DJ Rashad, who released my favorite record of 2011, has been making music at a breakneck pace. In the last several weeks, he’s released a handful of tracks via his SoundCloud, a video for “Stick Up” (a collaboration with DJ Manny and Brenmar), and is currently readying two albums: a 20-track monster called Teklife: Vol. 1: Welcome to the Chi and a follow-up, appropriately titled Teklife: Vol. 2. The former is due soon-ish on Lit City, a new NY- and footwork-/juke-based label that Rashad has started with Aziza Man (@J-Cush, #workaholic, #partyman, #pizzaface). AND: on top of all of this, one of Rashad’s latest tracks, “Shoot Me,” just got a video courtesy of Ashes57 — check it out above.
Meanwhile, Rashad and Aziza Man have been tearing shit up in New York. They played a show yesterday at the Cameo Gallery with DJ Spinn, DJ Manny, Falty DL, Dave Q, and Loefah, and they have another on Friday at Santos Party House, also with Spinn and Manny. These guys are clearly living the ☨€Kℒ ૉƒⅇ. And so am I. Vicariously. Follow Lit City for the latest and greatest, and stay tuned for more Lit City release news.
• DJ Rashad: http://soundcloud.com/djrashadteklife
• Aziza Man: https://twitter.com/#!/AZIZAMAN
• Lit City: https://twitter.com/#!/LITCITYTRAX
Co La
“You’ve Been Expected”
For music so reliant on the repetition of samples, it’s interesting how little Matthew Papich’s Co La project defamiliarized the source material while still managing to incite confusion. 2011’s Daydream Repeater, the first vinyl full-length for both Papich (Ecstatic Sunshine) and NNA Tapes, was certainly a pleasurable and easy listen, but people seemed to have difficulty figuring out whether or not they were “enjoying” the experience. There’s an amateurish simplicity to the music, and it was precisely this aesthetic transparency, this refusal to bend samples beyond proportion, this matter-of-fact presentation of pinpointable samples that made listeners question the quality of the music.
Daydream Repeater, in other words, was so empty of easily discernible meaning that its meaning was up for grabs. But no one was really grabbing, because aligning yourself with an album that begins with an untouched Twin Peaks sample might just be too obvious a signifier that it’d be particularly uncool to like. But fuck crate-digging aesthetics and technical proficiency, am I right? First and foremost, Daydream Repeater created experience, not meaning, and our reactions to it say more about our preconceptions than whatever intentions Papich might’ve had. The album sounded at once familiar and foreign, a surreal and fully-remembered daydream.
The above video is titled “You’ve Been Expected” (which is also the title of a Co La mix from October 2011), but it actually consists of two tracks off Daydream, “Vanity Plate” and “Wanna Say Faux.” The latter track features an especially fun deconstruction of The Ronettes’ “Be My Baby.” (Fun fact: during live performances of the track, Papich pulls out Kleenex tissues one by one as a “gesture of solidarity” with the audience.) We set the Vimeo video on loop, so keep this browser tab open for maximum impact.
• Co La: http://soundcloud.com/co_la
• NNA Tapes: http://nnatapes.com
Kishi Bashi
“Manchester”
You may not know the name K Ishibashi too well, but you might’ve heard him before. Dude has played with everyone from Regina Spektor and Sondre Lerche (your favorite!) to Alexi Murdoch and of Montreal, of which he is a member. He also helped found new wave synth group Jupiter One, who you might also not be familiar with but may have heard while playing EA games like Madden NFL 08 and NHL 08. (Or maybe you’re more of a Leisure Suit Larry kind of gamer?)
But K Ishibashi seems less interested nowadays in soundtracking games and more interested in getting his mug/music out there under the moniker Kishi Bashi: he released the Room for Dream EP last May, started a YouTube channel late last year, and is now set to release his debut full-length, 151a, thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign.
Kishi Bashi will be on tour starting in March, opening for of Montreal and playing shows with the likes of Deerhoof, Cults, and Loney Dear. Check him out virtuoso’ing on violin in the live video for “Manchester,” a track off 151a. The album, produced with the help of Kevin Barnes, is due April 10 on Joyful Noise.
Meanwhile, check out the Room for Dream EP here:
• Kishi Bashi: http://www.kishibashi.com
• Joyful Noise: http://www.joyfulnoiserecordings.com
The Caretaker
Extra Patience (After Sebald) [free mini-album]
James Kirby, record spinner of morose ballroom jams and all-around distinguished gentleman, is currently offering a free download addendum to his new Caretaker album Patience (After Sebald) via his bandcamp page. This one’s called Extra Patience (After Sebald), natch. The man is just full of kindness and generosity.
And in case you’ve been living in a cave, his An Empty Bliss Beyond This World LP (TMT Review) made #4 on TMT’s favorite albums list.
• The Caretaker: http://brainwashed.com/vvm
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