Monday, November 22, 2010

BWO - Right Here Right Now

There are few bands that can produce such consistently beautiful pop. BWO (formerly "Bodies Without Organs") is one of those bands. I fell in love with BWO when their first album came out and I discovered the singles on an EuroNRG chart. When I got the CD in the mail (which took SIX MONTHS to get to Chicago from Sweden) I brought it to my friendly neighborhood dance music store. I told the owner he just had to listen to it and that BWO was going to take over the world soon. He declined to even listen to the disc or write down the band name. Whatever, now he has a whole section devoted to BWO.

Right Here Right Now is an exceptionally produced track. Alexander Bard is really a wizard and is very good at surrounding himself with equally talented collaborators. The lead singer, Martin, is just about the prettiest face to come out Poland since Paul Grunwald and Marina is a dazzling beautiful woman.



Aside from the always-perfect productions of Mr. Bard, BWO has great strength in its remixes. I was lucky enough to contribute a remix to the electronordica website as a web bonus a few years back. This track is no exception with brilliant remixes on the single as well as remix videos.



In my opinion, BWO are groundbreaking in their liberal application of sponsorship. M-Audio, Volvo, LG and other companies are featured rather prominently in a few videos. I don't really mind it as I know how expensive it can be to produce music, and if BWO needs more money to make more music, I certainly won't hold it against them!

With Alexander working on Gravitonas with a new vocalist and Martin focusing on his new family, is this the end of BWO? I sure hope not.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Strange haircuts, cardboard guitars, and computer samples

I think I'll always love Information Society. I have this unbreakable bond with InSoc and Erasure. Vincent Alvarado was a classmate of mine in 8th grade and he made a mixtape for me with InSoc and Erasure on it. He knew exactly what I needed, and it (cheese alert!) changed my life.



This song is right on so many levels. Can we talk Spock!? Just the fact that Information Society samples Mr. Spock is badass. One of the short tracks on their 1990 album is called "Charlie X." It was probably 18 years after the album came out that I learned that "Charlie X" is the name of a Star Trek character that utters a line that is spoken in this track.

What's crazy about this video is that it seems so very 80s even though it was released in the 90s. Yazoo's "Goodbye Seventies" is about leaving a decade and its style behind, but this video certainly doesn't seem to do that. It just reminds me that just because the decade changes, style doesn't change overnight.

I'm particularly fond of the InSoc self titled album, Hack and Peace and Love Inc. I used to doodle the IS logo on my notebooks in high school and practice the Me Company Erasure logo. Hah!

Monday, November 15, 2010

Pet Shop Boys feat. Tchaikovsky

The song that I woke up humming today was "All Over The World" by the Pet Shop Boys. When I heard it for the very first time, I thought "you've got to be kidding me. The nutcracker?"



I didn't hate it, I just thought it was crazy. I think the vocal stuttering of "eh eh eh eh" is a bit of experimental newness for the Boys and the "all over the world" low growl backing vocals are pretty cool.

I saw this show in Chicago and Milwaukee (thanks to my good friend Kevin, who loves the Pet Shop Boys more than any living organism on the planet) and really enjoyed this performance. Seeing this song performed live really brings it to life.

I wonder if I'll have the audacity to rip off (ahem, be inspired by?) a well known classical piece one day. Stranger things have happened.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Robin Miriam Carlsson

Sweden. So many many good things come from Sweden. Abba, BWO, Jan-Erik Saarinen, Kosta Boda, Ikea, and Robyn.

I am posting about her today because she's performing here in Chicago in a few hours less than a mile from my home. Unfortunately, I won't be seeing the show, but I sure won't miss the next one!

Her track with Röyksopp "The Girl and the Robot" is somewhat of an obsession for me. When the track came out I played it endlessly for weeks. I still have it on heavy rotation. It's just such a perfect blend of really interesting melodies that I've never heard before, really emotive lyrics and a kickass beat that I just love.





There's something about the synthetic backing vox pads that gets me. Such an intense, driving bassline; it's almost insistent. It demands that you pay attention to what she's saying. She's a woman who misses her lover and she's really expressing her pain. No one's singing songs for her, though.

Finalizing the perfection of the song is the orchestral ending. It's as if you're watching a gripping opera in the theater and have just finished the heart wrenching scene that makes you cry for the lovelorn heroine.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Perfume - Nee

The latest Perfume single, "Nee," is beyond adorable. Beyond perfect. The footwork those girls are doing in the video is just so cute! The styling almost makes me want to start buying Natural Beauty Basic apparel! At first when I heard the song, I though the "Nee" repetition was a little grating, but after I learned that it meant "Hey" - I was okay with it.



Nakata is one of the most talented producers in the world and I'm so glad Perfume keeps cranking out the hits. I wish I could have been at Tokyo Dome on Nov 3! Nee sounds like a natural evolution for Perfume and is just as catchy as "Love the World" or "One Room Disco." Extremely catchy and melodic. What's crazy is "Fake It." The b-side to "Nee" is a bit of a departure for Nakata. To my ears, it sounds a bit like he is inspired by Terukado's audio chopping/distorting, especially at the intro of the track. Now that I think about it, the vocal chopping at the chorus of "Nee" is a bit Terukado as well. Whatever, there's room in this world for two brilliant Japanese electropop producers!

I can't wait for a translation for "Fake It" - I can't imagine what it's about.