Arcadia - Gabriel & Dresden; 6:24

Bloom

Arcadia

With 2004 brought the marked arrival on the progressive house and club scenes by two excellent house DJs, Josh Gabriel and Dave Dresden, known more commonly together as Gabriel & Dresden. Bloom is an erratic album, excellent at times and yet underwhelming at others. However, Arcadia transcends the album's instable excellency, and shines through as one of the penultimate progressive house releases to date. This track truly transcends personal preferences for particular sects of the vast electronic music scene. Arcadia is a very direct, down-to-the-dancefloor song, and it hits its highs and lows at just the right times, carrying the listener and making them want more through to the peak of the song, which captures all of the energy and brilliance of the song into the last minute and a half.

This song can be purchased at the iTunes Music Store.

A Andorinha Da Primavera - Madredeus; 5:38

ElectronicoA Andorinha Da Primavera

Mesmerizing is the best word to describe Portuguese group Madredeus, whose music is an expertly mastered fusion of traditional fado and Portuguese folk music. Electronico represents a breaking in that style to electronically remaster many of their best collaborative efforts. A Andorinha Da Primavera is one of the best tracks on the album, a beautifully quirky electronic masterpiece. Unlike many, indeed most, electronic songs, A Andorinha Da Primavera, as with the rest of Electronico, lacks a distinct dance or club beat. It is truly a work of turning the traditional and historical into the modern and captivating, something that Madredeus never ceases to do.

The song begins with Madredeus vocalist Tereisa Salgueiro singing "
Andorinha de asa negra aonde vais ?", followed by a melody of chiming synthesized bells and classical guitars. The base of the entire track is this guitar and bell melody, which is lead by an electronic beat. After the first minute and a half, the electronic beat picks up and the guitar is distorted, leading into Salgueiro's dulcet vocals. One presumes the lyrics are a take on traditional fado lyrics, and with it a pleasant twist of irony, or melancholy. The last two minutes are marked by an anthemic breakdown of the track's melody, leading into a stronger main beat and the last of Salgueiro's vocals. The track closes with the end of the vocals, and a synth.

This album can be purchased online at Amazon.com.

Black Milk - Massive Attack; 6:20

Mezzanine
Black Milk

In the nearly twenty years since Massive Attack first formed, and since their debut (Blue Lines, 1991), their work has undergone many phases, changes of heart, and radical twists. The group, however, continually stays true to their trip-hop origins, and in recent years has produced some of the best music to grace both the underground and the mainstream. 1998's Mezzanine stays true to form, and is arguably their best showing, featuring some of the group's darkest, most beautiful tracks. Black Milk is the true embodiment of this.

The track is quiet, and eerily seductive, with hauntingly spiritual lyrics that evolve into the sensual, with the pairing of the musical backing. At once in the beginning, an extremely faint chant of a slightly distorted piano is heard, repeating the same three-note melody. This gives way to the background of the song, a dark bass paired with a trip-hop beat in a style that Massive Attack has become famous for. Elizabeth Fraser, who also did vocals for their hit track "Teardrop", sings loosely spiritual vocals that resonate well with the methodic chiming of the music. At once fragile and nearly incomprehensible, the vocals offer enough for the listener to be drawn through the entirety of the track while putting a finishing touch on the song as a whole. The complete track has an echo of an aged track, from the era of vinyl records, while remaining exceptionally modern. The opening piano melody features widely throughout the track, particularly at the close of Fraser's vocals. The last minute features remarkably fitting scratching, never bordering on the verge of being neither tacky nor era-stamped, leading to a fading close.

This song can be purchased at the iTunes Music Store.

Toxygene (Album Version) - The Orb; 5:19

Toxygene

Toxygene

The Orb virtually invented the electronic genre known as ambient house, bringing a slower, more soulful soundtrack to the ravers once the doors had closed. They blended the rhythms of classic Chicago house albeit slowed down, combined with a medley of synths, effects and vocal samples.

Toxygene opens with a sample of a musical chorus, before weaving through samples of city sounds blended with calm, chilled synth. The vision of a bustling street life and cafes unfold in the mind alongside people lost in their own conversations. Then, with the screech of car brakes and the exclamation of "Wait a minute!" the track explodes into life. A dirty, skewed bass line full of energy combined with ambient synth and samples drives an enthusiastic line through the track. Calming at moments to the sound of a steam locomotive, the energy rebuilds with repeating "toxygene" and "wait a minute" samples. By the end, the listener is rendered hypnotised by the recurring elements, elevated by the positive vibes, and recharged by the masses of energy this one track commands.

This song can be purchased from iTunes Music Store.

Union Square - Stéphane Pompougnac; 4:59

Hello Mademoiselle
Union Square

Stéphane Pompougnac is better-known for his work on his "Hôtel Costes" collaborations. In this genuinely rare and seductive solo endeavor, Pompougnac produces arguably his best work, an enchanting feat of musical engineering. Pompougnac's Union Square is the perfect exercise in combining sounds in small detail to form a more complete full track.

In what can only be described as ethereal, Union Square is a mastery of electronic and instrumental fusion. Pompougnac's work to fine-tune the sounds of both elements shows in a masterfully-engineered track worthy of the plethora of emotion that the song invokes, or has the potential to do so, fitting somber moods as evenly as elated moods. The song begins with a harp-like, plucking electronic loop, leading into a beautiful string ensemble headed by a cello and violin. The string instruments' sound blends perfectly with the electronic base of the track. The listener drifts with the track til the middle, when the opening loop gives way to a plucked guitar, backed by the string ensemble. The song hits its peak in the last minute when the opening loops begins again, and all of the mesmerising elements of the song are combined, til coming to a close on the same note that it started.

This song can be purchased at the iTunes Music Store.

Fighting in Built Up Areas - Ladytron; 4:01

Witching Hour

Fighting in Built Up Areas

Electroclash extraordinaire Ladytron reach arguably their finest moment with this penultimate rocking electronic classic. Arguably well outside of the mainstream, yet not entireley withdrawn from it, Fighting in Built Up Areas is a track that surely all who embrace not only electronic, but acoustic music will enjoy. Vocalist Mira Arroyo's Bulgarian lyrics are prominent in the song, adding to the grungy, industrial feel of the track. Ladytron's famed synthesizers paired with distorted drums and guitar are prominent and feel very constructed, built around the chant of the vocals.

The track starts with a looped synth and gives way to the drum base of the track, combining with additional synths to produce the chasing, or chased, nature of the song. The song's title alludes to the atmosphere that it creates - that of an urban chase, or urban chaos. It is also exemplary of Ladytron's work - the ability to create an atmosphere, or a specific feel, to each of their songs. The song is less synth-based than much of their other work, which makes it sound distinctly modern amid their typical generation-stamped 80's-fusion sound. The rhythmic chant of the vocals carries the listener with the track, through toward the end where the song picks up to a frenetic pace, and then to the very end, where it quickly slows down to a stop.

This song can be purchased at the iTunes Music Store.

London, London (ft. Devendra Banhart) - Cibelle; 4:16

The Shine of Dried Electric Leaves
London, London (featuring Devendra Banhart)

Brazilian artist Cibelle Cavalli, more commonly known by her stage name Cibelle, and indie artist Devendra Banhart pair up in a quirky, bright song worthy of both the indie movement and lovers of alternative mainstream songs.

At the same time typically Brazilian and also typically indie-rock, both the lyrics and the music of the song reflect a carefree, beatific nature, while the song is carried by a light guitar melody. Cibelle's light and airy vocals match suitably to Banhart's softly masculine vocals. Throughout the track, various sounds reminding the listener of a breezy, carefree day wandering about a city can be heard in the form of chimes, footsteps, and others. Cibelle and Banhart's vocals harmonize beautifully in the middle of the track, and are carried by quirky, light lyrics. The two's slight lack of synchronicity throughout is at once charming and quirky, which carries the listener through the song without leaving a sense of lack, or wanting more of the vocals. The song winds down in the last minute with an improvisation of electronic and supplemental sounds, and an improvisation on the last three words of the lyrics by Cibelle and Banhart.

This song can be purchased at the iTunes Music Store.

Inaugural

Behold and welcome. This is the inaugural post of massive.fm, and it's also a lovely groundbreaking moment, of sorts. The inspiration for this website is an undying affinity for music of all genres and varieties. Whether it becomes a mainstream success, or is unknown to all but a few, it is my passion (and my blogging partner and resident DJ Björn Ballard's passion, as well) to seek out and discover new music.

Too often I have found that my pursuit for new music has been met by dead-ends, reviewers who are often pegged to too little a variety of music, or too few outside influences within my own search. It is my hope that massive.fm will serve to perhaps broaden the horizons of a few, and be an interesting and useful resource otherwise for many more.

The purpose and intention of massive.fm is to review single tracks, day by day, to slowly cover each song within the repertoire of mine and Björn's music libraries. In doing this, the creative senses are awakened and perspectives broadened, in order to truly deliver a diverse and captivating inventory of the best music that is out to offer. Hopefully this will also help serve to expand my own knowledge and horizons within music, so as to better serve myself and others.