This year I discovered Truth Is Light Records, a great Canadian label releasing simple edits of brilliant, largely obscure, genre-unspecific gems. I could’ve chosen most any of the records I ordered from them this year, but “Be Thankful”, the A-side off the first record in a limited edition 45 series they’re doing, got the most deck time. Slightly disco-ey, thoroughly old-school electro, it toes just the right line to make it the perfect bridge between house, modern soul and all kinds of other tracks, and though it’s a tool, it’s never outshined by what comes before or after it. (Sadly, I couldn’t find a version of the track to post here, but you can listen to it on the TIL page.)
Continue reading “Justin’s Top Five Tracks of the Year”
Category: Stuff We Like
On The Way
Eamon and I have a biiiiiig order of records on the way (hopefully arriving in time for New Year’s Eve). The new Wolf Music EP, The Koze remixes of Caribou, and a great one from FCL are all in there; but the one we’re most excited about it the above Space Dimension Controller gem. Chances are you’ll hear it twice in a night. If you want to hear a couple more things, look beyond the jump.
Continue reading “On The Way”
Unsilent Night
We are thrilled that we do NOT have a Mister Saturday Night this weekend, not because we like a Saturday off (which we do), but because we get to take part in ‘Unsilent Night’, a tradition that is not just our favorite holiday happening of the year, but one of our favorite New York City experiences, period.
Created by composer Phil Kline, ‘Unsilent Night’ is a carol for boomboxes. Hundreds of people show up underneath the Washington Square arch, with CDs, mp3s and tapes cued up on their various players, and with a countdown, Kline has them press play. Thus ensues a parade that wanders through the East Village to Tompkins Square Park, where different movements of the ambient masterwork take over entire city blocks, with the sound changing depending on where you stand. The best is when, as everyone congregates at the end, the piece comes to a staggered end, thanks to people late in pressing the start button and low batteries that cause the tapes to run more slowly than their digital counterparts. It’s beautiful and wonderful, and you absolutely should not miss it.
Unsilent Night begins at the Washington Square Arch in Manhattan at 7:00pm on Saturday, December 18. Meet under the arch at 6:40pm. Kline hands out a few boomboxes, tapes, and CDs to first folks who arrive. You can bring your own playback device, and you can email to find out about getting the mp3 for download in advance. If you don’t have a boombox, don’t worry. It’s plenty of fun to walk with the group.
To Prove My Love
I’ve been lusting after Eamon’s copy of this record since the first time I heard it, and finally, after a couple years, I got my own in the mail yesterday. Soon to become a Mister Saturday Night staple…
I Need Some
There’s been a rash of Theo Parrish releases of late. For the past couple of weeks, our Juno email notifications have been blasting his name out to us every few days. But the one that’s really got our attention is Ugly Edit 11. For years now, Theo’s been playing his own, customized, twisted up version of a Jackey Beavers track called Mr. Bump Man. He swore to anyone who asked that he would never ever release it, but what do you know… here it is. Buy it immediately. It will probably be gone by the end of the day.