200 Words

14th - Tina Moore vs Indo

Mon, 20 May 2013 21:30:00 +0200

The past few days had been pretty scarce in music if you ask me, besides the Mount Kimbie album stream and Kanye West’s head up on 66 walls: nothing too interesting seemed to have happened. Until I found this. AlunaGeorge have already proved that a good singer and a good producer forming a duo together isn’t strange, on the contrary: them teaming up together, thus without the focus being on either one of them individually, made them one of my favourite duo’s of the past few year, and now I have found some competition for them by the name of 14th.

Though the name might be a little odd, this duo sure isn’t: Tom Barber and Tracy Duodo form a perfect team and, besides the fact that they’re touring with Bonobo, their cover of Tina Moore and Indo proves that they can compete on the highest level. Combining Indo’s R U Sleeping with Tina Moore’s Never Gonna Let You Go, they deliver a stunning track that is slow and beautiful, like a more soothing, dreamy, less beat-focused version of artists like AlunaGeorge or Lulu James. While 14th have only just popped up on my radar I can imagine them taking the music scene by storm later this year.

-JH

Kanye West - New Slaves

Sun, 19 May 2013 22:11:00 +0200

Last week, Kanye West embarrassed himself by bouncing his head against a traffic sign while being filmed. Kanye has many talents and qualities, but something he doesn’t own, is a self-deprecating sense of humor. Kanye doesn’t like to see himself humiliated. Now he strikes back; his beloved head which he bounced before against the traffic sign, now appeared projected at 66 buildings across the world. It was the video for his most recent track New Slaves and is a emotionally heavy, deadly serious track. Substantively I can’t say too much about New Slaves because of the poor audio quality, but it is clear that the track is Mr. West-worthy. He never disappoints.

That is the reason that he is - in my opinion - the only musician who may compare himself to something metaphysical. He once said that he wanted to be as big as Michael Jackson. I was really sceptic reading this, but currently I truly think we don’t need to rule out the chance of Kanye doing it. Naming his album ‘Yeezus’ is one step further on his quest. Now Kanye officially committed to the idea that he is an inhuman, divine figure; the next step is to convince the audience by releasing another irresistible album. Knowing Kanye, he will probably succeed.

-BO

Mount Kimbie - You Took Your Time (ft. King Krule)

Sat, 18 May 2013 16:29:00 +0200

I will be honest with you; I am a huge fanboy of King Krule. He really is one of my favorite artists around: every time something new is released by Krule, I get excited like never before. To me, he is the absolute king of pronunciation; the way he mumbles and sings his mysterious lyrics are reason enough for me to become excited. The reviews about his latest Edgar The Beatmaker project were variable; though to me it was just a perfect snack while waiting for his debut album. The comments on Mount Kimbie’s new tracks were also diverse. Their new sound got called bare and detached. Until the track featuring King Krule appeared; their recognizable warm sound is back on You Took Your Time.

King Krule gets a lot of vocal space on the simple but dynamic production. It gives Krule the possibility to get elaborate and smart, and it’s gallant that Mount Kimbie give King Krule this glory. But the production is more than just an addition to Krule’s vocals. Mount Kimbie really bring the track to a fantastic ending. And of course King Krule is the icing on the cake. It makes me wonder what his upcoming feature with Frank Ocean will sound like.

-BO

Mayer Hawthorne - Her Favorite Song

Fri, 17 May 2013 19:01:00 +0200

A few weeks back Mayer Hawthorne, one of 200 Words favourite soul singers, released Designer Drug, an uplifting and cute tune with impressive production that sounded like nothing Hawthorne had done before. On his first album the production was simple and old-fashioned - in a good way - , the arrangements were beautiful and Hawthorne’s voice fitted on top of that beautifully, his second album was more of a straight-forward 2011 blue-eyed soul album and didn’t manage to impress me. Now the soul singer has grown a beard and is working on his third album, and by what we’ve heard so far we can say we’re more excited than ever.

Her Favorite Song is the first single of ‘Where Does This Door Go’ and like on Designer Drug the production is almost the opposite of his first album, but we somehow like it. Often a ‘over-produced’ sound -where soul usually gets lost in the process of making stuff sound futuristic- doesn’t help a singer’s voice, but on Her Favorite Song Hawthorne sounds smoother than ever and with Jessie Ware handling the additional vocals it’s hard not to like this song. Let’s just admit: it’s impossible.

-JH

Video: London Grammar - Wasting My Young Years

Wed, 15 May 2013 15:32:00 +0200

London Grammar are often hailed as ‘the new xx’. I can imagine why people compare London Grammar with The xx, but there are as many differences as similarities. It’s probably the production that reminds people of The xx in a certain way; the guitar- and bass play show similarity, especially in Wasting My Young Years. One of the main differences though is the kind of classical sound London Grammar breathes. Actually,it is this classical and velvet sound that distinguish London Grammar from all the other upcoming artists.

Hannah Reid – the band’s singer – has a delicate but vulnerable singing voice; she sounds like she is a really schooled singer, and her higher tones touches the sound of opera. This singing is both a blessing and a curse; I can imagine that people really can’t stand this kind of singing in pop music. To me this singing is precisely the thing music desires; it needs distinctiveness and dare. Now their video for Wasting My Young Years appeared, and its stunning. It perfectly fits the music’s atmosphere; vulnerable, intangible and heavily loaded. It looks like a modern, 21st century tableau vivant without gravity.

-BO

Album review: Daft Punk - Random Acces Memories

Tue, 14 May 2013 22:33:00 +0200

It took me quite a while to get into Daft Punk’s new single Get Lucky. At first I didn’t think it was that interesting, but after some time it made me realize that the new Daft Punk album didn’t need to be revolutionary to be fun to listen to. I was curious about the album, but as I’m not a diehard DP-fan, the extensive promotion for ‘Random Acces Memories’ didn’t do much for me. It became a massive hype though, the expectations were high. And as the album was forced to launch on iTunes yesterday, I didn’t hesitate a moment to give it a listen.

It all starts off well. A funky epic Get Lucky-ish opening followed by a more calm, laid-back and vocoder-voice track and the interesting speech on Giorgio on Moroder. After that, the box of ideas seemed to be empty. The tracks became repetitive and the album reached a bottom-low, with only Nile Rodger’s guitar-work, single Get Lucky and the Panda Bear-collaboration Doin’ it Right as the only good tracks on a generally disappointing album. Get Lucky did give the wrong impression of the total work, but the big promotion can’t be an excuse, ‘Random Access Memories’ fails to impress at every facet.

Stream the full album on iTunes.

-PB

BANKS - Warm Water (prod. Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs)

Mon, 13 May 2013 21:37:00 +0200

Hooray, the Daft Punk album has leaked. Now it won’t take too long before everybody stops talking about it and we just go on as normal and write about new music, instead of getting hyped for weeks for an album that now can only disappoint. One of the new musics (no, music has no plural, I know) I was talking about is this one: Warm Water by BANKS, a song that has me feeling like warm water does during spring’s cold days. As said a thousand times before on this blog, to me, talented singers need futuristic producers and not some inhouse guy at the bigger labels. Luckily BANKS and the team behind the LA-based singer understood that the most interesting songs would come when she’d work with interesting and talented producers like Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs.

As said the result of this collaboration is something brilliant, like a match made in heaven: TEED’s soothing and warm production topped by BANKS’s lush vocals that literally feel like being whispered in your ear. A combination that I hope will result in more material than just this one track, though I believe that both have the potential to stand out on their own too.

-JH

Album review: Vampire Weekend - 'Modern Vampires Of The City'

Fri, 10 May 2013 12:34:00 +0200

If you read our latest article on Vampire Weekend, about the first two singles of this album Step and Diane Young, you might already know how excited I was for ‘Modern Vampires Of The City’. Vampire Weekend’s first album is among my favourite indie albums of all time, then they released their second album ‘Contra’, an album that didn’t quite do it for me, and now they’re back with their third album and I must say, it gets me almost as happy as their first album. Though the youthful playfulness of their first album has been exchanged for a more well-thought mature sound, ‘Modern Vampires Of The City’ really shows the band’s artistry.

While the African rhythms and Peter Gabriel influences have moved to the background, even more than they did for the second album, the style is as you can expect, or at least I hoped for: ingenious, refreshing and warm. With songs like Step and Everlasting Arms, two of my favourites, being the band’s most emotionally heavy songs, the band has really shown versatility, even writing their most beautiful ever. For the more energetic listener, there’s also enough to be heard on the album, like the fun rocky Diane Young and new single Ya Hey.

-JH

The Child of Lov - The Child of Lov

Wed, 08 May 2013 20:47:00 +0200

Internationally seen we – inhabitants of the Netherlands - don’t have many influential Dutch musicians in an international context. All of a sudden there was The Child Of Lov; after having two tracks released and still being anonymous people began wondering who this guy was. The two tracks spoke for itself; they were fashionable, hip and mysterious. After winning an NME-award the mystery was no more. He seemed to be an 25-year old inhabitant of Amsterdam. He grew up in Alkmaar, the cheese capital of the Netherlands.

People from Alkmaar are known as sober and rigid, but The Child Of Lov’s music isn’t sober and rigid at all. It has to be said that the production is better than his singing; The Child Of Lov’s natural singing voice isn’t too exiting, but he uses it in a dodgy way. Opener Call Me Up is slow and strong; it sounds like an Outkast-like jam. Living The Circle is more uptempo and bombastic track, it shows the other side of The Child Of Lov. The production is firm and ingenious; it feels a little bit like Jai Paul’s short cuts from his leaked tape. Another highlight of the album is Owl – featuring DOOM. The combination feels natural and absolutely pleasing. ‘The Child Of Love’ truly feels like a debut of international allure.

-BO

Le Le - Eyes Closed

Tue, 07 May 2013 22:27:00 +0200

Le Le is probably the most striking collective of Dutch music. It consists of De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig member Pepijn Lanen, electro DJ Rimer London and graphic artist Piet Parra. They came in the picture with their first albums ‘Flage’ and ‘Party Time’, on which they experimented with different house flavors smeared with remarkable lyrics in Dutch, French, German and English. Often the results were funny and ironic, but most of the time the tracks were a really good listen, too. Skinny Jeans and Hard became cult hits, while Breakfast was a sincere club banger.

Rumor has it that a new Le Le album is on its way, which seems to be confirmed by the release of a new sound: Eyes Closed. The new track isn’t very surprising, but it has almost everything a good Le Le song needs. The beat is danceable and the synths are smooth and absorbing, it’s a pleasure to listen and move to. Sadly, the lyrics, normally Le Le’s biggest power, don’t have much to offer. The idea of putting the world on mute is lovely, but it doesn’t get me as excited as I should be for the new album.

-PB

Ghostpoet - Some Say I So I Say Light

Sat, 04 May 2013 21:11:00 +0200

In a sense Ghostpoet’s debut ‘Peanut Butter Blues & Melancholy Jam’ was stunning. Ghostpoet presented an intense, dark and slow London-vibe. The album wasn’t an easy listen at all. The beats were misty and subdued, while Ghostpoet’s ‘rapping’ feels like a wave of spontanity; a direct reflection of what goes on in his brain. It feels dreamy and confusing, but his London-tongued voice is lovely; the way he pronounces single words are a pleasure in itself. The album felt like a haze; many peopledidn’t like it because it can probably sound monotone and unruly in a certain way.

Bad news for the people who didn’t like his debut album; ‘Some Say I So I Say Light’ has almost the same unruly and dark sound. Actually, I still don’t have a clear opinion of the album. It needs time, just like the previous album. You need time to get pulled into it. One track that deserves some extra attention is the collaboration with Tony Allen – the legendary Fela Kuti drummer – called Plastig Bag Brain. It’s the only track which has a certain different vibe than usual Ghostpoet tracks. Tony Allen’s rhythms really brisk up a fresh energy inside Ghostpoet. ‘Some Say I So I Say Light’ sounds like successful sequel, but maybe misses some challenge and innovation for the Ghostpoet fans.

-BO

Chance The Rapper - Acid Rap

Sat, 04 May 2013 13:48:00 +0200

‘Acid Rap’ opens with the words “Even better than I was the last time” and not a single letter in that sentence is lied. Though as jaunty and juvenile as always, Chance The Rapper really manages to impress with his second mixtape. Ever since the sun found his way to Amsterdam (only a few days ago) I’m pumping his tracks through my speakers and it brings me the same joy as some early Outkast albums did.

That comparison isn’t completely air made, as Chance seems to be digging from the same sources. The funk and jazz influences are omnipresent in his uplifting tracks and especially Good Ass Intro gives the wonderful ‘Speakerboxxx’ feeling. At the same time, this comparison may not do justice to Chance, as he is quite unique in his way of doing. He succeeds on the almost always unfruitful path of combining rap and singing, and playfully flutters around the toyish sounding beats. Features of among others Childish Gambino, Action Bronson and Twista make the mixtape even more enjoyable and provide some variety. Which is good, because that seems to be Chance’s biggest pitfall: After listening such a joyful tape, it’s almost like I ate too much candy.

-PB

Clams Casino - Bookfiend (ft. MF Doom)

Thu, 02 May 2013 17:39:00 +0200

Clams Casino is a producer in demand; since he produced a big part of A$AP Rocky’s debut his beats became famous for it’s dreamy ‘purple’ vibe. Actually, Clams Casino made Rocky’s sound for a big part, but his instrumental tapes are also beloved. He proved himself more than a submissive beat maker, and confirmed that his beats were special themselves. The only thing that still missed was a collaboration with a seriously respected MC. A$AP Rocky makes heavily amusing music, but as an MC he isn’t that special.

Now the collaboration with MF Doom appeared. For me, it was a real surprise to see these two musicians working together. On the surface, the combination is just not one you would think of. As soon I imagined what this collaboration would sound like, I knew it would be a special one. Doom has everything that A$AP Rocky hasn’t; Doom’s lyrics are always ingenious and he sprinkles with references. Where A$AP Rocky loves the public attention, Doom works from the shelters. One thing is for sure; Clams Casino shows his multiplicity. His beats are perfect and determinative for the ‘purple’ Rocky sound, but he has also the quality and insight to work with an alternative, less catchy and ingenious rapper like MF Doom.

-BO

Tropics - Home & Consonance

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 21:53:00 +0200

Actually, I’m not too familiar with Tropics; I don’t know much about him and his music. Except that he is a Londoner and released a debut album that many compared to Caribou’s ‘Odessa’. I didn’t even listen to this album, but the rumors around his free listenable upcoming EP ‘Home & Consonance’ made me curious. I listened tabula rasa, and was happily surprised.

‘Home and Consonance’ is refreshing and has a real summer vibe; ‘tropical city music’. Chris Ward is a quite good singer; he isn’t too outrageous and knows his vocal restrictions. He gets the most out of the singing parts, but the focus of his music is actually on the instrumental parts. The tracks Home & Consonance and Don’t You Know showcase his producing skills. Title track Home & Consonance gets shaped by ingenious polyrythms and contrary chimes. On the other side Don’t You Know has a slow jazzy vibe; the timing is perfect and soggy, while the vibraphone almost feels like a basic Bobby Hutcherson contribution. As I listened to some other, older Tropics tracks of his previous album, I was actually happy that I didn’t listen to it before. ‘Home and Consonance’ sounds so much better.

-BO

Quasimoto - Planned Attack

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 11:39:00 +0200

Madlib is a well respected and phenomenal producer in many ways; he collaborated with likes of Erykah Badu, J Dilla, Mos Def, and so on, but also released several quality instrumental albums. Besides being a great producer, he is a rapper too. But he doesn’t like his own rapping that much. To me, Madlib is a loveable MC. His timing is always a little bit off and his flow is lazy. Despite his successful contributions to the albums of Lootpack and Jaylib, he never rapped again as Madlib. Luckily Madlib released tracks with his alter ego Quasimoto; Quasimoto raps about things Madlib wouldn’t, acting like the devil on Madlib’s shoulder.

The Quasimoto albums were innovative. Madlib showed every form of his creativity; the production was diverse and authentic, while the rapping was funny and brilliant. Now - after a silence of 8 years - Quasimoto is back with a track called Planned Attack. It’s Madlib at his best; the boom bap-like beat is straight and sweaty, it’s one of those Madlib beats that probably every MC would love to rap to. It really shows the endless creativity and versatility of Madlib once again. Planned Attack feels like a perfect appetizer for the upcoming album ‘Yessir Whatever’.

-BO

Backstreet Boys - Show Me The Meaning Of Being Lonely (Ryan Hemsworth Remix)

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 22:45:00 +0200

I have this weakness for artists that can’t help but not taking themselves serious. Ryan Hemsworth is one of those guys that showed great talent, with his particularly great remixes of Frank Ocean’s Thinking Bout You and Grimes’ Genesis, but he refuses to take part in his own hype and doesn’t seem to like to emphasize his critic-attributed promise. Lacking any form of pretention, his latest feat of arms is a rework of the 1999 Backstreet Boys track Show Me The Meaning of Being Lonely. Although I certainly have my guilty pleasures, that BSB track doesn’t even come close to being played through my speakers. Hemsworth’s remix however is so much better.

I DID IT *drops mic* twitter.com/ryanhemsworth/…

— ryan (@ryanhemsworth)

April 22, 2013

An interesting Twitter marketing-act led me to downloading the track, as it wasn’t ‘just’ on Soundcloud, or a 79-cents iTunes download. Instead, the download needed to be paid for with a precomposed tweet, including an obligatory smiley face. What you get in return is the track, the ‘cover’, a flattering picture of Penelope Taynt and a beautiful hey.doc-thank note from Ryan himself: “i love you thank you for downloading you are perfect”. Thanks Ryan, so are you, don’t believe in yourself, keep making these remixes please.

-PB

Lianne La Havas - Elusive (fLako remix)

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 19:24:00 +0200

Lianne La Havas has almost everything a good and young artist needs. She is beautiful, has a special voice, is a great acoustic performer and released a quite popular debut album. Her live performances are superb; especially her solo appearances are very impressive. Just Lianne and her guitar, she actually doesn’t need anything else. That’s why many people also didn’t like her popular debut album; the production felt superfluous. It was rather a derogation of Lianne La Havas’ talent and quality as a songwriter. It felt the same to me; I loved all her acoustic live performances, but I couldn’t enjoy her album.

Luckily there are producers that can do good remixes too. fLako shows that good production can have a positive influence on Lianne La Havas too. He showcases that Le Havas just chose the wrong production for her music. He really brings the somewhat sleepy track Elusive to life. The guitar loop is catchy and striking combined with the simple snapping sounds. The variations with the slower intermezzo parts give you the variety and creativity which the production of the original song lacks. Maybe Lianne Le Havas should be a little bit more adventurous and daring in the future by collaborating with some other, young and fresh producers.

-BO

Video: SOHN - Bloodflows

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 20:28:00 +0200

One of the most rewarding things for me as a music enthusiast is to discover artists that very few have heard of. Over 6 months ago I discovered SOHN and wrote about him on this very blog. I wrote about his track Warnings and back then almost no one had heard of him and he was surrounded with mystery: in August we knew nothing about his identity and all we could do was speculate. Now, half a year later, SOHN signed to 4AD, the label that has also signed the likes of Bon Iver and Daughter, and is touring the world. One thing hasn’t changed though: the quality of his tracks.

His latest output is Bloodflows a stunning track and when he released it I didn’t have a chance to write about it. Luckily, in the same week as signing to 4AD, the Vienna-via-London singer has shared the video for Bloodflows which gives me the opportunity to finally write about it. While the video is nothing special, the track is: Bloodflows is a magnificent touching track where SOHN perfectly blends his soulful emotional voice with stellar electronic production reminding of the likes of Vondelpark.

-JH

Daft Punk - Get Lucky (feat. Pharrel & Nile Rodgers)

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 15:40:00 +0200

At first I was planning to write a piece about this song, but focusing on how - to me - the hype killed Daft Punk’s next album. Now I still believe that that is the case: doing your launch event in a stupid little town in Australia, doing countless strange leaks, strange loops suggested to be songs, are in my opinion a little too much, though the public is partially to blame. Then I decided that if wrote a piece about that, I would do the thing that annoyed me: making the hype bigger than necessary. That’s why I’m just going to talk about the musical aspects of the first complete song off of Daft Punk’s ‘Random Access Memories’: Get Lucky.

Back years ago the French house, nu disco, electro sound of Daft Punk changed electronic music forever. And now they have returned. Get Lucky is a brilliant disco inspired tune and the first single of their album ‘Random Access Memories’. Pharrell’s voice fits the groove perfectly, legendary disco producer and guitarist Nile Rodgers’ influences takes the song to a higher level and the production by Daft Punk remains as good as it always has been: on Get Lucky everything adds up beautifully. I even get a little psyched to hear the album.

-JH

Sivu - Bodies

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 20:20:00 +0200

Sivu is one of those artist who caught our attention since he released his first single. His single Better Man Than He was gorgeous; it was keen and thoughtful, a release that every upcoming artist would wish for. An almost perfect pop song. Since Better Man Than He appeared, we constantly kept an eye on Sivu. Now his second single titled Bodies appeared, and Sivu doesn’t disappoint. The production is different in comparison to Better Man Than He; it’s a little more earnest and heavily layered but less catchy than his previous single.

The drums are subtle again, but when the beautiful chorus hits, the composition gets really bombastic and dramatic. Heavy and melancholic violins appear which get assisted by some church choirs. The thoughtful composition of the thus far released Sivu songs is really of an extraordinary level. Not only the way Sivu composes his songs is wonderful; his singing is also pleasuring. The melody’s are strong and his own backing vocals definitely complete the song. It sounds like Sivu is making music for years already; the songs sound so mature and complete. His EP will be released in June, and I’m determined that it will be absolutely pleasing.

-BO