Thump-thump Music
So, freelance writing continues. I’m on-schedule for an assignment due next week, and over-due for one that was supposed to finish yesterday (but, then again, I haven’t heard squat from the Line Developer since I delivered the first part of the assignment over a week ago, so I suppose no harm, no foul).
In the meantime, I decided to write something for my blog that has nothing to do with work.
Part of the problem that folks have in getting into Electronic Music (or “Thump-thump Music” as a friend of mine calls it), is that there a quite a few sub-genres, and almost no radio play to speak of….so it’s kinda hard to know what’s good (since there is, as with anything else, a lot of asstastic crap out there as well)and to find out what you might like.
So, with that in mind, what follows are my favorite Electronic Music CDs:
Zero7: Simple Things: I suppose this would be called Downtempo or Chill…it’s laid-back stuff. Really well produced, and I love the three different vocalists they use (two women, one man, who trade off lead duties). Had a minor MTV “buzz clip” with “Destiny”, which is how I heard about it.
Propellerheads: Decksandrumsandrockandroll: This album features the Shirley Bassey collaboration “History Repeating” which was used as the focus of a Jaguar ad campaign, “Spybreak” which was used on the Matrix soundtrack, and the Propellerheads’ version of “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”, which appeared on David Arnold’s “Shaken & Stirred” 007 remix project. This stuff is generally referred to as breakbeat or big beat, and it’s probably my favorite sub-genre. Hip-hop drums, synth leads, and sample-heavy.
Timo Maas: Loud: This is the first “artist album” (rather than album of his mixes of other people’s stuff) from DJ Timo Maas. Some of it is trance-y, some of it is breakbeat. Good stuff…I especially love the first track, “Help Me”, built around samples from “The Day The Earth Stood Still” and featuring vocals by “I Hate You So Much Right Now” proto-diva Kelis.
Crystal Method: Vegas: I like this better than their follow-up, “Tweekend”. This is classic break-beat stuff–you’ll recognize a lot of it from various ads, and “Trip Like I Do” was used on the “Spawn” soundtrack. “High Roller”, which uses various NASA mission transmission samples, is my favorite track.
DJ Shadow: Endtroducing…: Possibly the best turntablist EVER. DJ Shadow constructs this album entirely from combining obscure samples. If you want to see how a turntable can be used as a musical instrument, this is the album to get. There is some scratching here…but not a lot. Most of the magic is in seeing how Shadow combines a beat from one source, a bassline from another source, and vocal elements and sound effects into an entirely new composition.
Lamb: Fear of Fours: A combination of hard drum-n-bass beats with smooth female vocals. Very hard to describe. Some folks placed it in the genre called “Trip-hop”, so I guess it is as good a label as any. “Little Things” is my favorite track.
So there ya go. Those are my favorite Electronic Music albums.
Back to work.