Although some time has passed since I last wrote a blog post, I assure you there still is good music being sung out there now. I recently stumbled upon some live sessions from KEXP Radio. Here are a couple of interesting bands, Exitmusic and Active Child.
Exitmusic definitely has a good combination of unique, ghostly vocals, backed-up and completed by a good band. I like all of their songs from this live performance and I'm certainly going to "dig" them up; I would like to hear them in a concert.
On the other hand, Active Child has only one song that really impresses me: "Hanging on". This song really haunted me for several days - the first day I heard it I listened to it about 20 times. The harp and the strange voice go along and easily become an obsession. I listened to the rest of their album, but no other song managed to impress me as much as "Hanging on" did.
The collaboration between Trent Reznor (the creator of Nine Inch Nails) and David Fincher started about two years ago when the Trent and Atticus Ross composed and recorded the soundtrack for The Social Network. This worked so well that the following year, the two continued to supply soundtracks for Fincher as in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.
Although this is a cover song, IMHO Trent Reznor has managed to completely change the feel of the original song. I'm not a fan of covers (most of the times I prefer the original song), this one really stirs something in me. With it's accelerated pace, it reminds me of Run Like Hell, but this is different: despair and other NIN-like feelings most certainly has something to do with it.
Unfortunately, the movie isn't as great as the soundtrack is. It could have been a great movie, but David Fincher certainly blew it off in the last part of the movie. The so called "rhythm" of the movie is at least one of the mistakes done here.
An article about the soundtrack from The Social Network will follow.
I've just found an old music video from Massive Attack where all the members of the band seem to be searching for Tricky. I would have thought that the video was released after Tricky left Massive Attack, but the song was released in 1990 (which is 5 years earlier).
Most interesting are the vocals on the background coming from 3D and Daddy G with lyrics which can be traced back to Five Man Army ("get a visa card").
This is the second album of the Canadian duo made up of Johanne Williams and David Trusz. I heard about this band thanks to Trip Hop X. Sissy have an interesting mix of beats (I seriously suspect they recorded themselves hitting a metal barrel with a baseball bat, just listen to All Of Me), synthesizers, gloomy voice effects, piano.
I don't know anything about their first album, but I would definitely like to hear more of their music.
Search for Velure on Last.fm and you will find Quantifier under the Similar Artist section. The vice versa is also true.
Quantifier is a Polish producer and his music is mostly made of mixes which feature trip-hop beats, jazz saxophone and contrabass(double bass) sounds overdubbed with sporadic gramophone-like effect. There are no vocals by the way.
Lykke Li hit mainstream with her single I Follow Rivers, but few know that this song comes from the second album of an interesting artist.
Her first album, called Youth Novels, was released in 2008 and presents a bunch of styles. The songs on this album reveal two constants: a preference for unusual intros and Lykke Li's beautiful voice. Dance, dance, dance reminds me of Nouvelle Vague, Little Bit of Martina Topley Bird's style and the voice from the beginning of I'm Good I'm Gone sounds like some industrial or new wave stuff (just to name a few similarities).
Note: Time Flies (Youth Novels album) is not a cover song from Vaya Con Dios(that's what my first thought was when I saw the title).
I've noticed that she has a choice for peculiar videos. Do you recognize the song she's playing a cappella in the beginning of the following video?
A couple of her videos including I Follow Rivers were directed by Tarik Saleh. His name didn't ring any bells but when I googled him I remembered that I saw one of his movies - Metropia (you should check it out).
Both albums are good and should make at least an interesting listening if her style doesn't appeal to you.
There are lots of songs from her on Youtube, I wouldn't be surprised to find out that both her albums were uploaded there.
Velure's songs really are made from velure. Similar in style to Portishead's Dummy album, they bring a more smooth approach to the genre. Although they certainly have influences from other trip-hop bands, they bring their own style. Lynnelle Moran's voice is excellent for this band, they make the band stand apart from Beth Gibbons' hauntingly beautiful vocals (or other "similar" vocalist for that matter).
The band has released only an EP so far - Care For Fading Embers - excellent work, I recommend listening to the whole album. My favorite track is Do you suppose?, unfortunately I couldn't find it on Youtube.
Youtube has started giving me interesting music recommendations. One of these is Sóley, an Icelandic singer, pianist and member of the band called Seabear.
She released her debut EP called Theater Island in March 2010, a good album which brings together piano and folk (as in Smashed Birds) along with a sad, nostalgic mood. Although I recommend the whole album, here are some names: Theater Island, Fight Them Soft (-I especially like the cabinet piano sound from this song) and Kill That Clown. My favorite from Sóley is Read Your Book (it isn't included in the album).
Her songs remind me in weird way of Delicatessen (same mood; the main character's story regarding his partner in the circus - Dr. Livingstone). Looking forward to hearing her next album.
The Silk Demise is a combination of Massive Attack trip-hop and Karmacoda vocals (or maybe vocals from Baxter).
The band has released 4 albums so far: The Silk Demise (debut album), Music for a Film, Unlocked, Midnight Eyes. In my opinion, the best album is Midnight Eyes. In this album they included male vocals for the first time, thus bringing them closer to their British "relatives" (the female vocals also sound better). Recommended tracks from this album: "Bound", "Heroin Chic", "The Greys".
Although the vocals are good in their previous albums, they don't stand out. Maybe that's why I wasn't bothered by the second album which has no vocals - actually it's a very good album (I like this band especially because of this album). Recommended tracks are: "Cataclysm", "...and no one else". The following album, Unlocked, features a single track with Edie Marshall's vocals, "Being".
