Following the US election on Nov 8, 2016, we asked Dowsers contributors to discuss the moods and music the results inspired. We collected their responses in a series, After the Election.It’s the wee small hours of November 9: I wake up around 3:30 and can’t get back to sleep. Just one of those nights, it seemed. Since I hadn’t watched any of the election night coverage because television news sucks, I have no idea who won. I reluctantly grab my phone, click on HuffPo (more lamestream journalism, folks), and see the ghastly headline: “Nightmare: President Trump.” What the fuck just happened? A thick and heavy feeling of anxiety and disgust rips through my gut as though I’m trying to crap out an Ex-Lax-dusted anvil. I pace; I weep. My heart races; my head turns feverish. Pure evil is here.I’ve since been able to gather myself — for the most part. Along with 2,000 other equally alarmed Americans (good people from all walks of life), I’ve marched here in Grand Rapids, Michigan, a battleground state, and called a long list of representatives. As for my soundtrack during these days (record nerds would fret over what jams to spin for an asteroid bashing into the planet), I’ve been listening to a lot of classic American music (folk, gospel, blues, soul), and that helps me stay motivated and anchored. Still, I experience stretches of nihilistic dejection when reality feels like a cosmic scam. It’s during these phases that my belief in love, peace, and understanding is chucked out the window; all I want to do is curse American mainstream society to hell. Screw Trump’s army of pasty white racists, and screw the smug neo-libs who enjoy undermining good Americans who try to forge progressive reforms. Hell, screw this entire empty, meaningless universe.The soundtrack to these admittedly unhealthy states of mind is seething, eardrum-damaging noise-rock, industrial, electronic-tinged propulsion, and bummer metal: Sightings singer Mark Morgan’s choked screams, Scissor Girls’ manic and fidgety spazz-tantrums, Pissgrave’s stuttering blasts of pure decrepitude and down ‘n’ out vibes, God Bullies’ swirling eviscerations of small-minded yokels. What’s interesting to note about noise-rock (as well as its related movements) is its non-affiliation in terms of politics. I mean, sure, most of these bands save their most intense viciousness for Repugs and deranged Bible bangers (when they’re that explicit, of course), yet it has to be noted that the Clinton years witnessed an explosion of virulent badasses, including Six Finger Satellite and KARP. Some musicians are pissed off no matter who is in office. Mainstream normalcy in and of itself is to be rejected.The irony is that all this cacophony, like therapy, actually sets me straight (though this wasn’t always the case in my self-loathing, pre-dad years, when hard booze and other substances weren’t infrequent). These bands are so committed to loud, writhing, horrid music that they wind up creating beautifully ugly artwork, and that’s 1000% life affirming. Think about it: beauty from ugliness. Maybe that’s something those fighting the good fight in modern AmeriKKKa can achieve in the coming years?
Toronto trio Odonis Odonis weren’t kidding when they named their new record No Pop. The band’s fourth album (out Oct. 20 on Telephone Explosion Records in Canada and Felte worldwide) is a claustrophobic hellscape of industrialized shocks, black-light beats, and pure punk insolence. For his Dowsers playlist, band braintrust Dean Tzenos reveals the music that gets him in a dystopian state of mind. “Heres some tracks that we were spinning around the making of the new record. Some are from bands we played shows with, and others are just sick tracks that we would play in van.”—Dean Tzenos, Odonis OdonisYou can order No Pop here.
Open Mike Eagle has thrived during the tectonic shift of what it means to be an "independent rapper." Ten years ago, that term was solely aligned with a rapper on a label like Stones Throw, Rhymesayers, Def Jux, Anticon, etc. Today, "independent" is Chance the Rapper, who is managed by the same agency behind Tom Hanks and Derek Jeter. Open Mike Eagle is on Mello Music Group, an indie-rap haven inspired by Rawkus, but hes also friends with Paul F. Tompkins and Hannibal Burress. Hes "independent" because hes not on a major label, but hes about to have his own TV show, The New Negroes, with Baron Vaughn on Comedy Central. Where rappers in the past kept their friendships with comedians to a few skippable skits on CDs, Mike Eagle dropped the backpack and entered the world of comedy as unique specimen: the rapper who was both funny and lyrically sturdy, a performer who can play with Aesop Rock and Peter Sagal, a student of comedy who mastered Twitter while freestyling off the head better than almost anyone.The former school teacher from Chicago—who just seven years ago released his debut album, Unapologetic Art Rap, on Mush Records—brought the worlds of indie rap and comedy together after dozens of cross-country tours listening to comedy podcasts and stand-up routines to pass the time. Prior to the release of his newest and most highly anticipated album, Brick Body Kids Still Daydream (and the premiere of the aforementioned New Negroes), the Open Mike Eagle discography wrestled with sadness, race relations, lack of wealth, and growing up weird in the 90s. But after first self-classifying his style as “art rap,” and then now as an auteur of his own “dark comedy,” hes deftly created a universe where Eric Andre and Danny Brown make sense together.As Mike stated on his masterpiece track, "Dark Comedy Morning Show,” hes bad at sarcasm, so he works in absurdity. Because we live in absurd times, this playlist of choice cuts from Open Mike Eagles earlier work feel prophetic, with beautiful melodies, glitchy neck-snapping beats, and odes to data mining, hustling to pay rent in gentrified hotbeds, and our collective addiction to smartphones.
Listen to Partners delightful debut album, In Search of Lost Time, and you will quickly learn that Canadas foremost queer-positive fuzz-pop duo are also massive potheads. For this Dowsers playlist, they reveal the songs they like to crank up when they spark up. "Stoner," Young Thug: This song is cool because, while there are a lot of odes to weed, this song is a little different: Its an ode to stoners. Young Thug thinks stoners are cool and is proud to be one. Plus, this track just buuumps."Cotton Eye Joe," Rednex: This song is good to get stoned to just cause its really hilarious and a total throwback to middle-school dances. No matter how lazy you are feeling, you might be able to muster a jig. Bonus points for the weird/scary video."Sweet Leaf," Black Sabbath: The original ode to weed. "You introduced me/ to my mind." SAME. Possibly the only song written in the second person, directed at weed, that doesnt use the term "Mary Jane.""Really Doe," Danny Brown: This song is great to get stoned to cause its a sick posse cut featuring a really cool stylistic array of rappers. Earls verse shouts out dirty spliffs and blunts. Everyones flow is completely different and they are all very impressive, especially when youre stoned."James Joint," Rihanna: "Id rather be/ smoking weed." Lots of people love to smoke weed, but Rihanna somehow also manages to make blazing seem glamorous and sexy. (Impressive.)"Solo," Frank Ocean: Like Rihanna, when Frank talks about smoking weed, it seems sophisticated and deep. This is a great track to listen to when youre blazing alone, at night, wondering what it all means..."Broccoli," DRAM (feat Lil Yachty): DRAM is all "good vibes" if thats what youre into, and this is a feel-good party-jam ode to rolling one up at a party. Infectious piano hook."HennyNHoes," Young M.A.: This is a good song to listen to at any time, and we will never not shout it out cause its our favourite and Young M.A. is cool as fuck."You Dont Know How It Feels," Tom Petty: This song is great to get stoned to cause when it gets to the part where he says, "lets rollll another joiiint," you can use it as an excuse to do just that."Dust on the Bottle," David Lee Murphy: This song is about homemade wine, not weed, but its great to get stoned to, cause it tells a great story and, lets be real, all music is good when youre stoned.
In June of 2017, Phoenix released Ti Amo, their sixth studio album and one that, once again, yielded comparisons to MOR kings like Hall and Oates, Steely Dan, and 10cc.There’s nothing wrong with that, of course. But buried way back in the history of Phoenix lies a very different band, one that’s more Kenny “Dope” Gonzalez than Kenny Loggins. The Phoenix of old were steeped in the influence of electronic music and the French Touch: They made disco-inflected house music for fashionable Parisian label Source, remixed Air, commissioned club-slaying dance-floor hits from the fashionable remixers of the day, and worked with Cassius’ Philippe Zdar and Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter on their debut album.It’s fairly well known that Phoenix guitarist Laurent Brancowitz played alongside Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter in their pre-Daft Punk band, Darlin’. But Phoenix’s disco dalliance started in earnest in 1997 when, after the success of their self-released single, “Party Time” b/w “City Lights,” the band signed to Source, then one of the most fashionable labels in France thanks to its brilliant 1995 compilation Source Lab, which featured early recordings from the likes of Air, Motorbass, and DJ Cam. (Source Lab 2, released in 1996, would be similarly epochal, featuring Daft Punk’s “Musique” alongside music from Dimitri From Paris and Alex Gopher.)Phoenix’ first track for Source would be “Heatwave,” initially released on the 1998 Source Rocks compilation (alongside Sébastien Tellier’s “Fantino”) then unleashed as a single in its own right the following year. “Heatwave” was a pristine disco classic: four minutes of nebulous chord changes and chicken-scratch guitar that shone like the sun coming up on the Seine after a long night out. It also fit perfectly with the sound of the French Touch, which was then bringing Gallic grace to global dance floors—so much so, in fact, that “Heatwave” was later appropriated by Italian act DB Boulevard as the basis for their global dance hit of 2002, “Point of View.” On Source, Phoenix’ labelmates included Air, who shared their home town of Versailles. Phoenix ended up backing Air on several of their early television appearances and, in 1998, remixed Air’s classic “Kelly Watch The Stars,” adding a Gallic nu-disco strut to the original song’s orchestral sophistication.The year 2000 was a pivotal moment for Phoenix. It represented the peak of their electronic powers, thanks to two singles—”Too Young” and “If I Ever Feel Better”—whose remixes would set global dance floors aflame. “Too Young” was remixed by Zoot Woman (an early band of super-producer/DJ Stuart Price) and Le Knight Club, a duo formed by Daft Punk’s Guy-Manuel and producer Éric Chédeville. The former takes the song’s melody and structure on an electro-pop excursion, while the latter breaks down “Too Young” into a series of sky-scraping loops and tensions that were typical of Le Knight Club’s filter-friendly approach.“If I Ever Feel Better” proved even more impactful, thanks to remixes from New Jersey producer (and later Daft Punk collaborator) Todd Edwards and The Buffalo Bunch, a duo made up of Guy-Manuel’s brother, Paul de Homem-Christo and Romain Séo. The Buffalo Bunch would prove to be one of the lesser-known heroes of the French Touch, becoming the only act to record for both Thomas Bangalter’s Scratché label and Guy-Manuel’s Crydamoure. However, their remix of “If I Ever Feel Better”—retitled “If I Ever Feel Better (Ill Go To The Disco) [Said The Buffalo Bunch]”—would cement their legacy; it appeared on numerous house compilations and will be used to fire up flagging dance floors until time immemorial. It is a brilliant piece of remix work, taking a tiny, seemingly innocuous part of the original song’s vocal—“I can try, I can try, I can try”—and looping it into an irresistible earworm, which they combine with a wiggly bassline, disco-ish strings, and a thumping house beat.Phoenix’s debut album, United, would follow soon after and, if it didn’t necessarily continue the disco sound of “Heatwave,” it would display fairly serious French Touch credentials, with Thomas Bangalter contributing Yamaha CS-60 synthesizer to the gorgeously wan “Embuscade” and Pedro “Busy P” Winter––then manager of Daft Punk, later founder of Ed Banger Records—playing Rapman synthesizer on Part Two of the frankly deranged hoedown “Funky Squaredance.” More importantly, United would see Phoenix work for the first time with Philippe Zdar, a pillar of the French Touch who lent his exquisite production sheen to seven of the album’s 10 songs.Phoenix’s history with electronic music didn’t end with United, of course. The band would continue to work with Zdar, including on their 2009 breakthrough album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, while their releases would often come with electronic remixes attached. But the band’s latter success in the global rock market seemed to move them away from their French Touch origins, while the French Touch itself drifted out of fashion.Knowing Phoenix’s roots, however, can help us understand how they landed on their sound and how on earth they made such a fashionable success of their slick AOR revisionism. And if they would consider bringing “Heatwave” back to their setlists, then it would make some ageing house-music heads very grateful indeed.
Whats This Playlist All About? The venerable music site ranks the chillest, haziest, and, of course dreamiest indie albums of all time—or at least those with a vague sense of "atmosphere, intimacy, and a light coating of psychedelia."
What You Get: An airy assortment of breathy, often angelic vocals, floating atop sumptuous layers of soporific sound. As its name implies, "dream pop" doesnt have any sort of concrete meaning or even unifying song structure, a truth even Pitchfork owns up to. Still, something intangible, ethereal, maybe even mystical, links these artists together, from the undisputed originators Cocteau Twins, who easily take the No. 1 spot with Heaven or Las Vegas, to their respected disciples Beach House (who also nab two spots). In between, the mood subtly shifts; the dark noir of Julee Cruise slips into the colorful pop of Atlas Sound, while the ambient melancholy of Grouper gives way to the euphoric nostalgia of M83 and the sultry twang of Mazzy Star and Mojave 3.
Best Surprise: The inclusion of Brightblack Morning Light, especially their featured track—the slinky, druggy doozy "Everybody Daylight”—which has always managed to slip under the radar.
What Did They Miss? Their "conscious decision to not include records that wound up on our Best Shoegaze Albums list—even though shoegaze and dream pop have, at times, been used interchangeably,” kind of messes with the playlist listening experience. Thing is, we dont care whats on the shoegaze list when were listening to the dream pop one, so to not include certain "shoegaze" standards like, say, MBV or Slowdive or bands like Pale Saints and Seefeel, feels slightly off. Theres also plenty of people noting the absence of Cocteau Twins Treasure.
Over the past 20 years, we’ve lived under four different U.S. presidents, seen the mapping of the human genome, witnessed the confirmation of the Higgs boson particle, and experienced the beginnings of the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union. Throughout all the turmoil, Canadian rockers The New Pornographers have kept on truckin’, churning out electric power pop that consistently refuses to capitulate to larger trends in music or politics. They are a staple of indie rock, one of the most dependable and unwavering bands working today. It’s amazing that they’ve managed this, since their lineup is a massive registry of accomplished pop musicians, all with unique styles and musical approaches of their own.A.C. Newman has been one of the backbones of the band since their inception in 1997, when they were birthed out of his other projects: power pop outfit Zumpano and prog monsters Superconductor, in which traces of the trademark Pornographers vibe could already be sensed. Country-tinged troubadour Neko Case has been another integral part of the ensemble since their beginning, importing her compelling vocal style from her successful solo career. The third is, of course, Dan Bejar, whose solo project Destroyer has amassed an eclectic, enigmatic discography, from the sensuous, Dylan-esque jams of This Night to the disco-infused rock of Kaputt, and everything in between. The Pornographers’ later music showcases the contributions of newer member Kathryn Calder, whose aggressively cool pop group Immaculate Machine produced numerous great tracks before their final record in 2009.This playlist explores the music of these members and more, including bassist John Collins’ The Evaporators (with the legendary Nardwuar), first drummer Kurt Dahle’s The Age of Electric and Limblifter, lead guitarist Todd Fancey’s eponymous solo project, current drummer Joe Seiders’ Beat Club, and touring member Simi Stone’s Suffrajett. The New Pornographers’ recent album Whiteout Conditions—which, sadly, is their first without Bejar—continues their awesome melting pot of all of their individual styles and voices.
Detroit post-punk dystopians Protomartyr recently released their fourth album, Relatives in Descent, on Domino Records. Here, each band member shares the “songs we were listening to while we were writing the album.”
Charley Pride, “Crystal Chandeliers”Richard Dawson, “The Vile Stuff”Life Without Buildings, “PS Exclusive”The Fall, “Garden”Ghostface Killah, “Maxine”Kay Starr, “Wheel of Fortune”Tyvek, “Blocks”McCarthy, “Red Sleeping Beauty”
The Raincoats, “Shouting Out Loud”Country Teasers, “Golden Apples”Micachu & The Shapes with The London Sinfonietta, “State of N.Y.”Glenn Branca, “The Ascension” *Danny Bensi & Saunder Jurriaans, “Overpass” *The Pop Group, “She Is Beyond Good and Evil”Gil Scott-Heron, “New York Is Killing Me”Alain Goraguer, “La Femme”Paul White feat. Danny Brown, "Lions Den"Moodymann, "I Cant Kick This Feeling When It Hits"
Roy Wood, “Songs of Praise”Dirty Projectors, “Cool Your Heart”Philip Glass, “Prophecies”Chris Knox, “Glide”Wire, “Mannequin”TRAAMS, “A House on Fire”Kate Bush, “Wild Man”
Theo Parrish, “Make No War” *Felt, “Evergreen Dazed” *Grouper, “Clearing”Voices From the Lake, “Twins in Virgo” *Suni McGrath, “Cornflower Suite”Creation Rebel, “Starship Africa”* These tracks are not available on Spotify
When members of Midlake, Franz Ferdinand, Grandaddy, Travis, and Band of Horses started exchanging ideas via email in 2013, they probably didn’t care that they were taking part in a long, if sometimes neglected, tradition in the music world. Nor should they—the idea of putting together a supergroup for its own sake is pretty dumb, unless you’re Sebastian Bach. This motive tends to be secondary to the usual reasons that musicians get together, like playing with others whose company they enjoy or taking a break from the pressures of maintaining a major act.That this particular congregation of musicians savored the chance to play together and socialize is reflected in the title they chose for the project: BNQT, pronounced “banquet.” The nods to the Traveling Wilburys in both the album title and the jangly folk-pop sound of BNQT’s debut release, Volume 1, suggest that they’re well aware of the historic code of the supergroup. We can only assume that the question of who got to be Roy Orbison was determined by rock-paper-scissors.They’re hardly the only example of a group in recent years who have abided the same code, one that gave us Blind Faith and CSNY at the best of times and Damn Yankees at the not-so-best. Certain musicians, such as Jack White, Damon Albarn, and Dave Grohl, have been repeat supergroup-participators, evidence of their many musical interests and extrovert tendencies, and the century has also seen a boom of free-floating collectives whose members have many extracurricular activities—Broken Social Scene, The New Pornographers, UNKLE—but who nevertheless swagger like a supergroup whenever they deign to convene.Contemporary definitions of a supergroup can also stretch to contain side projects like EL VY, fronted by The National’s Matt Berninger, or Nice As Fuck, featuring Jenny Lewis, though traditionalists may reserve the term for more conventional matchups between musicians with equally illustrious resumes, like Divine Fits (Spoon + Wolf Parade + New Bomb Turks) and Minor Victories (Slowdive + Mogwai + Editors). Even if these equations don’t always result in the irrefutable chocolate-and-peanut-butter deliciousness we hope for, supergroups can still be super, as these choice cuts prove.Click here to follow this playlist on Spotify.
Fun shit I learned while reading The Quietus amazing Andy Gill playlist: at one point, Nile Rodgers was slotted to produce a Gang of Four record; John Cale hit on Gills girlfriend; and he doesnt think The Beatles groove!As a note, I couldnt find the specific Erik Satie recording he mentions.The Band, Music From Big PinkBob Dylan, Blood On The TracksJimi Hendrix, Band Of GypsysWild Beasts, WanderlustGabriel Fauré, RequiemThe Camarata Contemporary Chamber Group, The Music Of Erik Satie: The Velvet GentlemanThe Velvet Underground, The Velvet Underground & NicoBig Youth, Dread Locks DreadCulture, Two Sevens ClashChic, Good TimesJames Brown, "Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine"Marvin Gaye, "I Heard It Through The Grapevine"Kanye West, "Hold My Liquor"
Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.
Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.
Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.
