Caught in the net - Wired for weird electronica
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Your support makes all the difference."Glitch-hop" isn't a term that fills me with excitement, but right now there's a bunch of producers in Southern California making music that has been given this catch-all name – I'm sure anyone included hates any such easy categorisation.
By and large, the sound involves the experimental end of electronica and instrumental hip-hop, with all manner of weird noises, robotic sounds and broken up rhythms thrown into the mix – it's a sunnier cousin perhaps to the type of dub-step made by Burial. One such interesting proponent, is 24-year-old beatmaker Jason Chung, who uses the name Nosaj Thing. His debut album 'Drift' came out in July and is available on iTunes. It's full of the aforementioned glitchy elements with plenty of other disorientating sounds in there too. Some tracks, including a fine remix of Radiohead's "Reckoner", can be heard at myspace.com/ nosajthing, while album track "Light #2" can be found at tinyurl.com/ n4f7vr. On my blog, independent.co. uk/lryan, you can hear his excellent tune "Coat of Arms", and I'll post an interview with Jason there next week.
Band-fan harmony
It's not the first time (see rossching. com/little-bribes), but this week the oft-scorned "fan video" is getting positive attention. Despite there already being an official promo for Grizzly Bear's harmony-heavy song "Two Weeks" (tinyurl.com/ opjjyw), a fellow called Gabe Askew made his own version and it's a stunning animated effort. It was given the thumbs-up by the band's lead singer on Twitter (twitter.com/Edward Droste), and many others have raved about it, too. "Imagine a world where not only did MTV still play videos, but played the best ones out there," wrote Gawker.com celebrating Askew's handiwork. You really should watch it. imeo.com/5904993
Pens have lo-fi appeal
With fuzzy shoegaze and punky guitars, to these ears, London all-girl trio Pens, call to mind a more shambolic and even more lo-fi answer to Brooklyn all-girl trio Vivian Girls. Which is no bad thing in my book. Their album 'Hey Friend, What Are You Doing?' arrives next month, but you can hear a few tracks at myspace.com/penspenspenis and another, "Freddy", is a free download from RCRD LBL at tinyurl.com/nkuxyy
Electropop wrapped in an enigma
Fol Chen are an enigmatic LA band cultivating mysterious and quirky airs and graces. Their album which came out in July, 'Part I: John Shade, Your Fortune's Made', is a a testament to this cultivation. They play nicely upbeat electropop, which calls to mind Hot Chip with nods to Prince and Tom Tom Club among others. They've also recently put out a 12-track free album of "residual" songs and remixes which can be downloaded at tinyurl.com/nbz5m4.
Karen's wild at art
As Gawker intimated while eulogising Gabe Askew's Grizzly Bear video, there was a time many years ago when MTV used to show actual music videos (though frequently not the best ones); back then, Spike Jonze was a director who helped elevate music videos beyond a mere band promo. He now concentrates more on films and his latest is the highly anticipated, live action adaptation of Maurice Sendak's beloved children's picturebook 'Where the Wild Things Are'. The soundtrack for the film was made by Karen O of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, with an all-star cast of helpers. It's released in September but the first single from it, "All is Love" landed this week. Hear it at myspace.com/wherethewildthingsare
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