A Comfortable Affair

We all have our private affairs. The good ones are with people, the mediocre ones are with substances, and the others dwell somewhere with the senses. Mine is with music, but not the kind of high school emo kind where I think music is the only thing that understands me, but kind of. I’ve felt a connection with music since before I can remember, sneaking into my room at the age of 12 to listen to 92 K Rock hoping they would play Chop Suey or something of the sort, so I could lay on my bed and soak in the harmonies. The obsession grew through life and 11 years later I’ve found my career to be solely based around music, and more importantly, vinyls. It’s always been a tough passion to have, coming from a moderate to radical Catholic family and finding myself in the grimiest of spots in the lowest parts of NYC. But I wouldn’t trade it for the world; which is precisely where the issue lies. I think I’ve finally been able to pin point why I can never REALLY find myself in a relationship with other humans or be anywhere for too long. Human relationships take a hell of a lot of back and forth. It takes a decent amount of effort to open up to someone, listen to what they say about your feelings, listen to their feelings, decide on an opinion about what they think, and somewhere find a balance. 

But with music, there is no reciprocation needed. It’s there for you to listen. It doesn’t judge you, it doesn’t judge your motives, your reason for listening, your response or any way that you handle the sounds moving through your ears. It doesn’t look at you funny for crying, it doesn’t try to understand why you’re laughing, and it definitely doesn’t care what your political and religious views are. It’s going to be there for you whether it likes it or not. I can take it anywhere I want to go, and it doesn’t bitch about it. It gladly accompanies you, and you know what, I bet it’s smiling at you while it’s with you. It’s a complete non-judgement zone, when you’re in the mood, you grab it and take it and listen the shit out of it, and when you’re done you turn it off without it saying a word. You don’t have to worry about leaving you, it doesn’t worry about who you’re talking to or what bar you’re attending. It doesn’t care what you wear or who you’re hooking up with, all it knows it that when you need it, it’s there. Never once an explanation needed. 

PTSD || Miami Withdrawal Edition || Shadow Child // ViLLAGE // Surkin // Branko // Roses Gabor // Danny Fujikawa

May possibly the hardest song to listen to after spending nights on the beach in Miami and continuously listening to Minimal until 2 am. May be an oldie, but still, sexiest song for my ears right now.



Surkin, you dirty little mastermind, you. This whole Advanced Entertainment System EP is absolute fire. Not to mention this music video is like an aesthetic acid trip, not complaining.



UHHHM, talk about building up the blood flow. Honestly one of the greatest songs to close your eyes to, picture yourself in your magical destination, and let the music take you far, far away.



Oh my Gosh. I just can't listen to music like this, I can't be trusted. I always knew Roses Gabor would be killer in the vocal scene (Plugging myself for calling it in my SNS article like 6 million months ago) but seriously, this track. HOLY APHRODISIAC.



My friend, my love, and probably my future husband, once again absolutely melting my soul with his stunning music. This one in particular, the images that my mind curates while this is playing in my ears ... I never want to face reality that it's 35 degrees and almost April. Beauty in a soundtrack.



DUH. No words needed, Surkin again. The happiest of all happy music. Fantastic.

An Exercise of Memory

Too many things to be said about this weekend. Or rather, too many things need to be left unsaid about this weekend. Another glorious taste of something beautiful that doesn't last. And a couple lessons learned about what happens for reasons and what's just happenstance. We can't hold onto pretty things forever, we can't experience mind-blowing DJ sets forever, and we can't look at pretty faces forever.

Beautiful things happen to keep our memory in check. So we can look back and remember the way the music made us feel, the energy we adapted to from our surroundings, the affect new people had on our being, and the memory of weather, that, at the time may have been too hot, but looking back was the most perfect temperature we've ever experienced. Things get old, and things die. If my weekend were to last forever I'd be sick of Hawtin, nose rings, sand and red wine. It was a beautiful weekend that was simply that; a weekend. A beautiful memory that is beautiful to look back on.



Best set at Ultra, hands down. Probably one of the best two hours I've ever experienced.

Flume - Holdin On

What a promo vid. Whatever, cannot WAIT to see him in a couple weeks.

"Cause I love you baby, yes I do."

BABES OF THE MOMENT // BANKS. // MISS KITTIN // ALUNAGEORGE // INDIANA

BANKS. - Fall Over



Probably the most fun song to sing along to since I tried to match George Maple's vocals on Flumes "Bring You Down." And those pops and water droplets soaking throughout the track .... mmm.

Miss Kittin - Bassline



I think this is old. So, sorry 'bout that. But what a tune, huh?? the vocals, the fade outs, the whole production is top notch, and quite frankly puts me in a very unruly mood.

Aluna George - Attracting Flies



One time, like two months ago, I asked the deities of music to allow Aluna George to come out with a song that will make me fall in love with her, because I couldn't get myself to get into her like everyone was, and hell, I WANTED TO JUMP ON BOARD. And low and behold, Disclosure came out with "White Noise" and then THIS JAM. Perfection! (french chef kiss on my finger tips)

INDIANA - Bound



OH NO WAY. When I was sent this girls SoundCloud I'm pretty sure my jaw hit the floor. The darkness, the low lit, soulful vocal with the simplest yet most gut cradling sound that this song produces is just unreal. THEN oh, that riff towards the end. Man. I can not wait to play this the next time I'm on my way to get into some trouble. (And by "trouble," I mean smoke a cigarette and then throw it angrily on the ground when I'm done, and FORGET to stomp it out. That's right, I'm dangerous.)

HAPPY HUMPDAY // GRIEFJOY // VOLTRON // ALUNA GEORGE // MAJOR LAZER // KIDNAP KIDS // STEREOHEIST

Stereoheist - I Want it All Over Baghdad



Along with running the dopest Vinyl company in the whole entire world, my friend ALSO mashes together some of the sickest tunes on the market. This one in particular just fits together so perfectly and sounds so right. Then again, I suppose anything Outkast sounds delicious.


GRIEFJOY - Touch Ground (Yuksek Remix)



Can't stop. Won't stop...listening to this song. I mean it's pretty much a guarantee that anything Yuksek touches turns to gold, and this one -- especially at that 3:34 mark with the piano -- oh it just tastes so sweet.

Voltron - Let Go (A.N.D.Y. Remix)



Definitely one of those songs that allows for the greatest creation of thought to occur. I would love to hear this out one night, specifically during that 3:10 mark. Oh man I can't even imagine the happiness that would pour forth from my body.

Major Lazer - Watch Out for This (Bumaye)



I actually can't wait to see Major Lazer at Ultra. I have always been a fan, Switch and Dip together are pretty unreal, and I tried for a while to branch off from them because Diplo became to commercialized and kinda lost touch with reality, but I can't help but dance my little ass of when they drop something new. I ran to this one last night, and pretty sure everyone in the gym was watching me make a fool of myself as I was trying to simultaneously run and dance all at once.

Kidnap Kids - Animaux



OH MAN. THOSE VOCALS. THAT BEAT. This is the type of music that makes me so happy and this is DEFINITELY the song that will be playing when I land in Miami at night next week and look out at all those beautiful palm trees that I've been missing so dearly.

Logan Lynn - Feed Me to the Wolves (Flufftronix Remix)

CAUTION: This post is kinda sentimental so don't judge me.

Anyway. This song holds one of the most special places in my heart; and I'm not even really sure I can explain it. I remember the day I found it. It was back in 2009, when I was living in Atlanta and just really delved into the music scene. Alone. I was so unbelievably overwhelmed and excited because I felt as if a whole new world had been opened up to me. This was one of the first remixes that year on my own that I soulfully connected with. The interconnection between the lyrics and the overall tone of the song was brought to a completely ethereal experience through this brilliant remix by Flufftronix.
Yesterday, this song was remastered, just hours after the song crept back into my veins by a friend I had sent it to, who said it was his favorite of the 394 songs I had overwhelmed his dropbox with.

Anyway. I'm reposting this song, because it's almost been 4 years since I blogged about it on this very same blog.

WISHLIST

DJ Mix March 2013 Best Underground House / Newest Tech House / Techno (Dixon, Joy Orbison)

My boy Black Dominoes is over killin' it in London, channeling the magic from the land of the misty, and made a sick March mix for the pleasantries of our ears, and you're welcome for bestowing it upon your mind and soul. NOT ONLY does he open up with one of my favorites by Damarzo x Kolumbo, but he ends it with one of his own and it just soothes you to the core. Mmmm mmm. 

Let's get this out of the way first:

Most DJ mixes that make their way onto YouTube are cheesy.

New Jersey fist-pumping, cheap-cologne wearing, fake-tan levels of fromage.

One of our buddies is here to change that.

Atlanta-bred Kellen Crosby, aka Black Dominoes:

He has one foot in ethereal, abstract music and the other in driving,
minimal, Chicago-style club tracks. If DJs like Heroes and Villains
are Atlanta's Flosstradamus (trap rap with big-room dubstep) and
Distal is the Southern USA's version of DJ Rashad (footwork, juke,
techno) then Black Dominoes is the Four Tet, the Dixon, the Ame of the American South. 

Think clean and classy house and techno.

"When I had the idea for the London Workshop mix series, it was just to make something small, something easily digestible but still amazing", said Crosby. "Normally I go from slower and deeper tracks to faster and more percussive stuff over the course of hours, not minutes!" The speed at which the mix changes tempos is quick, but the tracks are quality. "All the tunes are new, that's the other thing. I want the mix series to be only newer songs, and hopefully at least one original track a month."  

If you've outgrown EDM brostep or ''dirty electro'' (or maybe you're just of legal drinking age) but still like electronic tracks with a decent helping of bass, give this mix a listen.

It'll be easy to find on YouTube... it's one of the only mixes without a picture of an airbrushed, surgically enhanced girl in a bikini on the cover

The Goosebump Enhancers // Alt-J // Bahamas // Kishi Bashi // Toro Y Moi // AMTRAC

I know I always go on and on and on about Alt-J, but I can't help it. A really good friend of mine sent me their An Awesome Wave vinyl as a housewarming gift, and I have to tell you, the purity of their sound on a vinyl is nothing short of spiritual. This song in particularly, at around 3:29...I get chills, and I tear up. It's an overwhelming sensation that I never want to let go.
Also, if anyone in the greater NYC area has an extra ticket to Alt-J, I will write for you, pray for you, and give my first born up for a ticket.



My new boss/co-worker/musical confidant/long lost kindred spirit showed me this song, and the SOUL that pours forth is so natural, so groovy and so honest. A rarity in music now a days.



" " " " - He showed me this guy too, Kishi Bashi, and I think I may have whimpered out of utter bewilderment by how INCREDIBLE his sound was. You see and hear some musicians souls when they play music, and this guy is definitely one of them.



A little Disclosure-ish, a little Joe G-ish, a little awesome and fun and dancey and amazing and groovy and jammy.

Toro Y Moi - Never Matter



I think this is my favorite from Toro y Moi's album. Actually maybe it comes in second to "Say That" but everyone knows that one and I had to be different somehow! Kidding. Also, don't you think "Rose Quartz" could potentially have the dopest remix of all time!? PAGING JOE GODDARD.

Disclosure - White Noise

Sorry I'm a little late, I've been preoccupied. BUT YAY.

Alison Valentine - Warm Winters Day

Her voice is so sweet, and her music makes me want to be in the heat of the Miami sun. This one in particular, "Warm Winters Day" is the perfect song to warm you up a bit on these bitterly cold days.

Check out the article I wrote on her on SNS Post HERE. 

Kirk Spencer // James Blake

"Where do you go when you lose your mind?" You go right here.

A beautiful dark masterpiece by Kirk Spencer and stunningly haunting vocals by Safia May.

And James Blake you sexy boy, you. 

This is just gorgeous in all senses of the word. 

Prince Club - Let Me Go (Just - Listen)

Well this is fun. With respect to our fabulous mentor the Miss Britney Spears.

Along the lines of our friends Le Youth & Cyril Hahn, this track takes words from an old school gem and remakes it into something flossy.

LIZ - Underdogs feat. RIFF RAFF

"You're not my homie, you just a ho. Bright shining pony? Well guess what, bitch I'm a unicorn."

Inspiring.

You know the saying "guilty pleasure"? This is the end all be all of guilty pleasures. I can't help it! RIFF RAFF YOU SUCK SO BAD AT RAPPING PLEASE STOP (but really, keep going!) And this LIZ chick, your lyrics are hysterical and I'm probably going to make some shirts out of them, but your voice is that of an angel. And the beat! I can't stop listening. Help me.

YELLE

She will always be known as the weirdest French babe on the planet.



Ah, her newest gem. I am severely digging this direction she's currently in.
Especially this song, ugh, she's such a romantic!



I know this ones old but it's new in my head and I cannot stop playing it.

MS MR - Fantasy

She's been my favorite female vocalist since I saw their first show in June. And this video, finally you get to see them. Love the colours, love her jacket, love his face. (hate his tude.)

Claptone - Wrong | Exploited

Without a doubt my new favorite video and song.
SPEAKING of a Dr. Dre beat.....

Sky Ferreira - Everything is Embarrassing (Krystal Klear Remix)

I was so into Sky back in '10 when she had super luscious hair, healthy arms and sang the Beatles over a Dr. Dre beat. She was super cool from NYC, did her own thing, had her own style, and rocked Mary Janes harder than anyone I've seen. Now I have my issues with her. It's kinda sad to see what she's turned into, but whatever her music is still tight as fuq.
Anyway
This remix rules.

Cat Power - "Manhattan" (Ryan Hemsworth Remix feat. Angel Haze)

Fabulous.