Too Good Monday

January 24, 2021 — Leave a comment

There’s probably no better Spanish-speaking band than this one; a lot of people would say there’s probably no better band than this one. This was the last song of their last concert—packed stadium, the stuff of legends.

[They came back later which damaged the legend but we were all so happy to see them that nobody complained. Gustavo Cerati, the main singer, has since passed. Now, about 10 years after that first comeback the remaining members want to do a second comeback for a nostalgia tour. They will invite pop stars and use holograms since the singer is not here … ]

• Soda Stereo – De Musica Ligera

Future Thursday

January 7, 2021 — Leave a comment

This was straight up scary when it first came out. I was a child and had no idea what it was; Marilyn Manson was the closest thing to this but I always looked at him in the same way as I would look at a scary movie—it wasn’t about music. But this … This was music, this was serious; so I couldn’t dismiss it as simple scary-movie theatrics. And since this was before the internet, a lot of questions went unanswered.

What is this?! What is the singer on about? Is he going to jump out of the screen and kill me and burn my house down?! Why are they underground? Why is the other guy (Liam Howlett) just standing there?

But the sound was so undeniable in this—and next songs that leaked little by little into the mainstream—that I eventually just understood: they’re a fucking great band THAT is what they are. Everything else is just theatrics.

• The Prodigy – Firestarter

Sample Tuesday

January 5, 2021 — Leave a comment

Staring at a poster, muttering names of buildings—”International Building”, “Pan-American Building” with a chorus going “Oh, it’s tall”—with a strange nostalgia/amazement … I don’t know what this is, I’m just going to call this “Oh, so French”.

Also interesting is that, despite being overwhelmingly French, the music is African. Sampling before samplers existing, or French people stealing from Africa? <- (This is meant as a joke, for those who don’t understand sarcasm or world history)

• Babatunde Olatunji – Akiwowo
• Serge Gainsbourg – “New-York USA”

Best Of The Year Thursday

December 31, 2020 — Leave a comment

It’s a hard task to choose what’s the best of the year, considering that every day I post bangers; the selection criteria do not include nostalgia or paying tributes but, for me, one of the things that stood out this year is that Andrew Weatherall passed away. There’s a lot to say about him but if you know electronic music, the name “Andrew Weatherall” says it all.

“Though Weatherall turned in just the third ever BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix back in 1993, his 1996 entry is usually held up as not only his own best, but one of the finest in the series’s history, a masterclass in depth and poise. There are four cuts in the tracklist from Two Lone Swordsmen – his then recently formed group with Keith Tenniswood, which proved the most durable and creatively rewarding of all Weatherall’s many alliances – including an introductory airing to the classic Glide By Shooting. With a subaquatic melody, an undercurrent of wibbling noise and a haunted air about it, it is pretty strange for a deep house song. It also slaps, and sounds even more robust as it hurtles past early on in the mix – a testament to Weatherall’s ability to constantly improve on source material even when it was his own.”

— Gabriel Szatan https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/feb/18/andrew-weatherall-10-greatest-tracks

• Two Lone Swordsmen – Glide By Shooting