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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tuesday 13 September 2016

The Project Has Landed

So, after around a year plus of teasing, the mystery can finally be dropped. Here's the oh-so-secret project me and Adam were working on, the ilictronix podcast has landed! Join me and Adam as we talk about some tunes, the many confusing instances of Ghost In The Shell, and Björk.



Doesn't look like the tracklist is live on mixcloud yet, but I kept it on file so I might as well post it here too. Stay tuned for more, it took a while for us to get it done but I really like the format and I think we could do a lot with it. But for now I'll jet and just leave you with the tunes!

Intro - EQD - EQD#002A

Claude's Picks:
Philestine – Genius In A Bottle (Mix 3)
Cornelius – Deep Breathing
Games - Take Me To The Top (From the Heaven Can Wait, Vol. 2 mixtape)
Zombie Nation - Velcrosquat Light
Björk - Immature (Mark Bell's Version)

Adam’s Picks:
Bulgarian State Television Female Choir - Pilentze Pee
SAFE - Don't Worry
Tom E. Vercetti - Future Perfect
Peshay - Piano Tune
Mad Rey - Quartier Sex

Outro: DJ Rashad - Leavin'

Friday 9 September 2016

Tricks 3

The trick continues to work, and I have some gold to share with you today because of it. Let me introduce you to Soichi Terada, a man you may have heard of but played a pivitol role in introducing a little Foxbat to the world of Drum & Bass in the late 90's. He's been around and making tunes for a long time, and his soundcloud is made up of mostly these. Before the Drum & Bass streak that would come later, there was house, so please enjoy some circa 1992 Japanese house in all it's glory.



They're certainly of the era that's for sure, but what I really dig is having heard his later drum & bass stuff, a lot of the sound types and structure remains the same, the overall feel just has this easy-going vibe to it that I've been digging up a lot lately, and I always appreciate upbeat sounding electronic stuff.



And these aren't even the oldest tunes on display there, the next one is from 1989! It doesn't have that easy going feel that I mentioned just a second ago, but it's still very well made. Not heard anything of his with vocal accompaniment before either, it's certainly... different, it mainly just gives me flashbacks to watching old school OVAs on VHS. An interesting look back regardless, and it's always nice to hear other countires takes on House.



-Claude Van Foxat

Wednesday 7 September 2016

The SubmitHub Roundup, Vol. 3

Back again with a third helping of Submithub pickings, and the indie elctronic itch continues to be scratched (as does the good artwork train too I might add). After the last post I dug out my collection of indie electronic stuff and was lamenting the lack of any new La Roux rumblings, well once again someone must have been listening because this 'un landed on my screen today. Got a few minor quibbles with bits of the production front agree with me but it's very well done for the most part. I'd very much like to see something a little more downtempo from them in future, like the more sedate parts of Röyksopp's Junior



The most exciting part of these submissions is finding something you weren't expecting. Given the last few hip hop tagged submissions, I certainly wasn't expecting the lusciously smooth instrumental on show here, reminds me of many a bleary eyed night watching Adult Swim bumps. The lyrical accompaniment is on point too, the content and delivery go hand in hand with the instrumental, and there's a couple lines that hit a little close to home too, which is something that hasn't happened to me since the days of Aesop Rock's Labor Days and The Streets' Original Pirate Material.



Talking surprises, this one came to me billed as deep house, and the intro and art set me up for a relatively chill experience, imagine my surprise when those bombastic, almost brass like synths dive right in around 40 seconds. It's structured pretty nicely too, there's a nice breakdown and switch up around halfway through, and an extended outro, which is a little unusual but brings things to a closure quite nicely. Part of me wants it to be longer but at the same time I want it to stay the bitesize chunk of feelgood electronic that it is.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Monday 5 September 2016

Tricks 2

Got a few other cool labels to add to the sound-cloud white list, no surprise Flying Lotus' Brainfeeder is there, which is a real blessing because as it turns out there was some Thundercat I had managed to miss about a year back. And thankfully we are not limited to 30 second previews so we call all bask in the funky goodness of Thundecat. Enjoy.



And since I was there I thought I'd share a couple more of my favourites from Apocalypse too. Heartbreaks + Setbacks remains one of the few tunes that I HAVE to listen to all the way through when it comes on, it wastes no time getting ot the meat of things and I will always be all ears.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Saturday 3 September 2016

The SubmitHub Roundup, Vol. 2

Wasting no time getting stuck into more things I'm picking up from Submithub. The first offering this time is on point, As I'm sure you've seen many a time I go seeking out more indie electronic stuff in the vein of Au Revoir Simone and Lykke Li. Well this not only scratches that itch, but also has just a sprinkling of funk and a smidgen of disco throughout, think a little like Breakbot or Chromeo. Another thing about my submithub experience so far is that I have yet to see bad artwork accompanying a submission too, which is a real change from the soundcloud trawls of old. It's just a shame I had to come by it on a rainy day.



The strings make a return again (although not for as long as last time), being replaced around 40 secs in by some almost Rusite-esque backing. It does kinda lose me with the dubstep style drop but I can chalk that mainly up to going to way too many student parties and being far too exposed by that sound. It does manage to bring it back around afterwards tho, the breakdowns between are solid, so props to the producer for not banking on the dubstep to carry the rest of the tune, and I'd definitely be interested in more of the more sedate sound from them.



Speaking of funky bits however, Bluberry Spy has everyone so far beat. It had me from the very start with that bassline, and those little splashes of organ throughout are giving me major Nightmares On Wax vibes in the best way. It's actually something that's been sorely missing from my daily audio diet, and only by hearing this did I realise that. Still, at least I have an outlet for that now, will definitely be keeping tabs for when I need to get my fix.



Thursday 1 September 2016

Vintage Oizo (Part Three)

Not a full in-depth look at an EP this time unfort, simply because there ain't that much more material to get stuck into, it's around '99 and '00 and Oizo's well on his way to taking off. But you already know that, so let's not dilly dally and get into it.



Contrary to the image above, we're actually visiting the Analog Worms Attack EP first, for a B-side that didn't make it onto the LP. The Dead Chair is standard fare Oizo at this point, the samples and rough electro waves in the intro should be enough to tell you that. Still it's a solid addition to the pack if you really dig that era's sound as I do.


Then onto the Last Night A DJ Killed My Dog EP, probably Oizo's most conventional of the lot (which would make sense, it came out in 2000 after the Flat Beat success). It features a whole host of remixes from the likes of Alex Gopher and Demon. And in true Oizo fashion none of these are simply labeled (X Remix) oh no, but more on that in a bit. For now here's the original, same as it appears on the Analog Worms Attack LP.



One of the mixes is by a one Matthew Herbert, someone I've been meaning to cover but getting hold of it is proving difficult. I was introduced to him through his 2001 LP Bodily Functions, a mix of downtempo and house that has little in common with this remix. What you do get is a funky feeling cut-up reworking of the original that is well worthy of being included on a Oizo release.



And finally, one of my all time faves that I have listened to hundreds of times since I picked it up off some MP3 site in the early 00's, the unsettlingly titled Monday Massacre. I prefer it to the slightly altered version dubbed No Day Massacre on the Analog Worms Attack LP, there's not much difference between the two, but in the EP version you get the absolutely gorgeous breakdown starting at 2:29 whereas the LP version has Feadz laying down some scratching over the top of it.



-Claude Van Foxbat