The End of Freedom Vol. 2
Yep that's right, another mix to foist upon my friends and torture them with music they didn't really want to hear in the first place. I never posted up the first one... I was lazy. This one is mostly made up of tracks from this year all of them in an electronic/post-rock style range. This year definitely saw me regain my love for electronic-type music, so this celebrates some of my favorite tracks of the year in this style.
I got the pic above from google. Someone took it in Philly of where the Freedom trail deadends at some steps. Thought it was pretty cool.
If you want a copy of the cd, I can send you one. Shoot me an email. I'll be finishing the fading and editing with help from Kim this week hopefully. Eventually I'll get these zipped for downloading. Maybe.
The End of Freedom, Vol. 2:
1. "Boy From School" by Hot Chip (from The Warning)
This song, from the DFA's prodigal sons and maybe the best remixers around, has a great groove and a nice hook. The whole album is solid, but this one is the standout with it's great vocal refrain and subtle synth loop. One of my favorite tracks of the year.
2. "Vibrate" by Ghostland Observatory (from Paparazzi Lightning)
These cats from Austin are an amazing and energetic live act and their recorded material successfully transfer that energy as well. This song makes even my lame-ass want to cut a rug with that deep bass and the spooky synths. But what really gets me on this one is singer Aaron Behrens killer vocals and the vocoder chorus.
3. "In The Morning" by Junior Boys (from So This Is Goodbye)
This song is off their very highly regarded album that I never could fully get into, but this song is great example of their brand of electro-new wave-pop. Great beats and synth sounds, good vocals and the production shines.
4. "Heartbeats" by The Knife (from Deep Cuts)
Steel drums! Yeah it takes balls to loop a steel drum line and throw it into an electronic song. This is from 2005, but I didn't get into the Knife until this year and this album was finally issued in the states this year. Probably their most famous and recognizable song, it's beautiful and moody and has a timeless sound. Perfect example of less is more in simplicity of programming. The version they are playing live currently is much darker to fit in with the Silent Shout material.
5. "Dead Shark Eyes" by Clark (from Throttleclark exclusive downloads)
This was one of three tracks previewed on Chris Clark's website before Body Riddle was released. This is a fantastic instrumental track with dark, echoing, rubbery synths and a pounding rhythm. It goes off in several directions, evolvling, devolving but always returning to the core theme. It blows me away everytime I hear it. Chris Clark is cleary one of the best of the electronic producers following in Aphex Twin's steps.
6. "Young Bride (CWL remix)" by Midlake / Cassettes Won't Listen (from CWL Remixes)
Gorilla vs Bear introduced me to this guy's remix work. This is one of the best, it retains the original's important elements: the emotional feel and weight as well as the song's structure. It augments it with cool synths and a drum loop that builds and expands upon the original's already driving beat.
7. "Like Eating Glass (Ladytron Zapatista Mix)" by Bloc Party / Ladytron (from Silent Alarm Remixed)
Ladytron turns one of the better Bloc Party songs into one of their own. Sleek and dark electro-pop with a simple pounding beat and the vocals buried under heavy reverb. I heard this really loud one night when local DJ Wanz Dover played it during his set and it sounded great.
8. "Lazy Eyes" by 120 Days (from 120 Days)
These Norwegian kids infuse their electro-rock hybrid with a great sense for the building and climax of great electronic club tracks. Much of their music is infused with the krautrock motorik pulse of Neu! and this one definitely has that driving beat. Dark synths with a wailing siren-like sound give this one an urgent feel until it builds to a crescendo of saxophone, synth and vocals, then releases. Play this loud.
9. "Second Guessing" by Tussle (from Telescope Mind)
Krautrock meets dub ina funk style. Like Liquid Liquid hooked up with Can, this instrumental quartet from San Francisco hits a groove and then locks down tight. Two drummers provide the backbone as spare electronic sounds swirl and echo about in the space. Yummy.
10. "Skara Brain" by Feathers (from Synchromy)
Who knew Miami had people making post-rock? I thought it was all booty-bass rap shit there. And no, this isn't the hippy granola heads of the same name that make freak folk with Devendra. This track has a hawt groove laid out on live drums and a nice bassline. Then the keys lay in as some dirty electronic sounds echo about. Cool thing is, just as you get used to one thing they switch it up and move on.
11. "Vodiak" by Stereolab (from Fab Four Suture)
Oh that's right, Stereolab is so last decade and you are just too cool for the new stuff. I disagree, this band still produces some top-notch songs. This is the best off this ep collection. I like the analog synths and that reverb-ey drum fill that rolls in on top of the live drums. Stereolab still make the best sounding/produced records in my humble opinion. Check it on headphones as the keys go from channel to channel, it's pretty damn cool.
12. "Ankle Injuries" by Fujiya & Miyagi (from Transparent Things)
This English trio with a Japanese name have the motorik pulse down. They hit that lockgroove sound and don't let go. A throbbing beat and rhythm augmented by simple synths and vocals. This could go on for 10 minutes and I wouldn't get bored.
13. "Way Out" by Ellen Allien & Apparat (from Orchestra of Bubbles)
German micro-house and trance, but not the shitty kind of trance. Two of Germany's finest got together to put out this very nice album. Featuring Allien's vocals, this one is short and sweet with the bubbling analog synths and moving beat. I liked the sound of the drums the best.
14. "The Eraser" by Thom Yorke (from The Eraser)
While this album was a major disapointment, this song however, delivered. Nice glitchy, laptop techno with typically good and eeire vocals of Yorke. I really like the simplicity of the song and how it changes up at the end. Too bad the rest of the album wasn't as impressive.
15. "Colors Shifting" by Christopher Willits (from Surf Boundaries)
Guitar whiz Willits utilizes a glitch laptronica approach to make a very warm and engaging song. Supposedly much of the sounds are made from his guitar which he runs through some custom built equipment to manipulate the sounds into an electronic sound. The vocals remind me of Broken Social Scene. Yes, this song is supposed to sound like it is skipping...
16. "Montezuma" by Shogun Kunitoki (from Tasankokaiku)
More Japanese fakers! These guys are actually from Finland (maybe Finnish-Japanese?), completing my tour of the nordic nations in this mix. Using only analog, old school synths, keyboards, drum machines and effects, they craft stark and elegant compositions. It has such a clear, clean sound the building synths and driving beat on what sounds like live drums to me.
I'll have my year end list ready soon and a mix to accompany that as well. Stay tuned!
posted by zak at
7:23 PM
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