PhiLOLZophy

                The internet can be an echo chamber. You might decide to write, you might not. Writing on the internet you hear your own words fly back into your ears. Beginning with a blogspot you wonder if anyone is even paying attention. I know there’s a reason why so many blogs last one to two months. Not receiving any feedback is discouraging. While I’m doing fine now starting this blog hurt, seeing hours go by without a single hit or hint of interest. 

                PhiLOLZophy answered my questions traveling far off into cyberspace. All that time I thought I was alone. I wasn’t alone. They were there to offer me support for my writing during my time of need. Having spoken with PhiLOLZophy they are my closest friends I’ve never met in real life. When I was feeling blue, they cheered me up. You know my Tumblr? Beach Sloth wouldn’t be on Tumblr if it wasn’t for this enterprising, encouraging duo. 

                I remember when we met. Hipster Runoff had some piece about Allie Teilz (a sweet person by the way). People left comments. Arguments began. Words flew angrily through the internet. Someone offered up a link to defuse the argument. PhiLOLZophy came to the rescue to end the madness. This anonymous person directed everyone to an article on their Tumblr about how to become the next HRO girl. We relaxed. My heart rate increased since I knew at that point PhiLOLZophy and I would become a sacred thing: blog buddies. Becoming a blog buddy is akin to being declared someone’s Godmother/Godfather: it is a sign of respect. 

                We went on Gchat. No one else had ever Gchat with me before. Gchat is the first step towards becoming a more approachable blogger. Slowly but surely they lead me down a path of greater online relevance. Blog friends became Gchat friends became Twitter friends. I grew into caring about Twitter. Each one of us tweeted at the other. PhiLOLZophy brightens my days. I’m glad to call them my closest blog buddies. 

                No longer did “Philosophy” come up when I typed “Phil” for their site emerged instantly. I learned about Philosophy, broken down into bite sized pieces for a slow-moving sloth to understand. Sloths generally are known to be philosophical as we don’t move or accomplish much. We hang upside down in trees, sleep, and contemplate our existence. 

                Other blogs formed PhiLOLZophy’s universe. The Tangential works as a ‘young sister’ blog to their blog. Even within PhiLOLZophy they are a dynamic duo working tirelessly to bring us enlightenment and LOLZ. I’m not good with Philosophy. Having a duo that break things down to the barest components helps me understand this great, fast-moving human-dominated world. Now I know much of what I think about on a day-to-day basis has relevance, importance, and authenticity.

                Honestly, it is hard to find a blogging buddy. PhiLOLZophy is like the sister I already had. They help me grow, they’ve helped me reach out and become a better online presence. When things were dark they were the light. I enjoy how they bounce ideas off each other. It is rare to come across a blogging duo especially one that functions so well. Someday I hope to find my special someone, someone who can help me edit my pieces and give me new ideas. 

                Since I first discovered them on Tumblr, they’ve moved on to their own website. They write in the local papers in Minneapolis, a place that thrives exclusively off their creativity and the politeness of Midwesterners. I want to join them, to create my own website, but I’m scared.

                Unfortunately I won’t be able to join the LOLZ dolls when they attend the Pitchfork music festival in July. Sadly I’ll be busy getting myself prepared for a very big event. I wish them the best. In case you see them, buy drinks and talk to them about Dubstep. They are wonderful people.

Beirut released a New Single Today

                Zach Condon released a single today called “East Harlem”. This is important. Beirut has been on a slippery slope downward for quite some time. You can only rely on your rabid, almost serial killer-esque fan base to listen to the same two albums and handful of EPs for so long. At some point you need to simply ‘bring it’. 

                I think Zach finally understands the importance of building up hype. With the “East Harlem” release he satisfies countless dedicated fans. Apparently the single was first written by Zach at the tender age of 17. Zach may be leaning too hard on his earlier, more prolific years.  Personally, I don’t think that. Sometimes it takes playing a song or group of songs a lot before you realize how good it is. Often songs require a bit of tweaking. For “East Harlem” perhaps Zach needed to actually see East Harlem before he could get the sound right. 

                Bands go through practicing songs over and over again in a live setting to get them right. Radiohead took this approach with most of the material on “In Rainbows”. Zach knows “East Harlem” and “Goshen” has been bootlegged to near-death, near-irrelevance. Releasing both of these songs in an official format means he ‘gets it’ and understands a market exists. So many years have passed since he released anything new anyway. Now he wants to show he is serious about getting an album out in time for summer. A hope of his is to be taken seriously. By actually doing what he states would be a big step in this direction.

                Unfortunately neither of these songs has any noticeable Brazilian influence. You see Beirut has a huge following in Brazil. Brazil first saw him in the mini-series “Capitu” which won him the following of an entire nation in 2009. The ensuing buzz has created a whole cottage industry of bands hoping to be just like Beirut, playing similar music and instruments. I think this shows a prime example of the ‘exporting of buzz’. Like with Dubstep, Beirut’s unique brand of Balkan Folk takes a few years to really get to other audiences. Dubstep began years ago and we’re only hearing it now. Beirut’s last album came out in 2007 it took a few years for it to reach Brazil.

                Now Zach needs to figure out exactly how to make or market his next album. Will he simply continue on the same path making the same predictable Balkan Folk/World Music? Or will he take another approach, deciding to forgo the tough nature of the US buzz market and pin his hopes on South America? South America’s buzz market is nowhere as competitive as the United States. Hell, bands even have a name for tributes to his greatness called “Beiruting the Square”. Zach would be a fool to ignore that level of dedication, that level of love. Forget mopey late twenty something s in the US. Their income will increase only so much as they spend large amounts of time alone, crying, scrobbling Beirut’s few releases over and over again on Last.fm. If Beirut wants to really make an impact he ought to release his album in Brazil first and let it release in the United States later. 

                Releasing his upcoming album in Brazil first will show he appreciates and cares about the genuine affection the country shows him. I mean, I can’t even think of a single US TV show where Beirut appeared. No band does a tribute to Beirut in the US. Most Balkan Folk bands in the US are actually from the Balkans and probably influenced him. Zach needs to take this once in a lifetime opportunity and influence a growing, younger and considerably more vibrant music scene in an entire country. For buzz in the US is fleeting (Beirut knows this from his own experience) but buzz elsewhere lasts longer. 

                Hopefully the next Beirut EP reveals a bit more about potential new album. Or perhaps he’ll just pull a “Joanna Newsom” and randomly release the whole thing without any teasers. Either way he will need to rise above.

Emptyset – Demiurge 8.4

                “Demiurge” assaulted me. Physically I could not escape it. It drew me in with a near silent beginning only to bludgeon me with that bass. Honestly the bass in this album is extremely powerful. Listen to it with very good headphones.

                Emptyset’s last album “Emptyset” had more of a ‘house grounding’ than these eleven tracks. That last one still managed to have enough of a beat and tempo to smooth out the harsher edges they explored. Before this they had tried to fully craft welcoming beats to their noisy explorations. 

                Well there is no compromise with this album. I think the best way of describing it would be Pan Sonic meets dubstep. Even that description is limiting. The sound is unbelievably aggressive. Points where things get quiet are the most nerve wrecking. At those times you can virtually feel the menace right before they blast you with a dollop of bass so strong it could be considered noise by many.

                I like the pure physicality of this album. Emptyset really make me feel the music. Often in the album you feel the song before you hear it (certainly that is true with the closer “Void”). Sometimes they don’t even include a beat but let the song build up into an overwhelming bass line (see “Departure”). 

                Similarities to Pan Sonic are a bit unavoidable. This duo (James Ginzburg and Paul Purgas) do have a lot in common with that now defunct duo particularly on “Monad”. I think there’s a bit less emphasis on the high end like what Pan Sonic did. In a way Emptyset strip down the music even further leaving behind the most basic of explorations. 

                You may want to carefully watch the volume controls. Things get very loud suddenly on this album. A better idea might be to just get shocked. That’s what Emptyset would want.

2562 – Fever 8.7

               2562 set one limitation for this album: everything had to be sampled from disco albums. It is the best limitation he could have set. The entire album is so fantastic; I think I’ve finally been converted over to the church of dubstep.

                Previous efforts by Dave Husimans had been a bit less house-orientated. As a huge fan of house music, particularly well-done house, I think it is probably that element which won me over. While listening to this, I’m reminded this is only his third album. Those previous albums lacked a certain something; maybe they were a bit too sparse for me.

                “Winamp Melodrama” reminds me heavily of Oval gone dance. Yes, it is that good. Beats skip; melodies are lost in constant stutters and distortion. Glitch never sounded so good or purposeful. Other parts are reminiscent of late-period IDM such as “Juxtapose” which strongly suggests Jake Mandell’s work might have had an influence.

                Other songs show off certain spaciousness. “Intermission” with its heavy bass, ideal percussion and lush sound fills its 6 minutes with nothing but giant sounds. Faster songs exist on this album too, such as the hyper-kinetic “Brasil Deadwalker”. Countless allusions are made to the best of early 90s techno, whether it is the far off hits or stabs of melody.

                My personal favorite would have to be “Final Frenzy”. It has a great buildup in it. Perhaps if 2562 was interested in hits, this would be the radio single. I’m not sure; I’m pretty addicted to electronic music in general. 

                “Fever” is a full album. There aren’t any duds. Albums like this confirm my faith in electronic music in general. Occasionally I veer away from the path of pure electronic. 2562 reminds me of my favorite albums I listened to growing up as a kid and I’m thankful to him.

The Universal Sigh

            I couldn’t think of a better name for the new Radiohead newspaper. Well, maybe “the European Shrug” might be equally as apt. Because they have officially become a disappointment, it’s the nail in the coffin of “The King of Limbs”. At least now the King has a proper burial.

 Radiohead usually has some form of gimmick associated with its music, whether it is giving away the music for free, some overriding concept that Computers are OK, or honey is made by some guy named Pablo. Newspapers appear to be the latest fad of theirs. Like most of what they’ve done this year, they’ve arrived to the party late. That dubstep influence on their last album, James Blake did a better job. Maybe for Radiohead’s next album will have a chillwave influence and the giveaway will be old maps of the Ottoman Empire.  

                Why did Radiohead choose to use this medium? Personally, I’ve been a bit befuddled by their recent behavior. Thom Yorke jerking around, spastically I’m fine with, that’s par for the course. But when they began this descent lately towards the abyss, towards the dregs of viral marketing, I feel embarrassed. Constantly I have to explain to people far younger than myself that they used to be good. Now with this newspaper they’ve made my argument just a little harder. And I’m sick of trying, I give up. Here comes that sigh. 

                The Universal Sigh embodies the attitude I have towards them now. I say to myself:

 “Really, we are doing this now? When will the gimmicks end? Can you stop chasing everyone else’s coattails now? How about you write some interesting material? ” 

Of course they’d release it in New Zealand first, New Zealand’s lucky to have any attention to it since “Flight of the Concords” ended. New Zealand will drool over it, they’d put up a mediafire link just so kids in more important and geographically less isolated countries can get some of that material. And sure Radiohead, how about you have in translated into English. Forget those other non-English speaking countries. 

                People claim this is a ‘genius’ marketing strategy. Those might be the same people who purchase newspapers instead of reading them online. Or the people who think best-selling equals quality.  Ask countless newspapers how they’re doing financially; it isn’t going so hot right now. If the purpose of this artifact was requiem for the newspaper industry, then mission accomplished. 

                Radiohead, I stayed with you as long as I could. I’m not angst-ridden anymore. Those aren’t problems I have. People understand me now.  Most of my bands grew with me, or, when they realized they were repeating themselves, called it quits. Each time I insult you I don’t want to feel so negative. You used to have great albums. What happened to those? I miss those. Maybe everyone has a Radiohead moment, which fades away. I guess mine’s gone. 

                According to their release, it contains short stories, poetry, pictures and so on. Lately I’ve been covering a lot of people who do fantastic jobs with all this kind of media. To save you from the potential awkwardness of reading mopey poetry from people who really should have grown out of this phase long ago, I am going to suggest some things to read and process. 

                Go read Richard Chiem’s short stories. See what Steve Roggenbuck and Poncho Peligroso (better known as the 2011 Poet Laureate) are up to. Follow NewWaveVomit on Tumblr brought to you by the caring Ana C. Look at Joe Karwacki’s art work. Find Metazen, spend some time there with the lovely (or manly) Frank Hinton. These people deserve the attention. Once you begin understanding what they do, you’ll realize they are on an upward trajectory while Radiohead’s a ship a-going down. Spare yourself the cruel fate of a Radiohead apologist. Thank you.

Salem – King Night 7.9

I read a ton of stuff about this band before actually listening to the music. Do not take this approach. Rather, take in the music first before looking at a single article about them. According to virtually every article written about them, they are total jerks of the highest (literally) order. Seeing their youtube video of their South by Southwest concert almost convinced me to write them off. Having their music compared to “Dubstep” a musical movement whose charms elude me didn’t exactly encourage me.

Honestly though, the music is surprisingly good. Oh boy, it is dark. No light shines in at any point in the proceedings, these are dense, bleak productions. The sound overwhelms at times in a good way. They know how to make a good song.

Also, they are aware of the history that preceded them. Bits and pieces of that large house sound from the early 90s bleeds through the songs, from the oddly triumphant “King Night” to the almost happy “Redlights”. The bass is absolutely massive. No matter what the song or tempo, the bass reigns supreme through all of these songs.

Sometimes hype does good or bad things. In this case, the hype turned decidedly negative against these guys. That is a shame, because the album is surprisingly solid, and helps to ease someone like me into Witch House and Dubstep, two things I’m usually ambivalent about.

Shit and Shine – Bass Puppy 7.7

Dubstep worries me. Every time I see it describe a band, I cringe a little inside. I don’t know why I do this, maybe I’m not English enough? Maybe I’m not tough enough? Honestly, when people ask me what my literal beef is with dubstep, I have a difficult time explaining. So when I saw Shit and Shine’s new offering was going to be dubstep based, I had two thoughts:

1.       Perhaps these guys can enlighten my mind.

2.       Perhaps I’m going to start disliking Shit and Shine.

Thankfully, it was the former rather than the latter. For one, they haven’t given up any of their trademark aggression and noise.  If you ever needed music to listen to while you acted in the most depraved manner possible, you could do worse than Shit and Shine. Shit and Shine are gross, disgusting, utterly foul people with the most twisted sense of humor I’ve seen since Lou Reed sang about how you shouldn’t shoot someone in the head since you’d stain the carpet.

“Bass Puppy” comes up first. Named after one of the sample players in the band, it is the more chaotic of the two tracks. Multiple grooves are born and destroyed through the course of the song. Random distorted vocals blast through the colossal noise. Lumbering along, it eventually transforms into a high-pitched locked groove towards the end.

Alternatively, “Fuck You Folk Singers” remains the calmer track. It displays Shit and Shine’s talent of letting something go on for an undefined period of time. Things such as subtly are put into use as the track threatens to burst out into full blown assault. By hinting at this rather than actually delivering it, it ends up being quite fantastic. Also, they apparently know their audience through those Pussy Galore samples “I hate your fucking guts” for their remarkably bizarre album “Exile on Main Street”.

Overall, I feel like Shit and Shine helped me through this often disappointing genre.

Downliners Sekt – Hello Lonely, Hold the Nation 6.2

Downliners Sekt comes off like communism does for many people: great in theory, bad in practice. Mixing multiple tempos with often juicy bass ought to be a formula for success. Occasionally they do reach that point, of being dubstep meets Autechre, especially on the opening track “u gumbu”. 

Unfortunately, that quality is not maintained for the duration of the EP.  Each track, though not particularly long, outstays its welcome. The attempts to create tension fall flat, most noticeably on the closer “negative green”. 

This isn’t the worst thing I’ve heard, not by a long stretch. But a lot of what has been said about their skill is overstated. Parts of this EP lead me to believe that they will get it together, but they aren’t quite there yet.