Tag: Royksopp

Categories
Music Remixes

Cat Power – Cherokee (Nicolas Jaar Mix)

A few weeks ago, I touched on the subject of improbable artist collaborations that play up the strengths of both parties. At the time, it was Sky Ferreira and Unknown Mortal Orchestra teaming up.

I’ve been fascinated by these modern super groups. Nominally, the term “super group” denotes a band made up of relatively recognizable members of other bands that records as a unit. Now, it can often mean collaboration through organized remixing, that is, the remixer is paid by the original artist and the track is sold digitally.

Today’s example is from 2012, but has the sound of a modern sensation. Cat Power (aka Chan Marshall) is not a huge name, but she’s definitely making a career of it and has a strong core fan base. Nicolas Jaar may seem like a big name to EMPT readers, but he’s a total unknown to most people.

“Cherokee (Nicolas Jaar Mix)” melds Marshall’s smoky desert croon with Jaar’s forward thinking beat music, and the effect is spellbinding. Isn’t this exactly what Lana Del Rey wishes she could be? Jaar employs a bouncing counterpoint that sounds as if played on the ribcage of a giant whale by a giant.

It doesn’t seem like either artist has plans for future collaboration, but we can dream, right? I’ll be turning my attention to a real, old-fashioned super group: Royksopp and Robyn, the Swedish dream team. They’ll be releasing an album and touring the world. Don’t sleep on this one, folks. Both acts have cult followings across the world, and don’t discount Robyn’s viral video factor.

If you have any suggestions to add to the “improbable super group” discussion, please comment below! It’s changing the face of music in subtle yet impactful ways, and is worth tracking.

Cat Power – Cherokee (Nicolas Jaar Mix)

 

Categories
Music Remixes

Kings of Convenience – I Don’t Know What I Can Save You From (Röyksopp Remix)

Royksopp++Karin+Dreijer+Andersson+RoyksoppThisMustBeIt21

Every so often, a song comes along that lodges itself not only in your ear, but in your mind. You relate to it, but aren’t sure why. Is it the wistful lyricism, or the hollow acoustics reminiscent of grandfather’s guitar? The puckering bass line, tripping through a bath of whirring starsplashes…it becomes the soundtrack your universe, along with the many other songs and stories and memories that make you who you are.

The combination of Norway’s Kings of Convenience and Röyksopp is divergent from expectations for casual fans. Kings are known for their spare, delicate guitar ballads, equally calming and staccato. Röyksopp is one of the preeminent electronic acts of the past two decades, rising to the top through sustained quality production and showstopping live performance.

Sure, electronic acts remix pop acts all the time. In this case, however, it’s a matter of history. Both duos met in grade school (as in, the Kings singer me the Kings drummer), and had records out by high school (though under different monikiers). In the early 1990s, the Norwegian electronic scene settled in Bergen, a city of two million, and the recently formed Röyksopp collaborated with future Kings singer Erland  Øye. And 17 years later, this fantastic remix dropped.

“I Don’t Know What I Can Save You From” is a song I’ve kept to myself for a long time. I don’t put it on shared playlists, or play it at public gatherings. I feel greedy for it, the chance to settle into the music and let my imagination drift. Our digital world pressures us to share, share, share; to brand ourselves through posts and shapshots. And we oblige, for no specific reason. But we all know that no digital footprint can ever show the person inside. Only years of intimacy can ever offer a partial image of the soul.

Today, I offer this track as a glimpse of the person behind the posts. Really, every song we post is a taste of us, a coy reference to something going on behind the screen. In this anonymous world, the music gives us voice. And we hope that, every time we share a piece of ourselves, your day gets just a little bit better.

Kings of Convenience – I Don’t Know What I Can Save You From (Röyksopp Remix)

Categories
Music

Röyksopp – Shores of Easy

I have to say that I’ve been quite the fan of Röyksopp for sometime now. They certainly have a knack for doing things to my ears that I will probably never understand, but have come to enjoy so much nonetheless. In this past week, I’ve learned a few things. I’m at a new apartment in Williamsburg and I love it a lot, but I’ve come to know that there are way more families in the neighborhood than I expected. One of them happens to live next door to me. This isn’t an issue to me, and I wouldn’t have known until I received a knock on my door at midnight on Friday, from said neighbor, asking me to lower my music because I was waking up the baby.

DANG. I happened to be playing Röyksopp. How are you even going to hate on them? Their music is soothing, and if anything, I don’t think it was me that woke up their baby. Or Röyksopp for the matter. So I’ve learned that I can’t blast music from my beautiful sub-woofer speaker combo at any given time of the evening, which is sad…but manageable.

Anyways, Röyksopp has also released two new tracks recently that seem to be getting a lot of internet buzz. You already know how I feel about them…so I know you’ll trust me when I say that these are best enjoyed under chill circumstances. Sit back in your comfy chair, and go ahead and play away. Just because I can’t blast music late at night, doesn’t mean you can’t.

-Ashley

Royksopp – Shores of Easy

Royksopp – This Shirt (RYXP Edit)

and one of my older favorites:

Royksopp – You Don’t Have A Clue

 

Categories
Music

Le Miel du Mois by Steph Lund: Mars 2011

There’s never been a ni$%@ this good for this long
This hood, or this pop, this  hot or this strong
With so many different flows, this ones for this song
The next one I’ll switch up – This one will get bit up
These fucks to lazy to make up shit
They crazy, they don’t paint pictures
They just trace me.” – Jay-Z

That verse is exactly how I would describe Steph’s LMDM series, especially after the bomb she delivers this month. March crept up on us thanks to the February’s short month trickery and on the 28th I got an email from Steph reading exactly as follows –

its march tomorrow…..!!!!?!??!?!

LMDM is usually a month long project and I have to admit I was a little worried when I heard it this time around it was going to happen in about 24 hours but like a true champ Steph stepped up and absolutely crushed it. By now you’ve probably figured out that you can’t figure this girl out, I mean Skeeter Davis into Star Slinger?! How does it work, how is each tape so different month after month and I tip my hat to yet another fantastic installment of LMDM…

What more can i say?
What more can i do?
I give this all to you…” – Hovito (What More Can I Say)

A 1964 song opens this one. Another track I wanted to single out is Star Slinger’s remix of The Go! Team’s Apollo Throwdown and also the Diamond Messages track, which I fell in love with on the spot when EMPT posted it a few weeks ago. I found 3D Friends when we interviewed the SKINS 19 year old music supervisor from London, you can check out that interview here, and the closer to the mix, White Wishes is another one to check out (all of their material is available to download for free on their bandcamp page)- everything I listen to by them I love. Have fun in the March moments.

Le Miel du Mois at work? That’s much better than work at work! Download

Tracklisting:

  1. Skeeter Davis – Gonna Get Along Without You Now (Theresa Brewer Cover)
  2. The Go! Team – Apollo Throwdown (Star Slinger Remix)
  3. Diamond Messages – Liquid Summer
  4. 3D Friends – Lina Magic
  5. The Drums – Me and The Moon (Clock Opera Remix)
  6. Smith Westerns – All Die Young
  7. Foster The People – Houdini
  8. Pretty Lights – Forever Lost
  9. Yelle – Que Veux-Tu (Madeon remix)
  10. Phantogram – Let Me Go
  11. Royksopp- Keyboard Milk
  12. Lykke Li – I Follow Rivers (The Magician Remix)
  13. Ravens & Chimes – Division Street
  14. White Wishes – Happy and Afraid

 

Subscribe to our newsletter

 

Categories
Music

Le Miel du Mois by Steph Lund: Septembre

A lot of exciting things are happening this month, Hear No Evil continues to lock in clients, EMPT did over 2 Terabytes of traffic last month which is flat out ridiculous for this underground baby, and moves are being made on a daily to keep things in motion – We get’s busy ya’ll. On top of all that I woke up not too long ago to work on this mixtape and I was in pure delight when I finally got to listen to this months LMDM. Steph and I call ourselves twins when it comes to music and the song selection, vibe, energy and good times represented in this tape couldn’t make that little inside joke more true. To put it simply, she killed it. All the haters who showed up last month, this tape is going to be tough to deal with so…

Don’t hold on too long cause that’s how them stories start out, and all the girls that played me eat your mother fucking heart out…- Drake (Unforgettable)

All the other mixtape makers who’ve followed our blueprint, we’re flattered but remember…

I’m We the best at, you know I ain’t no apprentice to this
Me and my ni%&a# we invented the shit
I We came into the business with this, The Originator, none greater
Jaz Steph-O finish this shit…” – Jay-Z (Jigga What, Jigga Who)

“There are a ton of amazing new indie and electro acts out right now. Lefse Records and Arcade Sound are two labels I always watch closely because they just seem to know how to pick em.

This month’s LMDM highlights a lot of new breakouts including Brooklyn based Bronze (unsigned), San Francisco’sBlackbird Blackbird (Arcade Sound) and Dominant Legs (Lefse Records), Cleveland’s Cloud Nothings (Old Flame Records), 19 year old Brooklyn based Oberhofer (7″ out on InSound now), Hamburg’s Dirty Disco Youth (Dim Mak) and Chicago’s My Gold Mask (unsigned). And with summer (sigh) over, these artists give us a lot to look forward to with a breath of fresh air in their respective indie and electro genres. Go get your hands on as much of their stuff as you can, support them and buy their EP’s/albums.” -The O.RI.GI.NA.TOR

Le Miel du Mois at work? That’s much better than work at work! Download

Tracklisting:

1. The Meters – Hand Clapping Song
2. The Temper Trap –  Love Lost (Keljet Remix)
3. Cloud Nothings – Hey Cool Kid
4. Au Revoir Simone – Tell Me (Clock Opera Remix)
5. Oberhofer – I Could Go
6. Bronze – Deep Freeze
7. Dominant Legs – Clawing Out At the Walls
8. Blackbird Blackbird – Pure
9. Royksopp – This Space
10. Bill Withers – Who Is He (Henrik Schwarz Edit)
11. My Gold Mask – Bitches (The Hood Internet remix)
12. Foster the People – Pumped Up Kicks
13. Summer Camp – Ghost Train
14. Dirty Disco Youth – Minds Off (Teen Symmetry Remix)
Categories
Music

Kings Of Convenience – I Don’t Know What I Can Save You From (Royksopp Remix)

I heard the original version of this on my way back from South Hampton last week and it couldn’t have been more appropriate for that bitter sweet moment when you’re on the I-495 and you see that first Manhattan sign…

Back to life, back to reality.” – En Vouge

This is one of Royksopp best remixes and one of Kings of Convenience’s best songs. Our Dear Summer mixtape will be released in 3 days and you can certainly expect it on there. This song is about a girl he knew in the past, probably an ex-girlfriend with whom the time wasn’t right or he just a friend had strong feelings for but never did anything about them. Three years had passed and one day she calls him, probably drunk and instantly his forgotten feelings come back to life and he doesn’t know what to do…

You called me after midnight,
must have been three years since we last spoke.
I slowly tried to bring back,
the image of your face from the memories so old.”

Overwhelmed with that image of the past he invites her over and within 30 minutes she’s at his place. Of course he’s trying to remember what went wrong the first time and get’s caught up digging for things that don’t matter anymore…

Time heals all wounds, unless you pick at them.  -Shawn Alexander

Short story shorter, she comes over and he see’s that the girl has changed and the problems he was thinking she had aren’t really there anymore. Still for some reason he keeps thinking that he has to save her from something. I was siding with the guy till that point in the song. This is common in relationships, people think there’s something wrong with their partner because they’re not exactly what they want. That mentality is a recipe for disaster because everyone has a unique disposition and trying to change that is trying to suppress the essence of a person. I think one is better off trying to find someone that suits you more then trying to change the very thing that probably attracted you to that person in the first place.

And these angels looking down on me like they’ve seen a demon in my eyes.
Maybe they’re alright and I’m no good, I’m no good. Maybe I’m no good for you cause YOU suck.”
– G.O.V. (2010, Dreams Are No Good)

That’s one of my favorite G.O.V. lyrics because sometimes when you’re involved with someone you’re willing to make changes to yourself but I don’t think that’s always a good thing. You can’t lose sigh of yourself to make someone else happy because then you’ll be miserable. Love yourself first and foremost, enjoy.

Kings Of Convenience – I Don’t Know What I Can Save You From (Royksopp Remix)

Categories
Music

Royksopp – Forever

Haven’t gotten a copy of Junior yet, but I did get my hands on another unreleased song, this one is called Forever. The track is great, it’s an instrumental epic of sorts, so all you video heads, this could be something cool to illustrate to or what not. With so much microwave music being released it’s nice to hear creative music that doesn’t expect to be a smash hit etc. Very cool track, enjoy.

Royksopp – Forever

P.S. In the last stages of re-posting so excuse us if the timing is all off.

Categories
Music Remixes

Royksopp – What Else Is There (Ministry of Sound Remix)

Not much to say here, just a great remix by international dance music kings Ministry of Sound. Part record label, part lifestyle brand, part everything these guys are doing with dance what Russell Simmons did with hip-hop. True entrepreneurs taking it to the next level. Die hard Royksopp fans are going to hate me for saying this but I do like this remix better then the original. Brought to you by the international music recommending sensation Steph Lund, enjoy.

Royksopp – What Else Is There (Ministry of Sound Remix)