Category Archives: Dance

Jan 08 2015
Dance, Funk, Prog Rock

“Halleluhwah”

tagomago
Can
Tago Mago, 1971

So this is the New Year! Let’s make a deal: if I resolve to be a little more consistent about posting to TBSYHAD (5 songs a week, like I told myself in the beginning), will you resolve to check the site more often? Really? You will? As a sign of your loyalty, will you also promise to listen to “Halleluhwah” in its entirety today? I’m not gonna ask that you stay seated the entire time — it’s cool if you need to get up to do the dishes or something. I mean, 19 minutes … that’s about how long it takes to do dishes anyway. I promise it’ll be worth it. I was reminded recently how much I love this band — specifically for this album and Ege Bamyasi — when I heard the spooky “Vitamin C” over the opening moments of Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice. “Halleluhwah” captures a similar anxious groove, then stretches it beyond all reasonable measure.

[audio https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/14312140/04%20Halleluhwah.mp3]

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Oct 30 2014
Dance, Electronic

“Night Tracking”

jacques_greene
Jacques Greene
Phantom Vibrate, 2014

I don’t always listen to house music, but when I do, I want it to sound like Jacques Greene. My intro to the Canadian producer/DJ came in the form of his unforgettable 2011 Radiohead “Lotus Flower” remix, a standout in a series of frankly lackluster offerings from more prominent names (Caribou, Jamie xx, et. al) as part of that year’s “TKOL RMX” debacle. Since then I’ve kept tabs on his R&B-leaning, dancefloor-ready singles, which strike me as just interesting enough to appeal equally to production heads and mainstream fans alike. “Night Tracking” closes out the recent Phantom Vibrate EP on a melancholy note, a succession of subconscious melodies fighting for attention under a prototypical house beat. I’d accuse the whole thing of being a little too simple, were it not for the fact it’s been rattling around in my head all week.

[audio https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/14312140/03%20Night%20Tracking.m4a]

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Aug 25 2014
Dance, Electronic

“Can’t Do Without You”

Caribou-Our-Love
Caribou
Our Love, 2014

Summer’s almost over, sad to say, and if you were worried yours might come to an end without an encapsulating single, help yourself to mine. Based on the advance hype, Caribou’s forthcoming Our Love appears, finally, to be the club-ready record Dan Snaith has been building toward his entire career. He’s certainly pushed the button before (most notably on 2010’s Swim and with solo project Daphni), but never this hard. “Can’t Do Without You” is four minutes of perfectly modulated, professional-grade sugar rush, and it sticks from the first listen. Don’t take my word for it though – press play and make it your own. You’ve still got a whole week left.

[audio https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/14312140/01%20Can’t%20Do%20Without%20You.mp3 ]

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Aug 06 2014
Ambient, Dance, Electronic

“XTAL”

Aphex Twin
Selected Ambient Works 85-92, 1992

This one hit like lightning the first time I heard it, and that was from streaming a 30-second sample on CDNow back in summer ’99. Careful readers will note I was already several years late to the party at that point, but “Xtal” is nothing if not timeless. I’m willing to bet on the same magic in 2014. In his prime, Richard D. James laid the foundation for much of what was to become popular in late-90’s electronic music and still is today. If there’s a prettier piece of ambient techno/electronic/IDM/whatever floating around out there in the ether, I’ve yet to hear it.

[audio https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/14312140/01%20Xtal.mp3 ]

iTunes/Amazon

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