Friday, December 23, 2011

Christmas house

I wanted to see if there actually existed christmas themed house music out there on the interwebz, perhaps some decent remixes of christmas classics. Turns out there are A LOT of utterly abominable amateur remixes of pretty much every christmas song you can't think of... (they're all on youtube, look it up if you appreciate poorly ejay-mixed techno). Instead, I'll share with you a couple of old school house tracks that at least have Christmassy titles, and one track that can be tenuously linked to winter and, thus, also Christmas *cough-farfetched-cough*.

The first two "old school" house tracks are by Le Knight Club, Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo's side project when he's not rocking the world with Daft Punk. Although they might not induce that Christmas spirit in you, they at least have Christmassy titles! 




The last track is one I heard on the radio yesterday (played by the brilliant DJ Friendly). I'm preeeeetty sure "Red man rising" has something to do with Father Christmas perhaps...? (I told you the link would be tenuous) But at least it's by someone calling themselves the Futuristic Polar Bears and that's a bit Christmassy, right? Right...? Anyway, it's an awesome track in my opinion. So with these tracks I would just like to wish everyone a very merry christmas and an awesome new year! Feliz navidad and all that. Yay!


Thursday, December 15, 2011

House of the seasons

Thanks to the Hype Machine (yet again), I discovered this house duo called TWR72. What's cool about them is that they have released an EP called simply "1991" (as an homage to old school house music) consisting of three tracks dedicated to the seasons of summer, autumn, and winter (why spring is left out beats me).

I love this kind of house music. This sort of generic, monotonous, hypnotic, rhythmic music that makes you just want to close your eyes, nod you head, move onto the dance floor and forget about the world a bit. The tracks are all available from beatport if you're interested in buying them.

Summer

Autumn

Winter


Friday, December 9, 2011

Norwegian Vinter in Hollywood

As a matter of fact, Norway has got some good electronic artists as well. One diligent and highly skilled house artist who I've been following for some time now is Alexander Vinter, or Vinter in Hollywood as he calls himself. Actually, his dubstep name seems to be Savant... I'm confused now... My point is he's good!

Unfortunately, house music still gets undeservedly limited attention on the Norwegian music scene, although it is on the rise. I definitely feel Vinter in Hollywood is one of our artists that deserves more attention. Perhaps I'll blog some more later about other Norwegian house maniacs. In the meantime, though, enjoy Vinter in Hollywood's (or Savant's) remix of a song by a Norwegian band called Montée.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Flaws under black squares

Stumbled upon this gem on The Hype Machine. I guess you can't call it house music (although it's begging for a banging remix which undoubtedly will pop up on youtube before you can say "someone should make a remix of this tra... Ah, there we are") but it is a lovely little electro tune from an English band called Bastille.

I'm not usually one for electronic tracks with singing all over it, but Bastille being an indie band the lyrics are alpha and omega. And I've got to say these lyrics are quite sweet. Here's their official youtube video. Don't ask me why it's covered by hundreds of seemingly pointless black squares (it's probably one of Bastille's flaws, ey?? *ba dum tsss* Sorry...), but you can cross them out and somewhere beneath them is a video of some kind. Enjoy.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Justice Medley - A Cappella house music?

Check out this video of a guy who does an a cappella medley of Justice's last album Audio Video Disco. Pretty impressive and fun to listen to. Btw, I'm going to see Justice in Manchester in February. Can't wait!

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Noel Gallagher

So this weekend I'm off to Copenhagen, Denmark, for a gig with my lifelong hero, Noel Gallagher. Now, why would I write about this old Rock'n'roll gaffer on a blog that's supposed to be about electronic music? Noel Gallagher's all about guitars, organs and that old psychedelic, bluesy sound of the 60s and 70s, right?

Well, if you remember the 90s you might recall that England had a very prominent electro music culture that crept from the depths of cellar- and factory parties into the bright strobe lights and spotlights of night clubs and mainstream charts. In his coked-up 90s world Noel Gallagher readily admitted his penchant for house music, despite being looked at as a spokesman for guitar music. He actually did some collaborations with electronic artists, some more or less well-known than others. Three of which I will present to you here.

The first one from 1997 was with Chemical Brothers on a song called Setting Sun. The track contains samples from The Beatle's "Tomorrow Never Knows" and lyrics by Noel. The track reached #1 in the UK hit chart.


In 1998, Noel did yet another collaboration with The Chemical Brothers on a track called Let Forever Be. I remember being dead fascinated by the video in this one. And of course the cracking drum loop.


Noel's last electronic collaborations of the drug fuelled 90s was a slightly more obscure one. This time he lend his rock'n'roll superstardom to drum-n-bass and jungle artist Goldie. Goldie was known as a DJ, electronic music artist but also an actor in the James Bond movie "The World Is Not Enough" and Guy Ritchie's "Snatch". The track is a lot harder and rawer than the chemical brothers stuff. I'll let you decide whether or not you fancy it. Anyways, I'm off the Denmark to see Noel play some GUITAR!