Fine GF

I really just wanted to bump the Wallpaper post i did a while back by showing another song from it that i have really been digging.



Fine GF is one of the few tracks off Doodoo Face where Ricky Reed crosses the line from outrageous party monster to sincere party monster. It starts off nice and quiet, with just a single synth note and some vocals. Im not a huge fan of autotune in how it is used in most bigtime pop songs, but he uses it in very subtle ways here, and it works as a serious harmonic sound with his given electronic club aesthetic. The minimal scape of the song at the beginning is really sweet, but still written in his unique voice; the lyrics are still very silly, but the longing of finding someone to be with still speaks through.

By the second verse, he has introduced some nice spacey melodic synths and added a nice sparse drum track, all the while adding to his nice autotuned vocal harmonies. Just nice overall. Then by the start of the 2nd chorus, he adds in the strong drums and that killer bass enters. The rest of the song is just golden. The trumpets coming in for the instrumental verse, and the layers of synths and vocal "doo doo"s are all so pretty.

This song was the track from Doodoo Face that really had me looking forward to what he will do next. Most of the album is just silly, a bunch of hilarious party songs with great production, but when Fine GF comes in, as cliche as it sounds, its the rare moment in the night where you realize all of this fun could be so much better with a girl to share it all with.

Flying Lotus

I was going to do a post on the illest villain Madlib, but i was a bit daunted by the task. His catalog stretches so far and deep that i still need to think of a proper way to approach it. Instead, i want to show another great hip hop producer. I found Flying Lotus a few months back and quickly scooped up his work, excluding his album 1983 which i hear has some great stuff, i just havent found it in stores.

Of what i do own, his two LPs L.A. and Cosmogramma and his EP Pattern & Grid World, i have given much time to while driving. Its great background music for driving, but then listening on headphones gives you a more detailed look at the layers he is able to add to his music that dont clutter as much as they give a great atmosphere. A shining example of this is Mmhmm from Cosmogramma, one of the few songs he has made into videos. The video is bombed out ridiculous. Throughout Cosmogramma, Thundercat guest stars on bass and rips it up just as hard as he does here.



I realized how prolific he was after I picked up Cosmogramma shortly after it came out, only to be surprised that months later he was dropping the 7 song EP pattern and grid world; Cosmogramma was an outlandish album, with so many guest stars stretching 17 tracks. And to quickly follow that up with a back-to-basics-on-my-computer EP, filled with awesome videogame synths and well produced drums.. i was impressed with how quickly he works. This track, Kill yr. Coworkers, is my favorite from Pattern.

Flying Lotus - "Kill Your Co-Workers" by Pretty Much Amazing


pattern grid world

cosmogramma

Capillary Action - So Embarrassing

 It appears that many bands that use the "style" of math-rock fail to think outside of  ground work set by their late 80's early 90's fathers. Capillary Action take this notion and shatter it on the side of the road. Employing many different style's throughout a song it can be scatter shot with different vibes every 30 seconds. While there are groups that do this none truly embrace it. Lounge style vocals with highly concentrated instrumentation. There is also a very clear spanish flare to many of the sections.

So Embarrassing

Bibio - Hand Cranked

Bibio's progression has surprised me with each new release. While I dont particularly agree with the direction, there is no doubt that this Brit is a highly talented individual. Older outings such as Hand Cranked displayed an almost eerie sense of melody, a universal nostalgia that is picked up on instantly. Looped and shifting acoustic guitar "folk" that sounds like it was recorded on someones cassette deck. Some might not be so receptive to the charm of this but those people need to fuck off.  I personally have never encountered solo acoustic music that has effected me emotionally this much.

Hand Cranked

Marvins Revolt

Something familiar about their sound that I will never be able to place. This is POWER math pop rock really on its finest hour. The guitar are anthemic and the drums surprisingly complex and hard hitting.  If this was the only thing this Denmark group had going it would still be\ open and shut awesome music, thankfully this is not so. We have soaring melodies and occasionally startlingly beautiful harmonies. Some appropriate gang style shouting crops up when needed as well. The melodies themselves always remind me of drinking songs or Irish folk tunes but this is much more of a feeling. I could not hope to give this high enough praise.

Killec

Frog Eyes - The Folded Palm

Ive lost track of these guys for a few years but Folded Palm used to be in heavy rotation. An indie rock band by way of set up only, Frog Eyes' main weapon is the unhinged caterwaul of lead singer Carey Mercer. Mercers wife on drums  keeps everything  pretty straight forward. The keyboard and guitar always seems to be locked into a tangled fight and can never really agree on a style, touching on baroque pop, surf, alt rock and pop rock. It can be a bit ramshackle but its in this that their charm really come through.

The Folded Palm

Joe Pass

Joe Pass was the smoothest guitarist after Django Reinhart. Dude played in big bands, and did a few incredible albums of solo guitar. Im going to be showing some of his big band work here with 2 songs.

This is C.E.D. off his Best Of album. He just rips it up for most of the song in the smoothest cleanest way possible. Just killer fingers here.



This is another track from his Best Of album, his version of Miles Davis' song Milestones. He gives the band sufficient time to rock out some horn solos before he lays into it, about 3:45.

10 - Milestones by ninko

Doc Watson

I just wanted to briefly post some oldschool fingerpicking by the legendary Doc Watson. Man was and still is king at the folk/ bluegrass fingerstyle that is usually preformed as virtuoso guitar, or if you are good enough, with voice. His version of Deep River Blues is one of my favorites.



Windy and Warm is another showstopper:



that is pretty.