We take a turn into more dancefloory stuff with another helping from Laurent Garnier. I haven't been able to get enough of Shapes Under Water, and it's been doing a bang up job of clearing the dustoff my shelves with it's relentless basslines and heavy kicks. Vitalic makes an appearance with one of my favourites from the expanded re-issue of OK Cowboy in You Are My Sun. Again my bias is showing a little bit here because the combination of a fantastic electro melody and vocoder should tip some of you off to why it's one of my faves. The purple covers end with another bit of electroclash from Fischerspooner. #1 isn't as sleazy as I remember, especially compared to other releases in the genre around the time, but it does have its moments. As much as I loathe to call a tune 'sexy' I think it's unavoidable to mention when it comes to Turn On, a fairly sedate tune accompanied with some sultry vocals it definitely fits the bill.
We return briefly to the dancefloor for the anthem to excess in Röyksopp & Robyn's Do It Again. The lyrics totally wouldn't be out of place on an electroclash tune, and Robyn's delivery is on point as usual. Some of the lines might even cut a little too deep for my liking, especially during the breakdown, almost certainly one for the "Why I'm Crying In The Club" playlist. We dive further into that feeling though, with CFCF's remix of HEALTH's Dark Enough making the tune a huge juxtaposition in sound and tone. On the surface it sound like a fairly standard 'indie' electronic remix which is inoffensive enough but the lyrical accompaniment by HEALTH relally pushes it into something else; "Does it make a difference if it's real? As long as I still say I love you". Anyway, be sure to stay tuned for the deliciously 90's house-esque break at 2:55 too!
We round out with Kleerup's bittersweet 3AM, like much of his self titled debut it carries on that Juxtaposition of sound I was talking about just above, though with a more electropop streak to it. I'd recommend it doubly hard if you really liked Röyksopp's Junior, it's got that same vibe to it and even shares a guest vocalist in Lykke Li. The penultimate track is a band I've liked from a distance for some time now, they haven't had much mention just because it was difficult to fit into any playlists, but now's the perfect time to deploy some Trembling Blue Stars. I really enjoy all I've heard from them but it's definitely one to enjoy in small doses because hoo boy do they have A LOT of sad songs. Ironically enough one of my favourites of theirs is No More Sad Songs which almost made the cut.
Playing us out is Clark's The Autumnal Crush from Body Riddle. It finishes the album and does it ever finish it. It's a tour de force of Clark's sound and by far one of the most intense listening experiences I've had. The understated intro ends after 30 seconds or so with a voice saying "And I still miss... you" before giving way to an absolute explosion in sound. And not content with that, Clark notches the intensity up even more after 40 seconds or so, where the drums come in full force. And that's only the start of the ride; the gradual distortion of that main melody over the runtime is something to behold. It's not for everyone, granted, but it's one of the key examples I hold up when people say Electronic music has no emotion, I often describe this one as crushing to listen to and I don't think that description is too far exaggerated.
And that's this month's selections! I Apologise for the slightly inconsistent days they update, I try and keep them all up for around the same amount of time which has meant shifting the dates around a little. Regardless, I hop you enjoy this months admittedly eclectic offerings, and I'll be back next month with more!
-Claude Van Foxbat
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