Under The Influence

The moment I arrived back in London after my travels I asked my friend, Will, to give me a big musical dose of the new and interesting. This was the second album on the stereo. Now I'm hooked. Currently sitting on the train back from Bristol trying to jam as much of this stuff into my head as possible before the Dan Deacon gig at The End tomorrow night. I can't wait, looks like damn good geeky fun.

Synths running arpeggios, fat basslines, catchy hooks all bashed together in wonderfully cohesive poly-rhythms. And let's not forget the sing-a-longs for the whole family (which seem to be the basis for the live gigs).

I guess, to most it's just noise (though I'm not going to presume to know what's going through the head's of the masses). Wham City has it all covered (12 minutes long, you gotta let it build). If you ain't got it by the end of that pearler, well, I guess you never will.

I overlooked the release of this album a couple of months ago (I was at sea at the time) and I've been feeling like I missed out on something special. Never mind though, relief comes in the form of Burial overdose. Back in June when I was completely blown away by his eponymous debut LP I had no idea that his second album was so near, nor that it would be met with such widespread acclaim; it's even taken the prize for album of 2007 on metacritics list!

There's plenty of stuff out there on the ol' inteweb saying the same thing, it sounds like South London in the dark; it sounds like a post-rave come-down; it sounds like the remnants of the dance culture that we've almost lost. But there's something else that nobody seems to have picked up on, Archangel is ambient pop gold. Those cut to shed vocals just couldn't get any more appetizing.

One gripe. Why isn't this stuff being nominated for the Mercury Prize? I mean, I fail to see the difference between what's happening here and what Roni Size was doing in the 90s. Maybe there's a slight conflict of interest going on these days?

Short, precise, punchy, hard rocking pop gems. I'm having trouble accepting that this is from the mid-90s. Well, not really but it's definitely aging well (sounds like it's knowingly trying to sound a bit old... if you know what I mean).

You don't have to look much further than Th15 L1ttl3 P199y to get a good idea of how powerful the hooks right alongside a demonstration of their more experimental ambient sound. Pop over to the next track, 5trun9, if you'd like a closer examination of the experimental work on here; reminds me of Fear Factory in a way.

Honestly, there are so many damn clever addictive little hooks on here I really don't know where to start. Helpfully, the whole thing is so concise you just start at the beginning. Once it has started you can't turn it off until it's over.

Not that it has anything to do with anything but all of the song titles are written in a semi 133t style. W1ck3d!

Mmmmm... beautiful americana. Listening to the final track, I Dream A Highway, and even after 14 minutes I wish it wouldn't end.

It's always hard to tell with these mp3s but it sounds to me like this was originally recorded properly (to tape). The production was actually done by Dave Rawlings (her husband) who can be heard arguing with Ryan Adams about Morrissey singles at the start of Heartbreaker.

Just noticed that I already have a few Gillian Welch tracks in my collection. There are a couple of tracks on O Brother Where Art Thou (including one with Emmylou Harris) and Scala do a cover of New Favorite on It All Leads To This.

Not sure how I've never noticed her work before. It really is very nice.

Another Berlin outfit - though I think the vocalists are from all over the place. Fell in love with their sound after hearing their Fight Club mix on a trip to Berlin.

The vocalists are great. RQM features again on this album (as he does on the last Tolcha masterpiece) which I couldn't be happier about - he pulls out such interesting lyrics.

I believe this is a digital only release (it's on emusic) - making a point of sticking it to the record labels. I also read somewhere that they're planning to do several small releases of the work they're doing at the moment instead of a single long album.

I actually tried to see these cats several times when I was in Berlin one weekend but my efforts were continually thwarted. Who the hell holds a party at 7 in the morning?

Hoje, eu vou embora para Londres (Today, I'm leaving for London). While flicking through the latest selections on emusic (new Burial, new Efterklang, etc) something dawned on me - I'm desperate to hear music from the West again.

That's not to say that the music in Brazil isn't great - but it's really not what I'm used to. It's kindof to do with the culture - and it extends into the arts generally. You see, people here are very expressive; exagerated movements; hand-signals; and they make a song and dance about everything. Sit down and watch Brazilian TV and you'll see what I mean. For us it comes across as very fake, with all traces of subtlety removed.

Unfortunately all this has a place to play in the music too. The main manifestation is with the fake sounds. Even in recordings with a lot of commercial backing you'll find a Technics keyboard used to create the brass sounds. It kills me, it really does. Some of this stuff could absolutely kick ass - but instead I can't even show it to my friends back home.

Anyhoo, there's a lot of music here and I managed to find plenty of other stuff that's really enjoyable. Oh, check out the cover art for one of the country's top bands to get an idea of what I'm talking about...

Before I moved to the UK one of my most trusted music geek friends insisted that the Unabombers were the DJs that were kicking the crap out of everyone else. Somehow, after almost 4 years, I've still not managed to see them (they're based in Manchester and being a dirty Londoner I don't get out much).

This album is their first attempt at translating their famous party sound into original material. It's certainly got the party vibe happening. The opening track, Get Up, went straight into my record bag - anything that kicks off with a massive drum roll building up to the funky horns is bound to get the party started.

Some bits of it come across as sounding rather like Basement Jaxx - though it's definitely more disco. There are a few stand out tracks - the little sing-along number, Classic Cliche, being my pick of the moment.

Would love to go to a club night with this lot - I think this work is probably a good indication of how much fun would be had by all.

Stumbled upon this little gem whilst pillaging Tolcha related material from emusic. It features Dallas (from Fat Freddy's Drop), one of my favourite vocalists. There are 3 versions on the album (um yeah, it's a single.... duh!), the original, Soulphiction mix and Tolcha mix. To be honest I've barely stopped to give anything other than the Tolcha remix a chance - I'm all about the Berlin grime.

As usual Dallas delivers a beautiful performance, and coupled with Tolcha's dark and dirty remix skills you get something quite special. A crescendo of broken beats and pulsing bass. I've been listening to it far too loud for altogether too many days now.

Would love to witness a Tolcha / Dallas jam session. In fact, I'd love to see Dallas jamming with lots of European musicians. A match made in heaven.

Really loving this at the moment. Very dark - being grime that makes perfect sense. A lot of it is quite ambient, though the album builds as a whole to several massive peaks - complemented by exquisite vocal work. RQM, who also features on the new Al-Haca work, seems to be the main contributor though several different vocalists make an appearance. The turning point for me is after the line "I'm a rapper but one of the broke ones" in Tomchak.

It's worth stopping a moment to take in the lyrics. In typical Berlin style it feels quite grass-level socially political, if you catch my drift. It gets serious in Blckrcrd when there's talk of killing billionaires.

Reminds me a lot of Burial. That's a good thing. Wonderfully cohesive work.

When I first moved to the UK I thought I'd get to see various DJs blow me away with what they could do live. Imagine my disappointment on discovering (on the 2nd day in town) that for most of them it's a façade. DJs that were meant to be the greatest mash-up artists in the world turned out to be little more than slightly experimental electro/breaks DJs.

Now, I'd heard The Nextmen's work on various Grand Central offerings over the years but it was a chance meeting in 2005 that refuelled my interest in what they were doing. I have no idea how many Nextmen gigs I've been to since then. They tend to lean more towards soul/funk/hip-hop/reggae/dnb but really nothing is off limits - tunes to make you dance seems to be the only criteria. This album, or any of their mixtapes for that matter, are great showcases of what they do live.

I love the Nextmen. Hands down the most fun live DJs I've ever seen.