Long Players

18th February 2011 Comments Off on Long Players

Despite the predicted total demise of the music business; despite the rise of the single song download; despite all the nonsense that is spewed out by the major labels pretending to be some sort of good work; despite all that. You can’t beat the long player, the album as a strong, coherent, powerful slab of entertainment. A body of work to sit down and enjoy like a good movie or TV show or football match. Something great, something to make you think, feel, more real, more alive. So it is with the new albums from Radiohead, Nicolas Jaar, James Blake. The King Of Limbs arrrived today. Download, PDF of the cover, WAV format so the sound quality is good, and for me, that’s enough. It’s the body of work, it’s the sound that really matters to me. I could maybe do with some sleeve notes of the who played what where variety but generally I content. I am here, in my studio, in front of the speakers, taking it in, floating, enjoying, breathing, deeper, living with eyes wide open and heart exposed. The first half is all skitter and judder, the second half settles down into that classic Radiohead abstract melancholy that feels so right. And I’m thinking, LotusFlower and Codex or Give Up The Ghost are going on my next show; how do the they get that rich piano sound; good to hear noise is a feature here; people love real music; there is future and there is now. The sun is shining through the mist and this is now.

Butterfly Heart – Free Download

18th February 2011 Comments Off on Butterfly Heart – Free Download

Download the Didz & Chico remix of Butterfly Heart for free here. Just because we love you.

Melodica 14.02.11

14th February 2011 Comments Off on Melodica 14.02.11 , ,

Chris Coco’s weekly radio broadcast. An eclectic selection of brilliant new music starting with house and moving on to electronica, downtempo, acoustic and all sorts of other styles loosely connected to dance and electronic music. Let tastemaker Chris Coco guide you through his selection of the week’s best new music. In this episode, two tracks from the new Nicolas Jaar album, back to back Balearic beauties, some really good existential advice from Fleet Foxes and Polar Lights, the new Melodica jingles, and a slowed-down club classic from Hercules & Love Affair. It’s all here, it’s all surprisingly mellow, and it’s all packed into an hour. Wow. [setlist] Creep Days (Soul Clap Remix) – Young Turks Fritz Kalkbrenner – Facing The Sun (Shield Re-Edit) – Digital File Metronomy – She Wants – Because Music Hercules & Love Affair – It’s Alright – Moshi Moshi Nicolas Jaar – Too Many Kids Finding Rain In The Dust – Circus Company Nicolas Jaar – I Got A Woman – Circus Company Deekie – First Light – Digital File Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues – Sub Pop Glen Campbell – Witchita Lineman – Nashville Catalog Jose Feliciano – Wichita Lineman – Legacy Recordings Metamorfozy – Towlines – Beat Service Polar Lights – Stop Looking For – Pro-Tez Red Rack Em – Fellini – Cortelyou Records Steffi – You Own My Mind – Ost Gut Ton

Melodicablog 14.02.11

14th February 2011 Comments Off on Melodicablog 14.02.11 ,

More stuff about the music and stories on this week’s Melodica – this week it’s all about bears (sort of). In tune with the Melodica aesthetic, covering a broad range of exciting, inspiring, beautiful new music from electronica to house to experimental. Melodica chart on Juno Download: here. That Fuzzy Feeling – Hercules & Love Affair – It’s Alright – Moshi Moshi The final track on the new album Blue Songs. Their cover of Sterling Void’s late 80s house classic is slowed down and dramatised with ambient sound and a sad piano. Is this house music’s last hurrah? A nostalgic echo of times long gone? New Melodica Jingles Lo fi, glo pop band Deekie have made some new jingles for Melodica, using their voices and, um, a melodica. They are indie, laidback and very cool. Download their new EP here. Nicolas Jaar – Space Is Only Noise Nicolas Jaar is 20 years old. He’s still at college and he also makes some of the loveliest, most atmospheric music this side of James Blake. Space Is Only Noise is a collection of experiments and sketches, soundtrack moments. Fragments of new songs and found sound float around simple beats and understated melodies. Two tracks feature on this week’s show. Back To Back Balearica BTBB is a new, occasional feature, spinning two versions of a Balearic classic one after the other. This week Glen Campbell’s famous version of the amazing song Witchita Lineman is followed by Jose Feliciano’s Spanish guitar interpretation. Helplessness Blues Helplessness Blues is the new album from Fleet Foxes. Now, their last album was a little wet but crossed over into mainstream land. I saw them play the main stage at Glastonbury and fail to connect with the audience. But this new song from album number two is filled with promise, it sounds like Simon & Garfunkel having an existential crisis. What’s not to like?

It ain’t where you’re from…

13th February 2011 Comments Off on It ain’t where you’re from…

It ain’t where you’re from. It’s where you’re at: Wood from Denmark Sound from Germany (D&B, better than Function One?) Oranges from Italy (Blood) Music from Brooklyn (via France) Lounging from London.