Here’s another of our regular Friday rundowns of what the BAMM.tv team members are listening to right now. This week it’s the turn of Nick Hansen, Co-Founder and Company Director …
1. Caribou – Jamaila (Swim, 2010)
I’m down with songs that are tripped-out and mildly twisted, full of tension and intensity. Well, look no further. I think it was a brilliant decision to make this video (finally), using such a challenging washed-out grading and imagery. The dichotomy really works between the tropical sounds of what sounds like steel drums and what I’m imagining to be a Canadian wilderness, maybe British Columbia, all of it just before it gets seriously cold. Overall, Daniel Snaith is obvioiusly a genius — do have a look at his PhD, but it’s all a bit Greek to me.
2. Gold Panda – Back Home (Miyamae EP, 2009)
I think this song is an excellent closed-eyes, audio-only experience. Essex’s Gold Panda (aka Derwin Powers) started out by taking samples of random household articles—1970s/80s thingeys, such as cassette recorders and static-ey vinyl—and he goes to town with it, adding Japanese influences as he wishes. I chatted with him after a late-night show at SXSW 2011 and was terribly impressed with how genuinely down-to-earth, composed and friendly he was. New stuff now out on Pitchfork Advance.
3. DIIV – Doused (Oshin, 2012)
Clearly, performing at some kickin’ underground Bklyn club where all the cool kids are hanging is treating DIIV well, and apparently Zachary Cole Smith gets his workout in with a last-minute jog before going on stage. Unintelligible lyrics? Check — and even here, there aren’t all that many of them. Deeply satisfying interplay between guitar, bass and atmospherics? Oh yeah (check out “Wait”, repeatedly). Dark-ish, undefined sound? For sure, sometimes up, sometimes down, and if it does sound like “A Forest”, does that really matter? Squeeked it out for my best album of 2012. Their gig at Highbury & Islington in November was tight and focused, in front of a typically apathetic crowd.
4. The Strokes – Ize of the World (First Impressions of Earth, 2006)
Again, I can’t really find a proper video for this song, maybe because they blew their entire marketing wad on including David Cross in their video for Juicy Juice on the same album. Alas. Oh my. But anyway, this song captures their collaborative best at a midway point between all the bridge-and-tunnel girlies howling “I want to Julian his Casablancas” in “Someday”, and their more recent pretension of finding some way to drop Cornel West’s name into “Life is Simple in the Moonlight”. Plus there’s that amazing chorus riff that reinforces the band as a collective, which is a beautiful thing when it happens, really.
5. Ricardo Tobar – With You (With You EP, 2008)
I’m only posting this video because I can’t find a good version of the real deal online. Try Spotify for a proper listen: Ricardo Tobar – With You. But I first heard him at the Flex Bar in Amsterdam a few years ago, and this is what I could find online. I am constantly listening to this track and never get sick of it. How often does that happen? He’s a Chilean DJ with a worldwide reach (if you define worldwide as Western Europe and North and South America). New stuff on his irregular blog — personally, I particularly like “Together”.
OTHER BAMM.TV STORIES YOU MIGHT LIKE:
BAMM.tv team playlists: Fernando Estrada, Head of Business Development
BAMM.tv Team Playlists: Jeff LaPenna, Media Director
BAMM.tv Team Playlists: Chris Hansen, CEO