Tag: Chill

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Music

Made In Heights – Panther

Sit back, relax and plug in your headphones. Here’s something melancholy that will caress your eardrums in the best way. Made In Heights has released a few tracks as teasers to their newest album- due out early this year, and here’s one of the most favorable ones- “Panther”. There’s no set date for the album yet, but I’m keeping my eye out. The duo is comprised of producer Sabzi from Seattle, and vocalist Kelsey Bulkin, a San Diego native. Their unique sound has been propelling their infiltration into the LA music scene. This minimalistic song is way more stripped down than the complex production of one of their other popular singles, “Ghosts”. Both are catchy, but in vastly different ways. I appreciate a band who can spread itself out, but maintain a spark that reaches across multiple audiences.

This track is of the mellow variety, and I’m digging it. It starts with barely-there guitar and moves toward a focus on Kelsey’s soft, layered vocals. Sabzi has crafted an overwhelmingly beautiful instrumental here filled with chilling synths, emotive violins, and outstanding percussion. I’m a sucker for strings, so was immediately hooked on the violin solo.

Enjoy now or later, when you’re mood calls for something low-key yet mesmerizing.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/177654811″]

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Covers Music

Ibeyi – Better In Tune With The Infinite (Jay Electronica Cover)

Not many words are necessary to describe this song, and if you watch below you’ll see for yourself. It’s simple and to the point. It somehow evokes multiple spouts of goosebumps with beautiful harmonies and minimal percussion. The twins of Ibeyi took out none of the soul of Jay Electronica’s original, but twisted it in a way that touches a different part of my inner being.

Go take a walk, listen to this song, look up at the sky, let the melody take your mind away from your physical being. Let your mind wander.. because when’s the last time you truly did?

Ibeyi’s album is set to be released in February, so keep your eyes peeled!

Categories
Music Remixes

Rae Morris – Closer (Tom Misch Remix)

Tom Misch has been getting a lot of EMPT love lately. And it’s not surprising! His smooth tenor voice and the jazzy style of guitar are brought together wonderfully. He also has a lot to offer to other artists’ songs. Take Rae Morris’s “Closer”- Tom adds just a little- just enough- to change the entire mood, and bring the song’s “chill” level through the roof.

His John Mayer-esque guitar is addictive. It makes me want to pick up a guitar and replicate it, even though I know his skill is unattainable to me. But it makes me WISH I had that talent! Oftentimes we witness someone’s talent and think, ‘Wow, that’s impressive’. Other times we think, ‘WOW, I really wish I could do that!!!” And the latter is one of those times for me, as I listen to this tune.

Tom and Rae sound as if they are singing simultaneously, in the same physical arena; and I was surprised to see it was a remix and not the original. The harmony Tom injects is seamless and ultra smooth. I could listen to this song over and over and pay no notice to the repetition. It’s there, in the background, minding its own business- for your listening pleasure. If this song had a personality, it would be a monk-like figure sitting on a park bench watching the world pass by him.

So sit down, relax, and let the music chill you out. Also, keep your ears perked for Rae Morris’s new album, coming out in January of 2015. Tom Misch recently released an EP and I’ve given it several listens and recommend it! I wasn’t aware that Tom did so much purely instrumental songs, but his EP is minimalistic with its vocals.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/172244473″]

Categories
Music

Kidnap Kid – Animaux

Kidnap Kid’s “Animaux” is one of the two tracks on his EP, “So Close,” released last year. With very simple and deliberate bass and electronic beats, the song will have you bumping. The rhythm is so sporadic, and his use of accented up-beats and minimal lyrics rubs me the right way.

Can I be the one?

Although it isn’t fast-paced or your quintessential dance anthem, the bouncy layers work so well together it makes me want to get out of my seat. It is also unpredictable! Which is probably why I’m hooked. I love listening to a song over time, but hearing differing prominent elements based off my mood. I’m really into the minimalistic electronic sounds at the moment, including artists like Flume and Flight Facilities. It’s simplistic in a way that makes me want more; I’m not being blasted by harsh sounds like in house music.

If you want to check out Kidnap Kid’s latest stuff, his newest EP is called “Stronger,” out earlier this year. Happy listening!

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Categories
Music

Sylvan Esso – Coffee

This song is a paradox. It’s the type that can chill your mind while at the same time making you want to jig with it. The subtle synth and soft female vocals with occasional dings of bells come together quite nicely.

Get up, get down

Sylvan Esso is comprised of Amelia Meath on vocals and Nick Sanborn on instrumentals. I love the way Amelia sings these 4 words above. After listening to the song and having it stuck in my head, I’ve often finding myself singing this sentence almost subconsciously. Catchy! Get up and dance, get down to the beat.

This song speaks to me because I love dancing! Bouncing on my feet to feel-good music is a great way to spend an evening. Although this song isn’t likely one I’d be moving to, it does a good job of making me want to get up at the next opportunity. Perhaps a type of gateway song to a dancing mood. Enjoy!

Sylvan Esso – Coffee

Categories
Music

Retro Culture – Weekend

Weekends are precious to me, a young 20-something “professional” who works the traditional 9-5 office job. I finally understand what “living for the weekend” means! I cram most of my life into those 8 days a month, sometimes sacrificing a vacation day in order to extend a weekend trip. Who really wants to fly to San Francisco and spend only 2 days there? Or anywhere lucrative for that matter? One of the hardest transitions from college was giving up my 3-day weekends! Two days isn’t enough time to relax and get sh*t done! Seriously! Who can I write a letter to about this? C’est la vie unless I start working for myself. One day…

Two days makes weekends more cherishable, to say the least. Priorities start to arise. Who will we spend these precious hours with?

Tell me where you’re going tonight. Maybe we can meet there

Retro Culture, a one-man band comprised of Matt Connelly, blends electronic sounds with hip-hop percussion in this slightly addictive track, “Weekend”. I particularly enjoy the voice manipulations that introduce the song during the first 30 seconds and extend fleetingly throughout the remainder of the song. Matt’s mellow voice mixes well with the dreamy synth. It sounds like it would perfectly fit into a love story about two lost souls, yearning for each other yet both unsure of its longevity. They met on a friday night, had a weekend fling, and didn’t expect it to get so deep. There was surely a connection, which neither party can forget. There’s a niggling feeling, as the next weekend rolls around, that they both feel; they both want to feel that spark again. They carry on as friends, but there’s an unspoken bond which neither has the courage to address. So they just go through the motions, knowing that each subsequent weekend is an opportunity to tighten the unspoken bond.

I don’t wanna see the end of this.

Take advantage of those two short days! Do you want to spend your precious weekend living in comfort and habit, binge watching Netflix and eating frozen pizza? Or will you be living novel experiences, possibly with a new companion?

A little fun for the weekend. 

Retro Culture – Weekend

Categories
Music Remixes

Le Youth – C O O L (Lane 8 Remix)

As long as you’re cool, right here is where you wanna be

These are the only lyrics in Lane 8‘s take on Le Youth’s “C O O L”. This is the type of music I can really jam to. It’s simple and enjoyable. It brings me to a happy, calm place- a place in which I don’t have to think. Audio stimulation is all I need in the moment.

So, I’ve been hearing a topic pop-up quite frequently lately (maybe there was a BuzzFeed article about it)- the cognitive differences between men and women. I hear things like, “men’s brains have compartments and they focus only on one at a time. And sometimes none at all.” While women, “think about 5 things at once and can never shut their brains off”. Ummmmm…. Thoughts on this from the audience? Seriously, write me a comment. I’m female and I don’t believe it this to be the case. I happen to turn my brain off fairly frequently, and I oftentimes feel like the “man” in the relationship; urging my partner to stop analyzing everything so much, to stop thinking. Be cool, go with the flow. Hey World, women aren’t always the most complicated gender!!

And this track is a case in point. When I hear a song like “C O O L”, I can’t help but to think about nothing. To just BE. Here. In the moment.

Sit, groove, enjoy.

Le Youth – C O O L (Lane 8 Remix)

 

Categories
Covers Music

The Neighbourhood – 93 to Infinity (Souls of Mischief Cover)

The Neighbourhood has a signature sound. Sultry male vocals and a nearly hidden bass which rests in the back of all of their songs. Like the cool kid at the party. I have yet to hear one of their songs which doesn’t make you want to take your clothes off immediately. This cover urges you to do that once more.

“Feel the good vibrations.”

The boys from California don’t use the same lyrics as the ’93 original release from Souls of Mischief, but they have adapted the song which slips in to their talents like a glove. I really like this song. I feel like I can’t articulate the elements which make it pop that can’t better be expressed by just listening to it. The guitar plays simple chords reminiscent of ’90s grunge rock. You can see the guys in their white shirts and black jeans, their aviators and bravado dangling from their faces playing along with it and then getting really in to it and letting you fade out at the end. Like a perfect summer romance.

The song is perfect for summer.

The Neighbourhood – 93 to Infinity (Souls Of Mischief Cover)

Categories
Music Remixes

Souls of Mischief – 93 Till Infinity (Remix)

93tilinfinity

The week has begun. Two days down, too many to go. The commute was hell, rubberneckers held up traffic and a baby cried on the train. Finally home.

You’re just trying to chill.

Here in Southern California, we don’t just say chill, we live it. We kick back by the pool in the middle of February, because its 80 degrees out yo! We do yoga literally every day. We drink wheat grass smoothies. And we occasionally smoke that bomb bud, though I personally gave that aspect up some time ago.

Though NorCal may shit on us, we embrace them as our brothers and sisters. Got beef? Chill. See, NorCal wasn’t always jacked up on tech wealth an insecurity. There was a time, back in, oh, ’93, when all of Cali chilled as one.

I was but a babe then, so don’t take it from me. Souls of Mischief were chillin in the bay, and spreading the gospel from coast to coast. “’93 Til Infinity,” the group’s all-time rap classic, has but one message: “This is how we chill, from ’93 til”

Til the sun consumes itself and swallows the earth. Til the universe collapses. Til infinity.

This remix came to me unlabled, and no amount of Shazamming has turned up any info about it. All I can say is that Souls over a liquid beat is so chill its frozen. And not like Adele Nazim frozen. I’m talking glazed in ice crystals frozen, diamonds dripping from the chain, that real Arctic shit. Hop in the ride with A-Plus, Phesto, Tajai and the best of the bunch, Opio, and take this Sunday slow and easy with a fresh beat and an eternal, five letter message.

Souls of Mischief – 93 Til Infinity (Remix)

Categories
Music Remixes Video

Ginuwine – Sø Anxiøus (GRUMBY REMIX) [OFFICIAL VIDEO]

Just a month after their Mt. Fuji debut on EMPT, GRUMBY has quickly returned to the scene with another masterful piece of artistry. In this remix of Ginuwine’s “So Anxious,” the duo take you on another charged journey exploring the depths of the frequency spectrum with incredibly mesmerizing soundscapes.

In the accompanying video, directed by the talented KEY10, we see a man restrained to a past love, so much so that he’s lost within his own mind, obsessed with thoughts of her image. As he tries to break the chains, the memories grow in intensity and the man finds himself in a desert wasteland, surrounded by televisions broadcasting her image. Yet, as the intensity rises, he chooses to face his past, and we see him move forward into the future, the TV shutting off as he walks into the distance.

Equally stunning is the soundtrack, pairing moments of high anxiety with driving bass and heavy drum patterns, and moments of calm with ethereal synth vibrations.

Grab your FREE DOWNLOAD below:
Ginuwine – Sø Anxiøus (GRUMBY REMIX)

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