Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Feb 1, 2012, 2:00 pm
Maps & Atlases have let loose a cryptic trailer for their upcoming release Beware And Be Grateful. Not entirely sure what it means…if we’re looking at a concept album or what, but I do hope there will be more of these shorts. I’m liking the album’s crossed arrows logo, as well the snippet ...
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Jan 26, 2012, 8:44 am
I get why Skrillex is derisive, but why the whole genre? Sure the most popular elements of the genre are like a bowl of Frosted Flakes and Lucky Charms over coffee but I think the core American fanbase that’s probably ruining dubstep for the world. Either way, racist or not…Michael Richards ...
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Jan 23, 2012, 9:00 am
In the long ago days that we called 2006, the stars aligned, money appeared and I secured a press pass to Iceland Airwaves. I flew alone to Reykjavik and took in the festival. It’s always a well curated affair that takes over most of the small 101 district. The charm lies in the close proximit...
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Jan 21, 2012, 9:00 am
Despite the unfortunate title, Diaper Island is an amazing, heady mix of reverbed mood woven with a voice that at times seems barely strong enough to sustain the weight of the sometimes sad words sung. I had somehow missed the boat on finding him through any of his previous three releases, but I’...
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Jan 20, 2012, 9:00 am
I don’t have a strong opinion about Das Racist, every so often someting pops up from them that you can’t deny the slacker brilliance. I grabbed Heems’s recently released mixtape ‘Nehru Jackets’ on a whim and was pretty impressed. More than a few tracks are built around awesome chopped sa...
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Jan 19, 2012, 6:00 pm
While I’m not a massive fan of Joanna Newsom’s last two albums, but I have a deep affection for her debut The Milk Eyed Mender. This week’s episode of Austin City Limits features her…and Fleet Foxes, but who cares about them. Newsom’s vocal style has softened over the years, but the melo...
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Jan 19, 2012, 9:00 am
I can count on one hand, the number of times that I listened to Isam this year but it still deserves a place on this year-end tally. The album is a solid listen, best with a nice pair of headphones to appreciate the intricacies of the production, but the best way to experience the album is in a far...
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Oct 17, 2011, 10:27 pm
Hard as hell to look up due to their name, but a fantastic single from an up and coming UK act.
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Aug 9, 2011, 8:46 pm
ɖɖʝʝɭɭɨɨɑɑɳɳ – βɐɽɻʝƈɑɗɛʂ (ʂɨʂʈɛɽ ʍɐɲʈɵs mʝχ) from DDIILLIIAANN on Vimeo.
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Jul 31, 2011, 12:04 am
Check out the new EP from the world’s greatest wonk-step artist Hudson Mohawke. The full 5 song EP is now up on youtube and if you like you can pre-order the vinyl from Bleep or a digital copy from ye olde iTunes. Expected street date is August 2nd 2011.
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Jul 26, 2011, 9:49 pm
The most popular of all Frank Zappa songs has been given the chiptune treatment and well, it works. I don’t honestly know if I’d ever thought of an 8-bit cover of anything Zappa, but the bouncy melodies work perfectly. Credit is given to Super Zappa Brothers and bonus points for their resistin...
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Jul 14, 2011, 10:23 pm
An English woman’s opinion. Right? Drowned In Sound sent relentlessly English writer Wendy Roby to cover Les Eurockéennes de Belfort, the long running French festival. The line up this year was a happily jumbled mix of sounds, putting Les Savy Fav on the same bill as House of Pain. FINALLY! A...
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Jul 12, 2011, 9:05 pm
Memory Tapes – Green Knight (CREEP Remix) from OFFICIAL CREEP on Vimeo. A lush video for an equally lush remix. Still working out the kinks in the new design, also…figuring out if I actually like it.
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Jul 10, 2011, 10:25 pm
The redesign is underway, but the content is still forthcoming. In the meantime, enjoy Radiohead’s complete 54 minute set, performing this years The King of Limbs, an album which seems to exist far more comfortably in a live context. As a bonus, there’s two new songs: “Staircase” and the e...
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Oct 13, 2010, 12:06 am
I got into such a good rhythm there: frequent posts, longer form content and more music. Shame I had to go and get a regular job that has taken my time up for the last few weeks. For those that know me or the folks who have read the rare non-music, vaguely personal posts that pop up on TTM from ti...
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Sep 17, 2010, 7:00 am
This year LA’s beatsmith Free The Robots finally released his new full length Ctrl Alt Delete on Alpha Pup Records. After a string of The standout track that shuffle seems to compelled to make me listen to is ‘Select/Start’, where the loping Coleco arpeggios wrap themselves around a barrage ...
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Sep 16, 2010, 8:35 pm
This week’s graffiti post is less about illegal art and more about some epic commissioned street art on an awesome scale. Miami duo Friends With You who made their name with a charmingly minimalistic, brightly colored pop art style, have worked with the Fubon Art Foundation to install a massive a...
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Sep 16, 2010, 2:28 pm
I’m slowly getting back into the swing of reviewing for other sites. It’s something I used to do before I had Taking Tiger Mountain. Click on the link above to check out my review of Shoulders of Giants for the awesome site Knocks From The Underground. I’ll have more coming from them and th...
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Sep 15, 2010, 5:03 pm
Remix Artist Collective have built a pretty excellent portfolio of high profile remixes of bands like U2 and Yeah Yeah Yeahs as well some great left field stuff like Anamanaguchi. They’ve got a particular polish to their sound that I love. A RAC remix often takes rock songs outside their genre i...
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Sep 12, 2010, 2:08 am
Maps & Atlases have released a clip for the track ‘Solid Ground’ from their recent, wonderful release Perch Patchwork. It’s a brilliant album from front to back, one I’ve been meaning to do a full review of for a while now. The video places the band member strewn about a grey forest, each ...
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Sep 10, 2010, 4:05 pm
Maybe one of the best videos ever? That’s a bit brash, but there’s something magical about Evan Roth’s “Cache Rules Everything Around Me,” which smashes together animated gifs to the equally smashed together sounds of Girl Talk. I bet if you could go back in time and show this to someone l...
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Sep 9, 2010, 9:00 am
Over two years ago, I had decided to blog about good street art in addition to the usual music here on Taking Tiger Mountain. After that initial post about Icelandic graffiti, radio silence. Let’s start it up again! I made a category on the site for graffiti, may as well use it. Via the great ...
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Sep 8, 2010, 5:23 pm
‘Cloudlight’ is a nearly perfect bit of glitch-hop, more than capable of holding its own up with any of Flying Lotus’s best. The song is the lead single from Brendan Angelides a.k.a Eskmo’s new album on Ninja Tune. Look for his self titled release on October 4th 2010.
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Sep 8, 2010, 11:12 am
Craft Spells – Party Talk This song quickly charmed me with the right mix of mood and melody. Craft Spells utilizes a simple bit of rhythm coupled with hazy backup vocals to make a song that is headnoddingly good. The Stockton, California duo of Justin Vallesteros and Frankie Soto have just sig...
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Sep 7, 2010, 1:38 pm
I’m not much of a skate video fan, but when I do watch, I like them to be high concept…or just blooper reels of people taking handrails to the nuts. The clip above is Lakai’s LAKAIROMANIA and it’s a great example of the former. It’s an awesome bit of slowmotion fire porn, with folks grin...
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Sep 6, 2010, 7:07 pm
Directed & animated by Maxime Bruneel.
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Sep 2, 2010, 10:01 am
It’s said in the about page of this website that chiptunes is one of the genres to be talked about within these virtual pages. Sadly, I think it’s been about 2 years since any such mutterings have happened. To rectify that, I went poking around the recesses of my mp3 collection and found a lov...
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Sep 1, 2010, 3:50 pm
Record Makers has brought us a fantastic remix of French house duo Acid Washed‘s self titled track. It’s a great bit of sci-fi styled, harpsichord driven space electro. The remix is off the forthcoming single, to be released by Record Makers on September 17th. Accompanying the Danger remix th...
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Sep 1, 2010, 9:01 am
While not necessarily new, as it launched in April of 2009, We Are Hunted a recent discovery of mine. It functions similarly to Elbows and Hype Machine, but chooses to do so in a more pleasing visual style. It’s all well coded and quite self contained, clicking on links brings up a player that w...
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Aug 31, 2010, 8:05 pm
An idea so simple and eloquent only the internet could have created it: Photoshop tacos onto your favorite album covers. Like vinyl face meme but better…because, you know…tacos.
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Aug 31, 2010, 1:09 pm
Eclectic Method has released their new homage to the best of 80’s and 90’s pixel beats. The accompanying video is badass, a stroll down Contra Lane populated by the ghosts of the classic Sega and Nintendo greats. I love the addition of a Mega Man-ified Blanka. For no reason but awesom...
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Aug 25, 2010, 5:44 pm
JONSI – GO DO I don’t know why this album is finally making sense to me. There was probably a lot of expectations wrapped up in the thought of Jónsi doing a solo release. I’ll go as far as to say that Sigur Rós doesn’t really even sound like Sigur Rós anymore, but upon ...
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Aug 8, 2010, 6:45 pm
My brain is still pretty blown from a 16 hour solo drive, so all the plans I had for posts last week just kinda fell by the wayside. Much of my listening lately has consisted of Anthony Bourdain’s new audiobook Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook, so th...
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Aug 2, 2010, 9:00 am
Sometimes, out of all the press releases that find their way into my inbox one or two will yeild a reward. Dad Rocks! was a bit of a hard sell, what with the cheeky name and all. The man behind the band is Snævar Njáll Albertsson, lead singer for the Danish band Mimas. I was ready to pass the s...
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Jul 30, 2010, 9:00 am
Not that this Baltimore duo needs more exposure, but this song really gets to the heart of why Teen Dream is a beautiful, lush album. The lazy sway of the tune is performed with such little effort that it makes you feel that conjuring up such a lush mood is far easier than it really is. Love it. ...
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Jul 29, 2010, 5:21 pm
Markus Popp has crafted some of the more interesting and complex minimal electro in recent years. The pinnacle of his earlier work came with the mid 90’s pair of releases Systemische and 94 Diskont, which rose to the pinnacle of pastoral glitchy soundscapes. Then a trio, the music was center...
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Jul 28, 2010, 12:53 pm
So, seems Baeble is taking charge in hosting up some pretty sweet live shows. Be warned though, as the first time I tried to bring up the setlist function on their player and skip songs…flash just completely died. Linked here is the Local Natives show from the Bowery Ballroom in NYC, back in...
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Jul 27, 2010, 5:34 pm
I’m back from Comic-Con in 98% one piece. Joints a bit achey, shoulders a bit sore, brain very muddled. Kicking around the internet I completely ignored for the last week, I’m both very happy and a little sad to find this bootleg from the recent Cap’n Jazz reunion show. The joyf...
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Jul 20, 2010, 4:42 pm
It’s that time of year again…I’m heading to San Diego for Comic-Con 2010. There will be a little bit of a down time here at Taking Tiger Mountain as I’m whisked away to the whimsical capital of cosplay & convention exclusives. I’m a free agent this year, no longer tie...
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Jul 16, 2010, 1:31 pm
The newest teasery-trailery thing for the next Fincher movie The Social Network hit the web yesterday. I can’t really tell yet if the movie is going to be worth a damn as there’s an unnecessary drama slathered over every inch of the trailer. Ultimately, we’ll be sitting down to w...
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Jul 14, 2010, 2:35 pm
A pretty excellent rendition of the song. From the press release: “Chicago songsmiths Maps & Atlases have been making the rounds across America in support of their Barsuk-released debut LP, Perch Patchwork, recording in-studio sessions with Daytrotter, Done Waiting, The Wild Honey Pie and ...
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Jun 23, 2010, 4:20 pm
I’m realizing now I probably should have counted my pennies last year and hit up that DAT Politics show when I lived in Portland. I’ve been meaning to see what the fuck they do live with their live set, but it’s hard to convince folks that the spastic electro they make is awesome....
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Jun 21, 2010, 6:11 pm
I’m not really much a follower of Lykke Li’s career, but I recognize the hook from one of her other singles. The fantastic design blog Kitsune Noir posted this a few days ago and it struck me. I’ve always felt that the song is chilling if done right, and Lykke Li’s version ...
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Jun 18, 2010, 2:00 pm
I’ve had a ton of shit floating around on my HD that just hasn’t made it up to the site…tracks just nabbed from random websites that I mostly swooped off the shelf blind and have been digesting for a while now. Here’s a few from that batch: WILD NOTHING – CHINATOWN ...
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Jun 17, 2010, 7:00 am
Attachedhands have \this awesome video for ’shape/mode’ their contribution to the Post*Records compilation Fucking Friends Forever. The filtered wash of disconnected video clips created by Discovery of Magnetic North sits perfectly along side the pulsating, shimmering track. I’ve...
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Jun 16, 2010, 11:25 am
Ever listened to Phantogram and just said, “Well, I like this…but it’s just too darn sad?” Alan Wilkis has the cure for you with this remix, giving you a window into a parallel universe where singer keyboardist Sarah Barthel became the lead singer for CSS instead of Lovefoxx....
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Jun 10, 2010, 2:21 pm
Darwin Deez – Radar Detector from Lucky Number Music on Vimeo. A quirky little pop gem from Darwin Deez with an equally quirky video by Ace Norton, who has previously directed clips for Simian Mobile Disco, She & Him, and Patrick Wolf.
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Jun 10, 2010, 1:45 pm
I’ve added a Dropbox for the site. If you’d like to send me any material for review feel free to either utilize this new dropbox or just ole’ fashioned email will do – cody@takingtigermountain.com. Click on the image above or the widget in the sidebar to send me stuff.
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Jun 10, 2010, 1:07 pm
Now, if we can only get Zach Kelly to go one level deeper, we’ll all be that much closer to the editorial event horizon. I’m going to go listen to Deer Tick, a band that before this bout of recursive humor I wasn’t aware of.
Comment - Like

Cody D. posted an article on Taking Tiger Mountain - Jun 10, 2010, 12:34 am
From HEALTH’s second album Get Color. Bonus download: Javelin’s remix of “In Heat” from the same album. Via RCRD LBL.
Comment - Like