Posts tagged with hercules and love affair

06/08/2011

Hypem Hunting vol. 15 – Far

It’s been a while since we last played the world’s best and most likely only game involving a music blog aggregator’s search function, Hypem Hunting. In fact, I think it’s been about a month, which is pretty bad considering I was doing them weekly for a while. But alas, here we are again. This week’s theme is “far”, mainly because that was this week’s fairly common word that I picked. Here are the songs that I found.

Now, normally I say that the beauty of this is that I find songs that I probably never would have heard otherwise, but that’s not totally true in this case. You see, the song is “Far Nearer” by Jamie xx, better known as the guy from The XX who has been all over the place as a remixer/producer and DJ lately. And at the time of my writing this post, the track had over 113,000 listens already, and it seems like it’s been around since early last year. So how am I only first hearing about it/hearing it now? The world may never know. But since I hadn’t heard it before or knew it existed, it counts.

Next up, we’ve got a song that’s even older than that one. Yes, that’s right, we’re going back to 2009, folks. It’s a super lo-fi, rather psychedelic tune from Nite Jewel. I think I’d heard of Nite Jewel a lot but never heard Nite Jewel. But when I heard the extreme lo-fi-ness and then found out that the second member of the duo was once a member of Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, I was slightly less surprised.

Nite Jewel – Falling Far

Oh hey! Another song that I’m surprised I never heard! Its the Hercules & Love Affair remix of Cut Copy’s “Far Away”. Again, not sure how I never heard this before. However, there are about a zillion Cut Copy remixes out there, so it becomes a game where you try to collect them all. But it’s a game you will never win.

Cut Copy – Far Away (Hercules & Love Affair Remix)

And last but certainly not least, it’s this little sub-3 minute jam from Junip, whose singer is the easily recognizable Jose Gonzalez. Once again, I just kinda never listened to Junip even though I always wanted to. But now I got this nice surprise on a random night in 2011 months after everyone else knew what was up. I feel like this song is the garage rock side of Gonzalez, and I like it.

Junip – Far Away

So, maybe this wasn’t the most underground version of Hypem Hunting ever, but I still think it’s pretty good.

0 comments

01/21/2011

Hercules and Love Affair – My House

A few days back, I made a random reference to Hercules and Love Affair, which got me thinking that it had been a while since I had listened to anything from them. And then I noticed that they are going to be putting out a new album very shortly, January 31 to be exact, entitled Blue Songs and they’ve offered up the first single “My House” as a free download to boost interest/excitement. And I can definitely say that after listening to this track, that mission has been accomplished. Shaun Wright somewhat throaty vocals provide the perfect accompaniment to the electronic disco flavor of this track and that little glitchy electronic riff that can be found throughout the entire track helps give a little flair to what might have been a somewhat ordinary track otherwise. I’m digging this tune quite a bit and can’t wait to hear what else the fine ladies and gentlemen of Hercules and Love Affair have in store for us in just a couple of weeks. Happy Friday kids

Hercules and Love Affair – My House

0 comments

01/16/2011

Album review: Cut Copy – Zonoscope

Without a doubt, Zonoscope, the newest album from Aussie electronic beatmasters Cut Copy, was one of my most anticipated albums of 2011. The band just has an unparalleled ability to always brighten my spirits and can elicit a dance party with almost any of their tracks, so after the huge success of 2008′s In Ghost Colours, I had high expectations that I was trying to keep under control. My first glimpse at this album was the shuffle-laden “Where I’m Going”, a track that at first didn’t grab my attention at all but after repeated listens had me on board. Next up was the potentially Men At Work inspired “Take Me Over”, a track that was pretty 80s sounding but had me feeling pretty good about where things were going.

And now, after my first listen of the full album, I can say that all in all I am pretty satisfied with this record. Most noticeably, it seems to be a whole lot brighter in general than In Ghost Colours. I think this is due to some combination of brighter melodies and a noticeable reduction in the heaviest synth bass lines that permeated their 2008 album. Just like the last record, this one flows from one track to another almost seamlessly, so everything is tied together pretty nicely. Opener “Need You Now” is a great slower paced track at first that builds into a shining gem and is a great summation of the overal sentiment of the whole album. The heaviest track might be “Pharaohs & Pyramids”, an early favorite for me, especially coming immediately after the bouncy “Where I’m Going”, or the second to last track “Corner of the Sky”. The beginning and end of the album seem to be the heavier tunes that bookend the lighter tracks in the middle, and while the energy does go down a bit in the middle, this gives the album a really great flow from start to finish.

Undoubtedly the most ambitious track on this album is the quasi-rave inspired 15 minute closer, “Sun God”. At the start, this tune sounds a bit Hercules & Love Affair to me (I doubt if that’s a good comparison, but that was the name that first popped into my head when the song began) before breaking into several minutes of long, flowing synth as a beat slowly (very slowly) builds up, just bracing you for whatever is about to come next. I’m typically not a fan of these long, sprawling tunes, but this one just seemed to work, not to mention it got into some of the darker places (especially in the last few minutes) that many of the other tracks on this album did not.

Overall impressions: Another solid effort from Cut Copy. There seems to be slightly less (emphasis on slightly) of the heavy beats and that defined In Ghost Colours, but the synthy side of Cut Copy is still ever present, and the band still made sure to build their own brand of deep and intricate soundscapes that they do so very well. This is still the same Cut Copy we know and love, but just a tiny bit lighter and a tiny bit brighter, although after giving a few of the tracks some more plays, I’m starting to think that’s true less and less. Point is, I’m not disappointed by this album one bit, and I’m sure I will only like it more and more with each listen. Let’s just hope we see them on the roster for Coachella later this week as I’m fully expecting.

Cut Copy – Pharaohs & Pyramids

Cut Copy – Corner of the Sky

3 comments

10/09/2010

[Better Late Than Never] Hercules & Love Affair – Blind

In the latest series of killer jams that I never heard because I am completely out of touch with anything remotely fantastic most of the time is the (apparently) classic jam “Blind” from NYC’s Hercules & Love Affair. And besides the funky beats that permeate every pore of this song, one of the most fantastic elements are clearly the vocals of Antony Hegarty of Antony & the Johnsons, mostly because Antony is best known for his slow crooning voice. And while most people found out way back in 2008 when this track came out that he could pull off a track like this, I just found out 5 minutes ago.

And just to prove to myself that I sometimes am on top of things, here’s another great dance tune with another surprising dance vocalist. This time, the track is from Discodeine who, like Hercules & Love Affair, also reside with Mr. James Murphy’s DFA Records. And this time, the guest vocalist is none other than the legendary Jarvis Cocker from a little band called Pulp. You may have heard of them once or twice. And again, he can totally pull it off. If “Synchronize” isn’t enough to hold you over, there should be a full-length coming from Discodeine next year.

Hercules & Love Affair – Blind

Discodeine – Synchronize

0 comments

08/18/2009

lollapalooza day 2 recap

picture of perrys, stolen from ursula

unfortunately, i dont really have many pictures and/or memories from day 2, just because it was so stinkin hot and miserable. but lets go ahead and see what we can remember, but be prepared for a slightly less robust recap than yesterday. i think the saddest part of my pictures from the weekend is that i forgot to take pictures of me and my friends for the most part.

i arrived at the festival at around 1 45 pm, which is the earliest ive ever gotten there, making for an extra long day. i headed straight to the vitaminwater stage to meet up with karen and to check out miike snow. as the lead singer told us all, “miike snow is a band, not a person. and we’re keeping two i’s in our name, because its too late to change it”. id only heard a miike snow remix that i posted here a while back and am obsessed with and was curious to see what their own stuff was like. needless to say, i was EXTREMELY impressed. excellent melodies mixed with rockin beats in an electronic wonderland. it was so fun that we almost didnt notice it was 90 degrees with high humidity and became what i think may have been my favorite show of the weekend.

ive listened to their self-titled album probably 15 times in the last few days (literally listened to it on repeat the entire day at work yesterday) and am loving it, and know it will be growing on me even more in the coming days. i remembered hearing a mishmash of electronicness when i was walking up to the stage and after hearing the album i THINK what i was hearing was the track below, starting at the 3:20 mark. great album, great band, great performers.

miike snow – in search of main

after that, we ran into caitlin and alex, and alex inquired about writing some sort of column for dailybeatz similar to peter griffins “what really grinds my gears”. im still waiting to hear back from her on that, but the offer has been extended. then we went to the eyeball tower aka the flag tower aka the best and easiest meeting place on the grounds to meet up with ursula and crew. after exchanging a sweaty hug, i met allison, her brother james and his friends and we all headed to perrys to see the animal collective dj set, and on the way i ran into peabs for the first time (of many). despite how hot it was, we were excited to dance, but sadly the animal collective dj set was so mellow we didnt even know that it began and was not very condusive to dancing, so we all decided to go back to the other side of the park to catch some of gomez.

however, 10 minutes in, the sun was beginning to get the best of us. we decided shade was in order and split up. on my way out, i ran into amy, who i run into everywhere. then i luckily ran into karen and louis again after a bathroom stop and we decided it was time for a nap in the shade. we went to the nice shaded area of the bmi stage and took a nap under the trees while listening to blind pilot, who reminded me of a more bluegrassy fleet foxes, but i was sleeping so i guess i dont really remember. i just know it was great resting music.

we met back up with ursula, james and crew at perrys and were going to see hercules and love affair, but when we realized it was a dj set, we decided to see santigold instead. as we we waited for 20 minutes or so for the set to start, the effects of the heat were apparent. the six of us couldnt even muster up the energy to have any sort of conversation, and we all acknowledged that we were completely ok with that. santigolds set began and we all got a little more pep in our step, but about a half hour in i had to leave the crowd to use the restroom.

this is where i encountered the most persistent clusterfuck of the festival, and when i returned there was no way i was getting back in the crowd (although i did run into amy again twice in the next half hour, which was weird). i decided to get some potstickers (chicken and vegetable dumplings) from star of siam and they were phenomenal. tv on the radio was up next and i spent half the set trying to find anyone, and by the time i did we were so far back that it wasnt even enjoyable. i dont know why i am cursed never to enjoy a tv on the radio show, but im sure i will one of these days.

after that, karen louis and i headed to catch diplo at perrys and it was a blast. the sun was finally starting to disappear and we knew that the worst was over (for that day at least) and danced away until it was time to head back to the budweiser stage for the newly announced headliners, yeah yeah yeahs. and i think this is when i ran into shaf and agatha.

bad shot of diplo at lollapalooza
diplo lollapalooza crowd
crazy fun for diplo at lollapalooza

im a big fan of yeah yeah yeahs, but i guess i didnt expect much out of their live show for whatever reason, so i was pleasantly surprised when it was rockin with heavy beats that i wasnt expecting. karen o, in her ever infinite wardrobe of weirdness, came out wearing a full headdress and covered in feathers. below is an awful picture of the feathery mass that was karen o. for some reason, their set was almost impossible to get a clear picture of, at least from where we were standing.

yeah yeah yeahs at lollapalooza

she stripped that off after a few songs and was left wearing some sort of flower covered material that looked to be wrapped like a diaper. the show was completely above anything i expected and worthy of a headlining spot, but after a little while we decided we all wanted to see what bassnectar was all about back at perrys.

yeah yeah yeahs – heads will roll

bassnectar was exceptional. the sun had finally set, and the awesome visuals of perrys were now in full effect. like i said before, the perrys area this year was pretty much out of control all the time and usually had something great going on and this was a great way to end the night.

bassnectar at lollapalooza

with 20 minutes or so left before the shows ended, we decided we should check out tool, just to say we did it. we marched across to the other side of the park again, and once we arrived, we all decided that we didnt want to be there at all, so we left. we stopped on the way out for some food and got the most perfectly cooked french fries we have ever had. crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside. we ate them as we walked back to the red line, which we were able to get on immediately despite it already being full of white sox fans, and headed home. i was able to convince the guys to go to wicker park with me to meet up with allison and ursula and we hit up a few bars and had a great, late night. the effects of the weekend were quickly catching up with me and i crashed, knowing that i had to wake up at some point to let nick and mark into the apartment, and knowing that i had to be at the festival by 1230, impossibly early for a festival for me, to see friendly fires the following day, and boy am i glad that i did.

0 comments