scissorkick

While they are often at the center of heated arguments and self-affirming gloating, "Best Of" lists do provide the valuable service of reminding us of the notable records of a particular year. Since we are increasingly inundated with music from 12:01 AM on January 1st up until the final seconds of the year, these lists, depending on where and by whom they are generated are helpful to those loooking to plug up some holes in their musical diet. Since we at scissorkick enjoy a steady diet of rock, electronic, downtempo, hip-hop, metal and their respected mixtures alike, we hope you appreciate the variety and scope of the records we feel deserve a second listen. We'll avoid the usual hyperbole this time around and refrain from individual awards, but rather will list alphabetically the records we found exciting in 2004. As usual, most lists look straight past a lot of the records we enjoyed. Either we've had the opportunity to hear some special recordings this year overlooked by other outlets, or we're doing something painfully, embarassingly wrong. Either way, thanks so much for getting us almost at the magic mark of 100,000 unique views in less than six months and have a great holiday. Thanks for reading/downloading. -- Steve ANNIE "ANNIEMAL" (679) APOSTLE OF HUSTLE "FOLKLORIC FEEL" (ARTS & CRAFTS) ARCADE FIRE "FUNERAL" (MERGE) THE ALBUM LEAF “IN A SAFE PLACE” (SUB POP) BLOC PARTY "BLOC PARTY" (DIM MAK) BLOCKHEAD “MUSIC BY CAVELIGHT” (NINJATUNE) BUDDY PEACE & ZILLA “WATCH & REPEAT PLAY: A WARP MIX” (WARP) THE CHANGES “S/T” EP (SELF-RELEASED) CHIMP BEAMS "VIBRATO" (CONCENT) COMETS ON FIRE "BLUE CATHEDRAL" (SUB POP) DANGERMOUSE & GEMINI "GHETTO POP LIFE" (LEX) DANGERMOUSE & JAY Z "THE GREY ALBUM" (BOOTLEG) DIPLO "FLORIDA" (BIG DADA) DJ/ RUPTURE “SPECIAL GUNPOWDER” (TIGERBEAT 6) EDIT "CRYING OVER PROS" (PLANET MU) ELIOT LIPP "S/T" (EASTERN DEVELOPMENTS) ELUVIUM"An ACCIDENTAL MEMORY IN CASE OF DEATH" (TEMPORARY RESIDENCE) FINGATHING "AND THE BIG RED NEBULA BAND" (GRAND CENTRAL) FLEVANS “MAKE NEW FRIENDS” EP (TRUTHOUGHTS) FOREIGN EXCHANGE "CONNECTED" (BBE) GUIDED BY VOICES "HALF SMILES FOR THE DECOMPOSED" (MATADOR) THE HELIO SEQUENCE “LOVE AND DISTANCE” (SUB POP) HEXSTATIC “MASTER VIEW” (NINJATUNE) THE HOLD STEADY "ALMOST KILLED ME" (DIM MAK) IRON & WINE "OUR ENDLESS NUMBERED DAYS" (SUB POP) KANYE WEST "COLLEGE DROPUT" (UNIVERSAL) KERRIER DISTRICT "S/T" (REFLEX) KILLOWATT HOURS & THE RUM DIARY "SPLIT" (SPRINGMAN/SUBSTANDARD) LUKE VIBERT "SORRY I MADE YOU LUSH" (NINJA TUNE) MACHINE DRUM "BIDNEZZ" (MERCK) MADVILLAIN "MADVILLAINY" (STONES THROW) MASTODON LEVIATHAN (RELAPSE) MATT POND PA "EMBLEMS" (ALTITUDE) MATTERS & DUNAWAY "HIGHTECH" (SELF-RELEASED) MCLUSKY THE DIFFERENCE B/T ME & YOU IS I'M NOT ON FIRE (TOO PURE) MODEST MOUSE "GOOD NEWS FOR PEOPLE WHO LOVE BAD NEWS" (SONY) ONEIDA "SECRET WARS" (JAJAGUWAR) OVERPROOF SOUNDSYSTEM “NOTHING TO PROVE” (DIFFERENT DRUMMER) PHILIP JECK "7" (TOUCH) PRINCE PO "THE SLICKNESS" (LEX) RJD2 "SINCE WE LAST SPOKE" (DEF JUX) SECRET FREQUENCY CREW "FOREST OF THE ECHO DOWNS" (SCHEMATIC) SHARON JONES & THE DAP KINGS “NATURALLY” (DAPTONE) SNOW PATROL “FINAL STRAW” (UNIVERSAL) SUFJAN STEVENS "SEVEN SWAMS" (SOUNDS FAMILYRE) TED LEO "SHAKING THE SHEETS" (LOOKOUT) THOMAS FEHLMANN "LOWFLOW" (PLUG RESEARCH) TIKI OBMAR"SEASONS" (MERCK) TV ON THE RADIO "DESPERATE YOUTH, BLOOD THIRSTY BABES" (TOUCH & GO) ULRICH SCHNAUSS "A STRANGELY ISOLATED PLACE" (DOMINO)

Posted by Steve at 12/23/2004 05:47:19 PM | Permalink | Comments   

Today, in honor of the coldest day to hit New York this winter, you get some warm, organic electronica from Andrew Rohrmann whose music may be vaguely familiar from its placement in commercials by Volkswagen, HP and Discover. What makes his new record special however is its mix of indie and electronic aesthetics, and as a former member of the band Hush Harbor and remixer of Modest Mouse, 764-Hero, and Red Stars Theory, you know that Rohrmann's tracks will resemble a certain atmospheric pop appeal indicative of the Seattle underground of the mid to late 90s. Experimental moments balance nicely with poppier yet less salient ones, but this is nonetheless an assured release and the third (and best) in a series of electronic records put out by Mush (Bibio, Her Space Holiday Remixes) that shows the changing face of that underground hip-hop factory.

Scientific American :: "Four Hour Window"

Posted by Steve at 12/20/2004 04:46:07 PM | Permalink | Comments   

An early, winning predicition for 2005 comes by way of Lex Records producer and multi-instrumentalist Boom Bip. His newest full-length recording, Blue Eyed in the Red Room will be one of the records defining the upcoming new year and I would highly suggest that you pick this up as soon as it shows up in stores. I decided to post, for only a limited time, the closing track of the record featuring one of the two tracks with a vocalist, in this case the brilliant Nina Nastasia on "The Matter (Of Our Discussion)." This track will perhaps be a surprise for those expecting a more hip-hop oriented sound, but nonetheless captures the producer's career-spanning skill with ambience and texture and results in a haunting drone of a ballad with incredibly intimate and moving lyrics. This (and the rest of the record) undoubtedly stand as his most accomplished compositions, written from a guitarist's song-writing perspective yet accessing a drummer's sense of time and bombast. Each track exists in its own space, within a boundless studio atmosphere delineated not by genre but by complete musical inclusion. This is the type of shit that excites me. Not some garage rock redux or some drawn-out dance punk posteuring. This is the real, honest new music of the millenium. And so I decided to start at the end so you can all discover it from the beginning.

Boom Bip :: "The Matter (Of Our Discussion)" w/ Nina Nastasia

Posted by Steve at 12/16/2004 02:33:11 PM | Permalink | Comments   

Back from Beijing with some Communist wares and armed with a new "take the toboggan" philosophy culled from an unforgettable slide down a mountain side from a peak point of the Great Wall. Sure, I can get into the details of the trip, but that's not why you all come here. So that said, let's get down to the music. I have a solid 2 weeks of brand new, unreleased magic from all across the spectrum but will start the return of scissorkick with a post that was suggested in the comments by our UK pal Luke. See, leave comments, they help us all and make the world a better place. Tiki Obmar is a band that you have to check out if you have ever been inclined to purchase anything instrumental, anything with groove and anything that blurs the line between rock and electronica to such a point it becomes barely visible. Like Secret Frequency Crew and ROM, they are a group whose main objective appears to be to provide the soundtrack for my life circa late 2004 and for that I am endeared to spread the praise. You all know that tortoises (and Tortoise) live long lives yet lay many eggs, and finally we are starting to see the legitimate hatchlings of a post-rock/electronic movement whose dormant incubation seems to finally be at its end. Although they seem to prefer anonymity, I will out the members of Tiki Obmar -- Brett, Chris and Graham -- because the trio communicate the type of live energy and machine funk that Red Snapper hypnotized me with almost a decade earlier. Solid programming, solid playing, and destined to be overlooked and underappreciated. Another quality release from the crew over at Merck, who earlier this year released the sick new Machine Drum record. The MP3 posted today is from Tiki Obmar's new "Seasons" EP which features three new tracks and eleven remixes from artists from the Merck family including Proem, Deceptikon, Miles Tilmann and Machine Drum. If you like this the trio have also released a six song long player, High School Confidential available from Merck.
Tiki Obmar :: "Some Kids Like Cartoons"

Posted by Steve at 12/15/2004 01:55:29 PM | Permalink | Comments   

So scissorkick will be off to China on Monday, so there may not be some posts for a while unless I can access the site from my hotel. Word from a contact in Beijing is that I've been blocked by the Chinese government. I guess the Communists find Mike B's beatbox offensive. I will import some new stuff like Eliot Lipp, Koushik, Hood and Pit er Pat on the laptop before I take off. However if I am actually blocked , I will leave you with another scissorkick exclusive from our beloved Bastard Jazz Records. This track is one of four top-notch mid- and downtempo cuts from a new 12" EP out in about a month featuring Mawglee, a UK producer whose sampledelic style gets the perfect remix treatment by funky breaks up-and-comer Ed Royal and a serious dub combover from our friend Zeb of Turntables on the Hudson and Organic Grooves fame. This may be the best Bastard Jazz 12" yet. If you are in NYC, make sure to keep Tuesday, Dec. 21st open for our holiday party with the guys from RE:UP. More on that later...

Mawglee :: "So Out of Luck" (Ed Royal + Enne Remix)

Posted by Steve at 12/03/2004 05:29:06 PM | Permalink | Comments   

Scissorkick Exclusive! Our first real live exclusive comes by way of my coworker Jeff, who introduced scissorkick to his insanely talented friend Mike B. Other than than Blue Note artist Raul Midon (who scats while playing Spanish guitar), I can't think of anyone who plays guitar while beatboxing, and although you may suspect overdubs, I've included a video of a live perfomance that will truly blow your mind. Mike jumps genres with ease, moving from a light samba to classical phrases played over frenetic breakbeats and although you may find that the stripped down tracks are on the minimal side, remember this is the unedited live product of a single person. Overwhelming skill almost too incredible to believe. And while its tempting to compare Mike B's one-man-band skills to online phenomenon McRorie, I think you'll find Mike's skills more palatable than the novel Canadian human drum machine. Seriously check out the video. Mike's Web site is currently under construction, but you can email him at mbennett@wesleyan.edu for more bookings, merchandise and information.

Video Mike B. :: Live in LA (23 MB) Audio Mike B. :: "Awakening" Mike B. :: "Samba Invisible" Mike B. :: "Pavane, Op. 50"

Posted by Steve at 12/02/2004 04:42:39 PM | Permalink | Comments