Hey all. I'm probably not going to be purchasing any new records this weekend, so I thought I'd devote this installment of the blog to discussing and showcasing a few bands that I discovered and fell in love with the last couple of years. These are bands that I find myself constantly referencing to people, but they seem to have never heard of them.

BUT FIRST I will mention that I have been spending a lot of time scourging the AWESOME electronic music blog Missing Toof for new tunes I'm gonna load up into the iPod and make up some of my own mixtapes and take some mad notes. It's a great resource for downloading free remixes, album tracks, and my favorite: full DJ sets and mixtapes! If'n your interested in a good dance mix, here are some that i highly reommend. i've downloaded and listened to about 15 or so of these sets so far (though i have another 4 or so that i haven't had a chance to bump yet) and these are the highlights so far.

NOTE: these mixes are continuous and presented as single tracks. So all you have to do is push play once and let the dancing begin

TRONIK YOUTH exclusive NLLR mix (58:28 - 6mb)

Tracklist:
Intro
The Whip - Trash (Let's Go To War Remix)
The Teenagers - Love No (TEPR Remix)
The Count & Sinden - Beeper (Fake Blood Remix)
Azzido Da Bass - Dooms Night (Azzido Da Bass Remix)
Fred Falke - Sanctuary
Crookers - Knobbers
AutoKratz - Pardon Garcon
Alex Gopher - Aurora
Muscles - Sweaty (Shazam Remix)
Infadels - Can't Get Enough (TEPR Remix)
Unknown - In The Club (Headman Remix)
Headman - Catch Me If You Can (Tronik Youth Remix
DOWNLOAD mp3 file:TRONIK YOUTH MIX

RICHIE PANIC's "An Amazing Lifelike Companion Mix (35:54 - 49mb)

Tracklist
Hot Chip - Ready For The Floor (Panics Tidy Re-edit)
Trevor Lovey & Sinden - Organ Grinder
Alter Ego - Why not?
K.I.M. - Wet 'N Wild (Riot In Belgium Remix)
The Rapture - The Sound (Ben Rymers Back to 95 Remix)
The Presets - My People (Panics Cut and Run DIM Re-edit)
Black Daniel - Gimme What You Got (Alex Metric Remix)
DJ Laz and Pitbull - Move, Shake, Drop
Mark Ronson - Valerie (Count Of Monte Cristo & Sinden Remix)
Azzido Da Bass - Dooms Night (Laidback Luke Bootleg)
Daft Punk - Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (Deadmau5 Edit)
Junkie XL - More More (Kraak & Smaak Get Stupid Remix)
Das Pop - Fool For Love (Yuksek Remix)
Midnight Juggernauts - Road To Recovery (Curses! Remix)
Bonus Track
DOWNLOAD mp3 file: RICHIE PANIC MIX

OCELOT "In The Mix" NLLR exclusive mix (about 96:00 - 132.9 mb)

tracklisting:
01 - Manhattan Research, Inc. - Hostess Twinkies
02 - Ocelot - Lo Sforzo (Night Facilities Remix)
03 - Ocelot - Lo Sforzo (L.A. Riots Remix)
04 - Chromeo - Tenderoni (Etienne De Crecy Remix)
05 - Classixx - Cold Act Ill
06 - Ali Love - Secret Sunday Lover (Tom Neville Remix)
07 - Boys Noize - & Down
08 - Larry Tee feat. Princess Superstar - Licky (Herve Goes Low Remix)
09 - Scenario Rock - Skitzo Dancer (TV Rock & Dirty South Remix)
10 - Supadelics - Take A Look Inside (Miles Dyson Peaktime Dub)
11 - Frederico Franchi - Cream
12 - Yelle - A Cause Des Garcons (Riot In Belgium Mix)
13 - Daft Punk - Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (Deadmau5 edit)
14 - Justice - D.A.N.C.E. (MSTRKRFT Remix)
15 - Daft Punk - Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (Accapella)
16 - Run DMC - My Adidas (Pilotpriest Remix)
17 - Whitney Houston - I'm Every Woman (VNDLSM Remix)
18 - Stardust - Music Sounds Better With You (Accapella)
19 - Ocelot - Our Time (Calvertron Remix)
20 - Ocelot - Our Time
21 - Trevor Loveys & Sinden - Organ Grinder
22 - Ocelot - Untitled
23 - Mark Knight - Drug Music (Will Bailey Remix)
24 - Dragonette - Competition (Ocelot remix)
25 - Sono - A New Cage (Digitalism Remix)
26 - Ocelot - Clarke's House
27 - Razorlight - America (Ocelot Bootleg Remix)
28 - Toxic Avenger - Escape (L.A. Riots Remix)
29 - Calvertron - Like Dis
30 - Wekan - Skid (Touche Remix)
31 - CJ Bolland - Sugar Is Sweeter (Twocker Remix)
32 - Duke Dumont - Final Level
33 - D.I.M. - Is You (JFK Remix)
34 - Tommie Sunshine - Dance Among The Ruins (Toxic Avenger Remix)
35 - David Guetta - Love Is Gone (Fred Rister & Joachim Garraud Remix)
36 - Chemical Brothers - Superstar DJ (Calvertron Remix)
37 - Bird Peterson - Twurk Central
38 - Bee Gees - Staying Alive (Teddy Bears Remix)
39 - Manhattan Research, Inc. - Auto-Lite Wheels
DOWNLOAD mp3 file: Ocelot - In The Mix

...and NOW onto the meat and potatoes of this post...

BANDS YOU MAY NOT OF HEARD OF BUT YOU PROBABLY SHOULD

JESU

Jesu is the brainchild of Justin Broadrick, who played guitar foir some time for the seminal grindcore band Napalm Death and is known mostly for his industrial metal band Godflesh. Admittedly, I have yet to familiarize myself with Godflesh, though i've heard talk of them for many years now.

I first became aware of Jesu after hearing the band open up the compilation record "Solid PR Presents Vol. 1: A Benefit for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society,"

The comp also introduced me to HELLA, THE UNICORNS, and I AM THE WORLD TRADE CENTER

The very first track on the album was "Tired of Me" by Jesu, and immediately I was blown away. You can hear a bit of the studio version of the 9+ minute track on this pretty cool montage someone posted on Youtube

as well as the whole track as performed live at Amoeba last year (though the quality of the vocals in this recording are fairly shitty)


There was something about the sound that immediately struck me. The guitars are immensely low and fuzzed out, deifnately reminiscent of grindcore and doom, but the rythms of the drums are intensely slow and the voals melodic, almost to the point of uplifting. I had to hear more, and found the self-titled full length soon thereafter


Happily, the album delivers on a whole and "Tired of Me" was NOT a fluke. This record slows like a dream, and works best in the dark, with one's eyes closed. Most of the songs are 7-9 minutes long rely much more on the musicality than on the lyrics/vocals. Another stand-out track for me is "We All Falter" (video is from a live show in San Francsico April 6, 2007)


To my amazement, Jesu has not taken much of a break between subsquent released and has conitnually unleashed a barrage of new records. Very shortly after my discovery of the self-titled album, the "Silver" e.p. was released.

It's only 4 songs long, but they're long and dream-like, as before, but now adding more layers and melodic touches to them. Here is the title track of that record:


Then, in 2007, ANOTHER full-length, titled "Conqueror" was released in February

Title track (live at The Bottleneck - Lawrence, KS 10/30/07):


and ANOTHER e.p. came in October - "Lifeline"


There's not a lot I can verbally go on and on about this band...it's certainly a case where the music speaks for itself. Although there are no trmendous changes in style from release to release, there is a definitive progression in the use of layers, experimentation of electronic and acoustic instrumentaion, use of musical collaborators, and melodic undertones. I cannot recommend this band enough.

THE KNIFE

The Knife is an electronic-based group, but I would not call them a dance group by any strech of the imagination. Though their songs are are marked by solid back beats and high-pitched melodic synth hooks, they also utlilize often strange song structures, hauting soundscapes, and the rather unique sounding vocals of Karin Dreijer Andersson, who sounds at the same time comforting and unsettling.

Karin was first introduced to the US (well, at least to me) by providing vocals to the 2005 ROYKSOPP single, "What Else Is There," along with a pretty incredible video:


In 2006 The Knife's third full-lenght record, "Silent Shout" was released, and I'm assuming because of the popularity of the previous year's Royksopp single, they were brought wirth much fanfare to the US and made huge fans out of a lot of us.


This album was fairly unlike a lot of things I had heard prior. On one hand, there are dancable beats throughout the album, but on the other there are dark, protruding soundscapes and beyond Karin's already strange vocals and almost outright bizarre lyrics that paint somehwat disturbing images, a myriad of vocal manipulations and sounds that can have strange effects. BUT, for how dark and penetrating as the sounds are, the songs still have a quality about them that makes them very listeanble.

Some videos of stand-out tracks from the album:

"Silent Shout"


"We Share Our Mother's Health"


AND while not official, a pretty damn good effort at a fan video for my favorite song off the album, "Forest Families,"


After my discovery and instantaneous love affair with "Silent Shout," I went out and found The Knife's previously relased full-length, 2003's "Deep Cuts"


Right off the bat, I can say that this album is too long at 20 tracks and is peppered with a lot of strange throwaway tracks. BUT, there are also a lot of amazing tracks on it that make the full package pretty outstanding.

"Deep Cuts" overall is decidely less dark than 'Shout,' delivering more of a super-charged synth-pop sound. The lyrics are also less confusingly abstract (yet often still weird) and tend to veer towards being strange love songs. Several videos were released for the album, here are some highlights:

"Pass this On"


"You Take My Breath Away"


And I don't think this is an official video, but another GREAT track, "Girl's Night Out"


If any of this strikes your interest, I urge you to check out the entire albums.

Until next time, PEACE

-Andrew