Alec Rojas is afraid to sleep. With a law degree and a philosophy degree, he works in law during the day and writes by night. You can find him DJing in downtown LA or on top of a California mountain, probably talking about Hegelian Aesthetic philosophy as applied to the Snoop Lion record.
We here at TFIB like Icelandic music. Like, a lot. It’s not that we will cover Sigur Ros and their amazing music videos… It’s that we’ll cover the singer as well. We give all kinds of shits about Bjork too, and frequently drift into a hazy sleep listening to múm. The blend of electronics and classical, well, we’ll just listen to Olafur Arnalds for that.
It can’t all be the romance of experimental, post-rock, and classical, music with a beautiful backdrop, right? Can Iceland rock? Like, HARD?
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March 15, 2013 - See more posts by Alec
Photo by Mads Perch
Ever since Ambivalence Avenue dropped four years ago, Stephen Wilkinson aka Bibio can safely be considered a TFIB fave. Blending atmospherics, Nick Drake esque guitar, dazzling intricate electronic sequences, and his prodigal, reverb drenched voice, few artists have such a defined aesthetic. Folktronic? Sure. Why not.
This is what makes the new track “À tout à l’heure” so perfectly magical. While his previous record Mind Bokeh felt constrained in its aural differences, it was apparent that Bibio made huge steps forward in songwriting. Working on the new release Silver Wilkinson, he remarked:
After working long and hard on an album, however, I crave change… like you might crave spring after winter. I love seasonal change, it affects me a lot. I like the idea of comparing albums to seasons – they stand alone yet are part of a bigger story. They complement each other. So this album, to an extent, started out with the desire for a new ‘season’, contrasting somewhat with the previous.
If the calendar is anything to go by, a new season indeed. “À tout à l’heure,” roughly translated into “a moment ago” or “see you soon,” moves from silky guitar arpeggios into a bouncy, uplifting rhythmic beat. The atmospherics slide in but this is undoubtedly an uplifting pop song, one for the season ahead.
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March 7, 2013 - See more posts by Alec
When the MaKey MaKey made its Kickstarter debut the team issued a challenge: Make something amazing with this. The little microcontroller (Arduino based, ya nerds) can turn any object that conducts an electrical current into a keyboard key or a mouse. From linking The possibilities really are endless, I mean, you can turn a beach ball into a mouse.
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March 1, 2013 - See more posts by Alec
No text. No rules. No enemies. No multiplayer. No time limit. No expectations. No reward. Proteus isn’t your normal videogame.
A 16-bit, 90MB monolith made over the past year, Proteus puts a player on a randomly generated terrain which contains aural cues, so the soundtrack changes as you interact with the land, or, well, simply walk through it. There might be a way to win if you want to find it.
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February 19, 2013 - See more posts by Alec
It only makes sense that The Knife will go all out in an intoxicating, slightly NSFW nine minute video. I mean, it’s only been since 2006. So by revealing that their next full length Shaking the Habitual will be a 98 minute, triple-LP (with a track called “Old Dreams Waiting to Be Realized” that breaks the 19 minute barrier) and a European tour with twenty stops, 2013 has proved active for the band/sibling duo. With seven years since their last release, Silent Shout, the detail-obsessed, twisted-identities of Karin and Olof have been synthesized into this eccentric, focused short film by Marit Östberg.
Drums stumble like dominoes as Karin Dreijer hauntingly coos during the first few minutes. As the melodies ascend up note by note, the percussion builds into some heavy beast as Östberg explores the mundane hugs, long stares, sexual energy and broken glass of different peoples lives. The aggressive second half, something partially as diabolical as Richard D. James not giving a fuck, delves into a head banging, percussive beat. As the protest gets shut down and the crowd scatters, the beat remains relentless, weird tweak and, well, confusingly hypnotic. But to warned: pisses are taken, leather straps utilized, and stories entwine towards the end pf the track as the rhythm becomes self-conscious. A no shits given given attitude. A rowdy, engaging, creepy piece of music to start February.
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February 8, 2013 - See more posts by Alec