CHAIRLIFT | Guilty as Charged
Damn - okay so I’ve been on this electronic phase lately because I’ve been dying to hear something new lately and there hasn’t been much going on. The non-electro scene has been pretty mediocre lately and I just haven’t been liking anything that’s been released. This though on the other hand caught my attention.
Chairlift is an electropop band which formed in 2005 in Boulder, Colorado, United States. The band consists of Caroline Polachek (vocals, keyboards) and Patrick Wimberly (bass, drums). The third founding member, Aaron Pfenning (guitar, synths, vocals), left the band in 2010.
The first few seconds sucked me into this track already just because of the reverberating twangy guitars. The rhythmic beat behind it and especially Caroline’s voice just settle the tones for the rest of the track. I’ve been into this electronic phase all last week and up to now and this is honestly a good change of pace. This is experimental to a sense and the instrumentals is thriving with jabs of electronic effects and raw blues’y alternative rock. I love it. The other tracks represent a variety of style’s that I’ve been diggin’ so far. It’s weird really. Some I get the feel of 80’s modern day pop/rock feel as in “Ghost Town”, the other’s are very quick and moving like as if Here We Go Magic tripped out on late 70’s and 80’s rock pop music like in “I Belong In Your Arms”. Damn, it’s quick and fun.
Caroline’s voice is perfect for this sound and if they ever played LIVE here in Chicago, I would definitely go see them. On that note, Chairlift, come to Chicago. Fuck, they’re fun.
If I had to compare them to a band, I would say
“Put Here We Go Magic and Eleanor Friedberger, replace them with Chairlifts members, trippin’ out on mushrooms in a studio with synths and Chairlift was born.”
Check out the video of “Safari Sidewalk”. Album is out now (via iTunes)
Chairlift - Met Before [LC highly recommends]
159 
HOLY OTHER | Feel Something (The Haxan Cloak Remix)
Holy Other - more like Holy (fucking brilliant).
I’ve been into this producer lately and haven’t gotten around to post anything about him because something always comes up and I end up forgetting about it. Thanks to my friend Aaron sharing me some of his material, he sent me this soundcloud remix of Holy Other - Feel Something (The Haxan Cloak Remix). If you don’t know about Holy Other, you might want to keep this with an open mind and expand it a bit. Just another fantastic UK DJ/Producer that is rising fast with his amazing productions. I couldn’t say it any better than guardian.uk’s post about Holy Other…
“This ravaged but ravishing R&B aims for the perfect marriage of ghostly vocals and spectral sonics”
Weird to say, no one even know’s the guys real name. It’s ok though, his material can let that slide on by and conceal his identity. The music is moving, well, in this case, this one is just low bass droning drops my ears fall for at clubs. Midway through the track the drum rhythms roll in the snare’s and it feels like your in this remote jungle trip or something. I mean really, this is some big material going on here. Though it’s a remix, it’s some fantastic shit going on here. Haxan Cloak folks, good work.
This track is avaiable via BLEEP: http://bleep.com/index.php?page=release_details&releaseid=33954
Another taste of Holy Other’s material.
Source: SoundCloud / TriAngleRecords
DISCLOSURE | Flow
Disclosure is comprised of two brothers, Guy and Howard Lawrence, aged 16 and 19 who write, record and produce all of their material, from a studio based just south of London. Having been born into a musical family, with their father once signed to CBS records and their mother an enormously talented professional singer, the boys have been performing on stage from a very young age. It was only in 2010, through a chance encounter that they managed to get into the studio to record and work on the songs they’d co-written over many years. It was during this time that the sound of Disclosure was born. (via Moshi Moshi Records)
Lately I’ve been on this rut of alternative material and getting back into my electronic roots. I’m tired of the whole Skrillex “bro-step” and sometimes I even get tired of my favorite DJ’s and producers right now. It’s not that I don’t like them, just tired of the sound and itchin’ for something new and exciting. One hand holds those thoughts earlier and now, the other hand speaks differently for the 90’s house and even the experimental composure of artists like James Blake and Ifan Dafydd. “Flow” is one of those tracks I would love to drop on the dance floor. It has that upbeat disco vibe is filled with vibrant vocals of
“Girl, get on the floor…you want me…and make me.”
These brothers are going to make some buzz in the electro world and as young as they are, damn, they’re going to be spread around fast. Love material like this. Give this a gander and listen.
Disclosure - Tenderly [LC highly recommends]
Source: SoundCloud / Disclosure.
SLEIGH BELLS | Comeback Kid
I’ve been hearing some buzz about Sleigh Bells new track “Comeback Kid” and had to give it a listen tonight. Honestly I didn’t want to post anything tonight and whatever made me post this was that 90’s song that stuck in my head. Took me awhile to figure it out but alas, I found out what it was. It’s weird to say it but Sleigh Bells had some good shit going on in their earlier material but I’m not so interested now that the who group/duo is sold on Alexis/female vocalist. Guess I could say the same about Crystal Castles (fucking cool) and other groups like Phantogram (Phantogram, if you’re reading, I give you more credit), etc where the female vocalist takes the spotlight on the stage while the partner/dude is producing (who know’s really) all of the music. Nonetheless, full spot on credit to the producers.
Maybe it’s just the fact that I like their remixes by Diplo or something like that, I don’t know. The track is heavy in distortion and it reminds me of the raw 90’s heavy rock I would listen to on the radio. As Alexis states…
“To me, the ‘Comeback Kid’ melodies are straight R&B,” Alexis Krauss of Sleigh Bells told Spin. “But we don’t do the melodies with an R&B affect and we don’t do them the way a traditional pop group would do them.”
It sounds like I don’t like Sleigh Bells but it just happened to be that they got my head thinking. Oops.
In a punch - don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing but when I first listened to this, I thought of ”311 - Down”? Talk about a flash back!
Give me your thoughts.
Source: SoundCloud / Sleigh Bells
GIRAFFAGE | With You
Giraffage is the creation of 21-year old multi-instrumentalist/producer Charlie Yin of San Francisco, California. The general sound of Giraffage is described as a weaver of refreshingly crisp electro dream pop tunes that thread their way through loose-knit grooves and tightly-toothed rhythms. Gaining inspiration from things as diverse as dreams or the weather, Giraffage evokes a woozy yet familiar mood that is sure to stimulate your eardrums and leave you feeling a sense of nostalgia and melancholy.
One thing about artists like these are that they are so underground and gain such a good following when they release something mind blowingly good. It starts out small and then just naturally, they grow into something more than what was expected. The intro really threw me off with the jungle bird noises. I was like “I wonder what he’s trying to go with here…” Well, what really caught my attention to this track was the hip hop rhythym of the 808’s. If you ever get a chance to play with an 808, you can really spring off into some fun beats. The drop comes in full force and sucks you into this dreamy floating like atmosphere.
“Fuck, I would float on water with this and close my eyes in a pool.”
If you have a chillwave playlist or something along the lines of that, this definitely a track to throw on. His album “Comfort” is FREE on his Bandcamp - head over their to download it.
Giraffage - SLO [LC highly recommends]
GIRAFFAGE: giraffage.bandcamp.com
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The Lightning Collective is a promotional company hellbent on opening the eyes and ears to music and the arts. Created out of the necessity of two college kids looking to stir up some trouble in a vacuous wasteland, the organization aims to build a community for creativity and culture where freethinking and inspiration is hard to come by. Originally based in State College, PA where the duo formerly hosted a radio show Friday nights on the LION 90.7FM, the student radio station at the Pennsylvania State University. Both are now apart working closely together bringing new music, interviews, and music related news.
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