Like the deserts miss the rain - the return of Everything But The Girl

Colour me surprised to find a new upload on the official Everything But The Girl channel last week. First things first I didn’t even know they had a channel and second I haven’t even browsed that much EBTG content there so who knows how the algorithm decided to suggest it my way. This post was supposed to go up last week but I postponed it a little while I ironed out those previously mentioned tech issues, it was the right move to make in hindsight as I’ve had a little more time to spend with it and think on what I was going to say. So let’s get into it.

First, some backstory (albeit an extremely condensed one). EBTG started out as a folky kinda pop band duo back in the 80’s. Around 1995, hot off the heels of the now legendary Todd Terry mix of Missing they would take a more electronic approach - it’s here that most of the stuff I’ve posted of them comes from: 1996’s Walking Wounded and ’99’s Temperamental leaning heavily on the side of Drum & Bass.

And that’s about where the story ends, outside of some album reissues with old demos included and some solo albums from both Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt, there hasn’t been any *new* EBTG material since 1999. Until now, that is. They have a new album penciled in for April 2023, having been recorded in 2021 (which despite what you might think, isn’t a product of lockdowns so say the band). First single is the first track off the album Nothing Left To Lose, a fittingly melancholy title given the content of previous EBTG albums. More thoughts after the video itself.



It sounds cliché to say, but really it is like they never left, from the jump we’re back in 2-step garage town and there’s some proper shelf rattling bass backing it up as well, sort of retro but with a distinctly modern feel. The 24 year gap has done nothing to dull the duo’s production chops. EBTG’s work, especially Temperamental had a real focus on city spaces which I think the sound reflects very well.

And of course, it wouldn’t be a return to EBTG without Tracey Thorn’s vocals. Her delivery on some of the previous records is among my favourites, and her lyricism is usually full of colourful wordplay hiding the bleakness in the content. On first listen, I wasn’t sure it was her on the vocals, but after a few more listens it became more and more clear that it is. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about phrasing this part, her voice has changed quite a bit since the Temperamental days (but again, it has been *24* years, so that’s to be expected), feeling a lot more mature than the fragility of, say, her guest vocal on Massive Attack’s Protection. To be perfectly clear I don’t mean that to be negative at all - her vocals are still incredibly effective and evocative, and twins excellently with the sounds on display here. I find myself replaying the explosion in sound at 2:54, backed by Thorn’s plea to “Kiss me while the world decays” over and over again.

I’m interested to see where the rest of the album goes, previous ones weren’t always strictly Drum & Bass so this change in sound isn’t too unexpected, I would love to see an update to the ‘classic’ sound in future singles but I also wouldn’t complain if it were all in this vein. I’ll certainly be keeping tabs on it going forward, and if I’m feeling up for it might actually do a review when the time comes.

I’ve got this far and not even mentioned the video at all! It’s a fairly simple setup all things considered, but the camerawork and choreography is pretty great. Feels like a bit of a callback to the days where music videos were more common on TV than they are now - where artists like Aphex Twin and such would make wild videos to get the people talking. Slightly unrelated but my favourite of their previous ones is the video for Five Fathoms, which is just a bunch of guerrilla footage of a town center’s denizens on some night out in 1999, with a pretty heavy focus on a DDR machine for extra nostalgia!

But that’ll about do it for today, hope you dig the tune as much as I do, I’ll be back around soon enough with more but until then, as always, stay safe and enjoy the music.

-CVF

Feelin' Fragile

'Bout that time of year where everything catches up with me and it all just feels a bit 'eh' you know? Not helped by Friday's night out I imagine, but also this year in general. Still, things are winding down so I'm taking the time to sit and write a little bit more than usual. I've been keeping rolling lists of stuff I've been listening to and have plenty to go at, so let's dive right in.

Sam Gilliam - This Time (2008)

To match the title, I've chosen a selection of fitting songs to go at - not all ambient but all very much under that kind of fragile umbrella. Starting with some Arovane. Lilies is an album that I keep thinking I should do a full deep dive on, Arovane pretty much disappeared for about 10 years after it came out which makes for an interesting tale. At any rate, plenty of tracks from this album could have gone here - it's a gorgeously produced album, very accessible and never straying to hard into hardcore IDM territory. Tracks like Passage To Nagoya are what spring to mind for me, especially considering the content of this post, but this time I've gone with the hauntingly beautiful Tokyo Ghost Stories. The sparse piano soon gives way to something that sounds very Trip Hop in its execution, I've been playing this one a lot as of late.



It ain't all doom and gloom though, the intro for DMX Krew's December Darkness sort of fits this bill as well. Tucked away around the midpoint of the unassumingly titled Bass Drop EP, it quickly became one of my all time favourites from DMX's catalogue, and remains so to this day. Once again it's like DMX had my number completely, this kind of luscious deep house vibe is supremely up my alley. I'm a total sucker for the slow introduction of new elements too, just when I think I could be getting a little tired, something new drops into the mix to inject it with a fresh coat of paint. The EP is wholly instrumental (save for some vocal samples on the title track) so there's no tongue in cheek lyrical content like you might expect from DMX if you've heard his other work. That said, this EP is still very much a love letter to his influences, there's a whole heap of electro and acid to get at on here.



And finally, I've fallen back in with Everything But The Girl, as I seem to do every winter. Tracey Thorn's delivery is impeccable and twins oh-so-well with the Drum & Bass direction they took toward the tail end of their releases. Walking Wounded is the obvious highlight, and an album I've talked about at length before, it's the album that marked that hard shift into the electronic side of things. Unfortunately it's a little difficult to post legitimately, EBTG are one of those artists where a lot of it is gated off behind Soundcloud premium otherwise I'd probably mention them more - I'm going to make do though. I've gone with Above The Law once again, a previously unreleased demo of what would become Before Today given the shared lyrical content. It's a little more raw feeling than the rest of the album as you might expect from a demo, but it sounds incredible regardless - the production and Tracey's vocal are absolutely perfect together.

Everything But The Girl · Above The Law (Demo)

And that'll be all for now, as I mentioned up top I'm going to try and write a little more in the coming weeks, I have plenty to go at as usual - I still have to do this month's Bandcamp findings after all! I might even try and get something a little more long-form down as well, I'm starting to feel the itch a little again. But I'm going off track once again so I'll wrap up here - as always, stay safe and enjoy the music.

-CVF

Taking Stock

Feelin' all nostalgic this time. Again. But! Not in the usual sense where I share a bunch of old tunes I used to listen to or anything, well actually kinda that but not quite how I usually do it, hopefully it'll all make sense in a bit. Essentially these are not things that are *super* old or anything, but hit that same kind of feeling for me. Wouldn't be too noteworthy normally but I hit a good 3 in a row and thought it'd be nice to share. Let's go.

First is another bit of Trance. I promise that this post won't go super in depth with it, after all I already had my annual post where I wax poetic about Trance a couple months back! Though saying that, this track would have been right at home there - as I always say I could just be in those breakdowns for ever and ever. I will concede that as is usually the case with trance - that it does take an extraordinarily long time to get going. Though it's not as bad an offender as some tracks I have in my collection, I understand it could turn a lot of folk away. It's not as aggressive with the 'drop' as it were as the other trance stuff I posted - there's not really an explosion of that trademark euphoria here, it all just kind of slides into place. And that's not a criticism of it by any means, as much as I love that style I've been especially taken with this one as of late- which has also taken me on this virtual trip of YT channels that are just videos of vinyl.



Speaking of enamoured, it's been a long time since I mentioned Yoko Kanno on here. She's one of my favourite composers and while her work isn't always applicable for an electronic music blog, when she does turn her hand to the more electronic side of things it's something really special. I've talked at length about her soundtracks for Ghost In The Shell and Cowboy Bebop, but as is the theme of this post we're going a little bit more into the past. She also sound tracked a series called Terror In Resonance, which despite it's often heavy content (as you may have guessed from the title) is a absolutely full of gorgeous visuals and lush audio. I last mentioned this one way back in the early days of the podcast, around episode 2 I think? When it came up on shuffle I knew I had to include it here. Terror In Resonance carries a lot of Icelandic influence oddly enough, and this is reflected in the soundtrack. There's no outright plagiarism of homages to bands like Sigur Rós, the influence is clear to hear, more so on the tracks with vocals (my favourite being 'Hanna'). Crystalized however you can still hear that influence in, to me the way the build ebbs and flows is very reminiscent of post-rock as a whole.



And finally - ending the year as it began with an Everything But The Girl demo. Last year it was Above The Law, the demo for what would become Before Today on the Walking Wounded album, a vry rough round the edges early draft that only enhanced Tracey Thorn's vocal contributions. Speeding Car Side On by contrast is completely instrumental - and feels much more finalised than Above The Law albeit lacking vocals at all. Without knowing the ins and outs of the album's production though, who can say it was even intended to have them at all? But I digress, it's a shame this one was cut, it's not going to knock your socks off or anything but it's a lovely period piece of downtempo and for that I love it (With my biases admitted!). As always, I'm not a massive fan of the string accompaniment in places, but it was 1996 and that kind of thing was very much in vogue at the time. And if I had to critique it more the whole thing does feel a bit meandering - it's not something that stops me from enjoying it but I can see the lack of development grating on some - and again I have to give them some leeway as it is explicitly labelled as a demo, so you can expect it to be unpolished and unfinished. That doesn't stop it from being lovely in parts though.



And that'll do it for this week. Apologies for no bandcamp players this time but YT is a decent enough replacement, especially when dealing with tracks that aren't on the platform. I've got some things lined up for the end of the year, not sure if they'll come to anything yet but stay tuned anyway. Might be a little longer between posts as well now we enter the end of the year - rest assured that unless I say otherwise, I am still active and am probably just busy!

And as always, stay safe and enjoy the music.

-CVF

Retro Reviews: Everything But The Girl - Walking Wounded

Another instalment of this intermittent series today, with an album that spurred me onto doing this in the first place. It's the oldest album I've covered in the retro reviews series so far; Everything But The Girl's Walking Wounded from 1996. EBTG are an interesting band for their progression alone: staring off as a pop-come-indie band back in the mid-80's, by this point in the 90's they'd transformed into an electronic act making Drum & Bass and House. Despite this change, Walking Wounded is a good jumping in point if you're looking to explore their more electronic avenues as it's the first major release featuring this new electronic direction. Let's get stuck in.

As intro tracks go, there is no better demonstration of the overarching sound of this album than Before Today: 90's jungle backed with some deliciously smooth synths, all tied together with the sultry delivery of Tracey Thorn. I say this every time I bring up this album, but I still can't get over (despite the slightly dated sounds) how clean the production is. In my mind Jungle always has a bit of a rough 'round the edges aesthetic, especially in this era, but I have to remind myself acts like Everything But The Girl and Omni Trio were putting out stuff like this around then too (and I adore both of them).



Things take a delightfully retro turn next with Wrong, most definitely erring on the side of House this time. Picture the kind of house that would bleed onto the radio from time to time back in the 90's and you're most of the way there to how this one sounds. It's very much in the spirit of their own previous big radio hit Missing, from the album previous to this one Amplified Heart, specifically the Todd Terry remix from 1995. While treading the same ground as Missing, I think it's still pretty nice, Thorn's vocals are always a treat and even though Ben Watt's taken more than a few pointers from Todd Terry's mix here, his work throughout this album is slick and versatile.



I normally try to jump around the tracklists when writing these retro reviews but this album in particular perfectly summarises it's overall sound almost perfectly in the first 3 tracks. Single in contrast to the other two tracks so far is a more downtempo piece that's more in the style of the Trip Hop that was floating around at the time. For me this is where Thorn's vocals are at their best (though I will admit I am biased because my favourite is her work with Massive Attack on Protection which is very much like this). This particular breed of melancholy has been a constant throughout EBTG's work, and this album is no exception, even on the more upbeat tracks as we'll see with the next track. Watt's production is given some time to shine here in the latter quarter and shines as always. There's some muted sax in the background that runs the risk of dating the track but honestly I think it still works.



Moving onto the title track next, something I've not really talked about yet that I always bring up in regards to this album is the overall high-tech vibe it has. As was the trend in the 1990's, remember this is 1996: the beginning of the PlayStaton era, 3D CGI and Eastern Influenced graphic design a la The Designer's Republic as seen on the cover are very much in vogue at the time. It's a period I have more than a tinge of nostalgia for as I was a young Foxbat at the time, and in a sea of albums and designs that look or sound incredibly dated now a good 2 decades on, Walking Wounded always stood out to me as one that had aged well. Giving it a bit of a more critical close up now though there are definitely marks of the time on it, the string-styled accompaniment on the choruses is a little dated, but other than that I think it's still solid. The Jungle bassline remains killer and surprisingly powerful, it certainly gave my desk a bit of a dusting off when I had my speakers up just a touch too high. It was the first single from the album and I think that was a great choice as it makes a great demo of the new direction EBTG were taking, I will always love the intro here which for me properly encapsulates that high-tech feeling I mentioned.



I will admit here the album takes a bit of a stumble, nothing deal breaking but the tracks just don't do it for me like the choices so far do. Mirrorball for example hearkens back to their pre-electronic days, a downtempo acoustic jam about youth that, while charming, seems a little out of place up against the moody atmospheric Drum & Bass of the title track. Still there's plenty left to enjoy; Good Cop Bad Cop gives both halves of EBTG to flex in their respective areas: Thorn laying down some vocals that this time are more in line with the R&B vocals featured on some Drum & Bass of the time, and Watt's command of the production is as good as ever, although those strings make another appearance. I'd have maybe liked another track or so at the end, as it stands this is essentially the end of the album proper, Good Cop Bad Cop works fine as a final track but the whole thing feels a bit light at 9 tracks not counting the 2 remixes on the end.



It was only natural after the success of Missing that they hit up Todd Terry for another remix. This time reworking Wrong. Much like his mix of Missing the treatment is minimal, the addition of a little more dancefloor friendly House-y beat mainly. While the remix of Missing was a great flip and transformation of a folky tune into a House one, it doesn't feel like Todd's done much here. Which isn't inherently a bad thing but it is a little disappointing, a feeling that maybe wouldn't have been as strong if it were an extended edit out to like 6 mins or something similar. Still, the song's as good as ever, even if there's been no major changes.



And finally, another choice remixer for this album: Omni Trio. I mentioned them in passing above, bringing them on board to do a remix or hell even any of the Moving Shadow crew of the time was a choice move. And it certainly worked out very well in this case. Much more of a remix than Terry's above, here Omni Trio brings their own unique style of D&B to the table and it works very very well. Fragments of Thorn's vocals back a lush, almost chillout piece with a deceptively thick bassline and sparkling keys that is Omni Trio's style to a T. The way those additional drums cascade into the mix at 2:11 is an absolute masterstroke. My only complaints are first that the chorus never shows up, while I like the bits and pieces of Thorn's vocals sprinkled throughout, I would have liked the chorus to appear once or twice and I think it would have worked fine with the instrumentation. And second that it just kind of... ends. There's a little bit of a skip before to signify it but it just feels kinda abrupt, but that is small potatoes.



And that does it for another Retro Review. Walking Wounded is a good, albeit short album. It does take a bit of a turn in the latter part of the tracklist, but those opening songs are incredibly strong and very much make up for any rough patches. And that kind of thing is understandable as well given this was the band's first all-in-electronic album, and when you consider that context I think that the strong tracks are absolutely phenomenal. Certainly check out this album (Especially the re-issue with a second disc of more remixes, demos and live recordings, some of them are belters), and what would ultimately be their final follow up Temperamental which continues with that electronic sound. As always, stay safe and enjoy the music.

-CVF

One Year Older

It's that time of year again where by happy coincidence the blog and I share a birthday. It's been a bit of a rollercoaster for the last couple, this year doubly so. But I'm not to wallow in the current state of things (too much), in instead I thought I'd put together a list of tunes from the last 12 months or so that have really meant a lot to me.

Helen Frankenthaler - Yearning (1973)

Starting with back in December / January where I revisited the Everything But The Girl album Walking Wounded, a great album on its own but I had yet to check out the fancy expanded edition put out some time ago that has a second disc of remixes and the like to boot. It's there I would find what quickly shot up the list of my favourite of their works: a demo of what would become Before Today on the final album called Above The Law. I've always loved Tracey Thorn's vocals since I was first introduced to them on Massive Attack's Protection, her delivery is often really powerful and carries so much feeling. I mentioned last time I posted this that track sticks out on the album: being a demo it's got a slightly rough sound in comparison to the super polished smoothness of the rest of Walking Wounded. Which on paper wouldn't be something I'd like, in fact I probably would have argued it as a negative. But after spending a lot of time with this one I think it works perfectly, it twins beautifully with Thorn's impassioned, almost desperate delivery on the choruses.



Keeping it older for now, I put Garoad's soundtracks for VA​-​11 HALL​-​A back in rotation after a long absence, they're delightfully retro in parts. This one in particular could easily be a shared B-Side with Mitch Murder's brand of synthwave-esque stuff. I didn't realise how much I'd missed this kind of melodic slow jam until I had them back in rotation. It makes for very good 'doing stuff' music as is to be expected from the OST of a Visual Novel about bar-tending, I knew when this was one of the first tracks you hear that it was going to definitely be something that was almost designed for me. Garoad's done some other soundtracks and a solo EP that I still desperately need to check out, but like so many other things that I love I'm trying to pace myself and not dive in all at once and get burned. With a sequel to VA​-​11 HALL​-​A on the horizon the equally punnily titled N1RV-Ann-A, here's hoping we get more sweet synths heading our way soon.



And of course I can't write a post about favourites of the last 12 months without mentioning Rei Harakami. I simultaneously can't believe it took me so long to finally get fully immersed in his works but am also very happy that I waited until no because I feel like I appreciate them more now that I would have years ago. And really what is there to say about Harakami's work that I haven't said already? Supremely lush synth work, incredibly smooth productions and an ambient sensibility make for some electronic music that is just an absolute joy to listen to. 2005's Lust is a perfect diving in point, home to some of my favourite 'Harakami in a nutshell' tunes such as the title track. But since I've talked about that one a couple of times already, lets look at Come Here Go There instead. It fits the bill of everything I've mentioned so far, with the addition of a surprisingly intense kick drum being added for the final minute or so. It's just divine, if your taste is at all similar to mine, you absolutely need some Harakami in your collection, perhaps not this album, but go exploring the discography!



It has also taken me a very long time to branch out when it comes to ADULT., partly because I made that mistake of diving headlong into their discography and picking up almost half of it in one go a few years ago so for a long time I didn't feel like I needed more. Enter this year though where I finally got around to looking at their stuff that was newer than what I had. After a couple of tries I settled on The Way Things Fall, which was again almost tailor made for me. It was the punky electro of the ADULT. that I had, but this time with an almost more electropop edge. I'd almost say that this makes this album in particular more approachable than their early work but it's not a huge change. If you like this, there's a high chance you'd also like Anxiety Always for example. The biggest change here is Nicola Kuperus' vocals being more dynamic, as much as I love her stoic monotone on tracks like Hand To Phone I don't think it would have worked as well here so it's a welcome change, her lyricism remains on point; full of visceral imagery and interesting rhythms. Not to overlook Adam Lee Miller's production, the nervous synths throughout this track are perfectly selected and the little bits of 808 that poke through every now and then really lend themselves to that now slightly retro edge that ADULT. have.



And finally, HEALTH's Death Magic. It's not their newest release sure but it's a damn fine album. The whole thing is permeated with this kind of nihilistic outlook that is thematically completely at odds with the thundering instrumentals and I adore it for that. There are lots of little flourishes that make HEALTH even further blur the lines between a traditional band and an electronic act; only after looking up a live version of this track did I even know that what I thought were synth pads backing up the whole thing is actually just a really distorted (or otherwise messed with by pedals) Guitar. I've mentioned before how much I like the more electronic direction they took starting with this album but it bears repeating, it's like they tapped into a sound that I didn't know I needed until I heard it. I've been holding onto Dark Enough for a while now for just such an occasion as I think it perfectly sums up all I've talked about above. Whenever it comes up I cannot help but listen to it in full as soon as I hear that incredibly powerful intro.



I think that'll about do us for today. I didn't cover some stuff I had planned because in hindsight it would have clashed with the overall vibe of this post, but that's OK because it would have been a little long that way too, it'll easily roll over into the next post. As always: Stay safe and enjoy the music all,

-CVF

Above and Before

It's been a long time since I've put one of these together, here's a cross section of things I've been listening to recently loosely tied together sound wise, a sort of sequel to the old Shuffle posts I used to make. Some are new, some are old but either way I hope you find something to pique your interest. Let's go.

Ivan Aivazovsky - Clouds above a sea calm (1899)

Starting with something new; finally got around to picking up the expanded edition of Everything But The Girl's Walking Wounded, which comes with a whole host of demos, remixes and live recordings. As 'deluxe editions' go it's a solid package, the album alone is great never mind with all the extras.

Of that second disc there are some real highlights, the live recordings are lush for starters but what we're here to talk about today is this demo that I've been unable to get out of my head. Presumably a demo version of what would become opening track 'Before Today' based on the lyrical content, it's practically a completely different song minus the shared lyrics. Tracey Thron's vocals are incredible as always but something I've really come to like on recent listens is the slightly lo-fi edge to this one: Walking Wounded as an album is crisp, clean and high tech, so hearing these rough around the edges breaks here makes for a very different listening experience and compliments Thorn's vocal delivery incredibly well. It maintains that melancholy feel that makes up parts of the album with an added layer of intensity.



Something about this one just hits me in the gut with a massive nostalgia wave. Which is odd because I didn't pick this one up with most of the stuff that hits me with that same wave (Though they are similarly related, bands like Röyksopp for example). Anyway, to actually introduce the track; it's not my favourite piece from Erlend Øye's debut, and depending on the day I can feel like it's really long in the tooth at 7 minutes, but recently it's been a mainstay. Øye's vocals remain his strong suit, and he gives the slightly nonsensical lyrics a real palpable feeling, and it's a shame they disappear for the latter half of the song. The sound of the album is fairly simple but works oh so well, I could sit and listen to that stripped, lo-fi DIY electronic in combination with Øye's voice all day.

The reason for that DIY sound is explained by the process behind the album which is a neat story too. its just Øye travelling around Europe and collaborating with various producers along the way. The end result is a lovely listen and still sounds surprisingly contemporary for something released in 2003. I'd love for another album in this vein, or with this type of sound.



Swinging to Röyksopp after that brief mention above, an older tune of theirs that is more readily available thanks to their 'Lost Tapes' series, a bunch of rarities and B-sides occasionally dropped onto Spotify. I've got a lot of them already from my collecting days, but it's nice to have them in an accessible location finally, as you all know I'm a bit mad when it comes to archiving stuff. Anyway, here's their cover of Depeche Mode's Ice Machine featuring Susanne Sundfør. It was originally made for their entry into the 'Late Night Tales series of compilations, tradition is every artist who does one includes a cover on it. It's pre-The Inevitable End, but there is definitely more than a few signposts of the direction they'd be taking on that album here, even down to Sundfør's guest appearance.



Rounding things off with something old, I mentioned a few posts ago that I remember writing the review for Shobaleader One: d'Demonstrator when it came out. That's coming up on 10 years ago now and to this day I adore the opening track Plug Me In, it i style distilled essence of the sound Squarepusher was going for on this album; a sort of electro meets spacey jazz. I personally still like the album, even if it is a little short. I can see it disappointing some folk expecting more Drill & Bass, but that's part of the reason Squarpusher made this album with the idea of Shobaleader One being a separate band, shame that wouldn't become clear until they made the follow up in 2017.



And that wraps us up for another post, next one will be an old re-post but I hope to maintain a one-old-one-new pattern going forward. I appreciate your readership during this time and I hope my music musings have given you something to pass the time with, as always stay safe and enjoy the music.

-Claude Van Foxbat