Dishwork

Artist: Daft Punk
Album:Homework
Released in:1997
File Under: Famous

I grew up in the suburbs, and unsurprisingly there was a mall in the neighboring town. I spent the most time at the Rave clothing store and in Waldenbooks, both of which have long since gone out of business. The place to go for your best 90's style was Contempo Casuals (bought out years later by Wet Seal), and they had a giant screen behind the check-out desk where they played music videos.

Usually, the videos were your typical bland shopping fodder. But I remember standing transfixed in front of the screen one afternoon -- there were suddenly mummies, girls in sequins and bathing caps, guys with giant shoulders, skeletons and robots. They were all on a series of raised circular platforms, sorted into groups, and they were doing mechanistic, adorable dance moves. The beat had a nice thump, with a bouncy, playful top note. It only had one lyric that repeated over and over: Around the World.

That was my introduction to Daft Punk, and I bought Homework shortly thereafter. I never really adored the album, though -- Around the World is by far the cutest, catchiest song. The rest are well-done but not as interesting (to me) acid house/techno tracks, with stand-outs including Da Funk and Teachers. I do get a special kick out of Teachers since it's a list song (thanks, Stephen Sondheim, for introducing me to the concept). It also has a bassline that should be enshrined as the definition of squelchy: it kicks in at about :32 and is particularly audible around 1:06.

Although nearly fifteen years have passed, Around the World remains one of my favorite tracks. I've even been known to perform the moves from the video at parties. So, though this album as a whole wasn't too exciting to revisit, the shot of 90's nostalgia that it triggered has been enjoyable.

Dishasy

Artist: Couch
Album: Fantasy
Released in: 2000
File under: Unexpected

The Dishes Project has been on a long hiatus, and partially that's because I didn't want to listen to the next CD in line. I vaguely remembered that Couch were some early project of Kieran Hebden and that I didn't care for the album. False on both counts, although perhaps my taste has merely changed (matured?) with respect to the latter.

The name of Kieran Hebden's early project is Fridge (I was close), and this album is excellent. It's post-rock done very well, with the right balance of interesting sound textures, melodic elements and motif repetition. Post-rock = bands that use the instruments of rock (in this case, guitar, bass, drums, keyboards) but without rock/pop song structure. Post-rock bands vary in how much they end up sounding like electronica (in developing and repeating themes) and/or jazz (in noodling around). Fantasy is more on the electronica end and also encroaches somewhat on shoegaze, especially in the final track Gegen Den. The stand-out tracks are the gently propulsive opener Ich Bei Davor, guitar-heavy (in a good way) Control, and the contemplative Nah Dran. Ich Bei Davor and Nah Dran are available at my blip.fm profile if you want to take a listen.

As some of the song titles suggest, Couch is a German band. The keyboard player, Stefanie Boehm, turns out to be half of Ms. John Soda -- a band on Morr that I like. So perhaps I was bound to be a fan of this album, but it seems fortuitous that The Dishes Project has restarted with such a pleasant surprise.

Interlude : Mix

I recently created a mix for my friend L.K. She was interested in hearing some minimalist classical music, but the mix ended up more of a meditation on modern electronica (and, to a small degree, how modern electronica is influenced by minimalist classical music). I made it late on a Tuesday night, when my brain was all relaxed and fuzzy. Sometimes mixes turn out better the less you think about them, and I like this one a lot. Enjoy: Mix for L

Return of the Dishes

It's been nearly two years since I last wrote for the Dishes Project. For those of you who may be newcomers, I started this blog for two reasons:

1) I was washing a lot of dishes, and found it boring

2) I have a lot of CDs and I don't listen to enough of them

I decided to solve these two problems at the same time by listening to all my CDs alphabetically, one CD per dish-washing session. I then posted reviews, comments, rants, anecdotes, etc.

Nowadays, I have a dishwasher, so Problem (1) is no longer applicable. However, Problem (2) remains, and the more time passes, the more I forget the stories behind all the music that I own. So, I've decided to restart the project. I'm going to aim for two CDs a week, and we'll see how far I get!

NB: the ugly red boxes in the old posts used to be links to individual tracks that I uploaded to a kinda crap site called imeem. I think I will use blip.fm henceforth, unless anyone has a better suggestion.

Moving = Insanity

We here at the Dishes Project normally stick to music-related/inspired content. However, the last couple of days have been so insane that they require some commemoration.

Backstory: I moved across the country -- sold all furniture, shipped all worthwhile possessions (clothes, books) and got rid of the rest. I had help (thanks Mr. R.!) but the last day was still utterly exhausting. My move-out date was Wednesday, which is where our story begins....

Play-by-Play:

7/8/09, 7:30 am: Wake up time

8:30-10:30: Retrieved moving van from San Jose airport

10:30-12pm: Disassembled various furniture items, emptied apartment storage area

12-1: Went to recycling center and gave them mattress, cardboard boxes from storage area

I was so happy to get rid of the mattress in a legal way... but it took a lot of time.

1-2:30: Met with former professor to retrieve library books, went to campus and cleaned out office, returned library book, ate lunch

He could only find one of the library books...

2:30-3:30: Gave dresser to Mr. W. and fan to Ms. F., removed seat from moving van, carried bed, microwave, dresser, multi-drawered office organizer, mirror and end table to van

3:30ish-5ish: Went to Public Storage, set up storage unit, unloaded all furniture into storage unit

Furniture Count: 7 pieces, including mattress

5-6:30ish: Loaded van with futon (frame and mattress), Ikea chair, bike rack, and bookcase and delivered to Mr. N. on campus

6:30-7:30ish: Loaded van with couch and filing cabinet with help of Mr. H., delivered couch to Mr. H.

Furniture Count: 15 pieces

7:30-8:30ish: Gave floor lamp to random person, loaded van with large bookcase, small bookcase and TV, delivered the previous to Mr. T.

8:30-9:30ish: Took more furniture to storage unit before it closed (desk, bookcase, printer), deposited check, checked in at hotel, ate dinner

Furniture Count: 21 pieces

9:30-10:30ish: cleaned out car, sold car to Mr. T.!

10:30-11: shipped two last boxes, retrieved shelves accidentally given to Mr. T.

11-1:15ish: cleaned remaining stuff out of apartment, packed multiple suitcases

There was so much stuff to be gotten rid of: misc unclaimed furniture and household goods, food, plants, gah.

1:30-3:15am: cleaned apartment, loaded van with vacuum cleaner, garbage cans, misc small lamps, filing storage bins, toaster, box of kitchen goods, standing lamp, returned keys

3:15-3:45am: delivered standing lamp to Mr. T., went to hotel, crashed

The standing lamp had to be last since we wouldn't have been able to see without it... no overhead lighting in most rooms of the old apartment.

Total Furniture: 25 pieces or so in approximately 12 hours (garbage cans+ lamp + bins = 1 piece, toaster + box = 1 piece)

----------------

7/9/09, 5:15am: wake-up time after 1.5 hours of sleep! gotta get to the storage unit again before leaving SC

6-6:20: went to storage unit, unloaded all items which had been loaded at the end of the previous night

Very bleary-eyed...

6:20-7:30: breakfast (thank you Hampton Inn), got gas for moving van, drove moving van to San Jose airport and returned it

8am Pacific time to 8:30 pm Eastern time: in airports (San Jose, Reno, Las Vegas, Baltimore), on planes (reading Breaking Dawn), wrangling four suitcases, riding on courtesy shuttles

9 pm: Finally in Lutherville, watched Ghost World for no reason, crashed

-----

Insanity.

Bossa Per Dishes

Artist: Nicola Conte
Album: Bossa Per Due
Released in: 2001

Acid jazz/downtempo/Italian film music from the 60's/sitars/go-go wonderfulness. Recommended for: cocktail parties, secret missions, summertime afternoons, jetting around town on a Vespa. Nicely done, Nicola.

bossa per due - Nicola Conte

Chart

Top Five Artists (week of 6/21-6/28):

1. The Magnetic Fields
2. Dave Brubeck
3. Wye Oak
4. Arovane
5. Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Entirely different from last week.

Dave Brubeck + Arovane = working

Magnetic Fields = I listened to their latest album Distortion again... there are some lovely songs (like Courtesans), but also some novelties that grow quickly old (like Zombie Boy). Not my fave MF album.

Wye Oak = excellent Baltimore band that my sister introduced me to

Yeah Yeah Yeahs = their latest album is great.

Flash Forward

All of the music on the Dishes Project so far was purchased eight to ten years ago -- I don't listen to most of it on a regular basis. As a sampling of what my music taste is now, here are some statistics about what I listen to on iTunes (courtesy of last.fm).*

Top Ten Artists:
1. Dave Brubeck
2. The Magnetic Fields
3. St. Vincent
4. Steely Dan
4. Belle and Sebastian
6. Arovane
7. Apparat
8. The Postmarks
9. Saint Etienne
9. Ladytron


Commentary:

1. I <3 Dave Brubeck, but he wins this little battle only because I ripped a 4XCD compilation of his from the public library awhile back, and often listen to it while working.

2. Most of these bands fall into the indie (pop) category: Magnetic Fields, St. Vincent, Belle and Sebastian, The Postmarks, Saint Etienne, arguably Ladytron. A few of these are really among my all time favorite bands (Magnetic Fields, Saint Etienne) but the others are on there because I have the majority of their albums only as mp3s (St. Vincent, Postmarks, Belle and Sebastian, Ladytron).

3. The first set of outliers are Arovane and Apparat, both idm-inspired although Arovane more contemplative and Apparat more propulsive and conventionally-structured. Again, they are on here because they're good music to listen to while working.

4. And then there's the Steely Dan. It is all the more impressive that Steely Dan is up there given that I only have one Steely Dan album (a greatest hits comp). The truth is that there's simply nothing like a little Steely late on a California night when you're feeling bitter and rueful and want to revel in it...


Top Five Artists (week of 6/13-6/20):
1. Goldfrapp
2. Air France
3. Air
4. Tahiti 80
5. Royksopp

No overlap, interestingly (although Goldfrapp are #15 overall). The Air France/Air/Tahiti 80 (all French pop suaveness/goodness) are all from a sunny placid afternoon when I wanted some happy and chill pop to listen to. I've been listening a lot to Royksopp's new album Junior, which is pretty good (especially The Girl and the Robot). I had a Goldfrapp attack earlier this week where I listened to their lastest album a few times (Seventh Tree, beautiful) and also listened to all the remixes of the track A&E that my sister was gracious enough to furnish me with (thanks, sis!).

I'm hoping that the weekly top 5 will continue to be a regularly posted event here on Dishes Project (shout out to postlinguistics for giving me the idea).

*I could use a widget to post these stats permanently along the side of this here blog... but that wouldn't be as fun.

Compost Dishes Hundred

Artist: Various Compost signees
Title: Compost One Hundred
Released in: 2001

Excuses for massive time lapse in-between posts: dissertation (done! finally!), long 2XCD set. Moreover, the first of these discs was completely boring. I don't think I ever really listened to it much after I bought it and now I remember why.

The second disc was marginally better, although in the interests of full disclosure, I did finish my defense draft in-between the first and second discs which may have brightened my mood independently. The first track Come Along by Minus 8 is a lovely Latin-infused jazzy-housey number which makes you feel like you should be sipping martinis next to a pool at a rooftop bar in Rio. Needless to say, this is not quite how my life is going right now, but one can always dream This is followed by very respectable tracks by Beanfield, Wei Chi and Supersempft although there are also some duds by Fauna Flash and A Forest Mighty Black. Overall: eh.

Compost Dishes

Artist: Various lights of the Compost record label
Title: Compost Community
Released in: 2001

In the early aughts, I was obsessed with a German record label called Compost. They were at the center of the jazz-house or downtempo-house movement, which is known to most people as the music played at swanky lounges. The music is smooth and has a groove, but can be a little inoffensive and background-y. Many of the artists on Compost resist this tendency towards the bland, though, and this compilation is a serviceable representation of the diversity and energy of the artists.

There are four stand-out tracks.

1) Truby Trio - A Go Go (video edit)
Latin jazz makes nice with some breakbeats. The video, though, is some of the worst footage of dancing I have ever seen.

2) Minus 8 - Badman and Throbin'
Hideous title, amazing song. A crazy female vocalist goes through some dramatics above some latter-day funk. See below.

3) Kyoto Jazz Massive - Eclipse
A lovely fusion of jazz and house -- the paragon of the genre.

4) Syrup - Chocolate
A pitch-perfect straight-up funk track. The horn kicks alone are priceless. Go ahead -- push play and listen to it. I bet you $5 it'll make you happy.

Let Dishes Replay!

Artist: Coldcut
Album: Let Us Replay!
Released in: 1999

Coldcut are legendary: they founded Ninja Tune and they have been instrumental in shaping the development of breakbeat, experimental hip hop and remixing styles. This album is remixed/live versions of their album Let Us Play!, and I gotta say it doesn't do a whole lot for me. The genre is not really my favorite, and the tracks aren't too attention-grabbing (in my defense, AllMusic agrees). The main exception is Atomic Moog 2000, a very effective sample-heavy break-beat-y topical track with a wicked funk sample.

Heaven or Las Dishes

Artist: Cocteau Twins
Album: Heaven or Las Vegas
Released in: 1990

This is one of my desert island albums: beautiful, richly emotional and steeped in personal memories. When I was in high school, my sister (then in college) made me a mix tape. It's hard to convey how thrilled this made me -- my super cool older sis honoring me with some of her favorite tracks. The second track on Heaven or Las Vegas (Pitch the Baby) played a starring role, along with other gems that heavily influenced my subsequent musical taste (e.g., Portishead - It's a Fire, Pizzicato Five - Good, etc.).

However, my sister neglected to provide a track listing, so I didn't really discover the Cocteau Twins until one summer just after high school. Without knowing much about me besides that I like electronica, a co-worker at the time told me, without hesitation, that I would love this album. He was completely right. (His recommendations were in general spot on: he also introduced me to Stereolab).

Years later, I was spending a lot of time driving up and down I-91 in Connecticut. I listened to this album so much on the northward swing that the tracks became correlated with the legs of the journey. Cherry-Coloured Funk will always evoke for me pulling out of my parent's driveway and hitting the road. Road, River and Rail is immediately after the tangle of highways around Hartford.

The title track Heaven or Las Vegas must have been somewhere around New Britain. I can't quite remember because I was probably too busy singing along. The track is the climax of the album, and the soaring chorus still makes me swoon. That's not to denigrate the rest of the tracks, though (Iceblink Luck and Fotzepolitic are particularly wonderful). Moreover, the album is extremely well-structured -- every track is ordered exactly where it should be. I have moved on to make my own mix tapes (er.... CDs) these days, and they usually have a similar dynamic to this album: a slow-building but attention-grabbing start, high-energy tracks near the beginning, a climax, and then a slow winding-down with a stirring, often longer final track.

I suppose I can't say enough good things about this album, but, as they used to say on Reading Rainbow, you don't have to take my word for it. AllMusic also effuses (in particular about the track HoLV), and (according to the Cocteau Twins' own website) apparently the album is widely cited as the fan favorite. Below is Heaven or Las Vegas, although I feel its impact is slightly reduced without the context of the surrounding songs -- the album is simply so cohesive that it works best listened to all at one time. Nevertheless, enjoy.

Dishes Bell Knoll

Artist: Cocteau Twins
Album: Blue Bell Knoll
Released in: 1988
But Really Sounds: Timeless

All the hallmarks of the Cocteau Twins are here:

• ethereal, other-worldly synths, guitars, harpsichords, etc.
  
• feathery light and sky high melody lines with unintelligible lyrics
• delicate layering of the sounds and soaring climaxes (e.g., 1:45 or so into Athol-Brose)
  
• understated but perfect drum tracks

The overall effect is quite beautiful. I'd forgotten how good this album is -- the two other Cocteau Twins albums I own (Heaven or Las Vegas and Victorialand) are soaked in wonderful memories for me so this one tends to fade away.

Take a listen:

Dishours

Artist: Circulation
Album: Colours
Released in: 2000

It's been a while. Life got in the way of the slow, inexorable progress of the Dishes Project (home for the holidays, professional conference, job interview, cross-country trip, house guests). But Circulation are also at least partially to blame here. This is a double album, with both CDs clocking in at well over an hour. That's a lot of dish-washing.

So, were the many dish-washing sessions spent listening to this album worth it? On the main, yes. Circulation are a tech-house duo from England, and they know their stuff. Most of the tracks are very well-balanced: smooth yet bumping, classy yet with a slightly off-the-wall sample. They are reminiscent of Underworld in the slow layering and adding of synths/drums/etc. as a song begins, but they do have one main drawback. The tracks lack emotional punch (in stark contrast to Underworld). The most these tracks inspire is that wonderful 'get moving' itch that all good techno makes you have, but they don't grab you and take you somewhere new and exciting... y'know what I mean?

Anyway, you can judge for yourself. Here are my two favorite tracks from the album: White and Turquoise (yes, all the song names are colors). White is a great example of the slow build, and it has a fantastic, bouncy groove; wait for the silly sample at 4:00 or so. Turquoise would be right at home on SomaFM's Secret Agent radio station. Enjoy!

Every Dish

Artist: The Cinematic Orchestra
Album: Every Day
Released in: 2002

My music collection is sending me a message. It says: you have too much downtempo. Granted, the CO are much more jazzy than most downtempo practitioners, and I like that. They're a talented bunch of performers with a late-night, back-of-the-jazz-club aesthetic that I really enjoy. Still, the music mostly just grooves quietly on with little fanfare.

Again, though, there are two exceptions, although one of them is not a pleasant exception. This album features All Things to All Men, perhaps the worst Roots Manuva song ever recorded. The rhymes are lame, it's way too slow and the CO and Roots seem hopelessly mismatched. At the other end of the album, though, there is the swoop of gorgeousness that caused me to buy the album in the first place:

All That You Give opens with a glorious shimmer (and a harp!), but the best moment in the whole song is (I think) when the bass line, some strings and the shimmer combine at about 1:00. Listen and love.

Abstract Dishes

Artist: Various stalwarts of downtempo
Album: Abstract Vibes
Released in: 1995
I Just Discovered: imeem!

This CD captures the mid 90's downtempo scene well -- it's smooth, sampladelic, jazzy, trip-hoppy, and chill. Most of the tracks go down easy but are not too memorable, with two exceptions.

Exception 1: Chocolate Elvis by Tosca.
Very well-constructed with just the right touch on the (well-chosen) samples -- not a continuous onslaught, but not some random dude shouting 'Heyyyyy' once every two minutes.



Exception 2: Dieu Reconnaitra les Siens by DJ Cam
A downtempo classic: initial gorgeous silky synth + some nice 'n' chunky beats + a bit of scratching. What more could you want? Jazz flute, perhaps? You got it.

The Re-Releases of the Un-dishes

Artist: Chicks on Speed
Album: The Re-releases of the Un-releases
Released in: 2000

All of the best songs on this album were first released on Chicks on Speed Will Save Us All!, so I'll wait until I get to that CD to adore them in detail. The rest of R-r of the U-r is art-school filler that is funny the first time, but not worth the packaging it came in the second time.

The single exception: Turn of the Century. This is perhaps my favorite CoS song -- a thrash-y whirlwind of energy with a fantastic rave-up at the end that never fails to induce maniacal jumping around. Sophomore year of college, when the world got us down, me and my friend Jackie used to gather in my dorm room to dance and scream out the lyrics...

ESDishesM

Artist: BT
Album: ESCM
Released in: 1997 (so long ago!)
Fun?: Yes

I had wonderful memories of this album, and they have mostly remained intact. The first four or five songs are impeccably produced, energizing, gorgeous, progressive trance -- I don't even mind the mystical flourishes and cheesy synths. Check out the anthemic Flaming June (wiki, Youtube) -- the build-up and release at about 40 seconds in is so deeply satisfying.

The latter half of the CD begins to drag, especially with the randomly angry Solar Plexus. However, it also contains my favorite track from the album, the surgingly beautiful Remember. It's all the sonic goodness of the progressive trance with an emotional punch (although I could do without the guitar parts). I remembered the melody of the final refrain even though it had been years and years since I listened to this album: "Remember me near / There may be times when it's not right / You need to be there / and remember me near." Cue your swelling strings and swirly synths, but I love love love it anyway.

This was one of the must-have albums for anyone who listened to electronica in the late 90's and early 00's, and, in my opinion, it remains a classic.

Dishpassion

Artist: Broadway Project
Album: Compassion (2xCD release)
Released in: 2002

I have washed the dishes in the past month, I swear. There are excuses major (dissertation) and minor (houseguests), but I hope to get back on the wagon now.

Another one of the minor excuses was that I had a two-CD set of Broadway Project to get through, one CD of which was quite long and required several dish-washing sessions. I also did not like the long CD, which naturally kept me from really wanting to listen to BP anymore. But I did, and I was somewhat rewarded.

Broadway Project is a British one-man operation that does sample-heavy late-night jazz-influenced downtempo.... a little like Funki Porcini. However, in the first disc in this double set, the lack of structure in the songs really bothered me. Don't get me wrong - some lack of structure is fine - I am a big fan of Windy and Carl. But this was the kind that grates on me -- it just meandered aimlessly through atmospherics without deigning to offer something to hang your hat on: a pretty melody, an interesting rhythm part... nada. I generally very much enjoy this genre, but this album drove me crazy.

The reward: the second disc was suprisingly better. It's a collection of BP's earlier singles and rarities, and the songs just work more. Perhaps BP thought of his album as one long stretch of atmosphere, whereas the singles were more concentrated and (in my opinion) effective? Who knows. What I do know: I will not listen to the first CD of this set for a long time.

Interlude: Late Night Playlist

I recently was up late and messing around with iTunes, and I came up with this playlist. I like it, and I feel like sharing. Consider it a snapshot of my current music tastes as opposed to the late 90's / early 00's fare featured here (and yes, I really do like Steely Dan, and not in an ironic way). Youtube versions are linked whenever possible.

1) Steely Dan - Babylon Sisters
2) Azure Ray - These Bright Lights Will Bend to Make Blue
3) Ladyhawke - Paris is Burning [I am obsessed with this song]
4) Tilly and the Wall - Reckless [youtube audio sounds it was recorded at the bottom of a well]
5) Sufjan Stevens - Say YES! to M!CH!GAN! [very odd, unofficial youtube]
6) Paris Combo - Interlude Potzi
7) Jens Lekman - A Man Walks Into a Bar [live youtube]
8) Laika - If You Miss
9) Squarepusher - Hello Meow
10) Yo La Tengo - Can't Forget
11) Ellen Allien and Apparat - Rotary
12) Joe Jackson - Real Men [shout out to my sister, who is the source of this one]
13) Annie - Heartbeat
14) Everything But the Girl - Low Tide of the Night
15) Badly Drawn Boy - River, Sea, Ocean
16) M.I.A. - Paper Planes