Tycho :: Black Sunrise - Sunrise DJ Set at Burning Man 2014

Tycho - Black Sunrise

There was a lot of media coverage on Burning Man this year ... more than I have ever seen in years past. One story that got a lot of coverage was the Skrillex and Diplo set at Burning Heart and the rumor that they got booed off when Diplo dropped "Turn Down for What". Whether it was true or not, one other artist played an amazing set there - which was recorded for those of us unlucky enough not to attend.

Ghostly recording artist Tycho played a sunrise set for Disco Space Shuttle on Friday, August 29, 2014. Tycho included a pretty eclectic selection including some classics like the drum n' bass track Photek - Pharoah (a gem I had on vinyl once), which was played right before sunrise. I can only imagine how incredible it was to be there. The total result is pure magic!



Track Listing:
>> SET BEGINS - APPROX 5:40AM
Slag Boom Van Loon - Poppy Seed (Boards Of Canada Remix)
Boards of Canada - Olson
Clark - Tooth Moves
Manitoba - Dundas, Ontario
Atoms For Peace - Dropped
Tycho - Dye
Photek - Pharoah
>> SUNRISE - APPROX 6:20AM
Ulrich Schnauss - In All The Wrong Places
Tycho - Awake
Bibio - À tout à l'heure
Airbird and Napoleon - In The Zone
Tycho - Awake (Com Truise Remix)
Psychemagik - Cosmic Forest
Cos-Ber-Zam - Ne Noya (Daphni Mix)
Leon Vynehall - Time
Leon Vynehall - Be Brave, Clench Fists
Fort Romeau - Jetée
Dauwd - Lydia
Mirror People - Kaleidoscope (Psychemagik Remix)
Mano Le Tough - Primative People (Tale Of Us Remix)
16 Bit Lolitas - Deep Space Girls (DAVI Remix)
Dauwd - Heat Division
Tycho - L
Lancaster – Beachy Thing
Panama - Destroyer
>> EMBRACE SCULPTURE BURN BEGINS
White Denim - A Place to Start
Washed Out - Amor Fati
Little Dragon - Little Man (Tycho Remix)
Moths - Heart
White Denim - Street Joy

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FILMS THAT MATTER :: The Signal

The Signal

I've been mainly writing about music at Barrel~dEM, or movies related to music, but I feel compelled to write about another movie tonight. That movie is The Signal. This movie, directed, and co-written by relative novice William Eubank is not his first attempt at directing, but might be his most ambitious to date. Without giving too much away, the movie is not what it seems and the inclusion of Laurence Fishburne as government agent Damon, might be a clue.

The movie begins with Nic (Brenton Thwaites), his girlfriend - Haley (Olivia Cooke), and Jonah (Beau Knapp) are heading west to drop off Haley at her school. Nic has had an accident that has left him with not much ability to use his legs and he gets around with crutches. He and Jonah, who are hackers from MIT, have been tracing a signal from another hacker - NOMAD, who initially infiltrated their servers as well as others at MIT. NOMAD has been showing his skills by tracking and sharing the fact that he knows every move and even sends pictures along the way ... which makes Nic and Jonah determined to track him down. They detour their trip to head to a remote address, which they have traced via IP Address to investigate. While exploring an empty house, they hear Haley, who had remained in the car, screaming. When they go out to investigate, they look for Haley by flashlight finally seeing that it appears that she is lifted into the air. After a few seconds, the are also abducted as the screen goes white.

Nic awakens in some sort of medical facility dressed in a hospital gown. The facility is manned by men in full space suits. Nic is brought before Damon, who explains that he is there for quarantine and recovery after being abducted by an EBE (extraterrestrial biological entity). Nic is now in a wheelchair and after he finds Haley - he quickly makes plans to escape. After one attempt, he is locked in a room with Haley only to discover that his legs have been replaced with some sort of robotic technology. Now that he can walk, his second attempt to leave the facility is successful - it's almost if they don't want to stop him. Above ground, the two find themselves in a surreal desert setting. Could they be at Area 51? I don't want to reveal anymore for fear of giving away spoilers.

The film marks an ambitious effort, for the director, in an effort to raise the bar for a new standard of sci-fi movies. It had moments of some of the great iconic scenes from such movies as the classic anime - Akira to District 9. If you are a fan of the genre, check it out.

No Boats

CHET FAKER::Your seduction soundtrack

Chet Faker

CHET FAKER is shoving Rhye and Sade out of the way for me and making music to thrill to over here.

Serving Suggestion: gluttony.

Serves: as much as you can handle.

Instructions: Put in on and in your headphones, text them and ask them over for dinner, go shopping for gorgeous food and get something silly while you're at it. Cook. Turn off the cooker. Open the door. Pick up the panties and eat the cold dinner in the morning.

He made us all want it, no doubt, with his EP, 'Thinking in Textures' a few years ago.

And now he's released an incredible full length album.The first single made saxophones the new hipster apt must have


And the follow up's video is too way hot to keep to myself...


Check out the full length album here.
seriouslysexystuff

FLUME - REMIXING CHET FAKER (GOLD)

Ok - I've been a bit absent. To make up for it, I'm taking you to Disneyland! And for your packing soundtrack, here's Flume's ridiculously sexy remix of the nothing's-hotter-than Chet Faker. Warning: it's a 4min30sec tease. Get a towel.


seriousstuff

YUJEN (feat. CHET FAKER) - Try it Over

I wish I had this to listen to last night to still my hyper mind and let me sleep before 5 am. Better late than never, it got me out of bed just past noon to share it with you

seriousstuff

MUSIC FILMS THAT BANG :: Frank

Frank

Frank is a movie about music, about popularity and about a young man who was an outsider being recognized for his musical talents and asked to join a band of outsiders. He quickly learns that sometimes - the dysfunction that pushes people apart ... might also be the very thing they have in common.



Frank was written by journalist and filmmaker - Jon Ronson, who based the story in part on his real experience in a band. Jon (Domhnall Gleeson) happens upon members of the band "Soronprfbs" at the point they are losing their keyboard player. He mentions that he plays keyboard and is asked by the manager (Scott McNairy) if he can play certain chords. When the response is yes, he is asked to join them at that night's gig. He shows up to a bizarre scene onstage, as band members Clara (Maggie Gyllenhaal), Nana (Carla Azar), Baraque (François Civil) are playing to a nearly empty room. After a few seconds, the band's frontman Frank (Michael Fassbender) comes on stage wearing an oversized papier-mâché head which remains on indefinitely. The band plays improvisationally, for a few minutes then Clara, who is clearly the Alpha of the group lunges into a tyrade, knocking over her instruments and the show is over.

Jon doesn't hear back from the group for a few weeks before he is invited back by Frank to what he believes is another gig, but actually turns into a few months in a remote part of Ireland to record the band's newest album. During this time, Jon learns more about each member and develops in his own growth as a musician even though he is often denigrated by Clara, Nana and Baraque. Frank says that he sees potential in Jon's song writing. Jon also maintains a social media presence online through Twitter and Youtube of the oddities during the sessions. As they finally come together to record the perfect album - Jon is feeling like he might be an accepted member of the band. I'll leave you at this before the opening of Act 2. What plays out is not exactly what we are hoping for going in but what makes sense in the end.

The actors did an excellent job of portraying such avant-garde musicians and the music is genuinely good - in my opinion ... even if quite left-field. I was reminded of such acts as Daft Punk wearing their helmets and Dan Deacon with his sound and composition.

The film will make you smile and possibly inspire to create music or whatever medium your art form takes.

No Boats

Serfs - Marijuana Mom + Exclusive Interview

Serfs

Not long ago, I came across a band from Charlotte, NC on Youtube. It was the band Serfs and their video and single Marijuana Mom. I couldn't just watch the video once - it actually turned into at least a dozen rewinds the first time. The video itself - superfresh and full of color, nakedness and energy ... the song - a juggernaut of that same energy, an incessant guitar riff and lead singer Phil Pucci's raucous vocals make this one a winner.

I had to find out more about Serfs so I reached out to them and lined up an interview:

Who is in the band / who plays what / and how did you come together as a band?

 I'm Phil and I play guitar and sing. Nicholas Holman plays drums, Patrick Doherty plays bass and David Scanlon plays guitar. Nicholas has been travelling in Southeast Asia this year and Alex Ruiz has been filling in. He also plays drums in It Looks Sad and Couches. 

When I listen to your music, I hear influences from Foo Fighters to Sonic Youth to My Bloody Valentine; in my mind .... who are some bands that have inspired you? 

All four of us are definitely influenced by Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine. We'd probably be quicker to cite Sonic Youth though. Sonic Youth are one of those classic bands that we all agree on. I love My Bloody Valentine to death but I feel like if I tell people we sound like them, we are pigeonholing ourselves and they will expect something very specific. And then they might see us and get upset that we're not shoegaze as fuck, riding our tremolos on every chord or whatever. Another band from the shoegaze genre that I think we identify with more are Swirlies.They have such great guitar tones and their sound is so expansive.

What is your definition of success as a band?

I think about it the same way I think about my own success as an individual in society. It's likely I'll never find financial success -- certainly not from playing music. There are bands on hot indie labels, selling out theaters and living well below the poverty line. So I'd prefer to think of success as being happy with what I'm doing. If I could make a living playing music, that would be good enough for me

How supportive is the local scene in Charlotte?

Charlotte is very supportive of us. We have a nice, growing music community. I've been playing in bands for twelve years but it wasn't until I started Serfs a few years ago that I felt like I was truly part of the scene. I have the honor of calling some of my favorite musicians my friends. My only gripe about the music scene is that I wish more people would start bands. I go to shows at least two or three times a week and I can't get enough of them.

You once played as an Interpol cover band - what other bands would you like to cover?  

We did that for an annual Halloween show at The Milestone here in town last year. This year I think we are going to cover Joy Division, which I guess is an obvious natural regression for us. We used to talk about covering bands a lot but this year we've been so focused on writing our first full-length that we haven't thought too much about it. I want to cover Blondie at a show sometime.

How has the music business changed since you started playing music? 

I started playing music in 2000 when I was 14. I think that was around the peak of Napster's popularity, before it was shut down and changed over to a legit subscription service. So when I was in high school, I bought CDs AND downloaded music illegally. Those are the pivotal years in a person's life, too, so I was soaking in music any way I could get it. It was fun. After high school, it was 2004 and downloading music illegally became so incredibly easy that I was just putting all my music on an iPod. I missed owning physical copies of music for so many reasons. And I kept hearing about a new record store in town called Lunchbox that sold mostly vinyl. So I got on a vinyl kick that never really ended. Nowadays I use Spotify to find new music and buy records that I really like. I'm 100% legit now, so get off my back, feds.

Let's talk about Marijuana Mom for a bit. I've watched the video at least 3 dozen times and I can't quite make out all the lyrics, which I actually like - but I imagine the song is about a hot milf who comes to the club with the best weed. The potency of the pot along with her hotness makes her the object of affection for everyone there - male and female ... or something along those lines. Am I close at all? 

Hahaha, that is pretty funny. I think I will tell people that whenever they ask about the song from now on. 

The video looks like it was a lot of fun to make. I'm guessing these are all friends of the band? And the ending reminds me of a skate video I saw once.

The video was very fun to make. We basically hung out and drank beer and had a good time. I heard our songs more times than I would have ever cared to. During most of the shots where we are dancing around or crowd surfing, we weren't listening to Marijuana Mom, we were listening to random rap songs. Three people in particular came together to make the video happen - Blake Raynor, who shot, directed and edited the video, Christine Rebich, who did a lot of fashion design for the shoot, and Nicholas Holman, our drummer, who rallied to get all our friends there to participate. I think the video captures the spirit of the song really well.

Anything else you want to add?

The only thing I can think to add is that we are currently crowd funding our debut LP via indiegogo: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/serfs-make-an-album 

Thanks so much for taking the time to interview me and feature Serfs on your awesome site.

-------------------------------------------------

Here is some more great music from Serfs:

http://serfs.bandcamp.com/

and be sure to follow them on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/SerfsUSA

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INCEPTION :: Hans Zimmer - Time remixes

Hans Zimmer - Time & Remixes

Lately, I've been a little obsessed, with sleep, dreams, a movie, and a song. I have been hearing this song everywhere it seems too. In other movies, during a football game, and at work. The song is Hans Zimmer's Time. To truly put it into context, watch the last bit of the movie.



I made a CD for my sister's birthday with the best remixes of  Hans Zimmer's Time and I wanted to share with all of you.





















Sometimes, the best version is the live version:


... and when you still can't get enough. I often fall asleep to this and have some wicked good lucid dreams:

dREAM bOATS