Genres

Beatport Editorial Director Jack Tregoning reports on the songs that rocked the first day of the 2015 iteration of Detroits legendary Movement festival. There are some gems in there!

Tidel does a lot with their playlists that are annoying. Theyre frequently too long, awkwardly titled and unattributed. But they do have interesting themes, and this is a good example. Even their descriptions are too long. This looks back at the past five years of post-punk and has some real jewels by The Soft Moon, Parquet Courts, Viet Cong and others. I only included the first 20 of these 50 songs (there are only so many hours in the day)

Considering how young the members of the band are, its amazing just how influential Jamie XX and his crew have been in popular music in the past five years. You can hear echoes of their work in everyone from FKA Twigs to Drake. This cool playlist from Complex offers a tribute to band by Nosaj Thing, John Talabot and others.

Stereogums weekly compilation of their favorite songs on the indie rock/pop/hip-hop spectrum.

Source: John Dale, FACT Magazine21 Essential Records From Cologne’s 90s Renaissance ; Listen for free at bop.fmFACTs John Dale talks with Mouse On Mars mastermind Jan St. Werner for an excellent overview of the Cologne electronic music scene in the early to mid 90s. Music from the scene represented a confluence of kraut-rock, ambient and music concrete influences, and while their palate was eclectic, nearly every artist found freedom in the open spaces of minimalist techno. The scene would soon spawn the legendary Kompakt records. Money quote from Werner:

“I was just high from this interconnected weird archive. It was like a living archive. There were so many weird, interconnecting, absurd combinations, but they were lovely. It was this very, very special time.”

Source: Moses Wiener, Pigeons & PlanesThe Best New Mixes Streaming Right Now ; Listen for free at bop.fmHeres a different kind of list compiled on a weekly basis by Pigeons & Planes Moses Wiener. It encompasses some of the best mixes available on SoundCloud right now. Among the entrants: a blend of yacht rock by true school hip-hop vets People Under the Stairs, a Sonar Festival preview by the 2 Bears (featuring Joe Goddard of Hot Chip), an Essential Mix entry by tech-house star Scuba, and an intriguing melange of screwed rap-and-B by newcomer Drae Da Skimask.

Source: Mel of the Outfit, NoiseyA Guide to Dallas Rap ; Listen for free at bop.fmMel, from Dallas rap group, The Outfit, curates his list of the top 24 Dallas rap groups that matter right now. There are some great finds here -- Topic, Crit Morris, and Johnny Cage are from great to good -- and there are also some artists that I never want to hear again -- Dustin Cavazes, namely, but whats most interesting is how the scene is a microcosm for the larger rap world -- a dash of hipster rap, a pinch of street, a bit of frat rap bullshit, and then a dabble of crossover. Anyway, if nothing else, it was enjoyable to read the story behind "My Dougie":

Around 2007, a number of Dallas artists began to soundtrack a sort of inner-city war dance—residents of various Dallas neighborhoods would hit their respective variations of the dance before or after brawling—that became the Dallas Boogie...Thousands of kids in the region uploaded videos of themselves hitting the boogie to the new hot Dallas tracks, and some of these reached millions of views in a couple of months’ time.Then, in 2009, right as this two-year-old movement seemed on the cusp of going national, the LA rap group Cali Swag District made an homage to the movement, influenced in particular by North Dallas rapper Lil Wil’s “My Dougie.” Their song, “Teach Me How to Dougie,” became a global phenomenon, and Dallas’s distinctive style and music—everything from the crazy, dyed haircuts to secondary dances to songs like “Ricky Bobby” and “Cat Daddy” to usage of the long-time Dallas-area familial term “bro”—became rebranded as a California thing, a setback for Dallas that still smarts.

Source: MarbleheadJohnson, DiscogsDiscover: From The Rave Scene & Beyond; Listen for free at bop.fmOkay, lets be clear: This is not a comprehensive look at vintage rave music. For that, youre much better served by reading Simon Reynolds Energy Flash (aka Generation Ecstasy). However, it is a great primer on some of the best mainfloor electronic tracks of the past three decades. It ranges from certifiable classics like Orbitals "Chime" (pictured) and a Guy Called Geralds "Voodoo Ray" to new watermarks like Burials "Loner." The author, a staffer at music database Discogs, gets bonus points for weaving in jabs at LCD Soundsystem and Simply Red in his text.

Source: Andy Beta, PitchforkA Guide to Dallas Rap ; Listen for free at bop.fmAndy Beta gives a quick overview for the uninitiated of Africas influence on modern dance music. Its very basic, and it only focuses on a few artists -- the section on Mark Ernestus takes up a third of the article -- but there are some jewels in there as well. Ive aggregated a sampling of some of the tracks that Andy discusses.

Post-metal requires some explanation, as FACTs Robin Jahdi freely concedes in the magazines latest "best ever made" endeavor. "Where do you draw the line between post-metal and doom, or modern black metal, or even prog?" he writes. "The truth is post-metal takes in all of these elements without being entirely any one of them."For the layperson, there are a few recognizable names here, like Tool, as well as indie gods like Neurosis (pictured), Boris, Isis (the L.A. band, not the so-called Islamic State), and Jesu. But this is mostly an opportunity to immerse ourselves in a sound we may have only heard fleetingly. For more FACT lists, visit their Spotify page.