JULIEN MIER SUPER TROPIC TRAMP [VIDEO]

The Netherlands. Holland. Dutch place. Whatever you call it, it's the same area: a country in Western Europe. Why the brief snippet of geography? Because it's this country that the producer at the heart of this post, Julien Mier, calls home. Or if he doesn't actively do that, then at least we can safely say it's where he's from and is currently dwelling.

I have written about Mr Mier before, back in August, namely his song 'Porcelain Dust', which came from his LP Jane's Junkyard released earlier this year. It was a glitchy affair that was awash with lush, clattering percussion - a rich yet close-to-delicate sound. An interesting take on things, that's for sure. And what's better than interesting? Well, not much. Interest in stuff is what holds your attention; interest breeds "like" and "love".

This time around I have the brand new video for his equally brand new song, the nicely named 'Super Tropic Tramp'. The video was created by animators Koji Aramaki and Hiroki Kato and feels very much like an abstract and immediate reaction to the music itself. Prepare yourself for a colourful collage of rhythmic shapes.

Exploding out of one initial clap, the song's intro shines with long icy chords with a faint, panning delay to them that puts this sound very much in a space-age realm. Noises like, or that actually are, birds chirping join the show as the lead up to the song proper builds up. Again, it's a glitchy affair, frantically bubbling synth bubbles wild stuttering synth chords - it has this triumphant feel that is very difficult not to love. Under this a half-time beat provides a downtempo head-noddingly fine rhythm, a nice consistency for the synth-assault above.

After this stops, we're left with the nervously avian heartbeat of the kick and clinks of percussion continuing the song to its end as thin chords again take us into a floating, space-like place. It's a nice way to kick-start your senses - this intense slide from calm to crazy - yet at all times it feels masterfully restrained. The sign of a producer who knows how to get people's hearts racing, that's for sure. The song is from an upcoming collection by Julien Mier called When Will They Wake Up featuring remixes of his music from people like Sun Glitters and Alphabets Heaven, released on lovely Canadian label King Deluxe (Metome, Aleph, etc.), 11th November.

PS. I made a small test mix a few days ago that included this song at the end if you wanna hear it.

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PREMIERE 初演 • HARMFUL LOGIC – BETTER TIMES WILL COME [FREE DOWNLOAD]

So here we are. It's a moment in the history of this little site. Remember remember the 4th of November. This is the first time that this blog hosted a premiere of a song. Perhaps the first of many. Perhaps a one off. Perhaps the first in a long series of occasional first-plays and first-listens. In any case, I'm really sorry to call it a premiere because, well, why should we be using the French word? Is there not a better word that we can come up with? All it means is 'first'. So why not another language? We can rule out Russian beacuse it's первый and in the Latin alphabet that's 'pervyy'. Erste - that's German; it's fine. Első sounds nice and that's Hungarian. Or even 第一, which is Japanese and says 'daiichi'. Don't worry. All you'd need to remember is that those two characters mean 'first' and you'd be fine. I've put it in the title just now as a test. Take that, French-rooted English!

In any case, we're here to celebrate the exclusive first-play, first-everything, new song by 20-year-old Irish producer Harmful Logic (real name: Steven Clarke). He is part of the PIR▲.MD Records family, a Mexican label focusing on "new forms of hip-hop and electronic beats" - they released Harmful Logic's debut album Lost In The World, a lush sea of subby beats featuring samples from anime and PlayStation (the first one yo) games with a few collaborations with people like mus.hiba and Kryone. That album is free to download. Indeed, whilst I didn't write about that, I did write about a recent song of his that was free to download called 'Sorry'. In fact, all of his songs are free downloads so I'll just stop mentioning that. Um sorry to go on but also I thought I should mention that Harmful Logic has also participated in Piramd's series of daily free tracks, along with many others on the label.

Shall we get down to it then? Here is his most recent track, not from an upcoming EP or album, but simply a new track for you to enjoy. So please do.

Adopting an otherwordly feel from the start, sped-up samples are rinsed out and drip-dried into a steady set of vocal and instrumental samples that are chopped above an ever-glistening river of ambient synth that washes through the mind. Those samples are taken from J-pop singer Kyary Pamyu Pamyu's song 'Chan Chaka Chan Chan' and used effectively to perpetuate a cyclical feeling of half-happiness in limbo. If the title of the track is anything to go by, it has the sound of a prelude to joy, a proto-euphoria where positive feelings seem to be exuding from the song's soft sounds, yet only in a thin mist.

It does have, however, an all-encompassing vibe that may owe to its luscious synths and samples, but which may be equally indebted to its unchanging gentle beat, a firm, unsyncopated hip hop style rhythm whose kicks boom quietly like gigantic bubbles in the ocean and whose unassuming snares keep time alongside miniature-sounding hi-hats. The unchanging nature of the song, its repetition, holds within it the captivating aura of dance music with a higher tempo, yet because of its own speed keeps it pretty chilled. There's also a sample at the end of some people speaking; this is from anime Puella Magi Madoka Magica.

There's a clear love of Japanese pop culture here, which is absolutely fine, in fact, I actively endorse it. Why limit our entertainment to our own language and culture?

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HOME NOD IF YOU CAN HEAR ME // GET UP AND LEAVE [FREE DOWNLOAD]

This picture right here, right here, does the job at pretty much accurately describing not just one but in fact both of these songs. I dunno. Do you know? What am I talking about? In any case: I've found some more really nice music and I hope that's ok with everyone. My aim is to find nice music and well most of the time I do achieve that aim. That's not arrogant, it's just what happens ok? Sorry.

This time around I like literally couldn't decide on what song to include here. There are so many lovely songs on this guy's SoundCloud and I recommend - at least, if you like the stuff you hear here - checking out his entire back catalogue. He's prolific and his name is Randy Goffe but we shall refer to him simply as HOME for that is what he has baptised himself in this online world. This Florida-(Punta Gorda)-based producer is making some seriously delicious 80s-flavoured sounds that make me just wanna eat ice creams, drive fast cars, play GTA Vice City, emigrate somewhere tropical, drift on a lilo in a pool in a mansion bought by drug money. Perhaps not that drastic but, you know. It's a College-y, Electric Youth kinda synthpop sound and I love it.

The first of these (yep I'm sharing two: shock HORROR) is called 'Nod If You Can Hear Me' and, well, you'd better get ready to nod cause you're definitely gonna hear him.

This song is alive with synth bass that really helps to drive the song - the perfect vibe for driving along a dramatic coastal road someplace pretty. Rich chords plummet down to your ears from the thumping pace of the song, which is for the most part quite a minimalist experience: a simple beat takes us from start to finish, doubling up on hi-hats for a faster pace towards the end. For me, this is over way too soon. I could listen to this like, all night. Or all day. Wheeling synth with delayed attack time swoop in with an ache, a longing, that feels like squinting on a sunny day. Glorious.

And then there's this other one. It's 3 months old but that has never stopped me from posting a song. No siree. So without further ado, here is 'Get Up And Leave'.

This one has a different atmosphere about it. There's a touch of lingering sadness in gentle electric piano chord progression, in the pattern of the lead synth melody floating above everything. It might just be me, but it sounds as though the bassline doesn't properly kick in until later in the song, after halfway, begetting a heavy atmosphere that isn't completely apparent from the get-go, but which is wonderful to gradually fall into as the track goes on its way. At 1:29 we lose the lead synths, or they just join in with the original chords, to create a less celebratory tone, making for an organic fade-out in terms of passion rather than volume. Like a break-up song, kinda. I can imagine someone driving away from a house having just broken up. I'm welling up just picturing that.

Anyway. It's all lovely. These are just two particular gems in the treasure chest of sounds on HOME's SoundCloud. HOME is a good name; whilst not very googleable, it is a nice statement on the instant familiarity that you feel with his sounds. Given that he's "like 17" as well, it's even more of a nice surprise to hear these great sounds. If he's not like 17 then shame on him for lying. Just kidding, it's fine. It's music, after all, not a registration form.

In other news: you can download a mixtape of "pretty much every song [he's] ever done" called The Atlantic Tapes. All of his songs are free to download, including these two above. MUSIC FOR EVERYONE!

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SNORLAX TO PROTECT & TO SERVE

Woweee, first post of November. Well, aside from my October MIX (yeah, it's still a thing)... But this - THIS - is my first real post. Even though it's the 3rd already. That's ok though. Don't worry about me - I've been half-busy or maybe 1/3-busy. In any case, I now have a notepad on which to write everything down on so I don't forget to feature it.

However, a notepad cannot galvanise a routine so much as to make it immune to just-released, really nice music. Distractions come in all shapes and sizes, and stumbling across stuff that I hadn't planned to write about, nor knew even existed, is one of the best distractions there is. Schedules are dropped and I focus my attention on this new thing.

This time, it's got quite an interesting backstory. Not that I know all the ins-and-outs but in essence: a compilation CD of "Various Artists" (I love that phrase) associated with various entities (weekly beatmakers & beatdroppers, TeamSupreme, label/radio show/collective Soulection, by-artists-for-artists label HW&W, collective M|O|D) created for the purpose of raising funds to help a fellow artist-in-trouble, one half of duo Penthouse Penthouse, who has apparently had some trouble with the police. Justice nique sa mere la dernier flic que j'ai vu avait plus de vice que le dealeur de ma rue is what I say to that.

In any case, one of the songs from that compilation, touchingly named Got Your Back Foundation Vol. 1, is by the equally well-named LA-based Snorlax (real name Cody Farwell) and is called 'To Protect & To Serve' and here it is.

With a slow intro, percussive synth noises and fidgeting clicks pervade the silence gradually - it's almost peaceful in a way, but there's certainly a sense of bigger and louder things to come. And they sure do arrive, those loud things. They arrive in the form of a thick wall of bass that encases your entire mind - it's an ear massage, a brain-clean, instant paralysis. Paralysis in the sense that, moreso things around you seem to stop completely whilst all you kinda wanna do is get up and WIGGLE.

The beat is a skiffly half-time ghetto house juke kinda operation; supported by frantic waves of syncopated synth chords, there's a whole feeling of urgency to the rhythms of this track, the kinda thing that makes your feet itch for a nice bit of dancing. Anyway, I've said that already basically. At the same time, there's a strange sense of chill - perhaps owing to the hanging-in-the-air nature of the beat's clap/snare, but maybe owing to the thick, fluid sounds of the synth, the sorta thing you just wanna drink or swim in. In any case, it's real nice.

You should for real check out Got Your Back Foundation Vol. 1 (released by TeamSupreme).

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YES/NO OCTOBER 2013 MIX

So I tried this. I tried to make a mix. Well actually I suppose you could call it not trying but instead something closer to having actually made a mix. Cause that's what I've done: I've made a mix. Previously I've just made playlists for the end of each month, thinking all the time that a mix was like definitely too hard. Fortunately I was lucky enough to have a small chat with Mr Mark Redito (aka Spazzkid) about making a mix and he was very helpful, and in fact pivotal, in this thing happening - with the smallest snippet of advice he compelled me to basically just do it. So that's what I did. I made it in Garageband, imagine that. Say what you will about Macs - the fact they come with pre-installed music software is a very nifty little godsend, if you ask me.

So anyway. The mix. It includes a song from everyone I wrote about in October. As a result, it may have a slightly clunky or jarring sound to it (not least because I am a complete amateur at this). However, I spent a lot of time on it and tried my best to listen over and over again to the transitions, syncing the songs as best I could; this was trickier than you'd imagine because of the varying styles of the songs, leading naturally to clashes in levels and BPM that I had to remedy. So it was just a case of finding good places to leave one song and enter another - matching atmospheres, in a way. In the future, perhaps when I'm writing about more and more songs, I might have to make the mix more "select" which is an unfortunate prospect but hey I think it would have better results. This time around I didn't do such a bad job I guess. The only way is to get better at this! So I might make a few more mixes here and there...

BUT ENOUGH of my words. Here it is. Say goodbye to October and say hello to November.

TRACKLIST
Cory Jreamz - Alive
Samuel - Steam Train
Botany feat. RYAT - Simple Creatures
AVAY - Miracle
Breton - Got Well Soon
99LETTERS - Machine
Life & Limb - Fool's Nest (LIES "Promises" remix)
Strangehead - ㄷㄹㅊㅅ(Dream Chaser)
Tara Carosielli - Disco Lights
Bodhi - Imperfection
Ciara - Body Party (Boys Get Hurt Remix)
Disclosure - F For You (Onra Remix)
CFCF - Beyond Light
Vulkano - Spider Spider
Maurice Aymard & Gui Boratto - Home
Botany - Quatic
Phacts - Frozen
Saint Pepsi - Unhappy
liquid.sunshine - Seashore Mosaic
N-Qia - Shootingstar
Ryv - Yaspring
Eone - Airport Lounge
Saint Pepsi - We Belong Together
Meishi Smile - Seoul

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