Rainy Days

Kiyoshi Saito - Coral (1958)

After a couple of weeks of themed playlists, you'll be pleased to hear that this time we're back to the usual format. Starting right with more obscure Flying Lotus tunes, Catacombs is a bit of an enigma, for one this is billed as the extended version, but I can't for the life of me find any evidence of a non-extended version. Pedantry aside, the tune itself is a terrific listen, the Thundercat-esque style on here is buttery smooth and an absolute treat for the ears. I say esque because nowhere does it say Thundercat did the noodling for this one, it's well worth your time.



Following an impromptu synth jam at work, I turned one of my teammates onto Analog Worms Attack. A lot of folks don't realise there's more to Oizo than Flat Beat, and that the man's sill going strong to this day. I can see why though, the LP of Analog Worms Attack is a different beast than Flat Beat. Oizo's house-influenced tunes are in the minority here, replaced with a distinctly gritty and rough-cut hip-hop come electro sound. I adore it, but those looking for more flat antics will be let down. Here's one of the less abrasive numbers on there, Bobby Can't Dance



I've been revisiting Stenchman as of late too. I've tons of material from the guy over the years, and he's got more going than just the Dubstep of days gone by. Looking over the list I spy quite a few that I'd like to put up, but this one ended up making the cut. Silicon Future is definitely heavily Garage inspired, while Stench usually puts stuff in that style out under his Philestine moniker this one comes across more of a meeting of the two aliases, which is something that'd start to appear on his later free compilations. The tune's as good as ever too, hard to believe it was 2012 when I picked this up for the first time.



-Claude Van Foxbat

The (Belated) September Shuffler: Nostalgia Special

I was looking over my schedule and I noticed it's been a long time since we've had a good old fashioned ilictronix track selection and art hasn't it? Well I did originally plan to get this one out towards the end of September but missed the mark slightly. So instead I'm going to solve that right now, starting with one of the more unintentionally amusing artworks I have around.

Alex Colville - September (1979)

I probably say this everytime I post something that's been in my collection for a long time but regardless, Daft Club has been in near constant rotation for night on 10+ years at this point, and yeah it does have some duff moments but that was always going to be the case coming off the heels of Discovery. Here's one that I really dig and continue to in all it's bleepy glory.



It's been a while since I went on about my love for the electro-renaissance of the mid 00's too. Hadn't even given it any thought until The Looks cruised back into my life recently, took me right back to the days where vowels were uncool and every new EP had a MSTRKRFT remix b-side. It's still a good listen, I really dig their overall sound which is chock full of vocoders and handclaps and the like.



Stenchman's also been on my radar as of late, he's revived The Smelly Show which is basically a livestream of him doing his mixin' thing. I imagine the ones he does these days will be much better quality than the Myspace webcam ones we used to get. I still love pretty much everything he puts out, but here's an old favourite from his collaboration project with Suspect, the aptly titles Suspicous Stench.

Suspicious Stench - Faith In The Future

-Claude Van Foxbat

The Project Has Landed

So, after around a year plus of teasing, the mystery can finally be dropped. Here's the oh-so-secret project me and Adam were working on, the ilictronix podcast has landed! Join me and Adam as we talk about some tunes, the many confusing instances of Ghost In The Shell, and Björk.



Doesn't look like the tracklist is live on mixcloud yet, but I kept it on file so I might as well post it here too. Stay tuned for more, it took a while for us to get it done but I really like the format and I think we could do a lot with it. But for now I'll jet and just leave you with the tunes!

Intro - EQD - EQD#002A

Claude's Picks:
Philestine – Genius In A Bottle (Mix 3)
Cornelius – Deep Breathing
Games - Take Me To The Top (From the Heaven Can Wait, Vol. 2 mixtape)
Zombie Nation - Velcrosquat Light
Björk - Immature (Mark Bell's Version)

Adam’s Picks:
Bulgarian State Television Female Choir - Pilentze Pee
SAFE - Don't Worry
Tom E. Vercetti - Future Perfect
Peshay - Piano Tune
Mad Rey - Quartier Sex

Outro: DJ Rashad - Leavin'

Last Minute Updates

Jacek Yerka - Last Minute (2000)

Oh crumbs, I let the days sneak up on me again. Ah well, I'm a little busy today too so let's see what I can muster up in about half an hour or so. Shamelessly putting up more from my hometown hero Mr. Evelyn again, to be fair it's been a long time since I put it up and it well deserves another round.



Long time since I mentioned Locust Toybox too, I still mean to his last LP, the first one he's actually put up for a price. Not that I blame him either, we had about 10 years of free tunes and it was high time he got a lil something more than just the occasional donation.



And seeing us out is Stenhman's remix of DJ Shadow's Scale It Back, Stench recently put out 3 compilations of what he'd selected as his best tracks in certain genres, this one appeared in the Best Of Downtempo one and it was a solid choice indeed.

Philestine · DJ SHADOW FT LITTLE DRAGON - SCALE IT BACK (PHILESTINE REMIX)

Not So Sad

All over my twitter this morning I have seen the good news that someone has finally picked up a piece of Stenchman's new(ish) alias Philestine for release. I've long been an advocate of this new direction he was taking, especially given the dire state of the dubstep scene as of late. I've posted this one before as part of the Vague EP back in August, and it's still just as sweet.



He's mixing it up in other areas too, his latest offering as Suspicious Stench (a duo with his long-time bud Suspect) is very refreshing to hear, I am absolutely in love with the chill intro track of this EP. That's not to say there's not plenty of harder stuff to get stuck into though, from the get go Head In A Cupboard takes things a bit darker and even flips the tempo up to drum & bass territory around 1:30. The title track also is a highlight, it's the kind of thing I can tell Stench and co just have a good time making, and I have about as good a time listening to.



-Claude Van Foxbat

21

Hello all I am back after my birthday. Didn't do a birthday post this year because I just couldn't find enough stock to put in it. How ever my main man Stench has my back, unintentionally dropping a new Philestine EP on me birthday. Les get stuck in.



It's pretty much all I want from a Philestine EP, there's more of that trademark Oizo-esque wonkiness that I fell in love to begin with, but again with more of a focus on housey productions now he's free from his Stenchman alias. Pretty sure some of these have been up in preview form on his soundcloud before, but now they're out in full. At the minute I am in love with the bouncy bass meets twinkly synths combo on Just Clicked It, collaboration with his long time dubstep pal Suspect also under a new alias.

I'll have to toss him a few quid one day for all the tunes of his I love, Can't at the minute because of the whole turning 21 thing meaning I'm a bit skint but no matter, I'll enjoy the streams for now, and hope you do too!

-Claude Van Foxbat

Preloadin'

Managing to remember to update here after that film fest slip up, surprisingly my sleep schedule has remained largely intact. The upload has been replaced by an even longer wait now though, as you read this I'm still downloading the PC version of GTA V at some occasionally abysmal speeds. Like I said before tho, it's given me a chance to go digging for potential custom soundtracks and with that, let's get stuck in.



Icarus return with another tune set for the summer. Though unlike Cassia this one's not for the mid-day get togethers, it's for the 9PM just before the sun goes down and you're going out moments. That bassline's been rattling my shelves all day, and I'm a sucker for a 2-step beat that reminds me of my garage listenings as a youth. Should be a nice addition to the streets of LS.

Returned to Stench's 2015 release for the first time in a while to look for soundtrack ammo and I wasn't left wanting. Even more 2-step shenanigans here, with Stench's trademark bass at work behind it. Surprised I missed this one out in my review of the thing, it's a solid addition for sure.



And while we're on the subject of garage and my youth, let's not neglect to mention one of the best garage tunes of all time that was actually already included on a GTA soundtrack. The original track is fine sure, there are better songs on the Sneaker Pimp's Becoming X though, but this remix is a cult classic that has earned it's reputation. That bassline is still savage nearly 17 years later.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Self Employed

Being reduced to one day a week isn't too bad, I got videos to keep me occupied and that, even if rendering takes up 80% of my time these days. Here's some tunes seeing me through my rotoscoping today!

Sigmar Polke - The Plant

First up is a tune I barely missed out of my overview of Stenchman's new album. This one's a collabo between his usual vibes and his love letter to the 80's project Steel Stallions and it's pretty bloody great in all honesty, as usual with stench those samples are on point and that bouncy bassline is damn catchy.



Which put me back on his solid Philestine side project. The remix he did of DJ Shadow's Scale It Back keeps it fairly simple but I cannot get enough of it. Headphones are a must to appreciate this one to it's fullest. It's got little in common with the original other than Yukimi's solid vocal contribution, amazing what a little increase in tempo can do for a song.

Philestine · DJ SHADOW FT LITTLE DRAGON - SCALE IT BACK (PHILESTINE REMIX)

And funnily enough as I was going through footage frame by frame this little number with a fitting title came up. I've said it before but I'd love for more demos from flylo in the vein of this. Not to say I don't love the direction he's taking but I love me some instrumental hip hop goodness.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Because You're Freeeeeeeeee

I am done for two weeks, so have a break form words and have some sngs instead yo. Tunes after the art as per us'.

Jim Dine -Four Hearts (1969)

More housy goodness from Stench's Philestine alias, after having hear the preview for this one for so long it's ice to hear it in its full glory. That main synth line is straight from the locally produced house tunes I used to listen to in the early 00's with that modern garage spin on things, it's sick.



As you all well know, I looked back into stuff I listened to circa the early 00's again not too long ago, there I fell in love all over again and found a new addition to my list of favourite house producers A:xus it seems is criminally underrated, which is a shame because he's still making stuff that gives me that feeling the early 00's house did. This one came out in '09 but I'll be damned if that soulful house combo isn't just timeless, I absolutely adore this one.



Speaking of classic house now would be a good time to revive by far the most famous and hardest to find of Felix's remixes; the Heavenly House version of Sinnerman. Shot to fame again not too long back after HTC used it in an ad campaign, while an odd choice given it's house and all I can't fault hem for it, it's a quality tune to this day.



-Claude Van Foxbat

My God, It's Full Of Stench

Hello and welcome to 2015! We got a special dealio for you right now, as you probably already know I am a staunch supporter of all things Stenchman, and when the man said he was gearing up for his traditional Christmas LP I was hyped to say the least. I got my hands on it a little later than expected but oh boy was it worth it. Tracks and words after the art!

Now Stench's annual compilations have been just that, compilations of his tunes. So when he said he was structuring this one like an actual album on twitter I was very interested. And it most definitely works, you don't have to be a complete Stench Stan like me to get an idea of the man's sound with this menacing intro:



For the first full length we get even more of the man's vibe on show. Don't let that chilled vibe in the intro throw you off, this is still a tune from a guy who has tracks with names like Vagitarian Meal and it's not long before that becomes clear. So far the album is living up to it's title, it's wobbled my shelves plenty already.



Another tune that's been on his soundcloud for some time now, When God Puts His Arms Around You is a solid example of why I keep my eye on Stench's output. Not one to fall into the trap of Brostep, alawys keeping it fresh, dark and interesting. Sounds a little bit like the stuff he's making under the Philestine alias at the moment.



Speaking of, there's some awesome stuff under that moniker on here too. I've been dying to get more of the Philestine stuff in my collection and this LP does not disappoint. The tracks are an amazing hybrid of Stench's dubstep and eye for samples mixed with a house vibe and I love every second of it.



And when it comes to tackling new genres I'm loving every little thing Stenchman does. I posted his Hip Hop previews a while back, but aside from a couple on the free EPs and LPs he puts out I don't actually have any. Until now at least. I am loving this instrumental to bits.



Not to say there's no Dubstep on here though, another one I had long forgotten about on the depths of soundcloud gets an official release. My Dubstep Funeral is a suitably somber but solid track that exhibits Stenchman's dub production chops very well indeed.



Going to skip some tracks here otherwise I'll be here all day. Moving into more upbeat territory we have The Lithopede, he's dabbled in Drum & Bass a little before and this tune is anoter installmen of that. The bassy sounds Stench uses gel really well with a faster tempo so it's nice to see a return to the style. Definitely one of the faster tracks on here.



And I'll leave you all with the final track that I think we glimpsed in the Hip Hop Previews I mentioned earlier. Another case of a excellently picked sample for sure, I don't think I've ever heard a hip hop song I'd call unsettling but Stenchman has shown me something surprising once again, and I love it.



So there you have it, another insight into the beautifully twisted world of Stenchman. Do the man a favour and get your mitts on this album when it drops on the 9th of January, it'll be up on his bandcamp for a choose your own price sale, so you can nab it for free if you so desire. He deserves a few quid though for all the free stuff he's given us over the years.

Find more from Stenchman at:
Twitter
Bandcamp
Soundcloud

Down In The Dumps

Saw Stenchman on twitter lamenting his music career recently. We can't have that now can we? as a staunch supporter of all things stinky I had to do something about it, so how about another plug for the stenchman? He's recently put a lot of stuff for free download on his soundcloud so feel free to get your mitts on it; here's some choice ilictronix endorsed samples. Get out there and support the man!



-Claude Van Foxbat

Automated

As you may know work is stepping up, that is why I am writing this to you around three days in advance (but don't tell nobody). Here to provide you with some tunes from the past, it's me again.

Dabs Myla - Tokyo Delux

Vaporwave may be long buried but hey I still got love for the vibe. As much as stuff like this gets hated on for being the trendy thing to reblog on tumblr I can't help but dig it just a little bit. Maybe it's because I'm such an Oneohtrix Point Never fanboy.



Speaking of dead genres, have some proper Old School dubstep from Stenchman circa 2010. Nothing to shake your house foundations, but not the same 2-step garage evolution that started it all, probably the best area of Dubsep to be in in all honesty.

Stenchman - Everything [No stream available as of 2020]

Dare I say Acid falls on that list too, but at least it's still being made it's just not blasting out of the Hacienda anymore. Here's a tune from AFX's Analord series, proving that acid doesn't have to be TB-303s screeching their circuits off.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Pre-Uni Throwdown

'Bout two days left till I start Uni, hopefully won't impact the posting too much but just in case here's a quickie before I pop off. My long time subwoofer buddy Stenchman dropped a new tune under his house-y Philestine alias and I am in love with the into on it. Poor Stench is criminally underrated when he can do Dub, Hip Hop and House really bloody well.



Been touching more on the world of experimental electronic in prep for when I get my hands on the new AFX. Of course Warp remains the king in that area, and after many months stashed away cos I burned out on listening to it I am reminded why Clark's Body Riddle is one of my favourite albums, gorgeously produced throughout, even if sometimes feels like it's going to blow your head off.



Also I've been diggin the Selektor's older tunes recently (though Monkeytown is still my favourite). This one features Maxïmo Park, another Warp act and the collaboration works real well. Modeselektor really have a way with vocal stuff, as shown on their work with Thom Yorke and this is no different. Solid closer to a solid album.



-Claude Van Foxbat

There's That Smell Again

I will always talk up Stenchman for as long as I live. The guy is seriously underrated, even back when I was championing him as one of the few keeping dubstep in check with creative spins. He's since branched out more with his creative chops and I gotta admire that. Even more so given that he's absolutely killing it in these new genres too.



I adore anything he puts out under the relatively new Philestine moniker, I was skeptical when he mentioned branching out into 'house' given the sorry state of the genre these days. I have never been more happy to be wrong. give your shelves a good old wobble with this one above.



Even when it's more on the more mainstream side of things I love it. I could totally see this being banged out on Radio 1 after dark, It's awesome to see his dubstep and house sensibilities collide here, hits my future garage button nicely indeed.



And finally, I was holding out for some full versions of these to be dropped but no such luck yet. I still pull this sampler out every now and then because each little part is so sweet. I'm dying for the Stench to put out more stuff like this, I can't get enough. Rest assured you'll know when I do

-Claude Van Foxbat

End Of Week Quickie

I apologies for the lack of updates, I'm busy these days with the recent arrival of my american relatives. The number of people in your house suddenly doubling is not an easy thing to manage. Anyways here are some songs I've managed to fit into what little downtime there is.



Leading the charge is one of the first bits that The Actress Not The Character sent me from the 5N tape I posted not too long ago that hasn't left my airplay since. Totally reminds me of a more digital sounding version of Massive Attack's Angel and is really intoxicating. Check it!

Nexta track I've passed up posting one too many times. From the first free Suspicious Stench album way back in 2010, that opening is downright fantastic and the callbacks to it during the breakdowns are gorgeous too. The dubstep parts might not have aged too well but it's still one of my favourite examples of excellent builds.

Suspicious Stench - Crucifix

Leaving you with something a little lighter, some old school Flying Lotus from 2005 on the July Heat tape. FlyLo's love for the stuff used on [adult swim] bumps is pretty evident here, it's simple but very very effective. Would love to see him return to this model in his more contemporary style.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Freebies

I've got a fair stack of tunes hanging around that people have just given out. Seems to be a growing trend these days and its always nice to get some free tunes from your favourite artist, or stumbing across a new one you wouldn't have heard before. Here are some of my choice picks.

Vincent Mahé - The Living Room (from Neighbours), (2014)

I misplaced my original download of Stenchman's first free release and only picked it up again not too long ago. Despite being released in 2010, the dubstep on it is Stench's own unique brand rather than your typical brostep. I urge you to check him out, he's one of my favourite producers especially with his new Housey stuff under his new Philestine moniker.

Stenchman - Overtaker

Moving onto animator David Firth's musical stuff again. I've always thought he is was too nice with his releases, all 9 of his previous albums were available for free (and still are by the way), and even though he's charging for this latest one it's still only a fiver. Here's a tune from my favourite of is albums Noon to give you an idea of what he does.



He also does some other musical stuff, here's side project I'm The Manager that while not strictly electronic is still lovely. I picked the EP this is from up after he used it in a retrospective of his animations, you can grab the tunes over on the last.fm page.



And finally, ambient freebie given out by Röyksopp in the run up to Senior. I initially passed up on it because the first few entries were just instrumentals from Junior, but then I was pleasantly surprised by this track here, gives me the same warm fuzzies that Sparks does. Don't think it's available on their site anymore, so enjoy!

Röyksopp · Hus Nr.9

-Claude Van Foxbat

Nights Off

Hello again. It's been a fair bit of time since I just put up the usual 3-4 songs I was diggin at current, so here you go again. As always tracks after the art!

Edward Hopper - Summer Evening

Starting off with Flying Lotus, I've just put all his stuff back in rotation again because every few months I will have grown tired of hearing them which is always my cue to pick up more of his stuff. Anyways, I'd forgotten how solid the Pattern + Grid World starts off, it really shows off what FlyLo does best even a good four years later.



I was kinda stuck for what to put with it because I usually pick something similar sounding. So I ended up copping out a little bit and putting in another track from Los Angeles that's pretty much in the same vein as Clay. I fall in love with the beat on this one every time it comes up.



Moving away from the electronics now as I go a bit indie again. I've mentioned animator extraordinaire David Firth's musical side projects before, but not mentioned the Grape Diggers too much. Doesn't fit the blog sure, but I've had this on repeat a whole lot recently, if you dig it you can get their albums for free here.



On that note a little something from Stenchman. Here's one he released for free a while back that always surprises me and wouldn't sound too out of place on some indie game soundtrack. It's a pretty big break away from his usual Dubstep modus operandi, but it's nice to see him branching out and doing it well.

Stenchman - Indie Pendant

-Claude Van Foxbat

Render Unto Video

Poor PC's had it's work cut out for it today, rendered a whole bunch of video and had to chuck out most of it and start again. Not all bad mind, while I'm waiting I go off for a brew and let the tunes ring out, here's some I'm feeling today.

Victor Rodriguez - 15 Eyes (2013)

An old one from Stenchman here from around 2010, even so I only got around to picking up the (free!) album its on last year. Really long too, clocking in at just shy of 8 minutes. The Stench keeps it interesting though, that sample that gives the track it's name is tactically scattered throughout.



Classic Calyx here with a tune from the Catapult EP, that tune might be the highlight but every time this one comes up I fall in love with that intro all over again. Moving Shadow's reputation was well deserved when they were dropping tunes like this on a regular basis, and offering mix CDs at your local record shop for 99p was a masterful move.



And finally what may soon become my favourite remix of Blame. Posted the Grooverider mix not too long ago and soon after debated whether I should have posted this one instead, like Decompression that intro is pretty special and is a prime example of late 90's/early 00's drum & bass.



-Claude Van Foxbat

One - Two - Three

I was lead on a real musical journey today, it's been a while since I've had this kinda seven degrees of separation thing come up when I'm looking at tunes so it was a nice return, tunes after the mandatory pic, this time some more lovely typography and design from The Designer's Republic

It all starts when I see an update from Stenchman on my FB newsfeed,saying that he'll be releasing one of his Philestine tunes later that day. I love his stuff under this alias so much, there's not a lot of it out there that isn't on his soundcloud though. Anyway, enjoy this fleshed out version of Genius In A Bottle, much better than that short soundcloud clip I posted a while back!

Philestine · GENIUS IN A BOTTLE

He also put up a drum & bass tune, which set me off trying to find a drum & bass track I dug but never got the name of. I found it after a little bit of digital digging and vague googling, imagine my surprise when it's a remix of an Everything But The Girl tune, and it's every bit as good as I remember. Tracey Thorn sounds a lot different to how I'm used to hearing her on Massive Attack's Protection, doubly so with those new found breakbeats.



Then the infrequent sax and Thorn's contributions in that track got me back into the jazz 'n bass vibes of the E-Z Roller's Weekend World. Problem is I pretty much covered the entire LP over a few posts but there were still a couple concrete examples of that vibe on there: the bass, sax, flute and the vocals of Kelly Richards coming together to make that distinct sound that I love.



- Claude Van Foxbat

Phillin' You In

I've dropped a lot of Stenchman on you over the years, here's a follow up to my last post on his latest house oriented project Philestine. Kicking off with another brilliantly titled bit that I barely missed out putting in my last Philestine update called Debbie Does Dover. Like a lot of his soundcloud stuff it's short but sweet as, can't wait for it to be properly released.



Something a bit more recent now, you can really hear the difference on this one as Stench really finds the sound he's going for. Once again there's a lot of promise from this little 2 minute clip, the transitions are beautifully executed.



Finishing it off we have another recent one that got me from the get go. That intro is nothing short of amazing, and I'm loving the way it just gives way as the beat comes in and decks you. I loved Stenchman's more downbeat dubstep output, and this is no different. Keep your eye on this one, the stuff he's putting out is consistently great.



-Claude Van Foxbat