Audiopleasures

Sunday, 7 December 2008

Digitalism , The Bloody Beetroots , Ascii Disko , Just For Kiks , Pony Hoax , Microsoft , Vessels , Fennesz Dafeldecker Brandlmayr

Mp3 | Digitalism @ I Love Techno 2008

Watch | The Bloody Beetroots - Cornelius

Ascii Disko new album should be out very soon , in the meantime.

Mp3 | Ascii Disko Dj Set Barcelona 2008

A Documentary about Sneakers, Hip-Hop and the Corporate Game.

Watch | Just For Kiks

Poni Hoax - Antibodies music video directed by Danakil

Watch | Poni Hoax - Antibodies

Microsot to release new " Softwear " , vintage DOS t-shirts . Source - Gismodo

A new video has been made for 'A Hundred Times in Every Direction', taken from White Fields and Open Devices, which was released in August. The stunning video, made by Aurora Fearnley, was shot using an ultra-slow motion camera, some cake and some water bombs. Vessels

Watch | Vessels - A Hundred Times in Every Direction

Fennesz,Dafeldecker,Brandlmayr
"till the old world's blown up and a new one is created" Mosz - 2008
Electronic / Ambient / Experimental
Buy

The process: several improvisations are reworked into three brief tracks, one edited by each member of the trio. Then these pieces are mined for a few very short fragments. These, in turn, form the core of a much longer piece, painstakingly assembled around repeated motifs salvaged from the wreckage. Very slowly - over four years of intermittent activity - a long piece comes into being. As it gets longer more space and silence enters the music. The trio's working method on "till the old world's blown up ..." is one of sudden flash and meltdown, followed by a gradual process of cellular division. This inexorable metastatic activity builds a new organism with a peculiar life of its own, far removed from its sources. Ghostly twangs of Americana, Ligeti-esque glissandi, hesitant electronic sputters, luminous vibraphone - all these and more combine and recombine, separated by stretches of nothing at all and driven by an urge to become ever more abstract. By the end of the process the old world has gone for good. Will Montgomery

Mp3 | Fennesz-Dafeldecker-Brandlmayr - Jets

Let's Lounge,The Telescopes,Pan/Tone,The Prodigy,Belong,Etienne de Crecy,Ane Brun,I Love Alaska,The Dolls,Chick

The Telescopes were formed in 1987 by Stephen Lawrie and could best be described as a noise/space rock band - the Jesus and Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine and Spacemen 3 being influences and contemporaries.

Watch | The Telescopes - Flying

Pan/Tone
" Skip the Foreplay " - Cereal Killers - 2008
Techno / Minimal
Buy

Launching a dry attack on the dancefloor, Berlin based Pan/Tone aka Sheldon Thompson completes his second full album since 2004's 'Newfound urban calm' for BiP_HOp with a set of quirky tech house bouncers for his new home on Cereal/Killers records. 'Perdon Pan/Tone' sets the script with a muted tech house intro, but things start to bounce along nicely on 'Shame' with flamenco guitars entwined with a chunky bass driven groove. 'Makers mark' is the first of a few tracks to make use of the now slightly ubiquitous knarzy synthline which slots in nicely with his 'Rockno' aesthetic, but it's the techno tracks like 'Clean Getaway' or 'Donner Kebab' or melancholy moments like 'Broken English' that tie this album together as a useful home listening techno experience.Boomkat

Mp3 | Pan Tone - Makers Mark

Invaders Must Die is the upcoming, fifth regular studio album by the electronic act The Prodigy, to be released on March 2, 2009

Watch | The Prodigy - Invaders Must Die

Belong
" Tour Ep " Self Released
Drone / Experimental

Belong is an American experimental music duo composed of Turk Dietrich and Michael Jones. The group formed in New Orleans in 2002. Their debut album, October Language, was recorded in 2004 and released in 2006. The duo's sound blends ambient and glitch styles, with a focus on guitar textures

In January 2008, their Tour EP, (recorded in 2005, sold as a CDr at live shows in February 2006) surfaced in 128 kbit/s quality, ripped by a fan. Belong decided to directly offer it to fans in MP3 for free, at a higher quality 192 kbit/s. They've also done the same for their latest EP, Same Places.

Belong - Tour Ep

An amazing electronic music live by Etienne de Crecy at the "transmusicales de Rennes" music festival

Watch | Etienne De Crecy @ Transmusicales de Rennes

Ane Brun
" Sketches " - Determine - 2008
Indie / Singer-Songwriter
Buy

“Sketches” contains demo versions of the songs from Ane Brun’s latest studio album “Changing of the Seasons”.
The songs are mostly performed with voice and guitar or voice and piano. We are excited to release these versions, as they have something different. The simplicity of the production, and also the presence in the performance when recording a song for the first time tends to add something special. And for the live-audience; if you see Ane at a solo-show, this would be more or less the way she would play them.
“Sketches” also presents two new tracks, “Miss Moaning” and “My Baby’s Arms”.
Both favorites of Ane’s, but they didn’t fit the context of the album “Changing of the Seasons”. We are happy to present them to the listeners! Determine

Mp3 | Ane Brun - Round Table Conference [ Sketches Version ]

August 4, 2006, the personal search queries of 650,000 AOL (America Online) users accidentally ended up on the Internet, for all to see. These search queries were entered in AOL's search engine over a three-month period. After three days AOL realized their blunder and removed the data from their site, but the sensitive private data had already leaked to several other sites.

I love Alaska tells the story of one of those AOL users. We get to know a religious middle-aged woman from Houston, Texas, who spends her days at home behind her TV and computer. Her unique style of phrasing combined with her putting her ideas, convictions and obsessions into AOL's search engine, turn her personal story into a disconcerting novel of sorts.

Over a period of three months, a portrait of a woman emerges who is diligently searching for likeminded souls. The list of her search queries read aloud by a voice-over reads like a revealing character study of a somewhat obese middle-aged lady in her menopause, who is looking for a way to rejuvenate her sex life. In the end, when she cheats on her husband with a man she met online, her life seems to crumble around her. She regrets her deceit, admits to her Internet addiction and dreams of a new life in Alaska. Minimovies

Watch | I Love Alaska

The Dolls aka Vladislav Delay , Abtye Greie , Craig Armstrong
" The Dolls " Humme - 2008
Electronic / Glitch / Experimental
Buy

With a back story that borders on the realms of 'Ulysses' in terms of length and meandering predilection, we'll circumvent the extensive travails which brought these three luminaries together and instead focus on what they've conjured into being; 'The Dolls'. Yet another advocate of this years pervading piano fetishism, 'The Dolls' sees Craig Armstrong's sublime and often heavily treated piano work being force-fed to a relentless jaw of magnifying glass beats (both electronic and live), all assembled with the usual muted flair of Vladislav Delay. As if this union weren't tantalising enough, we are then given an overt glimpse of humanity in the form of AGF (Finland's Abtye Greie), whose hushed vocals drift through the great musical halls of Armstrong and Delay and coax the muted embers of their union into vivid life. Boomkat

Mp3 | The Dolls - collect the blue

"Chick" is a humorous true-life story about male-female relations. Infatuation and its consequences are depicted in a ironic way: meeting a guy, dancing, having fun, a sexual act. A man, giddy with the charm of a femme fatale, leaves a room. He is followed by failure and doom.

Watch | Chick

Tuesday, 2 December 2008

Best of 2008,Remote,Our Sleepless Forest, Deerhunter,Fennesz, Arnaud Rebotini,Fuck Buttons, Munk, Duchess Says,Aidan Baker & Tim Hecker ,Kap Bambino

This week i was asked by Hype Machine to vote on my top 10 records of 2008.
this will be a hard and difficult exercise but i have a pretty good idea of a few of them . Its difficult because i normally listen to so many different styles of music , and to pick 10 , well its hard .

The order of the records is not importante , all this records have the same importance and impact throught out this year.

Remote
" Dark Enough " - Kill the Dj
Techno / Minimal / Electro / Electronic
Buy

From the beginning of the year that i new that this record had it all , thought i'm absolutely not a fan of techno , this is a really great crossover of techno and electro. Its dark , muscled and always on heavy rotation on my gym play lists.

I'm also a big fan of French Electro , i've start loving the whole thing listening to the Black Strobe , and this records as loads of it , that dark matter that i like so much on electro.

Mp3 | Remote - Veron

Our Sleepless Forest
" Our Sleepless Forest " - Resonant
Experimental / Post-Rock / Drone / Ambient
Buy

What a majestic record from this South London trio, it simply has to be heard.
I know is always unfair to compare records and artist , but the reason that made me like this record immediately , was is resemblance to Ben Frost "Theory of Machines" , it was like finally something as powerful had came out.

Its almost breathtaking , you could almost get lost in its complexity , "Clarion" its just beautiful , Drones and Experimental Post-Rock . "The Tinderbox" , apparently and easy and appealing tracks that at some point stops , you think the track as came to the end , and them starts this ravishing drone with sounds of landscapes filled with water sounds and exotic creatures. Its a must have.

Mp3 | Our Sleepless Forest - The Clarion

Sadly this was the last release of a great record label Resonant

Deerhunter
" Microcastle " - Kranky
Alternative / Indie
Buy

Mr. Cox had a very busy year , 3 records under is belt , " Microcastle " is definitely my favorite , in is other project Atlas Sound , Mr. Cox brought us another well crafted and excellent record " Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See but Cannot Feel "

" Nothing Ever Happened " , " Agoraphobia " and " Never Stops " are masterpieces in a all together a brilliant record.

Mp3 | Deerhunter - Agoraphobia

Fennesz
" Black Sea " - Touch
Ambient / Modern Classical / Drone
Buy

2008 saw the consolidation of Christian Fennesz on my top 10 favorite artist.
First because this year finally i had my ears on his collaboration with Ryuichi Sakamoto , its tremendous " Cender " , probably my favorite record at this moment.

Second because " Black Sea " new album out now on Touch Records, its just miraculous beautiful . normally i can do a lot of things at the same time , but with this , no . while i'm listening to is drones and acoustics all looped out is a calm and relaxing ambient , i think i'm nearly in a state of trance looking to a painting i have above my couch , i just steer at it numbly , even if the whole world was collapsing around me , i wouldn't fell a thing.
" Grey Scale " and " Perfume For Winter " are some of the most beautiful and profoundly tracks i've heard from Fennesz.

Mp3 | Fennesz - Grey Scale

Arnaud Rebotini
" Music Components " - Citizen
Electro / Techno
Buy

There was a lot of nasty talk about the Black Strobe split up , the reviews about the 2007 " Burn you own Church " were quite poor . To be honest , i don't listen to that kinda of stuff , i liked the record a lot , and the reasons that lead Ivan Smagghe to leap out because he wanted to focus more on his Dj Career are very valid.
The thing is , the Black Strobe are something very special their sound is unique and very appealing to me. Ever since i heard " Me and Madonna " for the first time , my world change a lot and my music tastes had to evolve into things that i didn't like a lot

Arnaud Rebotini , new solo record " Music Components " is very good , i can't say its awesome because the surprise element is not there anymore , but it doesn't invalidate being a very good record , and when comes to electro , Rebotini knows it all.

Mp3 | Rebotini -1314

Fuck Buttons
" Street Horrrsing " - ATP
Noise / Drone / Experimental
Buy

There was a lot of talk about Fuck Buttons , i saw them live and give them a 10/10
As for the record , leaps out on all the boundaries and extensions of what is permitted and allowed in music these days . Fuck Buttons broke all these limits and produced a unique piece of wonderful and tribal noise record .

Mp3 | Fuck Buttons - Sweet Love For Planet

Munk
" Cloudbuster " - Gomma
Krautdisco / Future Disco / Electro Funk
Buy

Gomma is one of my favorite record labels , and also one of the most underestimated in Europe , they are also known as the DFA of Europe , because of there inflamed disco beats .
Release after release , they always bring something fresh , this time was Munk's " Cloudbuster " with some fabulous spaced disco/funk .

The super " Psychomagic " and the smashing " live fast! die old! " feat. Asia Argento made Munk catapult and shows us some of their Gomma glamour.

Mp3 | Munk - Psychomagic

Duchess Says
" Anthologie des 3 Perchoirs " - Alien8
Punk-Rock / Alternative
Buy

They are Canadians and they make shit loads of noise , one the best Punk/Rock records of these year.

Rough bass lines , screaming guitars and heavy pounding drumming , add this to the screams of their sexy vocalist Annie-C and you get an explosive mix that will raise all you hidden hairs to hysteria.

Mp3 | Duchess Says - La friche

Aidan Baker & Tim Hecker
" Fantasma Parastasie " - Alien8
Drone / Ambient / Experimental
Buy

2008 i believed to be the year of the drone , it's something very recent to my ears.
Tim Hecker and Aidan Baker are recent addiction to my Audiopleasures world.
" Fantasma Parastasie " joins Nadja’s Aidan Baker and fellow Canadian Tim Hecker in their first collaboration on Alien8.
Both Canadian artist are exponents in the art of abstract and experimental music , while Tim Hecker explores the more ambient part of the compositions , Aidan Baker takes is darker backgrounds with distortion and noise.
If you like this combinations and enjoy experimental music , this a must have record.

Mp3 | Aidan Baker & Tim Hecker - hymn to the idea of night

Kap Bambino
" zero life night vision " - Alt+Delee
Electro / Punk / 8-Bit / Nu-Rave
Buy

Either you love or you hate it , there is no halve term on this record .

Its intoxicating and energetic to the bone , the beats are unreal hard , nu-rave mixed with 8-bit , electro and very punky attitude.
I give them my vote because of their courage and the freshness of the record , if you listen to it , put on your party gears and rock on.

Mp3 | Kap Bambino - Night Vision Ocean

Other records that deserve to be mentioned.

Flying Lotus - " Los Angeles " - Warp
Ezekiel Honig - " Surfaces of a Broken Marching Band " - Anticipate
Kangding Ray - " Automne Fold " - Raster-Noton
Cloudland Canyon - " Lie in Light " - Kranky
M83 - " Saturdays=Youth " - Mute
Padded Cell - " Night Must Fall " - Dc Recordings
MIT - " Coda " - Haute Areal
Tindersticks - " The Hungry Saw " - Beggars
These New Puritans - " Beat Pyramid " - Domino
Atlas Sound - " Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See but Cannot Feel " - Kranky

this could go on and on and on , appologise for those i forgot . Funny thing , normaly the best albums are those you will only discover next year.

Obama, Audiopleasures Mixtape, Galatic Mail, Star Wars vs. Star Trek, Gran Torino, Portished, Bazar Curieux

Galactic Mail is a project I made along with my friend Jonathan Vuillemin aka Motraboy. It was produced by The Mill in 2008. We used XSI Softimage as a main tool. Check my website for more infos Asterokid

Watch | Galatic Mail

Who will win ??

Watch | Star Wars vs. Star Trek

Clint Eastwood stars in the drama Gran Torino, marking his first film role since his Oscar-winning Million Dollar Baby. Eastwood also directs the film in which he plays Walt Kowalski, an iron-willed veteran living in a changing world, who is forced by his immigrant neighbors to confront his own long-held prejudices.

Watch | Gran Torino

Official video from Portished track " Magic Doors "

Watch | Portished - Magic Doors

The 9th edition of " Bazar Curieux " will take place on the 6 of Dezember in the Maassilo in Rotterdam .

Line Up :
TV On The Radio, Roots Manuva, Benga, zZz, Yacht, Abe Vigoda, Tim Exile, Little Boots (dj-set), Lowriders en Micachu & The Shapes

Monday, 1 December 2008

World AIDS Day

HIV/AIDS has been a global epidemic for more than 27 years. Most of today's youth have never known a world without it. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently published national HIV incidence (new infections) that showed much higher numbers that previous estimates. The time is now. Together, we can prevent the spread of this pandemic – through awareness, care, prevention, education and research.

“HIV/AIDS has now become a pandemic that has literally put the world at risk, affecting diverse populations in different ways”. –Dr. Nora Volkow, NIDA Director
On December 1st, individuals and organizations will recognize World AIDS Day. This year’s theme is leadership – from all sectors, including government, but also leaders among individuals and families, communities, non-profits and other organizations. The question is not should you participate, but how can you? Both NIDA and AIDS.gov recognize the leadership of Bloggers Unite and invite bloggers to join them in their mission to prevent and stop the spread of HIV/AIDS.

For more info please visit Bloggers Unite

Best Microscopic Images of 2008 Announced

First Place: Diatom Rainbows

Sinewy filaments within squirming microscopic diatoms, a type of algae, are artificially rainbow hued as a result of being photographed through polarizing light filters.

Captured by retired British microscopist Michael Stringer, the photo took top prize--and U.S. $3,000--in the 2008 Small World Photomicrography Competition, organizers announced on October 15. Sponsored by Nikon, the annual contest showcases "the beauty and complexity of life as seen through the light microscope."

--Mark Anderson
—Photograph by Michael Stringer/photo courtesy of Nikon Small World

Second Place: Nanotube Factory

Glowing-hot carbon nanotubes form an expanding orange ball in this image by Paul Marshall of Canada's Institute for Microstructural Sciences, a winner in the 2008 Small World photomicrography competition.

The nanotubes are elongated, hollow cylinders of carbon atoms. To make a carbon nanotube--just 1/50,000 the width of a human hair--a piece of carbon (graphite) must be heated, for example by lasers or electricity. And sometimes, Marshall says, the heated mass of nanotubes grows like a bulb in the spring.

—Photograph by Paul Marshall/National Research Council Canada/photo courtesy of Nikon Small World

Third Place: Flower Power

Albert Tousson of the University of Alabama was recently testing a new laser microscope in his lab and put a petal of a lily of the valley under the lens, which magnified the petal 1,300 times--resulting in his winning photo in the 2008 Small World photomicrography competition.

The enhanced color of the petal's red cell walls and green and yellow starch granules comes from the laser light, which causes molecules within these substances to fluoresce--the same phenomenon that gives objects under black lights an eerie glow.

—Photograph by Albert Tousson/High Resolution Imaging Facility/University of Alabama at Birmingham/photo courtesy of Nikon Small World

View more @ National Geographic