Robots like Robots
Quickie for V-day:
Stephen Shannon says "reboot" - He is a young producer from Dublin, Ireland. According to his Myspace profile, he is a member of a group called Halfset "most of the time," but he writes a lot of music outside of the band, and has taken to recording it himself recently. He just started posting music to myspace, and this is one of the first four tracks - I like it a lot and it seemed like it would be a good fit here on this site too.
Among the influences he cites on his profile he includes "tons of stuff" ranging from modernist composers Philip Glass, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Brian Eno, and Steve Reich (which I definitely hear on this particular track); post rock folks like Tortoise and Stereolab; and electronic and rock artists as diverse as Delia Derbyshire (co-writer of the amazing Dr. Who theme-song), Minotaur Shock, Mice Parade, Boards of Canada, Wagon Christ, Cougar, Colder, Mum, the Album Leaf, M83, the Notwist, his Halfset bandmate Jeff Martin, fellow Irishman Hulk, Benge, and Hint. I know most but not all of those folks, and the ones I do know I can see how they fit as pieces of the puzzle. I think with this particular track, I'd have to include Air's most recent full-length, Talkie Walkie, especially the also-Japan-themed "Alone In Kyoto" - I guess its probably the arpeggiated synth that hops along through the lentgh of the song that caught my ear first, but the bouncing electro-ish beat and bassline are also solid stuff.
Stephen says he'll keep the songs updated and changed regularly, and he's definitely looking for comments and feedback, so drop the robot-loving guy a note.
Happy Valentine's day!