GANG COLOURS LED BY EXAMPLE

Here is some really moody music. I don't mean moody as in, ill-tempered, but moody as in brims with emotion. Yep. Exactly that. It's from the Southampton-native (that's in the UK for people that don't know) Gang Colours and it's called 'Led By Example' - it comes from his upcoming second album, Invisible In Your City, out 16th September on Gilles Peterson's label, Brownswood. It is a storm of sound that suits perfectly this sudden transition from Summer to Autumn - perhaps it's just my mood. Either way, it's slow and sultry and it packs a damn nice punch.

It begins with piano chords, the type that progress in such a way as to conjure the feeling of rain falling, a hollow sound in those wooden tones. Sampling his own voice, it loops alongside the richly reverbing chords. Unrelenting bass zooms in taking no prisoners. It wobbles the air and helps to herald the semblance of a beat creeping in from underneath. Mr Gang Colours (aka Will Ozanne) himself sings on the track, sounding good in layers with thick dollops of echo giving it a faraway sound. Here the bass becomes meaner, resonant, as the beat begins to shake nervously all around.

A break gives the piano a chance to have its own spotlight once more, synth chords building up to the next drop into an ocean of bass and more glorious vocals. In some ways, this is a mire of melancholy close to bleakness yet it's done in such a way that makes it beautiful. The music itself, the melodies, the detached tinkling of the piano, the near monotone frankness of Will's own nicely textured voice, gives it an atmosphere of measured sadness without it actually sounding "dark".

There's a beat here, but there's nothing so concrete as to give you a clue into which genre it might neatly slot. That's what's so nice about this - it's completely fresh. It's not particularly following anything that's gone before it. Literally, if somebody asked me, "What kinda music is this?" I'd say, "dunno" - that's how much of an expert I am. There's a mix of organic sounds, a slow concentrated selection of beats, samples, heavily altered vocals - all to a slow, dirgy rhythm. I don't know if the title is supposed to be ironic or not because this definitely doesn't seem led by example. In any case, I've exhausted myself. It's a nice song. Let's be happy that there's more to come.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Listen to Gang Colours on SoundCloud
Like Gang Colours on Facebook
Hear more Gang Colours on Myspace
Follow Gang Colours on Twitter

Y E A R S 彼女は私の夢の少女です [SHE IS THE GIRL OF MY DREAMS]

What I've written in the title as Y E A R S perhaps should be properly realised as it appears: // Y E Λ R S // - but from here on in I'm gonna be saying Y E A R S or maybe even YEARS. So if that's ok with you, I'll continue now.

*Sigh* yep I just sighed IRL. So YEARS appeared kinda out of nowhere, I think someone posted one of their songs as a "new favourite" on Twitter. So I just blindly followed the link - as I do - and came out at the other end have a good nose around YEARS's's's SoundCloud. And how happy I was with it.

Where does YEARS fit in? With a new and boundary-pushing sectarian kind of genre of music I suppose you would call "vaporwave" - I've seen the term bandied around a lot with this kind of music and I suppose it fits. I guess the "-wave" bit comes from "new wave" and the "vapor-" bit comes from the fact that it's very chilled, a more-than-fluid sound that indeed seems to float into the ether and back down again into our awaiting ears as vapor. But I'm BRITISH so I'd say VAPOUR. Vapourwave.

The track in question is the newest in this Japanese (I can only assume but I'm 60% sure I'm wrong) producer's repertoire, called '彼女は私の夢の少女です' or 'She Is The Girl Of My Dreams' - let us listen.

It's a really easy-on-the-ears listen, something that just seems to melt every angsty feeling you may have into a nectar of nothingness. Sitting somewhere between lounge music, slow jams, pop and muzak, it is just teeming with dreamy sounds - harps tinkling, cute little synths, clopping woodblocks, fizzing hi-hats. The beat is wonderful, laid-back and lightly moody, a hint of clap like a leaflet falling on a puddle. Bass bulges smoothly like giant bubbles coming up from a silvery sea.

It's like another world. And who doesn't like being evaporated for a couple of minutes (or not quite that long), even if we are only to be condensed on the cold glass of reality. Sweet stuff.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Like Y E A R S on Facebook
Listen to Y E A R S on Soundcloud

MARUKAO丸颜先生 SOFA DREAM // HELLO FUNK

Here and now I am very happy to present to you some more well-chosen sounds from the young Chinese label, Groove Bunny Records - these are the same guys that bought us MADPETE's Cantonese Boom Bap, nicely minimal and retro hip hop with raps in Cantonese. How pleasant were those sounds.

Anyway yeah, some more sounds found by Groove Bunny come from Chinese producer Marukao - I am not sure what the characters mean though. If you translate them from the Chinese you get "Pills Mr. Yen" so I don't even know what to say, let's just stick with Marukao. In any case, the songs that have been found and reissued, I guess, are not "new" in the proper sense of the word. You know I'm always going on about when is a new song a new song and blah blah blah, well, both of these are like four years old. So there's old for you. But they're new. No one's probably ever heard them, not least anyone reading this anyway.

First up we have 'Sofa Dream' - it's a chilled number that was made in 2009 sounds as though it could have been made yesterday. It truly is a slow jam sofa dream. Somnolent strings drift in and out like your consciousness in a state of dozement laying on a sofa on a Sunday afternoon as tremolo synths provide that delicate wobble between dreaming and reality. Virtuoso warm solo synth sounds play over the top like dappled sunshine, giving it a good lounge vibe.

The beat is skiffling and plays to catch up with itself at times, adding delicious fills that provide the energy in this otherwise sleep-inducing atmosphere. It's laid-back with a glitchy edge.

On the other hand, we have the older (2008) stylings of 'Hello Funk'. As you might be able to gather from the title, it's pretty funky. Modulating bass synths provide a foundation that verges on cheeky in its sound, one that's certainly sidestepping towards the dancefloor rather than the sofa.

This particular vibe is helped along by cartoony lead synth noises, like an altered synth-vox, which it some fun alongside the bouncy beat. The latter is in itself quite 80s and it's when I noticed that distinct snare strike that the rest of the song began to sound of-that-time, too. It certainly is funky though. The organs towards the end really give it a drop of condensed funk, each whistling note making your mind melt a little bit - in a good way.

Now, if this is what was happening all those years ago - what will be happening now I wonder?

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Follow to Groove Bunny Records on Soundcloud
Check Marukao on Douban

WASTED NIGHTS MIXTAPE #002 [FREE DOWNLOAD]

This guy is really pushing my buttons at the moment - and I don't mean that he is annoying me, but rather TURNING ME ON. Musically speaking, that is. Whilst the sun sits high in the sky I play this man's music and it just sounds perfect. He makes this sunny brand of sampling music, turning old sounds into new ones by chopping them up and mashing them together to create a future funk flavour. Sounds delicious right?

So anyway, yeah I wrote about him before. If you haven't already guessed from the title of this post, it's Wasted Nights of course. I wrote about him before, when I came across his song 'Palm' - I naturally went crazy when I first heard this, and I would've been dancing, juggling coconuts and attempting to make a tropical cocktail in every single vessel I could lay my hands on, but I have a broken knee. However, that's what my brain was telling me to do.

Little did I know he made these little mixtapes as well as his own music. They give you a nice insight into his - yes; his name is George Rosolac - taste in music. Which seems to be in the same vein as his own style, looking back to a when the music was happy and when most of the world was going through an economic boom (Cold War anyone?): yes, the 80s. I've heard people who actually lived through the 80s say that they hated it and the music was rubbish and the fashion was worse, but for me, yes for me and many others, who drew breath from the atmosphere for only a couple of years at the end of the 80s, it's an alien era filled with fun colours and fun sounds. The future was just around the corner. Then we got to the future and it's a bit troublesome - I've seen more revolutions and riots and civil wars on TV in the last 10 years than... well, than I've wanted to see.

So sit back and chill out to Wasted Nights's MIXTAPE #002, maybe even download it - cause ya can - and take it with you someplace nice, play it in your car and cruise round your local town, even if it's Nowhere-on-Sea or Lower Hibbingdon or whatever, and say with all your heart: "What recession? What war?"

It's gorgeous. Glitzing with muscle-bound drum machines, ice cold slap bass, infinity pool synth and soulful vocals, this medley of songs oozes the carefree, endless and unbeatable summer of youth, of fun, of pleasure, of dream-following unconquerable decisive happiness. Sun & rain, day & night, ebullient & chilled. Err... here's the track list. I've done links on em too so you also can explore the music of these artists.

1// Claws For - Can't You See
2// Audiosynthes - I Know We're Just Friends
3// No Crass - 4 p.m
4// Audiosynthes - Dead Cruise
5// Booty Thrill - Bungalow Funk
6// Sebastian - Arabest
7// Mattmiller - She Wants To Funk
8// Mix Chopin - Can't Buy It
9// Letherette - D&T
10// Bobby Tank - Sexy Thang

I hope that you enjoyed/will enjoy this. If not, then that's fine - the world would be a boring place if only ONE singular taste in music prevailed in the minds of everyone everywhere. If you did like it, you can also check out the earlier (1-month-old) MIXTAPE #001 - I hope these are monthly cause I loves em.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Like Wasted Nights on Facebook
Listen to Wasted Nights on Soundcloud
Hear more Wasted Nights on bandcamp
Check Wasted Nights on Tumblr

Listen to Wasted Nights mixtapes on SoundCloud

LUVIIA COPPERTONE

It definitely feels like after unearthing this particular sound for myself a while ago - not this song in particular, but the general 1980s vibe - every new artist I find who makes music that sounds as if it is from the past is a new discovery. And that's despite having that retro sound. How can that be? Because I thought that anything that sounded even vaguely derivative of anything else wasn't new or exciting at all - oh, whoops, no, sorry I've confused myself for an ignorant person! It actually turns out that derivative sounds can still sound fresh.

This time, the sound comes from an artist from Taiwan called Luviia. After I found out about that Taiwanese rapper Li Mou (whom I wrote about yesterday) often played at the live hip-hop/beat/DJ-friendly music night MICRO'Session, I checked one of the line-up posters and had a listen to some of the other guys that play there. Luviia was one of them. And after a listen to their (gonna be ambiguous there cause I am not sure whether they're M or F) most recent song, 'Coppertone', I was happily surprised at the global spread of the retro-throwback sound at the same time as I found myself digging the vibe of the song.

And today I found a video of the song made by a guy called Quincy Lu, also from Taiwan. I'm pleased to have uncovered this seemingly unknown-outside-of-that-city/country music scene - just a few clicks can get you anywhere, if you are curious enough to bother. Here it is anywayz guyz.

The long fade-in on this song just adds to the artificial dreaminess of it, the image of an alleyway leading to the door of a nightclub - all in soft focus - with a crescent moon dipping in the sky, people queuing to get in, slow-pans of scenes inside the club, stills of people laughing and drinking cocktails bejewelled with olives and glacé cherries. It's that kinda vibe. Short but sweet, you have but a couple of minutes to appreciate the glassy synths, the stuttering guitar, the attitudinal bass and those slow, tone-bending keyboard solos. All the time it sounds as if it is going to drop into a faster groove, being - for my ears - quite similar to the start of Luther Vandross's 'Never Too Much', but with a beat-maker's hip hop-sensitive ear. Then a fade-out, and the image conjured begins to disappear like smoke. Chiiilled.

Luviia is an artist on the label Darker Than Wax, a label based in Singapore dedicated to supporting hip hop producers, beat makers and MCs. He has actually released an album on bandcamp called HypnosisJoint, filled with the same delectable stylings as he showed off in 'Coppertone' - sample-decked hip hop with one foot in the 80s: it is definitely worth a listen or two.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Like Luviia on Facebook
Listen to Luviia on Soundcloud
Hear more Luviia on bandcamp
Follow Luviia on Twitter
Check Luviia on Tumblr

AUTRE NE VEUT COUNTING

This is what I like to hear: a complete disregard for the perceived stigma surrounding certain genres of music - in this case, R&B. Brooklyn-based Autre Ne Veut (aka Arthur Ashin) is one of those artists creating the music that he wants to create, no matter of what genre it will be doubtless shoved into. Indeed, in an interview with Dummy Mag, he said as much, revealing that "Sexy music and soulful singing, regardless of genre, has always been a preference." With that said, it's safe to say that this first taster of upcoming album, Anxiety and gives an inkling to how formidable a follow-up this will be to his 2010 self-titled debut. It's going to big - really big - so hold on to your hats, jump into the music, and await the album, scheduled for release 11th February 2013, with eager, hungry ears.

With Ashin's professed influences ranging from Annie Lennox to Katy Perry - all purveyors of radio-friendly pop hits - it's clear to see that there is a definite passion here for weighty sing-alongs, big choruses that drain the lungs of sound and feeling and words that people on a general level can get on board with. So, of course, sensual vocals play a big part in the slow-jams, R&B aesthetic of teaser single 'Counting', it starting with a wordless, choral refrain that isn't difficult to fall in love with straight away. Listen up:

The chorus of this hi-hat-riddled, ten-storeys-tall song is an instant classic from the moment it erupts in a multi-layered "I'm counting on you..." - a few listens to this song and you'll be guaranteed to summon the karaoke-lover in you and belt it out as the song grinds forward (grind like the dance, not like a literal grind). It's honestly that catchy. And with that slow, hip-hop pop rhythm, those softened pan-pipes, that breathy synth, those kaleidoscope arpeggios, 'Counting' has all the right elements that are mixed perfectly genuinely heartfelt pop song.

Yep. It feels like pop, it sounds like pop, smells and even looks and tastes like pop, but something about its not-so-highly-polished veneer and its masterful use of the space or the silence between the sounds (in the verse at least) to create a powerful atmosphere of the feelings that go with putting oneself 100% in the care of another, i.e. counting on them, suggests that it is so much more than just another pop tune.

Again, this has been the joyous Autre Ne Veut - 'Counting'. The album Anxiety is out 11th February 2013. Tell all your friends.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Autre Ne Veut on Facebook
Autre Ne Veut on Twitter
Autre Ne Veut on SoundCloud
Autre Ne Veut's official site