Author Archives:

Review: CFCF – Exercises (2012)

April 27, 2012 By in Album, Reviews Tags: , , Leave a comment

CFCF - Element

Montreal-based DJ and electronic artist CFCF aka Michael Silver has released his second album, titled ‘Exercises’. Influenced by Philip Glass, Ryuichi Sakamoto and David Borden, and inspired by “institutional architecture and 70′s Canadiana”, this album is subdued and minimalistic. While CFCF has taken Exercises in a different direction from his previous disco-tinged release, ‘Continent’, the cinematic quality of his music still remains. Exercises also showcases CFCF’s versatility

The album picks up its pace as it moves on to the single “Exercise #3 (Building)” with melodic piano and synths layered over each other. The music video below perfectly captures the mood and visuals that this song conjures up.

I’m not sure if the 4th track, “Exercise #4 (Spirit)” was intended to sound a little eerie, or if the song title alludes to the paranormal but what I felt was suspense building up with droning synths in the background and another layer of synths that get louder and louder.

Continue reading →

Review: Lindstrøm – Six Cups Of Rebel (2012)

February 29, 2012 By in Album, Reviews Tags: , , Leave a comment

Norwegian electronic musician Lindstrøm is back with his second studio album Six Cups of Rebel.  This time, the album has 7 tracks- more than twice the number of the 3 in his first album Where You Go I Go Too. However, Six Cups of Rebel is a huge departure from Where You Go I Go Too as well as his previous collaborations with Prins Thomas and Christabelle.

The album kicks off with “No Release”, which has the space disco sound that Lindstrøm is known for. “De Javu” a funky number remeniscent of 70s disco fit for the dancefloor and almost segues seamlessly into the next track “Magik”, which also retains the same dancefloor friendly vibe. If you weren’t paying attention, this would sound very much like a DJ set.

“Quiet Place to Live” breaks away from the funk of the previous tracks and begins with a intro of a guitar riff and gets a bit repetitive until the spacey synths kick in at about 3 minutes into the song. “All I want is a quiet place to live” is just being repeated over and over and over.

From the fifth track,”Call Me Anytime”, onward, the album takes a darker and more atmospheric direction.  There is a lot, perhaps too much, going on in that track and it brings to mind a noisy haunted circus or a broken record which wasn’t what I was expecting.

Continue reading →

Review: Active Child – You Are All I See (2011)

September 8, 2011 By in Album, Reviews Tags: , , , Leave a comment

Active Child is Pat Grossi, a multi-instrumentalist and former choir boy from Los Angeles. His debut album You Are All I See could be described as dream pop infused with hints of R&B.  The title track “You Are All I See” opens with the sounds of a cascading harp and sets the mood for the beautiful ride you’re about to go on as you listen to the album from the beginning to the end. At first listen, one would think that he sounds like the love-child of Joanna Newsom and Antony Hegarty. As you dive deeper into his music, you would find that he is as different as it gets.

Lo-fi R&B singer How To Dress Well lends his vocals in “Playing House”, the third track on the album and it’s in my opinion one of the best, along with lead single “Hanging On”.

Even though Grossi was formally trained as a choir boy, he has proved that he can pull off the vocal stylings of 90′s R&B in both songs and successfully marries synths and R&B drum patterns and that is why “Playing House” and “Hanging On” stood out for me. However, the star in “Playing House” is Tom Krell aka How To Dress Well. Apart from harmonising perfectly with Grossi, Krell’s vocals shines through and brings a certain kind of smoothness that a slow jam needs when he sings “That don’t make it good for anybody, don’t wanna be in love just with anybody, I’m tired of being just Mr. Anybody, so baby come with me and let’s just make a body”

Continue reading →

Interview: Cinnamon Chasers

March 1, 2011 By in Interviews Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

Cinnamon Chasers is an alternative electro/indietronica act based in London and also the solo project of Russ Davies. He makes melodic dance music influenced by early pioneers like Giorgio Moroder, Vangelis, Jean Michel Jarre, and KLF and is inspired by films like Flight Of The Navigator, The NeverEnding Story. Read on to find out more!

Your album has just been released (iTunes). I imagine working on an album can be different to making a single or just working on tracks. How did you approach making this new album? Did you have a vision of how you wanted it to be before you started?

[Russ Davies] I prefer making albums, it’s what I love the most as you can really tell a proper story like that. For me I’m all about the concepts, every track or album is a concept. My approach to this album was that I wanted to create a fun party vibe bunch of tracks with a very strong disco/electro influence, but all packed strong with melody and feeling. The previous album was more song based but from what I’ve seen from the fan base and just from the general perception of the act is that Cinnamon Chasers is best suited to the dance world.

Does it sound the way you first imagined?

I work on the music a lot until it gets into the form I wanted, it never sounds exactly how I imagined but close. I also let ideas evolve a little organically, and then I can tweak it after into the aethestic of the original concept.

Did you achieve everything you wanted to with it?

Specifically with Science? Well the truth is I’m rarely satisfied. I have so many ideas and desires to create many more concepts that the moment one project is finished my imagination and heart gets fixed onto the next concept. I would make twenty albums a year if I had it my way, but I think I would confuse the audience with so much material (The trouble I have is limiting the amount of releases). But I started with a concept with Science, and that’s what it is so yes I did achieve that, but I still long for the all encompassing, heart nurturing and entirely satisfying music concept. I’m searching for that sound still, that sound that defines me in every single aspect. The image in my mind of the perfect sound gets clearer and clearer as I get each album concept done, for me it’s all little stepping stones to the ultimate score. It’s feels clearer in my imagination now more than ever.

Continue reading →

2010: Cindy’s Album of the Year

January 3, 2011 By in et.cetera Tags: , , Leave a comment

Back in late November, Cindy debuted on Mezzic with her brilliant interview with Anoraak. Welcome her back as she shares her album of the year! – John

Although Hurts are known for the sleek, stylised image, they are not your run-of-the-mill manufactured pop band. Vocalist Theo Hutchcraft can actually hold a tune and sounds as good as he does on the album when he sings live while Adam Anderson plays the synthesizers, piano and guitar. They compose their own music (which they claim is inspired by Disco Lento), write their own songs, and even released a self-made music video for their hit single ‘Wonderful Life’ when they were still unsigned. Handsome, stylish and talented. What’s not to love?

Their debut album Happiness is filled with well produced electronic ballads, including a collaboration with Kylie Minogue. They’ve also had music videos with stunning cinematography to accompany singles from the album. Everything is so carefully thought out it’s clear that they put forth a lot of effort and have creative input in whatever they do, even though they are signed to a major label.

Interview: Anoraak

November 22, 2010 By in Interviews Tags: , , , 1 Comment

The longest distance collaboration yet with Mezzic (alas, not as famous as Give Up) brings Singapore’s own Cindy into the mix, relaying her questions to France’s Anoraak. Enjoy the interview after a quick note on Anoraak.

Anoraak, aka Frederic Riviere and part of the Valerie collective, associates himself to the sun and the sea, something quite natural to do when growing up in Southern France. Now with Nightdrive With You EP honing in on memories of the south and transforming them into lush sonic landscapes rippling through people with the sole goal of his music “so long as it moves you.” With his last video, shot with eight cameras and in 360°, “Above Your Head”, he easily achieves that.

[Cindy] You first garnered attention on the music blogosphere with the very romantic ‘Nightdrive With You’. What has changed since then?

Nothing really changed, just evolved. Nightdrive With You came as an EP, and is a collection of works made on a 3 years period. At this time i had just a computer and a guitar but for the album, i wanted to record in a proper sudio with real instruments. And the album has been composed on a little period.

Your debut album ‘Wherever The Sun Sets’ is filled with warm summery tracks that make me feel like going on a holiday when I listen to it. Were you intentionally providing a holiday for us when we listen?

TOTALLY ;D Seriously, i love to think about sun, palm trees, sand and summer, so i guess it’s showing in my music. I grew up as a kid in the sunny south of France and i had to move North later, in a way i’m sun-frustrated, so i need to make a music that feels like sun and holidays.

Apart from your original work, your remixes are really good too. My favourite one of yours is Xinobi – Day Off. What is your current favourite remixes?

If you talk about my remixes, by now it’s: Siobhan Wilson –  Getting Me Down (Anoraak Rework). My fav of the moment is : Uniforms -1020 Tickery Lane (Eumig & Chinon Remix)

I’m sure your fans all know that you love the beach, sunsets, summer and driving on highways – be it in the summer or at night. Out of all the places you’ve travelled to, where have you seen the most beautiful beaches and sunsets? What’s your perfect idea of a holiday and what were holidays like for you when you were a kid? Continue reading →

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 255 other followers