Month: September 2010

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Playlists Reviews

Feature: Tomorrow’s Sounds Today

Hi guys. Welcome to another edition of Tomorrow”™s Sounds Today, where we at Spotisfaction Towers give you all the killer and none of the filler from the last fortnight’s additions to the “What’s new” section of Spotify. It has been a truly bountiful fortnight and there is so much content that I couldn”™t possibly fit it all into review and remain meaningful – apologies in advance for not covering it all! As always, you can find the things I couldn’t fit into this piece in the TST playlist after the break. Now, on with the show!

Royksopp ”“ Senior – Our first choice this month was a no-brainer – the latest piece from the top Norwegian electro kings. It is an album which has had an uncommon effect on me in that I don’t want to force unnecessary blurb out about it. Its great, its really great, go listen. That is all I feel it needs.

Atmosphere ”“ To All My Friends, Blood Makes The Blade Holy: the Atmosphere ep’s – Our next choice this week is a new artist on me and in one I feel sadly remiss I had not discovered earlier. Having played through the album a couple of times (with increasing joy), I felt compelled to go over the back catalogue and I have to say, hand on heart it was one of those days I thank the gods of the Internet for creations like Spotify. There is no way I, in old world music behaviour, would have gone out and bought a back catalogue… but I digress. A great choice for you hip-hop lovers, phat beats, great rhymes with some meaning and edge. A positive voice in questionable times who clearly draws from life rather than faking it.

Skunk Anansie ”“ Wonderlustre – Rather than being known for genre busting, I swear the latter part of the current decade will be known as the time all the old bands reformed! Week in, week out, I see a new band from the past come together to have another punt. Did they iron out their differences or just receive an inordinately large gas bill? I don”™t wish to sound ungrateful, in many cases this is a really good thing (the new Soundgarden for example). In other cases it is just a shameless cash in, doomed to failure.

I”™m on the fence about the Skunk Anansie reformation. I loved them the first time round and I”™ll be honest and say I know little of the drivers behind the reform but how is the sound? Just as good as it ever was and whilst for some the lack of change might not resonate I think it’s an album worthy of note.

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Reviews

Review: GetDarker Presents This Is Dubstep Vol. 3

The first This Is Dubstep compilation was released just under a year ago, in the Autumn of 2009.  A tentative, burgeoning, digital-only release, its success was marked: helped by the mainstream successes of the genre (following that remix of La Roux) during the summer of 2009, the compilation presented both the biggest tracks on the scene and the darker aspects at the fringes of the genre, serving to answer (with varying degrees of literality) the question they knew the mainstream were now asking: What is Dubstep?

This Is Dubstep Vol 1 had proven so popular that they released an expanded version on CD in July of this year, whilst Vol 2, which had been released earlier in March, went straight to CD (along with a digital release and an appearance on our much-beloved Spotify).  Although not necessarily well received in all quarters due to its slightly more mainstream track choice (does Benga really need to appear four times?), Vol 2 still became the first ever Dubstep release to hit the UK Top 20.

Vol 3 continues the success of the series, entering at number 10 in the UK Chart, a phenomenal achievement for Dubstep given a chart that has been dominated by Now That’s What I Call Music for more than a quarter of a century. But Vol 3 confidently backs up its commercial success with the most inspired tracklist the series has put together to date.  It still has the drops from the more popular tunes – as it always has done – but pays greater, more balanced attention to the varying influences and growing maturity of the genre; the first 5 tracks on the first side showing exactly what to expect.

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Playlists

114 Spotisfaction Monday – 20th September 2010 – Kev Atkinson

Hi folks. We’re a little busy this morning over at Spotisfaction HQ, but the net result is that we’ve got a great week lined up for your aural consumption. Today we welcome back staff members Woody and Richard who have been on holiday, and we’re now back at full strength again. Woop, etc. Expect good things incoming shortly.

Today’s playlist is by Kev Atkinson and is entitled “Bored At Work”. Thanks Kev.

Have a lovely day, kids.
Dave

Kev Says:

Ok I created this playlist during a brief quiet period at work recently when I was immensely bored. I thought I”™d try and create an upbeat, up-tempo playlist to lift my spirits. The problem with that was that the majority of artists in my collection are not upbeat or up-tempo so I didn”™t quite achieve my original goal. However I did manage to alleviate my boredom at work for a period so at least I achieved something with the playlist apart from realising just how much of a melancholy personality I have.

Some of the highlights for me include Machismo by Gomez simply because it is so unalike what you would normally expect from the band, Going Underground by The Jam which is one of my all time favourite Jam tracks, and Hysteria by Muse which for me was the stand out track on Absolution which was the last decent album that Muse have done

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Features

Feature: Gig Rig

G’day chaps and chapettes! I have a confession to make. It seems that when I was transferring all the gigs into the new format I inadvertently missed a whole bunch of them out. But fear not, for I have now added them to the list, along with a load of fresh new ones!

As promised earlier in the week, there are a selection of upcoming Abe Vigoda gigs. Unfortunately, I won’t be able make it to any of them though. One gig I am going to, however, is LCD Soundsystem / Hot Chip in Sheffield. Tickets for that one are now sold out I think but (at the time of writing this) they are still available for the London and Cardiff gigs.

About 10 or so years ago I went through a massive phase of listening to the first three Deftones albums constantly. It was borderline obsessive. Since then I’ve kind of lost touch with their music but I’ve been reliably informed that their recent stuff is excellent, so will have to give it a listen at some point.

Holy Fuck are one of our personal favourites here at Spotisfaction Towers. Their two albums are superb and judging from the reviews I’ve read, their live shows aren’t too shabby either. Fingers crossed I’ll be able to catch either the Bristol or Birmingham gigs.

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Playlists

113 Spotisfaction Friday – 17th September 2010 – James TAE

Morning all. I won’t keep you long this morning, since there’s a lot of blurb to get through. Hopefully I’ll see some of you tonight at Slak.

Today’s playlist is one I’ve been looking forward to for a long while. I still play the first installment regularly, and now consider the DZ remix of Feist/Boys Noize’s ‘My Moon My Man’ as one of my favourite tracks. So, here’s James TAE – hope you enjoy; I know I will.

Have a lovely weekend, folks.
Dave

James Says:

So, my first dubstep playlist, Dubisfiction, is perhaps my favourite of the mixlists I’ve done, because the genre is so vastly under-represented on Spotify, meaning I had to spend a lot of time unearthing tracks from the further reaches of the library.  Crafting a mixlist that worked was therefore an interesting and eye-opening project.

Dubstep has had a very big summer, culminating in the release of the Skream album (which still isn’t on Spotify – I told you it was an under-represented genre) which sadly hasn’t been particularly well received.  I can sort of see why.  What the genre needed, at a time when its sub-mainstream momentum was at its peak, was not a wimpery stab at the popworld from one of the genre’s primary representatives.  It was an empty step too far.  I thought, then, it was time to hunt out some more of the truly great dubstep that’s out there.

I give you, therefore, Dubisfiction 2.

Continue reading “113 Spotisfaction Friday – 17th September 2010 – James TAE”

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Reviews

Review: Philip Selway – Familial

Back in 2001, Neil Finn got a group of friends together for a series of charity concerts. The assembled included Eddie Vedder, Johnny Marr, Tim Finn, Ed O”™Brien and Phil Selway, and from this series of concerts the album 7 Worlds Collide was spawned. Last year Neil Finn once again assembled his friends for another musical collaboration, using 7 Worlds Collide as the name for the project. Many of the same musicians from the first album returned for the second outing, and this time the result was the album The Sun Came Out. One of the things this album was notable for was the singing debut of Radiohead drummer Phil Selway on the tracks The Ties That Bind Us and Witching Hour.

Obviously encouraged by these recordings, Philip Selway has become the latest Radiohead member to embark on a solo project and has released his debut solo album Familial. Differing from the style of Radiohead and the solo projects of fellow band mates Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, Familial is a more modest, acoustic, sometimes even folky, album.

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News

News: The Cheltenham Underground Returns

After a summer-long hiatus to recharge the batteries, Gloucestershire based music promotion team The Cheltenham Underground return with a new show to tantalise the taste buds.

Returning to their spiritual home of Slak on Friday 17th September, Cheltenham Underground once again present us with an exciting and eclectic mix of music.

The line up for the evening consists of the following:

Johnny5thWheel&TheCowards. With The Ark Magazine describing their music as ”˜transporting you to a tavern in the 17th Century with a tankard of ale in hand”™, this upbeat folk band sounds like a great way to start the evening.

Next up, Stressechoes. Having played the taverns of Cheltenham as a two-piece performing mainly covers for the last couple of years, they have now expanded into a four piece and are concentrating on producing their own material. The addition of drums and bass has seen Stressechoes go from strength to strength.

Finally, headlining are The Wilderness of Manitoba. This five piece Canadian folk outfit choose not to rely on electric instruments, but rather the strength of their melodies and vocals which include intricately weaved three and four piece harmonies wrapped around traditional folk elements.

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News

News: Mark Ronson

This is not entirely up to date news, but on the 27th September Mark Ronson releases his new album Record Collection, this time releasing the album under the name Mark Ronson & the Business Intl. Ronson’s all star team of contributors includes Dave McCabe (The Zutons), Kyle Falconer (The View), Simon Le Bon (Duran Duran), Jake Shears (Scissor Sisters), Ghostface Killah (Wu-Tang Clan) and many more. This list of contributors seems a lot more on the pop/indie side of life than his previous albums, especially 2003 offering Here Comes The Fuzz, which has a decidedly more hip hop feel.

In a brief bit of blurb taken from his website, there is a description as to how he got started with this project:

“In July 2009, Mark Ronson and his musician friends went into Dunham studios in Brooklyn […] Inspired by working with Duran Duran […] he brought with him some of the vintage keyboards he’d found on eBay. And they began playing. He and the other musicians would try their hand at different instruments “to stop anyone getting too comfortable”.

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Reviews

Review: Losers – Beautiful Losers

Eddy Temple-Morris is, it’s fair to say, prolific. He has been responsible for giving first airplay to Kasabian, Simian Mobile Disco, Plan B and Justice (among others), on his XFM show The Remix, carrying the crossover tagline “Where dance rocks” – so a purist he ain’t.  He was also responsible for encouraging the inchoate remixing talents of Tom Bellamy, picking up a remix Bellamy did for his own band, The Cooper Temple Clause, of 2006 single Homo Sapiens. Since then, the two have collaborated on a number of projects, eventually forming under the moniker Losers, who now, after many years of writing, recording, tweaking, djing, touring, reworking, and remixing, release their debut Beautiful Losers.

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Playlists

112 Spotisfaction Wednesday – 15th September 2010 – Becky Mogg

Morning folks. This week sees the return of The Cheltenham Underground, Cheltenham’s premier live music night. The Wilderness of Manitoba are headlining this Friday at Slak, so please do go check them out. We’ve got a brief feature on Ch’underground incoming shortly.

Today’s playlist is by regular contributor Simon “Moggy” Mogg‘s lovely wife, Becky Mogg.

Love, etc.
Dave

Moggy Says:

So I was wondering what the theme of my next playlist should be. I couldnt think of one so I got lazy and got my wife, Becky, to do one instead. So here it is (entitled Wifeisfaction) and her blurb to go with it. Enjoy.

Becky Says:

This is a selection of some of my favourite songs. There are reasons for all which range from making me happy to reminding me of stuff and occasions. Enjoy

[A note from Moggy: A few tracks Becky chose weren’t on Spotify. Imagine these were present! –
Pendulum – Slam
Moloko – Mother
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Give It Away]

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News

News: Glassjaw

So we’re admittedly a little late to the plate on this one, but on 20 August Glassjaw released a new vinyl-only single All Good Junkies Go To Heaven.  This was the first official Glassjaw release since 2005’s El Mark EP, and we’ve just stumbled across the best vinyl rip of the track we’ve heard, and wanted to share it with you all.  The audio via YouTube is embedded below.

The new Glassjaw album has been a slow burner since their 2002 sophomore release Worship and Tribute.  Guitarist Todd Weinstock left the band, writing and recording for a new record began – as a four piece – as early as 2006, and they’ve been hinting at new material ever since.

It’s been a long ride, but we’re glad that more and more material is now being released for our consumption.  We really like the track (and if you can find an even better quality rip please do let us know!) and we hope it wets everyone’s appetite enough for whenever we finally get our hands on the new record!

Enjoy. (PS, don’t be confused by the live sample halfway through, that is on the track!)

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Reviews

Review: Royksopp – Senior

Naturally, as we travel through this life, our emotions and attitudes change and the blissful, naive days of our youth slide further and further away. As these innocent times fade, so do the memories, up to the point where our perception of experiences becomes unclear and hazy. One is ultimately left with the haunting urge to recapture said youth whilst dealing with the hard times ahead.

Too bleak?

Well, somehow Norwegian electronic wizards Röyksopp have managed to capture this feeling of dread within a glorious spectrum of sound and colour, making the whole idea of depression fade like a distant memory.

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News

News: Abe Vigoda

Bella Union, one of the most accessible record labels around at the moment in my opinion, have very kindly uploaded Abe Vigoda‘s new album, Crush, to their SoundCloud page for our aural pleasure. It’s a delightful listen and you should certainly check it out.

We’ve embedded the stream below. Let us know what you think in the comments, and check out this Friday’s Gig Rig for info on when they’ll be touring near you.

The album is out on the 20th of this month.

Abe Vigoda – Crush by Bella Union

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Features

Feature: Classics Collected

Hello everyone and welcome to another Classic’s Collected where we at Spotisfaction delve into the archives and blow the dust off some records we think deserve a replay. With the sheer volume of music available to us at our fingertips it is easy for some really great material to get lost under the pile, so we have made it our mission to bring that goodness back into the light!

Each pick we feel was a classic of its age, genre, or if nothing else just a damned good record. We’ve fed a little background into each selection but most importantly we’d like you to give each one a little attention and a real listen. Like everyone these days, I’m sure, I seem to permanently have music on while I’m working and it has occurred to me a few times: how much do I really genuinely listen to a lot of it? Music has so much power to influence, move and warm your soul so with this being a weekly affair, try and take some time out, pick an album a day and let yourself go. I promise you will not be sorry! Now on with the choices:

The Chemical Brothers ”“ Dig Your Own Hole – It’s Monday morning and if you are anything like me, you’ll still be wishing it was Sunday afternoon. Around 3pm maybe, post roast, with a glass of wine and that inevitable digestion-fuelled, snoozy, relaxed, satisfied feeling. Unfortunately the fields must be toiled in and the rent paid, so here we are at work. If there is one record out there to snap you to your senses and get that energy flowing, it is this one. The Chemical Brothers have always been sound engineers of the highest calibre but their 2nd commercial release broke new boundaries, spawned a number of hit singles and tuned many people into a new style of music.

As I have mentioned before, classic albums often standup for me on their ability to be played without shuffle. I am a self confessed shuffle junkie and have whole archives on shuffle but if you can listen to the first few bars of track 1 and be hooked till the end of the final track, that to me is a sign of great things! Pure energy, great beats and hooks and a thrillride of an album.

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Playlists

111 Spotisfaction Monday – 13th September 2010 – Dan Herlin

Morning all. This week is shaping up to be one of the most exciting of the year, in terms of album releases. New to Spotify today we’ve got one of the albums I’ve most been anticipating, Interpol – Interpol. There’s also Les Savy Fav – Root For Ruin, Weezer – Hurley and Summer Camp – Young EP. Between our regular Spotisfaction playlists and these beauties, I’m pretty sure my headphones will adorn my head for the entirety of the week. We’ll try and get reviews to you as soon as possible, which reminds me: if you would like to review for us, please get in touch.

Just wanted to quickly apologise for not getting our newsletter out this week. As I mentioned on Twitter and FB, we weren’t overly happy with the software package we were using, so decided to postpone instead of releasing something we weren’t 100% happy with. It’ll be back soon, and we’ll even throw in a little subscriber-only competition for you, too. In the meantime, please feel free to signup here.

Today’s playlist is by Dan Herlin (his Spotify Social profile is here). It’s a lovely, nostalgic mix including some of my favourite tracks from years gone by. Thanks, Dan.

Take care, folks, and happy listening.
Dave

Dan says:

In any PL, all tracks should be connected by some common denominator, a theme, a niche, that does not necessarily need a name but that shines through out the whole list. It might be that such subtle similarities that makes up affinity are subjective in nature, however I am sure that you all can get what I mean here.