Tuesday 21 September 2021

Bite-sized Bits 06

Vija Celmins - Mount Holyoke (1987)


A tale as old as time on here - this time we're talking a tune that I found on a compilation. I originally found this one on the We Are The Works In Progress compilation, put together in for Japan Society and Architecture For Humanity after the 2011 Tsunami. It's a slightly eclectic collection featuring some favourites of mine, notable a rare Broadcast offering and a proper unicorn of a solo piece from Karin Dreijer Andersson not in their Fever Ray guise.

My pick of today isn't any of those though (and not just because I couldn't find BC or other legit players for them!), I've gone with one of the tracks that sort of took me by surprise. Nosaj Thing had always been in my periphary, the kind of thing that gets recommended to you all the time when you dip into that side of the hip hop world - think your Flying Lotuses and your Prefuse 73s, but as is the case with so many folks in that category, it was always on the perpetual backburner of stuff to check out. This comp changed that though.

Nightcrawler is not quite as sinister as the name would suggest. The opposite in fact - it's an absolutley gorgoeus piece, and one that's pretty far from the Hip Hop vibes that made Nosaj appear in my recommendeds anyway. I looked up the EP it was originally from on Discogs just becuase I was struggling to pin it down, it's listed as IDM on there which I can kind of see, but as usual with an umbrella term like that I don't think it does a great job of describing it, this one especailly as it errs more on the ambient side. But it is just fantastic through and through, I could live in these sounds forever - that buttery smooth backing is the kind that scratches that very specific itch of mine - and the extra garnishes make it extra sweet as as well. Thankfully it's available on Nosaj's label's bandcamp page, so you don't have to track down either the compilation or the super limited original EP that it originally appeared on - proper value at just 1 dollar to boot.



I do like it when artists do stuff like this, I'm not as heavy into collection as I used to be but it does always irk me when there's these super limited releases - so I welcome any time releases become more accessible like this. I've still got a couple of releases from Nosaj in the queue to check out, one of which is more in this ambient vein as well so there might be more to come in the future. Until next time, as always, stay safe and enjoy the music.

-CVF

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