Musync- No New Enemies Vol.1

Hey everyone. Here's another one of my write-ups for Musync. This is for a compilation CD called "No New Enemies Vol.1," released by the label Moongadget. It's some awesome electronic music. Go check it out!

Style: Electronic, Experimental, Ambient

For Fans Of: Mogwai, Moby, Depeche Mode

Founded in 2004 by Jakub Alexander and Adam E. Hunt, the Moongadget label set out to refute the public misconception that all electronic music was 4/4 “club” music. Their latest compilation, “No New Enemies Vol. 1,” featuring songs from past, present, and future artists of the label, does a superb job showcasing the diversity in the genre’s sound, lending a fresh perspective on the genre by mixing old and new, incorporating various styles of music from folk to hip-hop to jazz and many more. Moongadget is one label to watch out for, as “No New Enemies Vol. 1” has managed to garner two front-page spots on iTunes and Kompakt.

“No New Enemies Vol. 1” is a journey into a dazzling fantasy world of electronic soundscapes, one that transcends time, terrain, and even life itself. With the startling buzz of a soaring airplane, the voyage begins with The Reflecting Skin’s aerial escapade titled “The Roof of the Mouth of the Sky,” which includes a lovely piano melody set against an electronic downtempo drumbeat. The listener is blasted into the future in Mux Mool’s “Death 9000,” a futuristic, bass-heavy dance track, featuring an ominously muddled robotic voice that evokes a mechanical and anarchic doom. Shigeto’s minimalistic “Evergreen” takes the listener into the heart of an electronic forest, filled with awe and depth. The compilation is brought to a close with a couple of folky numbers that both include hauntingly subdued and spacious vocals. With the sounds of faint breaths and desolate strums of acoustic guitar, Praveen & Benoit’s “Death as a Man” conjures up a life slowly and grimly withering away, which is contrastingly followed by Benoit Pioulard’s “Oh, Her,” a lush and layered serenade of a blooming romance. Whatever your project’s electronic-based needs, this widely assorted compilation is likely to have it.

Musync- The Reds

For those of you who don't know, I'm an intern for this music licensing company in San Francisco called Musync (www.musync.com). I've been given the task to write a profile for one of our artists from our catalogue. The name of the band is called The Reds. They're pretty cool, so you should go check them out. Here's the profile that I wrote:

Style: Alternative Rock, Post-Punk, New Wave

For Fans Of: The Rolling Stones, The Velvet Underground, The Doors

Starting in Philadelphia in the late seventies, amidst the emergence of the late New Wave, The Reds have long carved their own venerable niche in the industry, releasing several albums under notables A&M and Sire, and creating a name for themselves with their many other side projects. Guitarist/vocalist Rick Shaffer and Keyboardist Bruce Cohen, the offbeat duo who together comprise The Reds, have worked with the prominent likes of record producer Mike Thorne (Blur, Soft Cell, Wire) and director/producer Michael Mann, having several songs featured in Miami Vice, and writing the scores for two motion pictures, “Band of the Hand” and “Manhunter.”

2007 saw the release of their critically acclaimed album “Fugitives From the Laughing House,” a dark, densely textured post-punk realm of buzzing drones, wailing psychedelic riffs, sinisterly ominous keyboards, and topped off with gritty, unadulterated fervor. Possessing an uncanny resemblance to the tone of rock icon Mick Jagger, Shaffer’s vocals exude a grating ferociousness and brooding sensuality, delivered with a blasé, yet in-your-face confidence

Their latest offering, “Early Nothing,” is a menacing rock n’ roll noir divided into three dynamic acts. The album’s opening track “Big Boy” kicks the first act into gear with chugging, metallic guitars, a pulsating organ, and throbbing pounds of the drum, generating a deafening sonic assault. “Sidebuster” and “Diggin’ It” are two groovy numbers of resonating drum palpitations, oscillating maracas and strums, and glazy synths. “Endless” starts off the second act, followed by “Night Must Fall” and “Laying Low,” slowly creeping in with atmospheric and ambient reverberations, setting a haunting backdrop that shakes the very core of the soul. The Reds then shock the listener from dormancy on the third act, with the intensely driving and forceful “So Long,” all culminating with the finale of “Strangeness,” a gradually festering disorder of static and fuzzy guitars. The best words to describe this album would be electronic chaos, as it simulates the entrance into a hellish madhouse of sound—so listeners beware!

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**update June 9, 2009**
My supervisor put my piece in the newsletter. Here's how it panned out: