I never was a huge fan of LCD Soundsystem until I had the opportunity to see them live prior to disbanding earlier in the year. James Murphy and his charasmatic performance led me to check out the band a little further. I was suprised at some of the things I had heard. I had unknowingly placed the band in the heap reserved for fraternities. In my research, I found a subtle sensitivity to their otherwise brut catalog. I have included these subtle suprises below.
The Waacking style of street dance traces its roots back to gay and nightclub cultures. In the United States, at gay nightclubs, male performers dressed as women and performed to female songs on stage. Movements of the performers were so creative that it was only a matter of time before Waacking made its way into mainstream nightclubs as a way of the dancefloor, and earned its approval amongst other sexualities, especially in the straight community. Waacking evolved prior to house music's popularity and is considered a house dance since it was popular amongst nightclubs (also known as houses).
Disco music was the perfect vehicle for Waacking, with its driving rhythms and hard beats.
In the early 1970s in Los Angeles, dancer Lamont Peterson was one of the first to start using his arms and body to the music. Dancers such as Mickey Lord, Tyrone Proctor and Blinky fine tuned the arms movements, by making the arms and hands go fast to the driving disco beat. During the mid 1970s club dancers Tinker, Arthur, Andrew, Lonnie Carbajal, Michael Angelo, Billy Starr, Billy Goodson, and Danny Logo took center stage with other dancers, perfecting those synchronized syncopated movements.
At the time Waacking was primarily a gay Black and Latino dance. Many people mistakenly believe that “Waacking” came from “Locking” because some of the movements are very similar. The gay and transvestite community largely contributed to the oldskool waacking forms. Waacking and Locking do have some similarities but they are different dances. Punkin' is the original name of the dance. Waacking is a name set forth by the non-gay community that mixed in movements from locking. Some Locking style dance instructors eventually started to teach Punkin' and newskool Waacking classes also. Many new dancers assumed that it was part of the Locking style.
The name “Waacking “originated from The Soul Train Dancer Tyrone Proctor and Jeffrey Daniel's of the Outrageous Waack Dancer's in 1972 themselves (Because of the thrusting of the arms). “Garbo” is another name given to the dance by Andrew because of the posing he did (like the pictures of the glamour women of the 40’s) Arthur, Andrew and Tinker danced sometime on Soul Train. While working with Toni Basil, (An Original Locker). Andrew, Arthur, Tinker, Lonnie, and Billy landed the Diana Ross show in Las Vegas.
The difference between “Waacking” and “Voguing” is “Waacking” became popular in the early 70’s on the West Coast. “Waacking” is mostly done to Disco Music. “Voguing” became popular in the late 70’s on the East Coast.”Voguing” is done to mostly House Music.
Over 35 years “Waacking” is still going strong with the help of dancers like Tyrone “The Bone” Proctor, Adolfo “Shabbadoo” Quninones, Jody Watley, Anna “Lollipop” Sanchez, Brian “Footwork”Green, Angel and Tyrone's Son Aus Spottedeagle aka Aus "Ninja" Omni, and Samara Lockerooo just to name a few. When the Gay Community moved on from “Waacking” these were some of the people who help keep this Dance form alive for more than 35 years.
Waacking and Glowsticking are the fundamental dance styles of which Tecktonik is based off. Tecktonik and Waacking are often ridiculed pejoratively by sexualists as being a gay dance, despite being danced by and having evolved amongst a vast variety of sexualities.
While The Chromatics might not be warm, their music does feel intimate, like a 3 a.m. ride home, where you're not alone but exhaustion and intake have made talking impossible, the city is silent, and the traffic patterns are as comforting and regimented as a drum machine click track. One of those moments when you should be crying, but you'll be damned if you let it show.
We have been on that drive for over 3 years and suggest you join us after dark.
In The City
Hands In The Dark
I Want Your Love
Healer
This no wave threesome from Portland, OR, is fronted by the strange and exquisite waif Ida No, whose crazy caterwauls recall the frantic singing of the Swans' Jarboe, David Bowie, and the shifty rhythms of James Chance. John David V provides disco beats, while a changing cast of drummers has included Avalon Kalin and Jimi Hey. While the band’s early work blended noise rock with electropop, their later work incorporates Italo disco. The band is known for evolving through the years since their original collaboration, and experimenting with various musical genres.
Beatific
Life After Sundown
Computer Love
Rolling Down The Hills
We have been listening to allot of NEW music this past week and have compiled the tracks that have received the most plays on our list. This list does not reflect the most up-to-date releases but merely what we find ourselves gravitating to whenever music is part of our atmosphere.
Take a look at our recommendations below.
New Beat by Toro Y Moi
Pumped Up Kicks by Foster The People
Calrissian by Millionyoung
Round and Round by Ariel Pinks Haunted Graffiti
Worse for Wear by InFlagranti
We have been listening to Hunx and His Punx for a couple years now and feel the time appropriate to unleash them to the public. The band might be the first ever "girl group" fronted by a flamboyant gay male whose dream in life is to sound like a girl. They have created a unique new sound they refer to as "Young Oldies", a mixture of 50s teenage rock n roll, 60s girl groups and bubblegum pop. If John Waters were to re-make his cult film Cry-Baby, Hunx would be the perfect match for a soundtrack score.
Dream On (Little Dreamer)
Lovers Lane
When You Find Out
American rock band MGMT have only been a blip on our radar. We never found their full-length releases to be consistent enough to warrant constant play. This is true for allot of bands in the digital age primarily known for their "singles". In the case of MGMT, we find their stripped-down remixes do better justice to their psychedelic sound than the over-produced studio version that is usually released to the public.
We have compiled a few of our favorites below.
Siberian Breaks
Congratulations
Electric Feel
Kids
We have been listening to allot of NEW music this past week and have compiled the tracks that have received the most plays on our list. This list does not reflect the most up-to-date releases but merely what we find ourselves gravitating to whenever music is part of our atmosphere.
Take a look at our recommendations below.
Don't Call by Desire
Watch The Glow by Museum Of Bellas Artes
Family Of Love by DOM
Polis Girl by Neon Indian
Washed Out moved beyond “chillwave” to something sturdier on Within And Without. Toro Y Moi did the same via his Underneath The Pine. Now it’s time to see if Alan Palomo can build upon the success of 2009′s Psychic Chasms and escape pigeonholes on new album Era Extraña. Dine Alone Records is set to release 'Era Extraña', the sophomore album from Texas-based hazy psych-rock group Neon Indian on September 13th, 2011.
While many bands suffer with identity crises, Worcester, Massachusetts four-piece Dom has their priorities straight. The buzzed-about twisted-pop rockers slammed into conciousness with warped vocals, fuzzy low-fi distortion, and broken Casio keyboard lines. Dom filters a DIY aesthetic through the upbeat, sunny rhythms of pop music.
Their songs feel like they’re held together by sonic duct tape and at any minute they could break apart, but they don’t.
There has been a void in the atmospheric indie rock arena ever since the release of Badlands by The Jesus and Mary Chain. In 2003, The Radio Dept. started filling that void with their first release and have been fairly consistent since. Earlier this year, the band released it's compilation Passive Aggressive: Singles 2002 – 2010 which is definitely worth picking up.
You'll find it as your "go-to" for creating a dark and brooding atmosphere full of sonic tendencies.
The Video Department
Pulling Our Weight
Against The Tide
Memory Loss
Little Dragon is full of subtle touches capturing emotions and Pop flourishes, drifting percussion and electronic dynamics. Little Dragon is something special, and if you're a fan of Yukimi Nagano, you will certainly enjoy it. Her vocals remind me of more of a traditional electronica vocalist, while still maintaining her unique flowing & sensual vocal style heard on earlier collaborations.
Their latest full-length Ritual Union available at amazon.com for the incredible introductory price of $5.99.
Pacific! is a band from Göteborg, Sweden. Childhood friends Björn Synneby and Daniel Hogberg reunited in the early 2000s to collaborate on a set of indie pop recordings that incorporate styles of electronic pop, summery and balearic liken to sounds of Air, The Beach Boys, and Daft Punk.
Reviews from the Swedish press have been reported to describe the music produced by the duo, “as if a pair of flying shoes got a recording contract” and “as if Brian Wilson sang on the tram to Saltholmen to the tunes of Air”.
Joe Goddard has been a somewhat inescapable figure of the past few years. As vocalist, percussionist and synth wizard in Hot Chip, he’s seduced listeners over the course of three albums, melding live instrumentation and electronics with an irresistibly twee aesthetic.
Joe has recently release his latest ep Gabriel featuring the standout "All I Know".
From the word "go," It's All True has a spring in its step as opening track "Itchy Fingers" features lofty bpms in a range never explored on record by the group before and then, just as suddenly, the band shift gears to the sparse, brooding "Playtime." From the confident stomp of "You'll Improve Me" and the sophisticated pop of "A Truly Happy Ending" to the epic album closer of "Banana Ripple," It's All True is by far the Junior Boys most accomplished album to date.
Most Of All
Parallel Lines
Dull To Pause
FM
Banana Ripple
Feist has finally premiered the first track from her highly anticipated new album, Metals, due out later this fall.The new song is called “How Come You Never Go There” and it sounds like it was well worth the wait.
The track is more pensive and jazzier than the singles that fueled The Reminder’s and Feist’s popularity.
How Come You Never Go There
The Limit To Your Love
Inside and Out
Lo-Fi-Fnk finally reveal the full tracklisting of their upcoming new album, “The Last Summer”, as showing the back cover of the release. The duo’s latest single “Boom” is out now on iTunes and the album hits the stores on August 17.
A review of the tracklisting leaves us a bit dissapointed knowing that four of the eleven tracks have allready been released and one included is from their debut "Boylife".
I never was a huge fan of LCD Soundsystem until I had the opportunity to see them live prior to disbanding earlier in the year. James Murphy and his charasmatic performance led me to check out the band a little further. I was suprised at some of the things I had heard. I had unknowingly placed the band in the heap reserved for fraternities. In my research, I found a subtle sensitivity to their otherwise brut catalog. I have included these subtle suprises below.
