The Hippodrome

Twelve Download

If you thought that the creativity of math rock was close to exhausted after Battles’ Mirrored, then you were wrong. Beyond the beauty still to be found in odd-timed bursts of noise, Jacob and I explore the genre with an equally odd instrumentation — just two basses and drums. Mixed with a touch of Godspeedesque ambience, this is a band I’ll be looking out for soon on the “Forkcast,” or if you’re reading this Ryan Schreiber, you can thank me now.

Looks like Jacob and I are on a bit of a tour as well:

12.14.07 — Columbia, SC — The 112
12.18.07 — Nazareth, PA — Barn
12.19.07 — Brooklyn, NY — Brooklyn Cat House
12.21.07 — Knoxville, TN — Old City Java

It was hard to pick only one of my good buddy’s videos to showcase here, but I decided to post “Four Corners” for its homemade charm and vintage vibe. Unfortunately, Ben doesn’t have that mohawk anymore. Tell me about it.

I’m proud to announce that today, barely three months after The Hippodrome’s conception, we’ve made it onto the net’s two most esteemed mp3 blog aggregators, The Hype Machine and Elbo.ws! It’s nice to have two seriously awesome sites syndicating us, so I hope you’ll join me in bookmarking both of them and checking often for The Hippodrome’s content as well as the great work of the world’s best music blogs.

Thanks for your support and readership!

The Magic Love Spell Download
Big Bird Is A He Download
Hunting For Woozles Download

Daniel Fischer started recording his eccentrically beautiful loop based tracks under the name Fisch Loops only about three years ago, but the samples and techniques he uses resonate with enough pop culture to satisfy even the most discerning mash-up fan. I stumbled upon his MySpace on an especially late and stressful night last week, but the second I took a listen to his work, my frown melted like a stick of butter on Venus.

As someone who is obsessed with children’s music and audio samples, A Look Into The Secret World Of Fisch Loops, the album Fischer was kind enough to send me from his home in Salt Lake City, Utah, is a goldmine. The album’s ten tracks include audio from Sesame Street, Winnie the Pooh, and everything in between. I’m still trying to locate where he got half of these samples, but that’s the fun of it!

Although Fischer doesn’t spin live with his FL work, his several other projects, Rotten Musicians, Julio Child and Daniel Tiger all find their niche in the small Salt Lake City music scene. The MF Doom/Madlib influence is duly felt in Fischer’s work ethic, his prolificacy derived from the fact that he’s “easily bored with just one thing.”

“The most recent Fisch Loops album is my attempt at an instrumental album and not just three and a half minute long repeating loops with no vocals,” Fischer says of his latest effort. Fastidiousness is what makes this record a prime example of electronic sampling mastery — it’s an attention to detail and tenacity in searching that makes the music so interesting. Underneath this bed of well-spliced samples is usually an unobtrusive, loungy backbeat, reminiscent of Luna or Tortoise.

It was very difficult to only pick three pieces to put up for The Hippodrome’s featured tracks, but I hope “The Magic Love Spell,” “Big Bird Is A He,” and “Hunting For Woozles” all divulge a piece of the intricate electronic puzzle that is Fisch Loops. To be honest, finding artists like FL is really the reason that The Hippodrome exists. No bad vibes to the thriving scenes out there, but finding good music in tough places is what motivates me to hunt in the vast musical wasteland known as MySpace.

My hunt is also a startling analogy for Fischer’s approach to music as well. “Mostly,” he says, “I enjoy listening to a record that I’ve never heard before and finding a little morsel of awesomeness and then expanding on it.”

And many more!