I love the culture of remixing at the moment, especially the specially curated remix albums from the likes of Radiohead with 'TKOL RMX'. I feel its very similar in style to the way classical composers composed 'studies' and variations on previous composers, making something completely original and just as masterful as the original. Jamie XX variation on Bloom titled 'Bloom (Jamie xx rework 3)' is a perfect example. This track is a negative of his previous version, and like film negatives, it has it own aesthetic beauty. Jamie XX has done it again.
Universitaet Mannheim does exam times before Christmas, this is why this post might seem a little bit premature. I love the course I do, but it doesn’t mean I dont need a little release from exam revision. So I've started making a little blues EP, currently going by the working title 'Something Blue and Something Borrowed'. Fear not, I won't subject you to that, remember I only put quality music on here...
What I do have is my sketchbook. I really hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I do.
The first notes on 'Terra Incognita' are crisper than any i've got out an ATM. They are physically trying to keep the rolling fuzz away; calm, collective, but still perspiring. Until eventually being enveloped by a wall of swirling vibrations. And with the fantastically self-conscious lyrics battling for the answer to what love has in store, it makes for a song that does the thinking for you.
It would seem that Carlsberg and Tuborg are not Copenhagen’s only intoxicating export. The Danish synth-pop quartet When Saints Go Machine are achieving growing notoriety, despite their incomprehensible name. Fortunately, their most recent album Konkylie (meaning: Conch shell) released back in June, is not at all misunderstood. With an abundance of seductive ‘shakes and shivers’, front man Nikolaj Manuel Vonsilds’s quivering vocals inject a compelling vulnerability to the set, complementing the haunting synths, in tracks such as Parix and Konkylie. Comparable to the likes of the ethereal Anthony Hegarty (Anthony and the Johnsons) Nikolaj maintains an irreplaceably constant performance throughout this crescendo of an album.
Avoiding the trap of the, occasionally, contrived ‘electro-pop’ genre, this album is certainly not accidental either. The tracks effortlessly flow into one and other, with Jets serving as a pivot between the low tempo introduction, and the final high energy conclusion of the ensemble. The album lifts your mood unconsciously, and before you even realise it, you are grabbing a bottle and preparing to dance disastrously with yourself. Admittedly, this album takes a second listen before it really registers, and it may be lacking in intensity against its contemporaries. But as any GCSE English student will tell you, the conch in Lord of the Flies serves as a vessel, permitting an individual to talk. This album is the conch, and in my opinion, it deserves to be sat up and listened to.
Words by Camilla James, Copenhagen Connection Correspondent.
Appearing as if by magic, like that stamp on your hand from last night. The only clue is a smudged insignia on your hand and the feedback recall nestled in your ear. What floats in the gap is a mixed bundle of light and sound strands. You put on Vondelpark: the strands seperate, vibrating in perfect harmony, creating a quantum landscape.
I had the wobble and bleeps of Venetian Snares as an earworm all night, like that pocket full of sand from your last holiday. The brief was simple: Big kicks, snares and splashes. Standout tracks for me:
1. I Put A Spell On You (Splatinum Remix) - Screamin' Jay Hawkins
2. Bug Powder Dust - Kruder Dorfmeister
3. 9 Dubs A Year - Roots Manuva
Unfortunately, we lost the original order, so shuffle will have to do for you!
Here you go, the beat that my heart skipped sounded like... This.
I have a unwritten rule, well I wrote it somewhere but I lost it, so I can't tell you what it is.. however, im pretty sure it would prevent me from posting this song. But, I think that sentence was convoluted enough, so i'll post it anyway.
'Welcome...' is an apt word for this album. Not only is it an introduction to the debut effort by Summer Camp, it's a welcome to the world that is 'Condale'. 'Welcome to Condale' is a musical soap-opera of love, lust and greed which puts you in the cast. "Better off without you", "I Want You" and "Nobody Knows You" are not only outstanding tracks, but they put you at the receiving end to the hate, love, and vindictiveness respectively. Importantly it does not isolate the people that say that the album format is dead. Summer Camp have sprinkled in some genuine pop hits. The beauty is in how well these tracks work as individual tracks, and as concept album.
