The always confrontational, widely eclectic, and fiercely aggressive M.I.A. has laid low since her appearance at 2012′s Superbowl alongside Madonna, Nicki Minaj, LMFAO, and Cee-Lo. Whether it was a business move to divert the obscure attention gained for flashing the middle finger during the performance, or a creative/personal decision, the artist is back with a track called “Bring the Noize” which is the kickoff toward her fourth record, Matangi.
The Switch and Surkin production pays tribute to the Public Enemy track of the same name and is sonically difficult on the ears, in the best way possible, with the repetitive vocal chops and loops twinkling back toward the Rocky sample inside of “Bucky Done Gun” from her debut release, Arular.
“Bring the noize when you run upon them” Maya forcefully calls along the hook. For the most part, beyond the long, hall reverberated ending of the track, this single packs a hard punch, and we’re loving all of the stutters, delays, and stereo reverberations, some of which recall Aphex Twin’s signature “Bucephalus Bouncing Ball” from the Come to Daddy EP.
Rap-Up.com contains this quote from Arulpragasm, which is a bit disheartening to read. “I’ve given up at this point,” she said of the oft-delayed project. “I was literally just kinda gonna start making records and putting them out from the bedroom straight on the Internet. This is my last stab at it.” Okayplayer.com also notes that this track leaked early due to a mix up with the New Zealand iTunes release, which released the track earlier today.
Regardless of how they’re released, we’re excited to hear something new from M.I.A. and cannot wait for the future. The video will premiere June 21st on Noisey.com, with performances following, and the record due out in the fall.
For even more information on what we could possibly see on the upcoming Matangi record, see Matangimixtape.com. We’re certainly thankful for her power. Check out “Bring the Noize” below.
Toronto based Metric has always been straight to the point. They’re pure rock & roll in the 21st century – delivering album after album of commentary on sociology, the love we experience, the heartbreak, and all of the misunderstanding and understanding of life in between. At the core, even visually, it’s about the music itself rather than a large image or vast focus on the band’s background.
This translates beautifully during the band’s live set. When the lights drop, James Shaw, Joshua Winstead, and Joules Scott-Key take the stage to outrageous roars – followed lastly by front woman Emily Haines. It’s apparent at the opening lines of “Artificial Nocturne” that the musicianship and live comfortability surrounding the four is athletically strong. They’re able to thrive in an almost painless looking action – with such a sturdy work ethic that Metric can channel all attention on the emotion of the song or interaction with the crowd.
Mid-way through the set, the band took a break to speak with the audience. Haines shared stories of cunning life moments, asking the crowd how it’s going, and eventually segueing into a small talk about the connection with the audience, the area, Josh’s family being in attendance in the audience, and playing Mr. Smalls venue at the very beginning and opening of the venue.
Eventually, Jimmy took the mic, playfully cutting off Haines’ apparent ‘wrong facts’ to which she coyly followed up with ”There’s an expression where it’s your opinion and there’s Jimmy’s opinion: which is the truth.”
Shaw went on to speak, “We knew [Mr. Smalls] was special because we played the show – then we didn’t load out, we got loaded instead. At 3 o’clock in the morning, as we were all partying, we came back to supposedly pack up our gear and we ended up jamming until 6 o’clock in the morning. That’s never happened anywhere other than here and Radio City Music Hall.”
“Should we jam? Cause this could turn into something crazy!” Haines excitedly spoke after a comical interaction with the audience about shrubbery and landscaping. Then? The set played on.
Though Mr. Smalls stated that this event would be an extended set as a means to celebrate the venue’s 10th anniversary, the set played close to what’s been reported as being played throughout it. However, the extended versions of their tracks are a true highlight to witness, particularly “Dead Disco,” which features minutes of elongated instrumentation and improvisation to the point of which the band members are focusing on each other – yes, they’re physically looking at each other, looking and listening for signs of a change in the song structure. It happens after a wicked breakdown, and is executed with such precision that it’s quite literally difficult to keep a closed jaw.
The visuals themselves are nicely consisted of neat LED fixtures that flash and change colors during the set. At one point in the show, and it’s the only complaint, the lights changed to a bright read outline with a blue filling, which instantly looked like the revamped mall chain JC Penney logo, but other than that, they’re a small addition to Metric’s aesthetic that aides to the excitement and anticipation of song set and band articulation.
An acoustic rendition of “Gimme Sympathy” ended out the unblemished night. Balloons rained down from the ceiling, Emily and the gang said goodnight, leaving the crowd smiling. There aren’t many bands with longevity left. Metric is one of them. Metric live is a sight to see.
While tearing down, the crew playfully found ways to divert the crowd from harassing them for band memorabilia. However, one girl did manage to grab a setlist that was duct taped to the floor while they had their backs turned. Ironically, the setlist hasn’t made its way online for this particular night, but it’s pretty close to those on Setlist.fm. This is the best alteration possible. Please comment if there are any corrections.
Artificial Nocturne
Youth Without Youth
Speed the Collapse
Dreams So Real
Empty
Help, I’m Alive
Synthetica
Clone
Breathing Underwater
Sick Muse
Dead Disco
Encore:
Black Sheep
Gold Guns Girls
Gimme Sympathy (Acoustic)
Video & Images courtesy of Amanda Conary – my accomplice for the evening (along with her sister Christina).
It’s been far too long since Telepopmusik has blessed us with an immaculate electronic release. In fact, it’s been eight years since the release of their soft-downtempo inspired sophomore record Angel Milk and while the single Ghost Girl in 2009 offered hope, let’s face it – it was just one song, then darkness again. Hardly enough to tie us over, considering their small discography.However, after years of teasing on their official Facebook page, we finally have something new coming out: Try Me Anyway/Fever.
Finally, we can all breathe easy…
What’s known about this release isn’t much. “Try Me Anyway” was teased as a 40 second trailer back in 2011 [click for our coverage] and features vocalist Sylvia Black, but it’s all that we’ve had ever since. Apparently, Betty Black is the moniker this vocalist goes by now and remixes for both of these songs will also be on the project!
Another track “The World Can Be Yours” [link], originally released on an Airbus compilation, has been confirmed for an upcoming album by the boys, but news on a full release has yet to surface.
The release, according to this Soundcloud page that teases a Dirty Channels Remix of “Try Me Anyway,” will be put out on Splendid Records. Check it out! The bulk of the lyrics can be heard over on this preview. She ain’t got nothin’ on me….
Zombie Disco Squad, Populette, and Pit Spector also provided remixes for the project. Alex Gopher mixed the project.
For now, what we have are two Youtube teasers. One for each song. Welcome back, Telepopmusik!
Alison and the gang are back! Goldfrapp has just announced a new record, due out September 9th, 2013 called Tales of Us. The pre-order is up over at the band’s official website in a slew of standardized formats, including a prestigious 2CD/1DVD & vinyl boxset edition. The first 500 pre-orders of the boxset are signed.
So far, we have ten songs named specifically after individuals. Also presented is an album trailer and some new 2013 tour dates! Check out the information below, and head on over to the Goldfrapp store to grab your pre-order now. It sounds like we’re getting some Seventh Tree vibes on this one!
The celebration of TLC’s 20th anniversary has been spectacular so far. We have a movie coming out in fall with a new record to coincide with it, their return to the stage in July at the Mixtape festival in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and now we have two new releases from the girls! “Crooked Smile” with J.Cole and a revisit of their biggest hit “Waterfalls” with one of J-Pop’s biggest stars Namie Amuro.
“Crooked Smile” has officially been released on iTunes, with T-boz and Chilli being a part of the hook, as well as aiding wonderful layers of harmonies and adlibs during several sections of the verses. The song itself is very standard, modern Hip-Hop but always nice to hear from the girls! Especially this year!
“Waterfalls” is a re-recording of the track and will be featured on a Greatest Hits compilation in Japan. The track subtracts fallen member Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes and incorporates Namie Amuro, a stunning J-pop artist who has collaborated with TLC producer Dallas Austin in the past. Amuro transforms Lisa’s rap into a stuttered, sullen, jazz-esque melody, and feels more like a gorgeous tribute and homage than a replacement of vocalist.
In terms of the new arrangement itself, it’s smooth. T-boz’ vocals are stacked, creating the signature chorus effect, and thickening the vocal layers up subtly, as opposed to the original recording, which is more harsh in tone. This re-recording could’ve been a disaster. Take a look at Coolio or DMX’s attempts at re-hashing their hits out for new packages and they teeter upon alright to horrible. TLC does it well and serves “Waterfalls” up in a more mature, humble manner. Nicely done.
Pre-order for the Japanese greatest hits, featuring a DVD of live performances, all new recordings, and new song can be placed here.
French Dance duo Daft Punk’s fourth proper studio album, Random Access Memories kicked off to a great start before it was even released. After a surprising commercial on Saturday Night Live, followed by an eight part collaboration series, a trailer debut at Coachella (please do that hip thrust at 0:53 again, Pharrell), in depth interviews with Rolling Stone & Pitchfork, an unboxing event, enough confusion as to which version floating around the internet of the first single “Get Lucky” was an official release, and an iTunes streaming event: the record came out.
Not only did the record release, but it broke two Spotify records (one for most played song on Spotify for “Get Lucky” and one for most played first-week album streams), debuted at number one on the Billboard Charts, and debuted at number one on the charts in the United Kingdom (where it outsold the rest of the top 10 records combined). So, what aided to the success of this record? Well, it certainly helps that this is their first commercial release since the repetitive and lukewarm Human After All, as well as a follow up to the electronic/orchestral driven Tron Legacy soundtrack. All eyes were focused on what these two “robots” were up to, and it was inevitable that this record would have some sort of impact, regardless of the content.
The content? For starters, from an engineering standpoint, it’s next to flawless. The average dynamic range for Random Access Memories is at 8dB, with the Japanese bonus track “Horizon” containing an average of 10dB of range! This is excellent news considering that aggressive dance music released nowadays sways to a more compressed and limited state of mind. There’s some distortion involved throughout the record, but it seems more intentional than a misfire during the mixing/mastering processes.
Technically speaking, “Giorgio by Moroder” sparkles. Clocking in at just over nine minutes, the track interpolates jazz into the Electronic overtones and has Giorgio Moroder (“Love To Love You” by Donna Summer producer) providing spoken word over the opening minutes. While it’s complex in a structural standpoint, with arpeggiated synthesized notions and disco-funked bass, the mix itself isn’t over the top. Sometimes the mix seems to be more mid-range focused, there are portions of the track in which higher octave elements flourish, bringing an understanding of the mix as a whole. The most stunning realization in how proper the mix of the track is comes in at the halfway point, where an orchestra infiltrates completely, recalling the Tron soundtrack, also becoming a slight reminder toward Madonna’sRay of Light record. Eventually, the strings, the bass, the synths, the excellent live drum kit all come together with an introduction of guitars for the final few minutes. It’s a track with many sides, and while it’s not the one on RAM that you’d think to put on first, the song is quite the immaculate journey about the beginnings of Moroder’s career and the metaphorical connotation of musical freedom as a whole.
Continuing in terms of genre hopping, well known musician and producer Pharrell Williams contributes vocals to two of the most funk-infused, disco hitting, R&B filled dance tracks that recall the soul of Daft Punk’s Discovery album, but play out more traditionally than anything displayed on the 2001 release. Nile Rodgersaides guitar lines on both tracks, allowing organic melody to be able to thrive and create a 70′s throwback vibe, but with modern twist.
Williams oozes high pitch sensuality on “Lose Yourself To Dance.” Stereo claps flow through the track’s entirety while he offers his shirt to someone so they can wipe up their sweat. In regards to stereo effects, vocal layers are executed greatly. Harmonies unfold at each repeat of the word sweat, and Daft Punk vocoder effects build up greatly that by the end of the track they’re playing with each other’s melodies, layering, and bouncing through the “Come on” repeats and “Everybody dancing on the floor” lines.
“Get Lucky” demonstrates consistency with the Pharrell tracks, this time focusing more on a lower register vocal and classic reverb and subtle delay effects. There’s a small, interesting, mixing technique that does sound like a small glitch in that it’s a bit obvious that verse one and verse two are from different takes, with the second verse being a bit more full sounding. However, it’s a minor defect and does next to nothing to decrease the quality of the song itself.
“Fragments of Time” also follows along with the Pharrell tracks. Trading in one crooner for another, Todd Edwards, who collaborated previously with the duo on “Too Long (Discovery, 2001)”. At times, the guitar/synth lines sound shockingly country influenced, and are faintly glitched up by Edwards through the stereo imaging of the song. All in all, this one is an unblemished look at perfection in production, contemporary song structure, and vulnerable, genuine, multiplex emotion inside a track.
Looking at the more electronic portions of Random Access Memories, “Instant Crush” furnishes highly effected vocals from Julian Casablancas of The Strokes. While deadpan in sound, Casablancas drones on emotionally. Underneath, you can hear a dry, lower un-processed vocal layer as well, adding a unique human element inside of the song’s meaning. Throughout the track, there’s a lamenting at the pre-chorus that painfully lets out “I listened to your problems, now listen to mine, I don’t want you anymore” before rushed and joyfully concluding “kinda counted on you being a friend, kinda given up on giving away.”
In opposition of the emotion, “Doin’ it Right” with Panda Bear of Animal Collective strives for a minimal 808-sound, heavy repetitive vocoder lines, and a full, hall reverb delivery from Panda Bear, delivering one of the most carefree lyrics on all of the Daft Punk record: “If you lose your way tonight that’s how you know the magic’s right.” Analog-electronic elements play along like a more matured version of “One More Time,” and by the time the short synth solo comes along, it’s evident that this spacious track is a force to be reckoned with. Reverberation truly makes this track, as without it, the depth would not be full of the impact it contains.
The only place Random Access Memories seems to drag is on “The Game Of Love.” Though, in theory, it recalls a melodramatic siren of the late 70′s, early 80′s music scene, the fourth track, “Within,” has a more mature grasp on the concept of the full representational melancholy that a track can behold. What track does it even better than the two aforementioned tracks is the gut-wrenching “Touch,” in which an extremely raw and real delivery from Paul Williams. “Touch” plays from it’s gloomy state, into a frenzy of light jazz and fast paced melodies before being reversed and completely twisted into a slower tempo, choir-used section that theatrically urges you to “hold on, if love is the answer you’re home.” It’s completely progressive, outstandingly beautiful, and heartbreakingly relatable.
“Motherboard” and “Contact” are christ-like Electronic compositions and are needed to be listened to, not described. Layers, melodies, arpeggiated synth lines, and electronic emotion. If there are two tracks that demonstrate where the direction of the monotonous mainstream Electronic Dance Music world should go, it’s here.
Random Access Memories is seemingly random when you look at it. There’s captivating sections in almost every aspect of the record, smart recording techniques, analog-oriented, full of realism music that covers a broad spectrum of human emotion. For two individuals who have made a career being robots, they sure do know the randomness of the human heart and translate it through music immaculately.
Congratulations, Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter. You’ve hit home with this one.
Purchase Random Access Memories, released May 17th, 2013 on Daft Life music, Columbia Records imprint, Sony Music. iTunes, Amazon, Amazon Vinyl.
Hesitation Marks, the new record from Nine Inch Nails might not be released until the 3rd of September, but we have a taste of what to expect on it with the first single, “Came Back Haunted,” which came out today.
In an interesting turn of events, this record is being released via Columbia Records instead of the independent releases that we’ve seen since Ghosts I-IV. Reznor’s side-project How To Destroy Angels is also signed to this label.
The track borrows melodies and synthesizer lines from past songs “Survivalism” (Year Zero) and the unforgettable ending notes in “Closer” (The Downward Spiral) in a way that interpolates new Electronic bits and beautiful guitar drones. “Came Back Haunted” also falls in line with the drum machine sounds of “Echoplex” (The Slip) and dancibility in something that we haven’t heard since “The Hand That Feeds” (With_Teeth). If one wouldn’t know any better, this song would seem like a perfect piece to place on a track list to a greatest hits album, and it is…kind of.
Don’t let all of the recycled notions scare you. “Came Back Haunted” is a ferocious track in itself. The chorus itself is enough ear-candy to gasm over and the composition itself is, of course, nothing less than perfection.
Along with the new song, we have new tour dates as well. Take a look at them below and head on over to NIN.com & iTunes to pre-order Hesitation marks and download the new single.
Nine Inch Nails 2013 Tour Dates:
07/26 – Niigata Prefecture, JP @ Fuji Rock Festival
07/28 – Ansan, KR @ Ansan Valley Festival
08/02 – Chicago, IL @ Lollapalooza
08/09-11 – San Francisco, CA @ Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival
08/15 – Kiewit, BE @ Pukkelpop
08/16 – Biddinghuizen, NL @ Lowlands Festival
08/18 – Hockenheim, DE @ Rock ‘n’ Heim
08/21 – Belfast, IE @ Belsonic Festival
08/23 – Leeds, UK @ Leeds Festival
08/24 – Saint-Cloud, FR @ Rock en Seine
08/25 – Reading, UK @ Reading Festival
08/28 – Milan, IT @ Mediolanum Forum $
08/31-09/01 – Philadelphia, PA @ Made in America
09/28 – St. Paul, MN @ Xcel Energy Center *
09/30 – Kansas City, MO @ Sprint Center *
10/01 – St. Louis, MO @ Chaifetz Arena *
10/03 – Montreal, QC @ Centre Bell *
10/04 – Toronto, ON @ Air Canada Centre *
10/05 – Cleveland, OH @ Wolstein Center *
10/07 – Auburn Hills, MI @ The Palace of Auburn Hills *
10/08 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Petersen Events Center *
10/11 – Boston, MA @ TD Garden #
10/14 – Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center #
10/15 – Newark, NJ @ Prudential Center #
10/18 – Washington, DC @ Verizon Center #
10/19 – University Park, PA @ Bryce Jordan Center #
10/22 – Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena #
10/24 – Atlanta, GA @ Philips Arena #
10/25-27 – Asheville, NC @ Mountain Oasis Electronic Summit
10/30 – Sunrise, FL @ BB&T Center ^
10/31 – Orlando, FL @ Amway Center ^
11/01-03 – New Orleans, LA @ Voodoo Experience
11/05 – San Antonio, TX @ AT&T Center *
11/08 – Los Angeles, CA @ Staples Center *
11/09 – Phoenix, AZ @ US Airways Center *
11/11 – El Paso, TX @ Don Haskins Center *
11/13 – Broomfield, CO @ 1st Bank Center *
11/15 – Las Vegas, NV @ The Joint *
11/16 – Las Vegas, NV @ The Joint *
11/18 – Portland, OR @ Rose Garden Arena *
11/19 – Spokane, WA @ Spokane Arena *
11/21 – Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena *
11/22 – Seattle, WA @ KeyArena *
11/24 – Edmonton, AB @ Rexall Place ^
11/25 – Calgary, AB @ Scotiabank Saddledome ^
$ = w/ Tomahawk
* = w/ Explosions in the Sky
# = w/ Godspeed You! Black Emperor
^ = w/ Support TBA
Thank you to The Consequence Of Sound for the key.
