I’ve been absolutely loving this new track from Mayer Hawthorne for a while now, and the recently released video is just brilliant. I was raised on Detroit TV, so this video immediately found a special place in my heart. Amazing nostalgia courtesy of The New Dance Show, and quite possibly Mayer’s strongest track yet. It’s a song with a vital message about Detroit’s past and future and respect to Mayer for his continual rep of the D.
I cannot wait for his sophomore album, “How Do You Do?” dropping on October 11. Check it!
INAUDIBLE recently had the pleasure of conducting an interview with Michigan-based artist Michael Cottone aka The Green Kingdom, and we discussed his new album Prismatic, his varied artistic pursuits, the Motor City, and the wonders of nature and spirituality. Check it out right HERE on Headphone Commute! Cheers.
Michael Cottone has been quietly making music under The Green Kingdom moniker since 2006, and with each release he further refines his brand of introspective ambient bliss. His latest album Prismatic was released in September by Home Assembly Music and was mastered by Taylor Deupree. Cottone skillfully uses digitally enhanced acoustic guitar, strings, bells, and a myriad of samples and field recordings to create his compositions.
Within his arrangements, melody and space work in tandem in an attempt to manifest what Cottone has called an “optimistic nostalgia” for the listener — an aural experience that can provide a momentary reprieve from the frenetic, fast-paced world that surrounds us. And indeed his music is perfect for contemplative mornings and quiet evenings, where the vibe is to “slow down” and to “reflect”, and while listening this comes about quite naturally, as the familiarity of his work launches you back into memories of warm summer evenings past and gone, while at the same time, makes your heart beat ever faster for the future.
There’s a strong sense of optimism in Cottone’s music that is useless to attempt to describe in words, the expressive rhythms and melodies he creates speak for themselves. With tracks like “Wetlands” and “The Largest Creature That Has Ever Existed”, Cottone works with guitar, piano, and bells and establishes incredible mood and subjective wonder, while with “Radiance Reflected” and “Bonfire (tec)”, he adds a subtle 4/4 beat underneath it all, simulating your heart beating buoyantly for the future you envision for yourself. There is also a strong underlying sense of being connected to nature — to the woods that border our cities and towns, to the birds that fly unseen above our heads, and to the sun-drenched afternoons we take for granted until the bleak days of winter have surrounded us.
Prismatic is one of the finest ambient albums of 2010, and a prime example of electronic and organic sounds working together so effortlessly. Fans of Helios, Nest, The Boats, Kiln, and Susumu Yokota should check out The Green Kingdom immediately. The album also comes with a bonus disc of remixes from the likes of Insecto, Fieldhead, The Declining Winter, The Boats, and bvdub, and is an excellent addendum to the subtle beauty of Prismatic.
Minus Records mainstay Marc Houle returns with his new full-length album, Drift, and continues to further refine his sound. Written in Berlin during the bleak winter months of 2009, Drift stands apart from anything Houle has released to date. He’s stripped away much of the wackiness and playfulness that has become his signature, for a more dark and cold aesthetic. Houle’s sound has never been one that is easy to classify, as he’s always been a bit left of centre when it comes to techno – he doesn’t just write dancefloor bangers and/or head-bobbing numbers for home listening, yet his music has always fit comfortably both in and out of the party.
With tracks “Seeing in the Dark” and “Drift” one envisions the darkest Berlin club – an abandoned warehouse in a cold grey industrial neighbourhood, or a claustrophobic basement rave in a dilapidated building in Detroit, seem to suit these tracks just fine – where night has long since switched over to morning, but the kids seem compelled to continue as long as the party allows them.
Those tracks and the 7-minute “Melting”, are perhaps the moodiest compositions on the album, driven by Houle’s subtle use of analogue synths and rumbling bass. Drift all but abandons the quirky use of 8-bit sounds that Houle seemed to love so much in his earlier releases, yet what is interesting with Drift is that he has replaced those sounds with guitar. Opening song “Inside”, which I imagine would be an amazing track for driving on the Autobahn, as well as “Sweet”, “The Next”, and “Hammering”, feature processed guitar lines that hint at new wave and dark wave and are a great addition to his sound.
By the album’s last track, “Hammering”, there seems to be some light in the grey winter, the sun has peeked its head after months of absence, and the old playful Houle peeks his head out as well, closing with a guitar-based track that is funky and jazzy and reminiscent of Tortoise. Drift is undoubtedly a cold and dark album, but Marc Houle is as hot and bright as ever. Check it.
Born and raised in the Motor City, Alex Omar Smith has been releasing some of the finest techno to come out of Detroit since the demise of Drexciya in 2002.
Following in the footsteps of Detroit producers like Carl Craig, Jeff Mills, Derrick May, and Theo Parrish, Omar-S started his own label and has put out all his music, save for 2009’s Fabric Mix, on his FXHE imprint. It’s a DIY label dedicated to staying underground and keeping record prices cheap. Omar’s sound is dirty, minimal, and melodic all at once, and he mixes techno, dub, disco, and house together to fantastic effect.
Here is a snippet of his newest and just released “Here with Me” EP that I cannot get enough of. That is my kind of techno and Omar-S is one of my favourite electronic producers. If you haven’t heard him, check him out, and read an amazing and candid interview from Resident Advisor right here. Peace.
Even better: sample the whole track and read Little White Earbuds glowing review right HERE. Awesome.
Mayer Hawthorne & The County brought the love to the Drake Underground on Sunday to a sold out crowd. Opening the set with “Maybe So, Maybe No”, an energetic Hawthorne and his tight band, had the crowd immediately loving it – dancing, singing along, and blowing bubbles. Yes bubbles. They totally added an old-timey feel to his old school sound. I was happy to hear Mayer have his vocal chops live and not just on the album. He seems to enjoy having fun with the crowd, making us move in tight to dance, confiding with us about love, and even stopping in the middle of “Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out” to ask us if we like heavy metal and country, and then starting the song again with a reggae beat. Fun stuff.
The group played the hits from his just released “A Strange Arrangement” as well as a few covers, including a great extended version of “Love is All Right” from Cliff Nobles and Co, because as Hawthorne kept telling us: it was all about the love. Overall, it was a tight and fun set and there were a lot of pretty girls in the crowd, but unfortunately they only had eyes for the Mayer. The one thing missing from the band was some live horns, but all in due time . . .
Opening DJ mymanhenri is consistently awesome at his craft, always setting the mood with his 92bpm hip-hop vibe. I unfortunately missed BUFF1 throwdown his smooth Ann Arbor hip-hop, but did get to see 14KT‘s set before the headline and BUFF sat up behind the drums during his set and chilled out as 14KT dropped dope beats. Check out their collab track “Real Appeal” on BUFF’s latest album “There’s Only One”, it’s a winner. All in all, it was a great night of Detroit soul and hip-hop with mymanhenri representing for the T.
Ann Arbor, Michigan’s Mayer Hawthorne is about to blow up big time. His full-length debut album hits stores on September 8th, 2009, and is an amazingly authentic take on Motown and Detroit soul from the 60’s. This is nu-skoool soul that you could play for your Mom and before you knew it, she’d be up and dancing dirty with your Dad in the living room. Meshing the sounds of Smokey, Marvin, Curtis, and the Temps, Mayer Hawthorne’s album, “A Strange Arrangement” plays like a warped 33 from your parents old LP collection, but also manages to sound like the next shit at the same time.
Growing up on the outskirts of Detroit, Hawthorne listened to the rich musical history of Motown via all the amazing radio stations in the Detroit area (104.3 WOMC!!) and felt connected to the sound and emotion of that era—and now he’s put out one of the smoothest soul albums I’ve heard in years. Some of the tracks sound just a little too close to the artists he’s paying respect to—for example “Your Easy Lovin’ Aint Pleasin” sounds like a sped up “You Can’t Hurry Love” by The Supremes, and “The Ills” could be an unreleased Curtis Mayfield track, but cuts like “Shiny and New”, “Maybe So, Maybe No”, and title track “A Strange Arrangement” reveal Hawthorne’s skills at their best. Overall, the album is an absolute burner. Infectious, nostalgic, emotional, smooth, and really really fucking groovy. I’m still trying to get my head around the fact that he’s a pasty white dude, and that not only does he have a fantastic voice, but also plays all the instruments on the album! Wow.
Mayer Hawthorne & The County are making their Toronto debut at The Drake Hotel on Sunday, September 27th. I’ll be there and wearing my heart on my sleeve. Edit: I was there! Check him out immediately! Peace.
Luke Hess has just released his proper debut “Light in the Dark” on the fantastic Echochord imprint. Having cut his teeth in Detroit and refined his sound over the last few years working with the likes of Omar-S and other emerging dub techno producers, Hess’ debut pays homage to the Detroit minimalism of Theorem and Plastikman and Basic Channel’s deep techno of the late 90’s. And although at times some tracks sound eerily close to the artists he’s paying respect to, overall I think the album totally works.
This is 4/4 techno that is dance-floor oriented, but it’s also heady and reflective. It almost feels as if Hess is trying to recreate the glory days of Detroit techno, before DEMF, when sketchy warehouse parties and the City Club were the places to go to drop pills and sweat and dance and just lose it to the craziest, darkest, bass-heavy, four on the floor techno you ever heard. And unfortunately, I think this is where the album falters. It doesn’t go far enough. Yes, the production is crisp and technically some of the finest dub techno I’ve heard since “The Coldest Season”, but by looking so deeply into the past, Hess never really moves his sound forward. If anything “Light in the Dark” reveals his potential, an artist with skill and style, but one who still needs to carve out his own niche, and continue to refine his own sound.
Luke Hess is one to watch out for in the coming years, and his debut album is definitely worth checking out. Peace.
Edit: Also check out the Ignite the Dark Remixes (Mikkel Metal, cv313, and Marko Furstenberg). Dynomite!
Line-up: Lusine, Tycho, Michna w/Raw Paw, Milosh and SV4
Ann Arbor, Michigan’s GHOSTLY label turns ten this year and to celebrate they are playing a string of shows across the globe. I caught the show in Toronto at the Drake Underground on May 27th, 2009 and thought it was fantastic.
Lusine (Jeff McIlwain) opened the night with an amazing set that meshed his various styles together beautifully. Although he seemed a bit upset to be playing so early, he delivered a bass heavy, Audion-esque set that had that Detroit snap and pop to it. I was very impressed and so was the crowd. Surprising that this was his first show in Toronto.
Michna w/ Raw Paw played next and delivered a quirky and emotional set of jazzy and dark indietronic pop. The trio played a multitude of instruments: keys, tenor sax, trombone, drums, synths, and DEEP ass bass, and brought fun and energy to the show. I had never heard of them but just picked up the new album “Magic Monday” and am totally digging it.
Tycho played next and the room filled for his set. Hate to harp, but his set didn’t differ much from the one he played last year when he visited the Drake. And obviously he wears his Boards of Canada heart on his sleeve. To be honest, I think Tycho should have opened the night and Lusine should have played third, but alas … no one danced either, they just stood there, swaying drunk and scratching their chin prickles.
Toronto native Mike Milosh closed the night and although the guy has an absolutely amazing voice, the music was not the right vibe for the party. It was too slow and quiet for a night that was supposed to be full of dancing and delusions. Unfortunately, the Toronto crowd was just too hip and shoe-gazey that night.
SV4 spun in between sets and played hit after hit after hit. Props to him. I had a great night and am now feeling a bit pissy that I decided to choose money over mutek this weekend. Shizer. Anyway, Ghostly is a quality label putting out some of the best shit you wanna stuff in your ears. Check it and love it. I’m out.
Minus Records artist and uber-nerd Marc Houle composes music for broken Atari’s and landfill Moogs, while still making us humans want to shake various parts of our anatomy in lewd and exciting ways. Marc knows how to control the ebb and flow of a dance floor. He knows how to keep the bodies on the floor.
It’s difficult to describe, but Marc’s music has a sort of dark wackiness to it. Yes, it’s minimal, yes it occasionally has that old-skoool Detroit feel, yes it is playful and fun, but there is a grey shadow hovering just above it all. It’s a solid juxtaposition of real emotion in a supposedly emotionless genre of techno.
Check this track from his “Sixty-Four Week 3” release for a perfect example of what I mean:
Lovely ain’t it? My friend Mat calls this track a “burner”, and I think the term’s fitting.
Over the last few years, Marc has been working very hard on his live show and seeing him play at Footwork in Toronto a few months back, it was clear he is both a superstar in the studio as well as in front of a crowd of sweaty 4/4 loving freaks. The question remains as to why he is not playing at MUTEK this year?
Be Marc’s friend! Go see his show. Buy his records. Kiss him on the cheek.
INAUDIBLE 