Discontent | In Teen Dreams

January 16th, 2010 Stu

Do you remember those teenage dreams?  For some it may be a recent memory, for others, it’s somewhat more distant.  To the latter, teen dreams exist simply as faint, fading memories -  idylls, fantasises, hopes and nightmares, never to be lived or experienced, destined only to be ravaged and degraded by time.  The nostalgia for lost teenage dreams is balanced by the fact that the actual shape and substance of those dreams can no longer be recalled – it’s simply a sense-memory, an instinctual belief that something has been lost, but with no recollection of what the ’something’ actually is. This mixtape somewhat boldy tries to capture that sense memory – a hankering for a past, refracted through the eyes of the future.  Everything contained herein is stretched and strained over time, not so much hypnogogic as hypnotic, post-nostalgia – lulling us into the security of a place and time that is simultaneously familiar and unknown. We drift from Roj’s Ghost Box intro, to Salem’s screwed goth-hop remix of Playboy Tre and Tan Dollar’s funeral wedding march, projecting via White Rainbow’s astral tones, Kharkov’s elusive and ultimately unobtainable folk melody and Ancient Crux’s dark pean to romantic longing, dripping with echoes of music from half a century ago. It’s full of promise and mystery, yet it ultimately unsettles and perhaps never truly satisfies – the true mark of a real teenage dream.   Stuart Buchanan

DOWNLOAD: Discontent | In Teen Dreams (103MB)

1. Roj – You Are Here / England [1:29]
2. Black Vatican – Night Is Come / U.S. [4:18]
3. Railcars – Cathedral With No Eyes (white rainbow remix) / U.S. [6:24]
4. Playboy Tre – Sideways (Salem Drag Chop remix) / U.S. [4:48]
5. Shlohmo – Couch / U.S. [3:34]
6. Tan Dollar – Untitled / U.S. [2:36]
7. Ancient Crux – In Teen Dreams / U.S. [2:33]
8. Pina Chulada – Someone Like You / U.S. [3:39]
9. Blastcorp – Last (Harp mix) / Australia [2:25]
10. Syntaks – Sudden Dream / Denmark [3:00]
11. White Rainbow – Mind Haze Is Clear Delights / U.S. [10:29]
12. LJ Kruzer – Tam8+ei4 / England [1:02]
13. Kharkov – Folkal / Australia [5:34]
14. Mokira – Seven Ply / Sweden [7:16]
15. Brothers of the Occult Sisterhood – Precognition / Australia [2:14]

img: Nyalee (via Flickr, Creative Commons)

Tags: ancient crux, black vacation, blastcorp, brothers of the occult sisterhood, kharkov, lj kruzer, mokira, pina chulada, playboy tre, railcars, roj, salem, Shlohmo, syntaks, tan dollar, white rainbow

Posted in Mixtapes. | 1 Comment »

Disorientation Session | Disorient’s Mixtape For FBi

January 8th, 2010 Stu

In June 2009, I gave away a free mixtape to new subscribers of FBi Radio during my ‘Disorient’ show. The mixtape, titled ‘Disorientation Session’, features a few tracks that you can find on the first two Discontent mixtapes (Mixtape One and Two), with additions from various artists that appeared regularly on the show’s playlists, or as earlier single posts on the Discontent blog. As an aggregator of the sounds found on the (somewhat short-lived) Disorient radio show, this will more than likely remain the only existing audio document.

I’m particularly fond of this mixtape as its sensibility stretches back to the earlier days of the Fat Planet radio show – a focus on more innovative and often experimental music from around the world, before the beats and bass kicked in.  I particularly like the way that Salem’s screwed, slow-core can nestle near Villa Diamante’s warped take on South American cumbia and AGF’s truly distressing cover version of Rhianna’s ‘Disturbia’.  An eclectic and surprising session, I hope you agree.

DOWNLOAD: Disorientation Session: Disorient’s Mixtape For FBi (105MB)

1. Dalt Wisney – Sci-Fi Dot Fiends [Pakistan] 2:03
2. The Craters – Samba Party [U.S.] 2:40
3. Ghoul – Fuck Math [Australia] 1:54
4. Salem – Brustreet [U.S.] 5:02
5. 7VWWVW – Mammal Theme [Scotland] 5:55
6. Villa Diamante – Tonolec vs Kromestar [Argentina] 2:56
7. Berrettaz – Pense A [Côte d'Ivoire] 2:44
8. AGF aka Antye Greie – Disturbia [Germany] 4:07
9. Filastine – B’talla (feat. Rabah) [U.S.] 3:10
10. I Buried Paul – Favola [Brazil] 3:17
11. Fletcher – Dreadlox Dub [South Africa] 6:17
12. The Peronists – Cumbia Maligna [Argentina] 3:39
13. Atomhead – Unsuspecting Broken Receiver [Belgium] 2:09
14. Growing – Green Flag [U.S.] 6:16
15. Sleepmakeswaves – Exits To Nowhere [Australia] 3:41
16. Rothis Bournias – Last Days Part Two [Greece] 7:07
17. Inverness – Bats [Brazil] 3:13
18. Flica – Mid [Malaysia] 4:53

Note: All music on the mixtape is licenced via Creative Commons or has otherwise been made freely available by relevant artists & labels. If you like what you hear, please support the artists -visit their site, buy their music.

Cover image by Irving Liaw (under CC Licence).

Tags: 7vwwvw, agf, atomhead, berrettaz, dalt wisney, disorient, filastine, fletcher, flica, ghoul, growing, i buried paul, inverness, rothis bournias, salem, sleepmakeswaves, the craters, the peronists, villa diamante

Posted in Mixtapes. | 1 Comment »

Salem | Whenusleep

January 22nd, 2009 Stu

I’ve finally just taken delivery of Salem’s ‘Water’ 7″ on Merok, a tiny moment of tactile pleasure that prompted a post.

Salem (Michigan trio John, Heather and Jack) do a good job of keeping themselves buried. Their music thus far has been vinyl-only, no digital sales available. Interviews and facts are scant, photographs more so. The music itself actually feels buried; melodies trapped beneath multiple layers of dark, audio sediment.

If this were a hype-style machine, this lack of accessibility would be precisely their allure. However, the music (draped around a small inner sanctum of blogs for those without turntables) – obscured though it is – stands on its own. I’ve enjoyed reading the vast range of references that have been cited when discussing Salem: Bauhaus, The Knife, Cocteau Twins, Brian Eno, Nine Inch Nails, grime, 2-step. The list goes on. Certainly most of these are close – us Gen X-ers might also lob Coil or Throbbing Gristle onto the pile, just to see what sticks. What’s clear though is a fascination with the chopped & screwed aesthetic – and whilst The Knife may have liberally applied the screwed vocal to ‘Silent Shout’, Salem drag almost their entire instrumentation into the fray.

Certainly there’s no welcome mat here – Salem force you to act as something of a voyuer: to creep round to the back of the house, climb up the drainpipe to an upstairs window, and try to make sense of the groaning animal noises coming from the dark cupboard in the corner of the room. Rest assured, these boys and girls are not coming out to play.

‘Whenusleep’ is culled from the ‘Water EP’ available from Merok. The second track below, ‘Brustreet’, is something of a tribute to Springsteen’s ‘Streets of Philidelphia’ and, yes, the Boss never sounded so good.

Salem – Whenusleep | mp3 [via The Fader]

Salem – Brustreet | mp3

more: s4lem.com, myspace.com/jjhhmm

img | lehcar1477

Tags: merok, salem, u.s.

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