New WARP Signing: Nozinja (Shangaan Electro)

new track & video

[youtubehd]6xl_Xu2dEwA[/youtubehd]

Technically that qualifies as music, but I mean c'mon now...

sounds nice

sounds terrible

this guy totally nails a very specific percussive sound i've been hunting for for a long time - dry, blippy, just the right mix of fake & natural sounding. Scitters all over the place but doesn't feel like it's trying to wow me

liking the vocals as well, reminds me a bit of the first battles album. if i recall, a big chunk of watmm dfdidn't like the vocals on that either so I DUNNO MAN

My complaint is really just about the dynamics. I get what you're saying about the dryness of the percussion etc, but it just sounds tinny overall. It has no low end (I get it, it's not wubstep) but overall it just occupies too much mid-range and I think it sounds bad.

Ya, the vocal thing... what do you like about that? lol

if this had some low end in the right places and didn't have the vocals it would almost remind me of some of Plaid's earlier work.

  On 4/25/2014 at 12:52 AM, StephenG said:

Ya, the vocal thing... what do you like about that? lol

both songs have this tribal drum circle thing going on, very shamanistic - but filtered through this hyperactive cotton candy lens of modern electronic music (the pitch shifting, the weird synthy tones, etc.). Hits some sort of ancient underlying vibe at the heart of all dance music, without sounding like a throwback. It's a dynamic that appeals to me big time

You might have a point on the low end thing. I'm listening on headphones so i dunno

I actually quite like that battles track (gf loves it lol). Squirrelcore lol.

I hate to judge this nozinja thing so quickly. I'll wait until the album is out and check out a few songs a bit more. Initial impression is "wtf are you doing warp"!

cheers

  On 4/25/2014 at 12:39 AM, StephenG said:

sounds terrible

you are such a noob stephen g, at least it doens't sound like tuss/analord or some spooky dark electronic piss we are getting shitshowered with everyday

this is kewl, i like it!!!

imo dude

  On 4/25/2014 at 1:12 AM, Ivan Ooze said:

 

  On 4/25/2014 at 12:39 AM, StephenG said:

sounds terrible

you are such a noob stephen g, at least it doens't sound like tuss/analord or some spooky dark electronic piss we are getting shitshowered with everyday

this is kewl, i like it!!!

 

imo dude

 

Ya it's got that going for it! you're right lol. Like I said I'll give it a full listen when it's out.

must ...give... african squarepusher.. a try

  On 4/25/2014 at 1:19 AM, Ivan Ooze said:

must ...give... african demo-button-pusher.. a try

 

fix't

  On 4/25/2014 at 1:22 AM, LimpyLoo said:

 

  On 4/25/2014 at 1:19 AM, Ivan Ooze said:

must ...give... african demo-button-pusher.. a try

 

 

fix't

 

i'm gonna take it easy on you for now cause you got a swag hat

(Warning: I may not have a clue what I'm talking about here)

I really like how John Wizards straddles the line of this Shangaan Electro groove and other stuff, but its obviously not as fast.

Was the older-er (?) iteration of this stuff people are talking in this thread more fun? like JW?

Where can I find more fun SE groove stuff?

I love that video hard. I didnt really like shangaan at first, but I'm getting into it now, and this is one of the better things I've seen come out of it. I have been crazy into juke this yr, seeking out as much of the recent chicago goodness as possible, but there's so much of it that ties into misogynistic mainstream rap culture, so the weird fast rhythms & melodies and dancing in this and in shangaan in general is super pleasing to me.

I like dis shiz. I think "a problem" is possibly that the original recordings were done on shit, and then it was mastered "in the best way possible", which is just to boost highs and brick-wall the fuck out of it. In that sense, the final output comes off like a horrible T-RackS master (*ahem* Meinheld *ahem*).

I think this material is most appropriate just bounced to tape, and then keep a midrange level of phat in there. OR, this shit has to be mixed properly at the core.

(p.s. talkin' bout new vid posted-- vist vimeo vid audio is all right)

  On 4/25/2014 at 12:50 AM, Cryptowen said:

this guy totally nails a very specific percussive sound i've been hunting for for a long time - dry, blippy, just the right mix of fake & natural sounding. Scitters all over the place but doesn't feel like it's trying to wow me

 

liking the vocals as well, reminds me a bit of the first battles album. if i recall, a big chunk of watmm dfdidn't like the vocals on that either so I DUNNO MAN

yep, this.

Not overly impressed with this particular track (he's used the same groove and hook before and just added some extra vocals) but as a style, I find this stuff really evocative. The dry, skittering percussion and little melodic licks are so vivid and infectious. Best thing is Nozinja absolutely nails the vibe everytime. All his sonic choices seem on point and nothing sounds extraneous or out of place.

Oh, and the idea that music can be good/bad or that shangaan electro fails to meet certain standards is really silly. Whether or not you can tune into what this guy is trying to evoke is the challenge. The question should be, especially when discussing anything 'left-field, 'Does a track express the ideas, emotions, feelings of the producer?' not 'Is this track as good as this track from a different artist?

  On 4/25/2014 at 3:35 PM, bleepsnbloops said:

Oh, and the idea that music can be good/bad or that shangaan electro fails to meet certain standards is really silly. Whether or not you can tune into what this guy is trying to evoke is the challenge. The question should be, especially when discussing anything 'left-field, 'Does a track express the ideas, emotions, feelings of the producer?' not 'Is this track as good as this track from a different artist?

 

Good/bad is just a compass inside us, what's silly about it? The idea of music, or art in general, as a means of self-expression is not a universal one, it's rather a child of a new era, the little one at that. Beethoven wasn't expressing his feelings or even brilliant ideas, music is something much bigger than that and its mechanics is basically unknown. Art at core was a translation of God, there was no authorship in it.

  On 4/25/2014 at 3:35 PM, bleepsnbloops said:

 

  On 4/25/2014 at 12:50 AM, Cryptowen said:

this guy totally nails a very specific percussive sound i've been hunting for for a long time - dry, blippy, just the right mix of fake & natural sounding. Scitters all over the place but doesn't feel like it's trying to wow me

 

liking the vocals as well, reminds me a bit of the first battles album. if i recall, a big chunk of watmm dfdidn't like the vocals on that either so I DUNNO MAN

 

 

Oh, and the idea that music can be good/bad or that shangaan electro fails to meet certain standards is really silly. Whether or not you can tune into what this guy is trying to evoke is the challenge. The question should be, especially when discussing anything 'left-field, 'Does a track express the ideas, emotions, feelings of the producer?' not 'Is this track as good as this track from a different artist?

 

Quality of sound/dynamics is a key component in the presentation of audio imagery, and thus the presentation feels lacking when things like mastering/eq'ing are not done properly. It detracts from the ability of the track to convey the "ideas, emotions,..." etc that you are referring to.

Can some songs have shitty mastering and still convey a message? Yeah. But in this particular instance in my opinion the music does not stand on its own strongly enough, say, compared to the AB series (poor mastering/sound quality but still brilliant).

Subjective, this all is. As usual.

Try this: take your favourite, most emotive album and convert it to 96kbps mp3. Does it have the same impact on you? Or are there certain qualities missing making it less of an experience?

Can we please merge this and the Future Islands thread

  On 4/25/2014 at 4:02 PM, Amen Lare said:

 

  On 4/25/2014 at 3:35 PM, bleepsnbloops said:

Oh, and the idea that music can be good/bad or that shangaan electro fails to meet certain standards is really silly. Whether or not you can tune into what this guy is trying to evoke is the challenge. The question should be, especially when discussing anything 'left-field, 'Does a track express the ideas, emotions, feelings of the producer?' not 'Is this track as good as this track from a different artist?

 

 

Good/bad is just a compass inside us, what's silly about it? The idea of music, or art in general, as a means of self-expression is not a universal one, it's rather a child of a new era, the little one at that. Beethoven wasn't expressing his feelings or even brilliant ideas, music is something much bigger than that and its mechanics is basically unknown. Art at core was a translation of God, there was no authorship in it.

 

good/bad implies some sort of universal measure or scale, to which music can be compared too. Blanket statements about the sounds, without first thinking about why those sonic choices were made is silly, because it fails to recognize artistic intention and instead only deals with genre/industry conventions and standards.

And if art isn't self-expression, what is?

Sure, Beethoven was expressing himself. His music tells us something about him. Maybe it doesn't tell us what he was feeling but it certainly tells us something about his interpretation of sound, people, emotions etc.

  On 4/25/2014 at 4:03 PM, StephenG said:

 

  On 4/25/2014 at 3:35 PM, bleepsnbloops said:

 

  On 4/25/2014 at 12:50 AM, Cryptowen said:

this guy totally nails a very specific percussive sound i've been hunting for for a long time - dry, blippy, just the right mix of fake & natural sounding. Scitters all over the place but doesn't feel like it's trying to wow me

 

liking the vocals as well, reminds me a bit of the first battles album. if i recall, a big chunk of watmm dfdidn't like the vocals on that either so I DUNNO MAN

 

 

Oh, and the idea that music can be good/bad or that shangaan electro fails to meet certain standards is really silly. Whether or not you can tune into what this guy is trying to evoke is the challenge. The question should be, especially when discussing anything 'left-field, 'Does a track express the ideas, emotions, feelings of the producer?' not 'Is this track as good as this track from a different artist?

 

 

Quality of sound/dynamics is a key component in the presentation of audio imagery, and thus the presentation feels lacking when things like mastering/eq'ing are not done properly. It detracts from the ability of the track to convey the "ideas, emotions,..." etc that you are referring to.

 

Can some songs have shitty mastering and still convey a message? Yeah. But in this particular instance in my opinion the music does not stand on its own strongly enough, say, compared to the AB series (poor mastering/sound quality but still brilliant).

 

Subjective, this all is. As usual.

 

Try this: take your favourite, most emotive album and convert it to 96kbps mp3. Does it have the same impact on you? Or are there certain qualities missing making it less of an experience?

 

What do you mean by 'mastering/eq'ing are not done properly'? What is properly? and why should an artist conform to 'properly' if they don't feel it allows them to express what they want to?

With Shangaan Electro, every characteristic is purposeful and an artistic intention. To say, 'it should be this way' is to take away a lot of creative freedom and ignores the question of 'why did they do it this way?'

Also your analogy about taking my favorite album and changing its bitrate isn't right, because that would be me putting my stamp on their intention/creativity

reminds me of an African Omar Souleyman. Got that budget casio demo vibe to it.

I bet it's fun as fuck live.

  On 4/25/2014 at 1:49 AM, rddm said:

(Warning: I may not have a clue what I'm talking about here)

 

I really like how John Wizards straddles the line of this Shangaan Electro groove and other stuff, but its obviously not as fast.

Was the older-er (?) iteration of this stuff people are talking in this thread more fun? like JW?

 

Where can I find more fun SE groove stuff?

I hear ya mate, John Wizards definitely puts a more friendly spin on the Shangaan Electro style within there own sound..... at least that's what it sounds like, then again...I may be talking out of my ass.

  On 4/25/2014 at 12:18 AM, varius said:

new track & video

 

[youtubehd]6xl_Xu2dEwA[/youtubehd]

  On 4/25/2014 at 12:50 AM, Cryptowen said:

this guy totally nails a very specific percussive sound i've been hunting for for a long time - dry, blippy, just the right mix of fake & natural sounding.

https://soundcloud.com/fluorescentgrey/shangaank