If you’ve made it out to any of my recent shows, you’ll often notice Clark in the tracklistings. Ever since I opened for him atDecibel Festival‘s 2012 Warp Showcase, I’ve had his releases on constant rotation. If you were there, thank you! I heard very positive feedback from Machinedrum, Jimmy Edgar, Clark and the representatives from Warp Records. The vibes at that show were top-notch. Anyways, there’s so much diversity of sound and texture throughout Clark’s discography, and one release I want to focus on is Totems Flare. Describing his style is challenging; it’s dark, bizarre, meticulously crafted music that leaves me scratching my head in awe. Unexpected changes are a consistent characteristic of Clark’s music, with songs darting and mutating on a whim. The opening track for example, “Outside Plume”, bounces and morphs with ease. It also begins with this classic, Clark sounding synth melody that I absolutely love. Another gem on this release is “Look Into The Heart Now”, which seems to be one of his only happy-ish acid house tracks, complete with psychedelic, distorted vocals. “Rainbow Voodoo” is an unrelenting monster, sure to grab the attention of anyone within ear distance. I wouldn’t say this is Clark’s best release, but I keep coming back to it for inspiration.
One name that still stands tall in my book is Mr. Oizo. I’ve noticed a string of mediocre releases from very prominent artists in the dance community lately, many seem comfortably resting on their laurels. I may go into specifics in another post but I’ll just say that many people are being super boring. Mr. Oizo continues to be a terrific exception; a distinct artist who doesn’t give a fuck in all the best ways. His newest free gift entitled “Unreleased Unfinished Unpleasant” (available via his brilliant website oizo3000.com) is a collection of songs that didn’t end up on his recent releases. The personality of his music at times feels like a schizophrenic meth addict with a gameboy in one hand and a knife in the other. It’s hilarious to me that his unreleased music destroys so many artists attempts at making dance music today. He has a strange ability to make well-crafted, intricate music that can easily be written off as a joke, and I think he enjoys that paradox.
The other day I was on Twitter and read that M.I.A.’s book was released via Rizzoli. Complex magazine promoted the release with a feature titled “M.I.A.’s New Book Documents Her Greatest Work Of Art: Herself”. I couldn’t agree more with their title. The book begins with a forward by Steve Loveridge, documenting his first encounters with M.I.A. (full name Mathangi Maya Arulpragasam) in the film department, at London’s Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design. Loveridge lays out Mays’s early influences that sparked a sharp, distinctly creative style. Her chaotic, politically charged early years in Sri Lanka, and her love of rap and hip-hop meld to form a fiery perspective.
M.I.A. is my favorite artist next to Daft Punk. I remember a few years ago when I was living in suburban, Redmond, Washington. A friend showed me a video from M.I.A.. It was “Bird Flu”, and I was very confused. The video sounded and looked too alien to me, so I disregarded it. Shortly after I heard “$20”, from her second album Kala on a big sound system, and everything clicked. I was ready to take in her music. From then on I became absorbed in her work, constantly listening to Arular and Kala, buying up any magazine with her on the cover and searching for other typed/video interviews online. My quiet suburban upbringing was shaken by her third world mentality, in the first world art community.
The forward in the book documents M.I.A.’s debut art show, at a boutique fashion store called Euphoria. Maya had a part-time job there, and the shop assistant (Carri Mundane), would later become one of her creative collaborators for the Arular and Kala album campaigns. As someone whose searched out every possible article on M.I.A., I was hyped to learn some new background, tying her visual art background to her approach as a music artist. At this first art show, she showcased TV screen photographs of Tamil culture and Tamil Tiger propaganda, a video installation of animated stencils and stencil paintings on canvas and wood offcuts. This substantial work ethic was then translated onto the graphic designs for her first 3 records, label N.E.E.T. and Vickleekx mixtape. Brilliantly laid out pages showed all the artwork created for each of M.I.A.’s projects, with footnotes explaining their purpose.
I believe M.I.A.’s mindset is needed in today’s world, more than ever. With the first world, capitalistic framework crumbling, her fresh take on life and politics is something to take notice of. She seems ahead of the game in so many areas; envisioning a world where people win over money, truth wins over lies and the world town is supreme.
Switching gears completely from my last post, I’ve gotta’ share my memories of seeing Danny Brown live at Showbox Sodo on Sunday, October 21st, 2012. Right now, he’s a part of the Long Live A$ap tour, opening up for A$ap Rocky, the A$ap Mob and Schoolboy Q. If you’re interested in seeing these guys, their next stops are LA (10/26), San Diego (10/28), Las Vegas (10/29), and Phoenix (10/30) (Full tour dates listedhere) . Now back to the Seattle show, after standing in line for over an hour I was anxious to see Danny, who started off the night. I was wondering how much weed I’d be smelling during his set and sure enough, once “Witit” started, smoke was billowing up from the crowd.
His performance was striking, raising the crowd’s energy higher and higher and higher. Tracks like “Black Brad Pitt”, “Monopoly”, “Blunt After Blunt” and “Radio Song” were played to near perfection. I was thoroughly impressive by the quality of his voice, coming through as clear as when I bump his XXX album. Danny Brown’s level of musical maturity and experience was evident when he finished and the other acts took to the stage. No one matched the energy Brown exerted, and no one got the crowd as hyped as he did. I thought Schoolboy Q was alright, but thought in my head “this should’ve been Danny’s tour”. My comment was the same after seeing A$ap Rocky. The beats weren’t nearly as good, nor the raps, nor the stage presence. I just saw a very buzzed about artist with his mob playing some tracks. I don’t get it. Anyways, full support to Mr. Danny Brown, very inspiring. And thanks Danny, for retweeting that live picture I took of you. Best of luck with the rest of your shows bruh bruh, but you don’t need any luck..you are enlightened.
I’ve included his brand new video for “Witit”, along with the Noisey video documenting his trip and performance at The Gathering Of The Juggalos 2012. To learn more about Danny Brown, here’s a lengthy interview he did with Complex. As Danny has stated, this interview incorrectly names his new album “Danny Johnson”, it will instead be “ODB”.
As promised, I’m presenting this marvelousEPfrom Beth Ditto, released on Deconstruction. Simian Mobile Disco are flawless here; combining a slow disco aesthetic with haunting electro-pop rhythms. Ditto’s voice rests confidently at the center of these productions, speaking on relationships gone wild. This is solo effort for Beth, who spends most of her time as the head of The Gossip, an internationally adored, 3-piece dance-rock band from Olympia, Washington. I love that band, if you get the chance to see them live take full advantage and go. I remember their show at the Capitol Hill Block Party in Seattle a few years ago. They played the main stage and just nailed it. The band was tight and Beth commanded the audience to take notice and move. Her powerhouse voice is hard to come by these days, especially in the context of a dance heavy rock group. A highlight was when she beautifully covered Aaliyah’s “Are You That Somebody?”.
Beth embody’s an independent woman. Everything from her punk looks and style, to her lesbian orientation celebrates individuality. This is a modern day diva, going her own way.
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