Weekly TuneFix

Exciting times here at Bikephones central. Lots of tunes, both weird and holiday oriented have come across the desk this week. I’ve filtered the best for you.

Attention! The Bikephones Best of 2011 will be announced in a few weeks. (I’m playing around with the idea of creating some actual Compact Discs, if there’s any interest out there. Let me know with a comment below if interest exists….)

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DIE ANTWOORD vs. ILL GATES

Photo from Wikipedia

I came across the following track, and my ears have been glued to it ever since. ill.Gates gets some credit, but honestly I think Die Antwoord should be the focus here.

ill.Gates vs. Die Antwoord “Fok Julle Naaiers”

OK. So, I first heard of this band a few years ago on a podcast I sometimes listen to. The podcast hosts were like “WTF?!” and so I watched the video (below) and was all, like, “WTF?!”

Dude with the fade is Ninja, while his blonde associate is Yo Landi Vi$$er. This video (understandably) went viral nine months following its creation, with the viral reputation allowing their self-released album $O$ to be picked up by Interscope, with a big fancy tour with M.I.A. and so forth. They have now departed Interscope (citing Interscope’s desire to influence their music in a mainstream direction). If you want to read an interesting article about the conundrum that is their rap-rave, half serious/ half satire act, go here. http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2010/10/die_antwoord.html

Here’s a video from their latest (unremixed) single, Fok Julle Naaiers. And no, this has nothing to do with Jul, as in Good Jul. Check out the critters they cover themselves in! And the weird costumes. Oh yea, and the beats/rhymes are crazy! WARNING! This is a really weird video, and most certainly not work appropriate….

Check out a SPIN review of five tracks from their upcoming album, TEN$ION.

Anyway, I am beyond fascinated. Weirdo, bizzare rap and satire is a good way to keep me lookin. I would also really like to see a more extensive collaboration between ill.Gates and Die Antwoord…

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ENTHEOGENIC

From Wikipedia

Since I really (really) don’t know how to follow something like that, here is a totally ambient, tripped-out, vision-journey. Entheogens are chemicals found in psychoactive plants (e.g. peyote), hence I can only assume that the musician’s moniker “Entheogenic” means that the music itself is supposed to induce spirit-journeys. They do. So. Relax after the Die Antwoord onslaught, play this tune, close your eyes and see the spiral of our galaxy from the universe of your mind….

Entheogenic “Body of Light (Sophia Mix)”

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INVINCIBLE

Invincible “Sledgehammer”

I just came across this rapper (from an article at EARMILK) and like her sound a lot. The novelty of a solo female rap artist is pretty cool, but she’s also hugely talented. Keep your ears trained on this artist, since big things could happen…

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SOUNDDUO

Photo from Afromonk

Afromonk (a blogger and sometimes music producer) recently wrote about Soundduo a glitchy, world music, producer that has created a great down-tempo dub track. Flordia-based Sounduo’s work has a really polished quality, reminiscent of Banco de Gaia and some of the instrumentals of late-90′s ambient.

“I Would Do Anything” carries on in the vein of Entheogenic before this to further relax the crap out of you (figuratively not literally).

Afromonk “Soundduo – I would do anything”

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THE NEVER ENDING BEGINNING

Photo from Hometapes

Here’s a “Holiday”/ “December” album from Hometapes (Available For $0 to lots of $). There’s a whole range of stuff on here – shoegazing low-fi tunes (Collections of Colonies of Bees “Jolly Olde St. Nicholas”) and cool awesomeness (Zorch “Last Christmas”).

However, anyone/anything covering Mannheim Steamroller gets an automatic pass to the Koss Porta Pro headphones that pipe tunes into my noggin. Are you freakin kidding me? Covering Mannheim Steamroller?! All the Tiny Creatures does an impressive job recreating the Electric Lights Parade sound that Mannheim Steamroller really has nailed down – with a few touches of their own (e.g. progressive 8-bit NES sounds). The tune gets repetitive towards the end, but hey, so does Mannheim Steamroller

Another favorite is CYNE’s “Boxing Day”. Though this isn’t a traditional Holiday tune (as far as I know), its still great. Its more of a song about the holidays, than a holiday song.

CYNE “Boxing Day”

Go to their Bandcamp page and get pumped for some Holiday madness!

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ZEDS DEAD

Photo from Facebook, credit to Louis Saturnino

I’ve featured Zeds Dead before, their progressive electro-dubstep-glitchiness has become a staple for my runs/bikes/whatevers with a fun interesting danceable beat.