Wendel Patrick is the alias piano player Kevin Gift performs under. Right before I left for Wisconsin, I had the chance to talk a bit to Wendel and he couldn’t be a nicer guy. I’m going to just strike the phrase “it’s not my usual style” when describing music on here that’s slightly out of the norm for me, because as of late I’ve been listening to all sorts of unique sounding, not quite indie music and I’m continually enjoying it. Patrick’s new album Sound: is definitely a unique and trippy listen that really requires it to be heard in one listen as all the songs usually blend into one another. I was trying to explain what his music sounds like and the best I could come up with was if the Gorillaz took themselves more seriously and teamed up with Godspeed, or if The Books went glitchy hip hop on us.

That probably doesn’t help the majority of you, but take a listen to the mp3’s I put below and hear for yourself. Just keep in mind that no one track truly stands out on this album and trying to pick mp3’s to feature was made even harder because of that fact. It’s the kind of album I’ll be playing on a lazy Sunday while reading a book. If you like the mp3’s below, head over to his site and buy the album. It’s nearly impossible for me to convince anyone here how good it is because of the required full album listen, but Wendel’s one of the more genuine people I’ve ever met through my blog and is easily one of the best upcoming hip hop/jazz/electronica producers around today and deserves all the support he can get.

Buy Sound: at his official site under the “online store” tab.

Man Vs.

Rest Move

Planet Planetarium

* * * * *

Official Site / Myspace

Closet Face

“GFM” (Fleshtone Remix)
[youtube WGEIoJ-xAJg]

Offical Site / Myspace / Buy Hair Guitar
Audiodregs (great electronic label)

Essential Electronic Nuggets For Your Collection

The Books – There is no There

Prefuse 73 – Pagina Dos (Books cover…kind of. From the Reads the Books EP)

Tuung – Out the Window with the Window

We Will Build – Rain and Sun

Minotaur Shock – Vigo Bay

Fridge – Cutup Piano + Xylophone

I Am Robot and Proud – Mood You’re In

The Octopus Project – The Adjustor

Nathan Fake – Grandfathered

Martin himself was as down to Earth as one gets, wearing jeans and a hoodie while hidden in the shadows of his merch table during the openers.  I sensed that he was slightly introverted like me, so the conversation inevitably stalled and I walked towards the front to catch my friend’s band The Social.  Soon enough Dosh took the stage with all of us trying to get mentally prepared for what we were about to see, but knowing we’d probably be blown away.

The latter is exactly what ended up happening as I stood in plain view of his circle of musical equipment able to see exactly what he was doing and which loop pedals he was pushing, but still competely lost as to how he was actually pulling it off.  He played and looped with clockwork precision that I imagine took him years to perfect.  Being able to play something and get the loop started and ended exactly with the rest of the song is pretty difficult.  The fact that he did it on multiple instruments over and over, one song after another left most of us simply smiling and speechless.  Every song would end with a split second of shocked silence from the crowd, followed by everyone looking to their neighbors agreeing that what they were witnessing was, in fact, as hard as it looked.

The stand-out song was “Steve the Cat”, in which Dosh began by looping his voice doing a “chh chh” sound for the cymbals, then proceeded to play one keyboard part after another on top of each other to the point that I just lost count.  By the time his set was over, he tried to scurry off stage but we cheered him on to do one more, which he shrugged his shoulders and did.

If you have a chance to see Dosh, by all means do it.  It was a slight shame Andrew Bird wasn’t accompanying him for this show like he had on his tour, but the saxophone player was a welcome addition.  And for $8, I can’t imagine seeing anything much cooler than the set Dosh put on at Randy Bacon’s.

I took a few videos, but since I was practically standing right next to the PA system, the sound quality’s not the greatest.  Plus it was my little digital camera.  The videos don’t really do the songs justice, so make sure to get to one of his shows before his tour ends.

Steve the Cat
 

Fireball

A Ghost’s Business

One Through Seven

His site  /  His myspace  /  Buy The Lost Take

I’m back….kind of.  Still don’t have internet, but I’m tired of not posting so I treked through the damn cold to the library to post.  Today we focus on Podington Bear.

Whether or not he’s a real electronic music making bear as he claims is irrelevant.  What is important here is that not only is his music good in all sorts of relaxing, electronic ways, he’s also writing three songs a week from here on out.  There’s a Podington Podcast every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and considering he’s gotten through January without a bad song yet, I’m quite impressed.

While most people stopped coming by lately b/c of my internet being non-existant, good ‘ol Podington kept the emails coming and I always appreciate the effort.  I’ll probably get him 50 listens if that, but I’ll do what I can.  Usually someone who’s on their own musically will have the drive and excitement to get their music heard, but the music itself isn’t near as polished as the rest simply b/c of lack of professional equipment.  I don’t know what Podington uses, but his songs are highly polished, downtempo, yet usually upbeat electronic songs that I’ve just put on repeat as of late.  You should know by now this type of electronic music is my forté, and any chance I get to add another artist from this genre to my collection is fine by me.

For now, the podcast and mp3’s are competely free at his site.  You can download the mp3’s there, or simply subscribe to his podcast, which never fails to impress every other day of the week.  I don’t know what else to say besides just telling you to go to his site and listen to the playlist he’s got up of all his songs.  This is the kind of music you put in your collection and save until the appropriate, laid back time, then put it on and let the music do the rest.

Frogs in Tuxes

Pives and Flarinet

Flutterbee

Kid is Frangin

Climbing the Mountain

Elephants on Parade

His site  /  His myspace

Enjoy!  I’m off to the studio to record our first project in Intro to Commercial Music.  Creating music to be used on campus when they put people on hold.  Should be interesting.  I’ll let you know what crappy music I end up creating.

Electric President

Their self-titled was one of my favorites last year when they self-released it, and now I guess it’s one of my favorites of this year as well thanks to Morr Music. Electric President epitomize the kind of gentle, electronic rock that I love. Add any electronic elements to your music tastefully and I’ll enjoy it. Do it as well as Electric President and you’ll no doubt become one of my favorite bands of the year.