Plauge Top Choons May 2011
By nikolatesla | May 2nd 2011 | Blog Series, Monthly Top Choons, News
Here are the top tracks the Plauge Boyz have been feelin’ lately.
Starting things off with a goth-tinged tune. This Covenant track (not the Norwegian black metal outfit, just so you know) makes a lot of mental musical connections for me. I’m reminded of 80′s synth stuff (definitely Depeche Mode) but also New Order/Joy Division as well as more pop rock stuff like Prefab Sprout. Both chilling and cool (and inspired by Cormac McCarthy?).
Not straying too far from the dark path, here’s Marcus Intalex with some dark techy sounds. This tune’s off the man’s latest album 21 (because he’s been making music for 21 years, haw haw) and it’s a Radiohead cover. It kinda sounds like some goths making an attempt at a dancehall song and accidentally getting some drum’n'bass in the mix as well. Well, it does. Oh and here’s the Radiohead original for the unwashed (like me!).
Wispy: Marcus Intalex (feat. Lynx & Danny Fierce) – Climbing Up The Walls
YouTube / BeatPort
This dude (Koichiro Okadan) makes that deep house music that all the kids are going crazy about nowadays, with their drum machines and synthesizers and facebooks and youtubes. This is off the Rhythm Kings comp out now on the Finnish-run Traveller records.
Herman Prime: Koi – Next
YouTube / Buy @ Traveller Records
Maintaining the dancefloor vibe, enter Roberto Rodriquez (not this guy, Roberto is a Finnish dude). “Has Been” is a nice, slow house burner. I can say that I’m really digging the whole “slow house” thing that’s been around forever and I haven’t noticed until now. It’s almost annoying how you want the track to pick up the tempo and really get going but on the other hand that’s half the attraction.
Åke Kanaria: Robert Rodriquez – Has Been
YouTube
Keeping things on the dance floor, yet light and easy, we have Black Sugar with The Looser (sic). Old vinyl digging is getting flippin’ ridiculous because Black Sugar are from Peru (!) and this record was originally released in the 1970′s. I don’t envy any newcomer crate diggers who suddenly realizes that finding those bay area deep funk rarities isn’t enough anymore. Nowadays you have to go to Guatemala or some damn place to dig. Also, do you think Beck might have heard this in an obscure record shop somewhere?
This White Elephant tune is all about the subtleties. They’re treading on the same balearic indie path as, say, Rubies, but they keep it even more organic, add a nice dash of acoustic instrumentation as well as some folksy flavor á la Tortoise or, dare I say it, Jose Gonzalez. This is a vinyl only release so go get it before somebody else does.
I’ve never heard of Aki (Artificial) Latvamäki but apparently he’s a Finnish dude who makes some dark and twisted techno music. The name of the EP “Rauta” means “iron” in Finnish and I could definitely see this track as background music for an informational video about the production and refining of iron ore. That made-up video would also probably end by showing how iron is used to make guns and bombs. For killing people.
drS: Artificial Latvamäki – Really Broken Up and Built Again
BandCamp
I wonder why all the new-wavers have basically two songs: one darker than Wesley Snipes and Grace Jones combined, the other goofier than Bill Cosby on roller skates. Leaving aside my African American metaphors, Quando Quango’s “Love Tempo” is definitely of the second kind. It’s all drum machines, wacky synths, saxophone solos and vocals that sound like they’re sung by an endlessly bored art school kid. Good stuff is what I’m saying.
Seppo Hanuri: Quando Quango – Love Tempo
YouTube
The Junior Boys isn’t a far cry from the white boy dopeyness of Quado Quango. Banana Ripple is equally stilted and angular, both very weird and somehow interesting and cool. Think Robert Smith in an Aloha shirt (note to self: less metaphors next time). It’s also a total summer jam.
Lars Palmas: Junior Boys – Banana Ripple
SoundCloud
Speaking of summer, Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood records is still putting out amazing beat-based material. I personally remember hearing this little ditty on one of those comps. But B. Bravo’s Computa Love is an abstract beat landscape dominated by swelling synths, off-beat drums and vocoded singing. If I’d have to call this something, it’d be “underwater funk”. Apt, no?
Dalion: B. Bravo – Computa Love
SoundCloud
I’ve really been feeling the kind of stuff that the LOL Boys and Julio Bashmore put out recently. It’s more or less house music but with a tropical twist. The rhythms are not as straightforward and the overall sound is “thin” to describe it in a word, but it’s also really refreshing, carefully crafted and just lovely. With this track the LOL Boys decided that they’re not just going to remix Art Noveau’s “Air France” but go ‘head and make an entirely new song. The result is six minutes of musical dope.
Nikola Tesla: LOL Boys & Art Noveau – Air France II
YouTube / BeatPort
We close things off with some danceable pop. Foster the People’s Helena Beat is very MGMT, only slightly more gritty. It’s catchy as fuck and I know a few places where this might get some indie chicks and dudes moving. I’m also getting an Empire of the Sun-vibe, as well as hints of Cut Copy. Wait a minute… these guys wouldn’t be from down under, would they?
Esmuntutu: Foster the People – Helena Beat
SoundCloud