Had an interesting idea the other day based off some uni work, (and the BBC Desert Island Discs show, any resemblance is coincidence, honest!) if you had to take one CD worth of tunes with you should you be stranded for an indefinite amount of time, what would be on it? It's real hard to condense nearly 12 years of music collecting into 70 minutes, but I gave it a go. Tracks and more words below.
Here I tried to cover pretty much my favourite and most listened to tracks from every genre I could fit in there, and then tried to make it flow well, cue the trademark ambient dip in the middle. A lot of these tunes are ones I can never seem to tire of, Here's a little bit about each pick of mine.
Daft Punk - WDPK 83.7
I'll be honest, WDPK is there cos I had a few extra seconds to work with, but it serves as a nice intro too so it fits in there nicely.
Modeselektor - Blue Clouds
Blue Clouds might be a recent favourite but it's earned it's place there, that intro is solid every time, and the building intensity over six minutes is flawlessly done.
Vitalic - You Are My Sun
Many a time I've written of my love for vocoded goodness, Vitalic has it in a ton of his tunes but none stand out as much as this one to me, it's a pretty good bit of electro too.
Squarepusher - Plug Me In
More Vocoders, this time from Squarepusher. A far cry from his older 'Drill 'n Bass' work,
Shobaleader One got a mixed reception but I loved it. This intro track is pretty much perfect and sets up the spacey future vibe brilliantly, as I best heard it said "R&B from 2050".
Broadcast - America's Boy
The track that started my love affair with Trish Keenan's voice and scratched an indie electronic itch I didn't know I had. Broadcast are criminally underrated and are one of my all time favourite bands.
The Knife - Silent Shout
Silent Shout came to me at a difficult time in my life some winters ago and gave me an experience like no other. It's downright haunting in parts, no doubt helped by the twisted vocals. I Hadn't connected with an album on that level for a long time, IMO one of the finest produced electronic albums of all time.
Autechre - Kalpol Introl
Got massive love for early 90's Warp's bleepy brand of techno. Autechre may not like this album much these days, but I think it's a stunning debut, and one of the best examples of Warp's "electronic listening music" concept of the time.
Oneohtrix Point Never - Betrayed In The Octagon
Another album I came into a few winters back. I remember scoffing at the reviews comparing it to Boards Of Canada. "This new guy's got nothing on them" I thought, then I listened to this and was stunned. Fast forward a few years and now OPN's gotten pretty popular. This one's a great demo of his older sound: beautiful ambient littered with analogue arpeggios.
Boards Of Canada - Dawn Chorus
Honestly not my favourite example of boards, but I've beaten my two favourite minute long ambient bits (
Olson and
Over The Horizon Radar) to death so I figured I owed 'em one. One of the less menacing tracks on
Geogaddi, this one's just a treat to listen to.
Röyksopp - Poor Leno
Röyksopp have been a mainstay long before I went took the dive into the electronic world. First heard this one on Las Vegas' Freemont Street circa 2001, immediately bought the album when I got back to England and never looked back.
Aphex Twin - IZ-US
Unusually tame piece from AFX. Long time favourite of mine from the Come To Daddy EP that has some bonus memories tied to it. Still have a card from an old friend with the opening sample written in it.
Daft Punk - Short Circuit
Originally Voyager, but I changed it to this last minute. That complete 180 in sound around the halfway mark and it's slow descent into distortion get me every single time.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Soft Shock
The YYYs dive into more electronic stuff. Sure it's a little predictable and as much as I love their other albums I felt this one belonged more. This tune doesn't get as much love as others I think, it's like a slightly less bittersweet
Maps and I love it.
HEALTH - Pills
Just a shy over 1 minute long this one, but I can never skip it. HEALTH can be hit-and-miss with me a lot, while this tune is a little simple, it stikes a nice balance with their usual noisy sound.
Bibio - Light Seep
Song of my summer 2009. Seems weird to be nostalgic over something not that long ago, but damn if this doesn't bring back the warm fuzzies. Good times and a good tune, Bibio's lo-fi really shines here.
Martina Topley-Bird - Sandpaper Kisses
I'd heard of Martina thanks to Gorillaz & Tricky but had no idea she was working on solo stuff until I did a little research. Another entry on this list containing one of my favourite voices, Sandpaper Kisses is a lovely hazy tune from her debut that is timeless for me.
Nightmares On Wax - Pipes Honour
One of the first entries on this list. Lot of good memories tied to this one too, the whole
Smoker's Delight album is one of my few 10/10s. As soon as that first drum hits I'm gone, that 9 minutes just passes in no time.
Massive Attack - Three
Originally going to be
Protection but I had no room left. Settled for Three from the same album, not a perfect example of trip hop sure, but a unique vibe that highlights the guest vocals from Nicolette Suwoton and has some pretty deep basslines throughout.
Stay tuned though because coming soon are Adam and Earl's selections for their own 70 minute selections! For now I'll leave you with that and some honourable mentions below that were cut for time or because they couldn't fit, enjoy!
Simian Mobile Disco - I Believe
Goldie - Sea Of Tears
The KLF - Madrugada Eterna
Clark - The Autumnal Crush
Autechre - Eggshell
Moderat - Let In The Light
Moderat - Rusty Nails
-Claude Van Foxbat
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