Hypebeast? Coldplay?

So hypebeast started "reviewing" music or whatever. They've so far put up posts on Weezer and Coldplay. First of all, why. They report on clothing, something that is unrelated to music. And secondly, Coldplay and Weezer? I don't know about you, but when I go shopping and go to Supreme or Alife I'm not hearing Coldplay or Weezer.

This is just another example of someone trying to reach out of what they're doing and it not working. Case in point: their post about the new Coldplay song.

According to most people I'm just a grouchy hipster for not liking Coldplay, and now apparently Hypebeast says so too. But again, it's just a case of people talking about things that they shouldn't be. "Even their forthcoming new albums' title "Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends" appears to be more cerebral and a departure from their earlier work." If you can find out what is so cerebral about that title, please tell me, for it sounds to me like it's straight off an emo record. And the album cover?

Using some photoshop tools to put your album title over one of the most famous Delacroix paintings of all time is far from cerebral. It smacks of an attempt to make a statement but a failure to do so. Coldplay have always been called boring because they are rather boring, and this album cover says to me "Look we're fuckin' punk rock like the Sex Pistols! They deface the queen, we deface Delacroix!" The album sounds like most other Coldplay stuff: music for people to think is forward thinking and experimental but really just the same boring shit. It drones along like their other songs, even though they're apparently "silencing the naysayers" by producing something ambitious. Just because people say it's ambitious doesn't make it true.

We can continue the age old "they're a cheap rip off of Radiohead" because of their offering of the single for free online, but this is more EMI than Coldplay's decision (note that EMI is Radiohead's old record label and has been pissed at them ever since for not resigning and pulling the IN RAINBOWS shenanigans that they did, putting out Radiohead best ofs and box sets much to the band's dismay).

Basically, my question is this: is Hypebeast moderated by kids in Greenwich?

Ross

Watch the Rick Ross interview at vbs.tv

The indie girl is really really annoying, but the interview get so awkward near the end (for the viewer) that it's hilarious.

Hot Dawg!

This post is pretty much just for Jer.

Stike is Over LOL

I guess so. Apparently it's been pretty much over for a bit, and still isn't officially over. But it pretty much is.

So that means good TV finally but

ALSO

apparently at least 4 more episodes of Lost can be done for Season 4. Maybe not all 8 that are missing, but hopefully we'll get something like a complete season.

Geräusch 7

So I'm back in New York, and back from some seriously heavy Electricity and Magnetism. It should be rad, even though my brain was hurting a little after the month of pretty much nothing that just passed.

So things will start up again and hopefully I will be able to bring you some pretty funny stories the next few months.

Until then, here is a new mix, Geräusch 7

New Mix: Geräusch 7

Supermayer - Two of Us (Glockapella)
Deepchord presents Echospace - First Point of Aries
Quadrant - Dub I
Ricardo Villalobos - Farenzer House
Afrilounge - Lux Dementia
Efdemin - Lohn & Brot (tobias. Remix)
Nôze - Remember Love
Len Faki - Rainbow Delta
Stimming - Funkworm
Marc Ashken - Nimrod (Marc Houle is a Nimrod Remix)
Melchior Productions Ltd. - Where's the Happiness?
Len Faki - Odyssee II
Radio Slave - Bell Clap Dance
Supermayer - The Art Of Letting Go (Ewan's The Art Of Getting Low Dub)
Tiger Stripes - Mad at Me
Bruno Pronsato - At Home I'm A Tourist

2007 Retrospective Pt. 2

Here's numbers 25-11 of my top tracks of 2007.

25. Gaiser - Withdrawal [M_nus]

24. Justus Köhncke - Feuerland [Kompakt]

23. Tiger Stripes - Survivor [Get Physical]

22. Stimming - Funkworm [Diynamic]

21. Len Faki - Odyssee II [Podium]

20. Stephan Bodzin - Sonnenwind [Herzblut]

19. Solomun & Stimming - Feuervogel [Diynamic]

18. Âme - Fiori [Ostgut Tonträger]

17. Pigon - Promises [Dial]

16. Soul Capsule - Waiting 4 A Way [Perlon]

15. Super Flu - She [Traum]

14. Petre Inspirescu - Sakadat [Vinyl Club]

13. Artificial Latvamäki - It Is Not Now Either [Mezzotinto]

12. Simon Baker - Plastik [Playhouse]

11. False - Fed on Youth [M_nus]

The top 10 I'll write about and [hopefully] post clips of, but with finals I've not got much time. So many tracks I'm probably forgetting to list here, but all 15 of these are some of the most played and loved tracks of the year. I would suggest seeking any of them out if you've never heard them.

Kö

The Dark Knight

Three posts in one day? How rare!

Now, if you went to see "I Am Legend" this weekend (which I, unfortunately, didn't) you may have seen the trailer for "The Dark Knight"; I'm not sure. However, its out and can be found RIGHT HERE.

It looks super awesome. Everything about it seems to say it can easily eclipse Batman Begins.

Oh, spot Richard Alpert from Lost and I'll give you a cookie.

The Eraser Remixes

Got an email a couple days from Thom Yorke saying that the now legendary Eraser remixes are finally coming out this week! Coming out on three 12", the whole set is almost better than imagined. They will all be released on boomkat.com over the next two days. Today came the first set:

And It Rained All Night (Burial Remix)
Skip Divided (Modeselektor Remix)
Analyse (Various Remix)

Tomorrow:

Atoms For Peace (Four Tet Remix)
Black Swan (Cristian Vogel Remix 1)
Black Swan (Cristian Vogel Remix 2)

Wednesday:

The Clock (Surgeon Remix)
Harrowdown Hill (The Bug Remix)
Cymbal Rush (The Field Remix)

Very very diverse set of remixers, and in fact the only two remixes by people that I had never heard of were posted on Thom's website last year, and were great. As of right now I can only recommend the first three (and the Surgeon remix), as all are absolute bangers, but the rest should be just as good. [There was a rumoured Ellen Allien remix, but I dunno whatever happened to that].

Justice @ Fader 50 Party in New York

Justice @ Fader 50 Party

35 minute mix from Justice at the celebration of Fader's 50th issue. Good mix, but it's the first couple of minutes that make my mind explode. Dunno if it's them doing it or it's some track/tool, but it's absolutely redic.

Both picture and mix from TheFader.com (url: http://www.thefader.com/articles/2007/12/17/exclusive-live-justice-mix-for-fader-50)

2007 Retrospective Pt. 1

BIG YEAR END LIST TIME

Alright, first I'm gonna start with labels.

10. Diynamic
09. Ed Banger
08. Hospital
07. Dial
06. liebe*detail
05. BPitch Control
04. Perlon
03. hello?repeat
02. Kompakt
01. Cadenza

Cadenza is on top for releasing consistently amazing releases and really ushering in the great Romanian producers like Petre Inspirescu and Rhadoo. Kompakt had a great year, as did hello?repeat, and Perlon released some standout singles (Waiting 4 A Way?). BPitch Control had Modeselektor albums and mix CDs, with a new Camping comp as well. liebe*detail mastered the art of split singles, and fellow Hamburg label Dial released albums from both Pantha and Efdemin. Hospital released loads of good singles this year as well as maintaining the best podcast out there, and Ed Banger was certainly all the rage, and has the back catalog to justify their popularity. Diynamic released great house records this year and should be one to watch out for in later years. M_nus was not as strong this year as it has been, with some boring releases that sound similar and some downright awful ones. The False stuff kind of makes up for it though. Labels that were also good are Get Physical, Hyperdub, Rekids, Traum and !K7. It'd be hard to choose only 20 labels, let alone 10, but there they are.

Now Mix CDs/Compilations

10. Kompakt - Total 8
09. Modeselektor - Boogy Bytes Vol. 3
08. Steve Bug - Fabric 37
07. Steve Bug - Fuse Presents...
06. Ellen Allien - Fabric 35
05. Shackleton and Appleblim - Soundboy Punishments
04. Booka Shade - DJ Kicks!
03. Ewan Pearson - Fabric 35
02. Marcus Intalex - Fabriclive 35
01. Dixon - Body Language Vol. 4

Finally, albums.

10. Matthew Dear - Asa Breed [Ghostly International]
Dear produces pop music under his real name with some great results. Certainly a record all can enjoy, it contains more conventional songs from Dear, but still with a dark, techno leaning.

09. Pantha du Prince - This Bliss [Dial]
True to the title, this is one blissed out album. Ambient but still techno, it's the warmest record released all year.

08. Melchior Productions Ltd. - No Disco Future [Perlon]
Thomas Melchior's album takes house music and strips it down to the bare bones. Minimal, yet funky as hell, every track on here is golden.

07. Gui Boratto - Chromophobia [Kompakt]
Gui Boratto's rise to fame was quick after "Arquipélago" was released on K2, and his LP released early this year showed that this quick rise to fame didn't shake him. Some of the best cologne-flavored house/techno on here, perfect for the dance floor and headphones.

06. Modeselektor - Happy Birthday! [BPitch Control]
The ape-loving Berliners returned with an LP drawing influences from all over the board: dubstep, euro-crunk, garage, techno, early rave music, hip-hop, IDM and neo-trance (Holden, Apparat, etc.). Every track is madness, with bass annihilating your ear drums. No one is like them, and they bring a craziness and sense of fun to Berlin that is sometimes so desperately needed.

05. Justice - † [Ed Banger/Vice]
The current backlash against them is may be due to the exposure they've gotten and a lot of people liking them, but since when did that make something bad? Definitely the best up-tempo party album of the year, and one the most dedicated hipsters really can't deny. 2007 was definitely Justice's year, and they deserve it.

04. Burial - Untrue [Hyperdub]
Listen to this in the rain in south London and you'll begin to see where this is coming from. Not party dubstep by a long shot, but represents the side of dubstep seen on labels such as Skull Disco (so many comparisons can be made to the "Blood on My Hands" original and Villalobos remix that I won't even start). Meticulously put together, it's an album that automatically puts you into a certain mindset.

03. Ricardo Villalobos - Fabric 36 [Fabric]
A huge departure from what Ricardo has been producing for the past two or three years, Fabric 36 shows what he is like as a DJ. While he is known for long, meandering, experimental releases, he rarely plays such pieces out, opting for house sets with a bent towards the more experimental. This shows him as a DJ perfectly, playing the productions that he saves for his sets rather than releasing, and creating an album that you can easily dance to.

02. Radiohead - In Rainbows
It took them awhile, and anyone who listened to the bootlegs from the last tour knew most of these songs. That didn't make the album any less of a pleasant surprise, as only after this came out do the songs make sense together. Radiohead here show a human side to themselves that they've kept hidden since Kid A, and, while Kid A and Amnesiac are masterpieces, it's good to have some humanity back in their music. In fact, In Rainbows is strong enough to, in time, unseat OK Computer or Kid A as their best work.

01. False - 2007 [M_nus]
The idea of one person appearing twice on a chart like this is pretty ridiculous, but this was certainly Matthew Dear's year for all of his aliases [except the criminally underused Jabberjaw]. But while Asa Breed focused on writing more conventional electro-pop songs, here Dear did what he does best: making some of the best minimalist techno out there.

Albums that deserve mention:
Digitalism - Idealism
Efdemin - Efdemin
Apparat - Walls
Supermayer - Save the World
The Field - From Here We Go Sublime

Later I hope to do a big chart of the top 20 or so singles of the year, with audio files and everything. I might just never do it though.

Podcast

Yo! Subscribe to my podcast!

http://minihattan.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Go to podcasts in iTunes, click 'Advanced' and 'Subscribe to Podcast' and post the above link.
It should be available soon in the iTunes music store as well if you search 'Minihattan' and just add it that way.

Soon I'll get to work on making it pretty, but for now I'm just glad it's working.

Supreme x Neighborhood

We all saw it months ago, but it was just officially announced on Supreme's website.

Any thoughts? I gotta say that it's a bit of a case where the collaboration is too good to be true, but the items are not really doing it for me.

The hoody is alright, but nothing too special.
The vans are pretty ugly.
Jackets aren't very special either.

However, there are some nice items.
















The SxN logo shirt is really clean and nice, though it's not exactly groundbreaking.

The hats are, of course, going to fly off the shelves, but I like them a lot.

The denim is the nicest thing in the collection, and I'd love to have some.

However.

Supreme denim is not terribly priced. Neighborhood denim is a different story. They sometimes put O Fake to shame in the pricing department. So this denim is probably going to be too expensive to really be worth it.


Like I said, some nice pieces, but most of it I'm not that impressed with.

Wondering what everyone else thinks about it and if the hype is just too big or I'm not seeing something.

Make it Rain

This is not news, but I'd like to remind everyone how amazing R.Kelly's part in this is.

Weatherman 'bout to make it rain.

At Home I'm A Tourist

Bruno Pronsato
At Home I'm A Tourist
hello? Repeat


Year end charts will be up soon, and hello? Repeat will most certainly be on there, partially due to this track alone [also due to Bruno's full-length from which this track comes; also amazing].

To put it mildly, 'At Home I'm a Tourist' is one of the best singles of the year. Right now the big fuss is over 'Mumbling Yeah', which is a great track, but this stands miles ahead of most techno releases this year.

Techno is usually atonal and focuses heavily on rhythms rather than melodies. Melodies may be there, but they usually serve a more rhythmic function than anything and are rarely in the limelight. This, like Gaiser's 'Withdrawl' earlier this year, however, let's the melody take center stage. However, the first five minutes feature little to no melody. The rhythms are extremely captivating; a combination of dry drum-machin patterns with acoustic recordings of drums, handclaps, etc. [Bruno was a drummer for a long time before he got into techno] all build on each other, yet hint of something coming.

Then the melody hits. Extremely simple yet devastatingly effective, it shows what you almost knew was coming. Then the rhythms come back in, culminating in the greatest climax of any release this year. It's short, with the rest of the track focusing on rhythm again with the melody making an appearance once of twice. However, this is the track that any DJ set works its way through hours to get to; that one minute of pure techno bliss.

Preview here.

Geräusch 6

New Mix: Geräusch 6

Last 'Geräusch' mix I did was back in June, so here is a new one I did earlier today [on the turntables].

Ricardo Villalobos - Baila Sin Petit [SED]
Donnacha Costello - Orange A [Minimise]
Guido Schneider & André Galluzzi - Albertino [Cadenza]
Len Faki - My Black Sheep (Radio Slave Mix) [Len Series]
Matt John - Olga Dancekowski (Audion's Paradise Café Remix) [BAR 25]
GummiHz - Hypnotize [Mobilee]
Mikael Stavöstrand & Franco Cinelli - Money Talks [Sunset Diskos]
Kabale Und Liebe & Daniel Sanchez - Mumbling Yeah [Arearemote]
Rufus Wainwright - Tiergarten (Supermayer Remix) [Polydor (UK)]
Daso - Meine [Spectral Sound]
Steve Bug - A World Without [Poker Flat]
Ricardo Villalobos - Samasai [SED]
Burial - Near Dark [Hyperdub]
Radiohead - 15 Step [N/A]

I'm pretty proud of this one, especially 'Mumbling Yeah' into 'Tiergarten'. However, Burial into Radiohead was not a very good idea, and it shows.

Missed out on Diplo at Studio B, but Harry should be filling you in on the hilarious stories soon.

ALSO: Make sure to check out Steve Mizek's updated blog at www.littlewhiteearbuds.com. It's been updated with a brand new look and promises have been made for really great content. Already up is a review of Donnacha Costello's recent CD compilation of his Colourseries, complete with a free mp3 courtesy of Donnacha himself [also in the above mix!]. Expect upcoming interviews with Matthew Dear, more free [and legal] mp3s and free [and legal] mixes. Enjoy!

Technoviking/Pendulum

I assume most have seen Technoviking, but I don't know if many have seen this pretty funny mashup.

And on a completely unrelated note:

Pendulum. I didn't really like Granite; it wasn't drum and bass and sounded, well, pretty lame as a rock song. However, recently on DOA due to people not liking it and accusing Pendulum of selling out, they wrote (I'll summarize) that they didn't want to be part of the drum and bass scene anyway because they felt they were on to big and better things as a rock band. They also dissed drum and bass, saying nothing interesting has come out of the scene and it will die anyways.

QUOTE: “Oh, and by the way - I’m not sure if drum and bass is dead or dying (I’ve been in the studio / on tour too long to tell).

“However, if your genre was flimsy enough to be knocked over by ONE SINGLE RECORDING ARTIST who happened to - god forbid - sell some fucking records for the first time in about 5/6 years, then I’m glad it was us that got to drive the final stake through its stale pig shit heart - and good riddance.

“Wake me up when your genre is making something that people outside the scene think is worth listening to again.’

Gotta say, I really can't support pendulum anymore. They were responsible for some really great drum and bass, but now that they're trying to do rock, they've lost anything interesting they had (plus, Granite is pretty much just recycling all past samples that they've used and making a poor man's "Slam"). The fact that they think they're too good for drum and bass now is ridiculous, especially since now as a "rock" band they aren't very good. "Hold Your Colour" and their early singles are still classics, but whatever direction they see themselves going in is not the right one .

Plus, are they really kidding anyone? Granite still has the drum and bass beat, and they got Dilinja on remix duties for Christ's sake. Just cause the drum and bass community doesn't like your new tune doesn't mean you can try to cut all ties with it.

November 2007 Charts

01. Justus Köhncke - Feuerland [Kompakt]
Any new release by Herr Köhncke deserves attention, as he is one of Kompakt's most reliable producers. This single, however, is probably the best I've ever head from him. It is a cover of a song by kraut rock and ex Kraftwerk member Michael Rother, and it shows Justus using actual instruments to great effect. It's not a dancefloor bomb in the slightest, but what it is is one of those perfect fall tracks which, if listened to closely for its whole time, rewards with a real sense of excitement. The B-side is good, much more of a disco tune, and much more uptempo. It's the A side though that makes this #1 for this month.

02. Melchior Productions Ltd. - No Disco Future [Perlon]
03. Melchior Productions Ltd. - Don Juan/In the Spirit [Perlon]
I'm posting this right now without having listened to the full album. I've heard the samples and the promo mixed version, but not the real thing yet. However, it is here because of the huge sense of confidence I've always had in Thomas Melchior to produce some of the most exciting microhouse out there, and this is no disappointment. His last LP on Playhouse was glitchy and great, but 'No Disco Future' is very different. It's very much house music, stripped down as usual, but each track standing out with some of the best production out there today. Very excited to hear the full versions, as they will no doubt be stunning. If the teaser single Don Juan/In the Spirit is any indication, this will be album of the year material.

04. Burial - Untrue [Hyperdub]

05. Pär Grindvik - World of Mine [Truesoul]

06. Petre Inspirescu - Tips [Cadenza]

07. Ricardo Villalobos - Sei Es Drum [SED]

08. Donnacha Costello - Colourseries CD [minimise]

09. Mistabishi - No Matter What [Hospital]

10. Bodycode aka Portable - A Document of an African Past [Yore]

11. Dubfire - Emissions [M_nus]

12. Benga and Coki - Night [Tempa]

13. Minilogue - Ghost EP [Mule]

14. Massi DL - Wonderland EP [Trapez]

15. Matt John - Olga Dancekowski [BAR 25]

16. Radio Slave - Bell Clap Dance [Rekids]

17. Etienne Jaumet - Repeat Again After Me [Versatile]

18. Super Flu - Momratzn [Traum]

19. Supermayer - The Art Of Letting Go (Ewan Pearson Remixes) [Kompakt]

20. Bruno Pronsato - Why Can't We Be Like Us? [Hello? Repeat]

*This chart is in no real order, minus the two on top that I wrote about.

Heading off to London soon for a few days of drum and bass courtesy of hospitality and some fabric loveliness. Hopefully I update while there with Harry et. all, and surely when I get back.

S.H.I.T.T.Y.

November charts to be posted soon, and I'll be listing 15 of my favorites and 5 misses; it's clear what number one on the misses will be.

Justice feat. Mos Def and Spank Rock - D.A.N.C.E.

I can't say I was looking forward to this. The first thing I thought of was how useless this probably is, and the second was that it's pretty much already been done. We all know Wale's inclusion of D.A.N.C.E. on his mixtape earlier this year and how well he did it. Was the inclusion of Spank Rock and Mos Def going to be much different?

Nope. The over-saturation of D.A.N.C.E. lately is, as it should be, annoying to most people. We had a remix EP out in May with some great remixes on it, and many more remixes have followed; none as good as any on that EP and all, frankly, useless. This is just another useless version with pretty poor rapping on their part. Mos Def and Spank Rock saying how they're 'ready to uff' and name checking Ed Banger and friends is pretty gag-worthy, but there's no remix here at all except for some added hi-hats. The name of the game nowadays is to mash as many good things together as possible, but here is one example of three great artists combining to produce something pretty horrible. Whereas Spank Rock and Mos Def want us to get up, clap our hands and dance like the party people we are, I can't help but just shake my head in disappointment. It is honestly more cringe-worthy than the Neptune's "Harder Better..." four years ago.

In summation, it's awful and is candidate for the worst song of the year, not just for what it represents but also for simply how shitty it is. "So fresh," says Mos Def. "It's like this: we got Spank Rock and the mighty Mos Def to get up on the hottest song of the year. Enjoy!" says the website. It might be the hottest song of the year, but the children singing D.A.N.C.E. in this version seem to want to cry.

What's In the Box?

Like any good fanboy, I tuned in to Radiohead's webcast, and among great live performances of new songs, one old song and a couple covers, they threw this little thing together.

Fabric

Alright, so here's the mix. It's one hour and fourteen minutes, which is pretty much CD length. I had it in mind that this was going to be more of a mix CD than a live mix, as I did do a bit of planning and came in to it with an idea of what I wanted it to sound like. There is a definite structure to the mix, and hopefully that comes across. At times it's dancey, at times it's not, but it is more of a home listening mix than a party time mix. I named it fabric because it's an homage not only to the club but to their astounding series of mix CDs which has probably influenced me more than anything else.

Hopefully you enjoy it, and leave comments bitte.

Chris Miller [minimill] - fabric


1. a. Ambivalent – R U OK? (Acapella) [M_nus]

b. Ricardo Tobar – El Sunset [Border Community]

2. Pigon – Promises [Dial]

3. Petre Inspirescu – Mostra [Cadenza]

4. Schaeben & Voss feat. Schad Privat – Put Up Job [Kompakt]

5. Martin Buttrich – Hunter [Cocoon]

6. René Breitbarth – Interior Design [Sub Static]

7. Dubfire – Emissions [M_nus]

8. Tiger Stripes – Survivor [Get Physical]

9. Louderbach – Reflected (Magda’s Liquid Acid Remix) [Underl_ne]

10. Louderbach – Silver Ringsnguns [Underl_ne]

11. Plastikman – Ask Yourself [Mute]

12. Matthew Dear – Bees Please [Unreleased]

13. Super Flu – Hallo Zeit [KarateKlub]

14. Ellen Allien – Go [BPitch Control]

15. Gui Boratto – Matroyshka [Kompakt Extra]

16. Simon Baker – Gutterlevel [20:20 Vision]

17. Booka Shade – Numbers [!K7]

18. Swayzak – Smile and Receive (Apparat Remix) [!K7]

*Picture is Steve Bug's upcoming fabric 37, which will undoubtedly be amazing and I suggest you get it as soon as possible. I'll be reviewing it when it comes in the mail.