I present to you my third full length album as Haunted Ghost! With 15 tracks, at 53 minutes, it is my tribal gospel R&B synth opus and my most emotional work yet. Physical release in the works, but download it here for free!
VIDEO MAGIC :: shapes + shapes = patterns edition
Spank Rock :: DTF DADT
dir: Scott & Karl (with Spank Rock)
I knew Spank Rock (aka Naeem Juwan) was a dirty talking, smooth spitting MC when I first heard him on his debut YoYoYoYoYo in 2006, produced by XXXChange (aka Alex Epton). Now, four years after his EP with Benny Blanco, Spank Rock is dropping his second full length album -Everything is Boring and Everyone is a Fucking Liar-which promises to be MASSIVE. XXXChange is back producing some tracks, as well as some guest appearances from Diplo, Pharrell, Boys Noize, and Santigold, just to name a few. The Baltimore born rapper has definitely come a long way and this track, produced by Zeb Malik of weird-rock act Po Po, just goes to show how far his musical style, knowledge, and expertise has come. This is one of his less verile tracks (not to say that the emphasis on pussy popping isn’t present) and sounds like a crossroads of Black Dice and Busta Rhymes. The video is very cool, featuring some interesting dance choreography, killer cinematography, and some choice set and costume design.
This album is going to be the big one of 2011, mark my words.
Haunted Ghost’s Chanson du Jour :: sick side project edition
Airbird, aka Joel Ford, is one half ot the 80s throwback duo Ford & Lopitan (guess which half!) and member of Tigercity. His solo project is putting out a new 12” on the label he curates with Lopitan entitled Software, which is a sublabel of Mexican Summer. This song is the A side and is a killer, synth heavy club stomper which seems perfect for driving through a city at night, past neon store fronts and yellow lamps twinkling in parks as the trees move by. Italo disco meets the more contemporary sampling based sensibilites of today’s electro scene, this track is sure to bring fire to any dance floor. Grade A!
Haunted Ghost’s Chanson du Jour :: completely lost edition
Mark McGuire :: Get Lost
I am a very intense enthusiast of the whole Ohio , especially when it comes to the Emeralds camp (Mark McGuire, Jon Elliot, Steve Hauschildt, and fringe crew like Radio People’s Sam Goldberg, Hanson Records’ Aaron Dilloway, Trouble Books, and Cylindrical Habitat Modules’ Julian Gulyas) so when I saw the Editions Mego is going to release a new Mark McGuire album, Get Lost, in a month, needless to say, I was stoked. Upon listening to it, I was awash with the same wispy and emotional affectation that I experienced the first time I heard Goes By… off the 2010 Emeralds full length Does it Look Like I’m Here? The track builds slowly with McGuire’s signature guitar sensibilities and a shimmering synth dancing around in the background, but then a bit over halfway comes the classic distorted guitar static and beautiful acoustic strumming that conjure, as McGuire describes “the spirit of the summer night sky.” Listening to this for some reason recalls the memory of when I was a young child moving from California to North Carolina, sitting on the trunk of my parent’s car in the middle of the desert, crying from fear of change and looking up at the falling stars like smears of light streaking through the water of my tears. Powerful, raw, emotional, massive, beautiful. This is going to be one of those albums…
Pre-order at Editions Mego or wait for the more nicely priced domestic order on Forced Exposure or Experimedia.
If you are in Berlin then it would be in your best interest to see this tonight
Haunted Ghost’s Chansons du Jour :: bare-step edition
Essay :: Distance & Lights EP
Distance & Lights EP on Cut Records by ESSÁY.
ESSAY. from Heidelberg, Germany commanded my attention immediately. There is an ethereal and almost romantic attitude to this music, a quiet despondancy and yet a shimmering, almost shining quality about it. Glimmering glum. If I listen to it when the sun is shining it feels like a rainy day. If I listen to it in the gray of a cloudy morning if feels like all is brighter. It is this sparse, beautiful contrast that makes ESSAY. stand apart from the rest of the minimalist ambient-step groups popping up all over the place these days. There is an emotional patience behind the music, a thoughtfulness that can often get lost. They are also the creators of Warminal records, which has a lot of really lovely and inspiring electronic acts such as Fedbymachines (who wears a strong Burial influence on their sleeve in a very charming and far from pretentious way), Σ-Fly (which feels like running through snow in the sunlight) and Nocow (who have a strong, gritty, almost tangible sound). Very awesome stuff going on here. Well recommended for those invested in the post-dubstep community.
So I have been in love with Active Child since magically stumbling upon his She Was A Vision 7” released through Transparent Records over a year ago. Then the Merok release of his Curtis Lane EP blew me away. But his new full length album You Are All I See has quickly become my favorite album of the year. Soaring electronics, trickling harps, emotional croons - all the elements of Active Child’s style are here but they have grown and matured to this genre bending explosion of power, disparity, love, and bliss. This should make its way on to all Top 10 lists for 2011. Jaw-dropping. Much love to Hypem for the album stream.
I hope you survive the blaze, it’s hard enough for us kids these days
Answer is the first track made available from Chris Taylor’s (of Grizzly Bear) forthcoming solo-debut as CANT Dreams Come True, on which he is assisted by George Lewis Jr. (of Twin Shadow) . The album is out on September 12/13 via Terrible/Warp and can be pre-ordered here.
Wow! This song just blew me away. CANT wait for the album. Here is the track Ghost of the first release on Chris’ own Terrible Records.
Haunted Ghost’s Chanson du Jour :: drfit-step edition
Sorrow - Lubilu (Stumbleine Remix) by Sorrow. Birmingham, UK’s new minimalist dubstep prodigy Sorrow. takes many lessons from the pops and hits of the likes of Burial and Mount Kimbie while at the same time appreciating more the sparse, ambient textures reminiscent of a softer Jon Hopkins or Library Tapes, dropping in patient, constant beats and slowed down vocal samples here or there for a hypnosis inducing state. This remix by fellow UK musicians Stumbleine plays on that sense of space and ambience perfectly, creating a drifting, beautifully ethereal piece that feels like floating like stray paper on a breeze. Really engaging and introspective.
Here is the original, which is also amazing, less effervescent but all the while euphoric: Sorrow - Lubilu by Sorrow.
