Home Video: will draw, can remix too

There is a lot of talent in the creative community that disregards boundaries and forges its own path through varied forms of artistic media.  There are illustrators who remix sound.  There are musicians who tell fortunes.  There are fortune tellers who take photos.  Ok.  Maybe there aren’t fortune tellers who take photos.  But it would be rad if there were.

The point is, in our age of modernity & accessibility, we are now capable of exploring nearly any and every media form we are interested in.  And Collin Ruffino and David Gross of Home Video are the kind of kids who shamelessly make their mark in a number of ways.

Their story is compelling, and their product is legit.  Collin & David met under the instruction of an eccentric painter (who claimed to have grown up in a chateau where servants peeled grapes for him to eat…whuuuuut), and it was in their adolescent high school art years that they began their journey together.  Their environment provided a foundation for the variety of media the two would come to explore: drawing, painting, filmmaking, writing music, and finally – remixing it.

Home Video we give you mad props.  To your drawings, for making us laugh, and to your remixes, for making us want to dance hard in the dark. #fistpump

The Naked Hearts – Only For You (Home Video Remix)

SXSW Darlings: Jonquil

One of my top 5 favorite bands of SXSW this year was definitely Jonquil, who I wrote about just a few weeks ago here.

Hugo Manuel, Sam Hudson Scott and Robin McDiarmid are self-described as “Paul Simon’s take on The Smiths.”  Fitting for some of their songs.  If I were going to describe them, however, their sound reminds me of a cross between Vampire Weekend and Two Door Cinema Club – poppy, feel-good party favorites and soon-to-be summer anthems.  But then there are songs like “Compoud” (which just blew me away and has been on constant repeat the past few months) and their cover of The xx’s “Infinity,” where the Oxford, UK trio showcase a softer, soulful sound masking an underlying intensity and drama that feels like it’s ready to burst, but somehow remains in control.

Their debut EP One Hundred Suns is currently out in the U.S. via Dovecote Records.  Check out one of their stand out tracks “It Never Rains” that they perform live to get the crowds dancing as well as my favorite track “Compound.”

Jonquil – It Never Rains by Jonquil

Jonquil – Compound by Jonquil

One to See Live: Baths

While I listen to and love many beatmakers, I am not always partial to their live shows.  This was not the case, however, when California-native Baths took the stage (and I found myself catching him three times at SXSW).  The 21-year-old producer, who has been making music for years and years under several different monikers, debuted his first album as Baths last summer called Cerulean which you can download from iTunes here.

His show had me dancing and as he eased into his set and started to sing as well, the crowds kind of perked up with a new found appreciation.  And Baths, aka Will Wiesenfeld, is very aware of showcasing his craft beyond the production.  In an interview with The Blue Indian when asked about his Daytrotter Session (January 2011), he says:

TBI: Your Daytrotter Session completely took me by surprise. A lot of times with electronic musicians, when they do these sessions, it’s pretty much the same thing as their album. Not much variance.

Baths: That’s the whole thing – it’s that I’m terrified of that. So that’s why I wanted to do the piano because I want to show the different side of stuff.

Baths – Aminals

Evan Voytas – Voytastic

oh, hello – we have a new contributor.  Her name is Maggie but you can call her MG.

Voytastic.

This kind of sound deserves its own word.  So I made one up.

Evan Voytas’ recent EP Tomorrow Night We’ll Go Anywhere evokes the same kind of optimism that is echoed in the EP’s title track – that anything is possible.   And it kind of is, considering the differing influences that Voytas has integrated into his sublimely sedated sound.  He cites acid jazz, reclusion, 70’s pop, 90’s rap, and a farmhouse on a dirt road in Pennsylvania as contributors to his spare & minimal pop format, which have led him to the beaches of Los Angeles.  And sure enough, when you learn this and specifically listen for those things, you can hear each one of them present in his tracks.

It’s a sound that evokes imagery of Ryan McGinley’s work, or anticipation for the sand in your pants that we’re all sure to experience this summer in the Rockaways, after we’ve decided that choking on saltwater is not our scene and are throwing back 6-packs instead.

So…in honor of that, throw him on your apple device of choice and crack open a cold one.  Here’s to you, EV.

Evan Voytas – Tomorrow Night We’ll Go Anywhere

Evan Voytas – Our Thing

For A Minor Reflection

One of my (many) favorite parts of SXSW is walking down the most crowded of streets, with sounds coming from all directions, but one band stands out among all the rest.  People gather around an open window of a packed bar to see/hear them play.  That’s what happened on my first night when For A Minor Reflection took the stage and the crowd poured out into the street.

The four-piece band comprised of Kjartan Holm (guitar), Guðfinnur Sveinsson (guitar and piano), Elvar Jón Guðmundsson (bass) and Andri Freyr Þorgeirsson (percussion) hail from Reykjavík, Iceland and are an experimental / instrumental rock outfit drawing comparisons to Explosions In The Sky and Mogwai.  The song posted below, “Dansi Dans,” reminds me more of that orchestral pop sound you hear from bands like Fanfarlo and Sigur Ros, with whom FaMR toured in 2008.  Since 2005, the band has morphed from a hard rock duo to indie rock trio to blues quartet to a Pink Floyd cover band before finally arriving at their current standing. My favorite little fact about them, however, is this sentence from their Wikipedia page: Kjartan Holm and Guðfinnur met at a college event which ended in a strip poker party at Kjartan’s house.  Very informative!

Now that these 20-somethings have finally found their genre, they play as a band with experience beyond their years, commanding the attention of an audience of fans or even just passersby.   Check out their latest album from 2010 which you can purchase on their website here.

For A Minor Reflection – Dansi Dans

Baby Jazz – New Song

Baby Jazz, from Savannah, Georgia released their newly mastered single “Billy Ocean” on Bad Panda Records, which you can download for free. Elgin Braden, 1/2 of the duo, was nice enough to answer some questions for us-

How many instruments do you play? Do you sing at all?
Bass, Guitar, Key boards, Percussion, 7up, and no i dont sing, i suck at it’

You’re in 7 or 8 bands!? We lost count and that’s just plain crazy. Can you list them all? Dogheaded men smoking cigarettes; food coloring; aux arc; baby jazz; break up green; king of the monsters; step dad.

What’s your favorite music to listen to to get you pumped up before a show? The Rescue Rangers Theme

forthebeat loves your clothes/jackets/shoes/headgear/you. Whose your biggest influencer on your style? Street fighter characters

We saw you in Big Boi’s video, any other famous cameos we should know about? Sunglasses – whiplash….obviously!

If you had to pick a color to match the aura/vibe of Baby Jazz what would that color be? I dont think that color has been invented yet

What’s your favorite song of all of your bands you’ve ever worked on/produced? “Save that fucking roach” by break up green

Redheads or brunettes? or Feist? we heard you have a crush? This is a trap…depending what i say the other person will smash me..but the answer to the question is brunettes..and yes Feist is a huge badass: http://www.rollogrady.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/feist.jpg

Here’s the beautifully complicated track to match the beautifully complicated Elgin:

Baby Jazz- Billy Ocean

Breakbot in the Spring Time..

I knew when I woke up today it was going to be a Breakbot kind of day. While he is working on his latest album, hopefully to be released soon, here are some Breakbot remix favorites, perfect for this 72 degree weather here in NY:

Spring we missed you, thank goodness you’ve come back for us-

Jamaica- I Think I Like U2 (Breakbot remix)

Metronomy- A Thing for Me (Breakbot remix)

Foo Fighters Remix

In honor of sxsw and forthebeat’s KC being there right now, and SL not being there (Oh cruel cruel world) we’re posting a remix  Alphabet Pony did of Foo Fighters’ “Everlong,” FF are one of the special guests playing sxsw this year!?

With Foo Fighters and the rumored Kanye West shows along with hundreds of other great artists like Hooray for Earth, High Highs, Keepaway, The Naked and Famous, Smith Westerns, The Cults, Two Door Cinema Club, Wiz Khalifa (and on and on and on) playing this year, we can’t imagine all the fun KC is having right now…happy St. Patrick’s Day and also this is officially our 300th post!

Foo Fighters- Everlong (Alphabet Pony remix)

Conner Youngblood

Conner Youngblood is a new bluegrass/indie artist from Dallas, TX.

Its getting warmer. kind of. Can you feel it? Me either, well maybe slightly. This helps: Listen to “A Summer Song” below. It’s easy listening and just very lovely.

Conner Youngblood- A Summer Song

Kids At The Bar Remix

The original didn’t need to be remixed, but I’m glad Kids At The Bar decided to do this awesome one- love love love.

Kids At The Bar are Oklahoma electro punk rock, currently with Killpop Records. I also like their “So We Can Party” track- check it out on their MySpace.

Empire of the Sun – Walking On A Dream (Kids At The Bar Remix)

They even made their own video for this remix? Awesome: Empire of the Sun – Walking on a Dream (Kids at the Bar Remix) – Vimeo. And you can download the remix here.