECT.  You’ll notice that each song tracked out lasts for just over a minute to just under three minutes (with a few exceptions) – proof of the generous amount of layering going on between selected tracks for the majority of the journey.  Notable tracks to dig for on their own: Peverlist’s ‘Sun Dance‘, Trevino’s ‘Shorty‘, Boddika’s ‘Acid Battery‘, Scuba’s ‘M.A.R.S.‘ (made specifically for the mix), Jichael Mackson’s ‘Gedons‘, and Sepalcure’s gorgeous ‘Inside‘, which provides the mixes outro and end point.  This is how it’s done properly people – Know This!

Injoy.  See ya hopefully sooner than later this next time.  I’m going to attempt to do this once a week at this point, as well as randomly posting interesting bits of all sorts of finds from the net and beyond into this Blog, so, stay tuned!