TGIF Hodge Podge – Record of the Week Club + A Lull + Kinky
Friday is here at last! I’m not going to bore you guys with 150ish words of witty banter per usual today because, to be honest, it hasn’t been all that exciting of a week. I am very excited about the first two artists on the agenda for today, though. I mean, I like everything that I lob out there on Fridays, but I think these two are of particular merit. With that said, let’s dive right in. Hopefully you will enjoy these tracks as much as I do…
First up today is an insanely cool project that appeared in my inbox earlier this week called Record of the Week Club. ROTW Club is the brainchild of Canadian producer/musician/engineer Mike Petkau working with the help of a host of other musicians from acts such as The Weakerthans, The Waking Eyes, Novillero, Nathan, Chic Gamine, Moses Mayes, BurnThe8Track, Twilight Hotel, Mahogany Frog and many more. The idea behind the project was to have three different artists show up every Wednesday for 16 weeks and, over the course of one evening, get to know each other by writing, recording and mixing one song together. Even cooler is the fact that the artists were not made aware of who would be joining them on a given week; all of this was orchestrated by Petkau who curated and oversaw each of the weekly recording sessions.
The goal behind this procedure was twofold: first to spawn creativity by forcing artist to work outside their comfort zones, and second to bring the listener closer to the process of creating music than ever before. After hearing a handful of these tracks it is clear that Petkau has achieved both of his goals with this project. The work here is truly unique and the process by which it was created is revolutionary, especially in a day and age where record labels spend countless months remastering and mixing tracks before they hit the listeners’ ears for the first time. The lead track from the collection, “Keewatin Arctic,” is available for download below and features The Weakerthans’ John K Samson paired with Inuit throat singer Nikki Komaksiutiksak and electronic artist Blunderspublik. At this point all 16 tracks have been completed and released as individual downloads, but a limited edition album featuring the entire project is set to release on June 16th with proceeds being donated to the rebuilding of the West End Cultural Centre in Canada. Be sure to pick up a copy when it drops and support this incredible project.
Record of the Week Club – “Keewatin Arctic”
Order a copy directly from ROTW Club!
Next up in the Hodge Podge today is a local Chicago act. You may have heard about A Lull already thanks to the video for their first single, “Skinny Fingers,” that has been taking the Internets by storm this week. A Lull is made up of three veterans of the Chicago music scene, Nigel Dennis, Mike Brown and Todd Miller. Previously the trio, in various combinations, has worked in The Evaluation, The Skies We Built, and Ateriavia. To be completely honest, I am not at all familiar with any of those three bands, but after listening to A Lull I will be backtracking a bit to check them out because this new project is really quite good. The video and mp3 for “Skinny Fingers” popped up in my inbox a few days ago and I have had it on repeat ever since, and while the song is amazing in its own right, the video really makes it spring to life. Nigel Dennis actually created and produced the video himself, incorporating hundreds of beautifully designed illustrations and stills that have been animated to dance in tune with the dreamy elegance of the track itself. A Lull’s debut EP, Ice Cream Bones, is set to be released by Lujo Records on May 19th. In the meantime, check out the incredible video and download the mp3 for “Skinny Fingers” below. I’ll warn you now though: this one could be addictive.
I am taking a bit of a different direction with today’s vault entry. Rather than focusing on an older track that has some sort of significance to me personally, I wanted to choose something that would reflect positively on an entire country of people. It’s no secret that the rest of the world is down on Mexico lately, what with the whole swine flu outbreak and all, so today I am giving you something else to associate with our neighbors to the south: some crazy-ass, Spanish language electronic dance music. It didn’t take me long to find out that there really aren’t a whole lot of indie bands that are (slightly) popular here in America, but I was able to dig up one act with a track that I was able to recognize. Hailing from Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Kinky is a Mexican quintet that has been pumping out rock-inspired techno/dance jams since the early part of the new millennium. Perhaps most famous for joining The Flaming Lips, De La Soul, Modest Mouse, and Cake on the 2002 Unlimited Sunshine Tour in the US, the band was also part of the Coachella Valley Music Festival that same year. Their biggest hit stateside so far is the infectious dance floor party-starter “Mas,” which was featured on their debut self-titled album as well as on the soundtrack for the excellent film Thirteen, which starred a young Evan Rachel Wood as a troubled LA teen. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend checking it out. Either way, have a listen to “Mas” below, and remember that Mexico has more to offer than just this damn swine flu.
Leave a Reply