Posts Tagged ‘Downbeat’

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Friday, September 11th, 2009

“The wills and the wonts the does and the donts” – James Curd - my morning listening today.

Sneaks in under the hood and works on my brainwaves with his strange sounds. Not that strange actually – but just not ordinary.

Lovely downbeat track to start the day – in a smooth but energetic way.

Nice very straight beat and a funny bass line is what makes this track what it is. His voice fits perfectly with this music for the slow ones.

Then there is the Enzo  Ponzio remix, that takes the oddness out a little further. Its still not VERY odd – odd in a normal way.. hehe. Is that possible? I guess here it is.

The timing of the words reminds of the first hip hop stuff from the est coast “Dont push me cause Im close to … the… edge” was it Grandmaster Flash? I think so. Nice timing – works all the time…. when it works. Confused? What I mean is, this kind of old school hi hop timing is almost archetypical, so if you dont use it the right way it will stick out and bite you in the nose..

Next track on this little James Curd trip is called “Back off move away”.

The timing is still very nice and thisn track is a little bit more busy – with a very active electronic arpegiator bass line. The production is very minimal – very tight and well defined roles that all sits well together. This track is not so chilled as the other tracks, but still nice. Funny Phil Collins like drum breaks and a nice little synt line that stops JUST before it gets annoying – so thats how its supposed to be.

I will trow myself out into this new day now – loaded with some new fresh old sounds.

Some strange track is waiting for my reptile brain to work on it in the most mysterious ways.

<a href=”http://www.ganga.dk”>Ganga – Downbeat / Chill Out Music</a>

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Biosphere is in my ear

Saturday, September 5th, 2009

Sorry about the wording – couldnt help it.

I just purchased the Biosphere album “Dropsonde” and I am listening to the track called “Birds fly by flapping their wings” .

Some nice breaks riding along in this track. Some repetitive synt stuff and a kind of spooky pad is also there and makes it al sound very snowy white and nordic – melancholic but in a happy way, if that makes any sense.

Next track on the cd is “Warmed by the drift” – the same atmosphere (or Biosphere maybe) is present here, but a little more dark maybe. Synt drones evolving and some random small noises creeing into the mix here and there. Its still repetitive and reminds me a bit of Murcof – the mexican electronica wizard. Not much going on in this track and thats great. It all warms up a bit in the end where he introduces some synt bass sounds and small pizzicato like figures – gives it a new more human feel at the end. Its actually just the transition to the next track – he tied them together.

In the next track “In triple time”,  he is ofcourse in tripletime as the title says, and we are back at the breaks again, exept last time the rhytmic flow was in 7th (means 7/4 or 7/8) – well doesnt mean so much to a non musician maybe, but its a bit no so obvious to compose in this time signature – in this genre anyway. Peolpe has a tendency to stick with 4/4 – how little adventorous that may sound.

This track is in triple time and a little dark also – fast and with a very old school synt sound and still very repetitive. Very melancholic.

The track “From a solid to a liquid” is almost ambient in the old way – like Brian Enos “Apollo” f.ex. – very little movement and sporadic synt lines and a background drone noise thing that prevails the whole track – like planets turning or something – a very beautiful track. Perfect for a nap on the couch after a hard days work.

On ”Arafura” he breaks op the structure with “broken cd”  loops. STill very repetitive but moving in its own crooked way. Sounds like broken equipment somehow – nicely done.

In “Fall in fall out” there is a jazzy feeling and even some vinyl noise  – love this one. Could put anyone to sleep in under ten minutes. Lovely track.

All in all a great album for home listening, falling asleep, staring out into space on a rainy day.

<a href=”http://www.ganga.dk”>Ganga – Downbeat / Chill Out Music</a>

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DJ Krush is old news ofcourse

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009

but never the less GOOD old news.
And as with most other good music,  it doesnt matter so much how old we are – I mean – the tracks are.
In this case the tracks are 8 years old.
So they just started school I guess. Lets see how they look when they look at the retirement age – are we still listening to them, or do we think they are out of style and place them on a shelve.
I think not, these are all great track from the downtempo maestro DJ Krush.
Its hip hop, but with so much other stuff added to the production, so it could have fooled your ears here and there.
Listening to “Danger of Love” – great voice – Zap Mama I think provides these chilled vocals. They really have a nice edge to them – the Horace Andy quality.
This must be a downtempo classic if there ever was one. Really smooth and mellow grroves and nice voices and instruments – some ethnic sounding stuff as well. And vibes – playable vibes that is – starts out the whole thing with the flute track “Song 1″ (Cant imagine it took so long for an artist to finally have the guts to release a song with a name like that). Nice ethnic flute and breaks that fits perfectly.
Some hypnotic synt or lower vibes get your mind confused and it all ends up in a beautiful corner of your mind – blocking your view of all the small parts its put together from- like it should be.
Okay, moving down the track line, here is a bit of humor in “Duckchase” – with a strange duck sound continuing throughout the track – I can see where the name came from, but its more funny than good in my opinion. Nice production though – really cool rhytmic flow – ….hmm. okay, I give up… its actually also a very cool track with some fantastic scratching – sound slike scratching anyway – sscratching a … yes scratching a duck ofcourse. Christmas tune maybe (danish christmas ritual)
Here is the list of personnel on the cd:
DJ Krush, Black Thought, Zap Mama, Tunde Ayanyemi, PhonosycographDISK, Company Flow, Kazufumi Kodama, N’Dea Davenport, Boss The MC, Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson, Kukoo Da Baga Bonez, Sunja Lee.
I can recommend this journey – its a nice one, with just enough of surprises to keep you interested – even if you are not into hip hop, you can definitely chill on the couch to this one, or take a little slow dance on the coffee table.

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Chill out on the westcoast – with Om Records

Friday, August 28th, 2009

There is something about this music from the westcoast – of the US. Waves rooling and everything is soft and easy.
Listening to J. Boogie, “Deep in the cut” – beautiful downtempo track. With a funny cut up vocal and a nice sounding sitar – and the slow hip hop beat just making the heartbeat of the song – cruising with the modal baseline – really simple percussion and a funky flute – handclaps – deep in the cut – deep in the cut. Funky and indian at the same time.

Really warm sounding track that can go on forever without noone ever noticing how long it has been playing – it sucks you in. Like the waves of the pacific – rolling on the shores – calming the upset – cooling the hot.
Now I am on a new track – “Try Me” they call it – nice downbeat, funky and chilled and with a nice male talking voice and a – not too souly – female vocal.
The flute is still here, and its a bit like Barry White also was in that studio that day.
Sitar also still there, giving the whole thing the ethnic touch.
Soft trumpets – very laid back feeling in this music.
I can highly recommend it “J. Boogies Dubtronic Science” – its from 2003 I think – out on Om records in San Francisco. J. Boogies Dubtronic Science Home of Kaskade, Mark Farin and King Kooba.

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“The adventures of ghosthorse and stillborn”

Wednesday, August 5th, 2009

In the dream I was a warewolf…..

thats how Coco Rosie starts off side two on their album named “The adventures of ghosthorse and stillborn”.  

Nice lyrics, although I must admit some of them fly over my head. Just cant hear all the words she is singing/saying. Doesnt matter though, there is a very nice ring to her voice, that make up for the lack of recogniceable words.

Maybe all the rationalists of this world will disagree, but there is so much to be learned from nonsense -  linguistic nonsense that is. Words that doesnt make normal sentences and sentences that doesnt have an obvious meaning. This is poetry. Or could be.

So I dont mind so much when there is a word or two missing there – makes it so much more interesting to listen to, when not everything is cut out for you. Either you can look at it as a challenge  – to make (a new) sense of the words, or you can just lean back and taste the words as they hit you – just let them hit you. Dont analyse their meaning in the context – listen to them as they themselves were music and forget all you learned about logic and language.

There is a logic beyond language – and this is where you learn stuff you didnt know you needed to know -  when you switch off the analyzing part of your brain.

How you are gonna do it is your own problem – I would say the people who knows best about these things are probably peolpe that meditates a lot, or regularly go beyond the intellect via some practice or special technique.

But I would say that it is possible for everybody to enter a non intellectual state where you can experience some  new territory, by just closing your eyes, listen and watch the movie. Sex would be one way of getting to a place similar to that.

The first track on the b side of Coco Rosies album definitely is a good way to start.

Close your eyes – you are on your way. 

There is definitely a big Bjork inspiration in many of the tracks on this album. The same fascination of the “little girly voice”, that I think Bjork must have – or has. Its very intimate  and combined with the lyrics, it has a great effect – whether or not you are analyzing the words and meanings.

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NEW ALBUM OUT TODAY – “MORE LIGHT PLEASE”

Saturday, August 1st, 2009
Ganga - "More Light Please" (Flinc Music 2009)

Ganga - "More Light Please" (Flinc Music 2009)

Get the new chill out downbeat album from Ganga.

Available in all major and minor stores. Chilled  scandinavian electronic beats with

a cool acoustic vibe and featuring interesting instrumentalists and singers.

Among them eighties diva Vanessa Daou, Helle Chirholm, Flamenco guitarist Steen Kyed

and gipsy violinist Niels Skovmand.

ITUNES

BEATPORT

AMAZON

<a href=”http://www.ganga.dk”>Ganga – Downbeat / Chill Out Music</a>

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Laurie Andersson and Lou Reed

Monday, July 27th, 2009

I witnessed something very special the other day in the big new concert hall in Copenhagen – “Koncerthuset”.

Two giants from each their side of the musical spectrum so to say, joined forces and delivered a very special coctail of Laurie Andersson eighties performance art and old school rocker Lou Reed with the many many fabulous albums behind him.

Together they performed what must be considered mostly her show.

The setup was far from what you would expect from Lou Reed. No drums, just Laurie Andersson on keys, vocoder, recitation, singing and violin. And Lou Reed on guitar and some handheld fx.

There was also a guy on electronica and keys, but it was hard to see his hardware – he had a synt and some fx and his function was like a mediator between the two others. It worked very well I thought. Most of it anyway.

I love Laurie Anderssons lyrics, or recitations, and her voice is crystal clear and you can hear every word of her political wordings. Very good. Her singing was also really amazing, and quite unusual to hear almost ethnic frasings in a concert like this these days.

Lou Reed also delivered some of his songs, and they did some Velvet Underground together as well.

The concept with those two together works very well, and also with the guy on electronica. Except when he played beats – which he luckyli only did twice – that didnt work out so well.

But it was an inspiring evening, and it made me think of performance and the different roles people has when they perform.

In this setup it was clear, that Laurie Andersson and Lou Reed are so big peronalities, that that in itself saves whatever flaws there could be in the setup. This is not always the case for smaller setups and especially often not for laptop setups. Hmm…once again I must redefine my live setup. It is often so boring to look at one person bend over a screen.

<a href=”http://www.ganga.dk”>Ganga – Downbeat / Chill Out Music</a>

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New Ganga album out aug. 1st -”More Light Please”

Friday, July 10th, 2009

IbizaI know that I am repeating myself. That must be an age sign, but now its for real. The new album is to be released on the 1st of august.
It will be available in all major stores, Beatport, Emusic, Itunes, Amazon,24/7 and so on.
I have decided to go only digital on this release.
I am releasing it on my own label – Flinc Music – and decided 2009 is a good year for going only digital.
The crisis is everywhere and the peolpe with the money to invest in projects like mine – labels and banks – sit tight on the money, and CDs are more of a promotion tool anyway.
If they are interested – the labels – they wont spend on promotion, and then I will rather keep it for myself – and my friends – hehe.
I am not saying I will not ever release a hardcopy of this album, but right now is the right time for not doing it I think.
I am happy about the album, which has been underway for some time – some of the tracks are nearly two years old.
One track – “When I CLose My Eyes” – with Cecilie Acklon on vocals – was actually left out when I made the last album. But I like the track so much, that I decided to ut it on this album.

Later this year, there will be a remix album with remixes of this track. By – amongst others – Razoof, Valentin Huedo and Haranaki.
Old time collaborators Steen Kyed and Helle Chirholm and violinist Niels Skovmand are also playing and contributing on this album.
Along with special guest and eigthies diva Vanssa Daou. Its a remix I did of one of the songs from her latest album. “Heart of Wax” is the name of the song and her latest album is called “Joe sent me”. Highly recommendable – I LOVE her voice.
The album is good mixture of electronic and acoustics, maybe this time with more overweight on the electronic sound.
Helle Chirholm – whom I have discovered many believe sounds like Horace Andy (espicially on the track “All I Want” – are performing the nice and cut up vocals on “Uran” – a funny track and one of my favourites. The lyrics are … well… out there and the meaning of them is hidden even from Helle herself I think. Many homemade words and weird weird frasings – just how I like it.
Kick the door in on logic and rationality – we have plenty of that around occupying too much space in my opinion.
I hope you will enjoy it.
I cant post the cover now, but when the function allows me to again, I will do it.
Ganga – Downbeat / Chill Out Music

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Space and sound – chill out in orbit?

Thursday, July 2nd, 2009

I met this guy the other day who lives on a boat nearby where I live in Copenhagen.
He tells me this story about a project where they want to send a rocket into orbit with the sole purpose of recording three dimensional sound. He was going to be in the rocket himself
That in itself is a challenge, but to do it in space seems like… well a bigger challenge.
I mean sound exists only because of the particles in the air that make up the sound waves. One particle pushing the other and so forth. How is that gonna happen in space when there are nearly no particles. You can set up the microphone ofcourse and hope that you, your spaceshipor the microphone will get hit by a meteor or some of those small really fast moving objects that are actually a danger for the spaceship and the astronauts when they are hanging outside the rocket.
I recall the scene from Space odyssey 2000 where the astronauts are outside the space ship and one of them in the end has to let go and float into open space. The film uses a lot of Strauss music, but this scene is completely silent, and that is exactely how I imagine space – silent. Silent and scary and outerworldly beautiful – like falling in love.
Falling in love in space – with space.
I can recommend it – or – I would very much love to be able to recommend it that is.
Ganga – Downbeat / Chill Out Music

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In space there are one particle for each cubic meter – tuff challenge for chill out music

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

I met this guy the other day who lives on a boat nearby where I live in Copenhagen.
He told me about a project where they want to send a rocket into orbit with the sole purpose of recording three dimensional sound. He was going to be in the rocket himself
That in itself is a challenge, but to do it in space seems like… well a bigger challenge.
I mean sound exists only because of the particles in the air that make up the sound waves. One particle pushing the other and so forth. How is that gonna happen in space when there are nearly no particles. You can set up the microphone ofcourse and hope that you, your spaceshipor the microphone will get hit by a meteor or some of those small really fast moving objects that are actually a danger for the spaceship and the astronauts when they are hanging outside the rocket.
I recall the scene from Space odyssey 2000 where the astronauts are outside the ship and one of them in the end has to let go and float into open space. The film uses a lot of Strauss music, but this scene is completely silent, and that is exactely how I imagine space – silent. Silent and scary and outerworldly beautiful – like falling in love.
Falling in love in space – with space.
I can recommend it – or – I would love to be able to recommend it that is.
Ganga – Downbeat / Chill Out Music

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