A Tribute to CANADA

Not the country silly, although what an interesting article that would make, no, the extremely inventive, abstract video production company from Barcelona. You can spot their style a mile off, identifiable by numerous short cuts of surreal footage, none of which seem to follow the same theme. A man shooting the head off a toy panda bear, women licking pine-cones, roller skates, lamps, flowers and doorknobs. Half of it does seem heavily influenced by the sexploitation films of the 70’s. Clearly, most of it is too strange to describe with any degree of credibility. Although it sounds like pretentious, overly arty for the sake of being overly arty rubbish, a lot of it is actually very clever. The composition of the shots is genius, as well thought out as a piece of fine art (As the camera is usually still and the length of each is clip is so short). I would love to be at their meeting brainstorming ideas for the next video, as I have no idea where they get it from or what drugs they are doing. You’d have to ask them about what the overall theme or meaning of each video is but I’m sure there is one. I think a lot of it is to do with just being aesthetically pleasing, each video is just so sexy. Also, I’m a big fan of the landscapes they use in combination with whatever camera and filter they have which give it that nostalgic tinge. The latest video was released a few weeks ago for Holy Ghost by White Lies. Check out this and CANADA’s other videos and then you can see what I mean by all of the above.

White Lies – Holy Ghost

White Lies - Holy Ghost from CANADA on Vimeo.

Battles – Ice Cream

BATTLES - Ice Cream from CANADA on Vimeo.

El Guincho – Bombay (NSFW)

El Guincho - Bombay from CANADA on Vimeo.

Review: Neon Indian - Era Extraña

Neon Indian is a pioneer in that infectious, poorly named genre called Chillwave that swept the indie world in synchrony with the likes of Washed Out and Toro Y Moi. Although retro is as popular as ever, it is remarkable how such a mushy, drowned out, synth heavy sound ever made it out alive. Its nostalgia inducing tone evokes emotions that are as vague and as blurry as the dreamy music videos. Allow yourself to get lost in that pensive, slightly melancholy sound: It’s self-indulgent music for self-indulgent people. I think due to the prolific rise, we all expected an imminent and not very dramtic fizzling out. However, haters think again. This summer Washed Out released his first LP and both Toro Y Moi and Memory Tapes released their second, so it seems against the odds Chillwave is still making, err, waves.

Whereas all three of the aforementioned have kept it terminally chill, Neon Indian has gone for a tighter sound on his new album Era Extraña. Yes, you still have massive synths, layer upon layer with strange space noises to accompany, but it seems more intricate and accomplished than Psychic Chasms. The song Polish Girl is far more danceable than anything on the previous album and is quite poppy. There are of course the down-tempo numbers, namely the title track, where all the various synths blend into something that has a lot of atmosphere with the power to entrance. I think that this latest release shows that Chillwave has credibility and should continue to be pursued. Although the change is subtle, it may be a step towards the evolvement of Chillwave into the next sub genre. I think they called it blue wave or something stupid. The album is available to buy now.

R.I.P. DJ Mehdi

Mehdi Favéris-Essadi is “Somebody, somebody, somebody” as his lyrics repeat in one of his singles. Much to the dismay of the whole of the hip-hop world, the electronic music world and indeed all those who knew him, Mehdi was fatally injured in a tragic accident at his home in Paris last night. The artist bridged hip-hop and disco, which seems an awkward combination but he made it appear seamless. It pains me to write in the past tense, but such are the regrettable circumstances, so I must continue. He was an integral member in that Parisian-discotheque-come-dirty-electro-club movement that was made popular in the mid 00’s by Justice, Simian Mobile Disco, Chromeo and SebastiAn among others. The Ed Banger culture (Ed Banger Records is the label that supported the most of the aforementioned artists including Mehdi) swept the electro clubs of the world and Paris was seen as the epicenter of dance. A new fashion was spawned, it accelerated the rise of electro and yet it was different from your usual grimy dance music scene. It was light-hearted, jovial and it had a retro feel such has been developed by Breakbot. Please note I am not continuing to write in the past tense because this culture is over with Mehdi’s death, as I am sure it will carry on, but I am doing so merely out of respect.

I personally was excited to hear the fruits of Mehdi’s and DJ Riton’s collaboration as Carte Blanche. The initial release from which sounded very promising, especially the filthy banger Gare Du Nord. It turns out that the party where the accident occurred was in celebration of Riton’s birthday. I also had the pleasure of seeing Mehdi perform a few times, once solo and once collectively with friends Cassius, Busy P and Xavier de Rosnay (From Justice) who called themselves Club 75. Both nights we’re spectacular, displaying Mehdi’s profound DJing ability which he enjoyed so much.

The freak accident was caused by the collapse of a plexiglass mezzanine floor at Mehdi’s house, fatally wounding him and sending three of his friends to hospital for treatment. Mehdi was aged 34. Rest in peace.

I will leave you with some Tweets from fellow musicians:

“We lost our brother. No Words.” – Chromeo

“R.I.P. Dj MEHDI. The void he has left behind is unbearable. Love you, Sir Bob Cornelius Rifo” – Bob Cornelius of the Bloody Beetroots

“Rest in peace to my brother forever here and in the after life djmehdi. i love u and miss u.” – Steve Aoki

[Video] NOIR CŒUR - TOTAL NIRVANA

NOIR CŒUR - TOTAL NIRVANA from ANTIHERØES COLLECTIVE on Vimeo.

So, I was sent this via e-mail the other day by French collective NOIR CŒUR which to my understanding translates to "Black Heart". No way did I expect it to sound anything as good as this. If anyone else would like to send me stuff up to this standard then seriously, I don't mind. The video is super rad aswell. Hot on the heels of Toro Y Moi, these guys are ones to watch for their debut EP later this year.

Twinsistermoon - Desert Prophecy

A haunting, morose lo-fi song from a Twinsistermoon, the side project of Mehdi Ameziane, 1/2 of Natural Snow Buildings. Tripped out folk that borders on post-rock, which has a tinge of macabre throughout. Most of the album is instrumental, unusually for folk, save Mehdi's ghostly wailings. Check it out if you're suffering from mild depression.

Twinsistermoon, "Desert Prophecy" by primary-numbers

12 Minute Mix

Here's a quick 12 minute mix of a few tracks I've been diggin' recently. Like always on InsideOutsider, the mixing quality is poor but maybe in serendipitous kinda way. Or maybe not.

12 Minute Mix by insideoutsider

Tracklist:
Hercules & Love Affair - Leonora
Ford & Lopatin - New Planet
Com Truise - Futureworld
Brian Eno & The Words of Rick Holland - Glitch
SBTRKT - Sanctuary
VGA Forest - Malinowski

Brian Eno & The Words of Rick Holland - Drums Between The Bells

Aphex Twin, Autechre, Flying Lotus, Squarepusher and Roxy Music..?? Doesn't sound quiet right really. But then again Eno probably influenced a lot of the Warp entourage and is also a master of ambient music, see The Pearl by Brian Eno and Harold Budd. In fact Eno has had a hand in so many genres, pioneering technically brilliant music (My Life in the Bush of Ghosts), that it is fair to say he could choose whatever record label he likes. Eno made his debut on Warp last year with Small Craft on a Milk Sea and released Drums Between the Bells earlier this month.

It features the words of poet Rick Holland which are read by various speakers. Perhaps it's my distinct lack of intellect but I just can't get along with it. If I want to listen to the music, I'm distracted by the storytelling prose, Dreambirds or the 1984-esque nationalist chantings of Sound Alien being spoken over it. If I want to listen to the great words of the poet, I cannot focus on the imagery or meaning because of the music. I am sure that the two are meant to co-exist and complement each other but like I said, maybe I'm not clever enough. It is however VERY Brian Eno, almost to a satirical level, exactly the kind of album I'd expect him to release just because he's always trying to be so, forgive my French, fucking clever.

I do particularly like the song Glitch where Eno demonstrates that he is down with the kids on the same record label. You could even probably hold a small, well organised, intellectual rave to the synth breakdown. Bless the Space shows the technical brilliance of the Eno of yesteryear and also it sounds like a Death In Vegas number with it's screeching guitar solo. There is no doubting the music is great and the words of Rick are even better, but together it's awkward and too demanding.

6/10

Brian Eno - glitch (taken from Drums Between The Bells) by Warp Records

Débruit @ SGP 2011

Of all the things I saw at Secret Garden Party 2011, Débruit was probably the best...