I have a headache right now. And it’s just a sad fact of life that when I have a headache listening to music ceases to be an enjoyable experience and starts feeling like I’m being poked in the brain with a sharp stick. This is in fact the only time when listening to harsh, noisy sounds becomes an issue for me, as even moderately “hard,” or “heavy” music starts to sound like the most annoyingly grating “noise” records I’ve ever heard. Luckily for me, and for anybody who wants to “chill out” for any reason really, I’ve got a pair of recently-released instrumental (with no head-splitting screaming, singing, or rappy-rap-rapping… except on one track) albums on deck that should prove perfect for soothing my aching brain and getting appreciative listeners nodding lazily along.
Seriously though, if there was a robot that could crack my skull open right now and give my brain a massage with it’s cool, tingly robot fingers it would probably feel something like listening to Onandon the debut album from London-based beatmaker Lukid is making me feel right this very moment. The short bio on his MySpace page lists Krautrock band Can, Hip-Hop producer Madlib, Detroit House music producer Theo Parrish, and groundbreaking IDM duo Autechre as some of his musical “obsessions,” which aren’t the most suprising list of influences for a kid who makes stumblingly off-kilter beats, imbued with a jazzy swing, and layered with loads of glitched-out samples, synthesizer hums, and electronic clicks, bleeps and pings. Despite his UK origins, Lukid has a lot in common with the school of eclectic, electronics-friendly Detroit producers that includes Dilla, Dabrye and Kenny “Moodymann” Dixon, so fans of that sound should be more than pleased to let his robot-fingered beats massage their grey matter.
Listen to “Piano Nano”
After receiving a cybernetically-assisted cerebral happy-ending it’s only right to turn to more organic fare, and that’s exactly what California-based sample-shaper The Nothing has to offer on his most recent full-length, Life In Decay. Sadly, his MySpace page offers next to no insight into who the man is, other than that his “government name” is Fisher and he probably doesn’t like George W. Bush very much, and his label website is currently down. But his music speaks for itself. And what it says is “I like pretty Jazz loops, samples of strings, guitars, pianos, horns, and chimes, weird clips of movie dialogue, and breakbeats.” The Nothing may utilize a radically different sonic pallet compared to Lukid’s, but he shares the relaxing sense of rhythm and timing that gave the latter’s beats a distinct Jazz feel even when the sonic textures employed were wholly synthetic. Not only is my headache totally gone now, but the playful Latin guitar samples and lackadaisical Far-Eastern loops on “They Live” actually has me feeling genuinely good.
Listen to “They Live”
So, next time you get a headache, take two paragraphs of Blogarhythms and call me in the morning. Suck it, Excedrin!
-El Keter
