It feels so good to be done that I feel like doing whatever the hell these guys are doing…

p.s. Diplo, one half of Major Lazer, is the guy in yellow handing out baked goodies at the end.

My last final is in less than 12 hours so here’s my study break. Boy can you get down to this. mmmmmmm

On that note, my next post will likely be from  home sweet home so see y’all soon.

First let’s talk about SBTRKT. I recently missed out on an opportunity to see him live here in Chicago because I flew to Philly that weekend to see family. Several of my friends went to see SBTRKT and of those who weren’t kicked out (ha ha!) they said it kicked all kinds of ass. I’m mad jealous. But anyway here’s a live studio recording made for the BBC of SBTRKT’s “Hold On”, a song which is well in contention for bets song of the year.

hold on (live at maida vale for bbc 1xtra) by sbtrkt

Next is James Blake. I’ve had the opportunity now to have seen him twice in Chicago. Both times blew my mind to say the least. Here’s a performance of his song “CMYK” from this summer at Pitchfork fest where I saw him the first time. I’m was to the right of the stage if you wanna look for my head It’s incredible how full of  a sound he gets with just three guys on stage. The band’s coordination also is incredible as, if you can notice, the guitarist and drummer trade off triggering the song’s characteristic vocal samples.

George and I have been forecasting the revival of the 90s since the beginning of Aphera.

NPR missed some of these winners…

Marilyn Manson “Sweet Dreams”

Weezer “Say It Ain’t So”

Eminem “My Name Is”

Elliott Smith “Sweet Adeline”

Dr. Dre “Nothin But A G Thang”

Radiohead “Paranoid Android”

The Offspring “Pretty Fly for a White Guy”

Green Day “Longview”

Fatboy Slim “Rockafeller Skank”

Korn “Freak On a Leash”

Beck “Where It’s At”

House of Pain “Jump Around”

Bjork “Unravel”

Beastie Boys “Intergalactic”

Sublime “Doin Time”

DJ Shadow “Number Song”

The Smashing Pumpkins “Soma”

enjoy

psedit: the answer to the question brought up in the previous post, was that this video was broadcast in the Hachiko square on the large advertising monitors that surround the square. Crowds watched Thom dance above their heads.

EDIT: ApheraMusic was especially upset to learn, through the video, that the vocoder lines that permeate the song, are saying “Just like that,” not, “Just like math” as we had originally assumed. How disappointing… -george

I’m not really an Ariel Pink fan, but this video for his 2010 track, “Round and Round”, was directed by the Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne and the visual effects are subtly trippy enough to make this a very fun watch. Who does he think he is, Kurt Cobain? Cut your hair!

Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Round & Round from Delo Creative on Vimeo.

Next is a video of our beloved Gorillaz, fronted by the lovable Damon Albarn, playing a cover of the XX’s “Crystalised”. Also available is the group playing acoustic versions of their Plastic Beach song “On Melancholy Hill” and the ft. Daley track “Doncamatic“.

That’s My Bitch

Lastly, there’s a New Jay-Z/Kanye Track floating around the interwebs and it’s very awesome. Kind of an old school hip hop beat on top of a nice 8bit bass line.

He walked out onto the stage wearing white feather wings and told us, “My name is Sufjan Stevens and I’m your entertainment for the evening.”

And with that same veil of modesty, he plucked the sad little tune of Seven Swans on his banjo seemingly alone on a vast, dark stage. Only a minute later the backlight flashed red, as the trumpets glared to reveal an eleven-piece band behind him. He threw off his wings and awkwardly pulled on a pair of metallic pants and space suit while simultaneously slinging, now, a guitar over his head.  It was so cute- like a costume change a six year old would make trying to imitate his or her favorite pop star. But this was Sufjan and it was so Sufjan.

I say this because, during the concert, we really got to know Sufjan. We listened to him fumble with the three laws of physics and his philosophy on the end of the earth, the beginning of the earth and what he calls the middle of the earth. We laughed nervously when he explained his diabolical relationship with cliffs and abysses like the Grand Canyon. He was so endearing, lonely, funny, but at the same time this man, dressed in metallic flared pants and a neon headband, was also the genius behind the music we were all so moved by.

The theme of the evening was the loneliness of the universe. Sufjan repeatedly used the words, “lonely”, “end”, and “primal”. Primal instincts became important when he described this newest album. He said he stripped his music of form, convention and history (haha). His performance was primal in two very different senses. In one way it was the product of Sufjan’s uninhibited self. It was the removal of any cortical reasoning and instead it was a reliance on older, ancient pleasure centers. It was hedonistic, an overproduction and over sensory stimulation. But it was also primal in another sense. When we weren’t “entertained” with productions such as Age of Adz and Impossible Soul, we were soothed with slower pieces. Sufjan became a soloist, a single lonely man on stage. His music became extremely raw, stripped…

But the majority of the show, when we weren’t watching a man and a banjo, was a Broadway musical: Eleven people on stage, 3 dancers, costumes, props, backdrops. Sufjan made sure you felt the apocalypse nearing when he sang, “Age of Adz” – a song he said, “confuses heartbreak with the end of the earth.” Someone next to me shouted, “They’re the same thing.”

Were we a bunch of overly sentimental alternatives watching an emotional rollercoaster? Sufjan certainly admitted that going through his concert every night was emotionally, physically and spiritually draining. But it made performances such as “I Walked”, and the drippingly gorgeous ,“The Owl and The Tanager” an experience rather than just a passive listening session on the audience’s part.

Sufjan played the 25 minute monster “Impossible Soul” – a song that could only have been written by Sufjan and certainly only have been performed by him.  That was the beauty of the whole concert. It was the creative product of Sufjan and in an infinite number of years no one will be able to reproduce all the elements that went into it. Sufjan created a cosmic event that can only occur in some space and some time never to be exactly the same again.

I am delighted, and it is an honor to present to you, “Runaway”, directed by Kanye West.

Abridged notes from my first viewing:

1. Like a good party, this film is full of good music and beautiful women. Ha. and Aphex Twin.

2. Kanye isn’t the best actor but maybe that’s what makes him so endearing (yeah I think he’s done with the whole asshole schtick).

3. In fact, this movie isn’t even that good, it’s just like… I mean it’s far better than ODDSAC as far as visual-musical pairings go (this film at least felt very inspired, whereas ODDSACa was a film obsessed with the novelty of the medium) but that’s irrelevant.

4. Whoa. Kanye is the definition of cool. This music is incredible.

5. HOLY FLYING BIRD WOMAN (reminds me of Terry Gilliam’s Brazil).

After the narrative and (pretty much) visual mess that was ODDSAC, it’s nice to see something visually appealing that seems appropriate in relation to its abilities to capture the subtleties of that AC sound. Now that’s a purely personal opinion as I’ve spoken to a growing number of people who say ODDSAC was perfect and so maybe I’m the one who’s way off. Whatever. I mean ODDSAC wasn’t a complete failure but it was pretty “film school project” quality –amateurish? Sure, but that’s not expected from AC at this point in their career (is this the end of it LOL?). A handful of moments of sonic brilliance and the occasional interesting visual unfortunately doesn’t “save” the work as a whole. Better luck next time?

Next: Flying Lotus.

Last week I showed you guys some tracks from his new EP, Pattern+Grid World. Yesterday, a video for the FlyLo track “Kill Your Co-Workers” was released. The visuals homages to the video games of yesteryear are everywhere and the video itself is fucked up as hell. It’s awesome!

Lastly, Larissa mentioned to me in conversation yesterday how difficult it’s gonna be for us to come up with our top ten albums list at the end of the year. I concurred; in fact, it’s been on my mind almost every day. So much good music has already been released, and not released yet. Kanye’s new album is gonna kick so much ass. I mean, look at  the cover!!!!

As previously mentioned, it’s called My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and it’s gonna be good. Also, Radiohead might release something this year which would also blow my mind. Well that’s something to think about.