Ryan Raddon, aka Kaskade, got his start by sneaking his tracks into the stacks of demos at Om Records during his employment tenure there. Raddon, teaming up with a regular and rotating cast of collaborators, with an emphasis on live instrumentation, refuses to slump during his sophomore season. Here he offers up a couple off-menu items, a downtempo hip-hop cut and a spacey, chilled-out, four-on-the-floor track.
Machine Drum
2001. Machine Drum and Prefuse 73 both drop debut albums. Both serve cut up, stuttering, hip-hop that’ll get you jerking back and forth. No doubt, these two are cut from similar cloth — yet many still haven’t heard Machine Drum. What gives? Maybe it’s Prefuse’s A-list collaborators. But what Machine Drum lacks in “friends” he makes up for in deft drops and solid jazz and funk samples.
The Futureheads
Full disclosure: The first record I bought was an XTC 7-inch of “Helicopter,” with the B-side “Ten Feet Tall.” That’s back in the day when radio was really, really cool. I heard “Helicopter” on Mighty Six Ninety, an early AM alternative station out of San Diego. Bought the record the next day at Music Market, and played it over and over again on my parent’s hi-fi that was as big as a coffin. There should be no wonder then as to why I’ve taken a fancy to The Futureheads…
Les Savy Fav
While searching high and low, door to door, looking for a tasty Halloween treat to share, I hit the jackpot. Like going trick-or-treating in the rich kids’ neighborhood where every other house passes out full-size candy bars, Les Savy Fav and their labels are generous enough to fill our plastic pumpkins with music. Discordant, danceable, and definitely worth a good pogo. Les Savy Fav are making their way down the West Coast in a week. Hold on to some of those sweets, you’ll need the sugar fix to keep up with these fellows.
The Marlboro Chorus
Imagine Ween and Pavement each running for president. But, unlike next week’s real choices, you actually liked both candidates. Who would you vote for? Undecided? Enter a third party: The Marlboro Chorus.
Louis XIV
When bands name a song after themselves, one of two things happen. It sucks or it doesn’t. There’s no room for middle ground. They’ve got the mojo to pull it off, or they don’t. Louis XIV pull it off. Louis XIV don’t suck. This is no news to the good people of San Diego where Louis XIV’s cup o’ mojo hath runneth over for years. Their smart, swaggering lyrics over garage riffs demand immediate attention. Word has it they just inked a deal with some big, fancy label so these tracks may not be available for long. Ignore at your own risk. (Thanks to Alec for the reminder on this one!)
Oxford Collapse
Time warp! These Oxford Collapse songs borrow heavily from some key songs from my youth. It’s uncanny I tell you… Respectively: Adam and the Ants’ “Beat My Guest”, Altered Images’ “Real Toys” (man, did I have a crush on Claire Grogan; I must have watched Gregory’s Girl fifty times), and, finally, a more recent favorite, Butterfly Train’s “What’s Falling About”. Sure the tempos are off a bit, but it’s the mood. It’s the rush of traveling backwards in time…
Fog
I’ve just about reached presidential campaign 2004 overload. Everyone’s got their two cents and now, more than ever, they’re eager to spout ’em off. I can’t listen to, or read, any contemporary works without having the subtext lunge at me. Regardless of the message lurking below the surface, this taste of Fog’s forthcoming album flip-flops with clicks and clacks while the beat is firm in its resolve.
The Bran Flakes
Shadow et. al. dig through dusty bins of vinyl in search of rare grooves for source material. The Bran Flakes must raid thrift stores and garage sales in hopes of their source: random grooves. TV shows, instructional recordings, kiddie records, and religious propaganda get all cut up, pasted, and looped into what I imagine could make a damn impressive soundtrack to Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Move over Elfman.
Hot Snakes
If per chance Drive Like Jehu changed your life at one point but you let yourself slip back into a rut, a coma, and you’ve been living under a rock (mortgage, marriage, career), snap out of it! Let the Snakes heal you. Or be damned. For the rest of you, start with these and work backwards. There may still be hope for you yet…