Fittingly after last time's dive into Carpenter Brut what would be the first thing I come across on soundcloud? Another iteration of the We Are Number One meme, which there are about to be plenty more mixes like this of now that the stems are available. It's had its funny moments for sure so I gave this one a shot. But its actually like really good, to the point where the vocals don't even sound that out of place. I'll wait with bted breath for the extended one to come out, but for now enjoy both it and it's instrumental counterpart.
-Claude Van Foxbat
Saturday, 17 December 2016
Monday, 12 December 2016
At The Joinery
Another post I've been holding onto for a while here. Let me tell you a little tale about me and synthwave. I was obviously well one that Kavinsky train since day one, I did see some people start making similar stuff that didn't have the electro lean of Kavinsky's stuff, but didn't really keep up with it aside from the occasional Lazerhawk or Perturbator. And that was fine, it got me by for a while and I was content. Flash back to two years ago when I first lay ears on Carpenter Brut...
My first exposure came in the form of the violently explosive Roller Mobster through Hotline Miami 2. This wasn't the plinky 'outrun' style of synthwave I'd seen around the 'net before, and it went hand in had with the neon drenched fast-paced violence that is the Hotline Miami experience. It does take on more retro style elements later on mind, taking a funky turn on a breakdown around the 2 minute 20 mark.
And I apologise for what may be the 4th time I've posted Roller Mobster, but it was important to lay the background (honest!). Anyway, one of the reasons I was drawn into Carpenter Brut in the first place is how different his overall aesthetic was. Most Synthwave I'd seen was all sci-fi, old 80's anime and retro-futurism (not that there's anything wrong with those but it was quite played out). Brut on the other hand is all about low budget 80's horror schtick, so expect lots of slightly occult imagery like goat skulls and the like, alongside some slightly seedy titles like Le Perv.
The closing song to the Hotline Miami 2 LP and a slightly different beast next. No pun intended there, but it is originally from the soundtrack to the movie of the same name, which did feature some beasties and a strong Lovecraft streak. Clocking in at 6 minutes long, Escape... does take a little while to get going, but it's a solid listen all the way through and it all makes the eventual payoff at 5:20 all that more sweeter.
-Claude Van Foxbat
My first exposure came in the form of the violently explosive Roller Mobster through Hotline Miami 2. This wasn't the plinky 'outrun' style of synthwave I'd seen around the 'net before, and it went hand in had with the neon drenched fast-paced violence that is the Hotline Miami experience. It does take on more retro style elements later on mind, taking a funky turn on a breakdown around the 2 minute 20 mark.
And I apologise for what may be the 4th time I've posted Roller Mobster, but it was important to lay the background (honest!). Anyway, one of the reasons I was drawn into Carpenter Brut in the first place is how different his overall aesthetic was. Most Synthwave I'd seen was all sci-fi, old 80's anime and retro-futurism (not that there's anything wrong with those but it was quite played out). Brut on the other hand is all about low budget 80's horror schtick, so expect lots of slightly occult imagery like goat skulls and the like, alongside some slightly seedy titles like Le Perv.
The closing song to the Hotline Miami 2 LP and a slightly different beast next. No pun intended there, but it is originally from the soundtrack to the movie of the same name, which did feature some beasties and a strong Lovecraft streak. Clocking in at 6 minutes long, Escape... does take a little while to get going, but it's a solid listen all the way through and it all makes the eventual payoff at 5:20 all that more sweeter.
-Claude Van Foxbat
Saturday, 10 December 2016
Weekend Reflections
Things slowing down and had time to think. Might not have been the best of ideas but hey whatever cannae change anything now so musn't dwell. Now that slightly depressing glimpse into my life is over let's talk tunes again.
Been on that Ford & Lopatin train again, shame it seems lke we won't see another LP from them for a while, I dig out this and their earlier work as Games every so often and fall in love with the retro aesthetic they have going on. The LP, Channel Pressure is a lot less sample based than the Games work and features a lot more of Joel Ford too, definitely check it out if this tickles yer ears.
Also found an old copy of one of Evan's mixtape type dealies he put out. Was always nice to get a mediafire link from him every now and then and have me instrumental hip hop needs catered to for a while. It's been a while since I've had one but I don't mind, looking over the stack of stuff he's given me for free, it'll tide me by for a few years more methinks.
Ev K - Morning
Also Nightmares On Wax has been back in rotation too. I mean, he never really left but still. After hearing about how one of my co-workers worked on the design of an early album of his I dug them all out in full force once again. Thought So... always seems to get overlooked in the grand scheme of NOW stuff, but it's home to some of my favourties. I'll have to get around to fixing up all the Warped posts sometime next year and see if my fave picks are still the same.
-Claude Van Foxbat
Pierre Alechinsky - Pavan One Thousand Regrets (1971)
Been on that Ford & Lopatin train again, shame it seems lke we won't see another LP from them for a while, I dig out this and their earlier work as Games every so often and fall in love with the retro aesthetic they have going on. The LP, Channel Pressure is a lot less sample based than the Games work and features a lot more of Joel Ford too, definitely check it out if this tickles yer ears.
Also found an old copy of one of Evan's mixtape type dealies he put out. Was always nice to get a mediafire link from him every now and then and have me instrumental hip hop needs catered to for a while. It's been a while since I've had one but I don't mind, looking over the stack of stuff he's given me for free, it'll tide me by for a few years more methinks.
Ev K - Morning
Also Nightmares On Wax has been back in rotation too. I mean, he never really left but still. After hearing about how one of my co-workers worked on the design of an early album of his I dug them all out in full force once again. Thought So... always seems to get overlooked in the grand scheme of NOW stuff, but it's home to some of my favourties. I'll have to get around to fixing up all the Warped posts sometime next year and see if my fave picks are still the same.
-Claude Van Foxbat
Tuesday, 6 December 2016
Time To Split
Frequent readers should know by now that I'm no stranger to posting game soundtracks. But this time I'm going to cover something a little special to me, I've said before that I give some credit to games in general for making me realise electronic music was my thing and what I'm about to cover was one of many that had a hand in that. I've held off posting any of this for petty much the entire time I've written here and now seems a good time as any.
Yeah we're talking TimeSplitters 2, the frantic arcadey shooter that occupied much of a young Foxbat's time. The main composer for TS2 was Graeme Norgate, who like most of the Free Radical crew was ex-Rare and himself is responsible for some tunes from GoldenEye for the Nintendo 64. We're going to start off with the TS2 version of Streets, which blew me away when I was younger, I'd never heard straight-up trance in a game that wasn't licensed music, and it accompanied the often frenzied shootouts on the map in spectacular fashion.
There's a wide variety of moods and genres explored as one would expect from the games time-hopping aesthetic. It gets remarkably chill at points too, take the theme for the industrial tiles in the mapmaker mode, not necessarily what you'd expect in a fast-paced FPS but it works out. I only really got to appreciate it on it's own like this, my experience with it in the game was quite limited, usually brief snippets caught while everyone was reloading in splitscreen.
The single-player had some gorgeous tunes too, a lot of quite ambient stuff come to think of it. TS2 is also one of the things that made me realise I dug cyberpunk before I knew what cyberpunk was even called. Returning t it, it's fun to see all the little references put in too, I didn't catch the significance of "Neo Tokyo 2019" back then, and the level itself is pretty much a love letter to Blade Runner and Graeme's soundtrack has hints of Vangelis' soundtrack too, which only makes me love it more.
-Claude Van Foxbat
Yeah we're talking TimeSplitters 2, the frantic arcadey shooter that occupied much of a young Foxbat's time. The main composer for TS2 was Graeme Norgate, who like most of the Free Radical crew was ex-Rare and himself is responsible for some tunes from GoldenEye for the Nintendo 64. We're going to start off with the TS2 version of Streets, which blew me away when I was younger, I'd never heard straight-up trance in a game that wasn't licensed music, and it accompanied the often frenzied shootouts on the map in spectacular fashion.
There's a wide variety of moods and genres explored as one would expect from the games time-hopping aesthetic. It gets remarkably chill at points too, take the theme for the industrial tiles in the mapmaker mode, not necessarily what you'd expect in a fast-paced FPS but it works out. I only really got to appreciate it on it's own like this, my experience with it in the game was quite limited, usually brief snippets caught while everyone was reloading in splitscreen.
The single-player had some gorgeous tunes too, a lot of quite ambient stuff come to think of it. TS2 is also one of the things that made me realise I dug cyberpunk before I knew what cyberpunk was even called. Returning t it, it's fun to see all the little references put in too, I didn't catch the significance of "Neo Tokyo 2019" back then, and the level itself is pretty much a love letter to Blade Runner and Graeme's soundtrack has hints of Vangelis' soundtrack too, which only makes me love it more.
-Claude Van Foxbat
Saturday, 3 December 2016
An ADULT. Retrospective, Vol. 2
A little late on this one but I'll elaborate in a little while. One of the things you'll find out quickly about ADULT. is that sometimes it can be incredibly hard to google related terms. We're covering the Nausea EP / LP this time (Discogs calls it a mini-album), and you'll notice the cover below is very small, one of the casualties of the aforementioned goole issue, searching for "ADULT. Nausea" gets you all kinds of results that aren't to do with the band
The opening and title track is a bit of a different beast from the ADULT. sound you're used to; there's a whole lot more bleepy electronics going on, which I'm not sure suits ADULT's overall style, that's more Freezepop's territory. Nicola's delivery is sparse but on point as usual though.
Nausea does however mark the first appearance of one of my favourites, Skinlike. It's again a bit more upbeat than usual, but not as bleepy as the title tune so Ithink it works out better. It's a shame that the whole album seems to go oft unmentioned in the whole electroclash scene, I can see it fitting right in with Kittin & Hacker's stuff on International Deejay Gigolo at the time, full of 2real lyrics like "Just when I think I'm in control I fall apart again" and in fact they did appear on a remix EP for Tuxedomoon on International Deejay Gigolo around this time.
Another early version of a tune that would get reprises on later releases, Nicola's delivery is again sparse here, that might be an unfair comparison to make though, as this is still early in the release timeline, but things are spiced up a little bit with a few lines with more melodic delivery than usual. I still prefer the cleaned up and slightly reworked version from Resuscitation more, but it's still a solid tune regardless.
-Claude Van Foxbat
The opening and title track is a bit of a different beast from the ADULT. sound you're used to; there's a whole lot more bleepy electronics going on, which I'm not sure suits ADULT's overall style, that's more Freezepop's territory. Nicola's delivery is sparse but on point as usual though.
Nausea does however mark the first appearance of one of my favourites, Skinlike. It's again a bit more upbeat than usual, but not as bleepy as the title tune so Ithink it works out better. It's a shame that the whole album seems to go oft unmentioned in the whole electroclash scene, I can see it fitting right in with Kittin & Hacker's stuff on International Deejay Gigolo at the time, full of 2real lyrics like "Just when I think I'm in control I fall apart again" and in fact they did appear on a remix EP for Tuxedomoon on International Deejay Gigolo around this time.
Another early version of a tune that would get reprises on later releases, Nicola's delivery is again sparse here, that might be an unfair comparison to make though, as this is still early in the release timeline, but things are spiced up a little bit with a few lines with more melodic delivery than usual. I still prefer the cleaned up and slightly reworked version from Resuscitation more, but it's still a solid tune regardless.
-Claude Van Foxbat
Wednesday, 30 November 2016
A Bit Of Summer In Winter
Cold Snap over in jolly ol' England. But thankfully my man Celadon has finally got around to knocking out his latest release, which as the title says should provide me a little bit of audio warmth when I'm waiting for the train in the early morning frost tomorrow. I've probably said enough about Celadon at this point but for those not in the know, tune in for some Plone-esque indie electronic stuff, kinda like some Bibio stuff too come to think of it. It's even on spotify too if you wanna listen on the go
-Claude Van Foxbat
-Claude Van Foxbat
Sunday, 27 November 2016
Out Of Beta, Releasing (Not) On Time
Hoo boy this one took longer than it should've. Word to the wise, always have backup plans even for your backup plans: I got an email with this LP a couple of weeks or so ago now, and I thought great now I don't have to worry too much coming up with post material for this one, but between intercontinental family visits and other general life things it managed to fall by the wayside. (Apologies Chris if you're reading this!) But enough about me, let's talk this LP, the cover almost matches our post backgrounds to boot!
This time we're covering a little something from Carbinax, I glanced over the cover art and tracklist and we should be in for a good sciencey time (Hence the post title). The copy given to me didn't have the tracks numbered so inn true scientific fashion I loaded them up and let the shuffle algorithms take over. And it all started with Smart Casual, A very nice way to start if I do say so myself, an easy addition to my 'potential menu music' playlist for sure. I like it a lot, seems like it'd be good material for folks looking into getting into IDM without throwing them in at the deep end with Autechre or Drukqs.
Moving into more house-like territory for the next random pick. I was digging it from the get go just because we're founded on house and all that, but man if I can't see this being part of some cyberpunk club soundtrack. It probably doesn't help I've been playing a lot of Timesplitters lately either and been all about the trance fuelled soundtrack of them. Regardless the intro and outro here are deliciously retro-futuristic.
Keeping the variety up once again, this time with some vocal accompaniment. I didn't find a credit for this track in particular but I'd like to thank them for doing a excellent job, the contrast between the punchy electronics and her voice makes for an interesting listen indeed, I'd be down for more stuff in this vein. The closest touchstone I have is Perturbtor's Sentient, and even then I'm liking this one more.
It's not all gloomy electronics surprisingly, there's a fair bit of piano in there too. And not MIDI 90's rave piano stabs either, more like Lisa Miskovsky's Still Alive if had to make a direct comparison. And speaking of comparisons, once this one gets going I had a flood of them coming to mind, that bouncy bassline bringing together a mix of Au Revior Simone, ADULT. and early to mid 2000's Freezepop specifically. Not a huge fan of the almost minute long fade-out, but saying that it only needs to be maybe 7-9 seconds shorter (which is admittedly nitpick-y).
And finally playing us out, a much more sedate number, as is often the case with IDM artists, this one feels a lot like a Global Goon tune to me. The samples are on point too, and even a more upbeat section coming crashing into the mix around 3:45 before leaving again around the 5 minute mark. It's a unique approach for sure, and caps off the LP's sound quite nicely, think of it like a sandwich with all the LP's ingredients in one neat package.
You can find more Carbinax on:
Twitter
Soundcloud
Facebook
Bandcamp
-Claude Van Foxbat
This time we're covering a little something from Carbinax, I glanced over the cover art and tracklist and we should be in for a good sciencey time (Hence the post title). The copy given to me didn't have the tracks numbered so inn true scientific fashion I loaded them up and let the shuffle algorithms take over. And it all started with Smart Casual, A very nice way to start if I do say so myself, an easy addition to my 'potential menu music' playlist for sure. I like it a lot, seems like it'd be good material for folks looking into getting into IDM without throwing them in at the deep end with Autechre or Drukqs.
Moving into more house-like territory for the next random pick. I was digging it from the get go just because we're founded on house and all that, but man if I can't see this being part of some cyberpunk club soundtrack. It probably doesn't help I've been playing a lot of Timesplitters lately either and been all about the trance fuelled soundtrack of them. Regardless the intro and outro here are deliciously retro-futuristic.
Keeping the variety up once again, this time with some vocal accompaniment. I didn't find a credit for this track in particular but I'd like to thank them for doing a excellent job, the contrast between the punchy electronics and her voice makes for an interesting listen indeed, I'd be down for more stuff in this vein. The closest touchstone I have is Perturbtor's Sentient, and even then I'm liking this one more.
It's not all gloomy electronics surprisingly, there's a fair bit of piano in there too. And not MIDI 90's rave piano stabs either, more like Lisa Miskovsky's Still Alive if had to make a direct comparison. And speaking of comparisons, once this one gets going I had a flood of them coming to mind, that bouncy bassline bringing together a mix of Au Revior Simone, ADULT. and early to mid 2000's Freezepop specifically. Not a huge fan of the almost minute long fade-out, but saying that it only needs to be maybe 7-9 seconds shorter (which is admittedly nitpick-y).
And finally playing us out, a much more sedate number, as is often the case with IDM artists, this one feels a lot like a Global Goon tune to me. The samples are on point too, and even a more upbeat section coming crashing into the mix around 3:45 before leaving again around the 5 minute mark. It's a unique approach for sure, and caps off the LP's sound quite nicely, think of it like a sandwich with all the LP's ingredients in one neat package.
You can find more Carbinax on:
Soundcloud
Bandcamp
-Claude Van Foxbat
Monday, 21 November 2016
Aloha Alola
It's only fitting with a new generation of pokemon making the rounds that we go back and cover some more Celadon City. And it just so happens he has another sample of his upcoming release for us to boot. Natural kicks off with some filed recordings and on the whole feels effortlessly smooth like much of CC's wok. Which is kinda funny because he had this to say about it: "Natural had been a tough song to finish for the last year and a half. For weeks I would sit and listen to this one song, and later would find something wrong. Its funny that I labeled the track natural, since I was having such a rough time finishing it. What I can say though it that I learned what it means to be natural and confident in your work. It is what makes this collection of songs even more important to me."
And alsomy main man and long time blog pal Evan hit 1 million plays on his soundcloud, so I'm giving him a shoutout too. Not asked him about what the description of this one means, but I'd get it in your ears quick cos it sounds like it may not be up forever. That and I'm a sucker for a bit of bebop too.
-Claude Van Foxbat
And alsomy main man and long time blog pal Evan hit 1 million plays on his soundcloud, so I'm giving him a shoutout too. Not asked him about what the description of this one means, but I'd get it in your ears quick cos it sounds like it may not be up forever. That and I'm a sucker for a bit of bebop too.
-Claude Van Foxbat
Friday, 18 November 2016
Pod3
A special longer edition of the podcast this time, partly to make up for how long it's been between them and partly because we have a lot of tunes to discuss this time around. Why has it taken us so long? Well I suppose you'll have to listen to find out, join us for that and to hear us reminisce about the glory days of dubstep and electro circa 2007.
Opening:
Nicholas Jaar – No
Adam’s picks:
Blac Youngsta x Quavo – Come Thru
Anthony Naples - Moscato
Rimbudian - Let Me Beat U
Ackroyd - Bend Sinister
Alex Burkat – Pay the Rent
Claude’s Selections
Röyksopp – Never Ever
Felix Da Housecat – We
D1 – I’m Loving
Crookers - Boxer
DJ Mehdi – Anything Is Possible
Outro:
Uncle Sam - Round The World Girls (Tes La Rok Remix)
Conquest - Forever
Opening:
Nicholas Jaar – No
Adam’s picks:
Blac Youngsta x Quavo – Come Thru
Anthony Naples - Moscato
Rimbudian - Let Me Beat U
Ackroyd - Bend Sinister
Alex Burkat – Pay the Rent
Claude’s Selections
Röyksopp – Never Ever
Felix Da Housecat – We
D1 – I’m Loving
Crookers - Boxer
DJ Mehdi – Anything Is Possible
Outro:
Uncle Sam - Round The World Girls (Tes La Rok Remix)
Conquest - Forever
Tuesday, 15 November 2016
An ADULT. Retrospective, Vol. 1
Another day, another series that was delayed through no fault of my own. Anyway, me and a friend did have this on vinyl but I don't know where my rip of it has gone so this not so great quality version I found will have to do for now. But that's kinda fitting cos electroclash always had that rough quality to it. More info after the art.
Yes we're talking about ADULT. today, a little underrated in the world of electroclash imo, but I did their punky take on it. Starting this post of with one of their earlier releases and the one I first heard, the New-Phonies EP. Starting with Hand To Phone, I first heard this in some bootleg in the early 2000's and it's been on my mind ever since, between this and Kittenz & Thee Glitz my love affair with electroclash was sealed and to this day I still adore Miss Kittin and Nicola Kuperus' monotone delivery. This isn't my favourite version of Hand To Phone, (that'll come up in future) bu even so it's still fantastic.
If I had it my way I'd post the whole thing because it's only 4 tracks and each is a fantastic crash course in electroclash, but I'll show some restraint. Moving back up the tracklist to the opening track and my opening lines about ADULT. being a bit more punk sounding than other electroclash acts becomes a little clearer. The quintessential introduction to ADULT.'s overall sound too, frantic lectronics backed with Nicola's rhythmic delivery.
The only track we're missing out here Don't Talk sees the introduction of another electroclash cornerstone as it's about phone sex. Granted it's not as explicitly obscene as Peaches or some Mount Sims but it's there. Anyway onto the last track Your Lies. Just in case they hadn't done enough to secure my heart, they went ahead and thew in some very subtle vocoder on the last track (or at least it's subtle on this release). Not sure it's the perfect track to close with but it certainly makes an impression.
-Claude Van Foxbat
Yes we're talking about ADULT. today, a little underrated in the world of electroclash imo, but I did their punky take on it. Starting this post of with one of their earlier releases and the one I first heard, the New-Phonies EP. Starting with Hand To Phone, I first heard this in some bootleg in the early 2000's and it's been on my mind ever since, between this and Kittenz & Thee Glitz my love affair with electroclash was sealed and to this day I still adore Miss Kittin and Nicola Kuperus' monotone delivery. This isn't my favourite version of Hand To Phone, (that'll come up in future) bu even so it's still fantastic.
If I had it my way I'd post the whole thing because it's only 4 tracks and each is a fantastic crash course in electroclash, but I'll show some restraint. Moving back up the tracklist to the opening track and my opening lines about ADULT. being a bit more punk sounding than other electroclash acts becomes a little clearer. The quintessential introduction to ADULT.'s overall sound too, frantic lectronics backed with Nicola's rhythmic delivery.
The only track we're missing out here Don't Talk sees the introduction of another electroclash cornerstone as it's about phone sex. Granted it's not as explicitly obscene as Peaches or some Mount Sims but it's there. Anyway onto the last track Your Lies. Just in case they hadn't done enough to secure my heart, they went ahead and thew in some very subtle vocoder on the last track (or at least it's subtle on this release). Not sure it's the perfect track to close with but it certainly makes an impression.
-Claude Van Foxbat
Saturday, 12 November 2016
Days Of Thunder
Thought I'd fallen behind again but pleased to see that I haven't yet! Going to cover some more obscure OPN side projects this time, I try to keep the ambient to a minimum cos I know it's not everyone's bag but this one in particular has been striking a cord with me at the mo. (2020 edit: apologies for the YT players, this is a pretty obscure release that's nowhere else)
There's only 4 tracks to the Days Of Thunder EP, a collaboration between Daniel Lopatin of Oneohtrix Point Never and Mark McGuire, formerly of Emeralds (though they were still together when this was released). So all in all as you would expect from those names, a pretty solid combination, it wastes no time getting down to early OPN Juno-60 goodness. I adore the bassy backing synths coming in around a minute in, I'm a sucker for the Juno stuff anyway but that is something else.
Mark McGuire's contributions are a little more pronounced on track 2, which is more of a meandering ambient piece in comparison to the synth jam vibes of Flight Simulator, it's a nice contrast to have some acoustic accompaniment to the usual synthetics of OPN's work. It does go off on a Clark-esque distortion kick around halfway through though, and as much as I like that I would love to hear another track in a similar style, the collaboration a little more obvious.
And finally Sky Ramping, given the title you think it'd be a perfect summation of the EP but I don't think so. It's still nice like, the whole structure has a lot in common with another OPN tune called Nest 5900, and McGuire's influence is again not as clear. Still it's nice to hear, the EP as a whole is very nice with nary a weak point on it, it's just a shame that Flight Simulator steals the show so early.
-Claude Van Foxbat
There's only 4 tracks to the Days Of Thunder EP, a collaboration between Daniel Lopatin of Oneohtrix Point Never and Mark McGuire, formerly of Emeralds (though they were still together when this was released). So all in all as you would expect from those names, a pretty solid combination, it wastes no time getting down to early OPN Juno-60 goodness. I adore the bassy backing synths coming in around a minute in, I'm a sucker for the Juno stuff anyway but that is something else.
Mark McGuire's contributions are a little more pronounced on track 2, which is more of a meandering ambient piece in comparison to the synth jam vibes of Flight Simulator, it's a nice contrast to have some acoustic accompaniment to the usual synthetics of OPN's work. It does go off on a Clark-esque distortion kick around halfway through though, and as much as I like that I would love to hear another track in a similar style, the collaboration a little more obvious.
And finally Sky Ramping, given the title you think it'd be a perfect summation of the EP but I don't think so. It's still nice like, the whole structure has a lot in common with another OPN tune called Nest 5900, and McGuire's influence is again not as clear. Still it's nice to hear, the EP as a whole is very nice with nary a weak point on it, it's just a shame that Flight Simulator steals the show so early.
-Claude Van Foxbat
Wednesday, 9 November 2016
Röyskopp's Track Of The Month Archive: Part 3
Moving into the final part now, which gets off to a rocky start with Malangen Fra Bruhodet. Ain't nothing wrong with it, it's perfectly serviceable on its own and all but it does feel a little half baked in the grand scheme of the free tunes so far. There's nothing here to really grab you, just some easy going easy listening, wouldn't be bad as a website loop like what Boards Of Canada used to do tho.
All doubts take a backseat immediately though, and we're treated to something that in it' own rights could have been a B-Side to Junior. The vocal contribution is a tad bit different from Junior but the spirit is there, I can see why it was nixed tho, it's certainly more electro influenced than the rest of the LP. It's crying out to be on an EP, I certainly would have liked to hear MSTRKRFT or the like give their hand to those already punchy kickdrums. Actually come to think of it Felix Da Housecat would be a fitting candidate for it too, the 'Sopp lads themselves remixed What Does It Feel Like? for him back when and it'd be nice to reincorporate some of Kittin's vocals here.
Shoulda held off on this one for another month or whatever, but here we go. It is what it says on the tin, Röyksopp did an electronic cover of Le Cantique de Noel. It's nice to have some more electronic Christmas music rather than just making a winter playlist. This is where I think parts of Senior start to shine through, the overall structure is very reminiscent of the album but not quite as ambient, but saying that the intro is a real soothing listen.
And finally, ironically enough the tune that was the hardest to get hold of, Stronghold. It really harks back to their Melody A.M. days stylistically, very understated with smooth sounds and hint of vinyl crackle. Small flourishes throughout keep it an interesting listen; true ambient in that it works both as background accompaniment or active listening. I would have liked to see them go out on a more upbeat tone but then again this is a little more in line with Senior which would have been fresh in mind then.
And that about wraps it up, there is however one more bonus tune they gave out, I don't recall whether it was for another late Track Of The Month or what, but the good news is I not only already had a copy, but it was very very easy to find (and the one I found was even better quality than the one I had). It's called Shores Of Easy if you'd like to hear it for yourselves, I'm keeping it under my hat for another day, it's a 14 minute Röyksopp jam session and it is lovely.
-Claude Van Foxbat
Sunday, 6 November 2016
Tough Times
Slight hiccup in scheduling as is the ilictronix way, but spent the last few days working and then having to try find an emergency plumber (that later turned out to be an emergency electrician that we needed). So in short all my scheduled things are outta whack and I'm not exactly in the mood to sit and write a lengthy post, so I went back and dug out some of my favourite more obscure tunes from The Knife. Stay tuned and we will resume normal schedule shortly.
-Claude Van Foxbat
-Claude Van Foxbat
Tuesday, 1 November 2016
Back With Celadon
Our long time pal Celadon is back with more feelgood vibes to brighten up your midweek. Taken from upcoming EP Summeryoung I held off putting this one up in the hopes he'd drop a couple more but alas nothing yet. Here's what the man himself has to say about it:
"This EP was formed from the recent unstable moments of my life. I always found time to sit down after long days at school and write skeletons of songs. It wasn't until the summer that everything connected for me and I found the right moods for the EP. Emotion is always a central part in my songwriting, and so constantly I am trying harder and harder to deal with those moments and hopefully molding it into music that I can learn and grow from."
I can kinda relate as a fellow arty folk, I've still got a million and one side projects on the go like always, but there's not nearly as much pressure to deliver now I've graduated. Which is actually quite nice, I like to bounce between things so I don't get burned out, now with the added bonus of being able to take my time with them. Regardless, enjoy the tune and I will be back with the final Röyksopp part shortly!
-Claude Van Foxbat
"This EP was formed from the recent unstable moments of my life. I always found time to sit down after long days at school and write skeletons of songs. It wasn't until the summer that everything connected for me and I found the right moods for the EP. Emotion is always a central part in my songwriting, and so constantly I am trying harder and harder to deal with those moments and hopefully molding it into music that I can learn and grow from."
I can kinda relate as a fellow arty folk, I've still got a million and one side projects on the go like always, but there's not nearly as much pressure to deliver now I've graduated. Which is actually quite nice, I like to bounce between things so I don't get burned out, now with the added bonus of being able to take my time with them. Regardless, enjoy the tune and I will be back with the final Röyksopp part shortly!
-Claude Van Foxbat
Sunday, 30 October 2016
Flyin' South For Winter
Bit of a different post this time around, a leftover from the Submithub roundups that didn't fit in any of the other ones. So instead I did some digging and instead of picking one track got my dannies on the full EP (with Kin Klavé's permission of course. And what a generous EP offering it is, more recently I've been used to 2-3 track EPs with maybe a remix if you're lucky, so to have Volare clock in with 6 tunes of decent length is a breath of fresh air. More on that after the embedded EP itself, note the superb cover art, that printed style is very evocative of Sigur Rós' Takk... era, with the added bonus of if you pick it up on CD each cover being different and printed personally by Kin Klavé (more info on that at the bandcamp page)
So let's breakdown the EP shall we? There is an intro track but I will be skipping onto track 2, Isola, it was the one I first heard via submithub and I think is the default first play over on the bandcamp page. And a pretty listen it is, I do always appreciate some downtempo in my inbox which is part of the reason I went digging. That and I do always like a smidgen of strings in my electronic from time to time, and the eastern styled ones on show here are a treat to listen to.
Mantissa is also an early highlight, a much more hip-hop influenced piece than the previous that takes me back to many a bleary-eyed night up searching for the bump music from [adult swim], where it would have probably been right at home. Speaking of nostalgia, towards the end I get that same warm and fuzzy vibe as I do from Röyksopp's Sparks too. Which is followed by even more variety, with Helvellyn having more than a bit of a house streak to it. It almost reminds me of the Salt City Orchestra remix of Marshall Jefferson's Mushrooms, I always love hearing having that slow layering of elements over time.
Overall, a very refreshing change. And it came at an opportune time too, just as I was digging through old Rephlex stuff like Global Goon and Cylob to scratch my mellow IDM-style itch. Granted, Volare is probably closer to The Flashbulb in tone, particularly on Drums & Sounds 1 but that's not a bad thing at all either. I'm not sure I can make my mind up about the variety though; on one hand it's nice to hear, and taking on so many genres competently is impressive within itself, but at times I'd catch myself wanting to hear a full EP of one particular style, but saying that there's a fair degree of consistency between them all so in the long run I suppose isn't too big of an issue.
Very strong for a debut EP, I don't even have any mastering gripes like I ocassionally have with debuts, it's just up to Kin Klavé where they take their sounds from here!
You can find more Kin Klavé on:
Twitter
Soundcloud
Facebook
Bandcamp
-Claude Van Foxbat
So let's breakdown the EP shall we? There is an intro track but I will be skipping onto track 2, Isola, it was the one I first heard via submithub and I think is the default first play over on the bandcamp page. And a pretty listen it is, I do always appreciate some downtempo in my inbox which is part of the reason I went digging. That and I do always like a smidgen of strings in my electronic from time to time, and the eastern styled ones on show here are a treat to listen to.
Mantissa is also an early highlight, a much more hip-hop influenced piece than the previous that takes me back to many a bleary-eyed night up searching for the bump music from [adult swim], where it would have probably been right at home. Speaking of nostalgia, towards the end I get that same warm and fuzzy vibe as I do from Röyksopp's Sparks too. Which is followed by even more variety, with Helvellyn having more than a bit of a house streak to it. It almost reminds me of the Salt City Orchestra remix of Marshall Jefferson's Mushrooms, I always love hearing having that slow layering of elements over time.
Overall, a very refreshing change. And it came at an opportune time too, just as I was digging through old Rephlex stuff like Global Goon and Cylob to scratch my mellow IDM-style itch. Granted, Volare is probably closer to The Flashbulb in tone, particularly on Drums & Sounds 1 but that's not a bad thing at all either. I'm not sure I can make my mind up about the variety though; on one hand it's nice to hear, and taking on so many genres competently is impressive within itself, but at times I'd catch myself wanting to hear a full EP of one particular style, but saying that there's a fair degree of consistency between them all so in the long run I suppose isn't too big of an issue.
Very strong for a debut EP, I don't even have any mastering gripes like I ocassionally have with debuts, it's just up to Kin Klavé where they take their sounds from here!
You can find more Kin Klavé on:
Soundcloud
Bandcamp
-Claude Van Foxbat
Friday, 28 October 2016
Röyskopp's Track Of The Month Archive: Part 2
Part two of the track archive, Starting off with a twin offering of instrumentals yet again. All the instrumentals are from Junior which was newly out at the time, I would have liked to hear other instrumentals from older LPs but who knows if they even have the masters anymore. Anyway, It's What I Want may be the best instrumental example yet, the stripping away of the vocals reveals some interesting stuff tat otherwise gets a bit lost in the mix.
And then followed by Happy Up Here. Which by comparison isn't too different from the original, handy if you need some backing music for some project though, and still interesting to see it stripped bare and all.
Onto Track Of The Month Originals here, they were always a bit of a puzzle to me because I just assumed they'd appear on an EP down the line but they never did. I suppose if you have the half finished project lying around and you plan this whole track of the month thing you might as well finish it for that but still. Hus Nr. 9 is very smooth indeed, it'd still fit in right at home on Junior but it still has that mid-2000s chillout sensibility that was present on Melody A.M. and The Understanding, there are little flourishes here and there but it's fairly sedate for the most part. A fun little listen, if a bit lacking in parts.
Something from their upbeat catalogue next. Unlike Hus Nr. 9, this one doesn't feel like a Junior byproduct at all, which would make sense given this is month 8 by now so it could've been something they knocked up in the meantime, doubly so given the unceremonious ending. Not to be negative hough, it all kicks off in spectacular fashion around 2:00 in and I almost wish the 'Sopp boys had done a few more tunes with those kinda sounds, it's so unlike anything they've done before.
Wednesday, 26 October 2016
The Submithub Roundup, Vol. 7.5
I've been real busy as of late, so I kinda forgot about the submithub side of things. Which means that the selection box which is normally overflowing isn't. I don't mind though, there's still things to pick from, and it's a nice change of pace to not have the pressure of multiple pages of submissions if only for a while. Now onto the selections, as you all well know by now I normally take the tags with a grain of salt, doubly so when they namedrop artists directly but this one may just make me rethink that policy, the Little Dragon comparison in the tags proving surprisingly apt, definitely hearing Yukimi Nagano's influence here on the vocal side of things.
It's not long before my eyebrow's raised again though, needless to say I don't think the tags fit this one but I digress, as we all know it's difficult to define sounds at the best of time, more so when it's your own. Anyway, onto the song itself, the electro influence is definitely there, but for the most part it feels like a much more intense version of electroclash. I didn't realise how much more until I went looking at my other electroclash stuff for comparison actually. Certainly evokes elements of it throughout, specifically the Punky, vulgar side as made famous by Peaches, just with a more electronic slant. I do feel like there's a lot for 'em to gain by looking at ADULT., Peaches, Mount Sims and the like. As we all know that's one of my weaknesses so enjoy.
And something a little jazzy to finish off, which combined with Stef Williamson's delivery on the tune leaves me reminded of the guest parts by Sarah Winton on Nightmares On Wax's Carboot Soul. And that gorgeous breakdown in the middle could be straight from one of Mr. Scruff's samples. I'd certainly like to see them tackle something more in that trip-hop vein but what they got going on now is perfectly alright too, and certainly a breath of fresh air amongst other synth-based indie pop stuff.
-Claude Van Foxbat
It's not long before my eyebrow's raised again though, needless to say I don't think the tags fit this one but I digress, as we all know it's difficult to define sounds at the best of time, more so when it's your own. Anyway, onto the song itself, the electro influence is definitely there, but for the most part it feels like a much more intense version of electroclash. I didn't realise how much more until I went looking at my other electroclash stuff for comparison actually. Certainly evokes elements of it throughout, specifically the Punky, vulgar side as made famous by Peaches, just with a more electronic slant. I do feel like there's a lot for 'em to gain by looking at ADULT., Peaches, Mount Sims and the like. As we all know that's one of my weaknesses so enjoy.
And something a little jazzy to finish off, which combined with Stef Williamson's delivery on the tune leaves me reminded of the guest parts by Sarah Winton on Nightmares On Wax's Carboot Soul. And that gorgeous breakdown in the middle could be straight from one of Mr. Scruff's samples. I'd certainly like to see them tackle something more in that trip-hop vein but what they got going on now is perfectly alright too, and certainly a breath of fresh air amongst other synth-based indie pop stuff.
-Claude Van Foxbat
Monday, 24 October 2016
Röyskopp's Track Of The Month Archive: Part 1
I realized a couple of weeks ago that Röyskopp's track of the month series they ran on their website from 2010 - 2011 had gone missing from my HDD. Naturally, the download links had all expired or were soundcloud links on Röyskopp's site. I managed to recover a couple because I'd posted about them here in the past but oh boy was it ever hard to find them again, turns out not a lot of people cared enough to archive them like other releases. So I'm going to do my part and share the complete collection I've managed to gather over the last couple of weeks, so nobody will have to go digital scouring like I did ever again.
Was in two minds 'bout this at first cos it's quite a lot to go through and I'm 90% sure I saw some hosted versions of this be taken down through DMCAs (which if you're reading this labels, doesn't mean squat when THE ARTISTS themselves gave these songs out for free 5/6 years ago and they haven't been released elsewhere). So here we go, nothing big to start with just a instrumental version of Vision One as featured in Little Big Planet 2. It's quite hypnotic without Anneli Drecker over it, I imagine the tune was designed to have vocals over it from the get go. It's still nice to hear though, even if the album version is still my favourite.
The first of a few remixes/reworks next, with Röyskopp giving their treatment to Gustavo Santaolalla. It does sound a little unrefined but could easily still have been a b-side to the Junior and Senior era releases, might've been a small side project that didn't fit anywhere else, regardless, I'm glad we got to hear it.
The reworks continue for the next couple of tracks, with two different versions of Steve Reich's Electric Counterpoint: III. Fast. Feels like there's a lot more work in these than the Gustavo Santaolalla rework, and not only because there's two of them. I do enjoy when the Röyskopp boys go off on a 8-16 minute jam session, and the Milde Salve is a solid demonstration of that, feels much closer to their earlier releases in style than the True To Original remix, which is definitley a Junior influenced piece.
That'll about wrap this one up, and in fact that's all the remixes out of the way too, so part 2 onwards will be all Röyskopp originals, stay tuned for that and I'll see you soon!
-Claude Van Foxbat
Was in two minds 'bout this at first cos it's quite a lot to go through and I'm 90% sure I saw some hosted versions of this be taken down through DMCAs (which if you're reading this labels, doesn't mean squat when THE ARTISTS themselves gave these songs out for free 5/6 years ago and they haven't been released elsewhere). So here we go, nothing big to start with just a instrumental version of Vision One as featured in Little Big Planet 2. It's quite hypnotic without Anneli Drecker over it, I imagine the tune was designed to have vocals over it from the get go. It's still nice to hear though, even if the album version is still my favourite.
The first of a few remixes/reworks next, with Röyskopp giving their treatment to Gustavo Santaolalla. It does sound a little unrefined but could easily still have been a b-side to the Junior and Senior era releases, might've been a small side project that didn't fit anywhere else, regardless, I'm glad we got to hear it.
The reworks continue for the next couple of tracks, with two different versions of Steve Reich's Electric Counterpoint: III. Fast. Feels like there's a lot more work in these than the Gustavo Santaolalla rework, and not only because there's two of them. I do enjoy when the Röyskopp boys go off on a 8-16 minute jam session, and the Milde Salve is a solid demonstration of that, feels much closer to their earlier releases in style than the True To Original remix, which is definitley a Junior influenced piece.
That'll about wrap this one up, and in fact that's all the remixes out of the way too, so part 2 onwards will be all Röyskopp originals, stay tuned for that and I'll see you soon!
-Claude Van Foxbat
Saturday, 22 October 2016
Submithub Roundup, Vol. 7
Another week another roundup or two, starting this week with a very smooth number from Torin Bell, I haven't had much in the way of this style of thing in my feed which is a bit of a shame, especially because I'm about to embark on another down-tempo adventure. I'd love to see a more IDM approach with this kind of sound from them, I could certainly parts of this merging well with it. As it stands though, it's a lovely self contained experience, which would make sense given its description of "finding peace in a time of turmoil".
More ammo for my electropop drought relief again, this time from a little further east in Moscow. It's their first ever single release to boot, the artwork is solid (but then again I do have a soft spot for glitch) and for a first proper single it's very well done. I do always find covering first releases tricky simply because I don't like to be too critical while they're discovering their sound, but these two seem like they have a good idea where it's heading, so my only very minor complaint is I'd love to hear more of the production side shine through in parts, the tiny break at around 1:50 makes me smile every time.
More sufficiently spooky tunes for all hallows with vverewolf whose name may or may not have made me check my kerning settings. I dig the overall sound and all but I feel like they'd get a lot out of incorporating some more intense sounds into the mix, thinking along the lines of Carpenter Brut, the retro style's already there after all, or maybe something a lil more industrial like Trent Reznor's cover of Immigrant Song, maybe even Massive Attack's Butterfly Caught too. That's not to knock the tune itself though, they certainly have their sound pretty nailed down and it's a solid listen.
-Claude Van Foxbat
More ammo for my electropop drought relief again, this time from a little further east in Moscow. It's their first ever single release to boot, the artwork is solid (but then again I do have a soft spot for glitch) and for a first proper single it's very well done. I do always find covering first releases tricky simply because I don't like to be too critical while they're discovering their sound, but these two seem like they have a good idea where it's heading, so my only very minor complaint is I'd love to hear more of the production side shine through in parts, the tiny break at around 1:50 makes me smile every time.
More sufficiently spooky tunes for all hallows with vverewolf whose name may or may not have made me check my kerning settings. I dig the overall sound and all but I feel like they'd get a lot out of incorporating some more intense sounds into the mix, thinking along the lines of Carpenter Brut, the retro style's already there after all, or maybe something a lil more industrial like Trent Reznor's cover of Immigrant Song, maybe even Massive Attack's Butterfly Caught too. That's not to knock the tune itself though, they certainly have their sound pretty nailed down and it's a solid listen.
-Claude Van Foxbat
Thursday, 20 October 2016
Passed Me By
I managed to somehow miss that MSTRKRFT did a new LP back in July. I mean, I knew they were back doin' stuff but there's been no real hints or anything, disogs even says it ain't out in non-promo form outside of Canada yet. So let's have an impromptu first Impressions / review thing shall we?
I'd heard a few people mention this one in looking up other impressions of it, and I was pleasantly surprised to be truthful. I'd only heard Little Red Hen off this thing, and that seemed to be an expansion on their occasional kinda minimal abrasive stuff as seen on Neon Knights and such. Runaway on the other hand, is pretty much the old MSTRKRFT formula updated to 2016, honestly it could almost be a lost remix from the blog house glory days, which makes it doubly surprising why I've heard nothing about it. And as much as I'd love an LP invoking the spirit of 2007, I'm also happy that they didn't do that, more on that next.
Party Line is more abstract than your usual MSTRKRFT affair for sure, and boy is it much more abrasive than even the hardest parts of The Looks or Fist Of God, and that ending is abrupt as can be. Despite not sounding much like their ususal output and me harping on about them no retreading ground, this one still sounds like it would be at home in some DJ sets from the time. Especially going by the Mr. Oizo bootlegs I have. Speaking of...
Oizo gives it the once over too, and does some harking back of his own with that drum loop taken straight from Lyn Collins's Think (About It), the end result sounding like an amalgamation of the sounds of Analog Worms Attack, Moustache (Half A Scissor) and Lambs Anger wrapped into one. It's a little on the short side and just kind of ends without any fanfare too. There's a bunch of remixes of the other tracks too, including a Juke style rework of Runaway from blog friend from way, way back The Phantom's Revenge, here's hoping that it gets a European release and that they get included, I remember we had to wait a long time to get Fist Of God over here so there's hope yet.
-Claude Van Foxbat
I'd heard a few people mention this one in looking up other impressions of it, and I was pleasantly surprised to be truthful. I'd only heard Little Red Hen off this thing, and that seemed to be an expansion on their occasional kinda minimal abrasive stuff as seen on Neon Knights and such. Runaway on the other hand, is pretty much the old MSTRKRFT formula updated to 2016, honestly it could almost be a lost remix from the blog house glory days, which makes it doubly surprising why I've heard nothing about it. And as much as I'd love an LP invoking the spirit of 2007, I'm also happy that they didn't do that, more on that next.
Party Line is more abstract than your usual MSTRKRFT affair for sure, and boy is it much more abrasive than even the hardest parts of The Looks or Fist Of God, and that ending is abrupt as can be. Despite not sounding much like their ususal output and me harping on about them no retreading ground, this one still sounds like it would be at home in some DJ sets from the time. Especially going by the Mr. Oizo bootlegs I have. Speaking of...
Oizo gives it the once over too, and does some harking back of his own with that drum loop taken straight from Lyn Collins's Think (About It), the end result sounding like an amalgamation of the sounds of Analog Worms Attack, Moustache (Half A Scissor) and Lambs Anger wrapped into one. It's a little on the short side and just kind of ends without any fanfare too. There's a bunch of remixes of the other tracks too, including a Juke style rework of Runaway from blog friend from way, way back The Phantom's Revenge, here's hoping that it gets a European release and that they get included, I remember we had to wait a long time to get Fist Of God over here so there's hope yet.
-Claude Van Foxbat
Tuesday, 18 October 2016
Submithub Roundup Vol. 6
Back again with another round, normally I don't pay attention to the artist namedrops in the tags because in my experience they've been way off base. I gave this one a pass for two reasons, first beign the artist namedrop was Little Drgon and I don't think I've seen anyone else do that and second is that they're Swedes, which is home to some of my all time favourites including the aforementioned Little Dragon. The tune itself is a lovely listen, there's some lovely smoothness going on underneath that driving beat, and the transition into the second half from the midway breakdown is fantastic. Looks like I've found the means to fill the Au Revoir Simone shaped hole in my collection.
Some undestated art for the next one, which is quite fitting given the intro. Another smooth addition to this post too, quite catchy when the chorus hits for sure and makes me perhaps a little nostalgic for BBC Radio 1 circa 2009 or so. After listening to the original and this I feel like it'd be nice to give it the All Is Full Of Love treatment Björk did back in '99 and have a bunch of varied takes on the same tune, Tanis' vocal contributions seem like they'd fit that model well.
Speaking of nostalgia, Dr. Snus here is prescribing me another replacement dose for Pretty Lights this time, only this time with more shelf wobbling sine waves in the mix. I have a pretty mixed opinion about the Pretty Lights album this reminds me of, Filling Up The City Skies, they're both going for the same kind of sound, but I think Snus' is more cohesive overall. A few very very minor complaints with it, I feel like the ending fade being a little long for one, and I'd like to hear a little more of the instrumental experimentation going on but like I said very minor. A promising introduction regardless, and another one to follow on my books.
-Claude Van Foxbat
Some undestated art for the next one, which is quite fitting given the intro. Another smooth addition to this post too, quite catchy when the chorus hits for sure and makes me perhaps a little nostalgic for BBC Radio 1 circa 2009 or so. After listening to the original and this I feel like it'd be nice to give it the All Is Full Of Love treatment Björk did back in '99 and have a bunch of varied takes on the same tune, Tanis' vocal contributions seem like they'd fit that model well.
Speaking of nostalgia, Dr. Snus here is prescribing me another replacement dose for Pretty Lights this time, only this time with more shelf wobbling sine waves in the mix. I have a pretty mixed opinion about the Pretty Lights album this reminds me of, Filling Up The City Skies, they're both going for the same kind of sound, but I think Snus' is more cohesive overall. A few very very minor complaints with it, I feel like the ending fade being a little long for one, and I'd like to hear a little more of the instrumental experimentation going on but like I said very minor. A promising introduction regardless, and another one to follow on my books.
-Claude Van Foxbat
Sunday, 16 October 2016
Tech-Yes
Albert Oehlen - DJ Techno (2001)
Been on a bit of a techno thing as of late, you might have seen a glimpse of it on my twitter. Not gonna dilly dally anymore and get straight into it, speaking of twitter things; this is a tune in question that I had to track down to a shady Polish site in a rare case of digital crate diggin' for me, It's not the best quality but after the trawling I did it'll do. it's a nice listen too, Mijk was pretty big in Japan at the time and it ain't hard to see why. Don't let the title dissuade you too much if you aren't a girl, but if it matters there's also a 'For Boys' version too. Also probably wins the award for most 'I's and 'J's in the metadata for anything in my collection
More obscurities next with Chaos A.D. or as you might know him better, Squarepusher. The album's a bit of a mixed bag in all honesty, but I think that's to be expected given it was a much more acid driven sound than his usual stuff, there are small glimpses of the Squarepusher sound under all that acid though. Take Psultan for instance, that intro is definitely reminiscent of tunes like Tundra and the like, and there's even a Squarepusher remix of it that appeared on a Rephlex that is even more like it (and is actually the better version, but I don't have it on me).
And finally, rounding it out with Joey Beltram's contribution to the PS1 Ghost In The Shell Soundtrack. I went looking and it seems this is the only place it was actually released which I find really surprising cos it's a stonker of a tune. I imagine there's some copyright thing with Sony and co. preventing it from appearing elsewhere at the time which is a shame bu thanks to The Internet™ we're no longer limited by that, so enjoy.
-Claude Van Foxbat
Friday, 14 October 2016
The Submithub Roundup, Vol. 5
After a long absence, the submithub roundup is back and oh boy do we have a reet backlog to work through. There was a whole batch of things tagged indie pop which isn't an issue, but imagine my surprise when the next one comes on. I'd call it hip hop myself but let's not get down that genre rabbit hole, the opening sample had me right away and it's contrast with the main beat is a joy to listen to. AUTOMatic says that " "Speak To Me" addresses the attitude of hip-hop being a disposable art and is an anthem for starving artists everywhere. ", and I always got time for things that deal with that kind of issue, it's applicable to many genres in the age of the bedroom producer after all, but that's a topic for another day.
Another dubiously tagged one this time, with yet another gorgeous intro. As the soundcloud tags say, it's a bit of a mixed bag between dubstep, trap and the like. It's certainly an interesting take on them for sure, I had mixed feelings about it until around 1:30, that break is sublime in of itself, and the comeback into the autotuned/vocoded verses is nicely done too. I'm not too sure that the vocal treatment works hand in hand with the instrumentation, there's nothing *wrong* with it as-is, but I do feel like they'd be more at home on something that sounds a little more like DMX Krew. They're only a small part of the tune though, and other than that small nitpick it's very well put together especially in the last couple of minutes which is chock full of unique sounds.
And finally, something spooky just in time for all hallow's. Takes a little while to get going this one, but I'm glad I stuck through it. Chelsey herself is reminding me of Nicola Kuperus from ADULT. something fierce in her delivery, and the song itself is reminding me of the more intense parts of Massive Attack's 100th Window. I'd definitely like to see them tackle something like 100th Window or The Knife's Silent Shout in future, the slightly menacing side is already there after all. Certainly one of the more unique things we've had submitted, and another act I'll be keeping my eye on.
-Claude Van Foxbat
Another dubiously tagged one this time, with yet another gorgeous intro. As the soundcloud tags say, it's a bit of a mixed bag between dubstep, trap and the like. It's certainly an interesting take on them for sure, I had mixed feelings about it until around 1:30, that break is sublime in of itself, and the comeback into the autotuned/vocoded verses is nicely done too. I'm not too sure that the vocal treatment works hand in hand with the instrumentation, there's nothing *wrong* with it as-is, but I do feel like they'd be more at home on something that sounds a little more like DMX Krew. They're only a small part of the tune though, and other than that small nitpick it's very well put together especially in the last couple of minutes which is chock full of unique sounds.
And finally, something spooky just in time for all hallow's. Takes a little while to get going this one, but I'm glad I stuck through it. Chelsey herself is reminding me of Nicola Kuperus from ADULT. something fierce in her delivery, and the song itself is reminding me of the more intense parts of Massive Attack's 100th Window. I'd definitely like to see them tackle something like 100th Window or The Knife's Silent Shout in future, the slightly menacing side is already there after all. Certainly one of the more unique things we've had submitted, and another act I'll be keeping my eye on.
-Claude Van Foxbat
Wednesday, 12 October 2016
Midweek Hip Hop
How y'all doin'? I am back with some hip hop style stuff to brighten your day either way. Starting off with some folks from the submithub roundups that I said I'd keep tabs on. Well it's already paying off, with Best Friend doing their best to keep my instrumental itch scratched with their newest EP Daylight (which is coincidentally also the name of one of my favourite hip hop EPs from Aesop Rock). The sampling is once again on point, not so much brass this time some lovely cut up flutes the likes of which I haven't heard since the E-Z Rollers' Weekend World.
Time for more of the Metal Fingers compilation now which was a big source for my instrumental needs for a long time. As the name would suggest, it's largely made up of MF Doom instrumentals, all of whoch named after some variety of spice. Each time I pick one to post I have to force myself from not just putting up the whole compilation. If you're a fan of Doom or just have an interest in the instrumental side of things I highly recommend checking it out.
And finally this one wasn't planned to be here originally, but it just came up on shuffle and thought why not. For those unaware, this is a lil' something by one of our long time pals Evan, he's appeared on here under many different aliases and the couple of tapes he did under the Deadbeat Demon moniker have a special place in my collection. The guy's real busy making moves and producing for folk over in the states at the moment, I think the few tapes I have from him can tide me over till he drops another one though.
Song is missing from the internet! Sorry folks.
-Claude Van Foxbat
Time for more of the Metal Fingers compilation now which was a big source for my instrumental needs for a long time. As the name would suggest, it's largely made up of MF Doom instrumentals, all of whoch named after some variety of spice. Each time I pick one to post I have to force myself from not just putting up the whole compilation. If you're a fan of Doom or just have an interest in the instrumental side of things I highly recommend checking it out.
And finally this one wasn't planned to be here originally, but it just came up on shuffle and thought why not. For those unaware, this is a lil' something by one of our long time pals Evan, he's appeared on here under many different aliases and the couple of tapes he did under the Deadbeat Demon moniker have a special place in my collection. The guy's real busy making moves and producing for folk over in the states at the moment, I think the few tapes I have from him can tide me over till he drops another one though.
Song is missing from the internet! Sorry folks.
-Claude Van Foxbat
Monday, 10 October 2016
The Return Of The Röyk'
I am back with news of new Röyksopp Rumblings. This one's actually been sat in my to-do pile for a while, but the original promo email only had spotify and apple music links and I couldn't figure out how to embed 'em. Anyway, the Röyksopp boys are back after leaving us a little uncertain after saying they were abandoning the album format with the ominously titled The Inevitable End. This time with a shiny new retro aesthetic and some junk style helmets too. Seems they've heeded my call somewhat and fully embraced the pop streak of Junior, which isn't necessarily a bad thing...
It's not grabbing me as instantly as Junior did, but I am definitely down for more stuff in this vein to see where it goes. (Plus my weakness for all things Susanne Sundfør, Karin Dreijer, Lykke Li and Robyn probably helps too.) They're clearly having fun with it, the vaguely Tim & Eric style visuals have me charmed, and judging by the appearance of Svein & Torbjørn in the video they aren't taking themselves too seriously which electronic music could always use a bit more of. For comparison's sake and just because it's one of my favourite pieces from their last release, I leave you with Thank You, and I thank the promo folk who put this on my radar to begin with, 'cos I'm a bit rubbish at keeping up with new releases these days.
-Claude Van Foxbat
It's not grabbing me as instantly as Junior did, but I am definitely down for more stuff in this vein to see where it goes. (Plus my weakness for all things Susanne Sundfør, Karin Dreijer, Lykke Li and Robyn probably helps too.) They're clearly having fun with it, the vaguely Tim & Eric style visuals have me charmed, and judging by the appearance of Svein & Torbjørn in the video they aren't taking themselves too seriously which electronic music could always use a bit more of. For comparison's sake and just because it's one of my favourite pieces from their last release, I leave you with Thank You, and I thank the promo folk who put this on my radar to begin with, 'cos I'm a bit rubbish at keeping up with new releases these days.
-Claude Van Foxbat
Saturday, 8 October 2016
Double Click Blues
Gerard Sekoto - The Jazz Band (1961)
Oh boy guess whose mouse is actin' up again? It's a lil annoying from time to time so I'm going to try and knock a few posts out while the gettin's good. With the title in mind thought I'd pay a visit to some of the jazzier parts of my collection. Starting with something from FlyLo, it ain't hard to see why he was on Adult Swim's radar with tunes like this.
Revisiting the Cowboy Bebop remixes again. In what will probably be blasphemy to other fans of the soundtrack, the original Piano Black is not one of my all time favourites from it, luckily I have Ian O'Brien to remedy that. The downtempo take on the tune is a lovely addition to an already solid remix compilation.
Speaking of that album, I can't go having a jazzy themed post without giving a nod of the hat to Mr. Scruff now can I? Here's another bit from Keep It Unreal, specifically one of the bonus tunes on the 2nd disc 10 year anniversary edition. The intro alone is finger snappingly good, and like much of Keep It Unreal is a lovely listen.
-Claude Van Foxbat
Thursday, 6 October 2016
Throwin' Back
Here's a little something that was meant to go up around the blog's birthday back in August, so only about 2 months late then. Anyway, I was looking back over the history of the blog and just generally reminiscin' and decided to go over what is one of our founding blocks (if not arguably the most important one), of House. I owe an obscure local house tune for securing my initial writing position for on, so here's a rundown of a few of my all time fave house tunes.
Starting with Mushrooms, which is one of the few tunes that make me put the 'but' in "I usually don't like minimal, but...". I love the format of it for a start, as an audio driven cautionary tale, it might not be perfect for dancefloor consumption but it's an interesting listen nonetheless. I love how it builds with the progression of the story too, especially when most of the elements come together at 1:33 or so.
As I mentioned on the last podcast, A:xus has been a long stay in my music collection since being introduced to me via Midnight Club II. This one actually came to be my favourite remix of the song that did introduce me (which would be (When I Fall (Stryke's Acid Dub Techsture) ). I love A:xus' vocal house stuff anyway, but Stryke's almost deep house treatment is a welcome addition to the mix.
And I can't go being all nostalgic about discovering house and this blog without giving honourable mentions to Crydamoure and Roulé. Each label being one half of Daft Punk was a dream come true for a young house addict like I was. And they still remain top quality examples to this day, with Thomas Bangalter responsible for a whole lot of favourite tunes, His particularly funky breed of house pesent on the Trax On Da Rocks EPs especially so.
-Claude Van Foxbat
Keith Haring - Best Buddies (1990)
Starting with Mushrooms, which is one of the few tunes that make me put the 'but' in "I usually don't like minimal, but...". I love the format of it for a start, as an audio driven cautionary tale, it might not be perfect for dancefloor consumption but it's an interesting listen nonetheless. I love how it builds with the progression of the story too, especially when most of the elements come together at 1:33 or so.
As I mentioned on the last podcast, A:xus has been a long stay in my music collection since being introduced to me via Midnight Club II. This one actually came to be my favourite remix of the song that did introduce me (which would be (When I Fall (Stryke's Acid Dub Techsture) ). I love A:xus' vocal house stuff anyway, but Stryke's almost deep house treatment is a welcome addition to the mix.
And I can't go being all nostalgic about discovering house and this blog without giving honourable mentions to Crydamoure and Roulé. Each label being one half of Daft Punk was a dream come true for a young house addict like I was. And they still remain top quality examples to this day, with Thomas Bangalter responsible for a whole lot of favourite tunes, His particularly funky breed of house pesent on the Trax On Da Rocks EPs especially so.
-Claude Van Foxbat
Tuesday, 4 October 2016
(Almost) In The Doghouse
Nearly fell behind schedule, but I'm about to clutch it now! Starting with a rare soundcloud feed hit courtesy of Celdaon City. Taken from the Happy Doghouse's newest EP that came out last week, it ain't strictly electronic in the purest sense but I'm diggin' it. This one in particular has been a standout, it's almost like a less lo-fi, more indie version of Bibio, and with the whole dreamy thing it's got goin on it ain't hard to see why our mate Celadon City was so taken by it.
The same applies to the title track, Above The Stars. It's got just the right blend of chill and slight melancholy to make a perfect closing track. Oh, and the post-rock style explosion of sound that happens around 1:25 is nothing short of gorgeous too.
-Claude Van Foxbat
The same applies to the title track, Above The Stars. It's got just the right blend of chill and slight melancholy to make a perfect closing track. Oh, and the post-rock style explosion of sound that happens around 1:25 is nothing short of gorgeous too.
-Claude Van Foxbat
Sunday, 2 October 2016
The (Belated) September Shuffler: Nostalgia Special
I was looking over my schedule and I noticed it's been a long time since we've had a good old fashioned ilictronix track selection and art hasn't it? Well I did originally plan to get this one out towards the end of September but missed the mark slightly. So instead I'm going to solve that right now, starting with one of the more unintentionally amusing artworks I have around.
I probably say this everytime I post something that's been in my collection for a long time but regardless, Daft Club has been in near constant rotation for night on 10+ years at this point, and yeah it does have some duff moments but that was always going to be the case coming off the heels of Discovery. Here's one that I really dig and continue to in all it's bleepy glory.
It's been a while since I went on about my love for the electro-renaissance of the mid 00's too. Hadn't even given it any thought until The Looks cruised back into my life recently, took me right back to the days where vowels were uncool and every new EP had a MSTRKRFT remix b-side. It's still a good listen, I really dig their overall sound which is chock full of vocoders and handclaps and the like.
Stenchman's also been on my radar as of late, he's revived The Smelly Show which is basically a livestream of him doing his mixin' thing. I imagine the ones he does these days will be much better quality than the Myspace webcam ones we used to get. I still love pretty much everything he puts out, but here's an old favourite from his collaboration project with Suspect, the aptly titles Suspicous Stench.
Suspicious Stench - Faith In The Future
-Claude Van Foxbat
Alex Colville - September (1979)
I probably say this everytime I post something that's been in my collection for a long time but regardless, Daft Club has been in near constant rotation for night on 10+ years at this point, and yeah it does have some duff moments but that was always going to be the case coming off the heels of Discovery. Here's one that I really dig and continue to in all it's bleepy glory.
It's been a while since I went on about my love for the electro-renaissance of the mid 00's too. Hadn't even given it any thought until The Looks cruised back into my life recently, took me right back to the days where vowels were uncool and every new EP had a MSTRKRFT remix b-side. It's still a good listen, I really dig their overall sound which is chock full of vocoders and handclaps and the like.
Stenchman's also been on my radar as of late, he's revived The Smelly Show which is basically a livestream of him doing his mixin' thing. I imagine the ones he does these days will be much better quality than the Myspace webcam ones we used to get. I still love pretty much everything he puts out, but here's an old favourite from his collaboration project with Suspect, the aptly titles Suspicous Stench.
Suspicious Stench - Faith In The Future
-Claude Van Foxbat
Friday, 30 September 2016
Ilictronix Podcast Episode 2: The Series Begins
We're back again with another round of us talking tunes, this time we talk a little about new rumblings from Massive Attack, detroit techno, the closure of Fabric and even a little bit about British food spreads. Same as before you can find the tracklist below, and stay tuned for our proposed tentative schedule of one of these every other week!
Intro - Agga Kharn – Vamp
Claude's Picks:
Massive Attack – The Spoils
Mr. Oizo – Intro (Kirk’s Back)
El Huervo - Daisuke
Octave One – Burujha
A:xus – Callin’ U (Extended Vocal Mix)
Adam’s Picks:
Rezzett – Zootie
SFV Acid – Cheddar Mercedes
Galaxy 2 Galaxy - Journey Of The Dragons
Nookie - Give A Little Love (94 Remix)
Project Pablo – Closer
Outro: Games - No Disguise
Intro - Agga Kharn – Vamp
Claude's Picks:
Massive Attack – The Spoils
Mr. Oizo – Intro (Kirk’s Back)
El Huervo - Daisuke
Octave One – Burujha
A:xus – Callin’ U (Extended Vocal Mix)
Adam’s Picks:
Rezzett – Zootie
SFV Acid – Cheddar Mercedes
Galaxy 2 Galaxy - Journey Of The Dragons
Nookie - Give A Little Love (94 Remix)
Project Pablo – Closer
Outro: Games - No Disguise
Wednesday, 28 September 2016
We Miss You
Today would have been Trish Keenan's birthday. One of my favourite voices from one of my favourite Warp acts, she's had a profound effect on my life and has seen me through some rough spots. The surviving Broadcast member James Cargill keeps fairly active in putting things up around anniversary time which is something I really admire, not only because it's lovely to hear bits and pieces of demos and things that influenced them but also because it must be incredibly difficult to continue on without Trish, and digging through the archives must only compound that.
Here's to you Trish, you've given me plenty of entertainment through the years and that will only continue. Thank you for everything.
-Claude Van Foxbat
Here's to you Trish, you've given me plenty of entertainment through the years and that will only continue. Thank you for everything.
-Claude Van Foxbat
Monday, 26 September 2016
Seen Things 2
Had a nice chat with some folks re: the last post about Vangelis' Blade Runner OST, and with that in mind I have another round of soundtrack tidbits for y'all. Starting with a little something from film and music maestro John Carpenter. The man has plenty of iconic themes to his belt and a distinctive style, here's something from '76 (that wasn't actually released until 2003 surprisingly) that caught my attention, those opening bassy stabs are a joy to listen to and a perfect fit for the flick itself.
Moving onto something a little different, I'm seeing my way through Deus Ex again as of late. A little Foxbat didn't understand much of the game back in the early 2000's and never got very far but loved the atmosphere. It wasn't until my teens I played through it proper. Here's one of the early tracks and one of my favourites, the UNATCO theme, It has the same minimal techy edge of so many other soundtracks I've posted and isn't hindered by the limitations of the UMX format it's stored in.
Similarly one of my other favourites form the soundtrack does a good job of hiding it's MOD-derived roots of the era. It's actually surprisingly one of the longer songs on the actual released OST as well, though a lot of the game does happen in Hell's Kitchen so you'll hear this plenty. It does a fantastic job of setting the tone and atmosphere of universe's desolate New York of 2052.
-Claude Van Foxbat
Moving onto something a little different, I'm seeing my way through Deus Ex again as of late. A little Foxbat didn't understand much of the game back in the early 2000's and never got very far but loved the atmosphere. It wasn't until my teens I played through it proper. Here's one of the early tracks and one of my favourites, the UNATCO theme, It has the same minimal techy edge of so many other soundtracks I've posted and isn't hindered by the limitations of the UMX format it's stored in.
Similarly one of my other favourites form the soundtrack does a good job of hiding it's MOD-derived roots of the era. It's actually surprisingly one of the longer songs on the actual released OST as well, though a lot of the game does happen in Hell's Kitchen so you'll hear this plenty. It does a fantastic job of setting the tone and atmosphere of universe's desolate New York of 2052.
-Claude Van Foxbat
Saturday, 24 September 2016
A Touch Of Yellow Ochre
Went looking through my list of artists to check up on (which is a giant .txt that I am forever behind on), I decided to start from the bottom this time and was treated to some relics that I had noted next to them (On Grooveshark). With that I thought I was out of luck, and I almost was because trying to google 'Ochre' is an excercise in futility. Luckily I found my way with some digging, couldn't find the specific song I'd noted but found some others that hit the same notes and make me remember why it's on the list. Let's go.
It's been a while since I've touched on any IDM style stuff, for a while it was my bread 'n butter. Ochre comes out sounding a little bit like Plaid meets Autechre to my ears. As you can hear above, the usual smooth synths with the slightly off kilter beat combo is alive and well here. I've been missing this for some time and I'm happier than ever to have it back.
The album these are from in particular seems to be hitting all the things I like about Autechre, which is to say the meld of the melodic and the glitch combination. I'm actually quite surprised the album came out when it did actually, it's from 2004 and with the exception of The Flashbulb, I though the usual IDM crowd had abandoned that sound around then. It's proving difficult to get my hands on actually, so this post should serve as a reminder too.
skipping forward 10 years now, and we have a piece from a charity compilation. Not a lot has changed structure wise; the synths are still smooth as, the glitchy percussion is still there. Though I'd say not a lot really needed to, only real complaints I have is the song's half over before all the elements are introduced, which is a shame cos I could do with more of that thermemin-esque sound in my life.
-Claude Van Foxbat
It's been a while since I've touched on any IDM style stuff, for a while it was my bread 'n butter. Ochre comes out sounding a little bit like Plaid meets Autechre to my ears. As you can hear above, the usual smooth synths with the slightly off kilter beat combo is alive and well here. I've been missing this for some time and I'm happier than ever to have it back.
The album these are from in particular seems to be hitting all the things I like about Autechre, which is to say the meld of the melodic and the glitch combination. I'm actually quite surprised the album came out when it did actually, it's from 2004 and with the exception of The Flashbulb, I though the usual IDM crowd had abandoned that sound around then. It's proving difficult to get my hands on actually, so this post should serve as a reminder too.
skipping forward 10 years now, and we have a piece from a charity compilation. Not a lot has changed structure wise; the synths are still smooth as, the glitchy percussion is still there. Though I'd say not a lot really needed to, only real complaints I have is the song's half over before all the elements are introduced, which is a shame cos I could do with more of that thermemin-esque sound in my life.
-Claude Van Foxbat
Thursday, 22 September 2016
I've Seen Things
I've go some things coming up soon but not to worry, I will still be with you thanks to the science of scheduled posts. I've been giving the Blade Runner OST a god ol listen as of late again, specifically the 'Trilogy' re-release form '07 with a heap of bonus tunes on it. As one would expect it's gorgeous ambient for the most part, and still has that futuristic feel despite coming up on 35 years old by now, bonus enjoyment to be had if you got a cyberpunk sci-fi streak like moi too.
Suppose I should kick off with the quintessential Blade Runner tune, I've posted it before but it bears repeating. It ain't hard to see the influence of this tune on folks: it's been sampled in all sorts from Aesop Rock to Blu Mar Ten, featured on Röyksopp's Late Night Tales compilation and is plain to see the effect it's had on synth-inclined folk such as Oneohtrix Point Never too. It's a fantastic piece, I'd certainly like to see more film OSTs in this vein.
Gonna be focusing on the later discs for now though, I feel like enough's been said about the soundtrack over the years. There's some nice not quite ambient tucked away on these later discs, starting with the neo-noir of Dimitri's Bar, which shows off the world music part of the OST quite well with the duelling sax and eastern strings. I almost want to say with some small tweaks it wouldn't sound too out of place on Massive Attack's Protection.
Speaking of trip hop, there's a fair amount of downtempo stuff on here too. Vadavarot is surprisingly sedate, but even so the electronics on display are a joy to hear, all with some more displays of the worldly aspects of both the music and the Blade Runner universe with the distinctly Eastern European vocal accompaniment (I tried to find a source for what language it's in but there's nothing, so apologies if I'm way off!)
There's no language worries on this one when it comes to the title at least, having been a bit of a film buff in past I know it's Polish. This one's certainly the most soundtrack-esque of the bunch, I really dig the overall structure, and the voicemail quality of the spoken work is taking me back to the electroclash days when that was the in thing.
-Claude Van Foxbat
Suppose I should kick off with the quintessential Blade Runner tune, I've posted it before but it bears repeating. It ain't hard to see the influence of this tune on folks: it's been sampled in all sorts from Aesop Rock to Blu Mar Ten, featured on Röyksopp's Late Night Tales compilation and is plain to see the effect it's had on synth-inclined folk such as Oneohtrix Point Never too. It's a fantastic piece, I'd certainly like to see more film OSTs in this vein.
Gonna be focusing on the later discs for now though, I feel like enough's been said about the soundtrack over the years. There's some nice not quite ambient tucked away on these later discs, starting with the neo-noir of Dimitri's Bar, which shows off the world music part of the OST quite well with the duelling sax and eastern strings. I almost want to say with some small tweaks it wouldn't sound too out of place on Massive Attack's Protection.
Speaking of trip hop, there's a fair amount of downtempo stuff on here too. Vadavarot is surprisingly sedate, but even so the electronics on display are a joy to hear, all with some more displays of the worldly aspects of both the music and the Blade Runner universe with the distinctly Eastern European vocal accompaniment (I tried to find a source for what language it's in but there's nothing, so apologies if I'm way off!)
There's no language worries on this one when it comes to the title at least, having been a bit of a film buff in past I know it's Polish. This one's certainly the most soundtrack-esque of the bunch, I really dig the overall structure, and the voicemail quality of the spoken work is taking me back to the electroclash days when that was the in thing.
-Claude Van Foxbat
Tuesday, 20 September 2016
Far East Jungle
That's right, I'm back with some more Soichi Terada. It irked me last time I couldn't find any of his DnB stuff to stream so I am back with a more conventional ilictronix post, for the first time in I don't know how long. Track and deets after the art.
Sumo Jungle is a gorgeous LP. After the crash course the preview intro gives you, the first proper track wastes no time laying down those mid-late 90's goodtime vibes. It's a bit of a contrast to say Goldie's work round the same time, there's strings and breaks sure, but while tunes like This Is A Bad are born of Goldie wrestling with the rougher parts of the inner city at the time, Terada is all about (as the title suggest) just kicking back and enjoying things.
Don't think I mentioned it before, but these may sound a little familiar to you even if you don't know much about or even who Terada is. And the reason for that is he did the soundtrack for the original Ape Escape back on the PS1. That wouldn't be for a few years after the release of Sumo Jungle, but you can definitely see peeks of what would come through the breaks. Get a load of them 90's piano stabs too.
Coming into one of my favourites of the whole LP here, it's gorgeously smooth DnB a la Omni Trio. The thing I find most interesting about the whole LP is something I discussed with Adam in our last recording session, is just how global Drum & Bass was at the time, you've got the obvious UK folk making it but then you can fly all the way to Japan and find stuff that (minus some small stylistic differences) is in the same vein. Admittedly it doesn't sound so amazing put like that, but in a time before the mass inter-connectivity we have today I find it fascinating.
The closing track sees the Ape Escape foreshadowing come out to play again, and it might actually be my favourite of the lot. It's not hard to see why he was picked up for it, maybe it is just my nostalgia connection to it speaking, but the kind of Drum & Bass on offer here is a perfect time capsule of the day, it's a god close to the album for sure, it's just a shame it kind of eds instead of with somekinda lovely fadeout with those smooth synths we've heard previously.
-Claude Van Foxbat
Sumo Jungle is a gorgeous LP. After the crash course the preview intro gives you, the first proper track wastes no time laying down those mid-late 90's goodtime vibes. It's a bit of a contrast to say Goldie's work round the same time, there's strings and breaks sure, but while tunes like This Is A Bad are born of Goldie wrestling with the rougher parts of the inner city at the time, Terada is all about (as the title suggest) just kicking back and enjoying things.
Don't think I mentioned it before, but these may sound a little familiar to you even if you don't know much about or even who Terada is. And the reason for that is he did the soundtrack for the original Ape Escape back on the PS1. That wouldn't be for a few years after the release of Sumo Jungle, but you can definitely see peeks of what would come through the breaks. Get a load of them 90's piano stabs too.
Coming into one of my favourites of the whole LP here, it's gorgeously smooth DnB a la Omni Trio. The thing I find most interesting about the whole LP is something I discussed with Adam in our last recording session, is just how global Drum & Bass was at the time, you've got the obvious UK folk making it but then you can fly all the way to Japan and find stuff that (minus some small stylistic differences) is in the same vein. Admittedly it doesn't sound so amazing put like that, but in a time before the mass inter-connectivity we have today I find it fascinating.
The closing track sees the Ape Escape foreshadowing come out to play again, and it might actually be my favourite of the lot. It's not hard to see why he was picked up for it, maybe it is just my nostalgia connection to it speaking, but the kind of Drum & Bass on offer here is a perfect time capsule of the day, it's a god close to the album for sure, it's just a shame it kind of eds instead of with somekinda lovely fadeout with those smooth synths we've heard previously.
-Claude Van Foxbat
Sunday, 18 September 2016
Replacement Audio Service
Well this *was* supposed to be another look at old school 90's techno courtesy of Mijk Van Dijk but I'm having trouble getting my hands on it. Suppose that goes with the territory of bein' semi-obscure and me trying to pick up a mix compilation of his only released in Japan in 1998 probably didn't help none either. Instead I have another nostalgia tinged special for ye, with Celadon City lending his hand to Blink 182's I Miss You, join me in a trip back to the early 00's.
Apologies for not being what I intended, but the sequel to what this post was meant to be seems to be on track, so lookout in a couple days for some late 90's electronic stuff that I may have posted some of recently!
-Claude Van Foxbat
Apologies for not being what I intended, but the sequel to what this post was meant to be seems to be on track, so lookout in a couple days for some late 90's electronic stuff that I may have posted some of recently!
-Claude Van Foxbat
Friday, 16 September 2016
Heaven Can (Still) Wait
Been holding off on putting this one up for a long time, but it just can't wait anymore. I've been playing this on the regular on and off for about a year by now, so I think it's earned it. Heaven Can Wait is a 3-part mixtape series by Ford & Lopatin (who went by Games back then), for those familiar with Lopatin's Eccojams, Vol. 1, it's like that but dialed back a bit, there's no 4 minute loops of a tiny fragment of Toto's Africa here, just more Games flavored retro electronics. As the series name suggests, the first part starts with a vapourwave tinted rework of Sandra's Heaven Can Wait. As for part two, well it starts with the same treatment of Angela Bofill's Can't Slow Down
While not having any original Games pieces on any of them, they're still a good listen as well as an interesting insight into their combined inspirations. A lot easier to digest that some of the Eccojams stuff too, so this is a good place to get into that kinda thing!
-Claude Van Foxbat
While not having any original Games pieces on any of them, they're still a good listen as well as an interesting insight into their combined inspirations. A lot easier to digest that some of the Eccojams stuff too, so this is a good place to get into that kinda thing!
-Claude Van Foxbat
Wednesday, 14 September 2016
The SubmitHub Roundup, Vol. 4
The submissions train keeps on rollin' on, and it continues to keep exposing me to stuff I wouldn't have otherwise gone out to hear. This one came to me billing itself as minimal which I normally shy away from cos it doesn't tend to be my bag, but I gave it a go and was rewarded in due course. I was digging the intro from the get go but I wasn't expecting the vocal side of things to crop up and that only made me fall harder given my well documented love affair with treated vocals. It makes to whole thing feel like a hazy half remembered retro experimental tune a la Laurie Anderson. Which I suppose is only fitting given the cover art:
I was surprised more folks hadn't jumped on the sadboy electronic train after James Blake started to get big (or maybe they did and I just didn't hear any of it). There's certainly a little bit of Blake on display here for sure, though packaged with some more uplifting electronics for accompaniment rather than the disparate, cold touches as heard on The Wilhelm Scream and such. I do think that some of the slight vocal distortion would worked well here too, but at the same time that might have made 'em fade too much into the background, might be somethin' t experiment with in future either way!
Rounding off with even more hip hop stuff. I've always liked some brass in my hip hop ever since I heard Gorillaz's Rock The House, and Teddy Bear delivers in spades. And the artwork is on point again too. No idea if it's sampled or original but either way it'd feel right at home on a Mr. Scruff production, and the final hurrah starting around 2:30 brings about the end in spectacular fashion.
-Claude Van Foxbat
I was surprised more folks hadn't jumped on the sadboy electronic train after James Blake started to get big (or maybe they did and I just didn't hear any of it). There's certainly a little bit of Blake on display here for sure, though packaged with some more uplifting electronics for accompaniment rather than the disparate, cold touches as heard on The Wilhelm Scream and such. I do think that some of the slight vocal distortion would worked well here too, but at the same time that might have made 'em fade too much into the background, might be somethin' t experiment with in future either way!
Rounding off with even more hip hop stuff. I've always liked some brass in my hip hop ever since I heard Gorillaz's Rock The House, and Teddy Bear delivers in spades. And the artwork is on point again too. No idea if it's sampled or original but either way it'd feel right at home on a Mr. Scruff production, and the final hurrah starting around 2:30 brings about the end in spectacular fashion.
-Claude Van Foxbat
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