Showing posts with label 90s house. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 90s house. Show all posts

Saturday, 7 February 2015

GERRY READ – COME TO ME

I think this guy Gerry Read is from the UK. It's a guess. Only because I am also from the UK and his profile picture on SoundCloud shows some houses that are unmistakably British suburb. Other than that I don't know anything about him really. A quick look at his profile on Discogs tells us that he first emerged with some "warm, harmonious productions" but is now practising "an altogether darker, funkier take on house music."

Case in point: this track. It's called 'Come To Me' and although it's not that dark, it is certainly a funky and hypnotic slice of house. First impressions: a mechanical sound, with clacking woodblocks and pneumatic hi-hats, that conjures the rhythmic inner workings of a diorama depicting a romantic bedroom scene, the vocal sample "Come to me…" an eternal speech bubble of desire in the nocturnal heat of the moment.

It shuffles along with this industrial precision, seamlessly introducing, removing and replacing elements for a decidedly progressive feel. Ghostly samples appear a third of the way through, the slow and melodic in-and-out wheezings of an ancient phantom, which sway beneath warm chords that sound like soft gemstones gleaming in static. The whole luscious lot of it is imbued with this slightly worn, decayed feel – a loving touch that adds an aged yet timeless feel to the music.


  • A further google reveals that Mr. Read is indeed from the UK – but I've seen that he's from Suffolk and also from St Albans so who knows.
  • Also, the cover art for 'Come To Me' is a mirrored image of the artwork for Gerry Read's album Jummy – but the song isn't on the tracklist. Maybe taken from an upcoming release related to the 2012 album? Prob not though.


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Sunday, 20 July 2014

EGGROLL – NO SATISFACTION (VALIANT VERMIN REMIX) [FREE DOWNLOAD]

Brilliant! That's the first word I'll say about this. But before I even begin to tip-tap some words out about the song itself: Just WHO is Valiant Vermin anyway? FURTHERMORE — Eggroll…?!

(The) Valiant Vermin aka Bettina Campomanes is a young (I believe currently she is 17) producer from the Philippines. A self-described bedroom project, the Facebook page for it shows off Campomanes' modesty and humour: her bio reads "I didn't want to go outside so this happened," whilst her description is "I'm 16 years young and bored as hell." The very epitome of bedroom producer if ever there was one. Bettina is also a prized member of the Manila-based artist collective, Youngliquidgang – the co-founder of which, Zeon Gomez (aka Ulzzang Pistol), made a lovely guest mix (#014) for Y/N recently showcasing the group's talent; it included the electro-pop goodness of 'Good Girls Sin' by VV herself.

Her latest track is an impressive remix of an obscure and rather ungoogleable '80s duo, Eggroll. Called 'No Satisfaction', the original is as '80s synthpop as you can imagine: power drums, keytars, twangly guitar. I was gonna just link you to the video (dated 1987, aired on NY Public Access) but I'll embed it at the end of this post because you'd like it probably.

Anyway: the remix is a different kettle of fish.

Taking the strong, soulful vocals of the original, Valiant Vermin puts these to use in an extremely appealing way, setting them above an elastically punchy four-on-the-floor beat and syncopated stabs of robust house piano, as well as the occasional synth chord. Wheeling synth melody screams over the top with all the exciting intensity of Sonic 2's Chemical Plant Zone – but more jazz, less urgency. Speaking of jazz, piano fills spill over between chords in virtuosic fashion, further highlighting the elated funk of this track. It's house, classic 90s house – with a dash of French-touch sound – combined with the fun-loving nature of jazz and electro, simply brimming with energy. Download it for free!

Two things are immediately clear: 1. To find & utilise well such an obscure gem; 2. Production is high quality. Here is a talent still relatively undiscovered, from somebody barely even an adult (in the true sense of the word) yet. You can only hope that Miss Campomanes continues on this creative path; who knows what she will dream up in years to come.

And, as promised…



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Friday, 15 November 2013

BRETON ENVY

Majorly digging this. It's quite different to the last song I heard by British band Breton, 'Got Well Soon', a dark rumbling number, almost exclusively electronic in its sound. This new track 'Envy' is a beautiful change in direction, compared to the dark basement club feel to 'Got Well Soon' - here we're thrown into a swirling world of addictive, breezy rhythms that touch you in all the right places. It's got a tropico-indie-dance feel to it; pointing out the obvious like a child would be saying "sounds like Foals" but on the other hand, but looking at it with a bit more scrutiny gives more away. However, that's not to say that first impressions should be discarded: these delicious sounds are for real and they're in my ears right now and I love them.

I need to get a grip. I can't very well sit here listening to this song on repeat like a lunatic, can I? How would I ever finish my washing? Or make lunch? So I'm gonna purge myself of what I'm feeling about it. Syncopation plays a massive part, offbeat rhythms crossing over each other keeping your ears busy, giving a sense of the gloriously unexpected to the song. This repeated instrumental refrain, with steel pans, glockenspiel, synth beeps, bass guitar, drums and strings, is really dynamic, always feeling like it's leading into something, rather than remaining the mainstay of the song. The drums are real, played with gusto, and filled with delicate touches of the hi-hat - they keep to a general house or disco beat for longer, more driven parts of the track. Actually, I'm gonna stick with house, cause the rich piano chords that clomp down on the song from early on, and their pattern, really do conjure 90s house music. Just saying. It does.

The piano chords are just one part of the song's thick and richly populated orchestration. Strings and a brass section arise in the two more driven parts of the song, building up in the last section to a genuinely symphonic ending, with virtuoso bass sidewinding with little variations the whole time, the steel pans adding their sharp exotic lilt to the mix. The vocals are simple, raw, understated, yet yelled out in lush layers of natural harmony - perfect for sing-a-longs and by turns perfect for a live setting. They sit superbly comfy in the mix with everything else. Fast-paced indie-dance with an orchestral-yet-90s-house feel - that's what this is. And it's lovely - in composition, dynamic, and sound.

'Envy' is out properly on January 23rd 2014 as a single from upcoming second album War Room Stories, due for release on February 3th 2014 on Breton's own imprint label Cut Tooth, through Believe Recordings.



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Thursday, 12 September 2013

CLUBFEET ACAPULCO & LA [FREE DOWNLOAD]

Hello hi. Apple juice is not often purchased by me but when it is purchased it is rapidly consumed. Do you also find that? But this is neither here nor there. Sorry, it's music time isn't it. Here is something new. It's called 'Acapulco & LA' and it's by a band called Clubfeet.

They are from both Australia and South Africa at the same time - I'm not sure how that works out. As in, which members of the band are from which countries I don't know, so I apologise for that. Their first album, Gold on Gold, released in 2010, caused quite a stir and they've been kinda popular ever since. Perhaps not on such a global level but certainly in their respective mother countries, sure. Oh I just looked at the press release. Yeah, I was right. They're a "critical and commercial hit" in Australia. Too right as well. They have some nice tunes.

One such is this one, which they are offering to fans and non-fans alike on their SoundCloud page - 'Acapulco & LA'. As soon as I saw the title of this one I just thought of sub-tropical party fun and, listening to it, I wasn't wrong. It's a damn party song. It sounds already like an indie-dance classic. Yep, with that intro of ambient synth roaring like distant waves, jungle noises, and a gently calming, simplistic guitar melody set to a driving beat, you know what you're getting into.

Soon there are some truly delicious sounds - hollow synth melodies and the undeniable jolly cool that comes with a xylophone exposure. Xylophone chords, as well. Truly chilling yet heartwarming on the most basic level ever. Surely the xylophone is like one of the oldest instruments. Always is like someone playing bones or something.

It's a dancefloor number that should find its way into many indie-wired clubs in the future. It just oozes that beach party sound, with the added personable appeal of knowing that a five-piece band has created the track - somehow, it just is more personable. As with this kind of music, it's emotional, too, often going with the easy heartbreak that can occur in the darkness of a club environment - lover's tiffs and rifts in relationships haunt these places like the scent of alcohol-soaked carpets itself. As such, there's emotional lyrics, such as, "You broke my heart and now I'm lost forever" and the catchy pop-hook of "I lost another beat of my heart" with the support of ahh-ing backing vocals.

Nice. Keeping that indie-disco flame alive with a nearly 90s-dance twist, 'Acapulco & LA' can be downloaded for free and comes from Clubfeet's second album, Heirs & Graces, which is out now.

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Thursday, 15 August 2013

CHELA ROMANTICISE (BOYS GET HURT REMIX)

So I'll start this one by saying that I haven't actually heard the original of this song. Usually with a remix I like to hear the original version. But in this case, since I can't do that, I won't do that, and I'll just judge the song on what it is. A song, in and of itself.

It comes from a new EP, Romanticise, by Melbourne-based artist Chela released on freewheeling endless-2005-honeymoon French label Kitsuné. And as they often do, they've put a lot of remixes on the album too. Which is nice because it's a way to prolong the tastiest elements of an enjoyable song without just sticking it on repeat and risk damaging its freshness - plus it's also nice to give some exposure to those lesser known producers who "do" the remixes. In this instance, it's Japanese duo Boys Get Hurt.

Labelling themselves as emotional dance music - even "sea disco" - they create some really nice tracks that evoke sunshine and romance with a hint of nostalgia. I've even done a Q&A with one half of the duo, Yuki Abe. Their remix of Chela's 'Romanticise' exhibits that same brand of fresh, comfortable indie dance which first attracted me to them.

There's nothing really futuristic about it. Like I said, they seem to inject a sense of nostalgia into their tracks and this one's no different, despite being a remix. Perhaps it's that tropical vibe of theirs. Is that nostalgic? I suppose its of a certain time - mid-1990s, but then again what do I know. There's a beach-destined melody on the xylophone counterpointed with a marimba kinda sound that floats playfully within the beat, the new-pair-of-trainers-squeaking-across-a-polished-floor synth sound that bwips and bweeps, the bongo drumming that tribalises the atmosphere at the start. It's all delicious and catchy.

The vocals from Chela sing out with catchy emotion, moving from stretched high to low and confidential; they follow a nice stop-start pattern in the chorus that Boys Get Hurt have followed with a combined synth chord/bass off-beat rhythm. A slice of the vocal has been sampled and lowered, appearing towards the end, alongside a variously scatty hi-hat pinging - falling finally to reverberating piano chords, a shaker, that glockenspiel sound, and a clap. How else could you have wished the song to finish? It's nice. A real sunset ending.

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Thursday, 8 November 2012

KIDDY SMILE WORTHY OF YOUR LOVE

Came across this song yesterday and kind of kicking ourselves that we didn't post about it there and then. But hey - mañana. And mañana it is.

We'd never heard of Kiddy Smile, hailing from France and discovered apparently by Beth Ditto, but it seems as if he is going for a 1990s revival sound. It's a popular vibe at the moment, with much electronic music finding inspiration in that era of raves and baggy trousers, most notably - for us, anyway - Azari & III illustrates that sound quality today. It's a mix of not-too-sophisticated synth sounds, big snares, repetitive beats, and a catchy vocal hook that has you humming it for days on end.

When we first heard this song, 'Worthy Of Your Love', by Kiddy Smile we were so impressed with the out of place, yet oddly comfortable/comforting sound of the track, that we had to listen to it for a second time straight away. Which is perfect because the EP, Worthy Of Your Love will be available very, very soon. This was able to confirm one thing to us: that this is a song we like a lot. And we hope you do, too.

It's catchy, it's fun, it reminds you nostalgically of a time that you thought was not so far gone in the past but is actually and rather depressingly more than 20 years in the past, and it makes you want to dance like a madman/madwoman. It reeks, like a heady perfume, of acid house. The video is like being rolled down a hill in a giant, musical kaleidoscope, full of all the colourful sights and sounds that go with the Era On Acid. Smiley faces ahoy.

It could be the case that in these troubling times of apocalyptic elections in that big country across the Atlantic, perceived immigration problems, economic turmoil, stagnating unemployment, a new paedophile every week (or one very famous one for a whole month), the large feet of government stepping on the many and tiny toes of the people, decreasing literacy, the possible collapse of social welfare, and a thousand-and-one other quite understandably depressing things, the cure is to look back to a time when a portion of the music heralded and indeed celebrated only one thing: good times. Songs like these are more than just a song to jig to; they're more like a comfort blanket.

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Monday, 25 June 2012

YACHT LE GOUDRON

I saw this song this morning. I listened to it quite soon after that. The only thing that I couldn't understand was why YACHT were now singing in French. Must be a remix, I thought. So I went and Googled 'Le Goudron' to see who'd done it before. Turns out it's a pretty famous number by Brigitte Fontaine, with some strange folksy/psychedelic acoustic guitar accompanying her singing.

Well, YACHT decided to create a revisioning of the song. And really I didn't say remix because the only things that stay the same are Brigitte Fontaine's voice and the original song's repetitive melody. Maybe it's more correct to call it a cover.

In any case, it is now an electro house masterpiece of open hi hats fizzing with white noise and modulated bass synth. With the French vocals this song actually sounds like it could've been produced by a French DJ or band, someone like Sexy Sushi - it has a similar sound to French electro stuff.

Listen listen listen.



I really like it. The clackety, distorted synths start bolting around like thunder towards the end of the track as Brigitte's surreal refrain whips around like wind: "Le temps est un bâteau, la terre est un gâteau".

Time is a boat, Earth is a cake.

The song, anyway, comes from YACHT's Le Goudron on DFA Records and was released 93 years ago. Just joking - April 13th 2012. Another song on the album is the floaty and friendly 'I'll Be Your Mirror'.



Again this is a cover-type song, of Velvet Underground's 1967 original. This re-treatment, again, works really well. It's understated and beautifully cute. Nice one YACHT. Bobby Birdman's remix of 'Le Goudron' is really cool too (LISTEN TO THAT HERE).

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KINDNESS HOUSE



I've been listening to this song like pretty much all of the past weekend. It's very different to what's going on currently. It's a touching homage to 80s pop and 90s house music - hence the title, thanks to its stabbing piano chords - and a song filled with warmth. The synth is great and expansive and muddy and it sounds like a well of feeling overflowing. The beat is deliciously old-school.

The lyrics are something else. I won't transcribe them because that'd just be stupid. Listen to the song yourself - hear the words for yourself. The main thing is that it's inherently sad, with a hopelessly optimistic overtone that gives the song its major key kind of vibe.

Yes, this is 'House' by Kindness and it's absolutely wonderful.

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Kindness is on Myspace
• Couldn't find anything else.
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