Playlist 040208

I’m still finding out what this blog is for. My intention is to blog original music and keep records of my DJing gigs. However, strife at the the Fly is hampering my DJing exploits and I keep accidentally writing music for We’ll Write. Which is cool, obviously, but the idea of Tincanphone is to record more basic, noisy things, mostly for my own amusement.

In the meantime, I’m going to blog about music I’m listening to, because I enjoy that sort of thing, and I’m doing fuck all else.

Today, I have been seduced by new hipster NME-cool-list-fodder Foals. Let’s be honest, here. If you see the song title Tron (Is a Great Film) of course you’re going to want to check it, regardless of your wariness for anything bearing the NME Stamp Of Utter Cuntwittery. Fortunately, it’s as good as its title. Kinetic, slightly clever guitar-and-keys pop is so dangerously fashionable right now, and I’m sure there’s a wanky “post-” genre tag on it, but I’m getting too old to let preconceptions stand in the way of my enjoyment of quality tunes.

Likewise, MGMT are so overblogged already I wonder if my even mentioning them is redundant. However, Electric Feel is some funky shit, and almost certainly 2008’s D.A.N.C.E. Check it.

Finally, Subtle are a genuine phenomenon and one band I’d recommend to every living soul (except for the Tom). Unlikely Rock Shock is the first track to emerge from the forthcoming Exiting ARM, and it makes every inch of my brain very happy.

 iMeem playlist

(mp3s are for sampling purposes. if you are the copyright owner of a file, and would like it removed, simply email me)

Upsetters.

Totally bonkers. And brilliant.

Vanishing of the Bees.

Beepocalypse is a brilliant word, coined by my internet friend Michael. It’s a great way to describe the potential ecological disaster of Colony Collapse Disorder. The Vanishing of the Bees is an independent documentary currently in production, and it looks fantastic. Keeping an eye on that.

World 1-1.

(Originally posted on my personal blog, 27/06/07)

Koji Kondo deserves recognition as a legendary electronic composer, up there with Brian Eno and Delia Derbyshire. His music is instantly recognisable to anyone born in the late seventies/early eighties. Certainly everyone recognises this piece of music?

Linkspost Two.

Alchemists of Sound. Excellent documentary on the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. (WMV, not hosted by me, but the only link for this I can get.)
Stand Still. Stand Steady. Stand Clear.
Production Music from Ren & Stimpy. “109 vintage instrumental tracks”.
February Album Writing Month.
Jonathan Coulton: Thing a Week feed.

I hope to have some work-in-progress mp3s up on here over the next couple of days.

Linkspost One

The Conet Project – recordings of numbers stations.
The 4am 9: Poptometry
Justice Fabriclive mix
ABRAXAS

And finally, Mute have put up the promo clip for A&E by Goldfrapp. I love it, and wanted to post it before, but they’ve been overzealous about pulling it until they’ve got their “official” post up.

Digital optimism.

Trent Reznor says interesting things, for once.

• in a world where the majority of record sales still happen in the physical space, correct me if I’m wrong here, but didn’t this release manage to convert the majority of Saul’s fan base to a digital sales model? that’s extraordinary, no?
• so only 18.3% paid… two things here: 1) there was a large write-up in the New York Times which surely contributed to many out-of-curiousity downloaders, therefore skewing the numbers greatly but even ignoring this one in five paid!; 2) the 81.7% who didn’t are hopefully providing some value by spreading the word through last.fm, imeem, facebook, ilike and other music networking sites.
• you’ve grown a decent base to support touring, merchandising and all the secondary (collectively becoming primary) revenue streams available to a musician.
• the other interesting fact – people are choosing quality downloads. this challenges the notion that music is not valued any more, that music consumers (for lack of a better word) believe it’s throwaway and disposable. that’s a positive, a huge piece of learning in my opinion.

I really appreciate Mr Reznor’s enthusiasm to discuss and dissect this information. I find Radiohead’s tight-lippedness a little frustrating. This information is critical to people who hope to make a living in the music industry, and important to consumers who need a better understanding of the options available to them.

Also, I like his optimism. I’d have expected his response in the form of a mediocre, quasi-industrial dirge called One In Five or something equally insipid and NIN-y.

Analogue.

Retrospective.

Five years ago, I answered an ad in the NME and ended up recording some demos with a young woman named Lucy Castro. She had some songs written and a couple of demos, but was looking for a different approach and some new ideas. We worked on a few things, recorded a bit, and eventually went our separate ways. I’m not sure what she’s doing now. She might be in coldharbourstores. It sounds like Lucy, but it’s hard to tell from years not seeing her if that’s her in the photo.

Anyway, here’s one of her songs that we worked on. It’s a copy of a copy, so poor quality (and my technical skills anyway were then even worse than they are now), and the arrangement is incredibly fussy; there’s far too much going on in the background, totally distracting from the vocals. But there are some good ideas there, so I like to find these things to kickstart new ideas in the future.

Let Me Loose (Tincanphone 2003) – Lucy Castro

From about the same period, two instrumental pieces. I can date the first back to September 2003, but I can’t recall writing it for the life of me. The second I worked on around January 2004. I’m pretty pleased with both of them. Both pieces predate We’ll Write by some months, and are the last things I wrote before teaming up with the Tom. I’m keen to recreate and revamp them, or at the very least cannibalise them for future use.

Untitled One

Untitled Two

We Are All Pan’s People.

Essential listening: We Are All Pan’s People by The Focus Group.

Sort of a mad cocophony of psychedelic nostalgia, the sound of homegrown BBC sci-fi and fantasy scores filtered through someone elses memories and dreams. The sounds and melodies are fleeting, but gnaw at the ears and brain long since they’ve passed, demanded to be heard again. Definitely one for fans of the Radiophonic Workshop, The Wicker Man and anything issued on Trunk Records.