Zoe Keating

The house lights dim in the concert hall and the crowd falls silent. Zoe Keating enters onto stage, cello in hand, exposed to the black void of the faceless crowd. The silence grips her like first frost. She shakes uncontrollably and can't breathe, the powerful stage fright takes hold and her bow falls from her hand onto the hardwood stage. 

Zoe has been playing cello since she was eight years old. She has played for numerous bands and soundtracks, but to me she's not just a cellist. Zoe plays her Cello differently. She uses looping software to duplicate herself so she can create different layers of sound and rhythm. She doesn't just play the cello, she's tamed it like a wild animal. She taps it and rubs it as a percussion instrument, she detunes it to make it sound demented and she beats her hand at just the right spot to get a bassy heartbeat out of it.  

She's got over her stage fright of her early years, but her attitude remains somewhat timid and humble. 

Cécile Corbel

Arrietty is about 14 years old. She's strong and adventurous girl with a taste for exploration and a desire for friendship. She's also 4 inches tall.


Studio Ghibli's latest adventure shrinks the viewer down to Arrietty's size so we can see the world from the perspective of her and her parents. They illustrate vibrant forests of grass and flowers and the dark hostile plains of a vacant kitchen floor at night. The attention to detail in this film is both intense and imaginative, animators draw water droplets the scale of Arriety's fist pouring out of teapots made for a dollhouse, and into cups filled by a single droplet. A bayleaf provides her mother with a year's worth of tea.


The film tells a beautiful story about a sick and lonely boy discovering Arrietty and her family, and follows the story as this dangerous and risky  situation slowly ends up helping both parties. 


Imagine the the tick tock of a fifty story high grandfather clock, or the drip drop of a leaky faucet into a giant pot of water. Those are the little touches that make this adventure so immersive.


As we jump across ivy leaves and run across window sills the enchanting sounds of Cecile Corbel's harp accompany us. Cecil can sing in over 7 different languages including; English, Italian, Breton, French, Irish, Turkish, and Japanese. Her music honors of the film and images perfectly. 


Cecile Corbel - Sho's Waltz ( for the film "The Secret World of Arrietty")

01

pssst. I want you to hear something...

Childish Gambino - Heartbeat (Oliver Remix) by weareoliver

Stuart Price

Some producers hold a special place in my heart. A place with warm weather, fluffy clouds, green grass, butterflies, and cotton candy bunnies. This realm is occupied by only a few things in my life; dark chocolate, the smell of a pine tree, burning leaves in the fall, the scent of chlorine and sunscreen on a summer day and of course...

Stuart Price...or if you prefer... Les Rythmes Digitales, Paper faces, Zoot Woman, Thin white Duke, Man with Guitar or Jacques Lu Cont

Can one man juggle so many alter ego's and still be successful? 3 grammy's later, That's a yes. For this post I'm going to neglect the fact that grammy's are far from a reliable measure for success.

Anyway, Mr. Price is a fantastic producer of pop music, dusted slightly with a dance club

aesthetic. I've been waiting a long time to hear more work from his 1999 french touch project, "Les Rythmes Digitales", and it seems the wait is over.

He has confirmed a new album late this year, and so far released 2 great tracks as a taste of things to come.

Naissance des pieuvres

Water Lilies.

An interesting film that provides a uniquely intimate snapshot of a teenagers life. The film focuses on sexual experimentation, confusion, and awakening. It's a small and quiet film. Water lilies deals ultimately with little conflict, but somehow manages to be emotionally moving. The subtle acting and realism of the the teenage relationships is easy to relate too.

Complimenting the images is the deep electronic compositions of french producer Para One. I've been following Para One since his collaborations with fellow french"ghetto-house" producer Surkin since 2006, and was pleasantly surprised to see him approach this score with a new vision. It's intriguing to see producers showcase their talents on mediums besides dance floors.

The Soundtrack itself is deep and dark, with lots of swelling synthesizers and minor piano movements. Para One relies heavily on giving the cold digital sounds a rich and colorful feel, mastering reverb to give the sounds a deep underwater feeling.

I like.

Watch Para One's song "Finale" Above. (featuring some beautiful violin arpeggios)

(The above video contains the last few shots from the film but contains no spoilers)

The Magician

Magic Tape Twenty by TheMagician

I remember a conversation I had with my roommate about naming yourself "The Magician" as a Artist/Producer/DJ alias. We both were in mutual agreement about it being pretty uninspired and well, corny. Fast forward a few months, many mix-tapes and remixes later, I find myself starting to actually accept it as...fitting. His name is almost too perfect a description for what his music and style represents. Let me explain.

Stephen Fasano, Belgian DJ and one half of famous producing duo "Aeroplane", has continued the underground disco tradition of his former project by creating a new character. The Magician

strives for a warm analogue and melody driven pop. His Soundcloud mixtape series, "The Magic Tapes" is wildly popular amongst fans and fellow producers because of it's consistency and style. What I personally find most intriguing about the magicians mix tapes is his love for including songs from relatively unknown bedroom producers and novice, but talented musicians to allow them to have a moment in the limelight.

His overall character as a producer is humble, talented, and consistent. His sound is sparkly and neon, his sets are filled with french touch, disco, filter house. You will hear samples from the 70's and 80's, divas, roller-rink dance, but it's all modernized to still sound relevant (over compressed kick drums and punchy bass).

The production quality of his remixes is never rushed or unbalanced and every remix is worth multiple plays. All of his remixes fit into his Dj sets with ease and never sound out of place amongst classic dance tunes.

The man knows how to dazzle and wow his audience and how to play with people's emotions on the dance floor. After experiencing it for a bit myself I can now safely say I no longer think his name is lame. It's actually kind-of...cool.

Jan Driver

Jan Driver - Rattlesteak by PUMP IT UUP

Jan Driver, a fearless and inventive producer from Berlin, Delivers his first full length Album "Amatilda" on Boys Noize Records after almost 20 years of remixing and EP's. It blends an interesting mix of almost tribal rythms and vibrant sonic landscapes to create an environment inside Driver's psyche. Sometimes haunting and sometimes mechanical, his ideas are delivered clearly and precisely to your ear.

Throughout this album Driver paints pictures with bass and rhythm that allude to gargantuan vehicles of doom. At times it can seem like sonic abuse, but maintains direction and calculation. Songs like "Raveyard" and "Black Harbor" illustrate this clearly. All tracks are expertly structured into repetitive but meaningful endeavors.

The song "Let's Do it Together", a collaboration with longtime friend and eccentric sound producer Sirisumo, is a playful and light experiment with drum and bass stabs sitting in a forest environment. Distant calls of birds and cicadas serve as a bed under the explosive beats to introduce a more natural refreshing mood.

Highlights for me on the album are the use of live drums provided by Driver's favorite drummer Sacha Bachmann (see track "dozer"). Also, I like the dynamic change in styles throughout the whole LP from Ambient to techno to hell and back.

His skill for sound creation, and ear for detail make this producer one of the most forward thinking artists in the genre and I hope he continues to mutate his sound. I'm glad he's on Alex Ridhas' label, but I'll gush about him later.

The album is accompanied by a series of illustrations by Jan Stoewe.

Here is Jan Driver's Soundcloud with many Snippets from the LP

Jan Driver

One

Hello Internet, my name is Anthony.

This blog serves as a vent for my love of electronic music and the people who create it.

I'll be posting music that I love and talking about it, profiling
producers/sound designers who I admire, as well as posting my own music.

Enjoy.

Thanks