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On To the Next One

Dear muskiteers,

Its been a wonderful ride. Appreciate the love and the reading. Muskit will be shutting down and moving its talents to a new, improved, and what what useful site. Details to follow in the coming days.


much love.

Lotus

Continuing slightly on this musky dance binge, I'm gonna talk about the electronic jam-bandy Lotus today. These dudes have been around for a few minutes now (their first EP Germination was released in 2003) and have gone through some stylistic changes over the past few years. Their first album was much more traditionally jam bandy and melodic. On "Umbilical Moonrise" the sweet guitar work is reminiscent of a Grateful Dead or Allman Brothers improvisation put through a slight electronic filter. By the end of the album they're a little more out there -- "Umbilical Moonrise" becomes "Umbillcal Moonset" and the melodies are abstracted into fast trills, a reverb heavy synth wall of sound behind them, and you start to get that fast dance on. By the end of the track the same riff comes back, although a little more distant, a wave of cymbal roll and electronic dissonance rolling gently over it,

Fastfoward to their latest work: late 2009's "Oil on Glass" and "Feather on Wood." These album titles bring to mind artistic collages, abstract paintings -- and I think that's appropriate. The tracks are collections of sounds, melodies, distortions that are tied together to create a linear flow - Oil being more Ratatat heavy electro sounding, Feather being more alt rock sounding.  Both at their best are something to jam dance out to -- you know, arms spread out, head loose, vaguely staring downwards, body swaying -- I call it the Ben Levine. Tracks "Simian" and "72 Hrs Awake" being the high points, and the hip-hop "Alkaline" remix is also kinda dope.

Personally, I dig the older stuff a little more, but regardless I imagine these guys are great to see live, and for y'all in NYC, you guys can go this week. They're playing two shows at the intimate Mercury Lounge on Thursday and Friday and then Terminal 5 with Daedulus on Saturday night.

Check the site and get details here: http://lotusvibes.com/

I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You

I first became obsessed with The Twelves I heard those very words. While The Twelves deserve absolutely no credit for The Black Lips' brilliant lyrics, they do deserve a nice heap for making that song as danceable as fuck -- an inspiration for every one to learn some moves to not teach their dance partners boyfriends. This is what The Twelves do best, they take great songs -- rock, folk, electro -- and reinvent them with a funky Brazilian disco twist that I can't resist.  And I dont know if Brazilian disco is a real thing, but dudes are from Rio

I really don't know why it's taken me so long to talk about my favorite DJ duo. They've fallen a little from the absolute pedestal of love I had for them after a dissappointing show at Santos this past summer but I'm willing to give them another chance at my heart on February 11th, when they take over the Hudson Hotel's dungeons at Good Units. Cop yo tix here.

Let's hope 2011 shines kindly on us all and gives us some new Twelves track killas 

The Black Kids - I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You (Twelves Remix)

Munk - Violent Love (Twelves Remix)

kamp!

kamp! first came to my attention through a mixtape I found online last spring. The track "Breaking a Ghost's Heart" caught my ear blending synth driven pop melodies with sincere emotionally driven lyrics. kamp! falls into the same category as Cut Copy in producing dance floor ready songs that manage to touch you while you're bopping to them. There's a certain sadness in the voice and music that instead of depressing is actually uplifting.

The quartet hails from Poland and will be coming to the States in March.  I for one cannot wait to see them. Check their single "Heats" below.

Heats by Kamp!

And download the other tracks free off the band's Myspace.

Throwback Tuesday: Madvillain, The Four Tet Remixes

Madvillain -- the epic duo of masked emcee MF Doom and producer Madlib (born Madlib the Kid) -- dropped the legendary LP Madvillainy back in 2004. The collaboration elevated both Doom and Madlib in the eyes of the mainstream music world, including a young me, who then proceded to devour MF Doom tracks.

In 2005, Doom gave six tracks to a then-little-known producer named Four Tet to remix. The result is a very different yet similarly complex take on the same rhymes. Madlib creates progressive Dilla-like sample heavy collages -- ephemeral jazz yet still entrenched in hip-hop's past. Four Tet's production is more linear in its flow. But that's not to say its simple - he trades atmospheric jazz for electro dissidence that functions like its predecessor, leaving the listener in beautiful disorientation.

If you can get through the music, you're left with Doom's own crazy-good lyrical absurdities. Your ears and mind are gonna be doing a lot of working, but if you can take it all in, you can get a whole lot of genius in you.

Quadron!

It's been a while! Sorry for the lack of blogging discipline but we got a few new projects in the pipes here at MUSKit for 2011 which I am excited for but also take up some time. That being said, today we will be discussing a sexy Danish duo thats recently come to my attention.

Quadron.

I pronounce them "quad-drone" usually while yelling in a Spanish accent: Quadron! If that helps. The duo consists of a female singer named Coco and a male producer named Robin, so you know they're bringing that Netherland sexiness. For those of you who are not up on your etymology regarding the inherent sexy valuations of Danish names, I will elaborate.

Quadron describe themselves as electronic soul. To me, they're like the love twins of D'angelo and Lykke Li. Coco's voice is strong and flexible - she has range and changes up her style from song to song. I think it sounds best when she's in her more smoky baritone region as she does in "Tone." The track also is a perfect example of Robin's sparse, neo-soul inspired production. Over a simple, understated bass line, the only percussion are snaps, which go perfect against the soulful gospel hums.

On "Jeans" the duo gets a little poppier. A funky riff played on bass, guitar, and sax lay the musical verse's hook on the simple verse chorus verse chorus structure. The chorus eventually builds, the strings loosen and the listener nods in sync.

NYMag gave their self-titled debut their number 7 ranking in 2010. Be sure to check out the tracks below and their Myspace

http://listen.grooveshark.com/playlist/Quadron/42009941

Lemme know what you guys think of this new sharing format.