Daphni is the alias of Caribou frontman Dan Snaith. He's done edits of tracks and also has recorded some new music, some of which has surfaced in the last couple of days. It is playfully funky and geared more to the dance floor. Delicious!
The beats for your feets are here - a wicked Greg Wilson mash-up of Fujiya & Miyagi’s ‘Ankle Injuries’ and Madonna’s ‘Ray Of Light', a nice edit of a Lou Rawls classic, an 808 State anniversary remix, and tracks from Korallreven & Recloose.
I'lls' ("isles") are a Melbourne trio that are starting to make a bit of a splash lately. They played at the big Parklife in Melbourne yesterday alongside such notables as Diplo. Gossip, Lykke Li and Little Dragon. They play a lovely mix of music which veers from electro to ambient folk to indie to shoegaze-y pop and back again. Skittery programmed beats mesh with guitars and ethereal keys. It is delightfully mesmerizing stuff. Their first EP is called Thread and is available from the Bandcamp link above. Like them on Facebook too...
Spoon Records and Mute are set to release the 40th anniversary edition of the classic Can album Tago Mago on November 15, 2011. It comes packaged in the original UK artwork for the first time since 1971, and includes a bonus CD featuring 50 minutes of unreleased live material from 1972, all remastered in 2011. Tago Mago was the first album with Damo Suzuki on vocals and features the line up of Holger Czukay on bass, Michael Karoli on guitars, Jaki Liebezeit on drums and Irmin Schmidt on keyboards. To further celebrate the 40th anniversary, Abtart gallery in Stuttgart (Sep 16 – Nov 5) and Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin (Nov 24 –Dec 18) will host Halleluwah!, a visual homage to Can. Artists have been invited to interpret Can’s pioneering role in composition, sound, playing technique, and group dynamics. Comprising painting, drawing, videos, objects, and sound pieces that relate to the broad spectrum of the band’s manifestations and to the facets of the collective, including critical considerations of its being turned into a myth, some works will respond to the covers of Can albums, others will be investigations or continuations of sound into the present, while yet others will simply be hallucinatory bows before these great musicians.
All 14 of Can’s studio albums have been newly cut to vinyl from the remastered tapes for release as a vinyl deluxe box set, The Lost Tapes. Curated by Irmin Schmidt and Daniel Miller, and edited and compiled by Jono Podmore, this will include CDs of all the albums, extensive booklets, an exclusive never released live album (vinyl only) and a newly remastered "Out Of Reach" previously unavailable! The vinyl deluxe box set will be available for pre-order at the beginning of October 2011, and will be released in March 2012.
Damon Albarn recently traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo with a bunch of his muso friends - T-E-E-D (Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs), Dan The Automator, Jneiro Jarel, Richard Russell, Actress, Marc Antoine, Alwest, Rodaidh McDonald and Kwes. They all made the trip with a plan - to make an album in 7 days and release it for charity through Oxfam. The DRC is home to one of the world's worst humanitarian crises – it's been wracked by years of conflict. Proceeds from the DRC Music album will help Oxfam support thousands of the DRC's poorest people. Damon & Friends recorded with a bunch of the local musical talent and the first fruits of those sessions are in. No release date yet. Lovely stuff.
DRC Music - Lingala (featuring Bokatola System and Evala Litongo)
DRC Music - Ah Congo (featuring Jupiter Bokondji and Bokatola System)
DRC Music - Hallo (featuring Tout Puissant Mukalo and Nelly Liyemge)
A fine selection of tunes to get your groove on to - a few choice remixes, a couple of covers of Nirvana & Donna Summer songs, two hot Euro jams and the Chaka anthem, written by Ashford & Simpson - RIP Nick Ashford, who passed away his week.
As I've mentioned in the past on this blog, I spent 6 years in the UK in the late '70s and early '80s. Those years had a major impact on my musical tastes, especially when it comes to anything synth driven. One of my favorite acts of that time is Ultravox. Not the Midge Ure version mind you, but the John Foxx era. They were pioneers in combining art rock with drum machines and new synthesizer technology. The music combined with Foxx's eerie vocals and futuristic lyrics really impressed me. They managed to have some success before Foxx left the band to chart a solo career. Of course Ultravox went on to become very successful with their new singer and song writer, but they lacked the artistic coolness of the original band. I was a big fan of Foxx's solo stuff too - all cold and synthetic and robotic, it sounded like no-one else. Lots of acts went on to cop his steeze and some of them even had greater success with it than he did - hello Gary Numan!
Fast forward to 2011 and John Foxx is still making music. Over the last few years he has released a bunch of stuff, and much of it has been on the ambient side. He has collaborated with UK electronic musician/producer Benge, who is also a collector of vintage studio gear. Together they have released Interplay as John Foxx & The Maths, using old machines to make totally modern music. It is a delightful record, faithfully recreating the music of Foxx's early years but in a totally modern style. Interplay sounds to me like the album Ultravox would release in 2011 if Foxx had never left the group. His themes remain futuristic and so is the music. The beats are both classic and modern, as are the synth sounds. Everything is beefed up and full of speaker rumbling low end. There are a lot of really good pop moments on it, including the new single Evergreen and the track Watching A Building On Fire which features Mira Aroyo from Ladytron on vocals. Falling Star is a gorgeously dreamy ballad while Shatterproof and Catwalk add a dash of glam rock stomp. I am captivated by it. If you are a fan of electronic music you would do well to check this record out!
As a little bonus enjoy their freshly recorded version of the Pink Floyd classic Have A Cigar. The cover mount CD from the October issue of Mojo Magazine features this song. However it has been announced that the version on the CD was unfinished. The version I offer today is the full, finished version.
Paul Weller's new single is a straight up return to the sweet, funky sounds of his old band, The Style Council. Listen to the original on the Soundcloud player, then nab the Drop Out Orchestra remix - they smooth it out, add the slick disco vibes, strings and bongo goodness. I think I like this remix better than the original!
Neon Indian's new album Era Extraña is out on September 13th. He has already leaked one song - Fallout - and today brings another. Polish Girl is quite the little pop song - not as dreamily abstract as what you might have expected. Still has that Neon Indian sound though, so fans should like it!
A slightly different approach to Funky Friday today - a Spotify playlist! A few vintage jams, some remixes and a bunch of current faves. Fire up your Spotify and get the beats to move your feets!
I have always loved to share my favorite music, going way back to my mix tape days of the early '80s. This blog is an extension of that, a sort of an ongoing mix tape.
If you like what you hear I encourage you to go out and buy the CD, LP, cassette, 7" or 12". Support the artists who make the music.
FYI - ALL LINKS ARE DEAD ONCE THEY DROP OFF OF THIS FRONT PAGE.
If you own the copyright to something and want it removed contact me at djrez1 at silence is a rhythm too dot com.
Daphni is the alias of Caribou frontman Dan Snaith. He's done edits of tracks and also has recorded some new music, some of which has surfaced in the last couple of days. It is playfully funky and geared more to the dance floor. Delicious! 
The beats for your feets are here - a wicked Greg Wilson mash-up of Fujiya & Miyagi’s ‘Ankle Injuries’ and Madonna’s ‘Ray Of Light', a nice edit of a Lou Rawls classic, an 808 State anniversary remix, and tracks from Korallreven & Recloose. 
Damon Albarn recently traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo with a bunch of his muso friends - T-E-E-D (Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs), Dan The Automator, Jneiro Jarel, Richard Russell, Actress, Marc Antoine, Alwest, Rodaidh McDonald and Kwes. They all made the trip with a plan - to make an album in 7 days and release it for charity through Oxfam. The DRC is home to one of the world's worst humanitarian crises – it's been wracked by years of conflict. Proceeds from the DRC Music album will help Oxfam support thousands of the DRC's poorest people. Damon & Friends recorded with a bunch of the local musical talent and the first fruits of those sessions are in. No release date yet. Lovely stuff.
