Shuffle Hoard

Somewhat-daily blurbs about the first piece of music I shuffle to randomly in my collection.

[shufflehoard]

Rhoda - New Farmer (feat. Mia Doi Todd)

Hoo boy, that's relaxing. I just finished listening to Guy Blakeslee's new album, Middle Sister, on my way home from work. It's been relieving a lot of stress for me lately and this track is a great way to cap it off.

I got it from Dublab's free mp3 stream which I don't think they do anymore. It's got that soundtrack element I really love in songs, Mia Doi Todd's vocals are absolutely beautiful. I just want sway off to sleep in a cradle of fallen leaves.

You should still be able to get the song for free on Soundcloud.

[shufflehoard]

Morphine - Claire

Mmm. Morphine. Heard about them from my friend's Dad who got me into other artists like Modest Mouse and Donald Byrd. I was really impressed by Morphine's unique sound when I first heard it though. Just three guys mainly just playing drums, bass and sax. And Mark Sandman's weird croony vocals. He kinda makes me think of an older, deeper-voiced Kurt Cobain. Sandman met an untimely demise as well.

When I first started listening to Morphine I was playing around with iTunes a lot and would sometimes make up genres for bands or songs I felt didn't fit into its predefined categories. I deemed Morphine: Dark Underwater Jazz. That still feel pretty appropriate.

Like many of Morphine's songs, Claire seems to be about a woman. Which I guess is fine, but I like some of their weirder songs like Hanging on a Curtain and the Other Side.

Just watched the last season of House of Cards too and goddamn. Claire. Great stuff.

[shufflehoard]

Nucular Animals - Oooh Kill Ooooh

This is the only track I have by Nucular Animals, and I suppose it's pretty good but I guess I never felt the need to seek out more of their stuff. Maybe I will now that I’m writing about it. I definitely like the classic rock vibe it gives off. Especially that keyboard. Kinda sounds like Iron Butterfly.

I got this song on a compilation CD I bought at a pizza place or something while I was visiting Portland. COMP PDX Pop Now! 2010, it's called. Not something I listen to on a regular basis, but it's definitely got some gems.

The Portland indie music scene is a real interesting one. I don't know how, but a lot of Portland bands have a similar feel to them. It's a feeling I got pretty acquainted with while working at a nearby college radio station. It's been years since I've been in Oregon, but I'd be interested to see if the music there has changed much.

[shufflehoard]

Pendulum - Plasticworld Feat. Fats & TC

Hoo boy, Drum 'n' Bass. It's not for everybody but I don't really know why. I came across Pendulum the same time as Brooklyn Bounce and other British electronic artists like Propellerheads. I was putting Pandora through its paces and testing the varied waters of all kinds of electronica. Pendulum has always felt like the purest form of DnB for me. I downloaded the Jungle Sound compilation they're featured on pretty much immediately upon hearing it. I can't recall the first time I really listened to many particular genres of music, but Pendulum coming up on Pandora was the first time I had ever heard Drum 'n' Bass and boy was it crazy. I'd heard techno and other electronic dance music before, but Drum 'n' Bass was completely different.

I like the slow build up we get in Plasticworld. Really eases you into it. And just the right amount of vocals throughout. Present and soothing, but never overbearing. Most of the album, Hold Your Colour, follows a similar line. Although tracks like Tarantula and Through the Loop get pretty intense. It's all very danceable, but can still be quite soothing to me. Great to just kind of zone out to.

If Pendulum's a little too tame or mainstream for you, definitely check out Plug or Squarepusher for some weirder Drum 'n' Bass. Fun stuff.

[shufflehoard]

Steve Arrington & Dam Funk - I Be Goin' Hard

Jeez, Arrington and Dam Funk. What a perfect fucking holy union of funk. Arrington's beautiful voice backed by Dam Funk's fresh, astral beats for an entire album (Higher). This is Stone's Throw Records at its best.

This is the first track on Higher and is a great representation of what's to come with the rest of the album. It perfectly straddles the line between weird, out-there music and making you wanna get down and dance and sing along. Down in the trenches, baby.

I value uniqueness highly in music, and while they're not terribly unique on their own (though still great), together Arrington and Dam Funk have created something amazing.

[shufflehoard]

Cat Power - Sea of Love

I've only got four cat power songs, and I've recently felt kinda dumb for not having more. I picked 'em up in high school courtesy of a friend and I must have thought it was indie cool-guy enough for a few songs, but enough to explore more of. So yeah, kinda dumb.

But of my four Cat Power songs, this is the one that played at the first wedding I ever went to where I really REALLY cared about the couple getting wed. They slow-danced to Sea of Love and it was beautiful. I've always enjoyed the song, but since then it's found a much more special place in my ears.

It's simplicity at its best. Just a sweet, soothing chord progression repeating accompanied by straightforward, earnest lyrics. Nothing fancy, no details. Just a love song. The kind of love song everyone hopes they can sing along to someday.

Sure, it's a cover, done by pretty much everybody (even Tom Waits), but I feel like Cat Power best captures and portrays it's pure, naked, simplicity.

[shufflehoard]

Audionite - Kosmonauta

Not sure exactly how I came across Audionite, but I remember getting the EP, Don't Make Me! soon after hearing its title track. The sheer intensity of it sucked me in right away. Kosmonauta is much more laid back. has a very spacey feel as the name implies. Good winding down/walking home music. I mean, it's still dance music so it's not the most relaxing thing in the world.

I think I got it a few years ago when I was digging around in electronica and electro stuff. But apparently Audionite kinda dropped off the map as links to his SoundCloud and Facebook both appear to be dead. So that's sad, but at least he still put out a few quality EP's.

Kosmonauta is good, but I don't think it's the best sample of Don't Make Me! Definitely check out the rest of it.

[shufflehoard]

KMD - What a Nigga Know

Mmm, KMD. Before he was MF DOOM, he was Zez Love X rhyming with his brother. And it was beautiful. Black Bastards is my favorite Hip-Hop album of all time. I think some of the best music out there comes from collaborative efforts. Solo work can be amazing and often benefits from a lack of outside interference. But collaborative efforts like KMD, Jurassic 5, and Madvillain are just next-level.

KMD's first album, Mr. Hood, was alright but Black Bastards just nails it on every track. It's this perfect transitory album from where Hip-Hop started out and where it's gravitated (underground).

The beats and the scratching on What a Nigga Know just flow so well. Perfect DJ skills from Subroc. You just gotta move to it.

And it's so fascinating to hear a young DOOM rap. It sounds way younger but the voice is unmistakable. It's more innocent. Before his rise to supervillain infamy. His rhymes were much less abnormal and cleverly strung together than they are now, but they were pure Hip-Hop. Focused primarily on hyping his own skill at rapping.

And yeah, I'm no expert on Hip-Hop or anything. But I love it when you can hear it in its purest form. That raw energy and skill. Black Bastards is the pinnacle for me.

RIP Subroc, the Hip-Hop Hendrix.

[shufflehoard]

Brookyln Bounce - Take Me Away

Oh Brooklyn Bounce. Take me away. It's weird, cheesy Techno. Yet it's also beautiful, soothing Progressive House.

The Second Attack was probably one of the first full albums I pirated back in High School. I tracked it down pretty much immediately after hearing The Real Bass on Pandora. The weird deep-voiced persona of "Damon" was just so entertaining, I had to have it. It was around this time in my life I really started branching out my music tastes into various electronica. I was getting all up into stuff like Boards of Canada, the Avalanches and various Drum & Bass. Just experiencing a lot of weird, fascinating music for the first time.

Damon is noticeably absent in Take Me Way and it's kind of a welcome change of pace in the album. Y'know, if you were gonna take the album seriously. Which, I guess it deserves to be on some level. I don't even know. Brooklyn Bounce, man. The fact is, I really enjoy listening to the album, and that's all that matters, right? Definitely worth a listen. You'll find it amusing if nothing else.

Really like the increase in intensity halfway in around 2:45. It's just so trancey and nice. Feels good to be able to simultaneously move to a beat and still relax.

[shufflehoard]

Modest Mouse - Tiny Cities Made of Ashes

I think I first acquired this in my Limewire days in Middle School. Since then I've bought the Moon & Antarctica LP it's on. I was already pretty enamored with Good News For People Who Love Bad News so I was digging around for more goodies. I think I was drawn to the song because of the dancey, upbeat tempo. I like the contrast with the strange lyrics alternating between unsettlingly calm and clear singing and distorted, distant shouting. In either case, I enjoy the imagery the lyrics create in my head. I don't think it'd work as music video, but I can sorta paint my own video in my head whenever I listen to it.

It's got that calm, lulling bit at the end too with a bunch of backwards bits. Completely different from the rest of the song. Feels like it could be it's own little interlude, but it doesn't really flow well into the next song (A Different City). I like it. I just don't really know why it's there. Maybe it's more of a buffer than an interlude since A Different City is kind of intense.

I have vivid memories of listening to this and Karma's Payment on repeat on my old iPod Nano while helping my mom do custodial work at our church for a bit of cash. This was definitely one of those formative songs for me as my music tastes started to solidify around this period. I was pleased about finding cool Modest Mouse work that wasn't on Good News. It wouldn't be long before I discovered my friend's copy of Everywhere and His Nasty Parlour Tricks on vinyl. It instantly became my favorite Modest Mouse release and I made a point of listening to it whenever I went over to my friend's house. That first track (Willful Suspension of Disbelief) just takes me to a place every time I hear it. So soothe.