Tonight

Although the element of dub and industrial drew me in on FF when I first came across their piece “ Ulysses” on one of those music playing Myspace page , after listening through a couple of tracks a couple of times from this year’s “Tonight” , I thought they were pretty funky as well. Emotionally, from the first time you read the track titles, the album has a fun maybe sarcastic, read The Ting Tings, but vastly positive vibe about it. While popular dub funk influences like the ting tings featured distinctive rhythm with pulse driven drum loops, most of FF songs have flat distortion working in the background of upbeat constantly changing drum works and something that almost sound like chimes. Although I inanely lean towards three cords guitar works with lots of noise, I have to admit tracks like “What she came for” could really sound like something unique, certainly distinctive and certainly enjoyable. And maybe I’m growing up/out of my Cobian-esque fixation.



I always feel that the process of making music have to be a lot about having fun and doing it for the love of it. I think that FF actually incorporate a lot of it’s feel good attitude into this album without sounding poppy or cheesy. Which is quite an achievement in itself, considering how thin the line can be between sounding fresh and sounding completely hip hoppy in these kinds of ambitious sounds. I guess what I’m trying to say is FF is kind of contagious if you’re here to enjoy rather then analyze.

The Odd Couple

I was listening to this new age act call themselves Gnarls Barkley last night. The album is The Odd Couple if you’re interested, supposed to be their sophomore album so. Gorillaz had me interested in new age music awhile back, I thought they sounded dub because I was hearing a hint of De Facto and the Mad Professor in some of their shit. Anyways, Odd Couple impressed me, considering how mainstream Gnarls Barkley is, but in a fractional kind of way, because couple of tracks I can’t really stand like ‘charity case’ and ‘going on’, they sounded like soul and hip hop mashed together to form some kind of dub/soul hybrid and not in a good way like Sublime did with punk and reggae but in a bad way like Rancid in Life Won’t Wait.


I was drawn to the contrast in lyrics and music, considering the sound was dub in nature the songs were lyrically complex owing to how it was offered vocally. I think though, most of this had to do with the extent of intensity Cee-lo’s vocals bring to the songs. You can’t help but be captivated by his voice, if this guy was my pastor I would’ve been born again a hundred times over. Although probably digitally manufactured, the acoustic drum sounds also help giving dept to tracks like ‘Whatever’ and “She Knows” where the lyrics are kind of visceral.
Anyways, some of my favorite tracks are ‘Would be Killer’ ‘whatever’ and ‘Blind Mary’.
Actually this is, on the surface a happy clappy but after awhile, effectively depressing album which anyone who’s depressed about life and global warming etc shouldn’t pick up, but like me, if you’re particularly upbeat about your relationship and don’t mind listening to choir boys disparaging the irony of them singing about failed relationships and homicides, you’ll like it. what i'm saying is listen this for the instrumentals, weird but ultimately great sound. (click on the picture above to listen to 'going on' on youtube)

On Music

I’ve been listening to modern soul/blues a lot since I fall in love. I decided I was going to digress a little and check out the world music scene. Most of the artists I found are really crappy, they go for either the homoerotic Mika type high pitch ballads or the accidental gay themed ablums of James blunt. They remind me of Japanese geishas and Vai mating music.

Anyway, I am listening Paolo Nutini right now and I think this Scottish kid have some real potential. A little pubertal lyrically but he carries off his songs with an assurance you normally don’t see in a 19 year old, not the material confidence ala Britney spears and her ilk but a mental one. There’s a hint of conviction and really honest performance in him that he makes the oddly juvenile songs feel like good poems that you want to show off to your friends. Makes you think about how much of music is effected by the aesthetic aspect of it.

Nutini’s greatest strength I think is his voice, smooth, slow and lazily scratchy, perfect for a soul love song. This is not to say his music is all that bad either, I enjoyed the simple riff of “Jenny Don’t Be Hasty” and I would add “last request” to a mix cd for Mp without a second thought. He’s not the best obviously but one of the more listenable artist out there.

Click on the picture above to watch Paolo singing "jenny don't be hasty" from his album "These Streets"