F

Flavorwire

Hype Williams

Music

10 of Music’s Weirdest Sources for Samples

By Tom Hawking on

This week sees the release of The Marriage of True Minds, the new album by Matmos, and as much as anything, this means that we’re excited to spend hours on end picking over where on earth all the sounds on the record in question come from. The Baltimore-based duo have long been some of the music world’s foremost exponents of sampling all sorts of weird and wonderful sources for the sounds they use, and in celebration of the arrival of their new record, we thought we’d look at their weirdest moments, along with some other artists who’ve specialized in finding samples in strange places. … Read More

Music

The 10 Best Dark and Weird Electronic Albums of 2012

By Russ Marshalek on

We’re not ones for preemptively compiling “best of the year” lists, particularly in music. There’s always one or two records or, as is coming increasingly more common, a small flurry of mixtapes that drop at the tail end of December that cause us obsessive, neurotic critics to compulsively rearrange our lists (see: last year, and The Weeknd’s Echoes of Silence, his surprisingly perfect ending to a trilogy that most thought lagged a bit in the center). That said, we’re ready to put a lock down on 2012 as it relates to the year’s releases in the brilliantly flourishing “weird” dark electronic scene. We’re living in a post-witch house landscape now, where the pop music landscape is slurring and blurring into a weird, dark hybrid of what we used to know… and that’s an awesome thing. It allows for the likes of Charli XCX’s Super Ultra tape to rub against the epic void of releases from Blackest Ever Black. So, in this festive time of year, let’s get dark. … Read More

Music

10 MP3s You Need to Download for Free This Week: Chromatics, Hype Williams

By Tom Hawking on

It’s Friday, which means that another week is over — cue wild cheers! — and also that it’s time for another installment of our regular roundup of downloadable MP3 goodness from around the web. This week there’s a new track from the ever-prolific Johnny Jewel and Chromatics, along with Hype Williams’ suitably strange tour EP, various material from Australia, covers of varying quality from Wall and Nite Jewel, our very own Silent Drape Runners getting all Christmas-y, and various other action as well. Since all this costs precisely nothing, what are you waiting for? All the download links await after the jump. … Read More

Music

10 MP3s You Need to Download for Free This Week: Interpol, Hype Williams

By Tom Hawking on

It’s Friday, which means that we still feel ill from eating our body’s weight in turkey yesterday — and also that it’s time for another installment of our regular roundup of downloadable MP3 goodness from around the web. This week the music industry is starting to wind down for the holiday season, but never fear, because there’s still plenty of action worth your bandwidth: a hitherto unreleased Interpol demo, a free track from the excellent new Clinic album, lots of weird atmospheric music, Dave Sitek remixing Norah Jones, classic Gary Numan, and more. Since all this action costs precisely nothing, what are you waiting for? All the download links await after the jump. … Read More

Music

10 of the Most Interesting Women in Experimental Music

By Tom Hawking on

Laurel Halo’s debut album Quarantine is out this week, and it’s just as good as we were hoping it might be, full of strange and wonderful sounds, all topped by Halo’s distinctive vocals. Experimental music has a long and proud history of female involvement, from the work of electronic pioneers like Daphne Oram and Delia Derbyshire through Cosey Fanni Tutti and Ikue Mori and Laurie Anderson to latter-day examples like Diamanda Galas and Gudrun Gut. To celebrate the release of Quarantine, and the fact that there seem to be more fascinating female experimentalists around than ever, we thought we’d put together a selection of contemporary talents whose work we love — some you’re probably familiar with, some you might not be, all of them are great. And, of course, let us know your suggestions. … Read More

Music

10 MP3s You Need to Download for Free This Week: Purity Ring, John Cale

By Tom Hawking on

It’s Friday, and we’re back with another installment of our regular roundup of downloadable MP3 goodness from around the web. This week there’s a track from proud 4AD signees Purity Ring, along with new work from Sun Kil Moon, LA Vampires, and the duo formerly known as Hype Williams. There’s also an entire album from D’Eon, a fascinating John Cale remix, yet another cover of “Some Velvet Morning,” and plenty more. In other words, there’s plenty of interesting sounds awaiting you after the jump, and since they won’t cost a penny or land you an RIAA lawsuit, as your attorneys we advise you to start downloading immediately. … Read More

Music

5 Albums to Stream for Free This Week: Sleigh Bells, Dirty Three

By Tom Hawking on

It may be a public holiday, but there’s no rest for the wicked, and all that — and so we’re still bringing you our regular Monday roundup of new albums that you can stream for absolutely nothing this week. If you’re after something to shake you out of your long weekend lethargy, then look no further: there’s suitably raucous action from Sleigh Bells to blow away the proverbial cobwebs, along with a tantalizing track-by-track unveiling of the new Bruce Springsteen record, the record that Warren Ellis reckons is the Dirty Three’s best ever, and a solo debut from one half of Hype Williams (the band, that is, not the director). Click through and start listening. … Read More

Music

Watch Nicki Minaj’s New Video for ‘Stupid Hoe’

By Emily Temple on

Nicki Minaj’s new video premiered online last night (as she tweeted, “Can’t premiere on a network b/c its important that my art is not tampered with, or compromised prior to you viewing it for the 1st time.”) and it sure is a lot of bubblegum-coated crazy. Barring a couple choice rhymes, this second single from forthcoming album Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded isn’t Nicki Minaj’s best work, and people haven’t exactly warmed to it. After all, calling someone a “stupid hoe” repeatedly inevitably gets old before three minutes are up, whether you’re in the music world or any other. However, the video is worth a look for its sheer Minaj-brand insanity, and even though we kind of wanted to look away the whole time, we just couldn’t. Watch Nicki’s new video after the jump (but be warned — it may or may not give you seizures), and let us know what you think in the comments. … Read More

Music

A Brief History of Celebrity-Inspired, Publicity-Courting Band Names

By Tom Hawking on

We recently got a press release from Cassettes Won’t Listen (a.k.a. Jason Drake), proclaiming that he’d had to change the name of his album Kevin Spacey to Evinspacey after getting a cease-and-desist letter from the famously press-shy actor. As far as publicity stunts go, it was a pretty shameless one – but it worked, didn’t it? After all, here we are writing about it. Anyway, the whole thing got us thinking about other bands who’ve “borrowed” the names of celebrities and other prominent people for their music over the years, generally with the inevitable legal denouement. Here’s our selection of ten of the most amusing/offensive/potentially libelous such instances. … Read More