Category Archives: Independent

RO!T IN PARIS- Attack of the 5ft Hipster

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Damn these videos are good. Great execution! And an excellent way to drill their song in to my sub conscience.

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Also posted in Hip Hop, So Good It Hurts, Video |

Review: Shannon Harris Audio Urbanology: The Art of Audio Truism

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Shannon Harris Audio Urbanology: The Art of Audio Truism (Urbanicity Recordings) Release date: August 21

To get a sense of Shannon Harris¹s imaginative new album, you might look no further than its name: Audio Urbanology: The Art of Audio Truism, although, actually, I don¹t think he really means truism (loosely defined as a fact so obvious it¹s pointless to mention) as these tracks are indeed quite worth the mention. But the point is, yes, this is just that: a study of the city or, more precisely, its people and movement and rhythms. Employing more guest recordings than I can list here, Harris guides us through the late-night siren wails of the cities you know, across tin-drummed Caribbean beaches and onto the deep red dirt of an African road, all the while seamlessly weaving one style into another to create a sort of continuous acoustic mantra. Everything is familiar and haunting and evocative of something you somehow know. And then, most beautifully, I think, comes ³Spirits of the Black Experience,² which, were I a choreographer, I would attempt to stage, so thoroughly does it embody the echo of conflict and beauty, with nearly dissonant notes pushing up against an ever-rising rhythm. Harris is an artist whose musical awareness reaches so far across cultural lines it gives him full play with all of them, resulting in an album full of sound and feeling and signifying everything.
-Serena Hedison

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Countdown to Maximum Balloon: New track: “Groove Me”

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It’s TV on the Radio producer and musician David Sitek’s solo project Maximum Balloon and I’m listening to the most recently released track, “Groove Me” on a loop. What a way to live. I realize that, when inspired by music, I find myself thinking of LA’s freeways. You ever watch people roller skate to music? How happy and in the groove they are? That’s what this song is doing to me. Dancing is great, but in order to fully realize a beat as gorgeous as this, I think being on wheels would be best. If you cannot dance, if you cannot move, sometimes going for a drive is the thing. The swoop of an on-ramp, the tricky smooth transition to the fast lane: these are things that can emulate music. I am also beginning to think that certain keys and chords can actually induce happiness because I was in a bad mood half an hour ago. In the way discordant tones can cause visceral discomfort, I’d say “Groove Me” (featuring Theophilus London in one of Maximum Balloon’s many collaborations – see also Karen O, David Byrne and Tunde Adebimpe, among others) is an example of something completely concordant. It’s so good; each note hits me with a little ping of joy.

Previously released Maximum Balloon: “Tiger”: bouncy with a background kink.

Maximum Balloon¹s eponymous debut album drops August 24 with new tracks being intermittently released in these weeks prior.
-Serena Hedison

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Also posted in Brooklyn, Electro, Video |

Sort of Review of Hot Hot Heat’s “Future Breeds” and Ratatat’s “LP4,” with caveat.

HHH future breedsLP4 Album Art
So I’m trying to figure out which album to review. I have a couple choices, so I listen to the first one on the list, “Future Breeds” by Hot Hot Heat. And I like it. The energy of it. I think, yeah, this. But then, a few songs in, I’m gone. I’m at once in the music and then totally out of it. It just sort of loses me. Or maybe I lose it. Either way, we’ve stopped communicating. So, ok, I think, I’ll listen to the next one down, LP4, from Ratatat. Electronic, samples. Computer mastery. I’m into it. It’s textured, interesting. Good. But here again, I’m out. One song runs into the other. Something about the elements all sounds the same. And it’s like that with both. And I listen to them both again and am no closer to any sort of communion with either album.

Here’s the thing, though. This all means nothing. I like these albums. There’s a lot going on here. There is detail and certain influence and I appreciate that. There’s not even a “but” here. I’m just going to cede to the fact that I think sometimes you need to have a history with things, whether it be art or music or literature, in order to really appreciate them, and, certainly, to assess them properly. And I think this is the case here. I can say I think both these albums are good. There is a lot to them. LP4, even now, is growing on me. I would suggest you take a listen. If you’ve followed either of these bands, I think you’ll like what they’ve done. Both seem true. And that is definitely something.

-Serena Hedison

Both albums will be release June 8, 2010 on Dangerbird Records and XL respectively

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Also posted in On The Fence, Review |
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