Suddenly Spring. Listen Close...

It's been a minute since I've posted something really thought out. Life has kept me on the go and I've had little time to blog. Although I haven't had much time to blog, the music has been flowing out of my finger tips. I habitually create new tunes as part of my daily meditation, it's what keeps me somewhat centered.
Moving on, I can't help but share this gem I've been sitting on for years. Royksopp is one of the greatest groups born in this electronic era. I am extremely picky about Electronic music, and I must say that this album is like some Wonka chocolate. So hit the listen link, grab a glass of milk and enjoy this rich electronic stereo duo. A must in every taste makers crate!

Info:
Röyksopp (Norwegian pronunciation: [ˈɾøʏksɔp]) are a Grammy nominated [1] Norwegian electronic music duo from Tromsø, composed of Torbjørn Brundtland and Svein Berge. The group formed officially in 1998 and released their debut album Melody A.M. on Wall of Sound in 2001.

The word Röyksopp is a stylized version of the Norwegian word for the puffball mushroom, "røyksopp" or literally, "smoke mushroom".


History

Brundtland and Berge were schoolmates in their hometown of Tromsø, experimenting with electronic instruments in the early 1990s, being a part of the Tromsø techno scene. They were members of various electro acts in their youth, such as Aedena Cycle, Alanïa and Drum Island. Their childhood in Tromsø and the spectacular northern Norwegian scenery have often been mentioned[2][3][4][5] as one of their most important inspirations. However, the duo did not appear as Röyksopp until years later when they met again in Bergen. The city had now overtaken Tromsø's position as the most vital scene for underground electronic music in Norway, and Röyksopp worked with other Norwegian musicians such as Frost, Kings of Convenience’s guitarist/singer Erlend Øye and Bjørn Torske in what was called the Bergen Wave.

Röyksopp's first singles were released by local independent label Tellé, and their album Melody A.M. on British label Wall of Sound. It spawned the single "Eple", one of the group's most known tracks,[citation needed] along with "Poor Leno", "Remind Me" and "Sparks". Eple (IPA: [ˈɛplə]) means "apple" in Norwegian. Their single "Eple" was used by Apple Inc. as the music for the startup video for Mac OS X 10.3

The popularity of the duo’s music was boosted by several graphically experimental music videos. One of them, an infographic-styled video by French company H5 for the track "Remind Me", won the 2002 MTV Europe Music Award for best music video. In this same event the duo was nominated in three more categories: "Best Nordic Act", "Best New Artist" and "Best Dance Act", but only won the award for best video. The duo performed the song "Poor Leno"[6] at the event. One year later the duo received a nomination to Brit Awards, the most prestigious British music award in the category "Best Group", though without winning it.

Röyksopp's second studio album The Understanding was released in 12 July 2005, preceded by the single “Only This Moment” in 27 June, 2005. The video “Only This Moment” is closely based on the events of the Paris 1968 riots[citation needed] and elements of propaganda are found throughout the video clip. The album's second single, “49 Percent”, was released on 26 September, 2005. A third single, "What Else Is There?", reached #1 on the British Dance Chart.

In 2006, Röyksopp released a nine-track live album, called Röyksopp's Night Out. The album contains a new dance version of their single “Sparks” and a reinterpretation of the song “Go with the Flow”, originally by Queens of the Stone Age.
Röyksopp performing at Fuji Rock, Niigata, Japan, in 2005

In 2007, Röyksopp compiled their favourite tracks by other artists for the Back to Mine series. The album was released in the US on March 5 2007 and in the UK on April 27 2007. The album also includes their own track “Meatball”, released under the pseudonym “Emmanuel Splice”, which is actually a remix version of Mike Oldfield's “North Star/Platinum Finale” from the album Platinum. This year Svein Berge also contributed as a board member for the celebration of the Grieg year, as Norway celebrated their famous composer Edvard Grieg[7].

Röyksopp's website was changed to coincide with their 10th birthday. They released a new track “Happy Birthday” for free on 15 December 2008 to celebrate this event, in both MP3 and WAV formats.

On March 23, 2009, Röyksopp's third studio album Junior was released, which features the single "Happy Up Here". The song debuted on BBC Radio 1's Pete Tong show on 9 Jan 2009. It was officially released digitally on January 18, 2009 and was released physically on 9 March 2009. The music video features elements from the arcade game Space Invaders. Both the single and the video were met with positive reactions from the press and fans.[8][9][10][11] Junior will be followed by an album Senior, a counterpart to Junior, which is quiet, "withdrawn and introspective" and "create an atmosphere and an ambience".[12][13] The album will be released during spring/summer 2010.

"The Girl and the Robot", the second single from the album Junior including vocals from Swedish singer Robyn, was released on June 15 2009 in Europe, June 16 in America and on June 29 in the UK, with remixes from Kris Menace, Chateau Marmont and Spencer & Hill. "This Must Be It" is the third single from the album, including vocals from Swedish singer Karin Dreijer Andersson of The Knife and Fever Ray. The single also featuring remixes by Thin White Duke, LehtMoJoe, Rex the Dog and Apparat, among others. The band has also released "Tricky Tricky" stems as part of the remix competition. The winning entries were released on October 27, 2009.[14]

The tracks "What Else Is There?" and "Eple" were chosen among the top 500 tracks of the decade by Pitchfork Media. They were placed in respectively 375th and 336th place [15]. Another track written by Röyksopp, Annie's "Heartbeat" was placed 17th on the same list [16]. On November 24th 2009, Melody A.M. was named the best Norwegian album of the decade by Norways largest newspaper, VG[17]. The Understanding came 5th on the same list. The song "Eple" was placed 3rd in the selection of the top 10 Norwegian tracks of the decade[18]. "What Else Is There?" came 6th.


A number of Röyksopp tracks have been used in commercials or as background music in television programs and films.

* The song "Eple" (literally "apple" in Norwegian) was licensed by Apple for use as the welcome music to the company’s Mac OS X Panther operating system, playing the first time a user booted a new Mac.[19] It was also used as the music for the title sequence for BBC World’s Click Online (now Click) and as background music during DJ talk on Virgin Radio.
* Röyksopp's first single "So Easy", originally released on the Tellé label before their commercial breakthrough, became popular in the UK after it was used in a T-Mobile advertisement. The song was re-released as a single in the UK, combined with "Remind Me".
* "Remind Me", one of the two Röyksopp and Erlend Øye collaborations found on Melody A.M., can be heard in a Geico car insurance commercial in the U.S. The commercial is the fourth of the "It's so easy a caveman could do it" ads, and features said caveman riding a moving sidewalk in an airport terminal when he comes across a poster displaying the inflammatory ad campaign.
* Röyksopp's sixth single, "Only This Moment" was featured in the film "Just My Luck" starring Lindsay Lohan and Chris Pine.
* Two of their songs were used in the EA Sports football video game franchise FIFA. "Follow My Ruin" was used in FIFA 06. "It's What I Want" is used in the soundtrack for FIFA 10.
* The tune of "Happy Up Here" is played in the co-sponsored-by ads on VH1 India.
* The hit song "What Else Is There?" was featured during a scene in the 2007 American film, "Meet Bill" Starring Aaron Eckhart. It was also used during the end credits of the 2006 film "Cashback".
* 'Circuit Breaker' off 'The Understanding' was in the 2007 soundboard film Picture This - Mack Dawg Productions.

Awards
at the 2005 Glastonbury Festival

2001

* Spellemannprisen (the Norwegian equivalent to the Grammy)
o Best Music Video - (for "Eple")
o Best Electronic Album - (for "Melody A.M.")

2002

* Spellemannprisen
o Best Music Video - (for "Remind Me")
o Spellemann Special Award
* MTV Europe Music Awards
o Best Music Video - (for "Remind Me")
* Alarmprisen
o Best Pop - (for "Melody A.M.")
o Best House/Techno - (for "Melody A.M.")
o Best Music - (for "Eple")

2003

* Brit Awards
o Best International Group (Nominated)

2005

* Spellemannprisen
o Best Pop Group

2006

* Alarmprisen
o Best Club - (for "The Understanding")

2010

* Spellemannprisen
o Best Composer (for "Junior")
o Best Electronic Album (for "Junior")

Discography
Main article: Röyksopp discography

* Melody A.M. (2001)
* The Understanding (2005)
* Junior (2009)
* Senior (2010)

Tracklisting:
1. So Easy
2. Eple
3. Sparks
4. In Space
5. Poor Leno
6. A Higher Place
7. Royksopp's Night Out
8. Remind Me
9. She's So
10. 40 Years Back/Come

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Thought Clouds Radio Hosted By: Mikestyles (03/19/08)

As promised, I'm back with the "Thought Clouds Radio," hosted by your favorite dj's favorite DJ, Mikestyles... With special guest and queen of the Brasilian Beat, Tita Lima. This broadcast gets deep into Brazil and the culture...

Here's an Interview By Cazembe Abena (07-13-07)

I met the Brazilian artist Tita Lima, through Garth Trinidad at the KCRW studios during a broadcast of ‘Chocolate City’. Garth’s musical taste is impeccable, so when he endorsed Tita with four stars, I knew I had to interview her. OK, I’ll admit it – the voice and the smile hooked me too. While in the studio, I remember glancing in a mirror once and seeing ‘sucker’ on my forehead. But, luckily for me, Tita is a chanteuse of tremendous talent and sensual soul. Musical acumen has surrounded her since birth. Her father is an accomplished bassist and breathed the Samba muse into her that gave birth to a skillful bass player. Tita learned to play piano from her grandmother. São Paulo’s musical scene has sharpened Tita as an adept singer, composer, and musician. She has shared the stage with genre greats such as Bocato, João Donato and Luz de Carolina to name just a few. She has been given respect by DJs world wide from the UK’s Gilles Peterson, to the US’s Garth Trinidad, to Brazil’s Patricia Palumbo and Rafael Moraes. Her first solo album ’11:11’ is a shining accomplishment of songwriting and an outstanding collection of world-class musicians. The Bossa Nova, Hip-Hop, and Samba grooves cover you like palm tree shade on Concha Beach. Ms. Lima is of a new breed of Samba artists whose musical palette includes Jazz, Hip-Hop, Funk, Reggae, Electronica and a host of disparate musical styles that influence their music. The result is an artist who can amass a broad audience through infectious compositions. If Tita’s music doesn’t make you smile, you’ll at least be thinking pleasant thoughts. And, it doesn’t matter that the lyrics are in Portuguese because from the sound of the first note you know that the vibe is coming from the right place – straight from Tita’s heart. Her unpretentious, pure and simple resonance defies any language barrier. To meet her is to experience the palpable warmth of sensuous positivity that lives in her music. We decided to conduct the interview over sushi in Venice – how very LA of us. During our conversation I learned about her inspirations, the meaning of ‘11:11’… and… well… how it feels to get punked doing a wasabi toast. Cazembe Abena (LA2DAY) – So, you were saying that you’ve been running away from music for a long time? A pregnant pause and then a recoil. Tita Lima – …Ouch. (Laughter) Tita Lima – Not the last four years, but yes… I did for a while. Cazembe – Because you didn’t see much of a future in it? You saw other musicians struggling? Tita Lima – Yes I did, and that was kind of discouraging. But… it’s my passion. Cazembe – How long have you been together with the members of your band? Tita – Five years. I have a big jazz band. Cazembe – How many members? Tita – Seven. I can’t travel with them, so what I’m doing is I’m meeting musicians from every city and forming bands there. I’m going to have a band in New York... I’m going to have one in LA… one in Portland… Seattle… London… Because I don’t have the money to afford travel for members of my band yet, I have to do it this way. Cazembe – How do you categorize what you do? Tita – I do a lot of old classic Sambas and Samba Jazz – stuff from thirty years ago. I listen to a lot of Flora Purim, João Donato, and Astrud. I also listen to a lot of Jazz. I love Shirley Horn. I always wanted to sing like her. I also listen to Chet Baker. I mix it… I listen to the stuff from my generation – Hip Hop. I love Hip-Hop. I love Reggae. I love Dub. I love bass. I’m also very into horns. I love horns and I try to keep everything raw. I try to keep things simple and raw, but with energy. When it gets too complicated – too many keyboards, too much stuff - you lose something. I try to cut it a little bit. But, there are some things that we did with programming the MPC, and noises with synthesizers. Cazembe – So, a little Electronica is in there? Tita – A little bit, yeah. Cazembe – What does the title ’11:11’ mean? Tita – It’s kind of a personal thing, but I have to talk about it because everyone always asks me. I didn’t know what it meant when I started seeing those numbers. It started to happen about six years ago. I would see them every morning and every night. Cazembe - You would see the number on a clock? Tita – On clocks, hotel rooms, the number would show up a lot and I didn’t know what it was. It has a different meaning to each person… after I started seeing it… to me it means synchronicity. When you start to doubt something… this tells you that it’s OK… where to go… it’s like a light shining. But it means synchronicity, when things are supposed to work together. And it’s a lucky number. I would see it after making good decisions. Cazembe – Eleven is considered a very powerful number in metaphysics. Tita – Yes, it is. I have a book my mother gave to me called ‘The Portal of 11:11’ - it’s an intense book. I’m still studying, so I can’t really talk too much about it without knowing the numerology behind it, you know? Our waiter brings our food. Cazembe – I understand. Ahhh… the sushi has arrived. We decide to talk and eat. I decide to try and do something macho. Cazembe – OK, let’s do a ‘wasabi toast’. I got this from a good friend of mine. Have you ever done it? Tita – No. What is it? Cazembe – You take your chopsticks and scoop up a good amount of wasabi. We both do this. Tita’s got way too much. Cazembe – Whoa. Ok, you’ve got too much – more than me. You better scrape some of that off or your head will explode. Tita takes her wasabi portion down to a workable amount. Cazembe – OK, now we toast and eat it. Cheers. We tap our chopsticks together and down the wasabi straight, right off the sticks. wa·sa·bi (wə-sä'bē, wä'sə-) n. Wasabia japonica, Cochlearia wasabi, or Eutrema japonica) is a member of the cabbage family. Known as Japanese horseradish, its root is used as a spice and has an EXTREMELY strong flavor. Its hotness is more akin to that of a hot mustard than the capsaicin in a chili pepper, producing vapors that irritate the nasal passages more than the tongue. The plant grows naturally along stream beds in mountain river valleys in Japan. OR Hydrochloric acid nose candy. Tita and I stare at each other for a moment while the wasabi hits our nasals like a smooth explosion of acid. I try my best to stop my eyes from watering. I fail. Miserably. Tita – Mmmmm… mmmm… I love it. Cazembe – (Cough) Good flavor… (Cough) huh…? (Cough) So much for my manhood. Tita – Mmmmm… I love it. I want to do more. Cazembe – You want to do more…?! Tita – More. Cazembe – You want to do it again? Wow. We scoop again. This time I make sure that she gets ‘enough’ wasabi… dammit. The explosion again… Tita – Oooooo… now I got it… Tita shows me that she’s human after all as her eyes water while she twitches her nose. I think that perhaps my manhood has been salvaged. Cazembe – It got you that time. (Laughter) I thank the wasabi gods. Tita – It got me that time. It didn’t before. Cazembe – It got you… Tita – Oooooo… that’s better. Now I can breath. (Sniffle) Cazembe – Do you like to take chances? Tita – I do. I used to worry too much. Now, I don’t worry anymore. I just do what I want to do. If I want to play the keyboards live – I’ll do it. I don’t play it that much, but… I make good melodies… I can go with a vibe… it’s all intuitive. Cazembe – What do you sing about? Tita – It really depends. I’m all over the place. One day I’m in love, one day I want to kill somebody… one day I’m OK and life’s beautiful… (Laughter) Tita – That’s how it is. I have one good song that I wrote when I was depressed, but that really doesn’t work for me. I only write when I’m happy. Cazembe – So, you’ve found that you’ve written your best work when you’re in a good space… when you’re happy… because that’s what you want to communicate? You don’t want to communicate any negativity? Tita – That’s right. Not at all. No negativity. The world is already too negative. But, I do have a few strong lyrics in a couple of songs. Because I was upset with behind the scenes stuff. There’s a song I wrote called ‘Esquizofrevo’, it’s about people who want to be stars, and they are all struggling and trying to find their way in the market. And at the same time they are very frustrated and they put down other people. They talk behind your back, they try to steal your fame, you know? I have a song about that. It’s very strong. But I’m going to work on the translations for my songs because everybody asks me about them. And most of the time they are stories and situations that have happened, that’s what I sing about. It’s hard to translate, but I will. And we will be waiting. Until then, however, we’ll let Tita continue to touch our hearts through the most powerful language known to man – music. By Cazembe Abena Discography 11:11 (Kajmere Sound 06/07) www.titalima.com

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Lemon Jelly- Stay With You Video

WOW WHAT A SONG.... I HAVEN'T HEARD THIS SONG IN YEARS!!! GIVE IT A LISTEN/WATCH!!!