I am by no means a music blogger, and this is by no means a entirely music blog. If you want the music I speak of, be creative, the internet is big. I am also not a music reviewer, I have no clue about minor key tonalities, or the broader cultural ramifications of the No Wave movement. This post (and I guess multiple to follow because my tastes change like the wind) is the music I happen to be enjoying at the time so, you too, can listen to the amazing music that I listen to. Be proud.
1. Akira Kosemura’s Grassland
This guy is pretty damn good. What he’s really known for is ambient piano playing, and there is a lot of that on this album, but he expands his sound into more classic electronic and pop areas on Grassland. If Four Tet and the Books had a lovechild, and that child made really chill music, you might get something resembling what Grassland sounds like. These are comforting songs, songs that feel like I’ve listened to them hundreds of times without them losing any of their poignancy or originality.
2. Das Racist’s Shut Up, Dude Mixtape
You know that commercial for Bing where people spew out random connections between words? Like “Florida, Florida oranges, orange juice, juicer…”? This album is like that, except put to the beat of mainstream rap. It’s sort of like art house rap, a random association of images in rapid succession, put together to create some kind of commentary on our society…Our it could just be really shitty. I can’t tell, and that’s why I like rap, because I never can. Nevertheless, I’m listening to it, and enjoying it; but it is most definitely an acquired taste.
Besides I’ve already heard this album reference both Anthony Bourdain, and Harold and Kumar 2, and you gotta love pop culture references.
UPDATE: here’s a link to free downloads of the album offered by the band http://dasracist.net/?p=87
-Kyle
