mixaZEN - A blog about Art, Design, Film, Music, Photography

If you see this message, pls write me e-mail! You very need me!
Ella, don't worry, be happy!
You MikE`ua

Powered by ScribeFire.

Gebr. Teichmann - The Number Of The Beat
(Disko B, 2007)

The
DJ-Brothers Andi and Hannes Teichmann, originally from Regensburg /
Germany, were exposed to music by their father, the jazz saxophonist
Ullrich Teichmann, right from the early days. At the young age of 12
and 9 they formed their first band Totalschaden (Write-off). During
their teenage years they matured to be leading figures in the regional
music scene and later became founding members of the band Beige GT
which would grow to national and international fame after their debut
album Jukebox heroes

Powered by ScribeFire.

Holy Fuck - Holy Fuck (album)
(2007)

Holy
Fuck are a Toronto-based outfit, with a concept to mimic modern
electronic music, without using modern equipment, such as laptops or
programmed backing tracks. They record and play (unrehearsed) live with
traditional instruments like drums, a bass and keyboards, as well as
toy keyboards, guitar peddles, mixers, and even a 35mm film
synchronizer.

They have collaborated frequently with Anti Pop
Consortium MC, Beans. They've also toured as openers for acts like !!!
and Do May Say Think, amongst many others. They carry a core line-up of
Brian Borcherdt, Graham Walsh, Kevin Lynn, and alternating drummers
Glenn Milchem and Loel Campbell, while others continue to come in and
out of the fold.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Super Furry Animals - Fuzzy Logic
(Creation, 1996)

Super
Furry Animals' debut, FUZZY LOGIC, introduced the Welsh quintet's
willfully idiosyncratic sensibility, catchy songcraft, and
genre-synthesising rock in grand style. While the band's ambition is
sometimes a liability, it is hard not to be intoxicated by the musical
merry-go-round here, from the hard-driving punk-pop of "God! Show Me
Magic" to the expansive psych-lounge vibe of "Mario Man". Crunching
guitars, keyboard flourishes, and lushly layered harmonies combine to
create a surreal, dynamically diverse, and totally engaging set.
The
Super Furries include among their touchstones late-'60s psychedelia
("Fuzzy Birds"), surging punk ("Frisbee"), arty Britpop a la the Kinks
("Hometown Unicorn"), and tongue-in-cheek anthems ("If You Don't Want
Me to Destroy You").Often the group will mix these elements within a
single song, as on the alternately jittery and sweepingly melodic pop
gem "Something 4 the Weekend". SFA would go on to release albums even
more eclectic than FUZZY LOGIC, but the hooks, energy, and freewheeling
fun of this record still make it one of their best.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Miracle Fortress - Five Roses
(Rough Trade, 2007)

Miracle
Fortress is the brainchild of Graham Van Pelt, a Montreal-based
multi-instrumentalist and vocalist who in this incarnation builds wall
of sound pop songs in the tradition of Brian Wilson and Brian Eno.
Originally from Stratford, Ontario, Graham is also a member of
Montreal's Think About Life (Alien8 Recordings). He began to record as
Miracle Fortress after co-founding the multi-functional art
space/venue/studio space Friendship Cove with local artist Jack Dylan
in Montreal's Griffintown in late 2005. A 5 song EP, Watery Grave, led
to a collaboration with Secret City Records in 2006 to record a full
length LP. Graham spent a larger part of the year building into the
Friendship Cove studio and recording the Miracle Fortress debut, taking
time out to perform as a solo act opening for bands like Love is All,
Vic Chestnut, and locals Sunset Rubdown and Islands. Five Roses was
completed in January 2007 and is an ambitious and engaging record of
pop songs that echo My Bloody Valentine and the Beach Boys alike. It
will be released in May 2007. Sunset Rubdown's Jordan Robson-Cramer
(who also plays on the B-side to the first single), Telefauna's Adam
Waito, and SS Cardiacs' Jessie Stein have recently joined Graham in the
live lineup of Miracle Fortress.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Tom Middleton - Lifetracks
(Big Chill, 2007)

'Lifetracks'
is a sweet album. It takes you on a journey and has a lot of mood and
feeling. Tom Middleton is definitely someone to take note of. He's
created a lot of atmosphere in this album and I reckon it's a long
player. It's relevant to the modern thinker and creative person and has
all the layers to make you want to go there again.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Octogen - Square Bells EP
(Soma, 2007)

1. Ploughs And Clouds
2. Square Bells Edition 1
3. Sunset Over Tao
4. Influential Perfection

Powered by ScribeFire.

Nôze - How To Dance
(Word and S, 2006)

A bit freaky.

They
are back they are all there: choruses, old stories and relentless
post-digital refrains... At Nôze's evrything comes along from the
kitchen to the ceiling. The energy of what they give into live and
compose in their basement (mixture of Brazil and percussions): they are
insane these Nôzians! But from which planet are they coming from to
initiate us to the joys of dancing? One year after their brilliant
"Craft Sounds & Voices", this Parisian duet from Circus Company
comes back to earth with "How To Dance", an outstanding follow-up of
their European tour. Composed of 12 new incitement to take off from the
dance floor (refrains engraving on the brain like hacking it, a groove
which takes over the body like viral disease). "How to dance" restores
the most festive part of the electro scene through a positively
dancefloor album: let' s shake!

Powered by ScribeFire.

Eliot Lipp - City Synthesis
(Metatronix, 2007)

There's
something quite appealing to me about Eliot Lipp's patented brand of
squelching wonky synth-hop. It's hip hop for sure - the beats are
tighter than something I shouldn't probably mention on a page that can
be read by minors, but there's more than just beats here, more than
just a reference to what's come before. I could reference Dabrye of
course, as he has a similar originality and deft talent in hip hop
manipulation, but Lipp doesn't sound like Dabrye, instead he has forged
a sound indebted to early electronic music (think BBC Radiophonic
workshop) just as much as it is indebted to early B-Boy anthems. If you
don't believe me all you need to do is place your ears around 'Hard 2
Get' which is as squelchy a piece of hip hop I've ever heard, with a
gurgling MS20-sounding bass line that literally makes me weak at the
knees. With ten instrumentals and one vocal and mastered nice and loud
by the man Supersoul there should be enough here for any self
respecting hip hopper to get all red-eyed about. Heavy.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Boom Bip - Sacchrilege EP
(Lex, 2007)

Highly Recommended!

It's
been described by an Italo-loving electronic music expert at Vice
magazine as "Amazing - It's like he's written the soundtrack to my
thoughts."

In a recent interview, Boom Bip said "I Figured a lot
of fans would consider it a departure from what I usually do - this is
happy, danceable and seems sugar coated... Sacrilege to purist Boom Bip
fans plus artificial sweetner Saccharin. Together... well you get it."

Powered by ScribeFire.

jimmy edgar - color strip
(warp, 2006)

'Color
Strip' seems to be adhering to a new trend at Warp (see also Battles'
EP) to close a release with a shit-load of 5-second pieces (76 in this
case...) that make up (in this case...) a sizeable buffer for the
hidden track. Still with us? Detroit resident and wannabe underwear
magnet, Jimmy Edgar continues his clean break with Prefuse-style
shenanigans for this LP of metal-coated funked-up techno/dub -
including previous EP additions 'I Wanna Be Your STD' and LBLBDetroit'.
At his best when he indulges in smooth beats and silky production, the
aforementioned 'I Wanna Be Your STD' grafts a Dragnet-style rap atop
skittering dub ballast, whilst 'LBLBDetroit' opts for some spotless
tech/dub that's spent too long polishing its g-funk back catalogue.
Elsewhere, 'Hold It, Attach It' sounds like Paul Hardcastle for the
Basic Channel-generation, 'Of The Silent Variety' is all neon-beats and
squelchy-Jacques Le Cont-backdrops, whilst 'Color Strip Warren' slows
it down for the obligatory star-gazer.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Junior Boys - Last Exit
(Kin, 2004)

Last
Exit was preceded by two 12" releases that were strategically placed in
the hands of critics/bloggers who were likely to be open to Junior
Boys' sound -- a mishmash incorporating parts from numerous styles and
countless artists while being evasive enough to prevent dismissive
accusations of plagiarism. The slippery tendencies left the releases
open to several elaborate rounds of "spot the influence" on the part of
the writers, all of whom were successful to some extent. Call the group
bedroom dance-pop, a boy band conceived by The Wire, sophisti-pop as
produced by Germany's Timbaland analogue -- whatever. The group's
ability to synthesize so many elements with such subtlety really isn't
their greatest asset; it's that their music can be enjoyed with or
without all of the analysis and context, whether you're tucked inside a
snowbound outpost or winding your way through some vast metropolis
during nighttime. Several Last Exit highlights come from the teaser
releases. "High Come Down," "Birthday," and "Last Exit" run on sparse
skitter-beats, elliptical keyboard prickles, and endearingly vulnerable
vocals, and they're all coated in a compound of arctic frost and
stardust. "Under the Sun," however, is a guitar-driven detour into
shadowy atmospherics, trailed shortly thereafter by new song "Teach Me
How to Fight" - the group at their prettiest and most touching thus
far. The difference between the two songs illustrates the group's
second greatest asset - their ability to be alluringly aloof, only to
bring you to your knees with something wholly heartrending. If you like
your pop a little left of center and found the Postal Service to be too
cute and syrupy, your fix is here. And, just as a point of order,
Junior Boys' use of synthesizers and drum machines -- unlike a lot of
groups and producers these days -- is a lot more contemporary than
past-obsessed. [The Domino version, distributed in the U.S., adds a
second disc containing the non-album cuts from the singles.]
- Allmusic.com

Powered by ScribeFire.

various - twee
(by wearemonsters, 2007)

1. cats on fire - higher grounds
2. language of flowers - if it's not you
3. the faiways - secretive girl
4. my favorite - absolute beginners again
5. shop assistant - all that ever mattered
6. the lucksmiths - the music next door
7. math and physics club - when we get famous
8. velocity girl - candy apples
9. the radio dept. - a window
10. the guilld league - jet set... go!
11. viva voce - the lucky ones
12. mazarin - another one goes by
13. saunabur - redemption

Powered by ScribeFire.