All entries for December 2007

Manic Monday

: 17 Dec 2007 08:00 |  Tags: American Edit Audio Dean Gray Green Day Manic Monday Susan Hoffs |  Comments (4) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Digital Laptop Reggae

Writing about web page http://www.jahtari.org

My iPod broke ages ago, and I haven’t had a portable music player since. While this is quite liberating in a way, it’s also a little annoying if when at work and battling with something on the computer (or simply going through a repetitive process) it’s nice to have some music to bob along to and ‘get in the groove’... as you do.

So I’ve been scouring places for streaming good music online, the obvious contenders being Last.fm and the Hype Machine, but I wasn’t quite satisfied. Okay, maybe I was, but I was still thinking of something a little bit different to the usual.

That’s when my fellow colleague sent a link over to Jahtari, a site claiming to be the pioneers in the genre of Digital Laptop Reggae, fully electronic sampled instruments, to the traditional ‘riddim’s of reggae or dub.

I was a bit put off at first, the chiptune tones of a reggae laptop remix of that C64 classic title track International Karate + (i.e. wtf), wasn’t quite what I had in mind. Searching around though and this first digital long player release is a pretty good indicator of what you have in store. A lot of the tracks lean more to the dub and deep side of reggae, which is possibly for the better, as the keys and chords simply don’t have the same crispness as a real guitar or organ. There’s plenty to peruse over as well, with a bucket load of digital seven-inches (complete with authentic ‘scratch’ noises!) and EP’s for stream and download that I can’t possibly go over in one sitting.

Partially because in the end, I skipped over all the laptop gubbins and after further digging headed to the Trojan and Studio 1 mixtapes they have up for streaming, and damn are they good! Kinda unfortunate that it overshadows the rest of their exploits, but hey, it shows they have good taste.

(You probably have to scroll the tapes down a bit to get to them, or alternatively, open up the flash player and click on ‘mixtapes’)

Anyhow, it’s deliciously retro designed, and comes complete with a set of magazine style articles that flit between reggae, retro computers and err… back again, if you haven’t been enticed already…

: 15 Dec 2007 12:59 |  Tags: Chiptune Dub Jahtari Laptop Mixtapes Music Reggae Retro |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Free Good Albums

Writing about web page http://www.theshortwaveset.com/index.php?cat=4

Well isn’t this a nice surprise.

A band that you just find out about not only are quite good, but they actually have given you their entire last album up for download – COMPLETELY FREE.

Kinda like The Avalanches if they’d been sampling the less electric bits of Goldfrapp and had a penchant for acoustic sounds, The Debt Collection is an eclectic but ultimately indie-pop album with sonics all over the place. If you only download one of the songs make sure it’s Is It Any Wonder (not a Keane cover) – simply gorgeous.

(EDIT: Unfortunately, it seems tracks 1 and 10 are a bit scrambled, ahh well)

Another bonus is that they have already finished their next attack on the musical landscape that is destined for release early next year. And it’s produced by Danger Mouse of all people, that workaholic of sorts who’s also all over the shop (while producing Martina-Topley Bird, more Sparklehorse and another Gnarls Barkley album… ooh! where does he stop?).

If you were streetwise, you would’ve also got The Format’s album Dog Problems for free in June, but that deal’s gone now. [Website]

Oh yeh, and there’s the matter of that album that’s hitting the top (or near enough) of a lot of end-of-year lists this week. No longer available for free I’m afraid. And those boxsets should be running out fast…

: 12 Dec 2007 22:09 |  Tags: Audio |  Comments (3) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Bishes, hos, driving music

Music is a wonderful thing. Since I’m completely deaf from the waist down, I often have the music very, very loud in my car, and I sing quite a lot louder than that. It passes the time while I sit waiting in queues for idiots. What surprises me though is how enjoyable it is to hear old, crap songs when compared to new, very good stuff.

Let’s take the example of today. I was stuck in traffic on the M42 (not an uncommon occurrence), feeling very tired and horrid and icky, listening (and singing) to Interpol. That’s all well and good, and I listened to a few other things as well (Foo Fighters, Radiohead etc). But then I got bored and stuck Radio One on, for the dreaded Wonder Years (which must go by some kind of mantra of “an oldie but a shittie”).

Gotta say though, I heard Ol’ Dirty Bastard ft. Kelis – Got Ya Money, and it’s probably the most fun I’ve had on my own while in a car between the hours of 5pm and 6pm on the last day of the month when that day is a Friday. I’m not sure if it was the frustration, the volume or the over the top singing of the wrong words by myself, but it was the best thing ever. What a fantastic driving choon! Almost enough to make me wish it was 2001 again…

Mathew Mannion : 01 Dec 2007 01:43 |  Tags: Audio Kelis Music Nostalgia Odb Old Dirty Bastard |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem