Blogarhythms

Although the week might technically begin on Sunday, for most working people the week starts on Monday. If the material of pretty much every stand-up comic ever is to be believed very few of these people actually like their jobs. In my estimation it’s quite likely that this is the reason why nobody’s ever written a song about how “easy” Monday mornings are.

Quite the opposite in fact.

Why, no lesser a talent than Prince Rogers Nelson himself penned a catchy little ditty about how Sunday was superior in almost every way to Monday, providing Los Angeles-based all-girl band The Bangles with their first major hit in the process. And while I’m the first to admit that blogging about music is probably not the hectic Monday morning activity that the purple one had in mind, it’s in that spirit that I intend to smooth your Monday out in my own special way.

I couldn’t accomplish that goal without some buttery beats to spread around, so it’s a good thing I’ve got a copy of the Denmark-based Boom Clap Bachelors‘ recently-released sophomore full-length Kort Før Dine Læber handy. If the name seems familiar it might be because it’s been well maintained on the OKP message boards, and the group — a collective of producers and musicians featuring Robin Hannibal of Owusu & Hannibal — have been championed by tastemaking DJs, Gilles Peterson among them.

More important than all that is what they sound like, which can be summed up in two words; sexy robot. Well, since all their lyrics are in all Danish maybe it should be three words? But “sexy Danish robot” could be misconstrued as having something to do with a pastry-making automaton, so I’m sticking with my original summation.

Regardless, they pick up where Owusu & Hannibal’s Living With… left off, which means Kort Før Dine Læber sounds like the soundtrack to Bladerunner if the film were reimagined as a cyborg porno, the score were composed Batman-style by the aforementioned Prince, and his master-tapes were handed over to Dilla, Pharrell and Dntel to remix. If you liked O&W’s record, the Swedish Future-Soul of Little Dragon, Lykke Li, the silkier side of Norway’s Röyksopp and Erlend Øye, Hot Chip at their pimpest, or even Timberlake & Timbaland’s soulful Electro-Pop, Boom Clap Bachelors are a must-have.

Boom Clap Bachelors “Fylde Dig Med Regn”

Holder of a Boom-Clap bachelor’s degree of his own, beatmaker Flying Lotus‘ new full-length Los Angeles (which drops June 10th) is cut from a similar bolt of in all likelihood mechanically-woven cloth to that of Kort Før Dine Læber. It’s full of syncopated percussion, lumbering drum-programming, smog-thick electronic basslines and fuzz-infused synth-buzz sounding like static-y broadcasts from the nether-regions of outer-space intercepted by some poor schmucks gold-fronts. All of which evokes a futuristic landscape more dangerous and sexy than any now-extant urban center could ever be, where drug-dens, strip-clubs, lounges and dancefloors find humans, machines and celestial lifeforms all intermingling to the sounds of hum, sizzle, clatter, boom and clap.

His first album for new label Warp Records, Los Angeles marks only the second instance I can recall a Flying Lotus record featuring full-on vocals. Guests include female vocalist Ahu (Dolly) on “RobertaFlack,” the enigmatic Gonja Sufi on “Testament” and fellow eclectic producer Daedelus‘ old-lady Laura Darlington on “Auntie’s Lock/Infinitum.”

The latter is little more than the somnambulic repetition of of the word “infinitum” over a slow-boiling organ figure and ghostly echoes which recalls the work of musician, composer and producer Michael Andrews, particularly the Me and You and Everyone We Know score and his production on Metric’s Old World Underground album. While “Testament” is a hallucinogenic Jazz number worthy of Badu’s recent opus. And “RobertaFlack,” with it’s chittering hi-hats, deep-sea bass, and lazer sounds, stands out — alongside instrumentals like “SexSlaveShip,” “Sleepy Dinosaur,” “Parisian Goldfish,” “GNG BNG,” “Beginners Falafel,” “Breathe” and “Comet Course” — as one of my favorite cuts on the disc.

Flying Lotus “RobertaFlack” feat. Dolly

Both of these joints are as thick, rich, gooey & smooth as the syrup & butter on the griddle-fresh morning pancakes that sexy robot spouse of yours is gonna be making for you some day. And if that isn’t a hell of an easy way to start your Monday, I don’t know what is.