na: studio, circle research
Before tomorrow’s deluge, some great new titles to recommend.
Studio, Yearbook 2: Sultry Swedish dance-rockers Studio cover/remix a host of great songs, the standouts among them being A Mountain of One’s “Brown Piano” (this was killing me this morning) and Kylie’s “2 Hearts,” which the blogs went nuts for a few months ago. Very, very good. Also note Love Is All!
Circle Research, Who EP: I had never heard of Circle Research before today, but they are two Toronto hip-hop DJs (apparently they have a weekly radio show up north), and this EP is halfway between Girl Talk and DJ Shadow, lots of samples and some eerie hip-hop instrumentals as well. Check the samples — I bet you will quickly be swayed.
Matt Baldwin, Paths of Ignition: Anytime someone opens up an album by covering “Weissensee,” my favorite Neu! song (download it here), I have to take notice. When said cover is Fahey-style fingerpicked guitar, I really take notice. If you are into Fahey, Blackshaw and that whole scene, definitely snag it. Credit for the heads up goes to the indispensable Aquarius Records newsletter.
Jesse Harris, Feel: Dude who wrote the Norah Jones songs. I don’t hate it. That is absolutely meant as a compliment.
Paavoharju, Lualu Laakson Kukista: I finally got around to listening to the Paavoharju album over the weekend, and oh man is it great. Dreamy, ethereal and weird. Straight outta Finland. “Italialaisella laivalla” just kills me.
Nice! I added everything to my Saved for Later list, except for Matt Baldwin. Let me guess - Jesse Harris’s songs are innocuous-sounding?
STUDIO IS AWESOME! I love that Balearic Revival sound.(n.1) Thanks for posting this.
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(n.1) There’s a great article/blog post in there somewhere: Best of the Balearic/Yacht Rock revival on eMusic (e.g., Studio, A Mountain of One, Quiet Village, Sorcerer).
Wow, I can feel my indie cred draining as blood from my slit throat…but I really really like the Jesse Harris. Who knows? I might feel differently when the crack wears off.
Yeah Studio is good. Plus if you wanted to buy the disc you would pay $46 at import prices.
I would be careful about the ‘Balearic’ term — it doesn’t really mean anything specific and can therefore be applied to anything, so if something is described that way it doesn’t really tell you anything about it. It’s kind of silly.
and a nice plug for the amazing Aquarius Records…which, if you’re ever in San Francisco on Valencia St., you should check it out.
“I would be careful about the ‘Balearic’ term — it doesn’t really mean anything specific and can therefore be applied to anything, so if something is described that way it doesn’t really tell you anything about it. It’s kind of silly.”
I disagree. It’s easy to identify what it’s not. And while what’s included in it is somewhat flexible — something I see as a strength, not a weakness — it definitely includes the smooth, danceable, yacht-rock sounds of the bands I mention upthread.
Interesting topic, tho. More later. Overtired now.
Yeah I suppose it’s just as valid as any other descriptor if people know what it means…but I think the meaning must have changed over time.
Can’t get enough of that Paavoharju at the moment