Video for Mind Over Mirrors - Memorander

Easing into the morning with this.

 

Chromatics Live at Heaven

Gig stereotypes. The relentlessly snogging couple, the out-of-tune singalonger, the tall person with a hat who stands right in front of you. They were all there last week at the Chromatics Heaven gig but heaven knowns (groan) even they couldn't detract from the shimmering, amazing performance.

For one far-too-short hour, the room was awash in the Chromatic's brittle shimmer and wistfulness, and Ruth Radelet's voice sounded in-cred-ible live (although that's a bit lost in the videos of the gig, sadly).

Their first few tracks were more like tasters than full blown songs, really short and bare bones riffing. A few tracks in and it shifted to longer, bigger, more emotive, more magical, more more more. You know, (in the headiest tradition of gig cliches), it was like a journey. A really superb, gorgeous journey.

High points were definitely Kill for Love, Night Drive, my favourite In the City. The opening bars of their cover of Neil Young's Into the Black set off shouts of joy from around the room. Incidentally, are the Chromatics the world's best cover band? Their cool italo vibes and understated vocals work wonders on songs that were pretty damn good to begin with. Their version of Bruce Springsteen's I'm on Fire aches with cold desire and Kate Bush's Running Up That Hill becomes an unforgettable,  monumental electronic love song.

Johnny Jewel from the band organised their latest album, Kill for Love, onto a single Soundcloud (below), which is very thoughtful. Night Drive and In the City are also ESSENTIAL LISTENING. (imo, more so than Kill for Love - just saying).

Out of Date Record Review - Marcus Mixx & FIT

So this record came out on Detroit's Fit Sound in April but I only got it a month or two ago. It's just so damn good I still fancy writing about it.

The Marcus Mixx track, Salut the Noise with a Laugh, is unsurprisingly a mix of raw house beats & cowbell (classic Mixx) and cheerfully unhinged vibes. Opening with a straightforward enough sounding stab, things quickly unravel as video gamey bleeps and weirdness starts undulating all over the place..and then.. and then.. the laugh starts. Yes, the sampled man's laugh that dips in and out of the track adding a bit of  One Flew Over the Cuckoos nest to an already pretty odd track. The beats are ace, the production flawless (read, raw and direct) and the samples and weirdness absolutely spot on. Happy days.

The FIT track has a way different appeal. Totally, utterly hypnotic and more than a little bit sweat lodge, it shares the raw hewn sounds of the Mixx track and has more than a hint of Oasis Collaborating vibes. A simple looped builder which creeps up and up and up and takes you back back back to the source. SERIOUSLY HOT.  

Listen to clips at the Fit Records distribution site, there's a pretty defunct looking Fit Soundcloud if you're interested, and don't forget Marcus Mixx's INCREDIBLE youtube channel.