Great news! Jap Jap is semi-finalist in the category dance/producers in the most important Dutch competition for undiscovered national artists: the Dutch Big Prize. Next month Jap Jap and 11 other semi-finalists will have 30 minutes of airtime on national radiostation 3FM. A jury will then select 5 finalists who will perform during the final in Amsterdams best known venue the Paradiso. 1 finalist will be voted into the final online. This is why I need you! Help me secure my claim to fame!



Thank you!


Influences:
Ulrich Schnauss, Boards of Canada, Manual, BT, Dextro, Röyksopp, Bitcrush, Tipper, Planet Bliss, Air, Slowdive, Zero 7, ST, troupe, Brian Eno, M83, Aural Planet, Airiel, Ochre, The Album Leaf, Prefuse 73, Way Out West, Four Tet, ISAN, Massive Attack, Below the Sea, Phoenix, I'm Not a Gun, Savoy Grand, Secede, Kettel, Xela, Yasume, Helios, Bent, Syntaks, Vector Lovers, Praveen, IJO, Carbon Based Lifeforms, B. Fleischmann, Milieu, Aus, Anders Ilar, Jon Hopkins

I've held off for a bit before writing about the recent facelift that Last gave the site. I wanted to really get a feel for it and see what I thought before I critiqued it.

Overall, I'd give it a B+. When I first saw it, it was rather jarring to see such a drastic change. Nothing looked the same. But once I started getting used to where everything moved to, I started liking it more and more. And there are some really powerful tools that they've added that make me one very happy camper:

1) Live updating of charts. WTF? Seriously? You can do this now???? I've been here for 2 years and have been wanting this the whole time, and finally it's arrived. The second a track is scrobbled, I get to see that show up. This is how it always SHOULD have been, and I think this is one of those things where we're seeing the impact from CBS' purchase of Last. They finally had the capital to build the infrastructure necessary to do this and I couldn't be happier.

2) Simple, fast customization of charts. This is freakin' awesome! With a simple click, I can switch between the various options for chart display and not have to leave the page or wait for it to reload. This is an excellent use of AJAX scripting and as a coder, I'm impressed. But as a music lover and charts junkie, I'm even more thrilled by this since it used to be such a hassle to go through and look at the chart histories.

3) The new streaming player. I'm very much enjoying the new music streaming capabilities of the site. Most of the time, I try to use
Simplify Media to stream my music when I'm away from home, but I've now got a solid second option for playing my library. An excellent job on this.


The drawbacks:
1) What the heck happened to Recent Visitors?? This was one of my favorite parts of being a subscriber, and now it's gone. I met a ton of folks on Last just from either seeing they'd visited me or them seeing I'd visited their page, and now that's gone. Bring it back!!

2) I think it's a huge mistake for the shoutbox to be buried at the bottom of the page. Last is supposed to be about this great social side to music, but they've now made it harder to socialize with others. It's not that big a deal since it's at least still on the page, but it just seems to go against the ideal of what the site is about.


If they keep working on the new design and refining it, I just see it getting better and better. Not that I'm going to go anywhere else, but this redesign has certainly given me more reason to keep coming back.

Now, on to the music. I'll use the handy-dandy charts to see my top artists from the last 3 months to see what I've been listening to. And here they are:

No. Artist Count
1 Róisín Murphy 263
2 John Mayer 162
3 Tegan and Sara 153
4 Rachael Yamagata 98
5 Ani DiFranco 86
5 Bent 86
7 Moloko 80
8 Natalie Walker 78
9 Sia 76
10 KT Tunstall 74
11 Feist 72
12 Tori Amos 65
13 Laura Veirs 64
13 Jamie Lidell 64
15 Lamb 57
16 Beth Orton 56
16 Snow Patrol 56
18 Everything but the Girl 54
19 Deee-Lite 50
19 MC Frontalot 50


Now, of course I wouldn't be me if me regulars of Johnnie, Ani, Bent, KT, Torie, Lamb, Beth and EBTG didn't show up in there somewhere. I've talked about them all so much, though, that I'm going to look at the newcomers, the trailblazers, the funky fresh tunes that I've been sinking my ears into lately.

As you can tell, I've been loving me some Róisín. She has been everything I was hoping to find and more. If I had an iPod in the car instead of listening to CDs when I drive, her playcount would easily have doubled, too! Ruby Blue is an awesome album, with her time in Moloko being very evident. I love the use of horns throughout the album - something I was not expecting at all, but that works very well. With Overpowered, she took a big step forward and took the music deeper into the electronic world of sound. The synth and bass is very well done and complements her incredible voice. Scarlet Ribbons is a song that just touches my heart a bit and makes me hope my daughters feel much the same way when they grow up.

Another fairly new player in my library is Tegan and Sara. I had stumbled across them a little before my last journal in March, and I'm still very much enjoying them. The one "problem" I have is that there's some punk influence there, which means their songs tend to be short and so their playcount is a bit inflated simply because 30 minutes listening to them will get 10 tracks scrobbled instead of 6-7 from another artist. But waaaaaaaah - I'm just a whiner, huh? :)

Ms. Yamagata is back at the top of my charts after her long-awaited return from the abyss of Record Label Hell®. For anyone that's a fan and hasn't discovered this yet, she's released a 3-song EP as a bit of a teaser for her upcoming album. It's available on her site as a download for $3, and it's definitely worth it if you've been as starved for new material as me. I still haven't found a release date for her new album, but hopefully it's not too much longer.

Another re-emerging artist on my list is Natalie Walker. I loved her voice when she rolled out Urban Angel and she's just dropped her new album this week, With You. I'm still digesting it, but I'm not disappointed. I don't like it as much as her first one at this point, but I'm still enjoying it after the first couple of listens. I fully expect it to grow on me more as I hear it.

Laura Veirs has been a joy to discover. She's another one that hunnybee7 introduced us to, and I've been quite happy about that. I can't quite describe the music, but it's a mix of acoustic folk and grunge rock with lyrical vocals that tickles my ear drums when i listen to it. Highly recommended.

Last but not least is MC Frontalot, the Nerdcore rapper from the rough streets of inner-city Mario Land. Would you have ever thought that someone could mix gaming and general geekdom with hip hop? Not only has he done that, but he's done it extremely well. Along with Optimus Rhyme (and others I'm unaware of, I'm sure), Front has brought some serious geek credentials to the rap game and makes for a light, enjoyable listen that will make you laugh a lot.


Well, I think I should wrap up this novel for now. Keep an eye out - I may shock you all with another post one of these days! :)

Чего хочется после прведенной ночи в обезьяннике? Только спокойствия и ощущения абсолютного покоя, маленьких домашних радостей - диван, вентилятор и музыка. Сладкая музыка, чтоб расслабить нервы и полечить немного свои ноющие кости.

Что лучше тогда может быть Telepopmusik, Air, Bent, Zero 7?TélépopmusikAirBentZero 7

The upcoming Menn Ársins album (scheduled in August/September) is just about to be finished.

We just go the mastered songs back from the mastering engineers last week and they sound great!

Track list:
Allt að gerast
Augun Opnast
Mary Kelly
Running a Motorway
Póstkort
12 Steps to the Liquor Store
Love to Turn you on
Þögnin heyrir allt
Sjáumst fljótlega aftur
Last Chance to say goodbye
Þegar augu okkar mætast
What Good is a Love Song


The man we got for the job is Kevin Metcalfe @ www.soundmasters.co.uk. We used their online service www.emasters.co.uk.



Here's a little bit about Kevin from their page:


Kevin Metcalfe - Career History

The Soundmasters
1998 - present
EMI Music (Formerly Virgin Records)
Townhouse Studios
1983 - 1998, Mastering Engineer
Utopia Studios
1979 - 1983,
Delane Lea / CTS Studios
1975 - 1979,
RCA Records
1973 - 1975,

Bio :
Kevin was born in Yorkshire and moved to London aged 20, armed with nothing but his record collection and a Mark II Ford Cortina. Kevin started his long career in the music business after seeing an ad for a disc-cutting engineer with RCA Records.

Kevin worked at rca for two years, cutting many Number 1 singles such as Charles Aznavour's 'She', Dolly Parton's 'Jolene' and John Denver's 'Annie's Song'. During this time he also cut albums like 'Pin Ups' and 'Diamond Dogs' by David Bowie, 'Slaughter on 10th Avenue' by Mick Ronson and 'Preservation: Acts 1 & 2 (Preservation: Act 1 & Preservation: Act 2)' by The Kinks.

Kevin then moved to Delane Lea/CTS Studios where he swiftly became a favourite for the era's leading figures of reggae, working with producers such as Bunny lee, Gussie Clarke, King Tubby and Lee "Scratch" Perry, and cutting albums for the likes of Dennis Brown, Dr. Alimantado, Black Uhuru, Creation Rebel, Aswad, Prince Fari, Keith Hudson and many more. Here Kevin first worked with Greensleeves Records and Chris Cracknell, who continue to work with Kevin for the last 28 years.

During this period Kevin also cut countless notable albums such as The Who's 'Who Are You', Electric Light Orchestra's 'Out of the Blue' Chas 'n' Dave's cult classic 'Wotcha!' and several film soundtracks engineered by the legendary John Richards.

Kevin also came in contact with the Punk phenomenon for the first time and mastered music by Sex Pistols, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Members, and Dead Kennedys, amongst others.

Another highlight of Kevin's time here was meeting legends Fred Astaire & Bing Crosby when they came in to record the classic hit 'Tea For Two'.

From here, Kevin moved on to Utopia Studios, where he mastered a vast range of music, including Spandau Ballet, Roger Waters, Heatwave, Lindisfarne, Judy Tzuke, Paul McCartney, Ultravox, The Clash, The Police, Yello, UB40, Duran Duran and...Bucks Fizz!

Kevin then went on to work for Virgin Records at The Townhouse Studios, mastering for many of the period's leading recording artists including Queen, Depeche Mode, Phil Collins, Happy Mondays, Chris Rea, U2, Simple Minds, David Bowie, The KLF, Orbital, Spiritualized, Pulp and many more.

In 1997 Kevin co-founded The Soundmasters International, where to this day he attracts a wide variety of artists such as Underworld, Death in Vegas, Paul Weller, Simply Red, Rufus Wainwright, Bebel Gilberto, Robert Plant, Craig Armstrong, The Prodigy, Supergrass, Zero 7, The White Stripes, ...the list goes on!

Artists mastered for

Zombies, Robert Plant, Shpongle, Asian Dub Foundation, JD aka Dready, Rufus Wainwright, Dogs Die in Hot Cars, The Prodigy, The Others, The Upper Room, Kira, Estelle, Engineers, Don Letts, Clinic, Diane Tell, My Red Cell, Autamata, Hope of the States, Blank Faced Babies, Bebel Gilberto, NOM, Pink Grease, MIKEY 3D, Thirteen Senses, Goldfrapp, The Hiss, Jeremy Chatelain, Octane Soundtrack, Dave Gahn, Susie Hug, Border Crossing, The Creatures, Pet, Natacha Atlas, Kinesis, DJ Poverello, Medium 21, Bent, Kealer, Paul Weller, Puressence, Pape & Cheikh, Locus, D*Note, Audio Active, The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster, Arch Enemy, Little Axe, Easyworld, Lamb, Lisa Roxanne, Alpinestars, Space, Actual Size, Dog, Virgin Souls, Tetra Splendour, Leaves, Dot Allison, Ben Christophers, Supersister, Gene, Terrorvision, King Adora, Defenestration, Mo Solid Gold, Mikey Graham, Cousteau, Snow Blind, Reflex, Logan 7, Little Tempo, Tin Star, Indian Rope, Alabama 3, Big Sur, Kodama, Meeker, Gerry Rafferty, Abraham, The Grits, Cassius, Side Stepper, Furia Soundtrack, Napalm Death, Wetta, Echt, Regular Fries, Jeff Beck, Mr. Vegas, Shaggy, Bruce Dickinson, Elephant Systems, Zero 7, Lowfinger, DaLata, Finley Quaye, a-ha, Black Legend, Cherie Amore, Madasun, Juno Reactor, Oasis, The Bluetones, Death in Vegas, Horace Andy, Yello, Dark Star, Perpetual Motion, Elwood, Supergrass, Jimmy Somerville, Point Break, tam, Skunk Anansie, Cast, Tom Jones, Feeder, Merz, Drugstore, The Genies, Simply Red, All Saints, Tanita Tikaram, Orbital, Roger Taylor, Marcella Detroit, Medal, Echoboy, Underworld, Suggs, The Aloof, Archive, Silver Sun, Deetah, Mansun, Medal, Sound 5, The KLF, audio web, Spiritualized, The Brand New Heavies, Midge Ure, Aswad, Bryan Adams, UB40, Christians, Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine, A, Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Space, Tina Turner, Paul McCartney, The Who, Phil Collins, Ian McCulloch, Curve, Electric Light Orchestra, Depeche Mode, Gary Moore, Level 42, Suede, Chris Rea, U2, Bob Geldof, Live Aid, Sting, Pulp, Erasure, Robert Plant, Queen, Eric Clapton, Brian May

Record Companies

London Records, Island Records, SONY MUSIC, Virgin Records, Epic Records, NUDE RECORDS, Mercury Records, Polydor, EMI Records, Big Brother, A&M, bmg, One Little Indian, V2, Edge, WEA, Unique, Blue Room Released, The Echo Label, Mute Records, Gut Records, Road Runner, Blood & Fire, JBO, Greensleeves Records, Sanctuary, Universal, Laughing Horse (Germany), Papillon, Deconstruction/Arista

Producers and engineers worked for

Nigel Godrich, John Kelly, Chris Thomas, Flood, Steve Lillywhite, Dave Bascombe, Steve Osborne, Youth, Niven Garland, Tim Palmer, Ian Capel, Alan Moulder, Ed Buller, Al Clay, Jeremy Wheatly, Gil Norton, Ben Watkins, Clive Martin, Steve Lyons, Mark Wallace, Andy Bradfield, Gorwell Owens, Chris Sheldon, Philip Bagnell, John Cornfield, Ted Carfrae, Mark Stent, MICK GLOSSOP, Dave Richards

-------------

Menn Ársins are:
Haraldur Vignir Sveinbjörnsson
Sváfnir Sigurðarson
Sigurdór Guðmundsson
Kjartan Guðnason

Suerte que tome el Domingo para descnazar,por que la semana sigue a puras novedades como la anterior,y en este caso,con un pollo de la casa!
El 16 de Enero del 2007 en este mismo flog,me jugaba a que Tocadisco,iva a ser uno de los grandes de la escena dance y no me equivoque para nada,ya que en este año y medio,no solo fue creciendo su fama de DJ y Remixer,sino como musico y ahora acaba de editar uno de los discos del año.
Su nuevo trabajo titulado en castellano “Solo” es una joyita,un regreso a las bases de la house music de finales de los 80s,pero con sonidos actuales y no solo es muscia bailable,cuanta con varios lentos acompañados por guitarras acusticas,guitarras electricas en algunos temas y hasta percucion y bateria tracion a sangre,demostrando un crecimiento que ni yo que me jugaba por el,esperaba tan pronto.
El disco es excelente y no deja de sorprender tema a tema por lo variado de sus ritmos y climas,donde hay de todo,temas instrementales para las pistas,temas con vocales femeninas mas tranquis,creando climas no tan acostumbrados en sus hits mas conocidos,como por ejemplo en el hemoso “Streetgirls” y temas como “Rocksteady DJ” a puro scratching que nos recuerdan la epoca del hacid house,o “Musique Electornique” con voces roboticas y sonidos analogos en un claro homenaje a Kraftwerk una verdadera joyita este disco,uno de los mejores de este 2008.TocadiscoKraftwerkTigaFelix da HousecatDeep DishBentJakatta

1. Joss Stone feat. Common - Tell Me What We're Gonna Do

2. ClickClickDecker - In Altona trank ich mal einen guten Kaffee

3. Dinah Washington - What A Different A Day Makes

4. MGMT - Weekend Wars

5. Damien Dempsey - Teachers

6. Bent - Waiting For You (Superbass Remix)

7. Chubb Rock/Howie T - Ya Bad Chubbs (Cribb Mix)

8. Young M.C. - Know How

9. Cajuan - Raven (Cajuan's Moog Rave Mix)

10. Jehst - City of Industry

11. Janet Jackson - Speed It Up

12. Tom Baxter - Tell Her Today

13. Karine Polwart - Sorry

14. Athena - Let Me In

15. Charlene Soaia - Daffodils

16. Kate Rusby - Awkward Annie

17. Marlene Dietrich - You've Got That Look (That Leaves Me Weak)

18. Petter & The Pix - Nevermind

19. Cass McCombs - That's That

20. The Waifs - Sundirtwater

21. kathryn williams & neil maccoll - grey goes

22. Lo'Jo - Memoire d'homme

(a)

1. Aarktica - Seventy Jane (5:08)
2. The Chameleons - As High As You Can Go (3:35)
3. The Asteroid #4 - To Be In Your Eyes (4:38)
4. The Church - Unified Field (4:02)
5. The Darkside - Cry For Me (3:07)
6. The Reegs - The Dream Police (4:34)
7. Moscow Olympics - Ocean Sign (5:02)
8. For Against - Sabres (3:24)
9. 120 Days - Get Away (4:40)
10. Fjord Rowboat - Can't See The Sun (3:33)
11. Pale Saints - You tear the world in two (3:25)
12. Coldplay - Lovers in Japan (3:56)
13. Moose - Suzanne (4:12)
14. The Vera Violets - Touch (2:31)
15. Six by Seven - All I Really Want From You Is Love (4:30)
16. The Vandelles - Swell to Heaven (2:31)
17. The December Sound - No Heaven Like Hell (3:45)
18. Ceremony - Without Your Love (4:04)
19. Alcian Blue - See You Shine (2:45)
20. South Ambulance - Die 5times Times5 (3:53)
21. Resplandor - Downfall (4:22)
22. Solar Powered People - Commercial Flight (3:57)
23. The Early Years - So Far Gone (4:07)
24. 8mm sky - So Let Is Go (3:49)
25. Asobi Seksu - Thursday (4:17)

(be)

26. Skywave - Got that feeling (2:48)
27. The Jesus and Mary Chain - Taste Of Cindy (1:42)
28. Ringo Deathstarr - Some kind of sad (2:05)
29. The Manhattan Love Suicides - Things You've Never Done (2:57)
30. Singapore Sling - Over Driver (3:46)
31. The Vera Violets - My Goodbye (2:53)
32. Ceremony - I Heard You Call My Name (3:11)
33. Aerial Love Feed - Rockethouse (3:18)
34. The Raveonettes - Sleepwalking (3:27)
35. The Offering - Return Uncertain (2:54)
36. Alcian Blue - 71705 (4:13)
37. Secret Shine - Voice of the Sea (5:03)
38. The Voices - Nobody Knows The Way I Feel (7:10)
39. model morning - Without you i'm lost (5:01)

(de)

40. Tiger Baby - Love Will Tear Us Apart (4:21)
41. Tetine - What A Gift To Get (5:01)
42. The Whitest Boy Alive - Golden Cage (Fred Falke Remix) (8:28)
43. Thieves Like Us - Drugs In My Body (3:50)
44. Cinque Cento - This is what you get (4:00)
45. Souvenir - Accident A Londres (Jaime Cristobal Remix) (5:31)
46. Tribeca - Solitude (2:50)
47. The Radio Dept. - Freddie And The Trojan Horse (3:13)
48. Gentle Touch - Expectations (4:30)
49. Marsheaux - Pure (3:53)
50. The Legends - Heart (3:10)
51. My Little Airport - 悲傷的採購 (digilick remix) (4:39)
52. Citylights - Reset (3:06)
53. Bent - an ordinary day (4:45)
54. M83 - Couleurs (8:34)
55. Alcian Blue - Darkest Days (6:29)
56. Viva Voce - She's lost Control (Joy Division cover) (4:57)
57. Diktendo - Me, And The Sun (4:14)

Moloko fue un duo exitosisimo de musica dance y eletronica formado en 1995 y sus integrantes fueron la cantante Róisín Murphy y el tecladista Mark Brydon.
En 2003 Moloko llego a su fin y Róisín siguio su carreca como solista.
Su segundo album “Overpowered” es brillante,un poco mas alejado del dance,con sonidos mas tecno,logra posisionarse entre las mejores solistas de la musica electronica,sin tantas pretenciones o chicles como en los que han caido hoy dia Goldfrapp o Bjork, que terminan aburriendo por lo predicible de sus interminables discos, Róisín logro un album fresco,con muy buenos sonidos y buenas canciones y su voz tan particular que ya le asegura no pasar inadvertida,veremos que la depara el futuro a esta chica que supo brillar en todas las pistas con ese gran duo que fue Moloko.
Róisín MurphyMolokoBentGus GusRöyksoppPlanet FunkKosheen