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Nova Heart, Live at Chengdu’s Little Bar

This show was actually on the 23rd of March (last month), but I want to put this photo here in remembrance of what was surely one of the best Chinese rock bands I have ever seen. Nova Heart, a Beijing band that has toured the US and Europe but remains little known inside mainland China, their home turf.

What I find as a generalization with Chinese pop musicians in general is that they borrow heavily from a single source. It’s usually another band or DJ that might be relatively unknown in China (like Sublime or DJ AM), but it doesn’t work with international audiences who can spot their source from a mile away. Nova Heart breaks the trend and has a sound all their own.

In their music I heard Zero 7 in the lead singers beautiful voice. I heard David Gilmour and Pink Floyd in the lead guitarists airy riffs. I heard Brad Wilk and Rage Against the Machine in the drummers sparse and heady rhythms, peppered with cowbell. It sounded totally new.

Some more information on Nova Heart is available here, and they have an EP on Spotify here: Nova Heart on Spotify

Published on April 7, 2013
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Song of the Day #143: The Loop Closes

How to Destroy Angels – The Loop Closes

When I was in San Francisco last year I spent a few days crashing with an old fried from VA named Joey. Unbeknownst to me, Joey was a Nine Inch Nails fanatic, and had seen them in concert multiple times. Although I was never fortunate enough to see them live, I began listening in 1994 with the release of The Downward Spiral. At the time Nine Inch Nails broke through rock and electronic music conventions and made industrial, with its signature synthesizer-heavy melodies and distorted vocals, a mainstream branch of rock music.

Years later Nine Inch Nails would break up and the prospect of seeing them live instantly disappeared. Last summer with Joey I lamented the lost prospect of seeing NIN live while we watched live footage that he had collected from NIN in the 1990′s. However, as of last month, Trent Reznor (the founder, nay, heart and soul of NIN) announced: NIN is returning in 2013 to tour. Not only that, but Trent Reznor’s new band, How to Destroy Angels, is also touring this year and performing at Coachella Music and Arts Festival this summer.

I am a fan of nearly every Trent Reznor project: from Nine Inch Nails, to his film scoring work (The Social Network, Girl With the Dragon Tattoo), to his latest band, How to Destroy Angels. He was also among the highlights of Dave’s Grohl’s Sound City documentary.

Learn more: Trent Reznor on Wikipedia, Nine Inch Nails, How to Destroy Angels

Published on March 11, 2013
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Song of the Day #142: Only Go Backwards

Tame Impala – Feels Like We Only Go Backwards

Tame Impala, from Perth, has to be one of the best breakthrough bands of 2012. I’ve listened to their Lonerism album at least a dozen times since last fall. This track, Feels Like We Only Go Backwards, features a music video that perfectly accompanies their music. In their own words, Tame Impala is ”a steady flowing psychedelic groove rock band that emphasizes dream-like melody.”

Tame Impala is playing at Coachella in Indio this summer.

Learn more: Tame Impala on Wikipedia

Published on February 25, 2013
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Song of the Day #140: Her Fantasy

Matthew Dear – Her Fantasy

I went to Michigan for the first time in the spring of 2004 to attend a weekend-long party in downtown Detroit, the Detroit Electronic Music Festival, with my Miami WMC buddy James, a Michigan-native. Although techno isn’t what I’m crazy for necessarily, the one performance that really blew me away was a live PA by Matthew Dear, Ghostly International co-founder (in case you haven’t heard of Ghostly, it is among the most respected techno labels in the United States).

The exciting thing about Matthew Dear is how prolific he’s become since 2004. Touring around the world, opening for Interpol, and releasing more albums that skirt the line between electropop and minimal techno while growing Ghostly. In 2004 I remember going to warehouse parties that just had the ghost logo spray painted on walls to indicate entrances and event locations. Cool stuff.

Published on February 16, 2013
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Song of the Day #139: House of Cards

Radiohead – House of Cards

Great bands come and go, but few stand the test of decades. One of those few bands is Radiohead, who has released critically acclaimed (and chart topping) songs for decades. Their debut hit “Creep” came out in 1992 as a reflective counter-point to the Seattle-based grunge movement led by Nirvana. 25 years later, In Rainbows was released for free online – a pioneering move which signaled a new era of internet based music distribution, and this song, House of Cards, was the eighth track on it.

Radiohead has a ton of hits that I love, but seeing them perform this one at Coachella in 2012 was one of the highlights.

Published on February 11, 2013
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Song of the Day #138: M83 Outro

M83 – Outro

The first time I heard this song was in the Red Bull sponsored snowboarding documentary titled The Art of Flight, which you must see. Powerful song and suitably epic accompanying visuals in this unofficial Youtube edit. I regret not being able to catch M83 at Coachella last summer.

Published on February 4, 2013
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Song of the Day #137: Mirror Maru

Cashmere Cat – Mirror Maru (Ocean Remix)

Deep trap music from Oslo-based producer Cashmere Cat. Through this song I learned a new word in Chinese: 陷阱 xiàn jǐng, which literally means trap, as in animal snare.

For a while it felt like trap was going down a similar sonic path as moombahton: a very heavy, distorted, hyper vibe. Good to hear deep trap, if that sub genre exists yet.

Live for the Funk said:

It sounds like a mixture of some of that rad music from those Final Fantasy video games meets HudMo meets cheesy RnB meets all those cool distorted UK Bass vocals that we still can’t get enough of.

 

Published on January 22, 2013
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Song of the Day #136: You

Gold Panda – You

This is the song that I’ve been waking up to for the last two weeks. Along with the Aeropress (which makes incredible coffee in seconds), early mornings are now something that I look forward to.

Published on December 19, 2012
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