Click to listen while reading: Roberto Cacciapaglia – My Time and here for an amazing televised performance by Ann Steel.

This is a quick snapshot of my life. I hear a song. I love the song. I try and find out who sings the song. I can’t find out who sings the song. The song takes on mythic proportions of greatness.

My Time was one of these songs. I heard it on my phone while out on a walk. I was listening to my favorite internet radio station from Italy. I tried to catch the name of the artist. I didn’t have a pen just my lousy memory brain. By the time I finished with my long walk, all I could remember was Roberto Ca____? I couldn’t remember his last name or the name of the song, grrr!

I spent many hours on the internet searching, trying variations of Roberto Ca (missing letters). I searched through a database of Italian last names to jog my memory, nothing. I watched the internet radio station playlist to see if it would pop up again, nope. I gave up, temporarily. I then began a futile search for another song called morceau inconnu 7, which I was soon to find out meant “unknown song track 7” in French. Haha, the joke is always on me.

Last week I was in San Francisco. My tradition is to have breakfast at Boogaloo on Valencia and then pop into Aquarius Records to see what’s new. I usually buy something there because they’ll have stuff no one else does like, for instance, my beloved Hala Strana. I bought a CD last year, I don’t remember who it was, I ended up selling it. But who buys CDs anymore, right? It’s all about the vinyl these days. And the vinyl section is where I was looking when I saw it! The Ann Steel album by Roberto Cacciapaglia! It was a re-issue from the late 70s and they wrote a little blurb about it being electronic music ahead of it’s time. This must be the guy, I thought. I didn’t buy it though because I still wasn’t sure if it was the right person (duh) and I wanted to double check. Now I kick myself for not getting it but I was in a really bad mood that morning and about to drive back to Los Angeles. So my joy was tempered by other frustrations.

With the name of the album I was able to find the song on YouTube. It was still a bit confusing because the artist is listed as Ann Steel on many of the uploaded videos while the album credit is given to Roberto Cacciapaglia. If you look up Roberto Cacciapaglia on YouTube, all that comes up is his more recent music which is nice but not my thing. So as I have explained, finding this song was not easy but through a lucky chance my musical mission has been fulfilled, this time.

My Time was covered by the Belgium synth-pop band Telex (video below). Their version, I think, is the more popular one. I prefer the oddly-accented vocals by singer Ann Steel on Cacciapaglia’s original. It’s what made this song worthy of investigations.

Now you know what I do with My Time.

Telex – My Time

More on The Ann Steel album here.

AraabMuzik – Remember

Julee Cruise – I Remember

Sibylle Baier – Remember the Day

Coolio – I Remember

MDC – I Remember

Daphni – Ahora

Nice thick beats and an echoing Eastern-sounding sample start this song off right. But when the harmonizing melody and house beats start, I’m ready to fly away with the music. Where will it take me? Ah, the break at 1:20, it feels like I’ve just flown through a fuzzy musical cloud! Nice get away, this song.

Due to the technological availability of computer music programs, a lot people are doing electronic music these days and while their beeps, bumps and drops may sound nice, many seem to be missing the arte (as we say in Flamenco) that goes with it. Some people might call it soul or depth, perhaps it’s just good old fashioned talent. This song keeps it simple, with just a bit of tweaking and nods to the sample. Daphni also adds in heavy dizzy drums and high hats punctuated by double echoing beats at just the right moments. If you don’t like electronic music, you might say “Eh, sounds like everything else” but to those of you who do like electronic music, who do listen intently, you know what I mean, right?

By the way, Daphni is a side project of Daniel Victor Snaith, best known for the band Caribou.

Daphni – Ahora (Margot Remix)

Hehe

I’d like to include some kind of literary musical tribute to the past year but my writing skills are out of practice and I’m afraid my words would make no one happy, so it’s just the music folks!

Some of my favorite songs this year were released in previous years and time willing, I’ll post those up sometime in the next few days.

For now, take a listen and let me know if any of these were you favorites and please, tell me which songs I missed.

Cheers and Happy 2012!

2011: “Where the concrete meets the river”

Austra – Beat and Pulse (extended)
The beat is pure old school cold wave electronica, the pulse relentless and the amazing vocals by Katie Stelmanis are flavored with Siouxsie-like echoes combining to create an overall sinister kind of mood.

Brenmar – Done (Don’t Luve Me No More)
A last minute addition, awesome track. First heard from one of my favorite music curators/DJs/Record producers, Disaro. Their label is putting out some amazing music.

Burial – Halo
What can you say about Burial? He’s amazing, just listen.

Cassius-I Love You So (Skream remix)
Nu-Jungle or J-Tek (Jungle Tekno) and it’s massive! (to borrow a British term). This track has everything 90s electronic music did well, plus some: diva vocals, anthemic hooks, addictive sing-a-long lyrics and the beautiful 140 rpm Amen Break.

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Girls At Our Best – Warm Girls (1980)

Despite this tune being from 1980, there is something so fresh and fine sounding to the ears about this song. It could be the production quality of the song, for a post-punk band from the 80s, the engineering is really quite good. The guitars are crisp and heavy, the bass just slides right along with it, creating a perfect rockin’ balance. It’s apparent how influential this early 80s post-punk sound is on current punky musicians.
I sometimes think I’ve heard everything, that there is little music from the 80s that I missed but discoveries like this will keep me searching for more.

The Girls At Our Best album has just been re-released. Link here.

Girls At Our Best – Politics!(1980)