Category Archives: Music

The Ravers Manifesto

“Our emotional state of choice is Ecstasy. Our nourishment of choice is Love. Our addiction of choice is technology.
Our religion of choice is music. Our currency of choice is knowledge. Our politics of choice is none.
Our society of choice is utopian though we know it will never be. You may hate us. You may dismiss us. You may misunderstand us. You may be unaware of our existence.
We can only hope you do not care to judge us, because we would never judge you. We are not criminals. We are not disillusioned. We are not drug addicts. We are not naive children…
We are one massive, global, tribal village that transcends man-made law, physical geography, and time itself.
We are The Massive. One Massive.
We were first drawn by the sound. From far away, the thunderous, muffled, echoing beat was comparable to a mother’s heart soothing a child in her womb of concrete, steel, and electrical wiring.
We were drawn back into this womb, and there, in the heat, dampness, and darkness of it,
We came to accept that we are all equal. Not only to the darkness, and to ourselves, but to the very music slamming into us and passing through our souls: we are all equal.
And somewhere around 35 Hz we could feel the hand of God at our backs, pushing us forward, pushing us to push ourselves to strengthen our minds, our bodies, and our spirits,
Pushing us to turn to the person beside us to join hands and uplift them by sharing the uncontrollable joy we felt from creating this magical bubble that can, for one evening, protect us from the horrors, atrocities, and pollution of the outside world. It is in that very instant, with these initial realisations that each of us was truly born.
We continue to pack our bodies into clubs, or warehouses, or buildings you’ve abandoned and left for naught, and we bring life to them for one night.
Strong, throbbing, vibrant life in it’s purest, most intense, most hedonistic form.
In these makeshift spaces, we seek to shed ourselves of the burden of uncertainty for a future you have been unable to stabilise and secure for us.
We seek to relinquish our inhibitions, and free ourselves from the shackle’s and restraints you’ve put on us for your own peace of mind.
We seek to re-write the programming that you have tried to indoctrinate us with since the moment we were born.
Programming that tells us to hate, that tells us to judge, that tells us to stuff ourselves into the nearest and most convenient pigeon hole possible. Programming that even tells us to climb ladders for you, jump through hoops, and run through mazes and on hamster wheels.
Programming that tells us to eat from the shiny silver spoon you are trying to feed us with, instead of nourish ourselves with our own capable hands.
Programming that tells us to close our minds, instead of open them.
Until the sun rises to burn our eyes by revealing the dis-utopian reality of a world you’ve created for us, we dance fiercely with our brothers and sisters in celebration of our life, of our culture, and of the values we believe in:
Peace, Love, Freedom, Tolerance, Unity, Harmony,
Expression, Responsibility and Respect.
Our enemy of choice is ignorance. Our weapon of choice is information. Our crime of choice is breaking and challenging whatever laws you feel you need to put in place to stop us from celebrating our existence.
But know that while you may shut down any given party, on any given night, in any given city, in any given country or continent on this beautiful planet, you can never shut down the entire party.
You don’t have access to that switch, no matter what you may think. The music will never stop. The heartbeat will never fade. The party will never end.
I am a raver, and this is my manifesto.”

CD Review: Dye It Blonde [2011]


Band:
Smith Westerns
Release: 1/2011
Label:
Fat Possum

1. “Weekend” – [A]
2. “Still New” – [A-]
3. “Imagine Pt. 3” – [A]
4. “All Die Young” – [A-]
5. “Fallen In Love” – [A-]
6. “End of the Night” -[A]
7. “Only One” – [A]
8. “Smile” – [A-]
9. “Dance Away” – [A]
10. “Dye the World” – [A-]

Comments: Smith Westerns are a band that, like label-mates Wavves in 2010, benefited immensely from a bigger studio budget. The clarity and direction on Dye It Blonde is a thing of beauty. Stylistically, this is something of a neo-psychedelic or psychedelic pop record, quite a few LSD blotters more psychedelic than the trippiest offerings from Magic Kids, but not as pop-sensible as say former tour partner MGMT. One thing that persists from the start of the record is that clean lead guitar effect, which sounds good, but is a bit overused. “Weekend” and “Imagine Pt. 3” have qualities that immediately hit ‘ya, so with good reason these tracks were made available before the official release. “Dance Away” may be the album’s most experimental track, but in the strangest way possible: it’s the fastest, most accessible, and most randomly discombobulated recording on here. Sounds like it’s going for that Diana Ross “Upside Down” disco meets ’90s Ricky Martin feel. Anyway, this is a record to remember. Fuck, it ain’t even 2011 yet so to make any predictions about this being in contention for Best of 2011 would be wildly erratic and unbecoming. I will say it’s the best thing from 2011 that I heard in 2010. K?

Grade: A- (92)

Dance Song Of The Day

Eric Prydz – Pjanoo

For a fan of EDM, its refreshing to see true house music making a comeback. For a while in the late 2000’s it was all about Trance and Electro, while true house was kind of left in the dust. Surprisingly, house’s comeback is emerging from an unexpected location. When most people think of house the first two places that come to mind are Chicago and France, though Sweden has now become the hotbed of true house music with artists such as AN21, Max Vangelli, Axwell, Steve Angello, Sebastian Ingrosso and Eric Prydz bringing back the old traditions.

Posted above is a favorite song of mine, “Pjanoo” by Eric Prydz. It’s one of those feel good songs to me, always puts me in a good mood. Long live house music, and may this revival continue.


Classic CD Review: Tim [1985]


Band:
The Replacements
Label: Sire Records

1. “Hold My Life” [A-]
2.  “I’ll Buy” [A-]
3. “On The Bus” – [A-]
4. “Dose of Thunder” – [B+]
5. “Waitress in the Sky” – [B+]
6. “Swingin Party” – [A-]
7. “Bastards of Young” – [A+]
8. “Lay It Down Clown” – [B+]
9. “Left Of The Dial” – [A+]
10. “Little Mascara” – [A]
11. “Here Comes A Regular” – [A+]

Comments: The A side of this classic — the first in a string of major label releases by the band — is full of semi-heavy jams that weren’t totally out of place in the mainstream ’80s rock climate. It’s the lighter ones that I prefer though. I guess starting with “Swingin Party” is a helluva a bottom half. Insta-classics include “Bastards of Young,” “Left of the Dial,” and “Here Comes A Regular.” What makes these three so good? Well they are all really distinct. I might be a little prejudice because I’ve been listening to them independently for a couple of years now, but I’ve got to say they all bring a lot to the table. “Little Mascara” is quite close to that kind of level. It’s the acoustic guitar in “Here Comes A Regular” that really tickles my fancy. What a progression, I tell ya.

Grade: A-

Band Recommendation: New Generation Dudes

New Generation Dudes from Chicago, Illinois know how to entertain. Keep in mind, I know very little about whether they can actually entertain (I’m guessing they can), but they seem to have the basics down…musically at least. Their latest EP is a clusterfuck of dance music at the heart of everything. Whether its actually ghetto house music or some variation of that is something for KLYAM EDM expert Rich to decide, but to me it’s just enjoyable stuff that’s fast, heavy, and hooky as can be. As NGD put it: “IF YOU ARE NOT READY FOR THIS, YOUR HEAD WILL LITERALLY FUCKING EXPLODE. DO NOT FUCK AROUND.” Seriously, though, it’s true. What really impresses me is their control of tempo. I tend to appreciate electronic music a lot more when there are parts that are immediately attractive, but others that you have to wait for. NGD gets it right. Take a listen why don’t you?

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/newgenerationdudes