Author Archives: Ash El Gamal

Finishing Sentences with Coyote Trickster [TMN Interview + Event Preview]

Posted by Ash El Gamal - July 8, 2015

’Coyote Trickster – Just Be Yourself’

We’re really excited to be teaming up with the Make It Funky collective for the second installment in a series of California showcases highlighting local talent. This time around, we’ll be at Brick & Mortar Music Hall in San Francisco on Saturday bringing yet another myriad of vibes featuring psychedelic indie-rockers Coyote Trickster with support from the soulful Fire and funktastic Color TV. To get you all familiar with our fantastically quirky headliners, we had a unique interview in which we asked the band members–Terence (bass), Paul (guitar), Eric (guitar and vocals) and Huli (drums)–a few questions and then had them finish ten sentences. Get to know the band through their answers and grab your tickets at the link below.

The Music Ninja & Make it Funky Present: Coyote Trickster, Fire & Color TV at Brick & Mortar Music Hall on July 11th

TMN: How did Coyote Trickster start?

Eric: There was a big group of meilleur casino en ligne france people at Santa Clara [University] that played music together. Kind of an amorphous group of people playing in a cloudy haze, bumping into each other and hearing things out. And then there was a party that came around and the people who were hosting wanted bands to play. So, the big blob full of people that played music together all kind of formed into different bands for the party and one of the bands was Coyote Trickster. That was our first gig. We played with a different drummer then. We moved up to San Francisco after college and then met Huli up here and started playing with him.

Terence: I think once I started playing with Eric–we lived in the same dorm freshman year– and jamming with these guys, I realized it was something I really want to be a huge part of my life. Long story short we ended up living together in a pretty cool space where we can live and play and create. We’re doing what we can and seeing where it goes.

’Coyote Trickster – Beehives’

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TMN: Tell us a bit about the recording process behind your debut LP.

Paul: We did all the tracking at our house in San Francisco in our garage. I did guitar parts in my closet. Eric put up a bunch of mattresses for a vocal booth. The most disgusting Craigslist mattresses (laughs). We did all that and mixed at Tiny Telephone here in San Francisco and then we got some guy to master it pretty much because we saw he did something for Jerry Garcia.

TMN: Between the soulful vocals, psychedelic elements and jazzy jams, it’s pretty hard to place your music. How do you think about your sound?

Eric: I think we’ve all grown up in an age where genres are so fluid and changing all the time. We never listened to pure rock or pure soul or pure blues—it was always a mixture of all these things together. So, I think we always just search for a groove in all of the songs. They all have to have some kind of rhythm that hooks us and gets people moving. If you see us on stage we’re always bouncing a bit. That’s the core of anything we’re trying to find that works with the band–that kind of groove or rhythm that we all get locked into and excited by. We’re just looking for something that has that appealing background to it and then we’ll combine all the different pieces to fill around that groove.

FINISH THE SENTENCE…

When I was 13, I couldn’t stop listening to…

Huli: Halfway Between The Gutter And The Stars by Fatboy Slim

Paul: Led Zeppelin.

Terence: The Fugees.

Eric: I have the worst one out of everyone. I was probably rocking Third Eye Blind—the self titled album. That’s a great album.

The first song I ever made…

Huli: …was called “Healthy Gums” and only used FL Studio presets.

Paul: …was in high school, I don’t know what it was called, a country song with very dirty, sexual innuendo in the lyrics.

Eric: I probably stole from someone else and told people I made it. It was probably like a Good Charlotte chord progression that I slowed down.

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[TMN PREMIERE] Jasmine Thompson – Adore (Addal Remix)

Posted by Ash El Gamal - July 7, 2015

Jasmine Thompson
Adore (Addal Remix)

Soundcloud

London-based singer/songwriter Jasmine Thompson has been making moves in the electronic scene lately. After first gaining notoriety on YouTube and being featured on hit tracks from some of EDM’s largest names, she signed with Atlantic Records and subsequently released “Adore,” her first solo original release. It’s an electro-pop love ballad backed by an addicting folky guitar loop–a strong debut from a promising young artist.

Today, we’ve got the premiere of an absolutely gorgeous remix from mysterious Italian producer Addal, who’s been churning out beautiful electronic compositions on his/her Soundcloud for over a year now. Some times a remix doesn’t need to do much to add a whole lot to the original and such is the case with Addal’s take on Thompson’s “Adore.” Addal builds an atmospheric aura and creates a deep house groove before playing on the original’s infectious guitar melody to match Thompson’s ethereal, emotional crooning. Addal’s Soundcloud profile description truly captures the essence of this rendition–“It’s the pure essence of love turned into music.”

Also, check out the original and its gorgeously-shot visuals below. You can find a few other remixes of “Adore” on Thompson’s Soundcloud page and grab a copy of the single over at iTunes here.

Electronic

[NEW] Ratatat – Nightclub Amnesia

Posted by Ash El Gamal - July 7, 2015

RATATAT
NIGHTCLUB AMNESIA

Soundcloud

Ratatat‘s forthcoming, highly-anticipated album, Magnifique, has been more than living up to its hype thus far. The first two jams shared, “Cream on Chrome” and “Abrasive,” see the legendary Brooklyn duo building out steady, and undeniably infectious, grooves with their signature guitar. “Nightclub Amnesia,” which dropped just this morning, continues in that tradition but proves the most dynamic, hard-hitting single from the project yet. Starting with glitchy synths and fuzzy guitar the song only grows from there developing into a disorienting, yet dance-floor ready, composition. As its name suggests, the “Nightclub Amnesia” evokes feelings of intoxication and euphoria once again displaying Ratatat’s one-of-a-kind sound. Magnifique drops in 10 days, on July 17th, and can be pre-ordered here.

Electronic

[Chill] XO – The Light

Posted by Ash El Gamal - July 6, 2015

XO
The Light

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As he prepares for the release of The Ethereal Experience, UK producer XO dropped off “The Light” earlier today–the final song on the project and also the one truest to the EP’s title. Keeping the vibes soulful as ever, XO crafts a divine groove powered by a steady vocal chop, wavey synths and dynamic percussion. Although “The Light,” initially premiered on XO’s mix for Diplo & Friends, is probably the most laid-back tune we’ve heard from the up ‘n comer thus far, it keeps your attention all the way through by not losing its bounce. Immerse yourself in this blissful cut above–The Ethereal Experience is out on July 20th and can be pre-ordered here.

If you’re digging XO as much as us, also make sure to check out our interview with him from last year here.

[Electronic] Emancipator – Eve II (Odesza Remix)

Posted by Ash El Gamal - July 3, 2015

Emancipator
Eve II (ODESZA Remix)

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Those of you who have been fans of Odesza from the start might remember that they toured with fellow Pacific Northwest-native Emancipator three years ago or so. Since that time, both acts have continued to expand on their sounds having broad influences on electronic music in their own ways. Although their styles are distinctly separate, there’s an organic nature to their approaches that are very much in line–in other words, if you dig Odesza you’d also like Emancipator and visa versa.

A week from today, Emancipator will be putting out the remix EP from his stellar 2013 album, Dusk to Dawn–if you haven’t checked out the original yet we’d highly recommend it. Today, Odesza unleashed their contribution to that taking on the glimmering, chilled-out “Eve II.” It’s really the perfect canvas for the talented duo as they utilize its shininess to build out a steady house groove all the while maintaining their always-phenomenal percussive aesthetic.

Give it a listen above and look out for the Dusk to Dawn remixes, due out on July 10th, on Emancipator’s Bandcamp page. In the meantime, you can grab a free download of this gem here.

[NEW] Collarbones – Turning (Flume Remix)

Posted by Ash El Gamal - July 2, 2015

Collarbones
Turning (Flume Remix)

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Flume season has arrived–or did it ever actually end? His debut album had a staying power unlike anything we’ve ever seen in electronic music along with his subsequent work with Emoh Instead as What So Not. From a material standpoint, we haven’t heard much new original work from the Australian beat pioneer, save for the phenomenal “Some Minds,” but he’s most certainly not been dormant either. Since his rapid ascension, he’s been touring pretty much non-stop releasing a few remixes along the way, often premiering them in live sets.

Today, we get one of the remixes he’s been playing out at festivals and it’s an amazing one that we certainly remember from his set at Sasquatch! festival. Taking on “Turning,” a gorgeous tune from Sydney/Adelaide natives Collarbones, Flume creates a massive and beautiful composition that, in the context of his live set, packs an unbelievable emotional power. In recent interviews, Flume’s been talking about how he doesn’t consider his music “EDM” and you can see what he means on atmospheric tracks like this. We can’t wait for more new material but, in the meantime, this beauty will be in heavy rotation.

[Future Funk/Jazz] Masego x Medasin – The Pink Polo EP

Posted by Ash El Gamal - July 2, 2015

Funk and jazz’s cross-genre transcendence may be more prevalent today than ever. To some degree or another, it can be heard in hip-hop, electronic, indie and just about any other style of music you can think of. If you’re still not convinced in listening to contemporary albums from the likes of Kendrick Lamar, The Social Experiment, Thundercat and Griz, look no further than Masego and Medasin‘s recently released funktasitc Pink Polo EP. On the project, Masego, a native of Kingston, Jamaica, plays sax, sings and produces while Medasin, a master of monster beats, contributes a marked bombastic, atmospheric trap vibe through out.

The resulting combination makes for an incredibly unique and enjoyable listening experience that recalls the greats of both funk and jazz while injecting the sounds of contemporary electronic music. Through out the 8-track project, epic sax solos are mixed in with 808s, heavy drops and James Brown-esque vocals–it’s unlike anything we’ve ever heard before. There’s straight party starters on the project like “Shut up and Groove,” “Bounce,” and “Girls That Dance,” but there’s also supreme jams on songs like “Sunday Vibes” that make us wonder what it might sound like if Thelonius Monk had access to modern day recording equipment.

Masego probably sums up the style of this project best in his Soundcloud description calling it “Traphouse Jazz.” The Pink Polo EP, released through the rapidly rising Film Noir records, arrives right in time for your sunny 4th of July celebrations. Stream it below and, if you’re digging it as much as us, buy it over at Bandcamp.

’Masego x Medasin ~ Shut Up & Groove’

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’Masego x Medasin ~ Bounce’

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’Masego x Medasin ~ TrapScat (Get Loose)’

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’Masego x Medasin ~ Sego Hotline ft. Krs.’

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’Masego x Medasin ~ Throwin’ Shade’

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’Masego x Medasin ~ Sunday Vibes’

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