Boredoms - "77 Boadrum"

77 BOA DRUM trailer from Thrill Jockey Records on Vimeo.

Holy crap. If you didn't know about this, check it out. In 7/7/07 at 7:07 PM, one of the iconic leaders of Japanese psych-rock legends the Boredoms, EYE, conducted a massive 77 person drum circle in Brooklyn. Thrill Jockey is set to release a DVD of the performance on 7/7/10 (Big surpise with the date huh). It featured famous drummers from all sorts of indie rock bands like Hella, Ponytail, etc.. I hadn't actually seen any footage from it before now, but remember hearing about it and thinking, of course. Only the Boredoms would put together something so ridiculous. Check out "Vision Creation Newsun", my personal favorite album of theirs, for a point of reference/introduction to their music.

Last.fm page

Pfadfinderei & Modeselektor - "Construction Desert"

Via Boomkat:
Absolutely immense DVD package from acclaimed Berlin design house Pfadfinderei, the people responsible for Bpitch Control’s graphic design and, in particular, working closely with the unstoppable Modeselektor. ‘Labland’ features over an hour of completely exclusive music from Modeselektor - a visual music album pioneering a tight combination of music, film & graphic design in mindboggling ways. The emphasis here, of course, is on tight edits – both in terms of visual and audio editing, squashed rhythms, bass, shapes & colours, inventing a new kind of synchronicity. Pfadfinderei distort, twist and warp space in response to Modeselektor’s mashed-up samples and low-end heavy backdrops, an absolutely deadly mix. Easily the best DVD we’ve seen of its kind – for all intents and purposes a brand new Modeselektor album given an extra dimension or two, all recorded in beautifully crisp 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound. A massive recommendation!!!!

Buy the full DVD here

Cocorosie and Ramona Falls music videos

A couple of really interesting, bizarre, highly creative music videos. I don't usually listen to music like this but the videos are dope.

CocoRosie - Lemonade from Souterrain Transmissions on Vimeo.

Ramona Falls - Russia from Souterrain Transmissions on Vimeo.

The elusive Godspeed returns

"The internet is a petty, tyrannical monster"

Recent note on their website indicates rumblings of activity from this post-rock juggernaut. Huge influence on me when I was growing up, very excited to see what they get into in the future. Heavy, dark, majestic, orchestral are but a few of the adjectives one could use to describe their music. For now, I can at least look forward to Silver Mt. Zion playing Cambridge in a few days..

Kammerflimmer Kollectief - "Cicadae"

Shimmering, ambient noise patterns juxtapozed with elegant, beautiful neo-classical melodic passages. These are just some of the sounds coming from the Kammerflimmer Kollectief (translates to "Shimmering Collective".) Founded by German musician Thomas Webber, they have been playing together for more then a decade. Their style is not limited to any specific genre, but instead encompasses jazz, electronic music, neo-classical, ambient, and more.

Understated and subtle, this album is at times elegant and restrained. However, as with any avant-garde work, there are moments of dissonance and squawking. The music veers into a distorted, abstracted feeling of losing control only to abruptly return to a more melodic section. Really interesting/somewhat challenging listen. Not recommended for everyone, but will definitely be appreciated by fans of John Zorn, free jazz, or Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble (see my earlier post here.)

Cicadae (2009)