Hercules and Love Affair Resurrect Disco Sounds

Recently released Hercules and Love Affair by DFA Records has been getting lots of international attention popping up on top 40’s charts around the world. Centering around DJ Andy Butler, the Hercules and Love Affair members have managed to put together potentially one of the more significant dance albums of the last decade… if last decade was the 1970’s. Drawing on traditional disco sounds and 80’s spunk, the self-titled album interlaces melancholic vocal melodies with groovy beats that would be worthy of making the playlist at Studio 54. Songs like “Hercules Theme”, “Athene”, and “Blind” would have John Travolta dancing like it was 1977… click here.

While I appreciate the retro disco grooves, and wouldn’t mind hearing a few of the tracks at the club, this album will not transform dance music as we know it. What the album does do, is remind us of what dance music was originally about. This album does not involve complex mixing or mash-ups, but at it’s foundation are sound house beats with disco-like sounds layered on top. While Hercules and Love Affair is no ground-breaking, it will get people onto the dance floor.

 ~TJK

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: New Young Pony Club, Glass Candy, The Chromatics

Caribou’s “She’s The One” off of their recent album Andorra. ~TJK 

Originally named “Manitoba”, Caribou, puts on a great show in my home town Winnipeg, ‘Manitoba’; The irony is overwhelming. Ha! But seriously, Caribou rocked it on Sunday night. I was curious as to how Ontario native, Daniel Snaith, would transition his dreamy indie electronic melodies off recently released gem Andorra, into a captivating live show. Snaith, who has a Ph.D. in mathematics, passed this test with an A+.  

The Fuck Buttons opened with a very loud and interesting set, but it was Snaith and new temporary recruit, Ahmed Gallab, who dazzled the Albert’s packed house with some fantastic drumming. Along with vocals, the guitar, the recorder, and what looked like some kind of sampler, Snaith played the drums along side Gallab creating fantastic beats that got the Winnipeg crowd revved up.   

In a BBC mini-doc showing how the Andorra was created, Snaith stated that he didn’t want to sound like the record was made on the computer. To combat this Snaith compiled about 670 sound tracks and layered them on to each other. He translated this onto the stage by brialliantly highlighting the drumming and vocals in the show, both of which are subdued on Andorra. If you get a chance try to catch Caribou’s show while they are still on tour, you won’t be dissappointed.

~TJK

This article was published in The Manitoban. You can check out this article and other good articles by clicking here. 

My name is Tyler Kurz, and I am a chronic indie music addict. I am not the only one out there. In fact, there are lots of us.  

Being an indie addict is hard work. We actually still buy CDs, just so that we can read the liner notes and admire the album artwork. We think we are always right, and get upset if you don’t like a band that we suggest. We hate everything about Nickleback, and throw up every time we hear Sisqo’s “Thong Song.” Yes, we are stubborn, opinionated, passionate, and smug. It’s a tough role, but a remarkably gratifying one. We often get to be one of a select few who get to experience a band’s first album. We feel like we are a part of a passionate community. We have the ability to sort through thousands of bands to find the perfect match just for us. Most importantly, we are our own critics.    

It all started a few years ago, when a friend dragged me to an indie-like movie, Garden State. I didn’t get what the term “indie” meant at the time, and was expecting to see a black and white foreign film. Two hours and a tub of overpriced popcorn later, a new world opened up to me. The very next day I went to the U of M’s music store and purchased the soundtrack. It was love at first listen. I got into my car and loaded the disc into my new Alpine CD Player that I had just installed in my 1992 Nissan rust bucket. I drove around in the rain for an hour and listened to every track on album. At that moment, I was catapulted into a seemingly endless journey, exploring the outer limits of musical experimentation. What I’ve discovered since that first encounter is that this genre has acted as a catalyst, allowing me to be more open to new experiences. 

Defining indie music is a difficult task, especially with the advent of the Internet. Recording technology is becoming more accessible and affordable. One would think that an indie band should belong to an independent label. That is not necessarily the case anymore. For one, artists can record and promote their albums over the Internet on their own. Larger labels are also starting to pick up more and more indie acts. To define indie music, we have to look at the common characteristics of indie artists. The “Blah Blah Blog” came up with a good list of common indie characteristics: a do-it-yourself attitude, lo-fi recordings, appreciating your past, crossing musical boundaries, social awareness and activism, and most important, it’s all about the music[1].  

The majority of indie bands are focused on the development of the art of music, whereas, the major record labels are more concerned with improving the bottom line. The major labels have taken the soul out of the music they are producing. To a major music label it’s more important to make sure that when a band releases a single, it is within a two to three minute length which means more radio play time which translates into sales. Indie bands often create longer songs with captivating arrangements of musical harmonies and instrumental experimentation. Think Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven.” This was a song that defined a generation and is still the most requested[2] and played song on American FM Stations[3]. It is also seven minutes and 55 seconds long. If a band tried getting a seven minute song on the airwaves, it would be next to impossible. Before the song was released, Jimmy Page stated, “It’s an idea for a really long track. . . You know how “Dazed and Confused” and songs like that were broken into sections? Well, we want to try something new with the organ and acoustic guitar building up and building up, and then the electric part starts. . . It might be a fifteen-minute track” [4] This experimentation is what made this song an institution in the history of classic rock music. 

You’re probably thinking, “well Led Zeppelin belonged to a big label. . . and Tyler, you just proved that it was a commercial track”. Yes it was a commercial track, but the “commercial” in the ‘70s is a lot different than the “commercial” of the twenty-first century. That’s why the proliferation of indie music is crucial to the development of music as a whole.  

Over the years we have lost that innovative spirit that Page was alluding to. There is nothing wrong with the three minute songs played on the top 40 radio stations, but if that’s all you listen to, you loose diversity and soul from the music. Songs were meant to elicit emotions. Plato once said that “music and rhythm find their way into the secret places of the soul.” Since there are no commercial limitations with indie music, there is a better chance that the artist can draw out these emotions with their melodies, instrumentals, and lyrics.  

I am hopeful that things are turning around. The Internet has created a music “free trade zone,” and I can access any song or band that has the ability to use a computer. My challenge to you is to find five new artists that you have never heard on the radio. Not just any artists, but five artists whose organized expressive sounds are transcendent. Indie music gives insights into the human condition[5], and as an indie addict, it is this attribute that satisfies my fix.