Like Riding a Bike

 

For those of us who like a good bicycle ride.

Originally made for my brother's morning commute,

this has equal parts motivation, fun and patience.

1. Karl Denson's Tiny Universe - Shake It Out
   Throw some gear in your backpack or basket and let's go...
2. Amadou & Mariam - Dougou Badia (ft. Santigold)
   Best played loud.
3. Gang of Four - Natural's Not In It
4. Buddy Holly - Slipping and Sliding (Jacques Renault Remix)
   The part of urban biking that gets me is the feeling of gracefully sliding in between the immobile skyscrapers and slow pedestrians.  It's like you've discovered a better way to travel and everyone else is still asleep.  It's fun to cruise around, look up at the buildings and see how the daylight changes from street to street.  These next three songs go well with that feeling of awe.
5. Air Waves - Knockout
6. Flume - Sleepless (feat. Anthony for Cleopatra)
   At first this will sound like just another instrumental hip hop track, but the tension and build up lead to an all-encompassing outro where vocal samples are coming from all angles.  Great stuff.
7. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Dance, Dance, Dance
   Yeah that's right, I put a Chili Peppers song on this playlist.  I wouldn't normally put this much bubblegum on the blog, but I happen to put this on when I was biking home from Mt. Tabor at sunset and it just FIT.  Best going downhill so you can feel the wind on your face.
8. SBTRKT - Pharaohs
   Somehow London's Aaron Jerome managed to squeeze two of the most fun tracks of 2011 on his selftitled album.  I almost didn't put it on here, because I didn't want anyone dancing so hard they don't notice that truck heading right for them.  You're on your own.
9. High Contrast - Racing Green
   Now you're not going to want to listen to this when it starts, but give it time and you'll soon be cutting off taxis running red lights.  The genius of High Contrast is that he hooks you with emotion rather than aggression like most Drum 'n Bass artists. He almost tricks you into becoming a DnB fan.
10. The Winstons - Amen, Brother
    When you get hired as a bike messenger they give you a Walkman
    with Amen, Brother and Sea Groove on it.
11. Big Boss Man - Sea Groove
12. Youth Lagoon - Daydream
    How can you have a bad day and listen to this song?  Man I feel like I just had a picnic with my sweetheart and now we're biking home in tweed on a Saturday in June.  Sheesh.
13. LCD Soundsystem - All I Want
    For those long rides alone.

 
Links
------------
Interview with Brendt Barbur, Founder of the Bicycle Film Fest
NYC to get largest bike-share effort in the country
Copenhagenize (pre-eminent bike blog)
Support NYC Bike Efforts
Reasons to bike to work
Bowery Lane Bicycles
Extraordinary Paths
NYC Bike Maps

Friends can message me for a download.

image: Design Sponge and Regular Basis

Design Will Save the World

"Architecture in general is frozen music"
-Friedrich von Schelling

A combination of design theory, IDM and sampled piano lead to one crisp, emotive playlist.
I recommend browsing some of the amazing shots at archdaily , ISO50 or Wanken while this plays out.

1. Swod - Hellerau
   I have been waiting for a track like this for a long time.  Someone who samples a grand piano and rearranges it into something of a hybrid.  I imagine this is what architects listen to when they draw up blueprints.
2. 3iO - Eple (Royksopp cover)
   3iO is a jazz trio that covers popular electronic tracks. It doesn't always work but the minimal style really plays well on Eple.
3. Gold Panda - Back Home
   Gold Panda has been a favorite of mine for awhile, but I have been waiting for the right mix to share his style.  Back Home has that driving energy that fits right in on train rides.
4. The Field - Silent
   I had the opportunity to see the Swede play recently and it was a real treat.  To me, it sounds like he creates drawn out soundtracks to those fleeting moments in life that make you feel like you're truly alive.  They all require patience, but once they sink in you are in love with the guy.
5. The Foreign Exchange - Happiness
   The Foreign Exchange have a Postal Service-esque story where a producer sends beats online to an MC and occassionally sparks fly.  I'm just happy someone is carrying the torch from Nujabes.
6. Bibio - Kaini Industries (Boards of Canada cover)

image: ArchDaily

Happy Friday - Dub

 

Some laid back dub to get you acquainted with the heat.  Wash these down with a Red Stripe.

Im & David - Wish Bone (Funky Reggae LP, )

Brethren/Tapper Zukie - Rub a Dub a Weh Them Want (Trojan Dub Rarities Box, )

Love the tone and mood from these horns.

Augustus Pablo - Fat Girl Jean (Trojan Dub Rarities Box, )

Sepalcure - Your Love (Fleur EP, )

Breezy and creative buildups from Brooklyn.

Monster Rally - Rainbow Rd. (Coral, )

Super catchy loop.  Had to include it's video by Green Crate Films below.  It's a great example of what lo-fi can do for a soundtrack.  It takes a completely different, almost comedic take on an intense scene.  His albums are up on his bandcamp page for pay what you want.

Have a good weekend.

1

Shabazz'd

I was going to say this was perfect for a sticky, hot afternoon walking the city streets where you randomly see an ice cream truck and decide it's been too long since you've had one of those snowcones with the gumball at the bottom.
   I was going to say that... until I read this:

This video contains footage from the upcoming documentary by Village Beat titled Tough Bond — a film about kids sniffing glue to survive street life in Kenya’s disappearing villages and exploding urban slums.
Original documentary score was provided by Shabazz Palaces. 
Learn more about the film and cause at Village Beat.org
                      -Sub Pop

And if I'm on a Shabazz Palaces kick then I might as well post his Belhaven Meridian video.

An allegorical short film/music video beautifully shot on 35mm black & white film in Watts, Los Angeles, "Belhaven Meridian" is a one-shot homage to Charles Burnett's 1977 classic KILLER OF SHEEP.

 

Underground Hip Hop from 'The Wire'

"Let's see how he plays it."

The HBO Series 'The Wire' does everything right. The producers pay great attention to detail.  Most of the music in the series is diagetic (meaning the characters can hear it) which adds to its realist approach. Take for example, the scene where Stink-um is driving to a deal, blasting music from his SUV while the cops are staking him out.  The music pans from left to right when the car drives by and pauses when Herc snaps the surveillance photo.  They must have had mics all over the place, because the volume changes the further away the camera is from Stink-um's car.  

    The song from this scene is surprisingly intelligent too. Analyze is held tightly together by a crisp snare beat and a dead serious electric piano loop. The loop is simple so you can focus on the lyrics to pick up some insider tips on making your product last (i.e. lacing cocaine with baking soda).

  Blake Leyh, the Wire's music curator, sourced all the hip hop featured in the series from underground groups within Baltimore.   So it's not a jump to say that real inner city drug dealers could have actually been listening to this song while making a drug drop.  The show continues to blur the lines of reality even after it went off the air. Earlier this month everyone's favorite assassin, Snoop (aka Felicia Pearson), was arrested in an actual drug raid.

It's all in the game.

The Sharpshooter's Analyze