Tag Archives: Experimental

[Albums Review] Four Tet – There Is Love In You

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Kieren Hebden’s latest album under the Four Tet moniker is, by a considerably margin, his strongest and most consistently rewarding release to date. Here, the beats are much less rooted in instrumental hip hop, and are more geared towards the dance floor. Instead of using complex or bloated chord changes, Hebden opts for methods practiced by composers like Manuel Göttshing, Wolfgang Voigt or Steve Reich with unchanging harmonic centers, using texture and volume to reveal the limitless potential of the sonic spectrum. Standout track “Plastic People” starts with a Gas-like steady bass drum pulse and adds understated, jazzy comps—hand claps, rim knocks, and up-beat pulsing shakers. These elements are methodically added to, and subtracted from the beat, maintaining a forward motion in a way that’s hardly noticeable but endlessly preservative of the track’s substructure. Read full review at inyourspeakers.com

Four-Tet-There-Is-Love-In-494433Four Tet – She Just Likes To Fight

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Four Tet – Sing

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Four Tet – Plastic People

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Bonus:
Thom Yorke – Atoms For Peace (Four Tet Remix)

’Atoms For Peace (Four Tet Remix).mp3′
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[Video] Caribou – Odessa

I hhhaaateee this video! I find it soo boring!.. but.. the song is SOOO GOOOOD that it makes the entire thing a little bit more interesting. I find it fascinating how a completely random blurry video can become mysterious with just the right melodies. This is the main reason I have a soundtrack section on the blog, music has a way of changing our mood almost perhaps more immediate than what we can perceive with our eyes.

Caribou is Canadian Dan Snaith, who formerly recorded under the moniker Manitoba. Known for altering his sound with each subsequent release, he incorporates electronic psychedelia, krautrock rhythms, and breakbeat drums and creates a swirling, lush, musical panorama.

Caribou – Odessa

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[Looking Back] The Experimental Coil

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An emotional psychedelic/religious music experience with thought provoking lyrics along with beautifully orchestrated music. Coil’s music has a dark church cult feel with persona that matches the band. I won’t lie, listening to the song Coil – Batwing A Limnal Hymn all the way through gave me goosebumps at the crux of the hymn. If you were to eat a bunch of psychedelic drugs, take Phillip Glass – Knee Play 5 and Mix that with Einstürzende Neubauten – Sabrina all whist sitting in church, you might end up with something like Coil. Warm up the nettle tea and have a listen.

Coil, originally formed by John Balance and Peter Christopherson encompasses a carefully balance of instruments, vocals, soft synths, and a subtle various noises.

Coil – Batwings (A Limnal Hymn)

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Coil – Tattooed man

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Looking Back: Non-2009 Experimental/Pop/Indie Songs Playlist Vol.2

Electric President -S/T

ElectricPresidentRepresenting Jacksonville, Florida Ben Cooper and Alex Kane are creators of the softly electric indie pop duo Electric President. Their first album S/T is considered one of the greatest collections of electronica songs from this decade with amazing playful soft songs like Insomnia and Ten Thousand Lines. There music sounds like The Postal Service, Styrofoam and Anticon’s cLOUDDEAD.

Electric President – Insomnia

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Electric President – Ten Thousand Lines

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B. Fleischmann.

bfleischmannThere is something very calming about Austrian musician Bernhard Fleischmann‘s “Buzz” from the solo album A Choir of Empty Beds. Although the percussions have a fast pace, the over extended synthesized melodies soften the over all tempo of the song. His drumming background is transparent in his music, creating a fusion of percussion and electronics.
B Fleischmann – Buzz

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The Never

The Never MusicI do not think many people have heard of these guys, a shame really. The Never is made up of Noah Smith and brothers Jonny and Joah Tunnell. Based in Chapel Hill, NC on Trekky Records Label, The Never make melodic rock and pop music. In 2006, the band released “Antarctica: A Storybook Record,” a concept album accompanied by a fully illustrated 50-page storybook written and painted by Noah Smith – last.fm

The Never – Cavity

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Hot Hot Heat

Hot Hot Heat

While they are not remotely obscure anymore, I remember listening to Goodnight Goodnight for the first time and be blown away by how different they sounded to anything that was playing on the radio in 2005. Songs like these were the reasons for me to start The Music Ninja. Like I have said before I was not into the whole “music blog/music discover” up until a 2 year ago and I am using the site and posts like these to show people amazing songs that are not being talked about anymore just because its not the latest and greatest. Hot Hot Heat is an indie rock band from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada and plan to release their next album in 2010.

Hot Hot Heat – Goodnight Goodnight

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Firekites

firekites musicThe Xx remind me a lot of Firekites, without being too minimalists. A good combination of dim guitar notes, keyboard, percussion and layers of voices make “Same Suburb Different Park” a such ‘feel-good’ song. A couple of glitches sprinkled here and there just barely make it into the electronica category, other wise it will just be considered acoustic folk pop.

Firekites – Same Suburb Different Park

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Missed Non-2009 Experimental/Pop/Indie Songs Playlist Volume 1? Check it out!

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The Perfect Album for a Mellow Christmas in 2009! + FREE Giveaway for 3 Music Ninja Readers

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Its here! The 2009 Music Playlist for Christmas! Now I wish I could take credit for this awesome compilation of chill songs but it was really the guys from Indiecater Records that made this possible!

After their success with their first Christmas album last year, they decided to step it up a notch and improve their selection for 2009. Most of the songs on this collection were written especially for the occasion and even includes bands we had previously covered like Adam and Darcie

You can stream the songs or buy it off their website.

And what is Christmas without giving presents!? We Love each an every one of our readers! and to show how much we care we will be having a lot of contests & giveaways throughout December. If you like these songs and would like to recieve a FREE copy heres what you have to do!

FREE CONTEST DETAILS!
Very Simple.
1) Comment below with your real name and email address (just so we can contact you!)
2) Join our Facebook page and wish us a Happy Christmas! on our Wall 🙂
AND (optional if you want to be counted twice, increasing your winning chances)
3) Follow us on Twitter and tweet “Hook me up with The Perfect Album for a Mellow Christmas in 2009 @themusicninja http://bit.ly/7Ep7LB”

And thats it! We will select 3 people at RANDOM this Friday 11th and you will recieve your free digital copy by email!

Tracklist
1) The Garlands – Christmas Song (Carving Ice Sculptures In Stockholm)
2) Candy Claws – Snowdrift Wish (Writing Gift Lists In Fort Collins)
3) Loxsly – Mrs. Kris Kringle (Overdoing The Outdoor Lights In Austin)
4) Adam and Darcie – It Came Upon A Midnight Clear (Calling Round To Neighbours In Provo)
5) Allo Darlin’ – Baby, It’s Cold Outside (Buying More Stamps In London)
6) Woodpigeon – Little Nemo (Winter Lullabye) (Making Festive Mixtapes In Calgary)
7) Boca Chica – Snow Angels (Humming Stop The Cavalry In Pittsburgh)
8 ) Oldfolks Home – We Don’t Cry At Christmas (Suffering Indigestion In Winnipeg)
9) Betty & The Cavaleros – Hey! I’m Your Gift Today (Googling Eggnog In Fredrikstad)
10) Standard Fare – Tinsel Politics (Taping Good TV In Sheffield)

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11) Sunset – New York Love (Making Snow Angels In Austin)
12) I Hate You Just Kidding – It’s Fun To Do Bad Things (Cleaning The Chimney In Costa Mesa)
13) Sweet Jane – Silent Night (Downing Hot Toddy’s In Dublin)

UPDATE! THE WINNERS ARE:

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I made a list of all the people that participated in the contest (and added your name twice if you tweeted ) and thanks to RANDOM.ORG, it randomized the order of my original list. I simply chose the TOP 3! If you are gonna blame anyone blame the random website!! lol The winners are Michelle Dillman, Gustavo Bernal and Lydia Simmons and should be receiving their digital copies via email. Thanks to everyone that participated and be sure to check back with us soon as we have another GIVEAWAY/CONTEST planned for next week.

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Looking Back: Non-2009 Experimental/Pop/Indie Songs Playlist Vol.1

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Revisiting some of the classics 5-star songs from my iPod. It was the discover of these songs that really got me into experimental, indie music. With so many music blogs doing 2009 lists.. thought the opposite would be more entertaining and maybe give light to a few overlooked songs in the past.

French indie outfit Hey Hey My My is Julien Garnier and Julien Gaulier. Forming in early 2005, the duo both write and compose folk/country glossed pop songs similar to Nick Drake, Frank Black, Paul McCartney, Johnny Cash or Brian Wilson.
Hey Hey My My – Merryland

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Melvern Taylor writes songs and plays the ukulele. He is backed up by his Fabulous Meltones. Together they make records and play shows.Once upon a time, people like the Everly Brothers, Carole King and Sam Cooke made pop songs—timeless, accessible and instantly familiar music.
Melvern Taylor – Angel On My Shoulder

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ang.mp3′

Si Schroeder is a six-foot hairy male who makes ‘music’. This ‘music’ has generally sounded like the combined contents of his record collection (mostly classic sixties pop, scratchy old ethnic recordings and the odd bleep or two), on top of which he layers ruminative, whispered vocals about the tough times we all live in and go through. – lastfm
Si Schroeder – Lavendermist

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Experimentally electronic indie glitch pop is just a few labels to describe the music behind Amsterdams Rutger Hoedemaekers and his project About. And while About’s composed style of singing has you sitting down to think things over, the overpowering arrangement will hurt you if you do. Imagine tasting a stew that smells so good and ending up burning your tongue.
About – Think Niles Drink

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BC Camplight is Brian Christinzio, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the track Office Down is from his second album Blink of a Nihilist. A very orchestrated song with accompanying choruses and electronic melodies.
B.C. Camplight – Officer Down

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Dntel is the solo project of Jimmy Tamborello, an electronic musician/producer thats collaborated for Figurine and The Postal Service. ntel released his full-length album Life Is Full Of Possibilities in 2001. dumbluckThe sound of Dumb Luck is a less glitch-oriented and more electroacoustic sound than more of his earlier work, with tracks like “To a Fault” and “Dreams,” although electronics are the primary source for such songs as “Dumb Luck” and “Natural Resources”. The songs recorded on this album were recorded between the years 2002-07.
Dntel – dumb luck

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Dntel – Roll On
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El Perro del Mar is the solo project of singer/songwriter Sarah Assbring from Gothenburg, Sweden. Her music could be described as melancholic lo-fi pop.
El Perro del Mar – God Knows (You Gotta Give To Get)

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[Disco] Fan Death – Reunited




An innocent story of a lost girl in search of her best friend as she encounters many unique charactesr along the way. At first the video might come of a little creepy but its tasteful synchornized dancing scenes and colorful imagery are mysteriously enjoyable. It is the kind of video that is full of symbolism for those smart enough to recognize it yet completes a simple story arc for the rest of us that cant even sit through a David Lynch movie.

Before I talk about Fan Death, I would like to quote an article from wikipedia first:

Fan death is a South Korean urban legend which states that an electric fan, if left running overnight in a closed room, can cause the death of those inside (by suffocation, poisoning, or hypothermia). Fans manufactured and sold in Korea are equipped with a timer switch that turns them off after a set number of minutes, which users are frequently urged to set when going to sleep with a fan on.[1] -Wikipedia

Isn’t that just awesome? The Canadian duo are set to be the new face of disco. Will they succeed? Guardian.co.uk believes so explaing that “they’re not nu rave, or an indie-dance band, or a guitar group using a funk undercarriage. They’ve got the slightly wonky strings, elegant mid-tempo rhythms and female vocals of disco, recalling the music’s golden age”

Whatever you may think, here at The Music Ninja we dont pride ourselves on predicting future hits. Our only job is to make sure you here about them, and better sooner than later.

Fan Death – Reunited

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http://www.myspace.com/fandeath

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