Dinah Washington - This Bitter Earth (Max Richter Mash)
Some songs just go perfect together - case in point ... Max Richter and Dinah Washington. This was my anthem in my darkest times last year - so beautiful and so haunting. I couldn't help but listen multiple times, usually in a drunken stupor and shed tears. This song has that power.
I've come out on the other side, but I lost my brother in December and playing this at his memorial just made everyone break down emotionally. Life is a journey, and it's not all roses ... if you can respect the sadness in the world, you can appreciate the good times. R.I.P. Daniel Paul Long!
It feels like a gift when you come across a track like this. Lupe Fiasco, Talib Kweli, Hus Kingpin, Rozewood and Forever M.C. all on the cut. I won't pretend to know that I've ever heard the last 3 guys. For what it's worth, they brought their A game.
If you are a regular, you know I pour my heart into this site. The things I share almost always have a deep and profound meaning to me in some way. I love documentaries and it's no secret that I love the ones that make you FEEL the most. Whether it's joy, heart-ache, hatred, loneliness - does it make you feel something? All great art does.
The Look of Silence makes me FEEL ... like no other documentary. Why? Because it's the simple story of a man confronting the killers of his brother. Those killings took place in 1965, but unfortunately, the power and the influence remains in the story of the killers, until now. Indonesia has always been a place of great struggle, whether against nature itself or other people. It's been a place of cannibalism ... recorded until the 1960's. One of the Rockefeller family members supposedly fell victim to it.
This movie is about moving on. We can't move on without dealing with the past. Like a bad relationship, it's about a closure. Make sure you watch it's predecessor too - The Act of Killing. Directed by the same person, at great risk to his safety - Joshua Oppenheimer. This movie also had a lot of risks for the main protagonist. It takes a strong will to ask those questions. It's also necessary.
Maybe not the first, but a powerhouse in the ecological music movement was Midnight Oil. The 80's / 90's was a different time for artists. It wasn't easy to make it as a successful artist to the mainstream expounding political agenda, in the 90's that would change and thanks in part to bands like Midnight Oil. The Australian quintet did not give a fuck.. Their mission was to try to preserve the Australian the wildlife through threats of the big guys - oil companies, mining companies, and neo-governmental aboriginal settlement agencies.
Midnight Oil started playing with that in mind and more. Their biggest hit - "Beds are Burning" literally played out the plight of Aboriginal Australians. With justice against them, they have literally overtaken with fire from the aggressors, the backward thinking policies. Blue Sky Mine is off their second album, also titled Blue Sky Mine. It is one of my favorites.
The Vietnam war era was a time of great turmoil and great truth. Many were using drugs and music to either escape or try to change the world. There were some great songs that came from that era including "I'd Love to Change the World" by British psychedelic rockers - Ten Years After.
The refrain is universal. "I'd love to change the world, but I don't know what to do ... so I'll leave it up to you." I know many of us have felt that way at times in our lives.
This was the bands highest charting single in 1971, and it was getting airplay on both AM and FM radio which was a rarity at that time.
This song has always held a special place in my heart. I'd like to think it was influenced by the Stone's - Satisfaction (Can't get no). Who knows? This is genuine raw punk rock. As a fan and a recovering alcoholic, I get it. The best songs come from the worst of times. That's what the great artists are known for.
If you know the band, lead singer Paul Westerberg had a lot of troubled demons going on. You see, Paul and the band had a problem with alcohol and playing live. They were notorious!
Take for instance their later performance on SNL. Not only did they get banned from performing in the show. All Warner Bros. artists were, in effect banned.
It started with bassist Bob Stinson who was mentally ill and had self-medicated through drinking. That night, the band started creating problems with the sound check. They were too loud and the studio turned them down. The band was essentially locked in for a few hours and Bob needed alcohol, to which it was smuggled in. The host - Harry Dean Stanton, knocked on the green room door and proceeded to get fucked up with the rest of the band. During the first performance, the Replacements were at their drunken best. At one point, Paul yelled at Bob, "come on fucker" to cue his solo. At the finish, Bob did a somersault, in which he ripped his pants baring his ass. Producer Lorne Michaels was fuming and this began the banning. They were allowed to finish the show, but they wouldn't play television for another 3 years.
There are lot's of other examples, the point is that the Replacements would never be satisfied and that's why their sentiment is still gold today!
Again, I get it. We drink and we play music because something is missing in our lives. We are unsatisfied!
Some people say Progressive is dead. Some say trance is dead. Punk, grunge, shoe-gaze, disco, blah blah blah! Does it matter? Categorizing music is a double-edged sword anyway! The best producers will defy genres anyway. Take for instance Joachim.
Joachim Pastor is a Paris based producer. He is great at what a lot of French producers are great at - the melody. Take Daft Punk, Justice, Modjo, Alan Braxe, Fred Falke, Surkin and DJ Falcon for example ... all great french dance music starts with a great melody. Here Joachim takes us to Iceland with his melodies.
Ross From Friends, is the pseudonym for British producer Felix Clary Weatherall. Recently, he was signed to Flying Lotus' label Brainfeeder.
The song “originally began life as a tune for this goofy hip-hop project that me and my pal Guy from back home always do when he’s in London,” Weatherall explains. “I’d be making the beat and he raps. It’s always a refreshing approach making tracks in that atmosphere because we’re both always on such a spontaneous tip. When I’m making music alone, I’m obsessive and everything takes hours, whereas with Guy, we’d try and get as many tracks finished as possible in like a few hours.”
This song is incredibly groovy and downtempo. If you don't know who John Cage is, look him up on Wikipedia. We can keep some air of mystery to this.
Felix has a new EP called Aphelion coming out next month. - No Boats
The 2008 Canadian documentary Carts of Darkness, is a story about those on the fringes of society. In North Vancouver, there are those homeless that collect cans and bottles in their shopping carts to sell for money. This enables the typical past time of drinking. Yet, there is another even more dangerous and possibly detrimental past time - shopping cart downhill. Basically, hauling ass downhill with only a shopping cart between you and some major road rash.
If you aren't familiar with the terrain, North Vancouver is jutted up next to a steep mountain. The downhill is very serious, and some of these racers have reached speeds up to 70 km/hr or 44 m/hr, with only their shoes as a break.
Some of them don't want to live by societies rules. Some of them can't. I believe it's a healthy point of view to see on occasion. They allow director Murray Siple into that world.
Carts of Darkness can be viewed in full on Youtube. Check it out embedded below.
Today's find comes from my buddy Weston. Guts is Paris DJ who got his start in 1990 with the creation of a band, the Alliance Ethnik. Guts music has always had hip hop and electronic sensiblities. He can skirt the line when it comes to the irreverent too. Dirty Otter is a straightforward throwback jam, synth heavy and nostalgiac.
Cosmo's Midnight - Get To Know (Official Video) ft. Winston Surfshirt
Not going to lie, today has been an exceptional day. Let's keep the ball rolling with some excellent tunage from Cosmo's Midnight. Cosmo's Midnight hail from Sydney, Australia and the Ozzies are twins. Cosmo and Patrick Liney have been making music for half a decade now. Like some other Ozzies, they are doing it right - must be something in the water there or all that sun. Get To Know features Winston Surfshirt on flow and is just a really good feelgood song.
I want to dedicate this song to someone special. You see I've had my own personal angel looking out for me as of late. I try to look out for her as well. We keep each other on the path through mutual respect, unconditional love and a healthy dose of humor. She's come across 444 and 4444 recently and asked me to look up the numerology meaning:
Repeating Angel Number 444 is an indication that you are being surrounded by angels who love and support you and their help is close at hand, always. When the number sequence 4444 appears repeatedly, it is an indication that you are surrounded by your angels.
Angels & Airways was started by former lead guitar and vocalist of Blink-182, Tom Delonge. Tom and band capture the sound of what I like to call epic space rock. It was introduced to me by my best friend in the universe since before skaters were posers - Nate "You need some salt" Wilson. Love you bro!
When the first thing on-screen is boobies you know this is going to be an interesting movie. I asked my best friend Nate for a movie that I should watch and review, he picked this - Thankskilling. So despite my pre-conceived notions, I watched it. I had to after all, for better or worse.
If you haven't figured it out by the title alone, this is a B-movie. The acting is bad, the jokes are horrible. There are lots of fart and shit jokes. Yet, somehow it's still entertaining.
A cursed killer turkey comes back after 500 years, just as 5 college kids are back at home for Thanksgiving break. He starts by killing a dog, then killing the parents of the main guy, then another secondary guy and girl after he has sex with her - while saying "You just got stuffed!". He then kills the other girl's dad, who is the sheriff and takes his face so that the group thinks he is the sheriff. They find a book on how to kill the turkey, but part of it is in code. I know, there's a lot that doesn't make sense. I won't say any more, as I don't want to spoil it.
Here are some good points. At 1 hour and 6 minutes, the movie is relatively short. The turkey has mannerisms similar to Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, though not as funny. The turkey will randomly produce a shotgun, which is really a rifle - ridiculous! This movie never pretends it isn't something it's not, which is kind of endearing.
Thankskilling was directed on Jordan Downey on a budget of $3,500 - money well spent. Luckily for us, there are sequels!
So, I had read that there's this new horror movie out that was so scary that people were not able to finish. It was a foreign movie, from Spain, dubbed in English and it was on Netflix. The title was Veronica.
I'm not easily scared, so I waited until the wee hours of the night and put it on. Veronica is the story of a young teenage girl, who is stuck taking care of her younger siblings - two girls and a boy, because her mother was always working and the father had died of unknown causes.
Vero (for short) decides that she wants to contact her dead father by using an Ouija board and decides to do the ritual during a solar eclipse with two of her classmates. During the ritual, something happens and Vero goes into a trance and passes out. Somehow, she had unleashed some demons from another place that weren't going away easily. Little does she suspect the horrors that await her and the family.
This film was great in my opinion. It doesn't have as many of the jump scares as Americans are used to from Hollywood horror films, but the sense of dread and camera angles make this a must-see film for horror fans.
It could be argued that the French do many things better - cheese, wine and of course music. This tune is proof. If dolphins had their own soundtrack, this would be it. Hungry Music label creator and talented producer N'to really broke the mold with this song. Petite was only the third track released on the label in 2014. It's become a classic.
Jan Blomqvist - Something Says (Live at WEEKEND Rooftop)
I wanted to share this incredible song and video. For those who don't know, Berlin-based Jan Blomqvist invented concert techno. He's played all over, including Robot Heart at Burning Man. This song is one of those early morning, dance your ass off bangers. It could be called clubsoul. This is the perfect turning point song for a deejay, midway through a set. Seeing it performed live makes it 10x better.
In an effort to keep this site relevant, I'm trying to post at least once a day again. Please let me know what types of music you'd love to see more of reviewed here by hitting us up on Twitter @barreldEM.
Today we have the first track off the upcoming album from Vancouver based Felix Cartel. He's joined up with REGN (Los Angeles) to create an infectious, bouncy house track that will have you heading for the dance floor.
This is a great sign that the new album will be full of quality music.
“Feeling excited and overwhelmed right now because i am proud to announce the first single off my forthcoming album comes out next friday. the song is called Runaway . i hope you enjoy xx” – Felix Cartal
If you aren't familiar with the terrain, North Vancouver is jutted up next to a steep mountain. The downhill is very serious, and some of these racers have reached speeds up to 70 km/hr or 44 m/hr, with only their shoes as a break.
. i hope you enjoy xx” – Felix Cartal
