Tuesday 30 October 2012

All Is Full Of Love

I'm feeling particularly arty tonight, so I slapped on my records as usual and got to work. But then while browsing my folders of inspiration for material, I found my Chris Cunningham files again. The man is responsible for some of my favourite music videos of all time, and looking over his concept sketches for this video I just had to watch it again. I've already covered the three big videos he's directed - Aphex Twin's Come To Daddy and Windowlicker as well as Squarepusher's Come On My Selector. And I thought it was high time I covered his other famous piece; Björk's All Is Full Of Love


It's a stunning display, especially considering it's from '99, the CGI is brilliantly well done and still holds up fairly well to modern standards, I expected nothing less from Cunningham after his work with AFX and Squarepusher. It helps that the accompanying song is fantastic too, it's a different mix to the one included on her album Homogenic and dare I say it a better one too. Enjoy.



The first remix on offer is from a bloke called Guy Sigsworth. It takes a more subdued route to the sounds while retaining a similar structure. I actually didn't realise how muted this mix is compared to the original until I played them one after another, but the chorus and ending sections feature a beautiful explosion of electronics onto the scene, reminding me just a little of Clark's The Autumnal Crush. I don't have a problem with that - a thing I really enjoy when making art is watching different peoples approaches to the same thing; an object, feeling etc. so these remixes go down a treat.



Björk's interest in the world of experimental electronic becomes more pronounced towards the end, starting with this mix from a duo called Funkstörung. It's fairly by the numbers for experimental stuff, to me it resembles Tri Repeatae era Autechre, especially when the melodic streak running throughout gets it's own break around 3:13 or so. I wasn't too fond of this one to begin with, but like so many other tracks before it, upon revisiting it I found something within it that I loved, in this case that break I just mentioned. It's fleeting, but after the break is gone the track stays special, everything after it and through to the end is just golden.




And finally, Plaid. After guesting on their LP Not For Threes, Plaid and Björk have had a pretty tight relationship. I've said before that Plaid are very hit and miss for me, but there's no sign of misses here. After giving the basic melody their unique sound treatment for that intro, you're thrust into a sparse soundscape with only a rolling beat and Björk's vocal stylings for company. And aside from some sparkling synth lines dotted throughout and some squelchy pads added during the chorus about halfway in it stays largely the same. I get the feeling this mix is meant to be more about her vocals anyway, they are slightly higher in the mix than anything else, and no other mix has had the same approach. Saying that, I love their interpretation of it, and I think it's a fitting end to the EP.



And of course, I can't just write all that and leave all of you to go find the video yourselves could I? Well here it is, it really is a phenomenal video and is definitely worth your time.



Artificial,
-Claude Van Foxbat

Sunday 28 October 2012

I'm So Spooked

Hey guys, I'm not dead! after a brief break from University and returning from a fantastic night out on the toon in Newcastle, I not only have time to post, but have things to post too! today's offering is bits from a mixtape I knocked up for a friend relating to a certain holiday approaching, Enjoy!


I already had the perfect opener lined up in the offering from the Cornelius EP that is unlike anything else put out there by the usually electric-centric duo The Bloody Beetroots. I thought it served well as an introduction to what I called rather unimaginatively The Spooky Tape.



I of course followed that up with their church based banger from their debut LP Romborama, it would have been rude not to. listening back to it with that in mind reveals all kindsa spooky goings on in the track right down to the thermin-esque whining bits in the background, and of course a healthy dose of the organ. As one person so nicely commented on my Youtube upload of this track "No more Castlevania remixes for me!".



I can't go around dropping videogames into the mix without including everyone's favourite 1980's inspired electro dealer (alongside the 'Vinsky of course) Danger. The intro just nails that old school feel and wouldn't sound too out of place in a low budget slasher horror from about 30 years ago. Do yourself a favour and see if you can ffind that video on youtube where someone synced this tune up to bits from The Terminator it's class.



I desperately needed a slightly more downtempo number to spice up the tape's structure, but it still had to be electronic. I found the answer in an underrated bit from Teenage Bad Girl. This track has always been a favourite of mine from Cocotte, it was a nice break from their usual repertoire, and I as moe than happy to see them carry the slower paced break tradition on to Backwash.




This gap allowed me to get a bit creative; see this friend is wanting to expand her music horizons and explore more electronic stuff. I ended up playing the safe choice on the actual mixtape and put Röyksopp's The Fear in. However for you fine people I'm going to treat you to my original choice in The Knife's The Captain, a beautifully haunting song that Olof from the duo describes as "What I imagine the Alps to sound like".



Saying that I did choose to put on one of Broadcast's weirder sounding tracks afterwards. Coming back to Pendulum was an experience all right, that off kilter sound, the unrelenting beat during the chorus and of course the lovely tones of Trish Keenan. Between all that it had certainly earned its place on the mix. That and to bring it back around to less electronic oriented stuff to finish it off.



Rounding off my selection is Ghosts from Ladytron. After listening almost exclusively to their debut 604, which is a record infused with the vibes of the 80's mixed with contemporary house, jumping to 2008's Velocifero was quite a shock. The electrics may not be as pronounced (minus that droney intro & outro), but the quality is still there and I'm kicking myself for not checking the rest of their discography sooner.



That'll do for now, but how about you make your own halloween mixtapes and share them with friends? it's a fun little distraction, and I've already given you a few tracks to get started with so get to it!

HALLOWEEN EDIT: One of our lovely readers by the name of Sulphites dropped by with their own spooky tape to share, you can find it over on their blog.

Boo,
- Claude Van Foxbat

Thursday 18 October 2012

THE RETURN OF EVIL STEREO

I realize this is highly unorthodox, seeing as that I technically don't work here anymore, but I never got my privileges taken away, so SCREW THE RULES, I HAVE MUSIC.

Formerly known as Evil Stereo, Randy Westbrook returns as SILVER AGE SCIENTIST in this unofficial and unauthorized compiled LP of all his unreleased material ranging from 2010 up til now! The Perfectionist features all of his best works that 'weren't good enough' to release, and took a backseat to his career as a professional video game player. Get it while it's hot!

Official statement from Randy:


My asshole friends decided that since I wasn't ever going to release all my music, that they would do the whole "Death of the author" thing and release them all for me. Welp. Here ya go."


TRACKLIST:
Intro
Atom Kids
Bomber Change
Reed Richards is Useless
Freeze Ray
Rogue
Blaxploitation
West Coast Avengers
Night of the Sentinels
Comets
Gwen Stacy (Bonus Track)


Now, some MP3s for right away.






BLLAAAAAH bad formatting, but I gotta go. Toodles.

Saturday 13 October 2012

A Very Warped Epilogue Five: The End

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So, this is it. One year and a bit, and with a boatload of posts behind me, It's finally time to close the door on Warped. Can't think of a better tribute to a label that's a legendary icon in the electronic world than that. There's still a bunch of stuff I haven't covered (Like Squarepusher's 1998 Jazz record Music Is Rotted One Note) so feel free to check the depths of Warp's back catalogue for yourselves! But before I go, I thought I'd give out one last smattering of tracks, just for old times sake.

Click for huge (2,000px × 1,111px)

A couple more from the Warp20 (Unheard) Compilation now, starting with Boards Of Canada's stellar contribution: Seven Forty Seven. That absolutely sublime opening is just unreal, and not long after I got my hands on this comp I found out that that same opening had been used previously by the Boards on a rare compilation tape floating around the the internet. It's simply titled Audiotrack 6A, and is vital listening, both as a compliment to the finished Seven Forty Seven and just to see how far Boards Of Canada have evolved in time.



Imagine my surprise when I look up the tracklist for (Unheard) and find a Broadcast track that had slipped under my radar. I had heard demo tapes from their last LP put out by James Cargill not long after vocalist Trish Keenan's death, but this would be the first new material I had heard from them since. The chance to hear something new from one of my favourite voices in music was just amazing. It comes in the form of a cover of Nico's Sixty Forty, judging by the sound it's from the Tender Buttons era, with Keenan on top form as usual. There's a couple hisses on her vocal track like the pop filter was missing from the mic when they recorded, normally that would put me off slightly, but in this case I actually think it really compliments the track. A fitting finale for the band.



Long before Clark became my de facto supplier of melodic noise, he was already releasing LPs with warp under his full name, Chris Clark. His debut from 2001 has some real gems on it,including one of mine and fellow writer Here's favourites; Lord Of The Dance. I just love every little thing about this track: the beats, the melodies, and even that flute that just drops into the mix about a minute in. It shouldn't fit with the sounds there, but it just settles on down and makes it work.



There's a much earlier highlight for me on the LP, and it's the unassumingly titled Bricks. Like Lord Of The Dance before it, it wastes no time cutting to the meat of the track. there's no intro, no steadily paced bulidup with eventual payoff, it's just there. It helps that the track itself is pretty great throughout, showing off plenty of that unique style that Clark is known for. That is to say, pure abrasive sounding noise waves that have a melodic streak in them, lovely stuff throughout.




Another LP I missed was Squarepusher's Hard Normal Daddy which he dedicated to the Chelmsford rave scene, simply 'cos by the time I'd got it, we'd long since passed it in the dates for Warped. It gets a lot of mixed reactions, I'll admit there are a few track I don't necessarily care for, a lot that are really long (6-8 mins mostly). Regardless there is still quality on here, as demonstrated by the opening two tracks, Pusher's Jazzy vibes are much more pronounced on these two compared to his previous releases, starting off with Coopers World.



Rounding off the LP is the one track from it that is in constant rotation by me, Beep Street. The album may have it's less than amazing moments, parts of it may be too long, but what it did give us in Beep Street is quite possibly one of the finest Squarepusher tracks ever made. The track serves as a nice introduction to new listeners as it introduces all the things that make that iconic 'pusher sound.



Drawing things to a close for the final time now, I thought I'd end it with a track I've had sat around for a while, also from the Warp20 series, Leila's sublime and beautiful cover of Aphex Twin's Vorhosbn. True to the style of Drukqs, Leila has recreated the main melody lines from Vordhosbn, a typically AFX experiment in drum programming, on a piano. It's amazing how simply taking the beats away and slowing the tempo slightly can have such a massive effect on the track's feel. Leila more than did justice to the original here, and I can think of no better note or track to end on than this one. So, for the last time, Enjoy.



Warp ∞,
-Claude Van Foxbat

Friday 5 October 2012

Sit Up Straight

So my good friend Earl Da Grey AKA The Deadbeat Demon finally dropped his beat tape that he's been working on for a while. It's been a long time coming and I've loved the last couple tracks he's put out, and I knew from the preview that it was going to be pretty damn good. Check out the preview after the pic!



And just because, I'll hit you up with couple other tunes from the tape that I think is pretty swell. Guys on a roll lately when it comes to hittin' my sweet spots for hip hop, and I can't wait to see what he comes up with for our little collabo. For now though this is more than enough quality to keep me going.

Deadbeat Demon - Ice Cream

Deadbeat Demon - Filters

Find More Deadbeat Demon At:
'Good Posture' Beat tape
Soundcloud
Bandcamp
Twitter

What's The Dealio?
-Claude Van Foxbat

Tuesday 2 October 2012

A Very Warped Epilogue: Part Four

    Previous Part                                                                                                       Next Part   

The end isn't too far away now, but I couldn't just let these last couple of AFX releases go unmentioned. Join me now as we take a slight step back to 1995 in this penultimate edition of Warped, and look at the work of the Aphex Twin towards the end of his first analogue period, before going fully digital for 1996's Richard D. James Album.


Heading the attack have an EP released under RDJ's often used AFX moniker; originally released as a two part vinyl release in 1995, it was given a lovely CD re-issue by the folks at Warp. It sounds entirely unlike the stuff he was making under Aphex Twin at the time, and in fact I think it's closer to Richard D. James Album than ...I Care Because You Do in terms of sounds.



This next one I loved for a long time, it has a lot of sweet melodies in it alongside the now expected beat butchery we know the Twin for. It caps off this EP in impressive fashion with another anagram-ed title no less; my absolute favourite moments being the peak in sound round about halfway through where it sounds like the synths are being pushed to their limits and might just explode at any minute.




Unfortunately I didn't pick up Donkey Rhubarb in time for the first round of Warped, my reasoning being that it was a short EP. In hindsight though, I do recommended you check it out, the Phillip Glass remix/orchestration of Icct Hedral is something a bit out of leftfield but is most definitely worth your time. Amway, onto the stark raving mental title track: the opening is like condensed happiness, and then the acid style beats and bass roll in and it's a whole 'nother track.



Of course, it wouldn't be an Aphex Twin EP without the token downtempo number. This is Donkey Rhubarb's (which is also another animal + food combo), and it's among my favourites. It has a real lo-fi sound to it that I don't think is present on any other AFX tracks from around this time, normally I'd hate that kind of thing being all about quality an all, but it really does work in this tracks favour.




Finally, we end with the Ventolin Remixes EP. And true to AFX's signature way of taking the piss, all but one of the tracks sound absolutely nothing like the original, abrasive monster that is Ventolin. These practically original tracks are actually quite good, an early favourite of mine being the 'remix' by Cylob: a nice number with a lot of contrast between the rolling beat and the light sounding synth that is introduced later.



Playing us out is the Probus mix, which isn't actually the name of the remixer (there's no credit for it, I'd assume it was RDJ himself), a slice similar to the more downtempo bits on ...I Care Because You Do. It plays out similar to Cylob's mix, albeit with a more distinct AFX touch to it throughout.



Right, bloody hell that was a fairly long one wasn't it? Only fitting considering there's only one or two more posts to go before I'm done with Warped forever. It's been a long time coming, but join me next time where we may close the book!

Armadillo Risotto,
-Claude Van Foxbat