Track of the Weekend #141: Years & Years - “Ties”

The grass in the fields is brittle. The sunshine pours down daily. It’s been a dry summer here in northern France, and the city of light has been the city of heat. Few acts right now are hotter than the temperatures here, but one that’s unquestionably on fire is Years & Years, an English electro-R&B group that has been steadily infiltrating the airwaves. The trio’s latest single, “Ties” capitalizes on their now-famous style: a seductive voice, expertly-constructed melodies, and some of the catchiest lyrics this side of Disney. No wonder “Ties” was the hottest track on Whyd this week. And their album “Communion” is rapidly on pace to become one of the biggest of 2015. 

  • June, 22 2015
  • music
  • ep review
  • feynman
  • illusions
  • fake music
  • electronic

EP Review: Feynman - “Illusions”

Every so often an artist comes along that can rivet you without words. Someone who can create entire atmospheres of feeling and emotion with no air. Someone with the ability to paint a picture with no paint. You get the idea. Right now that artist is Feynman, who - not to be confused with the legendary physicist - has been spinning around the world like electrons in an Heisenberg uncertainty principle. 

He just released his EP “Illusions,” on Fake Music. Let’s get the details: 

Released: May 25, 2015

Genres: electronic

Tracks: 5

Who would like this EP?

Fans of Ratatat’s beats, Daft Punk’s funk, The Chemical Brother’s energy. 

Our thoughts:

It’s been a while since an emerging artist has delivered such a high-energy EP, where the funk runs rampant like a hippopotamus in a flooded Georgian zoo. Feynman weaves threads of style and swagger through rises and falls. “Diego in Vegas” is a turn-your-speaker-up-until-your-neighbors-fucking-hate-you track that will get your bones a-rattling. 

But at the same time it’s rather classic, settling in for the sort of mainstream electronica that enabled Daft Punk to rise to global fame. This is comforting in an era where experimentation has gone to such extremes that genre defining has become a one-song game. 

Pump it up!  

Listen to “Illusions”

Techno Playlist of Reference

Sometimes the middle of the week can drag. Hump days are like speedbumps, slowing you down and pulling the weekend further out of reach. Sometimes the only thing you can do is find some hype music and turn the volume up. Shake away that stagnancy, drive forward my friend. 

We’ve got just the playlist for you this week, Techno curated by our friends Process London, who know a thing or two about the genre. Let’s get the story behind the curation: 

When did you start listening to Techno?

I start listening to Techno about 5 or 6 years ago.

Did you ever have a moment when you felt like Techno started speaking to you?

Every time! When I listen to a track for me is like the artist is talking to me, trying to tell me a story.

It works even better on a big sound system!

What are some example situations when you would listen to this playlist yourself?

It helps me to focus so I listen to it a lot at work when I need to get things done quickly; As well as when I get back home after a long day and I need to relax with a beer or a glass of wine. Techno goes really well with wine!

If you had to choose just one track from this playlist, which one would be your favorite?

There are a lot! but I would go for one that I have added in February: Utkast - &&&&

Listen to the Process Techno Playlist with 700+ tracks here. 

Track of the Weekend #132: Yael Naim - “Coward” (Rone Remix)

One of the biggest success stories our of France recently has been Rone, the young producer signed to InFiné music. His music has been praised by the greats, and he sports a unique European personality. Most importantly, he has a knack for taking songs and transcending them to a new level of reality. This is precisely what he did with his remix of Yael Naim’s “Coward.” Originally a typical Parisian-style ballad, with its a cappella, church-like choir, and a few piano notes here and there, Rone brings “Coward” into an era so modern, it’s basically the future. Punctuated, powerful, and prescient, it’s no surprise that this track was the most popular on Whyd this week! 

This time it’s Greenroom who we need to thank for getting it to us. Thank you guys!

Studying Medicine, The Success of “Photomaton,” + Lewis Carroll: Jabberwocky Interview

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Hello Jabberwocky! You are originally from Poitiers, France. How long have you known each other and can you tell us how you started to create music together? 

Hi everyone! Well we met each other at the university because we studied medicine for 6 years. We began to make music for chilling between classes and when we finished our first track “Photomaton,” one of our friends told us to share it on internet. Then the track was really appreciated by a lot of people and we started Jabberwocky for real, creating new sounds, playing live…

How does Lewis Carroll and his poem “Jabberwocky” inspire you today? 

We like the concept of this poem, playing with the words, their meaning, their sound. The fantastic universe of Alice in Wonderland talks to us too. It’s full of mystery, dreamlike moods and unbelievable situations. 

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What’s it like to have a hit song like “Photomaton” that reached #2 on the French charts? 

It’s very cool! Very surprising and unbelievable, especially when it’s the first track you’ve ever done ! We couldn’t thank enough all the people who support us, like, share our music, and come to see us play live. 

Can you tell us how your music has evolved since you began up until today? 

We have never created anything together before “Photomaton.” We have different influences, from French music to techno. When we started Jabberwocky, it was like discovering the job. So we had to get experience, learn fast, and create to find what kind of music we wanted to do. We released our first EP “Pola” last November, a really pop EP, and now we’re going to release our first album in May and there’s something new, something more electronic. We wanted to show this part of our music for a long time.

Who should listen to your music?

Everyone who likes music ! We really need to be curious and be interested in a lot of different things. 

Where can people see you live this summer? 

Mostly in France but we would like to play in other countries too, we’re organizing it. All the dates are on our Facebook page and our website. We start the tour with the Ricards SA Music Live Tour, first date at the Palais de Tokyo (Paris) on 03/31/2015.

Speaking With Your Hands, a Serendipidous Flower, and the New Album “Digital Pourpre” - Interview with Turnsteak

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How did you start making music together?

Our first meeting was at a concert where we were playing with our own, different rap groups, each of us on the turntables. We started to exchange tips, scratch phases, our little ticks, and that was it! 

At the beginning we would mess around and often our challenge was to choose a second-hand disc randomly, then we had to create a plan in 5 minutes. We laughed a lot! Then we passed through numerous different phases and musical aesthetics before arriving where we are today. 

We also bought some materials, a loopstation, pads, and a few synths to evolve our music along the direction of our projects. 

Who do you count among your influences? 

Being first of all DJs, we have the habit of listening to a lot of different, varied musical styles. There are tons of cult albums that have changed our way of seeing things. In terms of electronic we can cite Modeselektor, Edit (GitchMob), Rustie, Lorn, Eprom, Slugabed, Salva, Ta-Ku, Machinedrum, Flying Lotus, Flako, Kaytranada, and also some of the artists from Soulection…

Where does the name of your group come from? 

Turnsteak originally comes from “Turntable Speakers.” At the beginning it was 100% turn tables, the turntablism. The concept of “speaking with our hands” represented what we were doing at the time. 

Then the name was shortened to Turnspeak, and it’s been changed from there, but I won’t say anything else :) 

What is the genesis of your LP “Digital Pourpre” which comes out tomorrow? Does it tell a story or is each track independent from the others?

Having the habit of always working on short projects, even the concept of an album was already a lot of pressure. The idea wasn’t to do a series of tracks without coherence. We wanted to go farther. So we imposed certain directions, constraints, and limits on ourselves, to not fly off in every single direction. 

At this level, our friend Olivier Vasseur who mixed the album, did a great job of artistic direction and he gave us a lot of advice around the conception of the album. We worked the sound and the textures with him and added an organic dimension to the tracks. That let us bring in other sensations, images, and have the listener dive deeper into the heart of our music. 

The balance between the light synths and the deep bass let us bring energy and power. The voices are also key elements on the album. They bring a color and different environment to each track, like on “High Line” for example where the voices come from a Vietnamese comic theater! 

Finally, getting back to your question about the genesis of the LP, the first brick was the title. For the anecdote, we were at a rest stop off the highway during a tour and we stumbled upon a description of a flower that was growing in a corner, the “digital pourpre.” We were looking at it saying to ourselves that would be an awesome name for an album. All of the universe connected to this flower immediately spoke to us: its history in relationship with white magic, its medicinal side and its pathological and cardiovascular benefits (which we immediately connected with the rhythm, dance) the connection to digital, to fingers, to scratch… a name that’s full of mystery and subtleties. It’s exactly what we wanted to bring with the first long format. That’s to say make an album that’s rich and subtle, without falling into easiness, and with the idea of a voyage.

Urielle, the artistic director at With Us Records agreed with us and oriented it the best possible way while staying within the scope of the project. We had also worked on a moodboard together that let us see everything more clearly, the progression of the tracks and the history of the album. 

Where can your fans come to see you live?

A little bit all over France! Find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Bandsintown to find our latest concert dates. 

You can even send us a little private message and we can invite you if there are places left! 

Emerging Metal From Italy: Interview with BBHells Records

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Hello BBHells! Can you introduce yourselves? Where are you from and how did you start your net label?

Hi, BBHells Records was born in Perugia (Umbria,Italy) in January 2014. Our label consists of four components: Max Braccianti (Director), Gabriele Bico (Collaborating Sound Engineer), Gianluca Benedetti (Consultant) and Roberta Melana (Public Relations).

We deal not only in making contracts with our bands but we do real training. We decided to take this road because of our passion for metal music.

What kind of artists do you represent and how did you start working with them?

We represent emerging rock bands. We listen to their material and decide how to work together.

Which types of music lovers should listen to their music?

Generally fans of rock metal, and we like to work with electronic music too.

What are your plans for 2015?

For 2015 we have many new collaborations and events to be organized. We hope to always be busy with work, and we have the target of being able to help bands work in the world.

Follows us on our website for news! Stay rock \m/

Electro Swing: Playlist of Reference

Continuing with our latest initiative of delivering high quality playlists meticulously curated by our top music lovers, today we bring you a subgenre that combines old and new, and is rapidly pushing its way into the mainstream. It’s Electro Swing curated by Louis de Sentenac. Let’s get the story behind the playlist with this quick interview: 

When did you start listening to Electro Swing?

When one of my friends told me about Parov Stelar, who was releasing their album “That Swing” in 2009 with tracks like “Wanna Get” or “Kiss Kiss” that are big references in Electro Swing for me. You’ll see a lot of Parov Stelar in this playlist!

Did you ever have a moment when you felt like Electro Swing talked to you? 

I immediately attached myself to Electro Swing, I loved the vintage jazz and swing influences mixed with contemporary electronic that made it very danceable and excellent to listen to. 

What are some examples of situations when you listen to Electro Swing?

Most often it’s during aperos with friends, before heading out or to a concert, listening to Electro Swing gets me ready to go! 

If you had to choose just one track on this playlist, which one would be your favorite?

Man that’s not easy. Being a big fan of jazz I would lean towards a jazzier track: Dimaa - “Andrew" 

Thanks Louis! Here’s his Electro Swing Playlist in all of its glory. Please share with your friends who are in to Electro Swing! 

La Fine Équipe Answers Your Questions: Music as Food, The Process of Collaboration, and Being Connectors of Sound [LONG FORM INTERVIEW]

It’s a cold December evening near Père Lachaise as the door to The Bunker buzzes open. Up a concrete staircase that evokes thoughts of nuclear destruction, voices can be heard. Camera shutters are snapping. Moving up a level it’s clear that the bunker is alive. 

We’re at the studio of La Fine Équipe, winners of the 112th Whyd Track of the Weekend and a group that has started to lift off in the French music scene. Comprised of 4 producers, their styles are varied like gummies in a bag of Haribo. But put together, there is a sugary goodness that is undeniably addictive. And the world is starting to take note. 

Cameras are repacked, hands are shaken, and finally it’s time for the last interview of the day, with Whyd, before the guys can get back to their families and lives. In my hand are fresh questions that we crowd-sourced from the community, from the huge pool of fans that have added, liked and re-added the delicious tracks from “La Boulangerie 3” which came out at the beginning of December, boasting the likes of Fakear, 20syl, Souleance, and more.

Three out of the four of La Fine Équipe sit down in chairs in the studio, backed by monitors and keyboards, known on the stage as oOgo, Mr. Gib, and Chomskey. The fourth, Blanka, is not in town. Considering their busy schedules, it’s already a win to get three of them. They are casually dressed, more comfortable than hipster. The mic clicks on.

The following interview is translated from French, and their stage names dissolve into their real names: Hugo, Vincent, and Mathieu. All photos property of Whyd. Interviewer in BOLD

Your music is shared quite often by the Whyd community. I sent an email to the music lovers who have shared your tracks, asking them if they have questions for you. They got back to me with a few questions that I’m happy to ask you, so here we go! 

Your individual styles are rather different, who are your major influences? What about inspiration? Could be artists, moments, genres?   

Hugo: I’ve listened to a little bit of everything, and I was very quickly drawn towards soul and jazz, but what really gave me the desire to create music was hip hop, around 1996. The first track that I heard that really got me, as an adolescent on a high school trip, was by Cypress Hill. A friend had it on a cassette on the bus. 

Mathieu: It’s the same for me, hip hop, and DJ Crush and DJ Shadow. That was huge for me, incredible. I didn’t know all of the samples that they used, so it was really hip hop and then the sources of hip hop, I would go searching for vinyls, in antique markets, record shops, online, looking for the hard to find discs. We had a scratch group at the very beginning and afterwards we evolved into making our own music. 

Vincent: My family was very into music. We were always listening to it, I started playing music with my brother and after that I met people who were playing hip hop and I loved it, so we started to make music together. I love cinematic music, soundtracks, the composers, there is a link to that and hip hop too: you can find everything in the libraries of film soundtracks. 

Yeah, I think that the theme to Jurassic Park is one of the best songs ever! 

Hugo: We play that when we play at festivals! 

Mathieu

If you had to choose a favorite contemporary artist, who would it be? 

Hugo: Every time we are asked this question it’s impossible to find one. It’s like restaurants. You know a ton of great places to eat, but when someone asks you, you can’t think of one! 

Maybe it doesn’t have to be from this moment. I just discovered Mel Tormé, who is nothing new, but he’s new to me and that’s what I’m listening to right now. 

Vincent: Serge Gainsbourg, he’s French and he truly knew how to make good songs. He was varied in his styles, and was so interesting for being able to recover classic melodies. 

Have you ever tried to remix him?

Vincent: Yes, of course, just for fun. He had a great sense of rhythm, a way of capturing music, he was really focused on the sound, not just making a song to say something quickly. 

Mathieu: Danger Mouse, just awesome. When he got together with Jack White and Norah Jones it was just super. I believe that when he does a project it’s really well done, even if artistically there might be others who can be stronger, he is extremely consistent.  

Have you ever tried to remix him?

Mathieu: No, but “Danger Doom” was absolutely something I put into my DJ sets. Scratching with it, but for pleasure, and fun. 

Hugo: I can’t really answer, there are so many artists in my head, but one that comes to mind without really thinking about it is Flying Lotus, very complete, an artist that pushes the envelope very far. You will always discover something new, he’s big right now. 

Hugo

For the creation of La Boulangerie 3, I noticed that each track was made by a different beatmaker. Do you work together or separately? 

Hugo: There are no rules, we compare it to making food. We invite a chef, a “cuisinier,” and we ask them to give us a recipe. Since we had already made La Boulangerie 1 and 2, they had an idea of what we were asking for. There were examples where someone takes the track from beginning to end almost completely by themselves. It’s the same with the artists, some of them gave us “ready to eat” plates, while others gave us just the ingredients. 

So you guys are really the connectors of sound, are there not rules about who adds what?

Vincent: We have habits about how we work, but we are all producers. 

Mathieu: We go back and forth a lot, we make everyone listen. 

Is there someone who gets their way more than the others in the La Fine Équipe? I mean, you have very different styles! Does anyone have the final word? 

Vincent: There has to be a “chef d'orchestre,” otherwise we couldn’t get things done, because we are also a label so there is marketing, etc. 

Hugo: We’ve been working together for a while rather easily, our decisions are generally taken together. We try to make good tracks, and since there are different styles, each person knows how to help in their regard. Sometimes there are tracks that are more electronic, or hip hop, so they fall under different members. There are so many tracks in this project because we want to include all aspects of everyone.  

So you focus on making a good track first, and then you rework it.

Hugo: Yeah exactly, we work on the train, during commutes, everywhere.

Vincent

You guys do interviews all the time now, you’ve been working together for a while, and you’ve gotten to this level now where you’re working with big acts. Do you think this style of production is sustainable? Is it an advantage? Meaning to make a track and try to classify it later? 

Hugo: Well, in any case it’s how we work. Do this, do that, we tried all those things, but we are not really careerists, we are in this for the music, we are lucky that it works, and we have the ability to be free. Our character is anti-rules.

Vincent: We are more from the Myspace generation. Today on Soundcloud there is so much music from new young producers, that people really want to wait until they have a great track to publish. 

Hugo: Yeah but there are people who post songs everyday too on Soundcloud. 

But it’s true, in the Myspace days, there was no Garageband, not everyone had Ableton. But now it’s a different thing. 

Vincent: Because there are so many songs, there isn’t a lot of quality, so instead of posting they hold off. It has to be perfect because they know that there is so much stuff. 

Mathieu: Since we are a bit older we also knew the idea of the album, to tell a story, like a filmmaker.  

There might be a contradiction there. Since you say that you work on a track, trying just to make good tracks, but then you say that the album format is important, a story, like a film. But how can you make a film with 12 tracks created for their own individual sake? 

Mathieu: It’s not contradictory in the sense that you make tracks. It’s you who makes them, and over a period of time you are going to have consistency. Sure, you can have fun making little tracks, but the idea is that I want to make music, and today I’m trying to express this emotion, so I have a style that runs between. If you release 40 tracks in a year, I’m sure that you will have at least 20 that are actually telling the same story. And it’s in that form that you make an album. 

I understand, it’s the artist that comes out, even if we want to do 5 different things, we just end up doing the same thing 5 different ways. 

Mathieu: A painter who does pointillism, he is still going to want to do other things, but you are going to find coherent elements in his style. The “file conducteur.”

How did you have the idea of La Boulangerie? I’m sure it’s a question that you get often, but who chooses the names for the songs? Is it you or the artists?  

The first Boulangerie was an homage to J Dilla, the beatmaker from Detroit who released an album called “Donuts” shortly before he died. We would’ve called our album “Croissant” but Boulangerie was larger, it opens up more possibilities, from naming the tracks to graphics, etc. It was much more exciting. 

It’s true that it’s a warm image, going on Sunday morning to get your baguette, it’s welcoming. 

Hugo: We also think about consuming music like we consume food, and this concept was full of different morsels: sweets, salty, the pleasure of eating. 

Plus for French people you will find a lot of fans of the Boulangerie… Second to last question, when will you go to Tours? 

When you invite us! Plus we have some great friends there, Chill Bump for example, our friends that we go on tour with so yeah, with pleasure! 

When you aren’t making music, what do you do for fun? 

Vincent: We work on the label.

Hugo: Go out, go to clubs, go to restaurants, eat, drink. 

Mathieu: I’m a sound engineer so I work on that, I’ve got my geek side. Plus my family. 

Hugo: Plus there is Blanka, who has a studio and spends a lot of time there, and he has a project called Jukebox Champions. They do hip hop instrumentals. 

Thanks guys! And a big thanks to every one from the Whyd community that sent in their questions for La Fine Équipe! Never stop jamming! 

Quick Interview: Sekuoia’s Other-Worldy Sounds

Sekuoia is an emerging, electronic artist from Copenhagen, being shared like crazy across Whyd, so we went and asked him a few quick questions! 

Hey Sekuoia! How’s it going? When did you start making music and did you ever have a defining moment when you thought: hey, “I can do this!”

All good here in Copenhagen! Yeah, I guess it was when I played Roskilde Festival in 2013. That was a turning point.

Your music often sounds like it comes from another world. How do you start working on a new track? Are you trying to achieve a certain sound or do you experiment and keep what you like?

I guess I have various approaches to making a track. I think it important not to get stuck in routines, as I find this somehow limits ones sound. I guess I just want to achieve a sound that is somehow reflective of who I am, and a sound that is organic in one way or another.

How has your music evolved over the course of your career, and who are your biggest influences?

I think my music has become more band-like and more dynamic, I try not to think to much about it, and instead just develop naturally. Biggest influences would be Flying Lotus, James Blake, Four Tet etc.

What can we look forward to from you in 2015 and beyond?

A new EP, and perhaps also some side projects.

Thanks Sekuoia!