Changethethought

Ah Pharrell is one of those rare hip-hop/pop stars that just knows what the hell he is doing. His latest video featuring Santo Gold and Julian Casablancas is awesome.

written by Christopher | tags: Julian Casablancas, Music, N.E.R.D., Pharrell Williams, Santo Gold

I have decided to start writing album reviews on occasion as I continue to build out the different categories and sections of the site for the future. I plan on overhauling things sometime in the next 6 months to better divide out the categories, and I plan on doing interviews soon as well.

So, I thought I would start this section with Beck’s new album, Modern Guilt. The first thing to note about the album is that Danger Mouse collaborated on the mixing and there is plenty of the surfer rhythms, piano vamps and scratchy 1960 rock snares have helped add that catchy edge that you may or may not be familiar with from the Gnarls Barkley albums. There is a juxtaposition that happens though with what I would call Beck’s post-apocalyptic melancholy sound. I can’t quite decide if I like it but there is a definite tension in some of the songs. Overall, Beck just isn’t the same musician he was when he started out. Gone are the gyrating, hipster-break dancing and eclectic senseless lyrics that once defined his persona and informed his sound. Somewhere around Guero a new Beck began to emerge. Maybe it was even earlier during Sea Change (I liked Sea Change) that a new persona emerged. This new Beck seems to see the world as spiraling down into oblivion. This outlook just seems now to linger underneath almost all of the songs on Modern Guilt. It’s everywhere in the lyrics as well where he muses on the current betrayal of our environment in ‘Gamma Ray’ (“If I could hold hold out for now/ With these icecaps melting down”).

Ironically the song I liked the most is probably one of the most psychedelic and potentially gloomy songs on the album (with the exception of the final song, ‘Volcano’). The song I am referring to is ‘Chemtrails’. The funny thing is, I was so excited to see how Beck’s sound would pair with Danger Mouse, and ‘Chemtrails’ is the only track that doesn’t include any Danger Mouse loops. However, my second favorite song that I mentioned earlier, ‘Gamma Ray’, is probably the best example of the perfect marriage between Beck and Danger Mouse on the entire album.

Overall, it is still a melancholy Beck that you are getting with Modern Guilt and if you don’t like that side of him, you may not be into this album. There is enough pick-me-up power coming from Danger Mouse though to carry some of the melancholy into a slightly more uptempo realm, so if you are a true Beck fan then you should definitely purchase the album. It is still heads above where a lot of music is these days and Beck’s years of experience have eliminated a lot of the mediocrity that has creeped it’s way into the now over-saturated music market. Put simply, you could do a lot worse. If you are looking for a reliable album to sink your music hungry teeth into, then go for it.

I have included the title track ‘Modern Guilt’ along with ‘Chemtrails’ and ‘Gamma Ray’ to help you make up your own mind.

[audio:https://changethethought.com/audio/modernguilt.mp3]
[audio:https://changethethought.com/audio/chemtrails.mp3]
[audio:https://changethethought.com/audio/gammaray.mp3]

written by Christopher | tags: Album Reviews, Beck, Modern Guilt, Music

This video struck me in a couple different ways. A: It’s weird as hell but also fascinatingly so. By that I mean, after you get over the initial shock of what you are seeing and trying to interpret it gets your marbles rolling around and makes you start to think and consider what is actually happening. B: The music is great and now I am going to go do my homework and find out more about this band and potentially purchase their album.

The video is directed by Koichiro Tsujikawa. You can see a whole slew of his work here at the Pink Tentacle.

Thanks to Denver Egotist for uncovering the link.

written by Christopher | tags: Koichiro Tsujikawa, Music, Supercar, video, Wonderword

I apologize but I am currently on the road so I don’t have a lot of time to blog. So postings might be sparse the next few days lest my other bloggers decide to fill in the gaps for me while I am away.

I realized today that I haven’t posted about music in a while and there is a band I have been wanting to tell you about for a while. I recently purchased an album ‘Here Comes the Future’ by the band The Honeydrips. I cannot stop listening to it. It’s on the lighter the side of the rock meter but it’s just damn good music. Every song is catchy and it’s a great listen from start to finish. I have been playing it on a loop lately probably at the behest of some of my coworkers. I am not a big fan of headphones because I like to keep my hearing so I listen to my music out loud.

They just wrapped a little tour with Jens Lekman so I missed my opportunity to see them here in Colorado which was unfortunate. If you like what you hear, head over to their website and consider their album. You can’t miss and I wouldn’t recommend it if I didn’t really like it myself.

written by Christopher | tags: Music, Rock, The Honeydrips

I stumbled across this video for phon°noir (Matthias Grübel) animated by Sebastian Haslauer and Sebastian Koch today. I love the collage dada style of the video punctuated by some tasty typographical moments. It’s an interesting little piece of motion work for an interesting musician.

written by Christopher | tags: Matthias Grubel, Music, My Paperhouse on Fire, Phon Noir

An older Brazilian hippy friend of mine originally from Rio (a carioca as my wife would call him), turned me on to the recordings at The Old Grey Whistle this weekend. He has a whole bunch of the original recordings on a DVD and I was just blown away by the performances. There were performances by the likes of Bob Marley, David Bowie, U2, The Police and just about every great band or musical act ever. The recordings are historical in their importance as to capturing some of the most powerful performers ever to take the stage. I highly recommend the DVD.

One of the performances that stood out to me was Edgar Winter Band’s performance of Frankenstein that you can watch above. I just couldn’t believe how much ass Edgar Winter’s kicked.

written by Christopher | tags: Edgar Winter Band, Frankenstein, Music, Old Grey Whistle

Wow I am not only digging the actual music video for Morton Valence’s ‘Chandelier’, I am also digging the music. The video was directed by Klaas Diersmann & Dan Sutherland.

written by Christopher | tags: Moron Valence, Music, Music Video

Here is the copy from Vimeo about this video:
“Radiohead held an online contest to remix “Nude” from their album – “In Rainbows” This was quite a difficult task for all the electronic musicians that entered, as Nude is in 6/8 timing, and 63bpm. Most music that’s played in clubs is around 120bpm and usually 4/4 timing. It’s near impossible to mix a waltz beat into a DJ set.

This resulted in lots of generic entries consisting of a typical 4/4 beat, but with arbitrary clips from “Nude” thrown in so that they qualified for the contest.

Thom Yorke joked at the ridiculousness of it in an interview for NPR radio, hinting that they set the competition “for a laugh” and to find out what would come out of such an impossible task.

I decided to take the piss a bit, as the contest seemed to be in that spirit.

Based on the lyric (and alternate title) “Big Ideas: Don’t get any” I grouped together a collection of old redundant hardware, and placed them in a situation where they’re trying their best to do something that they’re not exactly designed to do, and not quite getting there.

It doesn’t sound great, as it’s not supposed to.

Sinclair ZX Spectrum – Guitars (rhythm & lead)
Epson LX-81 Dot Matrix Printer – Drums
HP Scanjet 3c – Bass Guitar
Hard Drive array – Act as a collection of bad speakers – Vocals & FX ”

You kind of have to wait this one out for a bit but once it gets rolling its absolutely brilliant. What a great idea.

written by Christopher | tags: In Rainbows, Music, Nude, Radiohead, Vimeo

This new video for the single “Pork and Beans” off of the new Weezer “Red Album” dropping June 3rd made me realize all over again why I love this band. The video is a massive collage of all the internet all stars from the last few years.

The video and the song kick ass. Double whammy style.

written by Christopher | tags: Music, Pork and Beans, Red Album, Weezer

The Whitest Boy Alive was far and away one of my favorite music purchases of last year. I still listen to the album all the time. It’s a truly memorable album. I saw the video for my favorite song off the album at a film festival last year but never thought to seek it out on Youtube. The video was animated by the very talented Geoff McFetridge. He has the kind of style you either like or don’t but I happen to really like the video. The song is one of my favorite songs from last year.

written by Christopher | tags: Geoff McFetridge, Golden Cage, Music, The Whitest Boy Alive

If you didn’t know already Scott Hansen, of ISO50 fame also produces music under the name Tycho. His music draws influence from Boards Of Canada but it is every bit his own and is always a good listen. Scott is inarguably one of the most talented designers out there right now and the album cover for his new single is fantastic. The single / b-side entitled “Adrift / From Home” will be out next Tuesday, May 27th, 2008. You can hear some samples below and read more on the always inspirational ISo50 blog.

written by Christopher | tags: Adrift From Home, Iso50, Music, Scott Hansen, Tycho

Interpol is far and away one of my favorite bands from the last few years. I started listening to them over 4 years ago when I lived in Miami and news of their music was slowly spreading up and down the east coast. Since then I have seen them in concert twice which is a rare thing for me since I don’t usually make it out to see live music as often as I said. So, needless to say when I stumbled on this news I was pretty excited to see a new video and hear a new song.

Apparently Capitol Records approached Los Angeles-based Blip Boutique to produce a video for Interpol’s latest single, ‘Rest My Chemistry’. They didn’t want the standard fare however, and were hoping more for a piece of digital art that would spread across the web and most likely never be broadcast. Blip Boutique went to task and created a video using a new data mapping technology that is very original.

You can see the video at a larger scale here.

The full credits for the creative, along with a nice little Q&A session can be read here.

written by Christopher | tags: Blip Boutique, Interpol, Motion Graphics, Music, Rest My Chemistry

Wonderful images pour out of the camera of Photographer Timothy Saccenti. He has photographed some of my favorite musicians such as Bloc Party, Atlas Sound, Erykah Badu, Animal Collective, LCD Sound System and Battles. His portfolio is full of gripping imagery. Brilliant work.

written by Christopher | tags: Music, Photography, Timothy Saccenti

A coworker turned me on to La Blogotheque today. It is a really extraordinary site where you can watch impromptu music videos and previously recorded live performances from some of the best musicians out there. Vampire Weekend’s performance was particularly impressive. The site really is amazing. It is in French so I would encourage you Americans, like myself, to click around until you uncover all the content that’s on the table. One part of the site that you absolutely cannot miss is the “Concerts A Emporter” section. There are some really exciting performances there.

Why don’t we have anything like this stateside yet? It’s a brilliant idea. This site makes me want to get out there and see more shows. It’s perfect for a Friday afternoon.

written by Christopher | tags: Indy Rock, La Blogotheque, Music

Wow, crazy audiovisuals at Club Transmediale 2008 by Rishaug & Watz concert at Generator.x 2.0. It’s like my favorite classic 70’s graphic design come to life and set to music.

written by Christopher | tags: Generator.x 2.0: Audiovisual, Motion Graphics, Music, Rishaug & Watz

I have been waiting for some time now for Santo Gold to release her first album. It was finally released this week and it does not disappoint in any way shape or form. It’s a genre-bending album in every sense drawing from be best of pop, 80’s, rasta, hip-hop and rock. I first herd Santo Gold on Mark Ronson’s album Version. Her single, titled ‘Pretty Green’ really jumped out and me and I made sure to make note of her and watch for what she did next. There has been buzz around her for a while now and she has been making appearances just about everywhere.

Her new album is self titled and full of good music from front to back to back to front. There aren’t really any really weak tracks on the album and that is always refreshing. Head over to her MySpace page for a listen or watch the video above to hear the first track from the new album. If you are feeling it like I am, its an easy download off of iTunes.

written by Christopher | tags: Genre bending, Mark Ronson, Music, Pop, Santo Gold

Wow, this video is cool. I love Boards of Canada and this video for Everything You Do is a Balloon is fantastic, weird but fantastically so. The video splices in samples from “One Got Fat,” a (1963) bicycle safety movie. I have been a fan of the Scottish music duo, comprised of brothers Michael Sandison and Marcus Eoin for several years now. If you haven’t heard of them, take the time to look them up and do yourself a favor and buy one of their albums. They are mellow, but well worth the price of a CD or download.

written by Christopher | tags: Boards of Canada, Everything you do is a balloon, Music

Adult Swim, who gained fame with their efforts to promote and support the likes of Dangermouse and MF Doom have released a new album of electronica that is available for free. I actually downloaded all of it myself and gave it a listen this morning before I thought I would write a post about it. The album is titled, ‘Ghostly Swim’. You can download it free here. It is surprisingly good. There are some really great tracks on the album and it is a really quality album to be giving away. The very first track is good and it kicks the album off strong and the album closes out well too with some good smooth tracks near the end. The album is a collaborative effort of several artists including Tycho (the musical stylings of design hero ISO50). Overall, you can’t beat something this good for free. Download it and enjoy. The album also comes with an image of the album art depicted above.

written by Christopher | tags: Adult Swim, Free Download, Ghostly Swim, Music