I love the atmospheric Huntsville hiphop of G-Side and Block Beataz. Even more so after hearing an hour-long documentary about the Huntsville scene on Swedish radio. It’s mostly in English with lots of interviews, so make sure to check it out (hit the “LYSSNA”-link at bottom of post to listen, it’s available until April 14).
I especially found the explanation of how the city’s space industry has influenced the sound fascinating:
»Space science and hiphop absolutely go together in Huntsville. It’s actually what Huntsville hiphop is. Everyday we ride down the Interstate, and we look at the big Saturn 5 rocket. That’s the space. It’s about Huntsville, it’s about a movement, it’s a sound, it’s a whole village of people trying to get across our struggle.«
As someone who has a high chance of appreciating idealised dreams of space as well as great hiphop, I naturally love this.
Who could guess an accidental simultaneous playback of Istanbul field recordings and Nick Cave’s soundtrack for “The Road” would lead to the creation of an ambient track? One rainy night, it just happened. Read more
I’ve never been keen on 8-bit music as I hold the somewhat conservative view that 8-bit music was at its best when it was contemporary. The wizards of limited C64 and Amiga software took their trade to perfection back then and I somewhat feel it’s needless to revisit times past. Read more
I came across this brilliant video of a guy improvising with bass over the drones of the vuvuzelas, nowadays known to (and feared by) billions of soccer fans. I’m not one to judge skill since I can’t handle any instrument, but I do love the Squarepusheresque feeling in this little clip.
Except for Peter Gabriel’s “Birdy”, I can’t remember writing anything about film scores during my years as a music journalist. Well, I probably mentioned something about Tindersticks‘ soundtrack to “Nénette et Boni” and maybe Explosions In The Sky’s ditto for “Friday Night Lights”, but never the “regular” score. Hearing the soundtrack for Electronic Art’s “Mirror’s Edge” in a clothing store, I realize why. Read more
I usually argue that we’re waiting for a reaction in popular culture, that American Idol and the ongoing overdose of chewing gum pop will lead to people’s eventually being fed up and starting to dig deeper. I like to predict a slow-food movement within music that leads to noisy ambient and endless drones reach outside the inner circle of enthusiasts. I think Pan-American just disproved me. Read more
Chris Keating of Yeasayer says that Greek composer Vangelis was one of the influences for the group’s new album “Odd Blood”. Does he know what he is getting himself into by admitting that? Read more
Our digital tools for creating music and art becomes more and more advanced, and with that falls an important responsibility on the creator: He or she has to make the process as difficult as possible. When the tools are sophisticated enough, lack of innovation on the user side leads to conformist results. And what fun is left in pop culture then? Read more
