Seeing Spectra in Sound

Virgo – Home Alone

seeingspectra — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 21:05:30 +0000

Get ready for your childhood to get blown out of proportion.
Virgo has remixed the theme song to Home Alone, a score originally composed by John Williams.
Something tells me this’ll get really annoying after a while, but listening to it right now is just making my day a little better.

Virgo – Home Alone by Divanusantara [ U.G.D ]

Elocnep – Duck Sauce ADD an SUV

seeingspectra — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 22:35:36 +0000

better than that new girl talk album ya’ll
Duck Sauce ADD an SUV by Elocnep

Elite Gymnastics – Is This On Me?

seeingspectra — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 09:30:42 +0000

Now I’m all for supporting local talent and business, but I’m going to be honest by saying I’ve never fallen head-over-heels for the Minneapolis music scene. The Minne Apple just doesn’t hit the mark compared to other contemporary music movements coming from NYC, LA, Austin, Portland, Baltimore, ect. ect, ect. However, Elite Gymnastics is one of a few Minnesotan artists I’m proud enough to blog about. Pitchfork, City Pages, and the New York Post labeled EG with ‘Chillwave,’ what I would call a spiritual swirl of musical captivation. But I think the allusiveness of this genre can bring both good and bad. Upon first-listen the atmospheric melodies and rapid beats of ‘Is This On Me?’ can get you lost in the music, but after a while, the loftiness can make the tune seem ungrounded as a whole, it’s withering importance floating itself like a feather to the back of your music library. The half-used musical scale leaves a memory tape sheen to the song, but the glow lacks in gusto. Still pretty good for Minneapolis though.

ELITE GYMNASTICS ‘is this on me?’ from ben sifel on Vimeo.

Florence + the Machine – You’ve Got the Love (The xx Remix)

seeingspectra — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 10:12:07 +0000

The xx voiceovers vocals to the dainty harps and flying marimbas of Florence without her Machine. The breakdown is undershadowed with minimal, sleek electronic beats and a chorus of a two song mashup that will replay echos in your head while you sleep. It’s just lovely, listen.

Dave Nada – Moombahton

seeingspectra — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 09:24:39 +0000

I just spent the whole weekend flyering with notorious wvau music director and U St. Music Hall intern Morgan Tepper. We were promoing all over the streets of DC for the U St. Music Hall Bliss event, the official after party of Sweetlife. The Sweetlife festival featured live music in Dupont Circle, including artists such as Hot Chip (amazing!), and the DC-band US Royalty. We promo-ed the Bliss event almost all day from noon to 2am Sunday. Of course inbetween handing out flyers we took breaks to dance to the music that just wouldn’t stop. Here’s a track from a U St. Music Hall regular, Dave Nada. He is one half of the duo Nadastrom and his work keeps the DC clubs on their feet. Check out this new single, Moombahton. A slowed-down track by Aftrojack, it’s been mixed, rewired, and made for your booty to clap. “If you’re in DC just turn up the bass.”

Listen: Dave Nada – Moombahton

Modest Mouse – Float On

seeingspectra — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 23:42:47 +0000

YES! Do you remember when this first came out?

Gorillaz – Stylo

seeingspectra — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 21:39:43 +0000

British anonymous artists, Gorillaz, are getting ready to release a new album early this year. ‘Stylo’ is the first leaked track of ‘Plastic Beach’ with the collab workings of Bobby Womack and Mos Def. The stylistic approach of this new track initially seems mediocre given their history and range of musical capabilities. Stylo doesn’t quite wow me as much as expected. But the two featured artists have probably had their own stylistic and ‘old school’ influence on the track. This single is good and listenable, but I await the release of their album before making definitive judgement on Gorillaz’s new material.

LCD Soundsystem – Someone Great

seeingspectra — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 02:23:52 +0000

I first heard this song while cascading down cathedral hill in DC. Dark at night, likely past 10pm. Finished paying my dues in the AU Library and this was my soundtrack for part of the way home.

LCD Soundsystem became popular with their multilayered electronic songs. This is another one of their bests off of their 2007 album, Sound of Silver. Someone Great has a very pleasant arrangement of glockenspiel bells and looping reverberations. It’s chaotic, constant, and uplifting and that’s what i’d like to imagine life in the city is like.

Major Lazer – Keep It Goin’ Louder

seeingspectra — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 09:35:58 +0000

Cannot get enough of both the track and video. The Eric Wareheim effect might confuse you. Expect mixed emotions of dismay and love. This is normal. Major Lazer is the duo project of dancefloor DJ regulars Philly-based Diplo, and London’s Switch. The synchronization of varied sound elements makes the track simple and sexy.

Remember the 2004 R&B hit ‘Move Ya Body?’ That was Nina Sky. For the past few years, she’s been keepin’ the down-low. Now she’s teamed up with Ricky Blaze to punch some hot lyrics and attitude. It’s nice to see her back on the scene with this new track. We assume she’s lip-synching in the video but she makes it look so natural for her to be a pop artist, not to mention she has a beautiful rasta voice, We want more of her!!

Now this video is some of the sickest visual shit. The director, Eric Wareheim stylizes his videos with realistic footage of people and their obscenities, forges staight-up trippy effects, and edits for comedy. So before I go on some epic description of how jaw-droppingly awesome this video is, just watch it and you’ll see what I mean. Foreheads.

Family Force Five – Dance or Die

seeingspectra — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 07:07:50 +0000

This video came out a while ago, and I’d like to think that it really captures the spirit of the dying ~Scene. Watch these boys flail through space with 1980s-style japanese illustrations. I mean, who wouldn’t want to dance with red tubes and and excessively rendered graphics? But to be real, these 20-year-olds should know better than the poor excuse of an ‘emo’ life, cause they’re way past their mid-twenties.

The first time I watched this video was without sound. So although I couldn’t hear a thing, when I saw the boys started riding the comet, it didn’t matter that i couldn’t hear their music, I knew it was love.

Best Clip: The synchronized dance and choreographed fight scene (3:20).