Wednesday 31 October 2018

Ilictronix Podcast: The Halloween Special 2018!

It's a Halloween Special! Claude and Adam share their favorite spooky tracks.

Right on time this week, with our suitably spooky selections to trick or treat your ears. Our trend of going ironic with our intro tunes continues, what could top our hardstyle 4th of July special? well, some Skeletonized trap might do just that! Outside of that, my selections are a far cry form my old days of posting dancefloor-orieted tunes I take a dive into my library and dust off some of the darker sounds I have on offer; the downtempo streak continues with my first offering being some gorgeously macabre Dark-wave (though not before the terrifying spectre of eurobeat makes a very brief cameo in the intro!) Adam takes us on an eclectic ghost train of selections, ranging from Industrial to House and Acid and back. I didn't want this ep to descend into slightly spooky dancefloor stuff and I think we pulled that off spectacularly, Apologies in advance if these selections aren't your bag, we'll be back to our usual programming come next week! Tracklist and show notes follow as always:

Tracklist:
SPECIAL FAKEOUT Intro:
Mega NRG Man - Back On The Rocks (ends at 0:22)
Spooky Scary Skeletons (NoXuu Remix)

Claude’s picks:
Suilen - Zakuro
Clark - Vengeance Drools
Akira Yamaoka - Nightmarish Waltz
Hayato Matsuo - Badrick
El Huervo - Ghost


Adam’s Picks
Blawan - Why They Hide Their Bodies Under My Garage?
Nine Inch Nails - Sin
Jenny Hval - Female Vampire
Bam Bam - Wheres Your Child?
Sax - Don't Turn Your Back On Me (Halloween Mix)

Outro:
Carpenter Brut - Escape From Midwich Valley (Live)


Show Notes:
I immediately found that Dr. Dre produced tune I mentioned offhandedly with some vague googling, contrary to what I said Dre isn't ON the track but rather produced it. It's called (fittingly enough) Monster Rapping by Laylaw, released in '85, it's a far cry form the G-Funk and gangsta rap stuff that would make Dre's name much later.

Adam's contribution to the show-notes came in the form of a link simply labelled SKINNY PUPPY - LIVE 1986, definitely worth a peek if you want to hear what Adam was talking about, doubly so if you're like me and just like peeking at different aesthetics of genres and decades!

A little light on the show notes this week it seems, I have an itching feeling I've missed a couple but give me a day or so to have a proper scrub through the full cast and I'll add any that are missing. I'm goign to echno wat I said towards the end of this episode and just ask you all to be safe out there no matter what you're doing this eve (or this weekend too) and of course to enjoy the music. Myself and Adam will be back next week with more of the usual, I think we've figured out the background noise issue but you'll all know when I do. We'll leave the light on for ya.

-Claude Van Foxbat

Monday 29 October 2018

Ilictronix Podcast: Replacement Pod Service

Claude and Adam discuss their favorite tracks of the week. This week Adam shares a list of his favorite tracks for this summer and Claude talks about Japanese bonus tracks and cuts from two different Akira's. *Uploaded late due to Adam being very sick.*

This slightly late instalment of the ilictronix podcast (due to technical issues we recorded in two parts, and Adam is ill as mentioned above, but hey it's the first time we've been late!) is coming to you to make your Monday this week, just before we get into our super spooky special selections for next week; I return to my usual routine of downtempo vibes, with a cross section of tunes I'm feeling at the mo, including a Japanese Bonus Track from Flylo's Until The Quiet Comes to kick things off, and of course what would some patented Van Foxbat selections be without some soundtrack stuff? The two Akiras that tripped Adam up: Yamaoka of Silent Hill fame, and Takemoto of Serial Experiments Lain. Adam gets all nostalgic for the sounds and times of Summer now we're deep into Fall, sharing a variety of tunes and telling us why they're on his list. TBH that's part of the reason I started this while podcast thing back up again so I'm super into it, I absolutely love hearing the accompanying tales for various tunes. Anyways, full tracklist follows as per ususal:

Tracklist:
Intro:
DJ Tonka - Summerthang

Claude’s picks:
Flying Lotus - The Things You Left (Japanese Bonus Track)
Casino Versus Japan - Metrobolt
Boards Of Canada - Music Is Math
Akira Yamaoka - The Reverse Will
Akira Takemoto - Island In Video Casset


Adam’s Picks
Peggy Gou - It Makes You Forget
Scan 7 - The Resistance
Special Request - Brainstorm
Lab79 -Test Two
Mhysa - Strobe

Outro:
DJ Mehdi - Survivol


Show Notes:
The full fanpage breakdown of Boards Of Canada's Geogaddi with a big old list of the references, samples and even transcripts of some of the harder to hear and reversed samples on Geogaddi can be found over here on Bocpages, it's even got some interesting interviews from the band themselves, as well as extra fan theories and the like. It's an enthralling, if at times slightly unsettling read.

The fan-made mixtapes I mentioned compiling all the trip-hoppy and lighter ambient stuff Akira Yamaoka's made for the Silent Hill Games over the years are both on YouTube: the original mix here and the recently-released updated one Silent Chill Redux here, be aware that the tracklist seems to be using the fan-made titles for some of the songs rather than the ones on the actual release. (IE: on the old mix "Pizza & Bowling" is actually called Alone In The Town on the actually relased SH2 OST)

My print-based Spotify playlists can be found on my spotify profile! but to save you all some searching I'm going to link them all independently here: (C)yan is a bit of a mixed bag, in here you'll find a slightly downtempo leaning collection sprinkled in amongst little bits of electropop, some ambient selections and other various lush sounds. (M)agenta next, which is home to all manner of tunes to cut loose to, a mish-mash of gorgeous tunes of the House, Electro, Synthwave persuasion, plus a few miscellaneous selections to get lost in. (Y)ellow: Home of all things downtempo, with a strong hip hop/trip hop lean to it, with some slightly funkier numbers in there for good measure. And finally, (K)ey. Which is where all the darker parts of my music collection lie. Full disclousre it's not all electronic!

And just because I'm in my playlists, if anyone's big into the Cyberpunk aesthetic like I am, I also have a huuuuge playlist of tunes that fit the genre I'm constantly curating, you can find that here

And once again, that *should* be that for this week. As I've learned doing these, there may be one or two things I've missed or otherwise forgotten to put in the show notes. If so just stay tuned, I give the episodes a quick run through after the posts go up, and I'll edit this post with updates should I have missed any! That's it until next week, join us once again where Me and Adam will be back with more hot takes and even hotter selections. As always, stay safe and enjoy the music. We'll leave the light on for ya.

-Claude Van Foxbat

Tuesday 23 October 2018

Spotify Monthly Selections October

Slight noise issues prevented us from recording a *full* episode of the podcast today, so we're going to pick it up again tomorrow. But that actually gave me a chance to looky at the post list and notice I hadn't posted this months spotify playlist and a rundown of my choices. So let's put it on and have us a little dance shall we?

Well, I say that like the selections don't have something in common with my podcast selections for this week. That is they lean on the downtempo side of things. It's also a bit of a nostalgia dive into what I was listening to (and what was new) when I was at university. A lot of these tracks were excellent backing for my AfterEffects animations, starting with the fantastically detuned and distorted sound of Clark's Tooth Moves. We keep it Warp for the meantime with one of my favourites from Cosmogramma after me and Adam gave our mixed opinions on the album I thought I'd at least talk a little bit possibly about it.



A tune I made the mistake of animating a show-reel to, I can now just again appreciate SBTRKT's Never Never however many years after I've graduated, I'd completely forgotten about that incredibly deep bassline for one. Sampha's vocals in combo with the production make for a deliciously smooth package that I've fallen for once again. I remember writing a review of Moderat's II when it was released, and I distinctly remember immediately being head over heels for Let In The Light. Admittedly you all know I have a massive weakness for distorted vocals of any kind, but lately I've been all about those thunderous drums.

Similarly another album I reviewed at the time, Squarepusher's Shobaleader One d'Demonstrator (which actually got a follow up not too long ago finally). It received mixed opinions at the time but man I will always adore that intro track. Once again, full disclosure I love me some vocoder/talkbox goodness but hot damn talk about establishing an aesthetic effectively. I've seen a lot of comments comparing the album to Daft Punk oddly, I can see similarities to bits of Discovery sure but even then that's a stretch, I much prefer the descriptor I've used since a few weeks after the review: Space Jazz.

Which somehow made me think of Ladytron's Destroy Everything You Touch, one of the standouts from Witching Hour, with Marnie's vocals on point as usual. Another dive into my University listenings with the beautifully laboured strings and beats combo of Apparat's You Don't Know Me, and the surprisingly downtempo Green Light Go from Modeselektor. Rounded out with a random pick of a Tokimonsta tune I like (reminder to me to actually pick up some of her stuff finally). Rounded out with the absolutley crushing Amarillo from the Gorillaz's slightly underrated album The Fall, a fantastic sound if the "mostly composed on an iPad" tale is to be believed.

-Claude Van Foxabt

Wednesday 17 October 2018

Ilictronix Podcast: Out In The Garage, A Trip Down Memory Lane

Claude and Adam discuss different topics and share their favorite tracks. This week Claude shares a selection of UK Garage and Dub cuts while Adam brings some house tracks. Both go into detail about their music libraries and discuss youtube rips.

The ilictronix podcast for this week continues the running theme we've had for the past couple, I talk a bit about some garage tunes from my days of yoof, and how they eventually morphed into early Dubstep. Adam talks about one of the cornerstones of ilictronix with a rundown of all things house including one of the all time smashers from Crydamoure, The Eternals' Wrath Of Zeus. As mentioned above we get into the nitty gritty of our respective collections and a whole lot of other technicalities; it's also another really long one due to our choices of tunes as well. I know that's probably not for everyone but sometimes it can't be helped, a whopping 9 minutes of it is soley dedicated to Armand's mix of Spin Spin Sugar and frankly, it deserves it! Full tracklist follows:

Tracklist:
Intro:
The Streets - Has It Come To This?

Claude’s picks:
Sneaker Pimps - Spin Spin Sugar (Armand's Dark Garage Mix)
Artful Dodger - Movin' Too Fast
Skream - Summer Dreams
D1 - Chocolate Orange
Pangaea - Router


Adam’s Picks
The Eternals - Wrath Of Zeus
Sweely - My Devotion To You
DJ Romain - All Day All Night
Ian Pooley - Feel It
Champagne Bubbler - Give You (Real Love)

Outro:
Jeanie Tracy - Picture This (Club Remix)


Show Notes:
The Streets video with the dartboard I mentioned was actually recently uploaded to their official channel! so you can enjoy a decent quality look into the life and aesthetic of a northern English working class lad circa the early 2000's. Bad haircuts and questionable jewellery choices intact. This tune is actually a side of The Streets I failed to mention, in addition to tunes like Let's Push Things Forward and Has It Come To This? they have tunes like the above which are more tongue in cheek that I remembered when I mentioned that Prodigy sample but didn't want to jump back to the start with topics.
A more true to life one would be the video for Has It Come To This, there's so many hallmarks of the era that does a great job of placing it. That focus on the Nike trainers around 40 seconds in for starters, fairly sure I had that exact pair. Even though I was much younger than the demographic Mike Skinner's representing in the video, a lot of it is exactly the stuff we did as kids (minus going to the pub, naturally.), hanging out in naff café's and playing PS2 at the one friend's place who had one at the time. To abuse the phrase once again, a real time capsule.

The vintage dubstep forum thread Adam talked about can be seen here. As someone who occasionally stumbles into old forum threads about music, games and more I always like seeing them still up. It's nice to see with hindsight the thoughts of the time, both good and bad. I know that there's posts from a 14-ish year old me on some Daft Punk fan forums out there that I do not care to go find. I find it hard enough to read my old blog posts from when I was 16 as it is never mind that.

And that *should* be that for this week. As I've learned doing these, there may be one or two things I've missed or otherwise forgotten to put in the show notes. If so just stay tuned, I give the episodes a quick run through after the posts go up, and I'll edit this post with updates should I have missed any! That's it until next week, join us once again where Me and Adam will be back with more hot takes and even hotter selections. As always, stay safe and enjoy the music. We'll leave the light on for ya.

-Claude Van Foxbat

Wednesday 10 October 2018

Ilictronix Podcast: The Drum & Bass Showcase

Drum & Bass special! Claude and Adam share some of their favorite Drum and Bass tracks and talk about Flying Lotus and Brainfeeder. Adam digs out some Paradise Garage tracks. Claude goes through his personal history with the Drum & Bass genre.

The ilictronix podcast for this week is a whole mish-mash of all sorts. Completely coincidentally, me and Adam both turn on the spotlight to a bit of a contentious genre within the electronic umbrella: Drum & Bass. I talk about my past and present listenings in the world of D&B, giving a chronological rundown and background for each of my picks, Adam tries to merge the aesthetically opposite genres of Paradise Garage and Drum & Bass bypicking one of each back to back. Along the way we talk Daft Punk's Filmography, the latest info from Flying Lotus about an upcoming album (and break off into a tangent about FlyLo as a whole, particularly his sound evolution and what's what with Brainfeeder), as well as asking what exactly makes 'Liquid' Drum & Bass?

Tracklist:
Intro:
Dom & Roland - Aliens

Claude’s picks:
Soichi Terada - Time Station
E-Z Rollers - Movin' On
Omni Trio - First Contact
Chase & Status - Take Me Away
Netsky - Let's Leave Tomorrow


Adam’s Picks
Beard In Dust & Arsenaii - Hey Hey
Lemon D - This Is LA
Caroll Williams - Have You For My Love
Tango - Understanding
MCB - Time Is Right

Outro:
Everything But The Girl - Blame (Fabio Remix)


Show Notes:
The Moving Shadow mix I was talking about, 01.1, is up on youtube in full, the use of First Contact as the intro hypes me up till this day. And the adaption with a slightly different tracklist and the Afro-Carribean MC that I mentioned being featured in GTA III as MSX FM can be found there too, despite being set in the USA, it does a fantastic job of capturing the feel of a psuedo-pirate radio station, down to the slightly naff audio quality on the MC's mic.

If anyone's really interested in hearing the (admittedly subtle) differences between the release version of Time Station and the in-game one, here's two videos for each version: The released "Originape Soundtracks" version and the in-game one (I could only find this half hour loop unfortunatley). The difference is more pronounced on other tracks from the game, for example the main synth on Crabby Beach is almost completely different. Whether that's a compression to fit on the game disc issue or Terada just re-recorded it I don't know, but interesting nonetheless. I'd love to hear the technical details about the limitations of PS1 audio if I ever get the chance.

The documentary Adam talked about, Jungle Fever, is available online here via Dazed themselves. it features Fabio who remixed the Everything But The Girl track used for the outro, and Grooverider who almost made the cut with my selections, and also has my second favourite mix of the outro track you can find here (though the nly ones I could find are a little different than on the EP: Everything But The Girl - Blame (Grooverider Jeep Mix)

Adam's Twitter bot he mentioned is @garageclassics on twitter, give 'em a follow if you liked what you heard this episode and want your daily dose of more. Twitter is also telling me that Busy P of Ed Banger Records fame follows said bot which makes sense but is still pretty interesting!
And that *should* be that for this week. As I've learned doing these, there may be one or two things I've missed or otherwise forgotten to put in the show notes. If so just stay tuned, I give the episodes a quick run through after the posts go up, and I'll edit this post with updates should I have missed any! That's it until next week, join us once again where Me and Adam will be back with more hot takes and even hotter selections. As always, stay safe and enjoy the music. We'll leave the light on for ya.

-Claude Van Foxbat

Wednesday 3 October 2018

Ilictronix Podcast: The Synthwave Special

Its a Synthwave Special! Claude and Adam share their favorite tracks of the week. Claude digs deep in his Synthwave collection and Adam digs through his recent Bandcamp finds.

The ilictronix podcast for this week is up and running! Ditching my MO from previous weeks, I swap out my usual downtempo leanings and instead give a rundown of a few of my favourite things in the ever-expanding and increasingly filled with umbrella genres known as 'synthwave' (though I will admit that the HEALTH track doesn't exactly fit that definition), and Adam takes a leaf out of my book from last week, and talks us through some odds and ends that he's picked up from Bandcamp, Beatport and a variety of other digital storefronts in his time for his own instalment of Digtal Crate Digging™. So don't let the fancy thumbnail mislead you, it's not all a retro synthwave fest like it implies, we have some pretty interesting discussions this episode inbetween the tunes too. Tracklist and notes follow as per usual.

Tracklist:
Intro:
Max Coveri - Running In The 90’s (Sytricka Vaporwave Glitch-Vocals Remix)

Claude’s picks:
Carpenter Brut - Maniac (Live)
HEALTH - Drugs Exist
Scattle - Inner Animal
Garoad - Every Day Is Night
M|O|O|N - Dust (Carpenter Brut Remix)


Adam’s Picks
Mujipuki - Nhubu 2.0
Quasar - We Belong Together
Melodymann - Borderline
Adam Berecki - Nobody
Shanti Celeste - Nu4him

Outro:
Lone - Pulsar


Show Notes:
You can see the live visuals I was talking about for Carpenter Brut's live cover of Maniac here. The visuals also include all the lyrics on screen too, which is a bonus, and in the video description Carpenter Brut helpfully has a vocal credit that I overlook in my episode prep, the vocals are by a one Yann Ligner from KLONE. You can see as well here that he has a live drummer which I forgot to mention and find pretty interesting for an electronic act! It also gives you a glimpse into the absolutely mental atmosphere created, I spotted at least 2 people from the crowd climb the stage and... well... stage dive in my brief scrub through.

You can find the site for the Cyberpunk Bartending Visual Novel I talked about, VA-11 HALL-A, at the fantastic URL that Adam mentioned: waifubartending.com, if you're interested in picking it up it's available on both Steam or GOG. Unlike Hotline Miami and it's ilk, the soundtrack isn't available as DLC for the game, instead the soundtrack is available over on Garoad's bandcamp as 3 separate releases. Every Day Is Night, my selection for this episode is taken from the Second Round OST.

The twitter thread between Lone and friends re: alleged Black Eyed Peas plagiarism can be found here, it's not the first incident of it's kind and it probably won't be the last, I distinctly remember something like this happening between Breakbot and Bruno Mars some years ago.

And with that, we are done for another week of Podcasting! Me and Adam will be back with more same time same channel next week. As always, stay safe and enjoy the music. We'll leave the light on for ya.

-Claude Van Foxbat