Category Archives: Music

Music

Touché is Fake Blood!!

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Fake Blood logo
Somehow I missed the memo when the whole “Who is Fake Blood!?” question was answered! I don’t know how I did, but it looks like it’s been confirmed that Touché is indeed Fake Blood.

Fake Blood has probably been my favorite DJ/remixer of 2008. His choppy remixes with the signature “Fake Blood” callout have been awesome. A quick Hype Machine search for “fake blood” will give you a bunch of goodies.

Or you can “listen” to the songs via YouTube. My favorites (in order) are:

  1. Fake Blood’s remix of Little Boots’ “Stuck On Repeat” (seriously: this is probably the #1 track of 2008!)
  2. Fake Blood’s remix of The Kills’ “Cheap and Cheerful”
  3. Fake Blood’s remix of The Black Ghosts’ “Anyway You Choose To Give It”
  4. Fake Blood’s remix of Armand van Helden’s “I Want Your Soul” (and you gotta love the sampling of Siedah Garrett’s “Do You Want It Right Now”)

Also be sure to check out the “Splashing Blood” (The Fake Blood Theme Song), which I don’t love as much as his remixes.

As for Touché, I hate to admit I don’t know much/don’t have much by him. Time for some research!

Playlists

Seven Song Meme

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I’ve been meaning to get back into the blogging thing for a few weeks, so since Molly tagged me to join her Seven Song meme, I’ll take that as a cue to get warm up.

According to iTunes, these are the seven songs that I’ve most recently added that have a rating of four or more stars:

  1. Kylie Minogue – “The One” (Freemasons Vocal Club Mix)
  2. Feadz – “Cool as Feadz”
  3. Little Boots – “Stuck On Repeat” (Fake Blood remix)
  4. Coldplay – “Viva La Vida”
  5. Hercules and Love Affair – “You Belong” (Riton remix)
  6. Bronski Beat – “Hit That Perfect Beat” (SirBilly HI NRG Vocal Re-Edit)
  7. Alphabeat – “Touch Me Touching You”
Movie Reviews, Music, Philosophy

Across the Universe

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Across the Universe
The film Across the Universe accomplished something that I’ve been playing around with in my head for a long time: Create dialogue that constantly references pop music lyrics. While Across the Universe took the idea a step further and turned that dialogue into a musical format, I still love the idea and was impressed with the execution.

That said, I’m not sure that the reason for doing it in Across the Universe stems from my inspiration. Across the Universe is a complete homage to the Beatles — from the psychedelic song numbers to the ’60s themes of peace, love, and war. Even the characters names (Max[well], Jude, Lucy, Sadie, JoJo, Prudence, etc.) and events (“she climbed in through the bathroom window”) come from Beatles songs.

I am more interested in the way that popular culture (such as pop music lyrics) permeates into language and somewhat dis/replace everyday language.

I remember reading something in one of my classes that asked whether saying the phrase, “I love you truly and dearly” (or something like that) has lost its value since the phrase had been so overused and cheapened by cheesy romance novels. And further, whether when someone says that, they are saying it because that is the most accurate language to describe or whether they are saying it because they have heard it said so many times in movies/read it in books that the phrase is just expected.

So basically what I am trying to get at has to do with whether the commercialization and constant repetition present in pop culture can void language of its original meaning and/or make it seem too cheesy and disingenuous that even something that is intended to sound sincere cannot anymore.

For some story I was writing at some point (I don’t recall what year I wrote it…) I used Pixies lyrics in place of actual dialogue:

“Hold my head,” he said to her. “We’ll trampoline.” Personally, I don’t think that hold his head would help much, nor did I understand the trampoline thing – that’s how they acted like all the time though, very random.
“No, my child. That is not my desire.” And then she said, “I’m digging for fire.”

and Coldplay:

I spilled my guts for hours. “I came here with a load,” I explained. “I could never go on without you,” I stuttered. “You’re the one that I wanted to find,” I claimed.

But back to the movie — which was awesome. Great songs, great singing, amazing special effects (and done tastefully), compelling/emotional story, etc. etc. etc.

The only thing I didn’t like about it was the feeling I get whenever I watch movies about the ’60s: I get this sense of nostalgia (for a time during which I wasn’t even alive) and disappointment at the same time: “we” were so close really revolutionizing thought and culture but it didn’t quite work. In the end of Across the Universe love wins, blah blah blah but that’s about it… society didn’t change. Just like at the end of Velvet Goldmine: “We set out to change the world, but in the end we only changed ourselves.”

Music

D.A.N.C.E. Seattle

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I just returned from the Justice concert.

First, this concert has been a series of ups and downs for me. I got my tickets in August and have been excited for the show since then… then about a month or so ago I found out that Midnight Juggernauts were added to the show. I was super excited because I love Midnight Juggernauts (the song “Tombstone” is absolutely amazing!) and have actually been hoping they would tour the U.S.

Ever since I found out that Midnight Juggernauts were gonna be there, I have been on a campaign to convince my friends to go. Then once I finally get someone to want to go, I find out that the show had been sold out for a week! I had been trying to get tickets all week, but the competition was too tough. (For example, one person from Spokane, Wash. was willing to pay like $200 for a ticket!!) So tonight comes and I don’t have a ticket and I’m resigned to going alone (which is fine — I go to concerts alone frequently).

But then when I went to Neumos earlier today to check the set times, I noticed that Midnight Juggernauts weren’t on there!!! I asked the woman at the box office what happened to Midnight Juggernauts and she was like, “I don’t know what that is.”

I got home and did some research and it turns out that Midnight Juggernaughts were invited to London and Paris to join the Institubes tour (the DJs who blew me away when they wore animal masks a while back). I guess if I were in their situation I would do the same thing. Surkin is fuckin’ hot and an awesome DJ.

I must admit — I was actually more excited to see the Midnight Juggernauts than Justice. I knew that everyone would be super excited for Justice since they were the headliners and all… but musically, I love Midnight Juggernauts more and it’s always more fun to be super into a band when not everyone is as into it…

To make up for removing Midnight Juggernauts (I think?) they added DJ Mehdi to the lineup… I’ll admit, despite DJ Mehdi’s awesome cred, I haven’t been a huge fan of his work. But at the show he was amazing.

Rather than performing his own work, he did a DJ set. It started off a bit slow (which was fine since I wanted to go get a drink anyway…), but then it really picked up. I cannot remember everything he played, but I know it included “Bump” by Spank Rock, “A Bit Patchy” by Switch, “& Down” by Boys Noize, “Get Innocuous” by LCD Soundsystem, and best of all, he closed the show with an extended (by his own doing) version of the Boys Noize remix of “My Moon My Man” by Feist. (I wish I had the Oi Oi Oi shirt I ordered recently!!!) He also threw in some Justice to get people psyched (including the Erol Alkan remix of “Waters of Nazareth” which was especially perfect for me since I was wearing my Erol Alkan t-shirt).

Justice took the stage immediately after DJ Mehdhi, which was great since we didn’t wait around. Justice is obviously taking after Daft Punk — the stage was arranged so that they were behind a large structure with a cross (their logo) in the middle. Checkout photos of them playing live on Pitchfork (and weep with me at how awesome Midnight Juggernauts could have been…).

Also like Daft Punk, their show consisted of them weaving in and out of various songs on their album. “Phantom,” for example, made numerous appearances. Unlike Daft Punk, they included a few remixes in the set as well (includng “Skitzo Dancer” by Scenerio Rock, which I thought was a strange choice considering how many more awesome remix they have).

There were two hits of the night: First was “D.A.N.C.E.” which started out slow and ballad-like then progressed into the “D.A.N.C.E.”-friendly song we all know and love. It wasn’t quite as energetic as I hoped, unfortunately. Then at the end before the encore they did “We Are Your Friends,” the song that arguably put Justice on the map (I first heard the song in May, 2006).

Speaking of encore, it started with a Justice-y remix of Soulwax’s “NY Excuse” and merged into other Justice songs, including one that I totally recognized but couldn’t name.

Downsides: 1. This was the first concert/going out where I actually got tired and needed to take a break for water and stuff! (usually I like to think of myself as the one who keeps on going); 2. There wasn’t any merchandise for sale after the show!; 3. The aforementioned lack of Midnight Juggernauts.

All in all, it was a fun show. My expectations were certainly too high, however. This was my fourth show of the week. I would rate then: 1. Datarock, 2. Justice, 3. Crystal Castles/Metric, 4. Trentemoller.

UPDATE (October 17th, 2007)
I got this e-mail from Midnight Juggernauts (via MySpace):

finally getting through our myspace messages. yeah we missed seattle unfortunately because the stage wasn’t big enough for us to set up on. we’ll be back early next year though. all the best

Also, I’ve remembered more songs that DJ Mehdi played: “Radio Fireworks” by Surkin, “Standing in the Way of Control” by the Gossip, and “Inner City Life” by Goldie.

Also: maybe I like seeing DJs better than bands???

Music, Politics

John the Revelator

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“John the Revelator” has been one of my favorite Depeche Mode songs ever since I first heard it on Playing the Angel (which also happens to be my favorite Depeche Mode album [yes, I’m not quite a Gen-X’er]).

For the fun of it, I was reading about the song today and came across this amazing unofficial video:

I love that the video really highlights the transgressive nature of the Depeche Mode re-interpretation of the “traditional” version of “John the Revelator,” which has a much more religious tone. (Not that the Depeche Mode version isn’t religious — but it’s anti-religious, if anything.) Showing George W. Bush as an evil version of John the Revelator is just awesome.

In addition to that awesome video, the CD single for “John the Revelator” is pretty great, too. The UNKLE remix is my favorite, but Tiefschwarz does nice straightforward and dub versions of the song, too.

Finally, the official version of the video is nice too… it captures the spirit of their “Touring the Angel” tour (which I didn’t see in person but have a DVD of…):

Music, Seattle

EMP: Not Electronic-Friendly

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I went to the Experience Music Project for the third time yesterday. The first time I loved the exhibit about the history of alternative music (or so I recall that’s what it was about — in particular I remember a special mini-section about the Minnesota music scene which I found awesome and validated my love for bands like Babes in Toyland [the original bassist went to my high school]). But the first time I went was in 1998 and my musical interests have changed a lot since then.

Despite looking all cool and futuristic, the museum is pretty stuck-in-the-past.

Okay, I take that back. When it comes to hip-hop music, the museum is surprisingly progressive. It actually acknowledges hip-hop as a valid music style and even has a featured exhibit called Yes Yes Y’all: The First Decade of Hip-Hop. It’s cool. Hip-hop artists and history is also featured prominently in the Sound and Vision: Artists Tell Their Stories permanent exhibit.

But when it comes to electronic music, there is nothing. The most electronic artist I could find featured was Afrika Bambaataa. There were a few things about DJing but it was all in the context of how that’s related to hip-hop and whatnot.

So while I want to say, “The EMP doesn’t have electronic music because it’s mostly just a rock ‘n’ roll museum,” the inclusion of all the hip-hop stuff (which is awesome, don’t get me wrong!!) shows that the museum wants to be more than just rock ‘n’ roll.

I guess there are two explanations for why there is such a blatant lack of electronic representation: one innocent reason and one more sinister.

Innocent: Electronic music could be considered even more recent than hip-hop music. A lot of the ideology behind electronic music and the DJ culture around it comes directly from hip-hop.

Sinister: Electronic isn’t considered “genuine” enough or “valid” enough as a musical genre. Maybe the curators think that it’s too trendy and isn’t going to last?

Most likely, the truth lies somewhere between those two explanations. But it’s still unfortunate. Imagine the Sound Lab with some more interesting keyboards and turntables and computers used for mixing electronic music. That would be awesome.

Or instead of the Guitar Gallery, how awesome would a gallery of the history of electronic instruments be??? Last weekend my friend Justin performed in the Seattle premier of Turangalîla. There was a very interesting instrument called ondes Martenot. I would love to see and learn more about proto-electronic instruments like this and the EMP with its Frank Gehry design and attached Science Fiction Museum seems like the perfect place.

Perhaps in a few years something will change. I do intend to send this feedback to the EMP and will of course post an update if I hear anything back.

Music, Trends

Masks Are The New Black

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Recently I’ve noticed that masks are the new cool thing to wear. Animal masks, in particular.

Exhibit A:
Fox N’ Wolf performing “In Yr Underwear”:

and

Exhibit B:
The Bat For Lashes video “What’s A Girl To Do”:

Exhibit C (my favorite):
Last night at the ridiculously awesome Institubes Paris Terror Club show a bunch of the DJs were wearing animal masks:
DJs wearing masks

(On a side note: the concert was absolutely amazing… Surkin and Curses! totally blew me away. There was silly string, hella dancing, “Hungry 4 Love,” the Switch remix of Nine Inch Nail’s “Capital G,” some Klaxons remixes, Boys Noize‘s “& Down,” animal masks, and a bunch of other stuff that I was too drunk to remember! It might beat out Soulwax’s show as my favorite event at Chop Suey.)

So what does this animal mask trend mean? Honestly, I don’t have any theories yet but I’d love to hear others.

Music, Trends

Frankie Valli

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For some reason Frankie Valli seems to be the guy right now.

A while back Pilooski remixed “Beggin'” and spawned this awesome video:

Then I saw that Simian Mobile Disco mentioned his song “The Night” as one of their current faves. And pretty much immediately after I saw that I noticed that Leam or Rosebud had already remixed the song!

And if you check out searches for “valli” on HypeMachine there is quite a bit.

I’ll admit, I think this is awesome. I’ve loved The Four Seasons since I was a little kid. Songs like “Let’s Hang On” and “Sherry” and “Working My Way Back To You” still have more of an emotional effect on me than I would expect.

Let’s hope that we see some more Franki Valli and Four Seasons remixes coming soon.