Phantom - Kisses (Video)

Phantom just turned a year old, roughly. The Swedish duo of formally trained jazz 

singer/songwriter Hanna Toivonen and producer Tommi Koskinen pull

off a phenomenal feat here, sampling one of the most famous pieces

of music ever created. The French composer Erik Satie's 'Gymnopedie No.1'.

Tommi Koskinen does a great job making the beat his own, touching

the sample up with some distorted strings and distant synths while

Hanna Toivonen deals with romantic rejection via her jazz vocal stylings,
that have a touch of sass.

When the sample drops in a recognizable chunk, it is familiar yet still 

jaw droppingly beautiful.

The video is as pretty and as ethereal
as the tune.

Lovely.

Ifan Dafydd - Celwydd

Ifan Dafydd was once roommates with James Blake and you can hear
it in the music. Considering the prolific-ness of James Blake, this is not a
problem at all. In fact, it is very welcome.

Much like JB's work, this tune is a spiral of pitch-fucked vocals
courtesy of Alys Williams, church organs, bass stabs and
skittering percussion.

This is off a compilation by the Welsh label Recordiau Lliwgar.
No word when the whole joint drops.

Till then quench your thirst with this.

The Songs 2 Sing 2 In The Shower 2012 Mix

I've always wanted to put out a mix. As the new year of 2013 approached, it seemed

like the timing was just right. Time for a mix of songs. Songs to sing to in the shower.

Some songs snuck on there despite my best efforts. Grizzly Bear for instance - so difficult to 

pick one song off that album.. Whereas with artists like Beach House, Purity Ring, Jessica Ware 

and Miguel, it felt blasphemous to pick a song when the entirety of the project demanded a consumption of the whole.

Anyway, here is the mix. 

Cheers to singing in the shower. Or where ever else works for you.

2012 remembered through sound.

If that does not work, here is the link to cut and paste....

http://www.mediafire.com/?8ek428avye7kx4b

Tracklist below:

1. Child Actor - If You Loved Me
2. LIGHTS - Heavy Rope
3. Ultraista - Small Talk
4. Kaskade featuring Skylar Grey- Room For Happiness
5. Grizzly Bear - Yet Again
6. Bat For Lashes - Laura
7. Ango - True Blue
8. JoJo - Demonstrate
9. Lalah Hathaway - Lie To Me
10. Sky Ferreira - Everything Is Embarassing
11. Lana del Rey - Gods & Monsters
12. Royskopp & Susanne Sundfor - Running To The Sea
13. Grimes - Genesis
14. Twigs - Ache
15. Daughn Gibson - Tiffany Lou
16. Yume - There There

Oppaa - N'questia

And to continue the streak of little known knob twiddlers out there in the midst.

Oppa, whoever you are, has crafted a gentle head nodder of a remix of Adele's

'Melt My Heart To Stone'.

At this point, Adele's sample worthiness is no longer a point of debate.

Winona Hyper - U

Another mysterious musical bad ass. Sigh.....

The only scrap of information about Winona Hyder is that he/she/it is from Japan.
What is not a mystery is the beauty of this shimmering trillwave jam.

Twigs - EP (Stream)

The Weeknd presented the world with a mysterious male R&B lothario. 

But girls wanna have fun too (very necessary Cyndi Lauper reference, not?). 

Enter Twigs coming out of the UK.

But they only share an aura of mystery. Twigs is not as depraved -  more of a seductive

strange bird cooing in the night. There's a hint of something askew but its not clear what.

Yet that is the source of the allure.

Much like the previously released sleeper hit 'Ache', the EP's instrumentation is heavy on mood, 

full of ambient touches, frequently erring on the side of minimalism.

Aching for some more music from this one.

Taquwami - All My Life

Despite a steady stream of impeccable joints, Taquwami (real name Takumi Kuwahara)
remains an elusive figure. But hey with music this good, little is unforgivable.

Somewhere in the mix, an old R&B song has been buried alive. It calls out in
distant wails, touched with reverb and pitch-fucked, as icy synth shards fall about.
It travels close to the aqueous realm of melancholic majesty that Balam Acab inhabits.
Except for that sexy trap drum pattern.

With every song, the Japanese wiz proves to be one of the most impressive and underrated
new talents in the producer game this year, teasing and baiting us with a trickle
of songs.

Oh, the unbearable thirst....