Under The Influence - 2006

Messer für Frau Müller 'Triangle, Dot & Devil'

kevster — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:55:11 -0600

Messer fur Frau Muller (translates as 'Knife for Mrs. Muller' in German) originally started in 1991 in St.Petersburg, Russia. The current version, with the addition of Oleg Kostrow, takes its sound into unusual territory defining it as “post easy-listening,” drawing on samples from the 50’s and 60’s pop-culture, with addition of bass, guitars, synths and programming.

The influences on "Triangle, Dot & Devil" come from music styles as varied as surf, twist, mondo, lo-fi noise, experimental electronica, and even cartoons, children’s educational records, and sampled dialogue from Soviet cinema.

Have a listen to 'Agents and Spies'. You'll want to hear more, trust me...

Jim Noir 'Tower of Love'

kevster — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:21:07 -0600

On his debut album, Jim Noir (a homage to Vic Reeves' real name, Jim Moir), proves himself to be a first-class mix-and-match master, blending the cheesy drum machines and bubbling synths of indie electronic, the lo-fi guitars and adult-child vocals of indie pop, and the full-bodied and harmony-drenched arrangements of chamber pop into a swirling, soothing, and truly lovely Technicolor pop confection.

There is the pronounced influence of those renowned American nutters, the mid-'70s edition of the Beach Boys. There are comparisons to be made to the anything-goes spirit and sound of contemporary explorers like Super Furry Animals and the Beta Band.

There really isn't a weak song to be had, and the album flows past like a gentle stream winding its way through a summer meadow.

The lyrics are light and breezy throughout, especially the songs about stealing footballs ("Eanie Meany") or the lighthearted threats. They help to bolster the childlike sense of wonder that the album is bathed in. You will be hard-pressed to keep from walking around all day grinning like a fish once you give the album an airing. The featured cut 'Computer Song' is one of my favourites, just for it's harmonies. Give it a listen and you'll see what I mean.

Doctors should prescribe a spin of Tower of Love to chase the blues away.

Metallica 'Master of Puppets'

Event — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 07:31:22 -0600

First, Hi there! I'm Will. Longtime reader first time poster. I'm definitely not going to be able to compete with the likes of Aidan and the Kevster on the history of music and what inspired the particular artists they are writing about etc so I'm going to stick to a niche that hopefully some of you will appreciate and infrequently re-write the tag line for this site to "Mummy... it's hurting my ears".

Metallica's 'Master of Puppets' in fact needs no introduction suffice to say it's one of the greatest metal albums of all time. I was lucky enough to attend the 2006 Rock Am Ring festival in Germany when Metallica marked the 20th anniversary release of this legendary album and played, for the first time, every track, in full, one after the other. The instrumental track Orion, one of my all time favourites, had never before in their 25 year history been played live, in full, and it was one of the most memorable festival moments I've ever experienced.

The track I've attached is a live recording of that stunning virginal performance and begins with a short bass solo by Robert Trujillo, who replaced their former bassist Jason Newsted in February 2003. Incidentally and unfortunately Kirk Hammett's lead guitar wasn't working for the first part of his solo, so if you're not familiar with this track, don a pair of heavyweight headphones and seek out the original.

Rock on.

Fink 'Biscuits For Breakfast'

kevster — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:14:55 -0600

Wandering through the vault today, I decided to listen to a disc that Aidan had cut together. I'm so glad that I did, as the subject of this review needs special mention.

Prior to 'Biscuits For Breakfast', Fink was happily carving a path through the world of ambient trip-hop. 'Biscuits' sees Fink strike out in a new direction.

Built around his bluesy voice, finger-picking acoustic guitar and the stripped-back live rhythm section, there is a wonderfully intimate smokiness in Fink's approach to his songs. It's intimate, but utterly lacking in sentimentalism.

The featured track, "Pretty Little Thing," on which he plays the whole menagerie: bass, guitar (nylon strings, no less), and B-3 Hammond. The lyrics in this cut are not much to be sure, but as a first track Fink's looking to usher in the set's atmosphere, and as such it works beautifully.

Death Cab For Cutie - I Will Follow You Into The Dark

aidan — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 17:04:14 -0600

Firstly, I'd just like to say thanks to Kev for pushing me back into getting this site moving again and for his great contributions so far (and to the many yet to come).

Obviously, since I last posted on here over two years ago I've listened to a lot of great new music. On my travels there's one band that I've fallen in love with and come back to time and again.

It was Death Cab for Cutie's album "Narrow Stairs" that first caught my attention - notably "I Will Posses Your Heart" with Benjamin Gibbard's lush vocals sat atop an endless driving rhythm. The production is just so spacious, a sprinkling of piano dotted throughout. And his lyrics on the album - "she holds a smile, like someone would hold a crying child", brilliant.

I've decided to upload an entirely different track from an entirely different album. I Will Follow You Into The Dark is from the older "Plans". To be honest it's not really representative of their sound. In fact it was just an unplanned, almost accidental, recording during technical difficulty downtime at the studio. It's Death Cab at their sweetest.

Thom Yorke - The Eraser

aidan — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 14:41:46 -0600

It's so hard to classify anything these guys do. I love it, I really do. It's like they're able to strip the music back expose just the stuff that effects us. Then they rebuild with a layer of absurdity in place of traditional content. Those that don't try to understand are put of by this layer and those of us that do are left scratching our heads trying to figure out what it is that makes it so damn effective.

Music Midas Touch.

Bob Sinclar - Western Dream

aidan — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 13:53:03 -0600

Love, love, love, love, love... oh please make it stop. Listening to this with the boat healed over beating through the waves at 10kts and me in the galley trying to bake bread, bad idea.

The whole thing felt a bit amateurish to me. The lyrics were really the killer though - too much ecstasy makes you think you can heal the world tih love. Any lyric that wasn't about love seemed to be thrown in for the sake of creating a rhyme - despite how non-sensical the sentence became.

Obviously Love Generation is going to stand as a classic summer anthem. Just wish I hadn't heard it in the context of the rest of the album. Had it not been for the dough all over my hands I would have torn my headphones off.

Ellen Allien & Apparat - Orchestra of Bubbles

aidan — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 06:02:37 -0600

This certainly became one of my electro favourites of the (sailing) trip. I don't know the first thing about Apparat but of heard little bits and pieces of Allien before. I believe she's from Berlin. Turns out Apparat is a Berliner too. Oh, look at that, he owns Shitkatapult (the label T.Raumschmiere is on).

I'm glad this isn't like so much of the stuff you hear in the Berlin clubs (though I have come to appreciate that Berlin club sound a lot more in recent months). Really it has far to mellow of a vibe to make good club music. Bubbles is more about the shapes of the sounds than the beats. It really does sound like an Orchestra of Bubbles.

Mmmmmmm, Way Out is a silky little gem.

Lonski and Claßen

aidan — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 19:43:20 -0600

This sound is a hard one to throw a label on. I guess you can kind of think Whitest Boy Alive on shedloads of valium or maybe Sparklehorse on uppers. It's beautiful and oh so gentle. As are their videos.

I saw them play at the Goldmund Festival though I'm struggling to remember what they were playing... machines, guitars and drums I think. It would be stupid to point out that there are two of them in the group (it's late at night and my brain is going).

Listening to it again I simply can't pick a favorite but I Could is the most accessible track; hopefully that should serve to get everyone hooked.

Tolcha - Gestalt

aidan — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 01:19:41 -0600

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.