I’m not much of a skate video fan, but when I do watch, I like them to be high concept…or just blooper reels of people taking handrails to the nuts. The clip above is Lakai’s LAKAIROMANIA and it’s a great example of the former. It’s an awesome bit of slowmotion fire porn, with folks grinding gasoline soaked rails. As their submission to the Transworld Skateboarding 2010 Skate & Create competition, the short blows the other entries out of the out of the water. Featured in the video is Ima Robot’s ‘Ruthless’, which like some of the music in Lakai’s other clips is suitably moody.

In researching this video, I discovered there’s a common thread in the other skate videos I’ve enjoyed over the years. LAKAIROMANIA is directed by Ty Evans and produced by Spike Jonez. The last skate video that caught my eye happens to be another Lakai production:

From 2007, Fully Flared is another type of slow motion porn, this time full of awesome explosions. Directed by both Ty Evans and Spike Jonez, it keeps things interesting by sticking the skaters in what looks like some potentially hazardous sitiuations. The score this time is M83, a band which if you pair any of their songs up with slow motion video, the result will be seeped in excess gravitas.

Going back one step further to Yeah Right,the first skate video that caught my eye happens again to be directed by the pair of Evans and Jonez. In the set piece of this one, they remove the rider’s boards via greenscreen. The result is strangely dreamy, people just gracefully scooting along on nothing.

The film’s intro scene is also interesting, shot at around 100fps from close-in on the board. From that angle, you get a peek into how the feet work on a double kickflip. Awesome.

Directed & animated by Maxime Bruneel.

It’s said in the about page of this website that chiptunes is one of the genres to be talked about within these virtual pages. Sadly, I think it’s been about 2 years since any such mutterings have happened. To rectify that, I went poking around the recesses of my mp3 collection and found a lovely little fraction of a cover of The Beach Boys’ ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’ by Anamanaguchi. Though only about 30 seconds, it’s a pitch perfect chiptune rendition of a radio staple. If you do a little research on the band, you’ll see that their love of Brian Wilson & Co. is much publicized.

ANAMANAGUCHI – WOULDN’T IT BE NICE (BEACH BOYS COVER)

Though barely a full cover, I think that’s how it got released ages ago. The band’s 8bit Collective page back in 2005, but the mp3 has been lost in the stratosphere. I’m pretty certain this is where I grabbed it from back in the day. More recently, they posted up a cover of a track by sunshine and bong-hits So Cal noise punks Wavves track ‘So Bored’. Their rendition keeps the forward propulsion and adds the chiptune sheen that is a trademark of all their songs. Definitely recommended.

ANAMANAGUCHI – SO BORED (WAVVES COVER)

Anamanaguchi is also in the habit of giving bits of their music away to the fans. You can find the above track and a bunch more over at their 8bit Collective page.

This summer, the band has also gotten together a free singles program. Every two weeks they’ve been releasing a new free A & B side download. They’re off recording their next album, but awesomely finding the time to release tidbits of interstellar chip-rock to brighten our summer. Each single comes with original art and the psychokinetic gif above (from the first week’s single Airbrushed) features the work of Paul Roberston.

Robertson is an amazing animator and illustrator who specializes in the 16-bit retro style. Some of his amazing early shorts include Kings of Power 4billion% and my favorite Pirate Baby’s Cabana Battle Street Fight 2006. Go watch the shit out of those before even finishing this post. Most recently, Robertson was lead animator on theon the PSN/XBOX Live game adaptation of the (should have been a hit) film Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World. He was even nice enough to release some sprites from the game on his blog.

In possibly one of the best pairings since peanut butter and bacon, the game was scored by Anamanaguchi. Though they’re tossing about the word ‘flop’ in regards to the movie, reception of the game has been exceptionally positive and the score is a big part of that.

The Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World video game soundtrack was released on August 24, 2010 via ABKCO Records. You can purchase it digitally from iTunes.

Record Makers has brought us a fantastic remix of French house duo Acid Washed’s self titled track. It’s a great bit of sci-fi styled, harpsichord driven space electro. The remix is off the forthcoming single, to be released by Record Makers on September 17th. Accompanying the Danger remix there will be additional remixes from The Hacker, Daniel Haaksman and Mickey Moonlight.

ACID WASHED – ACID WASHED (DANGER REMIX)

While not necessarily new, as it launched in April of 2009, We Are Hunted a recent discovery of mine. It functions similarly to Elbows and Hype Machine, but chooses to do so in a more pleasing visual style. It’s all well coded and quite self contained, clicking on links brings up a player that will not interrupt your further exploration of the site.

It’s not entirely clear where they pull their stats, it does present an interesting mix of new and interesting music. In the copy on the site, it says that they aggregate via “blogs, social networks, forums, P2P networks and Spotify” (the latter being the only thing that can make someone in the US feel the frustrations of potential Hulu users in the UK). Supposedly, there’s some proprietary “clustering algorithms” going on behind the scenes. Either way, what is provided is a great variety that can I’ve found myself leaving on as background music.

You can add your blog should you be someone with content to share, but I have come across a few issues in adding this lovely site. I’m thinking it could be an issue with FeedBurner RSS feeds…maybe someone from We Are Hunted could look into that. *wink wink*

Regardless, from an end user experience, We Are Hunted is good way to explore the new.

An idea so simple and eloquent only the internet could have created it: Photoshop tacos onto your favorite album covers. Like vinyl face meme but better…because, you know…tacos.

[Album Tacos]

Eclectic Method has released their new homage to the best of 80’s and 90’s pixel beats. The accompanying video is badass, a stroll down Contra Lane populated by the ghosts of the classic Sega and Nintendo greats. I love the addition of a Mega Man-ified Blanka. For no reason but awesomeness, here’s a pic of the whole cast of Street Fighter in Mega Man style.

Take a look at The Creators Project Blog to read a full interview with Jonny Wilson & Ian Edgar about the track, their VJ’ing process and what’s up next for the group.

JONSI – GO DO

I don’t know why this album is finally making sense to me. There was probably a lot of expectations wrapped up in the thought of Jónsi doing a solo release. I’ll go as far as to say that Sigur Rós doesn’t really even sound like Sigur Rós anymore, but upon first listening to Go, it still felt additionally foreign. Ignoring the fact that initially in comparison to most popular music Sigur Rós sounded more alien than foreign, I think the 10 years of acclimation has let us learn the language of Iceland’s second weirdest exports (should current Reykjavik mayor Jón Gnarr, a former comedian, hits the spotlight I can only guess he’ll be up high on the list). With 2005’s Takk… and 2008’s Með Suð I Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust, their last few efforts felt like the process of sobering up as the sun rose…beautiful for sure, but on another level tiresome. The expanded instrumentation helped, but the shock of their otherworldly originality had faded. The live acoustic album Hvarf/Heim that accompanied the documentary Heima, got more listens from me than the previous two albums combined, even though it just served to remind me that their earlier albums were more awesome than their later output.

When ‘Go Do’ came out, it was like the sun had fully risen. The song’s propulsive beat and Jónsi’s tendency to sing in english (not his Cocteau Twins-ian language of Vonlenska) were even more off-putting to me, as I just wanted to nestle back into the darkness of 2002’s ( ). Odder still to see the song playing over the end credits of How To Train Your Dragon, a fine film…but an odd context. The connection I later learned is that director Dean DeBlois not only helmed the aforementioned dragon flick, but also their Heima documentary.

I won’t lie, internet marketing had a role in my coming back around on Go. A few months ago, they cut together a trailer for the tour:

I had to sit through it before watching a handful of dumb cat videos on youtube and for some reason, it reminded me that I really liked his voice. So, I went back to the album and found it to be far better than I remembered and ‘Go Do’ suddenly appeared to my ears to be something that a Sigur Rós song achieved: catchy. It’s been on repeat lately more than I’d like to admit.

Jónsi is taking Go on a national tour very shortly. On my previous experiences with Sigur Rós live, his voice live is incredible weather uptempo or down.

U.S. dates below:

October 15th – 4th & B – San Diego, CA
October 17th – The Wiltern, Los Angeles, CA
October 19th – Fox Theater – Oakland, CA
October 21st – House of Blues – Las Vegas, NV
October 22nd – The Complex – Salt Lake City, UT
October 23rd – The Marquee – Tempe, AZ
October 25th – Verizon Theatre – Grand Prairie, TX
October 26th – Austin Music Hall – Austin TX
October 27th – Verizon Theatre – Houston, TX
October 29th – Voodoo Festival – New Orleans, LA
October 30th – Moogfest – Asheville, NC
October 31st – The Tabernacle – Atlanta, GA
November 2nd – The Pageant – St. Louis, MO
November 3rd – Vic Theatre – Chicago, IL
November 5th – The Fillmore – Detroit, MI
November 6th – Newport Music Hall – Columbus, OH
November 8th – 9:30 Club – Washington, DC
November 10th – Hammerstein Ballroom – NYC, NY

Though the limited edition of Go (featuring a live acoustic dvd and housed in a velvet lined box) has sold out, you can still purchase the digital limited edition direct from his website. This version features a download of the album in lossless and mp3 format, the live dvd that came with the physical limited edition as an mp4 and an additional 4 song performance with Jónsi and Nico Muhly.

My brain is still pretty blown from a 16 hour solo drive, so all the plans I had for posts last week just kinda fell by the wayside. Much of my listening lately has consisted of Anthony Bourdain’s new audiobook Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook, so the musical selections have taken a backseat. I can definitely recommend Medium Raw as it’s probably his best. For a man who was one thing in the past attempting to co-exist with an older, dare I say it mellower current self; it’s a smartly self-aware narrative, still bristling with the rage that is a staple of all eras of his persona. Enough about audiobooks, here’s some music:

ARIEL PINK’S HAUNTED GRAFFITI – REMINISCENCES

I was terribly skeptical of this album with all the press that proceeded http://arielpinkshauntedgraffiti.com/">Ariel Pink’s newest release, but it’s a twisted charmer. ‘Reminiscences’ will most likely be what you will listen to on the not-yet-built space elevator up to the Frank Zappa memorial that will orbit the moon. Or, maybe…during the local forecasts on the Weather Channel in 20XX.

A man can dream, can’t he?

BREAKFAST MOUNTAIN – FUTURE GUNNZ (MAY LING REMIX)

I already gave him a write-up just over a month ago, but this one track seems to just stick out the more I revisit Hooooded Plus*. A multitude of cascading synths, headnodding electro beatsand cooing, halfway there vocals…what more do you need?

He gives his album away for free. You’ve got few excuses as to why it’s not on your HD already.

DAEDELUS – MAKE IT SO

While not new by any standards, Daedelus’s ‘Make It So’ is still a fantastic song by an equally good performer. The track is is a perfect example of the casual, beat heavy beauty that he seems to produce so consistently. I had the chance to catch him ages ago at LA’s best weekly event Low End Theory and he performed, as per usual, in a charmingly odd suit with his Monome pointed out toward the crowd for an extended mix of beat stylings from the last 3 decades. His live sets are always worth the price of admission.

Also worth checking out is the XXXChange remix of ‘Make It So’ hosted over at RCRDLBL:

CANDY CLAWS – SUN ARROW

The syrupy thick layers of sound in any given Candy Claws song seems to leave them dumped with a ton of bands buried under the banner of the new and quickly reviled genre de jour that is Chillwave. There’s something more in their work in their music though; the lush vocal pairings of couple Ryan Hover and Kay Bertholf flow perfectly with an shockingly well mixed array of sounds. While I think much of the Chillwave genre arrives at the muddy and distant sound out of organized chaos, everything on ‘Sun Arrows’ seems to be aligned perfectly…as Candy Claws most likely wants it.

A highly recommended song and album. Do check out the just released album Hidden Lands:

Sometimes, out of all the press releases that find their way into my inbox one or two will yeild a reward. Dad Rocks! was a bit of a hard sell, what with the cheeky name and all. The man behind the band is Snævar Njáll Albertsson, lead singer for the Danish band Mimas. I was ready to pass the song by…it’s got a charming enough single take video that ends in a bunch of kids dancing (call me a grump…points off for that), but the moment the loose drumbeat and horn snuck in my heart melted a bit. The echoed piano toward the end only boosted the atmosphere and enhanced the Why? vibe. I’ve listened to the song a few times now and it only grows on you.

Plus if I didn’t post the video, how could I find an excuse to show you this wonderful promo still:

Is the space get up a sly reference to Mimas’s early name Astronaut? Is Snævar eating a taco or a hot dog? I’m guessing hot dog, since in my experience Icelanders do love their pylsur. *

‘Nothing Keeps Up’ is from the forthcoming Digital Age EP, which features a pretty nifty hand-made digipack with a pop-up inside.

DAD ROCKS! – NOTHING KEEPS UP

Digital Age EP will be released August 16, 2010 via Big Scary Monsters. You can pre-order a hard copy from the label or get it digitally now from iTunes.

* Editors Note: Though Mimas is a Danish band, Snævar hails from Iceland. **

** I love editors notes.

Not that this Baltimore duo needs more exposure, but this song really gets to the heart of why Teen Dream is a beautiful, lush album. The lazy sway of the tune is performed with such little effort that it makes you feel that conjuring up such a lush mood is far easier than it really is. Love it.

BEACH HOUSE – SILVER SOUL

Teen Dream was released January 26, 2010 via Sub Pop. You can get it digitally from iTunes and on vinyl from Insound, where the two LP release comes with a DVD of videos for each song on the album.

Markus Popp has crafted some of the more interesting and complex minimal electro in recent years. The pinnacle of his earlier work came with the mid 90’s pair of releases Systemische and 94 Diskont, which rose to the pinnacle of pastoral glitchy soundscapes. Then a trio, the music was centered around worship of the accidental; they would take cds of crafted samples, scratch them up and re-sample the results. Through a heavy amount of processing, what could easily be incredibly harsh becomes a warm bath of digital tones backed by discreet rhythms made of pops and skips. Now primarily the sole work of Popp, with former bandmate Frank Metzger handling the design work, he’s back after nearly a decade off with a new spin on the Oval music.

The surprises some early in Oh, the most recent EP release from Oval, clearly detailed in the opening track ‘Hey’. After an initially calm 2 minutes of synth wash and glitchy tones bouncing around the track, a clear burst of drums rounds out the mix. Such distinct instrumentation was rarely found on earlier works, but the kinetic flourishes and free jazz fills match the energy of the lead melody and don’t come across as too jarring.

The third track ‘Grrr’ feels a bit darker, like a fax machine drunkenly crooning Standards-era Tortoise. Comparisons to the band are fair, as Popp is now labelmates wth Tortoise and much of the US probably first grew aware of Oval via their mid-ninties remixes for the band. Spazzy, almost digital interpretations of guitar fed through a variety of filters and finely chopped become the lead, making for something at once soothing and jarring,

The latter half of the EP is slightly more traditional Oval, featuring more abstract tone poems: as much meditations on style as they are functioning songs. Taking improvised sounding fret tapping and layering in digital elements, ultimately what is created is something that tricks the ear. Any attempt to consciously recognize what is organic and what is electronic becomes an empty quest and it’s best to simply be tugged along by the flow. Some of the shorter songs may feel like they end abruptly, but you’re left with a satisfying listen and some anticipation towards next month’s full length O.

Here’s one of less beat driven, more abstract songs from Oh:

OVAL – KASTELL 4

The cover art, affixed as a hand glued card to the 1,000 piece limited run vinyl comes from a still of ‘From Here To Ear’ (2007) by French artist Céleste Boursier-Mougenot, Video of the piece made the blog rounds earlier this year:

The installation is a walk through of an aviary populated by Zebra finches and plugged in electric guitars. As the birds do what birds do, as well react to the passing guests, they muck about with strings and frets doing their best to cover early Sonic Youth. There’s some correlation between Boursier-Mougenot’s piece and both the technical approach and tonal structure of Oval. The random flecks of tone and the abstract routes melody take can be found thoughout Popp’s catalog as well in ‘From Here To Ear’. The use of a still from the piece is the only connection however, as Disquet found out from a Thrill Jockey rep that Boursier-Mougenot has no involvement with the music and he just allowed use of the image.

While I’m on the subject, take a look at Hanes Broecker’s ‘Drink Away The Art,’ a piece which pretty much functions as the title implies while still remaining interesting.

Oh was released June 15th, 2010 via Thrill Jockey. The first pressing of the EP, which was pressed on 150 gram white vinyl and featured a hand glued still from Céleste Boursier-Mougenot’s ‘From Here To Ear’ has sold out. Check back with Thrill Jockey to see when it is repressed, though you can get it digitally from the label as well. Oval’s next release come in early September and will be a double disk/vinyl full length that will feature 70 songs, a sample of which can be found over at Disquet.

So, seems Baeble is taking charge in hosting up some pretty sweet live shows. Be warned though, as the first time I tried to bring up the setlist function on their player and skip songs…flash just completely died. Linked here is the Local Natives show from the Bowery Ballroom in NYC, back in May. Their album is fairly deserved of the showers of praise its received and takes on an additional charm in a live context. The vocal harmonies are not studio trickery and form a lovely enveloping warmth that brings the songs an added dimension.

Also worth checking out, Local Natives just finished a semi-acoustic Daytrotter session which you can find here.

Baeble also has a killer set from Tokyo Police Club at The Studio at Webster Hall. Watching it makes me feel less shitty for missing their most recent tour.

Enjoy!

I’m back from Comic-Con in 98% one piece. Joints a bit achey, shoulders a bit sore, brain very muddled. Kicking around the internet I completely ignored for the last week, I’m both very happy and a little sad to find this bootleg from the recent Cap’n Jazz reunion show. The joyful part of me is happy to hear these guys playing again. I’ve kept up with some of the myriad of projects that Tim Kinsella has been involved with over the years, but Cap’n Jazz has a special place in my heart. The sad part of me recognizes that I’m old enough to see some of the bands from my uber depressive “glory days” have run out of cash and are pulling together reunion tours. I blogged about the Swans reunion tour and I’m more excited than I care to admit about the upcoming Godspeed You Black Emperor! tour. One can only guess that in the 10 year window since these bands were actively touring, the cash reserves have run out and it’s easier to sell merch & tickets by gettin’ the band back together. As with the somewhat palatable Silver Mount Zion, which have been touring and releasing over the last few years, I’m far more excited about a GSYBE tour than any new release that the fans won’t instantly love. Often nostalgia is an easier dollar to find instead of fighting the rough seas of new material.

Now, Joan of Arc has put out some solid albums in the time since Cap’n Jazz released their sole album and following compilation. Though generally I love Kinsella’s sometimes polarizing style, I’m extra excited about the prospect of him taking the older band out around the country.

nyctaper was at their most recent show available for download:

Cap’n Jazz – Full set live at Maxwell’s in New Jersey

Here’s a sample track (rehosted on the Taking Tiger Mountain servers out of respect to nyctaper’s always good work and generosity):

CAP’N JAZZ – OH MESSY LIFE (LIVE AT MAXWELL’S)

In honor of the tour, is finally seeing vinyl release and is available through Insound.com. Quoth the product description:

The double LP, recut from the original high resolution masters and pressed at RTI on 120 gram vinyl, is packaged in a deluxe gatefold jacket with bonus materials including a full size, eight page booklet with unseen photos, fliers, and extensive liner notes by Tim Kinsella. The accompanying high quality digital download of the entire album also includes ten additional songs from the original CD release.

If you’re still craving an interesting Kinsella collectible, in about a month Joyful Noise will be releasing a very limited cassette boxed set of the entire Joan of Arc catalog.

The set will feature a custom built, screen printed box that is hand numbered and limited to 100. The albums, which have never been released on cassette before, will feature the original album art. When the boxed set was released for pre-order, it sold out in two days…so you’ll have to hunt a clever record store to find a copy.

All 10 cassettes, minus the sexy custom packaging are still available from the Joyful Noise website.

It’s that time of year again…I’m heading to San Diego for Comic-Con 2010. There will be a little bit of a down time here at Taking Tiger Mountain as I’m whisked away to the whimsical capital of cosplay & convention exclusives. I’m a free agent this year, no longer tied to any one booth or publisher (my day job is working as a comic editor). I’m now free range, wandering the halls with a fistful of business cards and an empty wallet. I haven’t even looked at the panel listings, as I’m so used to working the show and not just attending it. The best stuff happens randomly anyway.

Look for things to get back rolling next week. I’ll be posting up pictures from the show on my podcast’s website SRS BSNS with DeMatteis and 2hands. Check it out or add the show’s twitter account for updates.

In the mean time, any readers heading to San Diego for Comic-Con 2010?