Sonics XIV
Thursday, January 01, 2009
Sonics XIV
Aether took me forever to find on the Internet, because you can't find them anywhere. Well, you could probably find another alternative rock band with the same name, but this is not what this album represents. Aether is everything that is smooth, that is laid back, that is brilliant about electronic music. Sampling, like Amon Tobin, is what the band has utilized here in this album. What sampling is, is that they take existing pieces of music and then does a sort of remix on it. I was pleasantly surprised to notice a couple of songs that I know of on this album being remixed, including For the Damaged by Blonde Redhead and Bibo No Aozora by Ryuichi Sakamoto from the Babel score. I don't usually like remixes, but Aether does it so well that it brings new life to the original versions altogether. It annoys me a little to know that it is difficult to find out more about this brilliant electronica band, and that you cannot even find them on Wikpedia. Nonetheless, their music speaks volumes about how good they are with their craft, and this album is choked with sampling brilliance that I have never heard before. If there is one word to describe this album, it's "cool", because it just is. Everything about Aether blows my mind away so far, and I am excited to see what else I can get my hands on from this band.
All right, let's all be honest here. There is a reason why millions and millions of people all hum the same damn song on the last day of the year. The reason is that music makes us happy, or it makes us sad, or it makes us want to break someone's face with a hammer. The point is that it expresses emotions that we might have in any given time of the day, or the occasion when we may need some kind of musical therapy in our bedrooms. That is why music is so important, and there isn't a more suitable way to start off the year with a series of albums that I have been listening to in my iPod. So this shall be the first entry of 2009 from me, nothing about my hopes and dreams about the year to come. Because really, without music, we are really nothing more than carbon-based life forms that love to kill each other for our own selfish reasons.
The Campfire Headphase by Boards Of Canada
Unlike what you may think, Boards of Canada isn't a band from Canada, but Scotland. The Scottish duo creates electronica music that bursts with life, with vibrancy unequaled by many bands out there in the business. This is one of those bands that I have attempted to like in the past, but never got around to liking them - until now. Boards of Canada is known for their smart and playful mixture and layering of sounds, and that testimony can be justified just by listening to the first few tracks in the album. Chromakey Dreamcoat involves a complex weaving of sounds in and out of each other, everything built on top of each other in a clever way that brings a smile to any lover of music. Dayvan Cowboy is moving and oftentimes uplifting. The entire album sets a mood in your bedroom, the kind of mood that sets you thinking. It moves you, by creating an atmosphere and then pushing your head down into it. Your brain is drowning in its music, and you are trying to breathe through the thickness of the melodies. And yet, after some time, you realize that you can breathe fine, and that everything is so beautiful here. Boards of Canada takes you to places, and that is why I love electronica so much. With the infinite possibilities of electronic sounds, musicians that deal with this genre can travel into space and beyond. And Boards of Canada, more than most bands out there, has taken us there with this brilliant album that I recommend.
Unlike what you may think, Boards of Canada isn't a band from Canada, but Scotland. The Scottish duo creates electronica music that bursts with life, with vibrancy unequaled by many bands out there in the business. This is one of those bands that I have attempted to like in the past, but never got around to liking them - until now. Boards of Canada is known for their smart and playful mixture and layering of sounds, and that testimony can be justified just by listening to the first few tracks in the album. Chromakey Dreamcoat involves a complex weaving of sounds in and out of each other, everything built on top of each other in a clever way that brings a smile to any lover of music. Dayvan Cowboy is moving and oftentimes uplifting. The entire album sets a mood in your bedroom, the kind of mood that sets you thinking. It moves you, by creating an atmosphere and then pushing your head down into it. Your brain is drowning in its music, and you are trying to breathe through the thickness of the melodies. And yet, after some time, you realize that you can breathe fine, and that everything is so beautiful here. Boards of Canada takes you to places, and that is why I love electronica so much. With the infinite possibilities of electronic sounds, musicians that deal with this genre can travel into space and beyond. And Boards of Canada, more than most bands out there, has taken us there with this brilliant album that I recommend. Albums by the band:
1) Music Has the Right to Children (1998)
2) Geogaddi (2002)
3) The Campfire Headphase (2005)
4) Trans Canada Highway (2006)
Goodbye by Ulrich Schnauss
I don't know why it took me this long to get into Ulrich Schnauss, but the point is that I am glad that I did. In a recent e-mail exchange with a friend of mine from the UK (Here is a shout out to Steve From Indy!), we were talking about the kind of music we were listening to, and we were recommending bands to each other over the net. While I have yet to check out the band he introduced me (ISAN), Ulrich Schnauss' name did make something click in my head when he told me what he was listening to. Ulrich Schnauss is one of those names you see a lot popping up at the side of iTune Stores, but for some reason I just never got around to checking him out. The end result is this obsession with his music that I cannot seem to shake off, not that I want to of course. When I download two of his albums in the same night, you know that this guy has got to be pretty good with his craft - he is. Ulrich Schnauss is the master of elemental music, and by that I mean the kind of music that breaks you down into molecules and returns you back to nature, somehow. I happen to feel that his music has a very great influence from the shoeglaze genre, for some reason, though I may be wrong. Either way, his music sets you at peace, and it is the kind of music you listen to when you are meditating, or something. I kind of imagine myself floating in space when I am listening to his music, with my eyes closed and then just submerging myself within. This album is beautiful, and so are his other albums. Believe me when I say, that Ulrich Schnauss is probably one of those rare artistes that you cannot deny his brilliance.
I don't know why it took me this long to get into Ulrich Schnauss, but the point is that I am glad that I did. In a recent e-mail exchange with a friend of mine from the UK (Here is a shout out to Steve From Indy!), we were talking about the kind of music we were listening to, and we were recommending bands to each other over the net. While I have yet to check out the band he introduced me (ISAN), Ulrich Schnauss' name did make something click in my head when he told me what he was listening to. Ulrich Schnauss is one of those names you see a lot popping up at the side of iTune Stores, but for some reason I just never got around to checking him out. The end result is this obsession with his music that I cannot seem to shake off, not that I want to of course. When I download two of his albums in the same night, you know that this guy has got to be pretty good with his craft - he is. Ulrich Schnauss is the master of elemental music, and by that I mean the kind of music that breaks you down into molecules and returns you back to nature, somehow. I happen to feel that his music has a very great influence from the shoeglaze genre, for some reason, though I may be wrong. Either way, his music sets you at peace, and it is the kind of music you listen to when you are meditating, or something. I kind of imagine myself floating in space when I am listening to his music, with my eyes closed and then just submerging myself within. This album is beautiful, and so are his other albums. Believe me when I say, that Ulrich Schnauss is probably one of those rare artistes that you cannot deny his brilliance. Albums by the artiste:
(He has a lot of aliases, but I shall just name the ones under this alias)
1) Faraway Trains Passing By (2001)
2) A Strangely Isolated Place (2003)
3) Quicksand Memory (2007)
4) Goodbye (2007)
Artifacts by Aether Aether took me forever to find on the Internet, because you can't find them anywhere. Well, you could probably find another alternative rock band with the same name, but this is not what this album represents. Aether is everything that is smooth, that is laid back, that is brilliant about electronic music. Sampling, like Amon Tobin, is what the band has utilized here in this album. What sampling is, is that they take existing pieces of music and then does a sort of remix on it. I was pleasantly surprised to notice a couple of songs that I know of on this album being remixed, including For the Damaged by Blonde Redhead and Bibo No Aozora by Ryuichi Sakamoto from the Babel score. I don't usually like remixes, but Aether does it so well that it brings new life to the original versions altogether. It annoys me a little to know that it is difficult to find out more about this brilliant electronica band, and that you cannot even find them on Wikpedia. Nonetheless, their music speaks volumes about how good they are with their craft, and this album is choked with sampling brilliance that I have never heard before. If there is one word to describe this album, it's "cool", because it just is. Everything about Aether blows my mind away so far, and I am excited to see what else I can get my hands on from this band. Albums by the band:
1) Aethersound (2006)
2) Artifacts (2008)
Albums by the artiste:
Los Angeles by Flying Lotus
Let's put it this way about this brilliant band, Flying Lotus. If someone like Thom Yorke from Radiohead openly tells people that he is listening to their music, they are a good band. This is Thom Yorke we are talking about, so no questions about quality here. Flying Lotus definitely isn't one of those bands I'd expect myself to fall for, because it is just weird. Yes, the music is weird, though not the weirdest I have ever acquired. It is, however, strange enough for me to raise an eyebrow at the signature way in which the artiste (Steven Ellison) deals with beats. The way that different layers of beats moves in varying tempo is strange, and yet everything works together seamlessly in the end that you cannot help but he amazed by the music. If Ulrich Schnauss' music I mentioned above is the music from outer space, this album is the music from outer space - from the future. There is a difference of course, because Flying Lotus represents a class on its own. You can never find a band that parallels themselves with this awesome album, because everything here is just so unique and different from everything mainstream and, hell, non-mainstream. Give yourself a chance to listen to this album from the beginning to the end, and reveal yourself to the ability of electronica music. Oh yeah, it's amazing.
Let's put it this way about this brilliant band, Flying Lotus. If someone like Thom Yorke from Radiohead openly tells people that he is listening to their music, they are a good band. This is Thom Yorke we are talking about, so no questions about quality here. Flying Lotus definitely isn't one of those bands I'd expect myself to fall for, because it is just weird. Yes, the music is weird, though not the weirdest I have ever acquired. It is, however, strange enough for me to raise an eyebrow at the signature way in which the artiste (Steven Ellison) deals with beats. The way that different layers of beats moves in varying tempo is strange, and yet everything works together seamlessly in the end that you cannot help but he amazed by the music. If Ulrich Schnauss' music I mentioned above is the music from outer space, this album is the music from outer space - from the future. There is a difference of course, because Flying Lotus represents a class on its own. You can never find a band that parallels themselves with this awesome album, because everything here is just so unique and different from everything mainstream and, hell, non-mainstream. Give yourself a chance to listen to this album from the beginning to the end, and reveal yourself to the ability of electronica music. Oh yeah, it's amazing. Albums by the artiste:
1) 1986 (2006)
2) Los Angeles (2008)
Preparations by Prefuse 73
You can call Prefuse 73 (or Guillermo Scott Herren) anything you want. He does music from electronica, to psychedelic, to hip-hop, and pretty much everything under the sun. Yet, you cannot run away from the electronica elements of everything, and that is what Prefuse 73 represents. He represents unforgiving and bold vision of what sounds made from a computer can do. Fused with brilliant beats in the background, everything comes alive in this album. I was immediately hooked to this album because of the one song called Class of 73 Bells that features School of Seven Bells. It sounds more like a chant of some sort, but it has been in my mind ever since I heard it for the first time last night. Believe me when I say that this is a song that sticks to the cells in your brain and keeps them alive and fired up. Some people classify him more as a producer, and that is not exactly inaccurate. If that is true, then even Timbaland is not worthy enough to lick his boots, because this guy is the real deal. Whatever you are hearing on the radio can never be compared to what he can accomplish. The playful tunes that he conjures up can only be describe by one word - eclectic. Prefuse 73 is definitely one of my new loves in this new world of music I am being exposed to, and I am excited about the possibilities and places it'd bring me to. Lead me on, Prefuse 73!
You can call Prefuse 73 (or Guillermo Scott Herren) anything you want. He does music from electronica, to psychedelic, to hip-hop, and pretty much everything under the sun. Yet, you cannot run away from the electronica elements of everything, and that is what Prefuse 73 represents. He represents unforgiving and bold vision of what sounds made from a computer can do. Fused with brilliant beats in the background, everything comes alive in this album. I was immediately hooked to this album because of the one song called Class of 73 Bells that features School of Seven Bells. It sounds more like a chant of some sort, but it has been in my mind ever since I heard it for the first time last night. Believe me when I say that this is a song that sticks to the cells in your brain and keeps them alive and fired up. Some people classify him more as a producer, and that is not exactly inaccurate. If that is true, then even Timbaland is not worthy enough to lick his boots, because this guy is the real deal. Whatever you are hearing on the radio can never be compared to what he can accomplish. The playful tunes that he conjures up can only be describe by one word - eclectic. Prefuse 73 is definitely one of my new loves in this new world of music I am being exposed to, and I am excited about the possibilities and places it'd bring me to. Lead me on, Prefuse 73! Albums by the artiste:
1) Vocal Studies + Uprock Narratives (2001)
2) One Word Extinguishers (2003)
3) Surrounded by Silence (2005)
4) Preparations (2007)
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on Thursday, January 01, 2009 at 11:50 PM.
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6:11 AM
Aether is one person...just so happens to be that he shares the same name as a band but that's the only similarity between the two. For more info about Aether and other releases from Exponential Records, please visit www.antipop.net
Thanks!