A return to a cult classic this time, with another bit from James Stinson's one-off side project The Other People Place. I've already done a big post on this album in the past, which is why I can't believe I hadn't put this one up before. It's a fairly short album too - clocking in at just 8 tracks and just a little over 51 minutes long but for each and every one Stinson absolutely nails the slick melancholy-tinged atmosphere that defines the album.
Let Me Be Me is still my favourite of the bunch, but I love the whole thing - Moonlight Rendezvous came on this morning and reminded me of that - something about it just hit the spot today, think I might be in the mood for this kind of high-tech stuff (no change there then!). You can be forgiven for thinking that it's a little plain and monotonous (though arguably that is part of the album's intention), Moonlight Rendezvous really comes into it's own if you can spare the time to listen on some proper headphones, it really lets all the little delicate touches shine and fully immerses you in that bass line.
The full LP comes highly recommended from me if you like what you hear. Its a shame that we never got more of this project as Stinson sadly died not long after its release - little bits and pieces have come out since though, Laptop Cafe by a one 'Jack Peoples' is the remnants of a follow up mini-album salvaged from DAT tapes. It took me a long time to even find it as they puzzlingly used a new alias rather than The Other People Place name and I haven't actually listened to it in detail yet - but I'm thankful for there to be more, even if it is unfinished demos.
That time of the month where I look over my ever expanding list of things to get and attempt to make some choices for the rapidly approaching Bandcamp Friday. The most recent additions to the wish list have been a a bit all over the place, normally they follow a theme, but I've chucked a couple on as of late that are just there as reminders really, biggest example being the Warp stuff - it's cheaper direct from Bleep but I find Bandcamp easier to browse. But I digress, let's have a look at some potentials for this round.
Rosalyn Drexler - Men and Machines V (1966)
It's not been as tricky this time, I seem to have managed to catch some stuff way in advance so it means I'm not scrambling for options this time. Quite a techy edge to it this time, but I think it's come together semi-naturally from other things that just missed the cut last time. Starting with another alias of Gerald Donald with Arpanet - as both names suggest it's quite high tech electro stuff, albeit in that early 2000's way. It can get a little long in the tooth at times (but I feel that way about a lot of Donald's other work as well), but the moments where it shines are very bright indeed. Album opener The Analyst waxes philosophical about technology in text to speech tones - some still relevant, the extended parts about 'wireless information transfer' with lines like 'people can now transmit electronic mail (...) from their mobile cell phones' not so much. It's a great mood setter for sure, but the real highlight comes in track 2 - Illuminated Displays, an encapsulation of my favourite of Donald's styles, and the perfect soundtrack to the far off year of 2002.
In a similar kind of vein we have Versalife. Recommended to me because I've really liked the stuff that Convextion has put out under the E.R.P. alias - that kind of spacey techno slash electro type of deal (and bonus points for what is I assume a Deus Ex reference in the name). I initially wanted to start with his debut album but opted for an EP instead - easier to digest that way I thought. And I wasn't disappointed as Night Time Activities Pt. I starts incredibly strongly with Solenoids Of Insomnia, and it would have probably been the track I chose for this post but it has strong competition from the one I actually did pick in Tales Of The Unexpected (or Tales From the unexpected if you're going by what's actually on the vinyl sticker). If you're at all like me and are a big fan of the E.R.P. I've posted before, you'll find yourself in familiar territory here: I'm going to echo something I read about E.R.P's work here: it's all real atmospheric techy stuff - I keep feeling like this one reminds me a little of the more downtempo bits on Aphex Twin's Analord series, though not quite as acidic. I'm liking it a whole lot, it seems like my requests of posts past for more things in this style have been answered.
Another tale from my "Wishlist for later, sounds cool" trips is LNS' Recons One - volume 2 is slightly puzzlingly missing from her Bandcamp but there's plenty there to get stuck into as-is. Speaking of puzzling, her releases make ample use of the now-defunct Bullfrog Productions logo, which I'm very familiar with from my younger days, but enough of that, let's talk about the tunes. I wasn't sure how to feel about the title track at first, the beat was good but I wasn't sure where it was going to go, when that first stab at 0:14 took me by surprise in the best way. It builds upon that solid base as it goes on naturally, but I think those stabs may still be my favourite thing about this one. It's a lot less space-y than my previous two picks, much more bouncy and... well, kinda funky to an extent - it reminds me quite a bit of the instrumental DMX Krew cuts in places, but not as out and out funk as those from DMX. I'm a couple of years late on this one, but I'm looking forward to diving into the rest of LNS' releases and seeing what else she comes out with in the future.
And that'll do it for this time, there is an ADULT. EP I've got lined up as well, but it doesn't quite jive with the others posted above so I'll hang fire on that one for now. As is tradition I could end up picking up a bunch of completley unrelated stuff, only time will tell. It might be a day or so before I actually get around to posting the scoops from this time as I have a busy weekend coming up but I'll try and get it written up and scheduled for some point next week. Until then, as always - stay safe and enjoy the music.
Following on from the Bandcamp scoops, I've dug into my archives to find what little bits and pieces of Deep House I have in there. See, it's a genre I'd say I love the sound of, but I don't seem to have much of it. A lot of that was me just riding the high of Mr. Fingers' Amnesia, home of Can You Feel It? among others. And if I had to point to a track that was probably my favourite example of it, Feel It would probably win out. But I've already talked about it a bunch in the past, and it is also (rightfully so) one of the more popular bits of retro electronic out there. So instead let's see if I can't round up some similar sounding stuff.
Sam Francis - Her Blue Deeps (1972)
Laurent Garnier to start out - one of those names again that always came up in the circles I frequent but I never really investigated in much detail. Still, even then he's managed to have several tracks come on my radar, and one that instantly came to mind when I was thinking about this post was Last Tribute From The 20th Century - suitably, the closer from 2000's Unreasonable Behaviour. As the name would suggest, much like Daft Punk's Teachers, this is a love letter to Garnier's influences - as the track itself says: "New York, Detroit and Chicago".
It's one of those tracks that gripped me from the get-go, as you all know by now, I'm a sucker for that kinda sweeping smooth sound. The whole thing has a tinge of melancholy to it, but that's easy to overlook when you slip into the groove of that bassline - I appreciate the little flourishes here and there that are evocative of Frankie Knuckles and company too. Last Tribute is definitely one of the highlights from the album and has more than earned its place here.
Admittedly this one is more straight up Detroit Techno than Deep House, but I think it still fits the bill. Burujha is a lovely and melodic cut - nice and bouncy but carrying that slight melancholy mentioned before. This is actually the track that made me sit up and pay attention to Octave One after hearing it on the Games' eclectic 'Spend The Night With' mixtape (where it's actually incorrectly listed as the title track from the 'Art And Soul' EP that it's from) - that mixtape really runs the spectrum of genres, from full on Detroit techno like this to Eccojams-esque disco cuts - Lopatin & Ford even give Enya the vaporwave treatment on it at one point! It sounds absolutely gorgeous on there - it plays back a little slower which really makes it sound more techno, and as a bonus the cassette tape gives it a great lo-fi edge, even distorting some of the synths.
But I think my heart has to belong to the real deal release one, the whole album it's from The Living Key (To Images From Above) is great but Burujha remains my absolute favourite, and like Last Tribute above makes for a fantastically fitting album closer. Burujha also catches me off guard on the regular, as there's 30 seconds of silence at the end before a little untitled hidden track starts.
And lastly, Soichi Terada. One of the ones I had in mind when I started writing and annoyingly one of the only ones readily available for streaming not from YT. You (and I) are probably more familiar with Terada's Drum & Bass work - I've talked about it a fair few times in the past here, his work on the Ape Escape 1 & 3 soundtracks is incredible - really playful, often lush and surprisingly heavy for what it's soundtracking! Terada actually got his start making House music in the late 80's and early 90's, producing tracks like Sunshower in '89 that could have easily gone here.
The track I've picked out though is a slightly reworked version of Purple Haze - one of Terada's early solo productions. The original is a little rough 'round the edges, charmingly so with those MIDI Piano stabs leading us in. I'm a little on the fence about the Hendrix sample however, while I do like it I have to say I much prefer the (Edit) that doesn't have it - that said, I'm also sure a big reason for this edit was to avoid having the rights holders coming knocking. The edit is overall much cleaner sounding too as a result of that and some little production tweaks here and there, which I think suits it better in the end - I absolutely adore those lush backing synths that seem to have been designed to directly target the part of me that loves that sound. Only complaints I have is that I would maybe like some build up to the main body of the track as you might expect from a Deep House cut, but I can't deny that I love that this one is all action as soon as you hit play.
And that'll about do it for this time, a shame I couldn't find more actual music streams but at least they're all from official sources. Speaking of, I can't do a deep house post without a least giving honourable mention to Marshall Jefferson's Mushrooms - specifically the Salt City Orchestra Remix, a frequent appearance on my more hi-tech sounding playlists, Mushrooms also has the unique twist of the spoken word storytelling guiding you through the experience. That'll do it for this one, I'll stop myself there because I could go on and on! And of course: As always - Stay safe and enjoy the music.
"Claude brings some Video Game DnB. Adam goes through another breakup and continues his breakup playlist "cuffing season edition" "
We are live for this week! I one again revist the world of videogames, with an initially unintentional (but then I made it so) focus on the world of Drum & Bass and all it's flavours. We cover a whole bunch of ground in this episode; from old school breakbeat to liquid funk and even a little bit of breakcore in there too. I couldn't have contrasted more with Adam's choices this week but more on that as we get to it.
I appreciate that these episodes blur the lines with what the show's about, and that it might not be for everyone given the subject matter, but as mentioned last time it came up games played an integral part in my electronic music journey and continue to do so to this day! I also tried to keep it fairly varied in terms of the audio, even though we're mostly dealing with Drum & Bass this week, I tried to bring a selection of flavours from a selction of sources; we have fan works, independent works, and dedicated composer's work too. Though saying that my intro choice for this week breaks that trend, as teased (off-mic) last week I have recently picked up a bunch of quite obviously Rustie and Hudson Mohawke inspired stuff I am still absolutely in love with. Major shout-outs to OCRemix this week, with two of the tracks for this week coming from albums hosted on their site (of which you can find links to in the show notes!).
Adam's choices for this week are very much considered, and once again I very much appreciate having him on the podcast (and as well for editing and uploading it of course). We touch on many things ABOUT music in his section of the show, which is something we've talked about a little in previous episodes where we discussed how we listen and why (or why we think) we do that. And honestly I really enjoyed it, part of what makes ilictronix what it is is not just the electronic music component, but the passion as well, and you can hear as Adam talks us through his choices this week that each one has been carefully considered and has its place in the listing. Perhaps a little bit deep for a show where we mainly just talk tunes in a casual fashion but I feel its an important aspect of the musical experience, and I definitely would rather have it this way than us just talking about dancefloor bangers back-to-back (even if we do from time to time!). Tracklist and the show notes below as per usual!
Tracklist: Intro:Louis Futon - Shoulda Known (GANZ Remix)
Claude’s picks:
Rom Di Prisco - Quantum Singularity
Flexstyle - Unstoppable (Critical Hit!)
0edit - Impetus
Toby Fox - Your Best Nightmare
Zircon & Jillian Aversa - The Search For Ambrosia (NYC Streets)
Adam’s Picks
Arca - Brokeup
Calibre - Addict
Other People Place - You Said You Want Me
Kraftwerk - Computer Love
Basic Channel - Lyot Remix
Outro: Thom Yorke - Truth Ray
I do own it through Steam, but if you have no desire to pick up the game, or just want to throw a bit of money his way, you can find the Undertale Soundtrack on Toby Fox's bandcamp here. I would reccomend giving it a look, aside from that breakcore example I played there are some really good tunes on there, and some really beautiful chiptune-style pieces too.
"It's a non V-Day special with some house tracks that Claude and Adam both love."
This week's podcast is live! It's a decidedly different selection from me this week, much to Adam's surprise (and delight), I lean in real heavy on the house stuff. And not just the French stuff you've come to expect from us at the 'tronix. I kick things off with the absolutely sublime When I Fall In Love from A:xus vinyl crackle and all. I did almost swap it out for the Stryke's Blue Vocal Techsture" mix which truth be told is my favourite version of it. After that it's a whirlwind tour of similar territory, starting with out and out legends Frankie Knuckles and Mr. Fingers back to back, taking a bit of a left turn with an instrumental from Golden Boy (minus Miss Kittin) before bringing it back to home plate with a primo piece of electronic goodness from Galaxy 2 Galaxy, with their trademark Jazzy Techno sound.
Adam totally took a leaf out of my book for his choices this week, which I knew he would when he saw my selections. As such I must apologise for any excessive garage vibes that may occur. Joking aside, once again I appreciate Adam's contributions to the 'cast, because my selections pretty much used up my entire supply of that breed of house, (it's a genre that is woefully underrepresented in my collection for a variety of reasons) and Adam provides me with essentially of shopping list of artists and EPs to look at, pick up or otherwise add to my rotations. Full tracklist below as per usual!
Tracklist: Intro: A:xus - When I Fall In Love (Album Mix)
Claude’s picks:
Frankie Knuckles - I'll Take You There (Director's Cut Classic Signature Mix)
Mr. Fingers - Ammnesia
Marshall Jefferson Vs. Noosa Heads - Mushrooms (Salt City Orchestra Out There Mix)
Golden Boy - It’s Good For You To Meet People Like Us
Galaxy 2 Galaxy - Hi-Tech Jazz
Adam’s Picks
Forgemasters - Track With No Name
K Alexi Shelby - Vertigo
Housey Doingz - Gobstopper
Kamar - I Need You (Peggy Gou Remix)
Robert Hood - Detroit: One Circle
Claude and Adam talk about Detroit Techno, Vaporwave and Other People Place between sharing the favorite tracks of the week.
The ilictronix podcast for this week is live! Join myself and Adam as we talk about all things Detroit techno/electro, and go off on a pretty lengthy digression about vaporwave. You'll be pleased to know that my audio quality is much improved over last time after a bit of fiddling on mine and Adam's part. Clocking in at just shy of 2 hours long, i's our longest podcast to date, though we had a little helping hand from our track choices in that department. Tracklist and notes follow as per usual.
Tracklist: Intro: Mallard - Surface
Claude’s picks:
Japanese Telecom - Virtual Origami
ADULT. - Nite Life
The Other People Place - Let Me Be Me
DMX Krew - I'm All Alone (Cylob's Mix)
Adam’s Picks
Pepe Badrock - 4
Larry Heard - Missing You
Jana Rush - Divine
Gnork - Tokyo Beats
Mad Mike - Hi-Tech Dreams
Outro: Jack Peoples - Song 02
The Other People Place - Sorrow & A Cup Of Joe
Show Notes:
As mentioned in the show, Lifestyles Of The Laptop Café was reissued on vinyl in 2017 (but not on CD.) Digital versions, both in .WAV and .FLAC as well as 320 MP3s available from Bleep.com, Warp's digital storefront.
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'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
