Nadia Oh - "My Egyptian Lover (oOoOO Remix)" (2009)

Leave it to Witch House OG oOooO to take a cheesy, sexy electro-dance single and turn it into a gothic club banger--that's exactly what's been done with the remix of Nadia Oh's "My Egyptian Lover." The remix features a pulsating synthesizer sample from Boards of Canada's "Corsair" along with distorted chopped-and-screwed beats throughout (the remix is considerably slower than the original, almost to a surreal crawl). The processed vocals (autotuned?), which sound playful and exotic on the original, turn into something spooky and machine-like on the remix. Even the lyrics take on a new persona--in the context of oOoOO's fantastic production, they become haunting, especially when oOoOO reverses it all towards the climax a la the Beatles' psychedelic heyday.

Below are two videos, the campy original music video and the remix respectively, so you can witness the dramatic reimagining for yourself:

Pictureplane - Dark Rift (2009)

Pictureplane (real name Travis Edgey) strikes me as one of the most entertaining figures in modern electronica. Rarely does music seem to tap into my subconscious so strongly, but that’s exactly what Pictureplane’s 2009 LP Dark Rift does. With the exception of a couple of clunkers, the album is a true gem, and its standout singles (easily some of my favorite songs of 2009) are so excellent that I’m more than willing to forgive a few minor missteps.

Pictureplane, who apparently lives out of Rhinoceropolis, a warehouse where he also throws concerts/shows, has recently gained some fame from high-profile remixes of like-minded artists like Crystal Casltes and HEALTH. Additionally, his song "Goth Star" charted in Pitchfork's Top 100 Tracks of 2009.

On “Goth Star,” one of the more popular tracks from the album (and rightfully so), Pictureplane slices and dices a cheesy, late-80’s Fleetwood Mac song called “Seven Wonders” and layers it over a clubby drum machine and fuzzy, saturated synthesizers. One enlightened YouTuber described the song as a “chopped and screwed version of ‘Seven Wonders,’ basically,” and I totally see where this guy is coming from.


The way that Pictureplane recontexualizes the original sample into something so aesthetically separate from the source material is a perfect example of just how artistically satisfying sampling can be. Pictureplane’s sampling technique reminds me of what Amon Tobin said about sampling: "[Samples have] a certain reality. It doesn't just take the sound, it takes the whole way it was recorded. The ambient sounds, the little bits of reverb left off crashes that happened a couple of bars ago. There's a lot of things in the sample, just like when you take a picture….” Here’s the bizarre video of "Goth Star" below:


Another great track is “Trance Doll,” a song that features Travis Edgey performing vocals over world-music and drum & bass rhythms; truly a WTF moment if there ever was one, although WTF material hardly sounds this well thought out and executed. While some have described his vocals as "bordering on the horrible," I find that the emotion in the delivery and in the lyrics really adds to the overall work. In an interview with A.V. Club, Pictureplane stated "It’s taken me a long time to get my voice to where I’m happy with it, but I’ll still have to record and rerecord, and it’s like, 'Oh, my God, that sounds like shit!'" It’s very rare to hear producers sing on their own productions, which makes Pictureplane’s project something of relative uniqueness in the scene. On the subject of the song's title, Edgey explained in the same interview that "I guess for me it’s about that magical power a girl can have over you sometimes—like they’re this doll or something that elicits your trance."

I will leave you with the awesome video for "Trance Doll":
*Note: You can buy the cd/lp from Lovepump United here, you can download "Goth Star" for free here, and you can get "Trance Doll" for free here.*

Moby - Old School Rave Mix (2010)

Techno mastermind Moby (does he really need an introduction?) recently compiled an excellent mix of old-ish rave anthems for xlr8r, including classics like N-Joi's "Mindflux" and Moby's own "Next Is the E."

You can cop a free mp3 of the mix here. Essential in my book.

July Mix Tape (2010)

Instead of writing about my most-repeatedly-played tracks this month, I've decided to record a mixtape out of them. You can download it in all its incongruous glory for free here, and check out the tracklist below. Hope you all enjoy!







1. Joker "Tron"
2. The Orb & Robbie Williams "I Started A Joke (I Started An Orb Mix)"
3. The Slits "Instant Hit"
4. Cut Copy "Far Away (Hercules & Love Affair Remix)"
5. Irresistible Force "Downstream"
6. The Pack "I'm a Boss"
7. Boards of Canada "Corsair"
8. The Beatles "Within You Without You"
9. Notorious BIG "Going Back To Cali"
10. Oneohtrix Point Never "Format & Journey North"
11. Onra feat. Olivier Daysoul "Long Distance"

DVA - Natty/Ganja 12" (2010)

I'm very critical of dubstep, and I'll be the first to admit that it's a slippery slope defining exactly what is dubstep, post-dubstep, brostep, ad nauseum. A lot of the dubstep mp3's infiltrating the internet remind me of the formulaic, cookie-cutter, Fruity Loops techno garbage that Strongbad so hilariously lampooned in his emails:


Most of the so-called "dubstep" music on the internet is the equivelant to the kind of trance and techno that Strongbad is poking fun at. That's why a label like Hyperdub is such a relief: finally, a record label that isn't really concerned about following trendy club dubstep music and instead focuses on the artier side of the craft, featuring a roster of insanely creative individuals whose music is anything but generic.


DVA is one of the many greats on Hyperdub's allstar team. His 12" single "Natty/Ganja," while obviously just a small taste of what he's capable of, is very exciting nonetheless. "Natty" is an insular two-step number with enough pitch-bent bass and sound manipulation to make your head spin on end. The b-side, "Ganja," is even zanier, featuring a repeating sample of a man saying "Ganja man" and the loopiest synthesizer progression this side of the planet Mars. Simply one of the best and most satisfying 12" I've purchased this year. Thank God for Hyperdub!

You can buy it here.

M.I.A. - / \ / \ / \ Y / \ (2010)

I've been thinking a lot about MIA lately (and no, not just because she's really attractive). Maybe it was rewatching Slumdog Millionaire recently (for which she co-wrote an Academy Award nominated song), or maybe it was the absurd and copious media coverage that she's been receiving on Pitchfork. Maybe it was the sensationalistic NY Times exposee that was published about her, an article so incendiary that it angered Maya to the point of posting the journalist's phone number on Twitter as her own and telling fans "ll b taking calls all day bitches ;)" Regardless, I felt compelled to write about her, and what better way than a review of her new album, / \ / \ / \ Y / \?

Before diving into all the (inevitable) politics and controversy surrounding her, let's focus on the actual music of the album first; in terms of sonics, this is about as far away from "Kala" as MIA could've gone. / \ / \ / \ Y / \ sounds angry, dark, mindlessly bold, unpolished and industrial, sometimes simultaneously (for better or for worse). With the exception of the guilty-pleasure "XXXO" (of which there is a killer remix with Jay-Z floating around on the internet) and the Diplo-produced "Tell Me Why," there isn't a whole lot of pop on this record.



Instead, much of it wallows in its dusty, digital sounding productions and tries its damnedest to sound dark and dangerous (apparently, much of the album was recorded with up-and-coming dubstep producer Rusko). "Steppin Up" sounds like Skinny Puppy if they drank Robotussin and then decided to record crunk music (I'm not the first to make comparisons between this album and Skinny Puppy; see Diplo's twitter post). Here is a prime example of this, the already-notorious, momentarily-banned-from-YouTube, rediculous, NSFW video for "Born Free," a song that samples 1970's electro-punk pioneers Suicide:



While I am probably one of the few MIA fans to actually appreciate the crunchy, snarled electro-throb of "Born Free," I cannot help but feel that MIA's political statements often feel flat, obvious and designed to generate publicity, and this video is no exception. Too frequently, MIA's convoluted politics seem to be more more important to her than good song-writing. I can't help but agree with Diplo (MIA's former boyfriend and producer of her 2008 megahit "Paper Planes") when he said, "In the end, Maya is postmodern: she can’t really make music or art that well, but she’s better than anyone at putting crazy ideas into motion. She knows how to manipulate, how to withhold, how to get what she wants." Underneath it all, I guess / \ / \ / \ Y / \ really isn't too different from Kala: a couple of excellent bangers, and a lot of filler.

*Note: you can stream the album here*