June '13 Video Box

1. The xx - Fiction



2. Explosions In The Sky & David Wingo - Prince Avalanche: An Original Soundtrack



3. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Despair



4. M.I.A. - Bring The Noise



5. Bloc Party - Rachet



6. David Lynch & Lykke Li - I'm Waiting Here



Pick of the month:

Vampire Weekend - Diane Young

Holm. - 365 Beat Project

A while ago I featured Boston- producer Holm. aka J Thatcher May, who had this really crazybrilliant, (stress on crazy) 365 Beat Project going on. So for a year May would produce a tune each day. Now you probably see why my emphasis is on the crazy part. But like I’ve said before, I am deeply impressed by the overall quality of May’s beats, and I just had to find out more about the project.

“I was always digging a ton of photographers who were doing 365 projects; it seems to be a pretty common project in the photo world. So I thought why not do this with music?”, May explains. With over 200 tunes out there already, I could imagine all sorts of feelings and emotions encountered during this period.

When I was growing up, all of middle school and early high school, all I listened to was Post-Rock and Ambient music. Artists like Eluvium, This Will Destroy You, The Mercury Program, and Explosions in the Sky (note: EITS is the writer’s happy melancholic music!) being some of my favorites. So I learned then that instrumental music can be extremely emotional. You can hear the emotion in those bands. So basically I always strived to put that emotion in my music, no matter if it lacks vocals most of the time. I could write you the story behind about 95 percent of my songs. Most are based on how I was feeling at the time. Some are happy, some are lonely, some are disappointed, some are stoked. It’s all ups and downs. Just like life.

In all creative stuff or should I say things that you have to do, there’s that little demon writer’s block haunting every now and then. That combined with technical unforeseen problems, you have got yourself the ingredients for  a mental breakdown.

Therefore, for May to overcome these issues and be consistent in regards of quality is pretty admirable. I guess there’s that thing called love and passion for something, which helps most of the time. “It’s a good feeling when you feel terrible and you hit that point in a song you make, when you're just like damn, this feels GOOD. That's why most of us do this music stuff.” 

An average of three hours a day (six at most) spent on producing a track sometimes way pass dawn, the project has without a doubt been tough on May: “It’s taken over my life a bit, hurt my health in some ways (little sleep), but it’s music so I’m having fun and really bettering myself as an artist”. May states if he had weeks to work on his tunes, he’d put three hours a day on each tune and they would be more detailed and complex- all around better. However, he admits that limited time forces him really to progress. “I’ve made many improvements. I can’t listen to the first 100 or so beats in the project, they’re terrible. Well, there’s a gem here and there, but I’ve just grown with technique. Trust me, I still have no idea what I’m doing, but I’m a little better at being clueless now.”

Regarding style, May has been all over the place. From jazz to funk, soul to indie. Straight samples, no samples at all. With vocals, without vocals. “I wish I made one style, then people would know what to expect from me and I feel like I’d please more fans. But I can’t do that to myself, I would get bored and in the end music should be a selfish thing for the artist, only make what makes you happy.” Hearing a producer or an artist and being all inspired works somewhat halfway for him: “[…] I get tired of it, or inspired by something else and in a night I'll do a total 180 to whatever I was making. It’s annoying really.”

When it comes to production itself, May tells that all of his music is computer-based, although he records a lot of guitar and makes it into tunes. He’s also keen on recording and using anything he could: “I love finding some terrible keyboard somewhere and seeing what I can make with something most people would think is garbage.” 

For me it’s not only exciting to hear what May has produced during those hours when people on the right side of Atlantic are wide awake, but also to see what cover art he’s picked for the specific track. “There really isn’t much about the pictures, I wish I had some in depth reason as to why I use them, but honestly I just go on Tumblr (note: a really popular and addictive blogging platform) and find some cool photos or paintings or sculptures or whatever! I recently started making my own art, and by that I mean just throwing Holm. on stuff, not really art, just font work. But it’s fun to mess around with.” 

With about 150 days to go, May just hopes he could make some good songs, as his work lately has not been pleasing for him. “I've had a lot of those moments where I'm making something and it’s 2 am and I have to get up for school in 4 hours so I'll say whatever, just put it out. And then the next morning it’s just a WHY? situation.” In fact for the remaining days, May plans on doing a lot more remixes, which he has not done much and vocal tunes when he has the time.




As for other projects stay tuned for a collaborative EP with Shelf Nunny entitled STY//GLD. The release date: “Due out whenever we get it done. In the works.”

So, if you still haven’t heard a single beat this man has put out, you ought to. Meanwhile, my brains and fingers need a break. Thank you J. May for the interview!

Just a few thank you's and shout outs. Thank you to anyone who's checked the project and felt something from one of my songs. As much as I do this for myself, I do this for the people who enjoy it as well. And thank you to my family at Sleepy Beach Records who give me that feedback, advice, and support. Mist Glider, Aeropsia, Shelf Nunny and Tree and the rest of the Sleepy Beach crew. And my immediate family too for constantly letting me bug them with my music, thank you sista's. – Holm.

Top 10 Videos of 2012

Normally, I don't have the patience to watch too many music videos, so it was a bit hard to come up with this list. Even harder than my top albums, which is coming tomorrow. However, I was stunned by these videos, which are great in many different ways. Have a look and let me know your favorite 2012 clips! Enjoy.

10. Crystal Castles - Plague

This is made by a fan, which the band liked so much they decided to make it their official video. The footage is from 1981 movie Possession and it's quite distressing.

9. Willis Earl Beal - Evening's Kiss

It's not uncommon for musicians to direct their own videos, but to draw one?

8. Polica - Amongster

Close up footage of animals always does the trick.




7. P!nk - Blow Me (One Last Kiss)

The red used within the black and white is just intriguing.




6. Chairlift - Met Before

This is an interactive video, in which you can choose the path with your arrow keys. There are many twists and endings. In my story the singer died from bee stings. Click here to try yourself.

5. M.I.A. - Bad Girls

This can easily provoke many, but what if this time we'd all just admire the bad-assness of it.




4. The Shins - Simple Song

Never has a story been told this well in a music video. It's highly entertaining and the twist will shock you.




3. Dominant Legs - Make Time For The Boy

I finally had watched Twin Peaks about half a year earlier before this video premiered.


Dominant Legs - "Make Time For The Boy" from stereogum on Vimeo.

2. Grimes - Oblivion

A tight budget results into a tight schedule results into this.




1. Explosions In The Sky - Postcard From 1952

Last year Anna Calvi's Suzanne and I became my all time favorite video. Never ever would I have thought that another video could beat it, let along in the following year. Despite this being 7 minutes long, I had it on repeat for many days. No doubt that this time the video will remain as my all time favorite.



Postcard From 1952 from Explosions in the Sky on Vimeo.


Tomorrow the top albums are up! Remember to let me know your favorite 2012 videos!

Explosions In The Sky - Postcard From 1952

Postcard From 1952 is one of my favorite 2011 songs. Actually, I could already claim that it is the best video of 2012.

Perhaps the best video ever.

Usually I don't like to watch long videos, but this has been on repeat for a few days now, and will be for the rest of my life. See it for yourself and you'll realize that I'm not exaggerating. If not, then you are a heartless person.

Explosions In The Sky @O2 Academy Brixton, London

January 27th, 2012

I asked my South African friend Jordan, if he liked Explosions In The Sky. He told me this:

i find their music predictable, but incredibly transportive. visual.

you see stories when you listen.

you can feel their music with your body, live: it's huge, swallowing.

That's exactly how most of the people would describe the band, which completely owns the art of composing instrumentals that take its listeners inside a story. A story, which one builds in their mind and feels it being told forward with the help of the 'mini-symphony resulting into a catharsis'.

Some consider the music to be sad, having for example war pictures in their minds. No doubt that it does have the melancholic side in it, but it also transmits happiness. Thus I call it my 'happy melancholia'.

As the stories I build in my mind are joyful.

The first time I saw the band play was in The Netherlands last May (Explosions In Paradise). I remember being all depressed, because of leaving Ireland, the place which I very much enjoyed and then hoping that 'explosions in the sky in amsterdam would cheer me up'. I'm lucky that no one came to arrest me due to that Facebook status update.

Another lesson learned from that gig was not to drink beer. Otherwise, I would have ended up having a miserable time building stories, with a picture of a toilet.

The show couldn't have started better by playing one of my favorites 'Postcard from 1952'. And I love how they introduce themselves.

It's amazing to see how the audience at their gigs sway peacefully, eyes closed, so deep into the music. Then suddenly start to bang their heads, when the climax strikes. They are simply one of those bands, which everyone needs to see live.

I was so happy that this time they played 'The Birth and Death of The Day', the piece, which made me fall in love with them at the first place. What I was missing in Amsterdam, I got in London. I guess the 1½ hour of non-stop superb musical talent celebration, filled with several emotional purifications, was an enough dose to fill up my 'feel-good factor tank' for a long period.

Until next time;

 

Or like my Spanish friend Sara, who will 'super take care'.

When I find myself by the sea,

14.1.2012

in another's company, by the sea.

Just seeing the sea yesterday in Brighton I could not help thinking of those lyrics above.


The atmosphere, which the song has is the best way to describe how the atmosphere by the sea in Brighton was. Calm, relaxed..

Play the song again and check out these photos. Then you might know what I mean.

The complete opposite of London, in other words it was nice for once not to be surrounded by stressed, yelling, annoying, miserable people. In Brighton they were actually smiling.

It was a great feeling to just listen to the waves and have the sun shining on your face. The coast reminded me of The Hague in Holland. I guess Brighton is a mix of The Hague, Nice and Verona.

And the shopping street reminded me of Camden. Loads of record stores in a tiny street, from which I got some Bon Iver, Explosions In The Sky and Elliot Smith.

Lovely.

Pics by l.lundberg excl. panorama and pics of her.