Monday, February 5, 2024

KRUDER & DORFMEISTER LIVE AT ANCIENNE BELGIQUE (30TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW)

 In an EDM landscape where currently it's all about the drop, it might be difficult to articulate the late 90s-early aughts salad days of Kruder & Dorfmeister. DJs and producers were beginning to get some shine, but the music itself was still firmly rooted in the subculture.

I recall working in a busy office in 2001 where we passed around a CD (CD!) copy of "The K&D Sessions," burning copies (burning copies!) in our disc drives until the vast majority of the floor was bumping it out of their cubicles. This is only notable because the office was a record label where new releases (both ours and those of other labels) were both ubiquitous and easy to procure. Yet here we all were, grown adults, taking turns making bootleg copies of an album that was already three years old.

Vinyl of that release goes for nearly $100 at most record shops these days, and it's a testament to the technical and creative genius of the Austrian duo that a double-length DJ mix maintains it's hold on listener's imaginations some thirty years on.

As such, I was thrilled to stumble across this thirtieth anniversary concert on YouTube that heralds that heyday. The surreal mystique is still intact, and yet it somehow sounds more alive and vital than ever (and they peak with "Bug Powder Dust"...*chefs kiss*). If you value mood and surprise over bounce and bombast, do yourself a favor.

And it's still sounds office-friendly...for most offices, anyway.



Thursday, February 1, 2024

PODFLASH 001 | MISTER MELLOW

Winter in Las Vegas is about as brief and painless as one could hope for in the United States, but for the short few days it exists, our sun-drenched population really feels it, down to our bones.

It's one of those rare winter days right now in the Mojave desert, and as soon as the clouds rolled in, it put me right back in the space when I first kicked off this podcast a couple years ago. I don't recall exactly how I chose these tracks that afternoon, but I can surmise exactly how I was feeling; a sort of lazy, chilly joy. 

Tracklist:

1 Malphino "The Sleep Tree"
2 Yellow Pills "Come Over And Eat Some Food"
3 Easy Star All Stars "No Surprises"
4 Easy Star All Stars "Great Gig In The Sky"
5 Khrungabin "Summer Madness"
6 Cymande "Dove"
7 Maynard Ferguson "Mister Mellow"
8 Chicano Batman "A Cool Blessing"
9 Azymuth "Montreal City"
10 Donny Hathaway "Valdez In The Country"
11 Baldwin Brothers "Lava Lamp"
12 Patchworks "Summertime"
13 Boozoo Bajou "Big Nicks"
14 Quincy Jones "Summer In The City"
15 Lonnie Liston Smith "Voodoo Woman"

Also streaming on Mixcloud, if you prefer.

Friday, May 20, 2016

EVERY NOISE AT ONCE


If you've ever been vexed by the complex issue (or non-issue) of music genre, or even if you just want to have fun with music for a few minutes, you really need to visit the Every Noise page. Ambitious in its scope, it defines itself as an "ongoing attempt at an algorithmically-generated, readability-adjusted scatter-plot of the musical genre-space...". But mostly it's just fun. Check it out now.

Thursday, May 19, 2016

GOOD MANNERS MIX WITH KLLO

There was some nonsense floating around the interwebs recently that Soundcloud would continue to shoot itself in the foot by no longer featuring DJ mixes. Soundcloud denies this rumor, and I want to believe them, because the world would be denied little gems like this one. If you prefer to download it, you can do that here.
Visit: Good Manners Visit: Kllo

Friday, March 11, 2016

ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND'S LEGENDARY 1971 FILLMORE EAST RUN: AN ORAL HISTORY

Great job,  . I'll take any excuse to read some love for one of the all-time great bands, and the greatest all-time live album.

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

WHO THE F*@% IS FRANK ZAPPA?


Don't eat the yellow snow, but by all means support this Kickstarter. Brought to my attention by Kat Dennings, this is an absolute no-brainer for music history fans;  a cause we can all get behind. Click here.

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE NEXT GENERATION OF ARTISTS

Jazz greats Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter just dropped some serious truth if you are a creatively inclined person (or want to be). This is a great read that elevates above simple platitudes and hollow advice. Click here.

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

CAMERA OBSCURA AUCTIONS BELOVED ITEMS FOR SARCOMA UK CHARITY

Camera Obscura, one of my all-time favorite bands, suffered some terrible heartache late last year when their bandmate Carey Lander passed from a rare and aggressive form of bone cancer. Before she passed, she set up a fundraising campaign to help future victims of the affliction and got to see it reach and exceed her initial goal. With a level of support and hope seldom seen these days, the band publicly has handled the ordeal with immense class, and continues to find ways to make sure Carey's passing was not for nothing. 

Just today, the band began auctioning off prized band artifacts that would be of great interest to super-fans like myself. 100% of the profits go to Carey's charity, and you can own some of their guitars, rare recordings and even clothing. Click here to see the active bidding. And even if you can only manage a dollar or two, you can send it here

Whether it's someone we're close to, or someone we only know through music, this kind of forward-thinking effort is an excellent antidote to the helplessness that follows loss.

Saturday, February 20, 2016

YOU'RE PROBABLY LISTENING TO SPOTIFY WRONG...

Ok, I wouldn't say I listen to it wrong, because I'm a music nerd like that. Still, WIRED has some excellent suggestions if you're a regular user. Click here.

And then there's this: Forgotify