Even the least of the Kompakt Total compilations is worth having, and Total 9 is not one of the least. I could have picked any of a dozen tracks off it, but in the last year or so, Gui Boratto has won me over in a special way. This track puts me in the mind of a grainy Michael Mann nightscape.

Posted by SoGlitchy at 5:25 PM | Link | Comments (0)

Since the fish are indeed jumpin' and the cotton is looking on the tallish side, here's 25 minutes of "Summertime" that will seem either tedious or pleasantly melancholy, depending on what you think of the Gershwin tune. First, an overlooked Willie Nelson version, from an album he did with Leon Russell. (The recent "Legacy Edition" of the album Stardust could have and maybe should have included this track.) Then there's the Janis Jopin version, which would be a definitive version of the song if that were possible, which I sincerely doubt. Then Greg Dulli does his blue-eyed-tortured-soul thing, making the song sound not only sad but also angsty, and then Booker T. and the MG's do a great soft/loud take on it. Then the cherry on top, John Coltrane's version from the My Favorite Things album. It might be too obvious to include, but it's too damn good not to.

Posted by SoGlitchy at 3:34 PM | Link | Comments (0)

While we're in the 50's. Am I crazy, or does this song seem a bit... well... kinky? The Daddy/Baby labels may be just old slang, but now that they're outdated it's easy to see the dominant/submissive dynamic that they only barely obscured. Thanks to Nat's light-as-air delivery, the whole thing sounds like a game, a little fun after Daddy gets home from work. "Has Baby behaved?" Because if not, she may be in for a spanking. Let's review quickly, Nat -- what's the safe word?

Posted by SoGlitchy at 4:48 PM | Link | Comments (0)

Depending on your point of view, this is either a joyous celebration of love and its fruits, a quaint throwback to a more naive time, or a grim cautionary tale. But there's no getting around it -- it's damn catchy.

Posted by SoGlitchy at 4:41 PM | Link | Comments (0)

I'm not much of a God-fearing man, but that doesn't stop this from being a favorite song of mine. The simple yet ineffable truth of the title is (to appropriate a John Lennon quote) bigger than Jesus.

Posted by SoGlitchy at 6:54 PM | Link | Comments (0)

I knew this record was something special the first time I heard it, but the more I listen to it, the more it's... whoa. Hot new audio love affair. Don'tcha love those? I picked this track because it's the longest, not for any better reason. The whole record is amazing.

Posted by SoGlitchy at 10:01 AM | Link | Comments (0)

Call it dubstep, call it what you will, but young Alan Myson of Brighton, England, has made a helluva long-playing record here; shaking, stuttering, and brooding in roughly equal measure. I can't get it off my iPod.

Posted by SoGlitchy at 5:01 AM | Link | Comments (0)

I don't know much about this Swiss duo (I don't think anyone does -- they're famous for not giving interviews), but I know they always put a nice spit-shine on a downtempo track. This is nice stuff. Goes down smooth.

Posted by SoGlitchy at 3:59 AM | Link | Comments (0)

In spite of the rather serious question, and talk of war and chaos, this song makes me happy, like the sound of kids playing on the sidewalk outside. Wherever we're going, it couldn't be that bad, could it? Could it?

Posted by SoGlitchy at 1:17 PM | Link | Comments (0)

I don't know that I've read a review of this album yet that didn't mention Tom Petty, and I think it's a bit unfair, because at a glance you'd assume the record sounds like "American Girl." There's so much more going on than that. This track, for instance, makes me think of Animal Collective more than anything else.

Posted by SoGlitchy at 6:39 AM | Link | Comments (0)

OMG dance pop! They don't make it like this anymore. (Um... except when they do.) These guys seem to have taken to the form in a big way.

Posted by SoGlitchy at 9:37 PM | Link | Comments (0)

Seems like all the indie kids want to make grand, lush dance music nowadays. And god bless 'em for it, if it's this good. I was shamefully late to this album.

Posted by SoGlitchy at 9:34 PM | Link | Comments (0)

The fact that this "album" is actually 13 remixes of the same song doesn't hurt its listenability at all. Beautiful ambient dub.

Posted by SoGlitchy at 12:07 AM | Link | Comments (0)

Just a little jazz, nothing to panic over. Some Sunday morning going-to-get-coffee music.

Posted by SoGlitchy at 5:28 AM | Link | Comments (0)

Listen for James Brown sounding more and more sinister with every break, until by the end he's advocating... killing white women? Holy shit. (And it's still a great song.)

Posted by SoGlitchy at 1:58 AM | Link | Comments (0)

A great track off of his difficult-to-find 1956 self-titled album; also featured on the import-only Island in the Sun box set. Both will cost you a pretty penny in the states, where apparently the man has fallen out of fashion and out of print, save for the hits. That's a shame.

Posted by SoGlitchy at 7:17 AM | Link | Comments (0)

Minimal techno in the Villalobos vein, with a sneaky way of feeling warm. Resident Advisor went nuts over it.

Posted by SoGlitchy at 6:43 PM | Link | Comments (0)

A much more subdued record than Movements, but stay up late enough, and you might find something very nice hidden among all that not-dancing.

Posted by SoGlitchy at 4:14 AM | Link | Comments (0)

The new box set, One Hell of a Ride, is some really essential stuff. This version of this song is not on it. (heh.) Happy 75th, Willie.

Posted by SoGlitchy at 11:33 AM | Link | Comments (0)

If you can just make it until next winter, you'll be ok.

Posted by SoGlitchy at 2:45 AM | Link | Comments (0)

Floaty and fluffy as a cloud. One of my favorite XTC songs. One of my favorite songs, full stop.

Posted by SoGlitchy at 8:42 PM | Link | Comments (0)

Beyond warm.

Posted by SoGlitchy at 7:16 AM | Link | Comments (0)

It's been a NASTY goddamn winter here in Chicago. Let's act like that never happened, ok?

Posted by SoGlitchy at 7:16 AM | Link | Comments (0)

I'm gonna give it to ya. On the rooftop, apparently.

Posted by SoGlitchy at 3:13 PM | Link | Comments (0)

The long version, for maximum cowbell.

Posted by SoGlitchy at 3:38 AM | Link | Comments (1)

A smooth killer from Kompakt Total 8.

Posted by SoGlitchy at 10:34 PM | Link | Comments (0)

One of the records I've been hooting about all year, and it's still with me at the end of it.

Posted by SoGlitchy at 7:58 PM | Link | Comments (0)

On the double.

Posted by SoGlitchy at 7:54 PM | Link | Comments (0)

Theme song for fluxion.

Posted by SoGlitchy at 9:36 AM | Link | Comments (0)