ireallylovemusic

bodyrox - feat luciana - what planet you on

captains log : december 18th 2007
full on party season.
the world is being over run by the need to shout along to fucking slade records under the disco glitter ball once again. thankfully though the opening week of the new year sees bodyrox release their new single, the grammatically incorrect, 'what planet you on'.
comprising of a thrusting slice of bouncy electro dance music, put together by jon pearn and nick bridges, this 3 minutes of compressed synthetics also happens to involve gobby txt speak vocals from attitude pumped up luciana. the vocal hooks are madly catchy, the lyrics as shallow as a learners swimming pool, and the video to corny for words (umm girl sitting on planet gesticulating to the viewer about ‘i dont know what planet you’re on’ only to then end up 'sliding on rocket ship with you') but i’ll be damned if i can’t deny its a brilliant slab of disposable pop.
hence i urge you to make this number one for months, and let’s fuck off all those x-factor sanctioned drippy ballads forever.
thank you.
video : http://youtube.com/watch?v=VMRnnyR5DLw
more detail : http://www.bodyrox.co.uk/

bishi - nights at the circus

so, the time is now here.

after a chunk of fashion magazine focus, a lot of belief, the debut bishi album, 'nights at the circus', is here.

fusing western pop song structures with an added element of sitar and tablas, there are times i feel as though i should have a greater understanding of the world of bollywood.
thankfully, the fact i have never sat through a bollywood movie doesn’t detract from the fact that in parts, this album is a pure pop album.
things start off brilliantly, with the title track being a great way to introduce bishis wonderful vocals and overall way with a song, which after a few minutes of rhythm and verse, decends into a mass of tabla and sitar chaos. very enjoyable.

the production is delicate and slight on 'magus', tablas create the beat, which are supplemented by all manner of unusual but exotic sounding instruments, again revealing my own ignorance, as i really don’t know what instrument is making what noise here but it matters not, as bishi has not forgotten to bring in an ear pleasing melody.
for 'i am you', toybox glockenspiels are placed alongside a nice electronic foundation, with bishis vocals phased and layered, this is another genuine pop highlight, and one that would make the dreary radio playlist a lot more colourful.

admittedly, there are a few tracks where my mind wondered about a little. having been told the appeal is all about the live show, i guess if you have caught her recent well received shows then such tracks as the harp heavy, 'the swan', the folk-esque acoustics of 'grandmothers floor', and 'nightbus', work better in the live situation, but here such traditional sounding tracks feel to weigh the album down.
beautiful yes, but at odds with the pop aspect of the album.

is this album a serious statement of art a la joanna newsom, or a pop album ?

at times i find myself struggling with this duality, especially as i love the pop side, however, i can’t pretend, traditional folk music and ireallylovemusic have never really made friends.

so, when bishi hits her stride with tales of woe and doom amongst music that would fit on the soundtrack to 'the wickerman', i find it a strange double act to reconcile with the popsongs.
still, i would like to think that this is an album that will please a lot of people, especailly as it has been released in a time when each week brings an unwelcome glut of dreary indentikit indie pop bands, so it is great to hear something that is original, quirky, and rather unique with its use of tablas, sitars, accordians and traditional folk songs.

so, despite my shortsighted negativity, i suggest you give it a listen, you may be, and probably quite rightly, totally entralled.

more detail : http://www.bishi.co.uk/

faith is fear - various artists (dust science)

a follow up to the excellent "keep the faith" sampler compilation from those wonderful techno’d up folks at dust science recordings.

where the previous set of tunes was all about the mutant machine dancefloor beats, this time around the 14 tracks on order show the softer side to the labels workings. ok, there are a few four to the floor beats, as indicated on the recent 4 track 12? that preceded the complete set.

the mood is unsettled from the opening few seconds as anthony child sets up a tinnitus inducing stereo system test noise that permeates anything made out of brick and mortar, so even if you keep the volume down, the 7.5 minutes of strange noises and disconnected vocals will make sure you, or your neighbours don’t sleep for a few nights.
not an easy welcoming start to the proceedings, but thank fully, if you are patient, the rewards come thick and fast as you get deeper into the album.

the simple bleeps and bouncy beats of detroitrocketscience settles the nerves, putting the compilation back into a sort of ambient techno comfort zone, though the jittery sighs that are cut up indicate that maybe the folks behind this have a darker edge than on show.
the next few tracks are rather gorgeous in their twisted ambient way, and very special.

from the big synthetic noises of the awkwardly named onmutu mechanicks, to the beautiful piano and glitched beats of quantazelle, via the unusual philip glass-esque repetition of ipassenger that invokes all manner of harmony and calm, despite the stop-start nature of the melody. next up, dncn takes the real world gloops and disembowels the sonic structure to make for a rather wobbly few minutes during which you wonder if that visit to the toilet is more essential than it really is, however, when the 4/4 beat starts to come to the fore with that dark underlying acidic electro bass, then all is well with the world, making for a wonderful 7 minutes of digital experimentation, and feet moving action.

of course, no dust science compilation wouldn’t be complete without an appearance from the labels major league star, and the black dog, once again, do not disappoint with a far more urgent style of dogsquad action than you may expect. your speakers will shake under the pressure of the metallic beats, but this comes highly recommended. next up is the previous eps ace in the hole, wire tap, by the 65d mavericks, a beautiful slice of detroit styled techno, in which a sense of delicate remorse is never far from the neon lit surface.
and so the album goes on with more unknown names to those of us not embroiled in the scene, unpronounceable tracks and, all in all, some top level techno music.

stretching for 72 minutes, you really cannot fault the label and their current knack at finding folks who obviously share their passion for music made with electronic devices.

the music throughout these 14 tracks is pure but incredibly listenable techno and should the tables turn again, and techno comes to the fore once the minimal freaks decide to track down music with a little more meat on the bones, this sampler could turn out to be a perfect starter kit for those looking for something to satiate their needs.
so get ahead of the crowd, and hassle dust science to sort you out with a copy.

tracklisting :
1. anthony child - youknowiloveyou2
2. detroitrocketscience - babymaker
3. onmutu mechanicks - ancient rites
4. quantazelle - mental zilch king.
5. ipassenger - unborn
6. dncn - dust to dust
7. the black dog - floods v1
8. the 65d mavericks - wire tap
9. fabrice lig - access denied
10. betaville - surface tension
11. slit - alone and cutting
12. system 23 - firebomb
13. regis and female - c/chaos
14. carl taylor - scanner (auterform mix)