Factory Floor

So, London's Factory Floor has been gaining a good amount of steam recently. These guys worked with Throbbing Gristle and New Order and now have an industrial/electronic sound all their own. You have to stick with it for a while, but, I promise you, after the first 3 to 4 minutes, this music becomes completely intoxicating. They do a really nice job bashing you around with their machine-like rhythms and textures and there is just enough of a beat to give you this peculiar sort of Dyonistic dance vibe. Savage and beautiful at the same time. Minimalist, yet full of character. 

Nils Økland

Okay, this stuff is a little old, but I've been walking around Norwary's experimental music scene recently and I just found out about Nils Økland. This is really amazing stuff. Very stark, graceful and contemplative post-modern (yet traditional) compositions. It's good to get a little sophisticated sometimes.

Seapunk

So, have you every wished you were an underwater person? An underwater person who listened to house music all the time and had huge crazy underwater themed rave parties? I think about that kind of thing all the time. And now it's a reality. Apparently, there is a growing trend of musicians making underwater inspired dance music. They've been taking over hip dance clubs in Chicago and LA, in particular Chicago's Berlin Club. People are saying that the trend has grown out of chillwave and witch-house, which makes sense. What happens when you mix the jukey, ravey tendencies of witch-house with the beachy tendencies of chillwave? Seapunk, I guess... Anyway, it's pretty cool. Fire For Effect and Zombelle are the two main musicians in the genre at the moment. Both are currently based in Chicago. Of course, with new microgenres come new wardrobes, so dye your hair turquoise and take all that black, pagan-emblembed, witch-house shit you've been wearing and dye that shit turquoise too.

Jakob Olausson

Swedish musician Jakob Olausson has just released a new album called "Morning and Sunrise". His first album as very folky (perhaps freak-folky) and this new one takes more of a classic rock spin on his spacey folk. It's got a very late 60's psychedelic vibe to it - full of reverb-drenched acoustic guitars in the background with twangy lead guitars occasionally dancing on top. There's a laziness to the album (in the best possible way) as well. Olausson's vocals are very reverby and lingering and some of his guitar playing is very off-the-cuff. It's a really nice album. Apparently, when he isn't making music, he is a beet farmer in rural Sweden.

Salem

Chicago witch-house band Salem have covered Britney Spears. As weird as that sounds, what they've actually done is pretty cool. Especially with the video which moves from shots of strippers to the US army bombing in the Middle-East. That combined with Salem's creepy, slowed down juke take on "'Til the World Ends" turns Britney Spears' club song on its head.

Also, for another taboo music video to Salem covering an artist you wouldn't expect, check out this slightly explicit video of about the lives of gay thugs to Salem's cover of Alice Deejay's "Better Off Alone".

   

Julia Holter

Julia Holter has a video for her song "Marienbad". The video is alright. The song is brilliant. Such an incredible rang of emotions and ideas. Some of the best experimental music around today I think.

Grimes

Grimes will be coming out with a new LP called "Visions" on 4AD soon. This will probably be the album of 2012. Okay, a little premature. BUT her song "Genesis" above is already one of my favourite songs of maybe the last couple years and, her other track, "Oblivion" is one of the sickest uses of the Knife's "Heartbeats" as a sample (I think I'm right about the reference, no?). Ugh, she's fantastic. So cute too!

White Car

Chicago industrial band White Car are coming out with a new album in February and you can watch the very creepy teaser above. Apparently the band is moving to LA soon, which is sad for Chicago as they were part of a group of Chicago bands including Salem and Gatekeeper who really changed the direction of experimental music over the past few years. Now most of them are only part-time in Chicago. Anyway, White Car is a great band (with a great video-installation style live show) and hopefully they will be getting more of the press they deserve with this new album. Check out some other tracks below.

My favourites are still the older ones though. 

Thank you Maya Tounta

Thanks to the brilliant Maya Tounta... I have a new blog background!

A Shitty, Late and Half-Baked Look Back at Music in 2011

Since I have this blog now, I guess I have to do some kind of "best of 2011" music list... But I'm not really going to do that. Sorry. I have friends. Jesus...


So...What I'm going to do instead is just randomly post crap that I liked in 2011. In no particular order. So here it goes:

Iceage

Yeah, these Danish punks are insanely good for their age. Not that they're crazy original or anything. They just do straight-up punk really really really fucking well. Compelling and refreshing. Made me really interested in punk again after years and years of shitting on punk and telling people to go listen to noise instead... 


Steve Hauschildt

This guy released a great album this year. Tragedy and Geometry. He's a part of the experimental band "Emeralds". This was definitely one of the best ambient/electronic albums I heard in 2011. Good album to "vibe out" to.

Angel Olsen

Angel Olsen released her first LP "Strange Cacti" this year. She's an incredible folk musician and one of the staples of the music scene in my old neighbourhood back in Chicago. She also toured and recorded with Bonny Prince Billy this year. Big year for her. Anyway, her music is haunting, classic and occasionally very biting. A brilliantly unique and beautiful voice. Oh, and she's fucking hot.

James Ferraro

I really liked James Ferraro's new album. It's so experimental it doesn't even sound like an experimental album. The whole album is fake. A completely glossy, poppy ruse. And I think that's awesome.

Quilt

This was one of my favourite finds of 2011. Quilt's beautiful self-titled album was really refreshing. I wonderful mix of 60's hippy shit and 90's slacker rock. A bit heavier on the hippy shit to be honest. Occasionally, it made me feel like I was in some weird 60's cult... orgies, LSD, Charles Manson. It was awesome.

Joan of Arc

Chicago's Joan of Arc made a great album this year... and no one gave a shit.

Clams Casino

Clams Casino had an amazing year. "I'm God" ended up being my favourite track of 2011. But basically everything he released was incredible. Such a cool style. Dark, deep, blurry, ethereal hip-hop tracks. Completely brilliant.

Holy Other

Manchester's Holy Other was one of my tip-top favourites of 2011. I feel a bit like he's the David Hume of witchhouse. Taking the genre and leading it to it's ultimate dubstepy conclusion... and doing it better than anyone else. Very erie, dubby, elegant and haunting music.

Grimes

2011: The year I fell in love with Clair Boucher.

Mayor Daley and Cacaw

One of the most fun bits of 2011 was watching Chicago's budding new Noise-Metal scene. Mayor Daley and Cacaw where the two big ones. Best live shows of the year by far. In a year filled with people fooling around with laptops, going to a Cacaw or Mayor Daley show in a dark, suffocating, graffiti-filled warehouse and getting your ears blown off was just what we all needed. Think the members of Black Sabbath on even more acid being thrown through a cement grinder and going straight to hell...

John Maus

I saw John Maus in London recently playing for his 2011 album and he was amazing. He basically does karaoke with his own songs and has a nervous break-down. Anyway, he does more of that "experimental music is now pop" stuff that James Ferraro does. Except Maus is totally honest. Heartbreakingly honest. 

Julianna Barwick 

Julianna Barwick's album "The Magic Place" was definitely one of my favourites of 2011. Made me rethink ambient music. Where most ambient stuff deals with electronics and shit, Barwick uses only her voice to create some super beautiful soundscapes. Extremely refreshing in it's naturalness. 

Ford and Lopatin

The Ford and Lopatin album was like an extremely fun bad dream after watching "Back to the Future" over and over again falling asleep in a microchip. Very catchy at times. The kind of music that you keep finding new things to love about. Sadly, I don't think they'll be playing together again. Good thing Lopatin's solo shit is just as good.

Julia Holter

Remember Lau Nau? Yeah, most people don't. Anyway, it's great to have another talented female musician making freaky, delicate and uncompromising music. Fun album.

Lil' B

Swag.