Groundhog Day

I know it's not Groundhog day or anything, but my head is still all screwed up from the last week of college that it feels like that. It was the last week of the year with our final submission at the end of it. Basically, that meant very late nights and an awful lot of work to be done. It was seriously surreal. The architecture school was full of life all the time (life may be the wrong word to use as pretty much everybody felt dead). There was as many people at four in the morning as there was at four in the day. Odd.
So, after that, my head is still spinning and I'm still deprived of sleep. It's a bit random, but it's the stuff that got me through this week as well as a Red Bull and Lucozade combination which makes you wide awake.

The Dismemberment Plan




Instead of giving you their background and the like, I will tell what they mean to me.
D-Plan's Emergency & I was playing pretty much for a day or two on my iPod. It's a brilliant album that combines heartfelt and clever lyrics with a great combination of everything else. It's something that you can sing along to quietly whilst drawing or making models. One of my favourite tracks of it is You Are Invited which is a great tale.

You Are Invited


Simian Mobile Disco



When I needed some sort of energy boost that wasn't a deadly conncoction of caffine and sugar that nearly gave me a heart attack, I put on some Simian Mobile Disco. Good dose of dance music speeds me up at three in the morning. The track that really gets me is Tits & Acid from an early 12" release.

Tits & Acid


Annie Mac



During my many hours in the model making room, myself and a level five student started talking about music and stuff, and he told me about the Radio One dj Annie Mac. He put on a podcast by her and it was pretty damn good! She pics good drum 'n bass and picks good djs to do a mash up thing at the end of the show. So, here's a podcast from her.

Annie Mac Podcast 15-9-06

Next time I'll be slightly more lively in my post rather than feeling like sleeping all the time.

The Sun

It's been poking in and out of the obscuring clouds for the last couple of days. After a bit of a thunderous downpour yesterday, it looks like it might be out for slightly longer. A few white clouds inhabit the blue sky above Edinburgh just now, but however sunny it may be, it's still not summer. Maybe it's just the stress from constant course work bearing down and the imminent end to my first year of studying architecture in the very near horizon; I just really wish it was summer just now. Fed up of working in college for countless hours each day (though day and night blur a lot not), summer holds many great things, but most importantly; the sun. The big bright thing in the sky may not be here in full force just now, but there's a different sun that's gracing my ears just now. This is the newest release from a couple the men behind Four Tet and Adem - Fridge.



Fridge are three musicians from somewhere in London who reside under the Temporary Residence label (Explosions in the Sky etc). Their newest release entitles The Sun has a little more of a 'Four Tet' feel to it with an increased use of little electronicy bits not so present in their earlier work. To give you a feel for what I'm talking about, here is a song from The Sun called Eyelids.

One of the things that I am most looking forward to about the summer is Connect Festival happening quite close to my house back at home on the West Coast of Scotland. It's in a slightly odd place; it's happening on the grounds of Inverary Castle boarding a pretty loch. It has an amazing line up (found here) featuring some of my favourite artists playing over three days/nights. To link everything in here - somewhat of a feature now - here's a duo whom I am looking forward to seeing greatly.....

Kieren hebden and Steve Reid



This delightful duo are Kieren Hebden from Four Tet fame and drumming great Steve Reid. Together they form a team of jazz drumming and electronic noise creating something contemporary. Nothing's rehearsed, so each time the go on stage, it's total improv giving the pair a successful dynamic that comes across in the recorded sessions. A great song from The Exchange Session Vol 1 that presents this dynamic with great passion is a track called Soul Oscillations.


LCD Soundsystem



Another artist that I look forward to seeing immensely at Connect is the DFA legend James Murphy led band, LCD Soundsystem. They've just released Sound of Silver which is the follow up from their great self titled album of 2005. I'm just getting into the latest offering, but there is one song, among many, from the self titled which gets me shaking my booty every time. So, I shall leave you with it whilst I go off and do a history essay on Constructivism that I've been putting off for ages.

Disco Infiltrator

Go on, shake that ass!

Noise.

It's everywhere. People experience it in different ways - some appreciate it; others dislike it and search for peace in silence. Those who enjoy it, enjoy it in different forms; whether it's just sitting outside and listening to the bustle of city from a bench or listening to the birds tweet from a countryside window. Then, there are some who decided to harness the possibilities which noise holds and release them upon the world in different ways.

Just now, I am of the persuasion of 'pretty' noise. An upbeat mixture of electronically generated peeps and whispers of a computer mixed with those from an acoustic instsument or a random object. For this, I give you one of my favourite artists, Four Tet.




He's nothing new, but he has created some beautiful music, combing what I mentioned above. As a drummer, I love the live drum sounds; as a music lover, the ambience and mood that some of his songs create astound me sometimes. His 2003 album Rounds has some brilliant moments in it. He proves here how he can shift the mood from track to track so easily. I give you one of my favourite tracks off this album, As Serious As Your Life.


Another 'project' that do it for me, so to speak, are AllThatFall.



It's a bit had to find information about him, but his name is Kev and he's from New Orleans and makes good music. Here's a track called I Missed You All Week.
You can download the whole EP for free over at LuvSound.

To contrast slightly; here's some Venetian Snares.



I like the illusiveness behind him, so I'm just leave you with this track to sample: From the album, Cavalcade Of Glee And Dadaist Happy Hardcore, here's Swindon.