Song of the Day

Archive for the ‘World Music’ Category

This indie group came to my attention from a friend who makes a yearly music compilation mix. The content of the music video and the feel of the song remind me of Radiohead although I’m sure like any band, Kashmir would prefer to not be labeled as similar to another band. Kashmir has been around since the early 90′s, but probably haven’t been heard much in the United States music scene because they are from Denmark.

The guitar riffs in this song actually remind me the most of some Sonic Youth tracks, although their songs seems to be more accessible.

The music video for this song is definitely intriguing, but you’ll have to watch it completely through to the end to know why. Watch it twice and it will make total sense. You will end up watching the video in two different ways with at least two different stories. I think both of these stories are similar in a way. And both bear a strong resemblance to an animated video I saw for another Radiohead song Creep Acoustic produced with Adobe Flash. All three videos remind us of the evils of corporate culture and the need to change or abolish these institutions, and even in some cases give up our lives in a singular act to destroy large alienating corporations that destroy people’s lives. I’m getting away from the topic of music here, but then again, music is simply a form of artistic expression and a means for us to communicate messages that are sometimes lost or difficult to fully communicate through words. Sometimes, the emotional power of songs and the visual impact of videos and stories is the best way to get these messages across.

I don’t think corporations are necessarily evil by their nature, however, like anything, if it is allowed to satisfy all of its excessive wants and desires, just like anything, it can become a force of evil, just like a child that is not raised in a healthy environment can become a murderer or drug dealer. If you disagree with me, please take a look at the following website where you’ll find plenty of information defining the history and role of Corporations in our society and the negative impact these institutions have had on our society due to lack of restrictions and controls.

GlobalIssues.Org

Sorry to end this on a sad note, but obviously, I’m not the only one here that feels like there’s a message that needs to be communicated.

I just heard this today for the first time. And I actually heard it on the radio, in France, which I think is because Martin Solveig is French and is pretty popular there. So I don’t think his songs have hit the US music market so much yet. But I loved the song and the music video is hilarious, yet another tennis related music video, oops! Enjoy.

More songs by Andy Duguid:
Tiesto feat Nelly Furtado – Who wants to be alone (Andy Duguid remix)
Andy Duguid ft. Leah – Don’t Belong
Andy Duguid – Neremiah

Andy Duguid’s a German born Scott who produces and remixes electro trance dance club music. I got turned onto his stuff about 2 years ago when I started listening to a lot of Kaskade and DeadMau5. Although I had one track, It’s You It’s Me from Kaskade from 2004 that I really liked for a long time but never thought to investigate more of his stuff.

It’s interesting that on his Official Website Andy has a Tiesto music video. The thing about it is that he remixed the song, which might seem a bit like he’s borrowing credibility there, but in the electronic music biz that’s part of how you give props. And it was because Tiesto, and some other major DJ’s borrowed, remixed, and played Andy’s track Hypocrisy in clubs around the world that Andy was able to get the exposure he needed to get signed.

More links for Andy Duguid:
Official Website, MySpace, Facebook, Last.fm, and ResidentAdvisor.net.

Watch the full version of this song, with 4 extra minutes in the video below for Wasted by Andy Duguid featuring Leah.

One crazy thing I just noticed was that this blog is listed on the COINTERNET.CO/ website which is in charge of the launch of the “.CO” domain extension. All I did was submit the site like everyone else, but I think because the color scheme matched theirs so well and because I have a big image of a cute girl on the top of my page I think they thought mine was at least the most visually stimulating of all of the websites that have been submitted there yet. Cool!

More music videos by Trentemoller…
Miss You
Even Though You’re With Another Girl
Sycamore Feeling
Trentemoller Remix of Bruce Springsteen – State Trooper

Trentemoller falls into the “Electronic, Indie, Other” category of music. He’s from Denmark, and like many things from Northern Europe his music has a dark mysteriousness to it; see Bjork, Sigur Ros, Royksopp, jj, etc. Perhaps its the climate, or maybe their excellence in Education, and their overall progressive thought (see cultural and environmental policies of Northern European countries). Maybe having an ambiguous message or mysterious emotional depth to your music is what they think is the end of cool. Either way they produce some very interesting artists.

Trentemoller has several other notable songs that deserve a listen and has just released a new album Into the Great Wide Yonder.

Links for Trentemoller on his Official website, MySpace, Last.fm, and Facebook.

I’m not sure what to say here. This band doesn’t have a lot of info out on them. I thought this song was a nice carefree anthem for sunny Sundays and aimless road trips. I particularly enjoy the later half of the song after the percussion comes in. It’s not complex or super special in some way. I just wanted to post it. Enjoy.

This song didn’t have a video obviously and it looks like whoever posted it used their album cover. Looks like a lot of blood splattered and something supernatural is going on. Well if you think that’s interesting you have to check out the video for their song Let Go.
For more on this odd Swedish band check out their stuff on MySpace, Last.fm, Wikipedia, and Amazon.

Even though his music videos seem old, his first album Matinée came out in 2007, and his second album, Everything Is New was released in 2009 with this song. Another song of his you should check out is Tonight’s Today.

Read more on Jack Peñate at, his website, MySpace, and Last.fm.

 
Buy this song: Pull My Heart Away on iTunes

Unbeknownst to me until today, Miike Snow (pronounced “Mike Snow”) is from Sweden. He hit the scene in 2009 with his self titled album, although he officially made the band in 2007. His band was just 3 guys who wanted to make some music and then suddenly people started loving it. They’ve done a lot of remixes and have been remixed a lot in return. The band has been featured a lot in the UK and the US towards the end of 2009 and this year.

I strongly recommend also listening to their songs Animal, and my special favorite Cult Logic. I wish these guys would stop touring and start creating more music because they know what they’re doing and their stuff has that catchy energetic trip beat that I love.

I don’t know what’s up with the freaky rabbit with antlers branding that he’s using, but as long as they keep making good music everything’s cool.

Feed the brain with Miike Snow’s official website, on MySpace, Last.fm, and Pitchfork.

Buy Song: Black & Blue on iTunes
Buy Album: Miike Snow on iTunes

Gentleman is a Reggae artist out of Germany but is a Jamaican at heart. This song is off of his 5th album Another Intensity. He’s got 6 studio albums out now. His music regularly does well on the music charts in Europe, but mostly just in German speaking countries even though most of his music is in English, probably because he was using a German record label, but after changing to Universal this year it looks like his music is getting much more international exposure. His music tends to carry a spiritual message and makes references to “God”, although no specific religion seems to be mentioned.

It seems in this music video he’s saying that we should be careful not to lose ourselves or our relationships by becoming consumed in or alienated by technology; although I didn’t real the lyrics. There are tons of great reggae artists out there, I just happen to be posting his stuff today. I don’t listen to Reggae that much so I’m not too sure how well Gentleman is known among American reggae fans.

For more info on Gentleman check out these links.

Gentleman on MySpace, his official website, and on Last.fm

Buy Song: Serenity on iTunes
Buy Album: Another Intensity on iTunes

Buy Song: Nine on iTunes
Buy Album: Give Me a Wall on iTunes

So this is bittersweet. Just when I discover a cool experimental band and start to really dig their stuff, I learn in the same breath that they’ve since disbanded and joined new bands. So the sweet that, “Hey, here’s some cool new songs!”, the bad news is “Hey, what you like this band, well guess what my child, you’ll never get to see them in concert again!”. Ok, well maybe it’s more like bittersweet/sweet, which is like two parts sweet and one part bitter because you COULD still technically see the individual artists through the sounds of other bands, like the Minnaars which the lead singer joined as their producer and Duels which the guitarist joined. Minnaars has a feeling of desperate lyrics and experimental roughness akin to ¡Forward, Russia! but with a slightly more emo/electro/pop vibe.

I think I found ¡Forward, Russia! on Last.fm yesterday. I can’t remember though. Either way, they stuck out to me. Their songs are definitely a bit chaotic in structure but return to very well composed chorus or interlude homebase that gives me the impressions of something really musically successful. Maybe you’ll find your own diamonds in the rough. Here’s another music video of theirs that I think you’d appreciate for their song Nineteen. Although, I recognize the amateur characteristics of the content of the video for the song Nineteen, the song is still effective and the video enjoyable.

¡Forward, Russia!’s first album Give me a Wall has the track Nine on it, and their second and last album Life Processes has a more refined and smoother feel. Take a listen to some of the songs off that album, it’s easy to know which songs are from their 2nd ablum because they all have real names and aren’t just numbers. Here’s one of the called Breaking Standing.

Regarding this song, Nine by ¡Forward, Russia!, if you like the guitar riffs I’d recommend checking out the song Banquet by Bloc Party as I can hear a lot of similarities there. I don’t normally listen to music with raspy screaming vocals but I know there are tons of bands out there with similar sounds. Maybe you could help me out and identify some of those other bands for me since my head’s not recalling any.

Well, if for some reason you don’t like this song you should at least check out the other song of theirs, Nineteen, that I mentioned earlier. For some reason they named their tracks by the numbered order they were written in.

If you wanna learn more about this extinct band check them out on MySpace or on their “we’re an extinct band but we have an official website” website, FORWARDRUSSIA.com.

Share new music with your friends, like ice cream in a cone that melts so fast you couldn’t possibly lick it all by yourself before it drips on you so you have to employ the help of your friends and neighbors, but then some rude guy comes up and takes a huge bite of it and makes everybody else feel like they wish they had a solution for the plight of the commons until the ice cream truck man shows up offering free ice cream to everybody. Yeah, sharing this site is EXACTLY like that!

Buy Song: Hey You at iTunes

Here’s another European band for you. From France. I’ve got to thank my friend Marcio for introducing them to me. Thanks Marcio. I like this band. I particularly like their music video for this song. I recommend listening to another song of theirs called Walking on a Line.

Don’t expect them to be touring in the US soon, right now they are on tour, but just in eastern Europe.

Well, I don’t have too much to say about this band though, mostly cuz it’s late and I’ve gotta get off to bed, like the guy in this video. hahahahahahaha

But here’s their MySpace page.

And their Last.fm page.