Live Review: A Milky Disco Affair [Lindstrom]

el girafa "quadrophonic"

This past Thursday I had the distinct pleasure of seeing Lindstrom perform live at "off again, on again" Studio B in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. By now Hey Student! readers know we have a slight bias towards this slinky Norwegian and his absolutely creamy disco beats, with his latest LP Where You Go I Go Too topping our best of 2008 lists. Lindstrom's performance, much like that album, didn't fail to disappoint and was one of the better live electronic events I have seen.

With Lindstrom set to perform at 1 AM (!!!) that night, I knew sleep was not going to be an option. After having a few drinks at a quaint bar in my hood, me and a couple of my friends jumped into a cab at around midnight to make our trek to the cavernous, though, sadly, poorly located Studio B. Arriving at around 12:20 AM, we were greeted to some highly danceable tuneage from the opening DJ, including a fantastic remix of Cut Copy's "Hearts on Fire", which I am having difficulty locating (can any Hey Student! readers help a brotha out?).

Lindstrom surprising took stage at the advertised start time of 1 AM, opening with the always epic title track off Where You Go I Go Too. At that moment I knew this show was going to rock. Hard. What followed were several Lindstrom burners, including the track that started it all, "I Feel Space", the sprawling, groovetastic "Another Station" and fist-pump inducing "Grand Ideal." For the final track, Lindstrom ended where he began, giving an encore performance of "Where You Go I Go Too," giving closure to a wonderful live performance.

Arriving home at around 3:30 AM and waking up four hours later for work was a painful exercise, though the sacrifice was worth it. Do yourself a favor and see this man live - he will not disappoint.

Another Delicious Diplo Remix [Bingo Players]

Ahh yea. This track burns a bit like Audion.

Bingo Players - Get Up (Diplo Remix)

New Animal Collective

Man. I know everyone has already praised the everloving hell out of the new Animal Collective album, Merriweather Post Pavilion. But there is one simple reason for that: It Deserves It.

¡Les Saludo, Amigos!

Animal Collective – My Girls [Merriweather Post Pavilion, 2009]

LOS HIJOS DEL SOL

bandleader Angel Anibal Rosado

Time to gather round and worship at the feet of some really excellent music out of Peru.

Chicha started out in the late 60’s, in the oil-boom cities of the Peruvian Amazon. Cumbias Amazonicas, as they were first known, were loosely inspired by Colombian cumbias but incorporated the distinctive pentatonic scales of Andean melodies, some Cuban guajiras, and the psychedelic sounds of surf guitars, wah-wah pedals, farfisa organs and moog synthesizers.

Chicha, which is named after a corn-based liquor favored by the Incas, quickly spread to Lima. It became the music of choice of the mostly indigenous new migrant population – mixing even further with rock, Andean folklore and Peruvian creole music.

Very much like Jamaican Ska or Congolese Soukous, Chicha is western-influenced indigenous music geared toward the new urban masses who wholly identified with the new hybrid. Chicha is at once raw and sophisticated - and until now, it had never been released outside of Peru.

I can barely describe how fresh these songs are. If you like, you can check out the full compilation of Peruvian chicha, or listen to more of Los Hijos del Sol here.

Big ups to my sister for turning me on to this.

Los Hijos del Sol - Si me quieres [The Roots of Chicha: Psychedelic Cumbias from Peru comp, 2007]
Los Hijos del Sol - Carinito [The Roots of Chicha: Psychedelic Cumbias from Peru comp, 2007]

Somewhat slept on in 2008 [Cheap Time]

Here are a few tracks by Cheap Time. It was sort of a Dusted favorite in 2008, it's the kind of band that you can sort of always find somewhere - fast paced rock songs which get in and get out quickly. They remind me of The Thermals a little bit, except nowhere near as annoying. I'm on a rock kick lately, so this has seen heavy rotation.

My two second blog research tells me they are from Nashville, and that Jay Reatard digs them. Enjoy!

Cheap Time - Too Late [Cheap Time, 2008]
Cheap Time - Push Your Luck [Cheap Time, 2008]
Cheap Time - Over Again [Cheap Time, 2008]

New Knife tracks, almost [Fever Ray]

video for "If I Had A Heart"

Fever Ray is the solo project of Karin from The Knife. I have found myself listening to Ghostface Killah's Ironman album over and over for the last two weeks straight, but this may be the one thing to break me of it. It's a bit sparser than The Knife, kind of makes you wonder if Karin's brother isn't just there to push the "snare" button.

Fever Ray - When I Grow Up [Fever Ray, 2009]
Fever Ray - Seven [Fever Ray, 2009]
Fever Ray - I'm Not Done [Fever Ray, 2009]

Plug one, plug two [Luke Vibert]

D n' B for Papi

A Hey Student! stalwart, Luke Vibert's consistency is also incredibly diverse. While I'm a fan of all Vibert's incarnations, be it Wagon Christ, Amen Andrews or Kerrier District, no alias of his provides me more satisfaction than Plug.

Drum n' Bass for Papa, Plug's sole LP, is easily one of the more satisfying electronic music releases of the 1990s and, much like Vibert's other releases, turns genre conventions on their heads.

A common complaint among critics is that drum n' bass can sound stale and is inflexible to change. Not the case here. Anything but a conventional d n' b piece, Drum n' Bass for Papa is high concept marriage of drum n' bass, ambient and music concrete. Exemplary of many Vibert pieces, a myriad of found sounds can be found here, from obscure vocal samples to crackled ambient noises. It will also get your head nodding and feet tapping.

Two choice tracks from the album are posted below.

Plug - Delicious [Drum n' Bass for Papa LP, 1996]

Plug - A Subtle Blend [Drum n' Bass for Papa LP, 1996]

Arthur King!

The Holy Grail.

While perusing a few 2008 best-of lists over break, I kept finding they all had tracks by a certain DJ named Arthur King. First I thought: man, what's next, Elizabeth Queen!! (I am sorry.) Then I thought: God almighty, this music is good-sounding in my ears. It is this: a disco-Staxy-funked out sound that brings me back to a time before I ever existed. Yes, some of the mixes are compilations with little mixing, but the man earns his keep on the strength of the selections -- a little something like Tom Moulton. In conclusion: go get more of his music immediately.

Ecstasy – Endgames [Nunk, 2004]

I Like It – Young And Company [Summer 2008]

Je Suis Funky [Podcast, 2008]

Artist: [Kid Cudi]

Meet the man responsible for one of the finest singles of 2008*, Kid Cudi.

Incidentally, it's pronounced KUH-DEE.

Kid Cudi - Day 'N' Nite [Day 'N' Nite 12'', 2008]

*Note: it is unclear how Pitchfork missed this.