music, culture, discourse, new media
cifanic
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Homepage: http://www.nicolecifani.com
Posts by cifanic
Music Video as Interactive Art: Arcade Fire
Aug 30th
Arcade Fire, seminal indie band with the #7 record in the country (previously at #1), has teamed up with director Chris Milk and the good folks over at Google Chrome Experiments to create an interactive music video for the single We Used To Wait.
The first of it’s kind, the video utilizes Google maps + HTML 5 video, audio and canvas to present a multi-window, choreographed experience.
Simply enter the address of the house you grew up in and the feature takes it from there.
The experience was designed to work in Google Chrome, but seems to work in Safari too.
I’d rather not spoil anything – check it out for yourself, here!
http://www.chromeexperiments.com/arcadefire
New Music No. 5
Jul 30th
Restless People
There’s something about the debut from Brooklyn-based Restless People that makes me really, really happy. It’s a great listen for summertime and nails the global, big breezy dance sound happening right now (check “Days of Our Lives”, below, for a reference to bands in a similar vein like Delorean).
The four friends have been working together in the groups Tanlines, Professor Murder, and Family Edition before coming together on this project.
The first single “Victimless Crime” is available on their site. I dig the description:
“Finger point / boogie / windmill / 2-step (??) / lie on bed & stare at ceiling / head bob / strut”
It makes me sympathize with artists in having to categorize their own music!
Get “Days of Our Lives” over at RCRDLBL.
The album is out September 14th (also National Cream Filled Donut Day! also my birthday! ) on IAMSOUND.
Andreya Triana
Andreya is a self-taught singer and songwriter from Brighton.
Her voice is soulful, hauntingly beautiful and put me in that “place” straight away. See for yourself, Andreya performing live with Simon Green aka Bonobo (also on the Ninja Tune label and producer of her debut album):
Visit her website for a free download of the tune “Lost Where I Belong” (the Flying Lotus Preview edit).
A Town Called Obsolete is set for release August 23rd on Ninja Tune.
http://www.ninjatune.net/andreyatriana/
Shit Robot
Irish born DJ Marcus Lambkin is Shit Robot. Co-founder to The Leaf label, he’s also co-conspiritor behind seminal NYC label DFA Records alongside LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy.
Guest vocalists on the album include LCD’s Nancy Whang, Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor, James Murphy, and more.
The long-anticipated debut From The Cradle to the Rave is out September 21st.
Hear the July Mixcast:
Full selections:
Arcade Fire “The Suburbs (continued)”
Christopher Willits “You Are Always Surrounded by Stars”
B.O.B. “Generation Lost”
Kid CuDi “REVOFEV”
Baths “Animals”
Onra “Mechanical”
The Chemical Brothers “K+D+B”
Shit Robot “I Found Love (TBD Remix)”
Kele “12 EYW – RAC Remix”
!!! “Blue (Bonus Track)”
Restless People “Basic Needs”
Local Natives “Wide Eyes (Fool’s Gold Remix)”
Awesome New Republic “Dark Water”
Hugo “99 Problems (Jay-Z cover)”
The Drums “Let’s Go Surfing (The Raveonettes Remix)”
Bryan Ferry “You Can Dance”
Kisses “People Can Do The Most Amazing Things (Saint Etienne Remix)”
School of Seven Bells “Windstorm (A Place To Bury Strangers Remix)”
Musee Mecanique “Sleeping In Our Clothes”
Laura Veirs “Summer is The Champion”
New Music No. 4
Jun 27th
Here, the monthly mixtape! This one is light, breezy, and includes a couple of usual suspects by means of cool indie ‘ish alongside tunes just left of the mainstream. Besides some B-sides left from official releases (Raphael Saadiq, B.o.B.) we’ve got some fun remixes and party jams.
Enjoy!
A taste of who and what you’ll hear:
Human Life “In It Together” (Kris Menace Remix)”
A trio from Southern California made up of Joshua Collins, Matt Wasley & Rachael Starr. Their primary roots are in house music and they toe the line between cool dance and accessible pop which seems to be a big trend right now. It makes sense, as their influences cite everything from French and Chicago house to Genesis, Depeche Mode, Prince and the Happy Mondays.
http://www.myspace.com/humanlifedjs
The Acorn “Restoration (Four Tet remix)”
The Acorn is Rolf Klausener and friends. They’re from Ottawa, Ontario and started writing in 2002 under the name The Acorn. Their vivid songwriting and eclectic instrumentation is inspired by beauty in nature – and is shimmeringly beautiful. The album came out June 1st on Bella Union (the British indie label started by the Cocteau Twins). Pick up 2 free downloads in the mp3 store over at amazon.com.
http://www.myspace.com/theacorn
MNDR “Fade To Black”
MNDR aka Amanda Warner is another artist who combines pop with a love of electronic music.
Gotta give it up for the girl who can do it all – she singularly incorporates her well established musical background (midi programming, sound design, and analogue skills) and has toured with The Shins, The Fruitbats, and Har Mar Superstar among others.
An Amazon search delivers a nail polish by OPI in Electric Orange, so you’re better off hitting iTunes for her EP that came out in April.
Mark Ronson & The Business INTL “Bang Bang Bang” f. Q-Tip and MNDR
The forthcoming album from super-producer Ronson ditches the funk and soul sensibility of his past for a totally different sound. Forever keeping us on our toes, Ronson goes in a different direction incorporating synths and an 80′s dance aesthetic to bring the party proper.
As his past albums that featured collaborators like Wale, Daniel Merriweather and Amy Winehouse, Record Collection - due in September – includes an all-star ensemble including the likes of Boy George, D’Angelo, and Ghostface Killah.
Mos Dub “Hurricane Black” (instrumental)
A free download album from Max Tannone, the same gent who brought us Jaydiohead.
http://soundcloud.com/maxtannone/sets/mos-dub
Alicia Keys “Unthinkable (Lenzman D&B Remix)”
A remix of the inimitable songstress Alicia Keys by Lenzman, a self-described soulful drum & bass producer from the Netherlands. He has a lot of material on Beatport, most of it within the last year or so. No official album yet.
His Soundcloud page is pretty active too -you can check it out at: http://soundcloud.com/lenzman
// the full tracklist //
The Acorn “Restoration (Four Tet remix)”
Human LIfe “In It Together”
MNDR “Fade to Black”
Mark Ronson and The Business INTL “Bang Bang Bang feat. Q-Tip and MNDR)”
Curtiss King “Ren & Stimpy feat. Pheo & Ram)”
The Roots “How I Got Over”
B.o.B. “Trunk Band (feat. T Pain)”
Raphael Saadiq “Seven”
Foals “Miami”
Elite Gymnastics “Real Friends”
The XX “Infinity (Bachelors of Science remix)”
Alicia Keys “Unthinkable (Lenzman Drum & Bass remix)”
The Pharcyde “She Said (Portishead remix)”
Lindstrom & Christabelle “Lovesick”
Ratatat “Alps”
MixCast
Podcast (coming soon)
New Music No. 3
May 26th
A mix of some music I’ve been digging this month.
Who You’ll Hear…
Ana Tijoux
Ana is a multi-lingual Chilean rapper who raps melodically in both Spanish and French. Weaving insight and soul into the stories she tells, this beat-driven album is one of my favorites for 2010!
Junip
“Rope & Summit”
This is José González’s band and although they’ve been around for a minute, it’s the first official single coming from the first official EP of the same name. Junip will be touring in early June with an album coming in September and a full tour in November.
Tame Impala
“It Is Not Meant to Be” Innerspeaker (Modular)
Following in the steps of other amazing bands to come from the land-down-under as of late, Tame Impala are from Perth. They’re touring w/ MGMT - sharing a particular junkyard psychedelic sound that MGMT has brought to the forefront of their own latest album. The record “Innerspeaker” is out June 8th in the US.
Penguin Prison
“Something I’m Not (BretonLABS remix)”
Penguin Prison is Chris Glover, a dude from Manhattan who has done remixes for Goldfrapp, Marina & the Diamonds, Sébastien Tellier, Ellie Goulding, among others. This is a remix of his second single that came out in March. Get a FREE copy of the original along with 3 remixes at RCRDLBL.com.
http://www.myspace.com/penguinprison
Broken Social Scene “All To All”(Arts & Crafts)
BSS is a Canadian collective signed to Arts & Crafts records. Most of the musicians are members of others bands, or perform as solo artists (a few names that might ring a bell: Apostle of Hustle, Jason Collett, Leslie Feist, Kevin Drew, Metric, Stars, The Weakerthans). “All To All” is their first album in 5 years, out now.
Future Islands
“Vireo’s Eye” (Thrill Jockey)
Future Islands are a synthpop band from baltimore that formed in 2006 Greenville, NC while studying art at East Carolina University. They signed to Chicago indie label Thrill Jockey last year and the album “In Evening Air” came out early March. On tour now, they’ve got a few dates with Dan Deacon also from the B-More scene. They recently played in Los Angeles May 21 at Sync Space and the 22nd at The Smell.
http://www.myspace.com/futureislands
The National
“Sorrow (Instrumental)” High Violet (4AD)
I’ve always adored the baritone voice of singer Matt Berninger. Each song is epic and the instrumental versions really bring forth the talent of the band.
Miguel feat. J Cole
“All I Want is You” (Jive/Zomba)
Miguel is a singer, songwriter, musician and producer signed to the Jive/Zomba label. He did a cameo on Blu & Exile’s 2007 album “Below The Heavens” and was also on Asher Roth’s 2009 debut album, “Asleep In The Bread Aisle”. Now, he’s stepping out with his debut due later this year!
Watch him talk about the collab with J Cole here (via The Qside.com):
http://www.theqside.com/2010/04/11/miguel-talks-j-cole-collab-2/
http://www.myspace.com/miguel
cool videos including some covers
MIA
“XXXO” (N.E.E.T.)
A single from her upcoming album coming June 29 on her own label. Collaborators include Blaqstarr, Diplo, Rusko, Derek E. Miller of Sleigh Bells (also signed to her label, N.E.E.T.) and Switch.
You may have already seen the video for her other single “Born Free”. Quite controversial, it was removed from YouTube but now it’s back up (flagged as inappropriate). Check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeMvUlxXyz8
Kele Okereke
“Tenderoni” (Glassnote)
The 28 year-old singer from Liverpool is best known as the frontman from Bloc Party. His solo album “The Boxer” is out June 21 and I can’t wait to hear it! It’s produced by Hudson Mohawke and XXXChange and from the singles sounds like it’ll be more on the electro side of things. Preview more songs, watch videos, and see tour dates here:
Deluka ”
Cascade (Deluka vs. Friendly Fires Chuck Buckett Mix)”
The single out now digitally along with a couple of amazing remixes. I believe the full-length is coming later this year.
Get a free MP3 of this song: http://deluka.bandcamp.com/
Airship
“Kids” (unsigned)
These guys hail from Manchester alongside their contemporaries like Delphic and Dutch Uncles.
Their self-released album came out this week.
Their travelog is cool. Check it out:
http://www.myspace.com/airshiptheband
i left my head and my heart on the dancefloor No. 2
May 16th
random sweaty disco robot club-going fun. enjoy!
nic.
tracklist //
Kaskade “New Shoes”
Muscles “Sweaty (Shazam remix)”
Human Contact “Loverider (The Girls Can Hear Us remix)”
Reset! “If We Try (Kry Wolf’s Space Disco Remix)”
Lady Gaga Featuring Beyonce “Telephone (Kaskade remix)”
DiscoTech “She’s Devastating”
Snow Patrol “Take Back The City (Lillica Libertine Remix)”
The XX “Shelter (Death to the Throne remix)”
Carmen Reece “Right Here (Davé Aude remix)”
Music Video Roundup
May 7th
Here, some music videos I’ve been digging this week!
Deluka’s brand new video for the single ‘Cascade’, out now digitally. I love their sound and can’t wait for the full-length later this year! Get a free MP3 of this song: http://deluka.bandcamp.com/ And the EP here.
The debut solo single from Kele Okereke (formerly of Bloc Party) is “Tenderoni” – taken from his debut ’The Boxer’ out 6/21. On his solo debut, Kele collaborates with the producer behind Spank Rock aka Alex Epton, aka Armani XXXchange. Most of my close friends probably remember how OBSESSED I was with Bloc Party (the T-shirts, the shows…and don’t get me started on Matt the drummer) so I’m totally psyched for Kele’s debut. Goodbye to the skinny indie rocker with dreads we once knew and loved! Hello to an entirely different look with an entirely different sound.
The Chemical Brothers “Swoon”
Again, another amazing record to look forward to in June. From the album ‘Further’ due out June 22nd.
Ok-Ok, I know this is the #1 single on iTunes right now but I had to include it because – well – it’s kind of a cool video (and hey, at least it’s not X-tina)!! 
hope you had a wonderful week.
besos!
nic.
