As you may or may not have seen, Tide Pool is closed. It will be missed, not the least by me.
tide pool goes to sleep
2009: shows of the year
Unquestionable. I went to see this show expecting amazing music and iffy DJing chops. Imagine my surprise to find that Mr. Lotus knows his way around both Ableton and set-building, and had the place going nuts. Impossible music, surreal visuals, good sound, and great people.
Serious shoutouts to the ridiculous Skream show, VEMF day and night, Appleblim, the Legion of Doom five-way tag, Dekoze @ Hush, Halloween @ Hush, and Decade. 2008 felt like a bit of a nadir for me – 2009 was hopefully the start of the upswing.
2009: album of the year
Can only be:
Flying Lotus – Los Angeles.
The future of hip-hop, right here. Loose beats, growling bass, gorgeous samples, nods to both Stone’s Throw and Jackson – this was a huge coup d’etat for Warp. Last year I called Steinski the Kurt Vonnegut of hip-hop; Flying Lotus is thusly the genre’s Phillip K. Dick.
Honorable mentions to: Zoe Keating – Natoma, Two Fingers – Two Fingers, Alvin Curran – Inner Cities I, Bullion – Pet Sounds In The Key Of Dee
2009: singles of the year
Three huge winners:
Best Yang: The MFA – Throw It Back (We Will Destroy You) [Border Community]
I’ve been waiting for this New-Order-Meets-James-Holden-and-then-they-all-go-to-New-York-in-1979 masterpiece for FIVE YEARS…and I’m delighted to say that it’s still that good. Throbbing drums, huge pads, ghostly male vocals, and ray of light synth lines; this is everything good about the dance music of the past 40 years.
Best Yin: Elika – You Win Hearts
This track blindsided me on the aforementioned Ulrich Schnauss mixtape, and became a personal fall/winter anthem in no time flat. I maaaybe listened to it every morning on the way to school, usually on repeat, and I never do that. Your mileage may vary, but I’m still in love.
Best Tao: Misstress Barbara – Dance Me To The End Of Love [Iturnmen]
Yep. Still a techno cover of a Leonard Cohen tune. Still a bit of a rip of her ‘Barcelona’ track from two years ago. Still sets dancefloors on fire, against all odds. Still gets me singing along. Still an unquestionable winner.
Honorable Mentions:
Tycho – Coastal Brake [Ghostly]
Nicolas Vallee – Acid Punch [Dusty]
Rcid – Rcid 003 [Elefant]
Blu Mar Ten – If I Could Tell You [Blu Marten]
Marshall Jefferson – Mushrooms (Justin Martin Remix) [Tronic]
Vitalic – Poison Lips [Different]
Phil Kieran – Don’t Look Far Away [Cocoon]
2009: sets of the year
I could write about these for days, but here are the standouts of the standouts:
Best Reason To Go Out: Kenzie Clarke – NYPD
A masterpiece of post-post-disco, simple as that, to say nothing of the latent storyline. If this mix does not make you want to go out and dance with a beautiful member of the opposite sex, you probably have no pulse. Find it here
Best Reason To Come Home: Rhythmicon – Tonight
One of the terrible secrets behind the stratospheric rise of dubstep is that, like drum & bass, you can turn it in to pure sex, if you want to. Sure, there’s room for savage basslines and huge drops, but there’s also room for honey-dipped vocals, lush pads, and impeccable programming. See the above comments about having no pulse, and you’ll start to get the idea. Get it here.
Best Reason To Wake Up On A Cloudy Day: Ulrich Schnauss – ASIP Exclusive Mix
And, breath out.
The most honorable of honorable mentions to: Hybrid, Booiamrudolf, Matt Edwards, FaltyDL, Wood & Soo, Limbo, Culoe De Song, Lazer Sword, Eskmo, Mr. Scruff, Wesbeanz, Patience Automate & Generic, and Chloe Harris. Love, love, love.
2009: concerts of the year
Welcome to the end of the decade. Ooof. Regardless, here are the best (out of so many good ones!) concerts of 2009. The decade can take care of itself.
Beethoven – Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D Major, Op.61
My dislike for Beethoven (snigger) is a well known thing, as is my dislike for the mix issues inherent in concertos. With that said, yowza! It is apparently possible to, by sheer force of will, drag music from two hundred years ago into the present and make it feel current, urgent, personal, and vital.
Messiaen – Vignt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jesus
Ever heard someone play piano for two hours and fifteen minutes? I thought I was going to die by the end of this piece – I can only imagine how the player (one Alastair Edmonstone, who apparently TOURS the damn thing) must have felt. Parts are ethereal, lush, and gorgeous, parts are jackhammer brutal, just about all of it is incredible.
Sonic Lab – Spring 2009
A few choice quotes from the program notes here: “telepathic improvisation”, “Aligning himself with post-war Dada”, “to re-invent the string quartet”. Look out.
Gavin Bryars – Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet
LaSam put this on during New Currents in the spring, and it was just utterly, utterly beautiful. Simple as that.
Honorable mentions of the highest order to: Video Games Live, Yan Li’s LEFT, Sonic Chamber Singers, Daniel Biro’s vocal concert, Andrea Young’s , LaSam’s other shows, the JACK quartet concert, Hollas Longton’s impossible graduating recital, and the recent Liszt Friday music apocalypse. Serious business
communication, 2009
I was having a talk with a friend about new laptops / phones, and that led to me thinking about how I communicate with people, outside of in-person conversation. So I made a list. This really needs more data and better, but it will do for the moment:
Phone – Calls: 3 (60, 60, 22)
Phone – Texts: 6 (24, 26, 28, 24, 29, 22)
Computer – MSN: 6 (27, 27, 21, 20, 24, 26)
Computer – Gchat: 2 (26, 27)
Computer – Facebook: 6 (26, 21, 22, 21, 20)
Computer – Twitter: 2 (24, 24)
Computer – Skype: 1 (24)
Medium, number of people I talk with regularly there, age of the people in question. Totally unscientific, with some overlap. Interesting, however, that my computer is more useful than my phone, and that Facebook is just as useful as MSN. Also, look at the ages.
Anyone else have comparable data? I’d love to see how much of a luddite I am.
live from dub riddims
People tell me this one was good, so I’m posting it. You’ll see the kind of noodling I try to do live, for better or for worse:
1: Arnold Schoenberg – String Quartet No.2 – IV []
2: Two Fingers – Moth Rhythm [Big Dada]
3: Hybrid – Keep It In The Family [Distinctive]
4: Two Fingers – Keman Rhythm [Big Dada]
// Gyorgy Ligeti – Lux Aeterna []
5: Thom Yorke – And It Rained All Night [XL]
6: Limbo – Tin [Tide Pool]
//Stravinsky – Symphony Of Psalms []
7: The Beatles – Eleanor Rigby (Fractal Remix) [Tide Pool]
8: Hybrid – Everything Is Brand New [Distinctive]
9: Lostep – Theme From A Fairy Tale [GU]
10: Fractal – Oceanography [Pacific Front]
11: BT – The Antikythera Mechanism [Binary]
All My Friends Are Invited Over: a mixtape special
Imagine a fabulous dinner party. Imagine that the following wonderful people are invited:
Now imagine that entrance music will play for each of them. In fact, imagine that you can download a mixtape of the music at the party right here…because you can. Now, listening to the music, and knowing a few of the above people, in what order did people arrive?
The Music:
Alvin Curran – Inner Cities I
Burial – In McDonalds
Holden – A Break In The Clouds (Plushapella)
Hybrid – I’m Still Awake
Beethoven – String Quartet No. 12: V
Atmosphere – Like The Rest Of Us
Dvorak – Symphony No. 9: II
Bjork – Who Is It
Handel – Dixit Dominus: VI
Talking Heads – Once In A Lifetime
Sigur Ros – Gobblediegook
Bach – Brandenburg Concert 3: I
Kelley Polar – Entropy Reigns (Ewan Pearson Remix)
The Rolling Stones – You Can’t Always Get What You Want (Soulwax Remix)
Justice – Tthhee ppaarrttyy
Vitalic – Poison Lips
2 Fingers – Bad Girl
Varese – Deserts 1
Richie Hawtin – Spastik
Fairmont – Flight Of The Albatross (Reef Carribbean Remix)
Radiohead – Bodysnatchers
The Clash – This Is Radio Clash
Gershwin – An American In Paris
Donald O’Conner – Make ’em Laugh
The B-52s – Downtown
Billy Idol – Dancing With Myself
The Beach Boys – Denny’s Drums
The Blues Brothers – Everybody
Jurassic 5 – Swing Set (10 Beautiful Girls Mix)
Herbie Hancock – Chameleon
Miles Davis – Sid’s Ahead
The Herbaliser – 8 Point Agenda
CSS – Music Is My Hot Hot Sex
The Cheviot Ranters – Corn Rigs Tunes
The Kop Choir – You’ll Never Walk Alone
Tchaikovsky – Symphony No. 6: III
Art Of Trance – Madagascar (Ferry Corsten Remix)
Aphrodite – Spice
Mahito Yokota – Blue Sky Athletics
Manitoba – Happy Ending
The People:
Amanda Farrell, Alex Richards, Alex Jang, Andrew Clark, Alia Yeates, Andy Clequin, Cassandra Miller, Charlie Van Kirk, Chelsie Kadgien, Chris Reiche, Colin Moller, Dave Miles, Eric Buchanan, Emily Farnsworth, Gerald Deo, Hilary Dawson, Hollas Longton, John Spurr, Jennifer Mitchell, Jessy Reynolds, Jess Smith, Jordie Yow, Josh Doherty, Justin Holmes, Kathleen Genge, Kim Shepherd, Kira Hall, Kyle Smith, Mary Clark, Nadia Pona, Nathan Friedman, Oriane Fort, Pat Littlejohn, Rob Cross, Ryan Noakes, Shima Takeda, Thomas Del Motte, Vanessa Yaremchuk, Walter Moar. They’re all great.
(Bonus points will, of course, be awarded for those who guess music other than their own)
pausing in a minor key
Things are starting to return to normal…where normal means a lot of schoolwork, as opposed to an impossible amount of schoolwork. Some quick hits, then:
– A short piano piece I wrote last year was played by Xenia Pestova at Open Sound West in November. I am eternally in her debt.
– My friend Bethi is a genius. She’s been posting a song a day for all of November, all of which are brilliant, heartfelt, hilarious, or all of the above.
– Last Night A DJ Saved My Life, by Bill Brewster and Frank Broughton, is essential reading for anyone interested in dance music in the slightest. And the charts! There are charts! I must hear them all.
– I’m playing at Dub Riddims 4 on December 12th at Sunset – first as half of ITERATE, and then playing one of the strangest (and I think best) DJ sets I’ve ever concocted. Come down and see, do.
– Watched Ghost In The Shell again, and was struck very hard by the questions it was asking about memory and humanity. As “the net” becomes more vast and more limitless, cyberpunk works become more and more prescient.