Koodoz Design

There’s no excuse for the tardiness between blog posts, I know, but just like last time, we’ve been flat out with a couple of decent size projects and have managed to do our brilliant best to ignore this corner of our website. Yet, it hasn’t been all work and no play, as we’ve had some freakin’ great music to accompany the workflow along the way.

Below is a breakdown of some of the sweet beats (all of which are massive contenders for our 2010 Top 10 list!) that have been channeling through the office speakers over the last couple of months…

 

Foals – Total Life Forever

It’s a shame we’ve been so busy, ’cause I really, really wanted to tell the world about this little water themed gem since its internet release.

Having been a fan of their previous album, Antitdotes after discovering them on Hype Machine’s 2008 Zeitgeist, I was super antsy to get my mitts on their new album.

Upon my first listen, I was taken aback. Shocked. Disheartened. What happened to the racey, distorted, post-punkyness I had come to expect? None of their trademark sound was to be found. Yannis barely even raises his voice!! It appears the boys from Oxford had grown up in between LPs and given a bit of a helping hand on the production, at the same time.

In all honesty, Total Life Forever took me a couple of ‘background ‘listens’ before I could fully appreciate the new and glorious qualities that it had to offer. But now that I’ve had the opportunity to fully envelop myself in their new sound. And I’m really, really glad they took the big step forward.

Here is the video from their first single, This Orient

LCD Soundsystem – This Is Happening

Where does one begin with a review of LCD Soundsystem?? These New Yorkers are definitely in a league of their own. Left of centre? Outside the box? However you wanna label them, they sure know how to make some unique tunes.

It turns out, since making this album, LCD have gone their separate ways (which is a real shame) but it hasn’t stopped them from making a cracker of an album and going out in style! Stand out tracks include Dance Yrself Clean (you gotta love the quirky 3+ minute build up of the intro which explodes into some very chunky synthesized goodness). All I Want, You Wanted a Hit – which I presume is an ‘open letter’ to wanky record label execs and Pow Pow, with tongue-in-cheek lyrics that you can’t help but smile at:

On this occasion, there are a couple of things that we know that we learned from fact magazine
One, the king wears a king hat and lives in a king house
Two, your time will come, but tonight is our night, so you should give us all of your drugs
Three, we have a black president and you do not, so shut up,
because you don’t know shit about where I’m from that you didn’t get from your TV

The music video for Drunk Girls, sums up the band’s style, perfectly!

The Chemical Brothers – Further

Ahh, the brothers of chemicals. How good are these guys?!? Studio album number 7 and there doesn’t seem to be any signs of slowing down for the kings of dance culture.

When I first heard the debut single, Escape Velocity, on Triple J, I was a little unsure about the overall style. It all seemed a little dated and ’90s house-esque’ and I thought the old school beats were a bit of a step backwards for the ‘Dust Brothers’. But after giving the album, Further, a more in-depth listen, it quickly became clear that this was a very deliberate and appropriate direction for the The Chemical Brothers to take. In fact, the first single is now one of my favourite tracks (with it’s similar sound and possible homage to The Who’s Baba O’Riley) and I’m certain this would go off in a rave tent with their infamous light shows and the odd mind-altering enhancer! Also doubles as a perfect album for exercising.

The video for Another World features some impressive light/sound visuals.

Freelance Whales – Weathervanes

Now for a more rootsy/folky album. I stumbled across Freelance Whales (odd name, I know) via Pretty Much Amazing aka PMA – my new favourite music blog and was immediately hooked after watching the acoustic recording of Generator 1st Floor (see below).

Of late, I’ve really been a sucker for Banjos and folky music and Freelance Whales are no exception. I think with the absence (or rather, hiatus) of The Arcade Fire, these guys seemed like the perfect substitute until that album drops.

For anyone else who enjoys a quintet (or more) of artistic musos, I suggest you give Weathervanes a listen. It’s definitely worth having in your collection!

Live/Acoustic performance of Generator 1st Floor.