NumberNineDream

I did notice in the youtube discussion that people are all bout the "weird" voice, and then I noticed that I'm actually reading youtube discussions. I just feel that a band sound should be recognizable, and not common to all others, and that's what La Roux achieved.

Though I think your use of the word "unconventional" was in its place, I don't think you need to go through a dictionary or a thesaurus to check for a better word.

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Dieselboy

Ah jeez...I'm personally a sucker for reading Youtube comments. They're like a train-wreck. You don't wanna look cause you know it's gonna be horrible, but I'm just drawn to them every time I watch videos. Usually I just get all enraged by how stupid people can be, but sometimes, rarely I'll see a small piece of useful info or something so completely off the wall and hilarious. Here's a good example:


To which someone replied, "Wow, this song is like crushing up a Super Nintendo cartridge and snorting it."

I donno...I liked it. ><





Anyways, enough of that. Since I'm not making a real entry today I'm just gonna link two songs that have been completely engraved in my brain as of late. One people will probably recognize, and another that you might not.



First the unknown. A song called Permission by Veronica feat. Mumzy Stranger. I've heard this on DJ Nihal's - The Best of Asian and Desi Beats show quite a few times. A filthy but beautiful electronica/R&B song.
I've listened to this tune so many times and realized I would do anything for this girl...her voice...I donno...just so silky and hot. When she sings, "I gotta let you know, that I love you so." I just melt.
This song actually hasn't been officially released yet I'm pretty sure. This is the best video I could find, and it actually has Nihal blabbing a bit over the first few seconds. Definitely still worth a click though.





The second song is just as good, but not new or even close to it. Featuring one of the best beats and catchiest chorus's ever, but the real reason to check this out is the incredibly ghetto music video.
I can't even decide what the most ridiculous part of this video is. Those crazy camaflouge safari outfits? The synchronized dancing? The computer generated graphics that look like they were made by the first computer ever built?
Still, the song is amazing.

Dieselboy

I mentioned DJ Nihal's - The Best of Asian and Desi Beats show with my last entry. I've decided to continue in that direction and review another artist and album introduced by him, which I've ended up buying.










In 2009, Midival Punditz, released their third full length album. With it, Delhi-based producers Gaurav Raina and Tapan Raj, have an eclectic album with many eastern styles (and a few western as well) fused together. I was trying to think of a decent description for this disc last night as I listened again. I came up with this: "Infected Mushroom if you dropped the goa and mixed in some indie. Then you sprinkled it with a bit of pop." Confusing right?
I should probably refer to Wiki in this case, which explains, "MIDIval Punditz is an Indian fusion group whose style revolves mostly around bhangra, jungle, electronica, and North Indian classical music." It then goes on to list the many traditional and newer instruments the Punditz use. Thanks Wiki!

Anyway, this is one of my favorite albums of the past year easily, and I feel like that fact owes much to the variety on display here, as well as the opening/closing songs. I'll try to showcase highlights and diversity with a few videos:








The first song as this album starts, Electric Universe, is definitely a keeper and also a good indication if you would enjoy the rest.
The first few seconds are nothing more than a traditional instrument that I cannot name, but it sounds just beautiful. From there a soft acoustic guitar enters, followed by a warm bass-line. I interpret this first minute of beauty as "waking up" or being born into the album.
The song continues and vocals are introduced with a vocorder (but not in a bad way). The singing goes on and he begins to repeat in a soft voice, "Turn on the lights, turn on your mind. You've gotta keep me alive, keep me alive, keep me alive." The bridge starts at 3:25 and is a soft piano melody backed by the instrument you heard at the start. All these things work together to sound so warm and welcoming. One of the best album openers I've personally heard.







Following that fine start, the Punditz change the tone a bit for the following track. Tonic sounds far darker and more brooding, and even though it rolls along slowly, it sounds very sinister.
It features a woman singing/wailing in what I must assume to be Hindi, sounding like what you'd hear in a movie soundtrack when it changes scenes and shows the Taj Mahal or something. Following that, in what is pretty much the bridge of the song, is a guy rapping in half English and half Hindi again. He actually rhymes suprisingly well, considering that English is probably his second language...like REALLY well. The last line he says here, "In my gulley Rupees beat the dollar." rhymes with the previous line that was spoken in Hindi and is a highlight of the song for me. This whole tune just sounds like revenge to me:

Unfortunately, the only vid I could find of this song is live with bad sound quality, and doesn't represent the album version very well. Oh well.

Then there's Atomizer. This is the song Nihal played on his show for about a month straight, which convinced me to check out and eventually buy this fine disc. Starting with a catchy guitar riff and drum machine beat, it moves into the chorus which sounds like something off of Eiffel 65's Europop album. Vocoder singing and the Eiffel effects. This is just a straight up dance tune. Makes you wanna boogy.

(The only vid I could find for this is a remix that doesn't represent the album version very well, so I chose not to add it here. Sorry...if you want to hear this properly just ask. 0_0)

The fourth, and final song I want to discuss in regards to this album is called Sun Mere Sanam. Meaning Listen My Beloved, this is a slow and traditional sounding ballad. There's nothing dancey or aggressive about this tune at all. Just a very beautiful composition of Indian instruments with an electronic twinge and great vocals. It's all about love here:

(I can't think of many music fans that would not enjoy this song in its entirety.)

I think the descriptions for those four songs do a decent job of showing off the versatility this outfit has. Even if youtube failed me a couple times, I think what I wrote about each is spot on, and hopefully enticing. This is a very strong album and even though there are 2 songs on here that I would classify as just a bit higher than filler, I never fail to enjoy listening to it in entirety.

Finally, I do want to give special mention to the albums closing song. It is a shorter acoustic version of the opener. The songs tempo is much much slower and has a slow piano melody mixed in instead of the electronic beats. The lyrics are the same, but sound much sadder and slower. This time when he sings, "Gotta keep me alive...gotta keep me alive..." It sounds much different, almost as if the album is dying...and then does as the music stops. This is how I picture it in my head anyway. Great, great way to close this album out.

For fans of Electronica, Indian, and just great music. Just ask if you want to give it a listen.

Complete Track List

jackhammer

A band I have heard of and the description piqued my interest but I was underwhelmed by the vids. Sounds a little disjointed to me and probably a little too light for what I was looking for.

You might want to check out:

Thievery Corporation
Transglobal Underground
Nitin Sawnhey
Karminski Experience
Orange Blossom

If you like the fusion of Electronic and World beats.

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Dieselboy

That's a shame. Looking at my review now, I'm a little disappointed with it. Youtube failed horribly as far as what songs I wanted to show. All I have there is two tunes that are sorta same-y sounding when my goal was to show of some of their diversity. Ugh, oh well.


I've heard Thievery Corporation of course, but not the others. Just judging by the names, Orange Blossom strikes me as a pretty chill sounding. I'll check them out, thx.

Dieselboy

(From this point forward I'll be trying to make my reviews a bit more compact. Hopefully they'll be more pleasing to read.
I'll also be labeling reviews as either 'New Release' or 'Old Favorite'. I just think it will be helpful to differentiate between the two. Old favorites, you can pretty much assume I would recommend, while new releases will just be albums I've been looking forward to, but may be rated pretty harshly. Ok then.)

King Midas Sound - Waiting For You (2009)

I first heard this outfit on a dub-step compilation from a label called Hyperdub, which also boasts Burial among its ranks. Indeed, the song they had featured on the comp, Meltdown, sounded quite similar to Burial in my mind. The slow bass-lines, the dark and almost depressing atmosphere, even the haunting vocals. Not identical, but near enough to get me excited for their full release.

On first listen to the full album however, I was very underwhelmed. Most of the songs are very minimal, more so than Burial I'd say. It's just bassline, drums, and vocals on some of the these tracks. It's unfortunate, but I'd have to say the largest variance between the two artists would be the vocals. Where Burial samples soulful sounding R&B'ish vocals that are packed with emotion and heartache, KMS only has the same singer for the majority. He sounds very relaxed and pleasant, but at the same time, sings with the exact same "half-whisper half-singing" tone in every song. It almost sounds like he is trying to lullaby the listener to sleep. Not surprisingly, the best way I could think of to describe this to a new listener would be; the music you might hear in the middle of a dream, as everything around you moves in slow motion and blurs (see the cover). Pleasant and soft enough that it easily gets lost in the background, and never jarring enough to wake you up.

A few of the tracks stand out off the bat, such as the previously mentioned Meltdown. Not to mention the fourth track, Earth a Kill Ya is spoken word poetry, and is also a nice break from the norm on this album. Apart from those two and a couple others though, most of the songs tend to blend together, and this disc might take many spins before the listener will be able to differentiate on their own. After ten or more complete listens at this point, it's grown on my slowly, but is still one of the biggest disappointments I've had in recent months. Looking back now, wanting this to be "the next Burial" and hoping for anything comparative to Untrue was pretty unfair. I think I would have enjoyed this alot more without those preconceived notions going in.

Despite what might look like a negative review...this isn't terrible. Not amazing either, but I'd say it's listenable from time to time. If slow and/or relaxing dubstep is your thing, or you just want something really chill to put in the background while chatting with friends, you might wanna check this out. Personally, just not what I'd hoped for.

Dieselboy

I've only heard this very recently, but am completely obsessed with this song atm. The group is called called Broken Bells, and they just released this, their first single, late last month. A collaboration between super-producer Danger Mouse and former vocalist/guitarist of the Shins, James Mercer. To me this song sounds like the sum of its parts, with catchy indie rock and a great chorus mixed well with a lot of production tricks and effects. The verse might have something to do with my obsession as well, as the way he sings it sounds very familiar, just something I can't quite put my finger on.
The full length album will be released on March 10th.

Engine

I think 67/100 is harsh. You already addressed it so you clearly understand that rating an album by comparing it to another one that you hoped it would sound like is not the best system. In my opinion it's the worst possible system. You may not like this as much as Untrue but there's no good reason to compare them.
Judged on its own merits I think the album is worth a lot more than 67/100.
Anyway, it's interesting that you like 'Earth A Kill Ya'. Instead of the reedy-voiced poet who does vocals on most of Waiting For You - these vocals are by Roger Robinson who did a bunch of the vocals on London Zoo by The Bug - which is another project (much heavier dubstep - I guess) by Kevin Martin who is also King Midas Sound.


Anyway, I love the KMS album - but the bigger point is that, if you want some livelier dubstep you need to check out The Bug if you haven't already - just don't compare it to Burial

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Like an arrow,
I was only passing through.