ChinaShop

Another in what seems to be a legion of 80s-influenced electronica/DJ/synth duos from Brooklyn, I’m starting to realize that really all these bands are doing is conjuring all the sounds of that decade, including all those over-produced synth samples and drum machines, minus the loud colors and Trapper-Keeper designs and cliche lyrics. Okay, maybe just the cliche lyrics. But Telepathe (pronounced Telepathy, kids) seeks to control your mind with more of a minimalist sound, one that flies in the face of everything the 80s did wrong. It helps that the lyrics are unabashedly tongue-in-cheek, poking fun at what made so many of the bands of the 80s so laughable. These girls are clearly a couple of goofy weirdos (as the awesomeness that is the video for “So Fine” proves) and great at not taking themselves seriously, which makes this all the more fun to listen to, and even enjoyable in the onslaught of uber-nostalgic eighties-worshiping electro-DJ/dance/post-disco groups all over the place today. Things will be looking up with this whole vicious cycle, provided we start getting more groups who are self-deprecating and less self-aggrandizing. Go to Red Bull Music Aademy Radio now and get yourself brainwashed.

5.00 (1 votes)

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For whatever reason, The Memory Tapes is one of those groups a bunch of us at ChinaShop all sort of stumbled upon separately and just decided that we loved. And for whatever reason Dayve Hawke’s mad and eclectic genius has garnered the attention of a lot of famous players, including Britney Spears and Phoenix — and he’s ended up doing quite a bit of remix work for all of them, so whatever he’s doing, I guess it’s working. I can’t point out exactly what it was about their first single, ‘Bicycle’, that had me so hooked, but I guess that’s what a great musician does — manages to tap that mainstream pulse and get your blood boiling for some indiscernible reason. On this particular episode of Fireside Chat, Hawke sorts through some of his main sources of inspiration: Aphex Twin, and Lindesfarne, Black Sabbath, and lo and behold — The friggin’ Cocteau Twins is his favorite band of all time? If anything, Hawke proves that he’s got an eclectic mix of genres that influenced him — many of them from the days of vinyl and cassette, which he presents on this episode remastered and re-formatted for  new era. In this case, it’s downright confusing, perhaps adding to the mystery heaped upon him by the indie media (not helped by the fact that his wikipedia page says Hawke is “known to be a recluse and is hesitant on touring, due to a fear of airplanes.” Go figure. You can get a peak inside his warped mind now at Red Bull Music Academy Radio.

5.00 (1 votes)

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Comprised of 3 rather pillaging-prone looking Swedes and an even more badass tiny Japanese singer, Little Dragon has eschewed the death metal-friendly territory of their hometown of Gothenberg in favor of some truly strange sonic textures. There’s certainly a dated sound to a lot of these synth samples, which a lot of critics keep labeling as ‘icy’, I guess because they’re from Sweden — though if you’re going by geek 80s record references alone, you might even recall some of the exact same effects being used on a Kate Bush or early Hyaena-era Siouxsie and the Banshees record. And yet still others sound a lot like stuff you would of heard from some flavor-of-the-week synth band like Nu Shooz or Tiffany, only a bit more tinkered with as far as delay, pitch, reverb, etc…whatever it is, it works, and to surprising effect — though it’s curious to hear sounds and samples that were considered hack 25 years ago which have now been recycled with more panache and class by new groups being revered as the Next Big Thing. I guess Baja Men have about another decade and a half to go before they start hearing the influence “Who Let the Dogs Out” had on aspiring rock stars still in their musical infancy who later ascended to greatness. Rambling aside, these guys are weird, and in a more infectious, shake-yer-ass sort of way than the aforementioned. All the more reason to get to the parti now on Red Bull Music Academy Radio…

5.00 (1 votes)

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Posing by a Delorian seems like a fail-safe marketing move – you see Marty McFly’s car, and you’re probably interested in what’s being offered. In this case, it’s also quite appropriate, as Chromeo consists of a couple talented guys (David Macklovitch/P-Thugg and Patrick Gemayel/Dave 1) who’ve immersed themselves in the electrofunk and R&B pop of yore, and whose own brand comes so close to sounding exactly like Klymaxx or Tito Jackson that one might believe they really did fly back in time to steal their sounds. But it’s not only a devotion to that old sound, but a duo whose hard work remixing a variety of artists — everyone from Lenny Kravitz to Hall and Oates, the latter of whom they’ve even been compared with — is finally getting them some exposure. (Though to be fair, one of them being the brother of the one-and-only A-Trak, winner of the 2007 DMC World Championships, surely can’t hurt their chances). Throw in that unmistakable reverence for 1980s/early 90s radio-R & B and pop like Tito and Rockwell, and Chromeo proves all it takes is that love for rehashed music, and maybe a little patience as you wait over a period of a decade or 2 for the musical cycle you’re in to repeat itself, to get yourself noticed. The right amount of work and the right timing is everything. Enough lecturing; Red Bull Music Academy Radio can school you best.

5.00 (1 votes)

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As their bio pretty much sums up the importance of this incendiary Seattle band, I’ll just paraphrase that while it may have been Nirvana that moved all eyes towards the Northwest, Mudhoney were the original originals. A notably garage rock-influenced, fuzz-addicted furious four that put out a little gem of an EP called Superfuzz Bigmuff, and ended up inspiring Cobain to dream of Nirvana. You might have even heard the guys gave birth to an early incarnation of Pearl Jam. I remember even as a wee lad hearing my friend’s teenage brother blasting Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge in his room, and proclaiming that they were the next big thing. Damned if he wasn’t rather prescient for a pimply-faced punk, as EGBDF ended up being the one that got them signed by Reprise. Though the group undeservedly got some backlash for putting out an album so soon after Kurt Cobain’s death, as if they were somehow responsible for it (even though they admittedly did make a remark about some anonymous musician blowing his brains out on “Into Yer Shtik”), they’ve been touted for years as one of the most important groups to ever come out of Washington, and one of the 2 or 3 that really gave birth to the Seattle Scene. You get the point; they were important. And for more on this seminal punked-out, garage-grunge quasi-metal outfit, head over to Red Bull Music Academy Radio, and listen to Mark Arm, Steve Turner, Dan Peters, and Guy Maddison give a Fireside Chat on their legendary exploits in and out of Seattle.

5.00 (1 votes)

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As far as musical devotion, Funk is certainly the shrine at which Karl Hector and The Malcouns worship first and foremost. But their musical palette is a diverse, chaotic one, and muddled with a mosaic of different musical tastes. So…don’t start running for your predictable verse/chorus/verse pop yet: this is an anarchy of the good kind, a delectable kind of disorder that even the most hard-assed funn-duddys will find it impossible to resist (more likely if under the influence of illegal substances and/or alcohol). Listening to the somewhat tried-and-true reggae and boogie stylings of Hector, however, the more middle-eastern flavor that’s really the centerpiece of the band’s sound could go entirely unnoticed. It goes without saying that they’re extremely talented, weaving in and out of that vaguely Ravi Shankar-esque-pseudo-sitar-sounding melodies, with some acid jazz and psychedelic riffs and what sounds like a nodding off Buddy Rich behind the skins. But again, I might emphasize that the more you listen, the more you appreciate them. It’s a hundred-miles-an-hour impromptu free for all, but also an afrocentric-tinged party that sounds like The Animals or even a Grateful Dead style jam session at times. And well worth listening to should you have the patience. Sample yourself some now at Red Bull Music Academy Radio.

5.00 (3 votes)

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With a band called Gallows — on a label like Epitaph, no less — one might not be expecting the most uplifting or positive musical vibes from a British quintet dressed like they’re ready to go to a funeral. Then again, if you’ve been to Britain during the winter, you might understand why the group might choose to dress that way (or look a bit on the glum side). And just to solidify their stance on society, their lyrics couldn’t be any more straightforward: “We have no fear, we have no pity/We hate you, we hate this city.” The boys were banned from playing the House of Blues by Disney, after all — and if you heard the first few seconds of the track “Misery”, which sounds a bit like a cross between a military march and a funeral dirge before it gallops into a full-blown, old school thrash/punk hybrid, it’s apparent the band is only being truthful with such a moniker. It gets better: the track ends with what sounds like a pig being slaughtered, or maybe in heat. But the boys get bonus points for saluting the British metal sounds of the late 70s and early 80s (check out their somewhat unfaithful but undeniably true-to-their-own-sound cover of Maiden’s “Wrathchild”).  They’re coming to get you, OOOOO YEAH. Oh yeah, check out Red Bull Music Academy for more.

5.00 (2 votes)

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Two of the most elite names in DJing recently joined forces at The Sound Table for an exclusive live set on Red Bull Music Academy Radio. Mixing what sounds like 70s porno music with the very best of rhythm and funk that same decade had to offer, Cosmo Baker is already considered to be at the very forefront of his profession as a “world-renowned partymaker” — and a master of everything from electronica, disco, and someone whom other DJs have been quick to praise. Take DJ Jazzy Jeff, for instance, who was quick to point out that “when it comes to keeping the Philly Music tradition going, Cosmo has it locked. His knowledge is incredible and his Crates are deep and his passion and skills makes him one of my favs.”The man knows how to network to, having remixed everyone from Moby to Notorious B.I.G. Hailing from Philly, home of ?uestlove, King Britt, (and having been mentored by the latter), Cosmo Baker made enough of a name for himself to travel outside his hometown and meet up with two other industry legends. Kon and Amir, Cosmo’s current partners in crime, are clearly not ones to eschew their roots and origins in favor of current trends and flavor-of-the-week remixes; a philosophy that favors the old school over the new has earned them no fewer accolades than Baker himself: “Their compilations and mixtapes are classics and represent a style of Djing that’s true to the essence of Hip-Hop,” renowned DJing rag A-Trak states. See for yourself what all the hype is about below.

5.00 (2 votes)

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It might be difficult for those jaded raver kiddies to know how to react when Jazztronauts, aka Jonathan Craft, take(s) the stage. Rest assured, the Belgian-born DJ has your best interests at heart : Taking the best of jazz throughout the past 30 or so years (but especially the last two decades or so) Jazztronauts revel in their adoration for the genre with a mix of dancy, techno dance beats — the proof is right in his ambitious remix of BLUE’s “Fall to the Stars”). So they know their roots but have the souls of ravers; they’ve obviously done their homework, studied their music history, and come a long way after a lot of hard work. “Gotta Beat It” sounds like a cross between Square Pusher and the bebop of John Coltrane, “Homefree” could be the surrealist soundtrack to a Bunuel movie, if they were blended with those similar jazz sounds of old…what’s more, the DJ’s life seems to be taking off even more since he started offering his services as a producer. Considering he got his start at the ripe old age of 21, he’s come a long way. Jazzaholics and electronica fans alike will find something to love now at Red Bull Music Academy Radio.

5.00 (2 votes)

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Well, largely unknown until now, anyways. This week Red Bull Music Academy Radio highlights the work of Leroy Burgess, the founder of a late-sixties soul trio and a guy not only considered one of soul’s most renowned producers, but a pioneer of the sound known as boogie as well. Addition, he helped form the soul group Black Ivory. By the time Burgess was starting to get popular, the travesty known as disco exploded on the scene, and Burgess was simply unable to compete. Burgess stuck with his talents though, pouring energy into helping write hits for musicians/groups like Fonda Rae, Aleem, and Convertion, not to mention the one and only Rick James. And Burgess’ brainchild, Black Ivory, has earned countless accolades industry stalwart and hitherto-relatively unknown gem of soul/disco/R&B, having released a string of serious hits like “I’ll Find A Way (The Loneliest Man In Town)”, “Spinning Around”, “What Goes Around (Comes Around)” and “Will We Ever Come Together” — one of which you’ve almost certainly heard on one of countless jazz/R&B/classic soul stations on the radio. Right now though you can get a little taste of what you’ve been missing below.

5.00 (1 votes)

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