You are currently browsing the monthly archive for February 2010.
Vodpod videos no longer available.
Kanye has a new website and it is pretty solid. Glad his blog is back because it truly is such a well rounded blog and it introduced me to sooo much shit. This is a new video of his track “Coldest Winter” which is off the 2008 album 808’s and Heartbreak! Hard to believe that this was only released two years ago.
So Pitchfork did this great interview with Die Antwoord who as y’all know I am now obsessed with. ZEF SIDE! You can hear their entire album streaming on their website here. DO IT! IT IS AWESOME!!!
—
Long story short: Die Antwoord are a completely manic rap-rave group from South Africa that have gained more than 30,000 fans on Facebook in about two weeks, thanks to a couple amazing music videos. Their overall style is called “zef,” which roughly translates to “common” and is typified by “blue eyeliner, bleached hair, sweat bands, and cars with overly powerful sound systems.” Because of group leaders Ninja and Yo-Landi Vi$$er’s prior involvement in conceptual hip-hop projects, the group has been met with claims of inauthenticity. Are they paying tribute to or making fun of zef culture? (For a longer version of this story, check out our recent article, “Who the Hell Are Die Antwoord?”)
So we sent an e-mail to the address on their website and someone called Dirk the Oracle got back to us saying Ninja and Yo-Landi might answer some written-out questions. We sent some questions. They wrote us back. In the following interview, Ninja and Yo-Landi talk about their surging fame, their idea for an upcoming Die Antwoord film, Katy Perry, smoking weed out of coconut bongs, and so much more:
Pitchfork: When did you realize Die Antwoord were reaching a big international audience via the internet?
Die Antwoord: We noticed on the 3rd of February. It was a full moon. We just stared at the computer screen. We started getting about 1000 emails per day. When it got to 5000 mails on day five, I just gave up, lay down on the floor and looked at the roof. It was like tripping on acid. But now every time we wake up it still won’t go away.
Pitchfork: Did a lot of people start calling you?
DA: Yes, a lot of people suddenly like me a lot. Me and Yo-Landi have changed our phone numbers.
Pitchfork: Why do you think Die Antwoord has broken through more than your previous rap groups like MaxNormal.TV?
DA: The other rap albums we made were a bit stupid. Then we tapped into our inner zef and discovered Die Antwoord and became next-level.
Pitchfork: Was there one moment of epiphany when you saw the potential of, as you say, your inner zef and the potential of Die Antwoord?
DA: Ninja, Yo-Landi, and DJ Hi-Tek were at a rave at Ninja’s parents’ house when they discovered Die Antwoord. We actually are making a high-energy, totally next-level, rap-rave feature film about this called The Answer. We would compare it to District 9, but just with more rave and more rap. This feature film is part of the reason why some people are flying Ninja and Yo-Landi to L.A. in two weeks’ time.
Pitchfork: What is the movie about?
DA: The plot it this: Ninja, Yo-Landi and DJ Hi-Tek live in a kak little white hood called Sunnyside (the hood in the “Zef Side” clip). Ninja has this big plan to throw a fat-ass rave at his parents’ house. But Ninja’s parents don’t trust him to look after the house while they go to Sun City. Eventually, Ninja manipulates his parents into trusting him enough to let him look after the house. Just after Ninja’s parents fuck off to Sun City on holiday, Ninja forces Yo-Landi to steal money from her mom to hook up a fuck-off heavy sound system, a smoke machine, a strobe light, a phunky 3D visual mix on VHS to play on the TV in the chill room, tiger balm, party decorations, dop and a lot of zol. Only about eight people come to the rave, and everything is going pretty cool ’til Yo-Landi starts to fuck out from smoking too much of the coconut bong that somebody mixed with tik. This final scene is going be sort of like this hallucinogenic erotic nightmare that Yo-Landi experiences. The end of film is actually just going to be the full-length music video of “Beat Boy”. The lyrics to “Beat Boy” describe this scene to the T. It’s going to be pretty next-level.
Pitchfork: Are you guys going to play yourselves in the film or get famous actors to play you?
DA: We starring in the film. Fokkit, this is our big chance. But maybe if other people had to star as us: Yo-Landi could be played by Charlize Theron and Ninja could be played by Bruce Willis.
Pitchfork: What do you say to people who think you’re making fun of zef culture?
DA: Uh. We are zef culture.
I was shopping at Segal’s today on St. Laurent. As I was picking out some Gala apples the music all of a sudden switches to heavy rock. Super heavy rock. I realised it was KISS!!! I thought this was pretty cool…To be honest I am not too familiar with them but the album I heard made me look up more of their work right when I got home. Segal’s was playing their 1992 album Revenge, and the song below is what got me so interested. ROCK OUT!
MP3: Kiss- Domino
I’ve already been exposed to such great music this year and it’s not even been a full two months! And now that I am home for two weeks I’ve caught up on a lot of music as well as posts I’ve been falsely promising for months. Oops! Anyways, by far the best LP I’ve heard this year is without a doubt by the wonderful Four Tet a.k.a. Keiran Hebdan, the Londonite who perfected his album while having residency at Plastic People. His first single “Love Cry” remains one of my favorite songs released last year and on his recently released LP, There Is Love In You. So, this mixtape is named after the awesomeness that is Four Tet but is not fully composed of Four Tet themed music. This mixtape is full of everything, the Balearic, in a sense. The lo-Fi hip-hop goodness of Gonjasufi all the way to the classic tunes of Billy Idol. As with all my mixtapes, it’s gonna make you groove =)
————————————————————————————————————————————————————–
Download: ATM’s Mixtape – Love Cry
————————————————————————————————————————————————————–
Playlist after the jump!
I know this is a bit late. Ooops!
Anyways, the lineup this year is AMAZING!!! I AM SOOOOOOOOOO STOKED!
Everyday is jam packed and Sunday is just ridiculous.
I will be heading there this year since there are no final exams to impede me goooooooooooing! Who else?
Outside of Four Tet, another album that has been on constant repeat for me is Beach House’s Teen Dream. Yes, I know, a bit behind the times as the album leaked a few months ago and the hype on this band is bigger than what I remember for Wavves and Vampire Weekend. I decided to wait a bit before listening to the album and I regret not buying into the aged hype which is totally deserved. This album is like Washed Out but dreamier, slower and more magnetic. It’s the Fleet Foxes of dream pop mixed with lo-fi goodness that is listenable whenever and where-ever. A++++
On the other end, I recently listened to Geoff Barrow’s (from Portishead) solo album/project called Beak>. After having had it for nearly half a year it all of a sudden popped up on the playlist right after Beach House! Just like Portishead, the great weaving instrumentals and bone rattling bass puts you in a darker mood, an absolute conversation stopper. You just gotta stop and listen. The Portishead influences are definitely there but I feel like this album is much more psychedelic and noisier than the former. It’s a bit more abstract but the entire album flows so well. Plus, it is a killer album to listen to stoned. Quite fantastic and Portishead lovers should cop this! A
So, I share two of my favorite songs off these albums! Also a mixtape should be out by the end of this week! It is truly great and one of my favorites so far…that’s for sure! So stay tuned for that!
P.S. Happy Chinese New Year!
MP3: Beach House – Silver Soul
MP3: BEAK> – Blagdon Lake
This list is definitely the smallest and less encompassing than the others simply because I’ve been revisiting a lot of old school hip-hop, rap, etc albums from the 90’s. Also, since this is my last part of of the Decade’s list, and it’s already the middle of February…going through my music library was definitely more of a skim…so sorry if you’re screaming at the computer wondering where certain artists are…jajaja 😉
I also decided to go over my Top Shows as well. Back in Edmonton, I averaged maybe 4/5 shows per month depending on the season…and now in Montréal I average that every 1/2 weeks! So a lot of names on this list will be moreso the last 3 years…shows that are much more recent and those beyond that were obviously unforgettable. I wish I had the time do to Top Shows according to genre because they really don’t compare to each other…but I did my best!
***Finally I am posting these decade end lists. Gaaah I love and hate lists. They enlighten me towards new music yet at the same time they’re ridiculously subjective. From one point to the next an album can be the best and not depending on the season, the weather, my emotions, whether I’m under the influence, yada yada yada. Because of all this, the numbers on my list aren’t a ranking system of worst to best—because I think they’re all equally fantastic—they’re simply a form of organization. But, a few times on the lists I will put a clear marker on the artist/album that I feel truly outranks the rest. It’s only here where I exercise a bit of hypocrisy.
I know I’ve left hundreds and hundreds of artists out. Making a “Top 10” list per sub-genre for the decade is trifling, I know. It really should be “Top 100” per sub genre. Every day I keep remembering ones I should add but I have too much music and too little time. I did my best with what I had and what I remember and the time I had! You’ll notice that a lot of the artists are from the last 5 years and that’s because my mecca of music is back home. Home home. Like where I was born jaja. So…sorry for the lack of early 2000 albums. =)
I also dislike one shot lists! You simply can’t compare down-tempo artists to dubstep artists, etc. So, I tried to organize artists into the genres I felt fit them best as opposed to putting them all in the same pool. But obviously some artists mix into the other genres or were put there even though they have a very specific genre of their own (avant-garde, balearic, etc etc). Gaaah and genre is so subjective as well. Bear with me and keep all this in mind! A lot of these artists are featured in my NYE and NYD mixtapes or have been blogged about! So check the mixtapes out or do a quick search on ATM if you feel like more sampling.
Other than that, happy reading and check out Part I and Part II!
Soul/Jazz/Funk/Blues
10. Norah Jones – Feels Like Home (2004)
09. Amy Winehouse – Back to Black (2006)
08. John Legend – Get Lifted (2004)
07. [re:jazz] – nipponized (2008)
06. Parov Stelar – Daylight (2008)
05. Manu Chao – Proxima Estacion…Esperanza (2001)
04. Rodrigo y Gabriela – Rodrigo y Gabriela (2006) ♥
03. David Rotundo – Blues Ignited (2003) ♥♥
02. Asa – Asha (2008) ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
01. Tribalistas – Tribalistas (2003) ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
Mentionables that couldn’t fit:
Juana Molina – Segundo (2003)
Floetry – Flo’ology (2005)
Juanes – Mi Sangre (2006)
Forro in the Dark – Bonfies of Sao Joao (2006)
Deweare – High Class Trauma (2007)
Ebrahim – Goldrush (2007)
Orgone – The Killion Floor (2007)
Funki Porcini – PLOD (2009)
Sola Rosa – Get It Together (2009)
Soulive – Up Here (2009)
This seriously took forever. But I have to get these out before I can do anything else on this site! Gah! I tried to go away from artists that are so mainstream on sites like P4K or Stereogum for this list but I realised I couldn’t get away from it…and I guess that’s because stuff like Arcade Fire, Animal Collective…etc etc really deserve to be at the top.
***Finally I am posting these decade end lists. Gaaah I love and hate lists. They enlighten me towards new music yet at the same time they’re ridiculously subjective. From one point to the next an album can be the best and not depending on the season, the weather, my emotions, whether I’m under the influence, yada yada yada. Because of all this, the numbers on my list aren’t a ranking system of worst to best—because I think they’re all equally fantastic—they’re simply a form of organization. But, a few times on the lists I will put a clear marker on the artist/album that I feel truly outranks the rest. It’s only here where I exercise a bit of hypocrisy.
I know I’ve left hundreds and hundreds of artists out. Making a “Top 10” list per sub-genre for the decade is trifling, I know. It really should be “Top 100” per sub genre. Every day I keep remembering ones I should add but I have too much music and too little time. I did my best with what I had and what I remember and the time I had! You’ll notice that a lot of the artists are from the last 5 years and that’s because my mecca of music is back home. Home home. Like where I was born jaja. So…sorry for the lack of early 2000 albums. =)
I also dislike one shot lists! You simply can’t compare down-tempo artists to dubstep artists, etc. So, I tried to organize artists into the genres I felt fit them best as opposed to putting them all in the same pool. But obviously some artists mix into the other genres or were put there even though they have a very specific genre of their own (avant-garde, balearic, etc etc). Gaaah and genre is so subjective as well. Bear with me and keep all this in mind! A lot of these artists are featured in my NYE and NYD mixtapes or have been blogged about! So check the mixtapes out or do a quick search on ATM if you feel like more sampling.
Other than that, happy reading and check out Part I and stay tuned for Part III!
—
Folk
10. Sarah Slean – Day One (2004)
- MP3: Sarah Slean – Mary
09. Band of Horses – Everything All the Time (2006)
08. Loney, Dear – Dear John (2008)
07. Emiliana Torrini – Fisherman’s Woman (2005)
06. Antony and the Johnsons – I Am A Bird Now (2005)
05. Andrew Bird – Armchair Apocrypha (2007)
04. M. Ward – Post-War (2006) ♥
03. Beirut – Gulag Orkestar (2006) ♥♥
02. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes (2008) ♥♥♥
01. Rufus Wainwright – Want One (2000) ♥♥♥♥
Mentionables that couldn’t fit:
Bowerbirds – Hymns for a Dark Horse (2007)
Mentionables of 2009:
Jenn Grant – Echoes
Patrick Watson – Wooden Arms
Zee Avi – Zee Avi
Hey guys, so sorry for be absent lately…and my Best of Lists STILL aren’t fully up jajajaj oops. I’ve been super busy lately and just haven’t had time. I’ve been behind on everything and by now I can write a Best of the Year so far list with all the good music I’ve been listening to jajaja. As to when the rest of my lists will be posted, I think it’ll be another two weeks when I actually have a break! This week I wanna start off with an already classic of 2010 and a classic in general.
• Four Tet: A few months back on my last post I was so fucking stoked for There Is Love In You to come out. He released a mini EP which contained his killer single “Love Cry” as well as a very abstract jazz piece called “Our Bells” which isn’t included in the LP. I’ve given TILIY about six listens now. The first listen blew. my. mind. Ugh so effin’ good with an opening track like “Angel Echoes”…leading into the dark beats of “Love Cry”. The more I listen the better the album gets. The tribal beats, the warping build-ups, and the steady backdrop rhythms are always forcing you forward, pushing you on. It’s the kinda music that is always good, no matter where and no matter what. I don’t have to be in the mood to listen to Four Tet. He puts my in the mood. Each wave is a persuasion and before you know if your head is filled with random bits and pieces of Hebden’s art, always floating…love cryyy looove crrrry loooove crrryyy….ugh this album is so good it makes me want to cry (Taha too). Maybe that’s why there’s a track called “Love Cry”…Hebden knew all along that this album is an opening and reciprocation of emotions: unfolding, circling, echoing, reversing…all names of tracks on this brilliant LP.
A+++++++++++++++++++++++
• Nas: The Illmatic is the greatest 40 minutes in hip-hop history. I don’t think there is a sentence that sums it up as well as this one. I’ve been in a Nas phase all last week and this classic LP was on repeat the most…this is one of my favorite tracks.
acquiesce to... 