Same Name Game 2

You ever stumble across a note that you'd left yourself and just plain forgotten about? that's what this post is. Around the same time I made the first version of this post I must have made a second draft for a sequel that then got buried under other posts. There was nothing to it other than a cursory list of tracks so I figured I'd come in and flesh it out, and here we are.

Claudio Bravo - Mystic Package (1967)

The main limiting factor for this one is that some of the tracks aren't on my usual bandcamp players, but that's not the end of the world. It's also not the case for this first one either. Kicking off with a bit from Kavinsky's delayed debut. After a string of home-run EPs I was very excited for Kavinsky to drop an album, which eventually came to be in OutRun. OutRun is... fine. I told myself at the time its just because I was getting a little sick of the retro electro aesthetic but even on revisiting it my opinion remains the same. By far and away the best tracks here are the ones that were already on EPs that came before, but there are a couple standouts in the original camp as well. Don't let that put you off if you've never listened to Kavinsky before, the album is a great starting point. Since originally making notes for this post the man has announced a second album as well, and the single from it is very nice. Here's one of the standout originals, Blizzard.



From there we hit up Light Club, with one of the many tracks from Hotline Miami that are seared into my brain. Their Blizzard is a perfect addition to the sequel's soundtrack, very befitting of the more surreal direction that it took. Slightly off kilter, I think I could best describe it as nervous trap, a great choice to set the atmosphere for the scenes with dialogue. Sadly, like a lot of artists from the Hotline Miami OSTs, there hasn't been a release from Light Club in nigh on 10 years at this point, though a quick thumb-through of Discogs tells me that one half of the duo is still pretty active. I always think that's a bit of a shame, if you really dug the vibe of the OSTs like I did and go looking for more you can find that well dries up pretty quickly. Having said that, some of them are still at it, M.O.O.N. of Hydrogen fame has just dropped a new album for example.



A duet of Close Your Eyes next, first with Circ. I've talked about Circ's one and only album at length in a Retro Review and my feelings remain pretty much the same - if you like slightly kitsch early 2000's electropop as much as I do then you will find a lot to love. Echoing my thoughts from last time as well, the standout moment is still that incredible and obviously euphoric trance inspired breakdown around 2 minutes in - between that and the rest of the track its a great little capsule that is a distillation of the era's 'dance music' sound (see also, the very of-the-era music video) in my mind it's in the same ballpark as records like Mylo's Destroy Rock & Roll for example.



Speaking of, we're going to head over to The Chemical Brothers' Push The Button next, an album that I've thought about doing it's own retro review of. It's a bit of a mixed bag in my opinion, but one that's a little overlooked at the same time - look past overplayed tracks like Galvanize and there's some really great moments on here, my favourite being the spectacular closer Surface To Air. Close Your Eyes follows a similar kind of arc though, a real slow burn that builds to a post-rock-esque crescendo - not always my preferred way of things but sometimes it hits the spot just right, and when it does it's lovely.



Trying to make up for the back-to-back YT players with a little bonus, first things first kicking things more downtempo with my local hero Nightmares On Wax. Taken from Thought So... it has a little bit of a different sound to the albums before and after it, and a big part of that is probably down to how the thing was recorded - the whole album is a series of sessions recorded along the way as N.O.W moved from the U.K. over to Spain. This gives the whole thing this really interesting jovial 'live' quality, it feels like one big jam session and you're along for the ride.



And finally a bit of UNKLE, specifically their first album when it was a collaboration between James Lavelle and DJ Shadow. Psyence Fiction is a great little album, it was supposed to be getting an anniversary reissue a couple years back if I remember right but nothing seems to have come of it. Regardless if you are at all into 90's trip hop or are even just a fan of DJ Shadow it's certainly worth your time, Shadow's influence is very pronounced on it. Unreal is one of my favourite tracks from the LP, and there is also a sort of 'bonus' version on the end titled Be There, featuring Ian Brown of The Stone Roses on the vocal front. It feels very natural in its execution, it's not like the vocal has just been hastily overdubbed or anything - Ian's voice suits this sound really well, it's a collaboration I'd have liked to have seen more of, with UNKLE or a similar act.



And that'll be all for this time, I think I used up all my 'same name' ammo for a little while now! A little bit more of an eclectic mix this time around, but I hope you've enjoyed these tracks as much as I have putting this all together. I'm hoping to get back on track with the posting schedule so keep an eye out for more but until then, as always, stay safe and enjoy the music.

-CVF

Plus One More

That time of year again where synchronicity shines through and by happy coincidence both myself and the blog tally getting one more year older on the calendar on the same day. I hope I don't sound especially sentimental when I say that this blog has been a massive part of my life - I think I'm coming up on 10 years of writing this year? It's pretty wild to think about. But that's part of the appeal to me, sure I might wince a bit at my teenage writings - but what I have here is a written log of my electronic music journey, one that's going to continue for many more years to come.

Sir Terry Frost - Umea, Sweden (1979)

We've both come a long way since the days of bloghouse where I got my start. Genres have come and gone in the years since, but I like to think I've been pretty consistent. Though we are going to take a break from my usual format this time and do what I normally do around the blog's birthday (and some seasonal holidays) a good old fashioned track dump like it's 2010. Basically I'm just gonna be throwing down a whole bunch of tracks from across the genre spectrum - some classics that I've had for longer than I've been writing here to new(ish) stuff and everything in-between. Thanks for reading, and here's to many more of these to come.

Kicking off with a bit of synthwave from Carpenter Brut. Brut's stuff has a lot in common with the electro house of old in terms of sound, his brand of synthwave (at least in this Trilogy era) is free of the more super cliché bits that can be pitfalls of the genre - Brut's slasher film aesthetic is a nice change of pace from the usual pink grids, pastel sunsets and cocaine white Countaches that come with the territory. I'm not as into the scene as I was back when this was new circa 2015 so take that comment with a grain of salt and all. The entire Trilogy compilation is a fantastic crash course into the world of Brut, gathering up his first three EPs into one tight package that I would say is near essential if you're at all into the genre.

While I do love his more abrasive work on tracks like Turbo Killer and the first of his I ever heard, the brutal sounding Roller Mobster - I've gone with a different pick this time. Looking For Tracy Tzu has much more of a cinematic feel than those two (not entirely unexpected though, given Brut's obvious horror flick influences), but even so still finely demonstrates Brut's mastery of his own style, one of my favourites and just a fantastic track from a fantastic compilation.



A find from my eary bandcamp days (and one that's been on my wishlist for a shamefully long time as well), when I started to broaden my horizons a little bit in the vast and infinite world of bandcamp. One of many tracks that have made me eat crow and walk back my "minimal isn't really my bag" statement (one that's still kind of true) - Antigone & François X's We Move As One. The title track is a woozy sea of arpeggios, and my choice for this post Journey Home follows that same methodology but with a thudding 4/4 instead of the hazy ambience of the former. A colossal 7 minute number, it's utterly hypnotic in its execution, effortlessly building to peaks and crashing down into valleys - another one of those tracks that again make me fall in love with electronic music all over again with it's atmosphere. A stellar piece that makes me all wistful for the dancefloor.



Onto one of the older ones here, Misstress Barbara's Never Could Have Your Heart. This one came into my life when I was beginning to branch back out into the world of electronic music, back then I was only really listening to stuff that I'd picked up from when more electronic stuff would bleed onto the radio - your Daft Punk and friends kinda deal. I don't know the exact year I found this one but it can't be later than the early 00's, it was one of those magical moments where it solidified why I liked electronic music - I instantly could tell that I loved this sound and wanted more of it. I dig it out from time to time, and the love I have for it is still strong - that melody is so, so good and it was so much heavier than the more disco-influenced house I was familiar with at the time. And it all came full circle eventually, as I learned that the melody that I liked so much from this one is actually sampled or otherwise taken from Move's D's In/Out (Initial Mix) (around 2:20 if you want to skip straight to it) which is also another great record.



What is there to say about Nightmares on Wax that I haven't already said over the years? A hometown hero of mine, generally nice bloke and provider of solid downtempo stuff for well over 20 years at this point. I've picked one from Smokers Delight again, one of the trio of albums that I have signed by the man himself and a quite easy and comfortable entry on my 10 top 10s list. An early highlight, Pipes Honour remains one of my first go-to tracks from the album, from the get go it establishes itself as one of the heralds of what the albums all about - if the title of it and the artwork didn't give enough indication already. Together they make for one damn near essential piece of downtempo history, whether you partake of the titular smoking or not - if you are at all into anything downtempo I can highly recommend both this and the follow up album Carboot Soul for your collection. Another one with a deceptively thick bassline, run this one through your sub for a quick and easy way to dust your shelves!



Closing out this section with another easy entry on my 10 10s list, The Knife's Silent Shout. Another exercise in aesthetic perfection, the complete polar opposite of the bubblegum electropop of Deep Cuts, Silent Shout is a much moodier affair - loaded with cool electronics and a melancholy tinge to the lyrics and delivery. Silent Shout draws from a much wider sound pool than Deep Cuts, there are fragments of all kinds of genres on here from Trance to Ambient - but as seen through the lens of The Knife.

Silent Shout also sees Karin & Olof refine their work on the vocal front, on the previous two albums there were a few tracks that played around with Karin's voice, pitch shifting it around in order to play different roles - it's a technique that worked really well (and would continue to do so on Karin's solo project Fever Ray) but here it's refined even more, and the duo lock in to a sound that not only compliments the sound and atmosphere of the album, but lends weight to the lyrical content and themes as well. There is no better demo of what I've just mentioned than the title track itself: they synths are just fantastic, and the sound of Karin dueting with her simultaneously pitched-down and pitched-up selves is a strong contender for my favourite vocal treatment of all time. It's transitioned into track 2 of the album as I type this and I cannot overstate how much I love this album, the opening combo of the first four tracks is just flawless and an incredible experience. The Knife came to me at a weird time in my life but I'm ever so glas to have found them.



Rounding out with two more entires to bring things full circle. Warp has been a major staple of my listening history over the years and as a result a big part of my history with the blog as well - I spent an entire year writing album reviews of classic Warp albums not long after I first started after all. I've not been the best at keeping up with what's new from them as I used to just because I'm a heck of a lot busier these days than when I was a teen, but I've made the effort to rectify that recently and I have not been disappointed.

Squarepusher's latest EP Lamental was an early hightlight of me getting back on the Warp train, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect going in though, as anyone with a passing knowledge of Squarepusher's work can tell you he can swing wildly in sound from one release to the next. Still, I had heard Midi Sans Frontieres a while back when he was giving out the stems for it, so I checked it out based on the strength of that. It's a very solid EP and serves as a whirlwind tour of Squarepusher's many sounds over the years - opening with The Paris Track, evocative of his older Drum & Bass style works a la A Journey To Reedham from the Big Loada EP but twinned with those new squelchy synths he's so fond of. A downright beautiful ambient piece in Detroit People Mover, which I appreciate a whole lot as the rare times he does take on the genre it is always beautiful - see Tommib for proof of that. A solo guitar piece rounds out the retrospective tour, Les Mains Dansent could easily have been one of the handful of classical guitar bits featured on Ultravisitor, it's most similar to the closing track Every Day I Love in my opinion.

I'm not going to lie, the sort of look back over his discography has tinted my opinion of this EP quite a bit as it made me all nostalgic for those days when I was exploring all that Warp had to offer (and loving it!). I've chosen Midi Sans Frontieres (Avec Batterie) this time, it and it's ambient-style cousin (just called Midi Sans Frontieres) close out the tracklist and I adore them both. This version with the beat recalls bits of Ultravisitor again, the jazzy nature reminding me of Iambic 9 Poetry. It's far from his 'Drill & Bass' of old, but I really like the sound of this EP and am interested to hear where Squarepusher goes next.



I did the same with another of my Warp favourites - Daniel Lopatin's long time ambient / avant garde project Oneohtrix Point Never. I first found OPN via the Rifts compilation released in 2009, a gathering of his first few albums into one huge set. I actually bought my copy through Bleep, Warp's official distributor that used to deal only in digital music but merged with the physical store Warpmart a while ago now. I distinctly remember thinking at the time that OPN would make a great addition to Warp's roster, a feeling that only got stronger as I dove into his previous works and the Rifts comp started making waves. It wasn't long before that actually happened, and since then Lopatin has gone from strength to strength - even branching out into film soundtracks in recent years. OPN's work can be experimental to a fault at times, though I think both the Rifts compilation and R Plus Seven are fairly accessible if you want to get into his overall sound (and personally I think R Plus Seven is some of his finest work).

But we're getting away from the point, I haven't really checking in to a full release from Lopatin since around the release of R Plus Seven which is coming up on nearly 10 years old at this point. I think I did check out his two follow up albums in passing when they came out but like so many other records I intend to look into ended up on the back burner - so this time I did the same strategy as I did with Squarepusher and dove right into the latest EP of his, Nothing's Special. It's not a long one at just two tracks, one of which is just the album version of the track so I thought it'd be an easy entry.

It is just fantastic. I was rapt from the opening alone but that only continued as the track went on, I'm totally in love with it. e OPN has played with vocals previously in the past - normally heavily distorted as on the original version of Returnal or the cut up samples of the Replica album - though his work for the Good Time soundtrack featured an almost spoken work collaboration with Iggy Pop in The Pure And The Damned that sort of leads directly into this one. Damned is fantastic in its own right, the small bits of that iconic Juno sound from OPN's early work never fails to make me smile.

But as I mentioned, Nothing Special feels like a refinement of that. The original has more in common with Returnal as mentioned above, albeit not as distorted - this time the vocals getting a melodic auto-tune-esque treatment and some great subtle and not-so-subtle glitch artifacts that sound amazing too. For me though, the real highlight is the new version for this EP, a collaboration with Rosalía taking over the vocals. Of the two, I think this one is easily my favourite (Shocking, I know given my bias towards treated vocals), there's nothing wrong with the original but Rosalía makes the whole thing feel so much more passionate. OPN's subtle and delicate treatment of her voice is nothing short of brilliant as well, rather than swimming in autotune as the original was, here it's more selectively applied along with the subtle glitch artifacts as well, the whole thing comes across like a merging of humanity with technology which I just love, I've been unable to stop coming back to this one over the past week or so.



Perhaps not a track dump in the traditional sense, but more than I normally put up and of a much wider variety as well. Plus, I let myself write more than usual this time too, so apologies for the big gap between the last post and this one. As I close out this post I just want to drop a quick thank you to all that read - whether you're fairly new or a long time veteran, your interest is greatly appreciated! I love being able to write out my thoughts like this on all kinds of electronic music, the blog has been a major rock for me over the years and now more than ever have I needed it, and my music collection as a whole. Likewise, I hope that it's provided some consistency and levity in your own lives as well. Not to get too overbearingly sentimental or really parasocial on you or nothing though!

Once again, here's to many more years of these to come. I'll be back around soon enough as usual with more tales and tunes but until then - as always, stay safe and enjoy the music.

-CVF

A Flip-through

That time of year where I look do a little bit of belated spring cleaning - tidying up the folders and doing the 'when I remember to' backup of everything just in case, I'm not as careless with new stuff as I once was so it's not quite the two-day task that it once was. On my travels I spotted something curious, an overlooked folder with a backup of my then-current collection of music that can't have been from later than 2012 or so, almost quaint in comparison to the beast it is now. But I was curious and decided to have a little look through to see what the state of things was almost a decade ago.

Eyvind Earle - California Memories (1994)

If you've been reading here for as long as I've been writing this will be a real trip down memory lane for you all too, pretty much every post the hyped up teenage me would make is represented in the haphazard loose files (in my defence I didn't think it was big enough at the time to warrant arranging into folders!). But one silver lining here is the smaller scale makes it easier to pick out certain tracks, the more you have the less likely you are to come across single ones after all.

The spur of this post was finding Nightmares On Wax's Emotion / Sweet Harry among the pile - a brilliant piece of turn of the millennium downtempo. It's never been released outside of the soundtrack to 1999's exceedingly British club comedy Kevin & Perry Go Large so it's not the easiest track to pick up, which is a shame - the rest of the soundtrack itself is an absolute who's who of late 90's dance and trance to boot. So instead I went with a track from the NOW album from around the same time Carboot Soul, Emotion could have easily been a B-side from it as the rest of the album shares the same kind of sound. If you're at all into 90's downtempo or trip hop - or interested in getting some in your collection, I can't recommend this album enough. Every single entry in the tracklist is just great, but the one-two punch of the opening track Les Nuits into this one is nigh perfection.



What else was happening in my collection around that time? Well, I'd just discovered that Modeselektor and Apparat were teaming up again as Moderat (get it!?) once more and this time it was going to be an album. Coming back to this one has been interesting too, because even at the time I was of the opinion that the album peaks very early in the tracklist, though there are some standouts later on as well. There are times where it's a little too minimal for me - tracks like A New Error sound great, but do start to wear out their welcome towards the end of their 6-minute runtime. My real favourite from the entire thing was Rusty Nails, Apparat providing vocal accompaniment nicely breaks things up so it doesn't suffer from stagnation, and I will always forever love that very obviously Burial inspired 2-step beat of the opening. In hindsight as well it's more obvious to see this one's ties with the eventual second Moderat album, with a lot of the tracks there following this formula. While I may like the second more than the debut, I still have a place in my heart for tracks like this.



And finally, relics from the days where I spent every day searching for my next electro house hit. At the time I was hyping up Simian Mobile Disco to anyone who would listen, to the point where the first track I ever posted here was one of theirs. In fairness to past me, Attack Decay Sustain Release is a really solid debut, and one of those albums that was definitely right-place-right-time to take advantage of the explosion of great electro that was happening around 2007. ADSR came out in June of that year and promptly made its way onto all my summer playlists, like Carboot Soul it's only short at 10 tracks but there are no duds - each and every one has something to offer.

Sleep Deprivation is perhaps one of my favourite album openers of all time, the buildup to payoff is one of the few from this era that still gives me that same tingly feeling of excitement to this day. The bandcamp version that the Mobile Disco boys have put up is a remaster, it doesn't sound much different aside from swapping out a couple of the tracks and (Sleep Deprivation and Hustler getting 'Club Mixes' whereas Wooden gets an extended cut). Personally I think the originals are better, but I do love the variety they bring, if it were up to me I'd have them as bonus tracks on the end and not swap them out like this but hey ho.

I've gone with I Believe this time, perhaps the poppiest track on here and one I'm surprised didn't manage to worm its way onto the radio like so many electronic tunes of the era did, it Features Simon Lord of the original Simian putting in a super powerful performance as he did on We Are Your Friends. I don't think it sounds too dated at all, not to sound like a broken .mp3 here, but I still have a lot of love for this one - with what is probably admittedly more than a bit of bias on the nostalgia front.



And so ends our trip down memory lane for today, I did briefly have a thought of 'Oh man, I should Retro Review that Nightmares On Wax Album!" only to remember I had already done that many years ago when I first started writing with the 'A Very Warped History' series. Not to say it can't still happen mind you, I'm sure I have more nuanced opinions these days so it wouldn't be a straight re-tread - and I should swap out the spotify players on those old posts with Bandcamp ones where possibtle now Warp has their own one... Regardless, hope you've enjoyed gettin' all nostalgic with me, or just plain enjoyed the selections if its your first time hearing them! Either way, as always - stay safe and enjoy the music.

-CVF

This Means Warp

Horace Pippin - The Warped Table (1940)

Seem to have hit a bit of a dry spell, though that may be me being spoiled by the massive influx of new stuff I was discovering in the final few months of last year - I've been spending a lot more time with Warp Records as of late, not only because of that recent nostalgia kick of mine but also thanks to their appearance on Bandcamp.

Truth be told, a lot of the stuff I've got lined up isn't really 'new' so much as it is things I've been meaning to get to for a while, with the possible exception of this one! I posted around the time it came out, the 25th anniversiary edition of Smokers Delight, one of my favourite albums of all time (and one I was supposed to see performed live and in full before the virus) comes with a bunch of bonus tracks. And for my money, the best one is the first, Aquaself. I'm pretty sure these are new tracks NOW made in the spirit of the album and not forgotten B-sides - at any rate it demonstrates NOW's ability to make a killer groove, full of gorgeous floruishes in sound and steel pan harkeneing back to the original LP, it effortlessly sails through it's 6 minute runtime.



B12 next, there isn't much of their work on the Warp Bandcamp (but then again I don't think they released much on Warp at all) but what is there is sweet as. Time Tourist, while not my favourite album of theirs has the aesthetic of the futuristic Warp techno of the time down to a fine art. With it's cover envisioning a retro-futuristic take on London and track titles like The Silicon Garden, it really brings back the wide-eyed tech-optimist in me. This one in particular sounds a little like some of the stuff Oneohtrix Point Never was making in the R Plus Seven era, albeit much less experimental - it's gorgeous hi-tech ambient electronic to get absolutely lost in. A real hidden gem in the Warp catalogue, definitely look up B12 if you love this sound as much as I.



And finally, speaking of hidden gems - Broadcast. My favourite example of one from Warp. I just adore everything that Broadcast put out, I'd admired them from a distance for a long time but shortly after I decided to explore in earnest the band was cut short with the untimely death of Trish Keenan. Keenan was and is up there on my list of all time favourite vocalists and Broadcast showed tremendous versatility over their fairly short release history - going from 60's revival psychedelia on The Noise Made By People to the stripped and skeletal DIY electronics of Tender Buttons. Still Feels Like Tears is originally from the Pendulum EP: a track from the Haha Sound era, but you can hear precursors of Tender Buttons in those backing synths. Keenan is also on point from the get go - establishing that hazy, dreamy retro vibe from the very beginning. The real highlight is her main vocal here though, I love everything about her tone on the choruses, excellently enhanced by the slightly off-kilter instrumentation.



Slightly shorter post this time, trying to break things up a bit. I started another Retro Review today but that too looks like it will be very lengthy to say the least. So to buy me some time and break up the text a bit I thought I'd put this one up first! I hope you enjoy and as always: Stay safe and enjoy the music.

-CVF

Smokers Delight @ 25

You know, I haven't mentioned that one of my all time favourite albums - Nightmares On Wax's Smokers Delight was turning 25 this year. It's a bit of a sore spot actually, I was supposed to go see the album played front to back in my and NOW's mutual hometown, complete with a full orchestra. Naturally, like so many other things this year that didn't happen, but NOW has always been pretty active, and in lieu of that has released both a companion film to the album and an EP of the bonus tracks included on the 25th anniversary edition of Smokers Delight.

The film itself is an interesting watch, according to the press release I have it's inspired by one of George Evelyn’s (the NOW man himself) dreams. The summary is included in there too: the film follows Tiger, a friendly neighbourhood stoner happily stuck in a comfortable wake-and-bake routine. After he discovers that he may have unknowingly stepped through the doors of perception, he is forced to detective his way back to reality.

It's a fun little companion piece, pretty surreal but with plenty of humorous moments sprinkled throughout - the stoned conversations and philosophical ponderings 100% on point. If I had any complaints it's that I would have liked a track-by-track covering of the full album like Daft Punk's Interstella 5555 or Goldie's Sine Tempus but that's me just being an idealist, the songs that are used are put to great effect, even the random interlude from the album 'Time (To Listen)', fittingly with ticking clock. It was a nice injection of happiness in an otherwise tumultuous week, I couldn't help but grin when one of my favourites 'Pipes Honour kicked in, followed by some of the more comedic exchanges of dialogue. If you find 12 mins, give it a watch.





And just so I'm not leaving you with just that, I'm going to talk about my favourite and first of the bonus tracks from the companion EP and 25th anniversary edition. Aquaself is a gorgeous little slice of Smokers-esque sound. I have no idea if it's a forgotten B-Side or other scrapped demo, while it definitely has that Smokers Delight vibe, there's an overarching funkier feel that wouldn't be too out of place on NOW's later albums. The track itself is gorgeously clean, there's not a foot put wrong which makes the 6 minute runtime feel like half that. NOW's sample selections (assuming they are samples!) are as choice as ever, and the essence of this track is almost a distillation of the sound I love. if you've never heard NOW before and you like the track below, you're in for a real treat; all the albums from Smokers Delight forward are all in this vein, and at the very least in my opinion - Smokers Delight and the album following it, Carboot Soul are a must have for any downtempo fan.



-CVF

Bank Holiday (2020 Re-post)

NOTE: Hi there! I'm going through the backcatalogue and re-publishing all the posts I can find. I'm re-posting them as new articles too just so there is visible content going up. This post is originally from April 2015.

Enjoy,
-CVF

Ah, Bank Holiday Monday: a British tradition. Not so much of an impact this one seeing as I'm only in Uni on Wednesdays these days but hey ho any excuse. So sit tight as I regale you with audio offerings from my collection.

David Hockney - Yves Marie in the Rain (1973)

As you may have seen on our FB I went thorough a bit of a Chemical Brothers thing, working my way out of it now but I will still say Exit Planet Dust is still the cure for what ails me. And the opening track will always have a place in my heart as well as the annals of Great British Electronic.



Keepin' it on the isles, I've been looking back at my 2-step shenanigans I enjoyed as a yoof. Back in 2002, The Streets dropped Original Pirate Material. The lyrical content may be a bit dated these days (dropping references to Nintendo 64's and that) but as a soon-to-be-teen in the grimy post-industrial landscape of the north there was no record that I connected with better. That's changed since then of course, but I'd be lying if I didn't have a soft spot for tunes like this.



And one last local tune, what would be a post from me without a little Nightmares On Wax?. An early highlight on Thought So..., 195lbs is a perfect example of the jam style structure of the LP, as it was recorded in parts on a road trip as N.O.W upped sticks from the UK and settled in Spain.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Lousy Smarch Weather

NOTE: Hi there! I'm going through the backcatalogue and re-publishing all the posts I can find. I'm re-posting them as new articles too just so there is visible content going up. This post is originally from March 2016.

Enjoy,
-CVF

I woke up to snow today. I thought we were done with that but evidently not. So naturally I went lookin' for some tunes to warm things up a bit. Here we go.

Kent Bellows - Kitchen Counter: March 1983 (Dirty Dishes) (1983)

And what better way to do that than fire up this one from Projections' debut LP. A lot slower than the Bossa Nova of say Thievery Corporation's Saudade but still carries that sound sensibility with it. The breakdowns are gorgeous, and there's plenty of them to be had over it's 6 minute run time.



Keeping things downtempo with another visit to my man Nightmares On Wax. This one was particularly ironic as I grabbed my brekky this morning, talking about spring in Egypt as I watched the snow out the window. The tune's not too shabby either I s'pose, deffo a highlight on Carboot Soul



Bibio has a new album out this April too, seems to be a theme for him and I can't blame the guy, his tunes definitely have a sweet spring / summery vibe to them. So I decided to go back in time about 5 years and give Mind Bokeh a listen again. My updated verdict? Still as sweet as ever.



-Claude Van Foxbat

An Update

Hello. You might have noticed new podcasts have been absent for a few weeks now, and you may be wondering why that is. Truth be told I don't know myself, me and Adam ended our call after the last recording session and I haven't heard anything since. I shot him a message asking if we were swapping over to Wednesdays for the rest of the month but got no reply, and he hasn't updated the google doc we keep for the podcast notes either. That's pretty much it, I know as little as you, while I wouldn't be against continuing the show solo, I think it is much stronger with Adam and myself so I won't be doing that. I don't have access to the mixcloud account either.

In the meantime though, I'm finally getting around to re-publishing my first proper series I ever did on this blog, the slickly titled A Very Warped History. I've not got them all done yet but it's a start. I'm changing very little about them, there are some dead image links and some typos I'm correcting but they are otherwise as-is, as such please forgive some of my ham-fisted writing, I was around 15 at the time of the first posts and they'll be 10 years old next year!

While I'm fixing those however, I thought I'd at least post something. So have this playlist I cooked up that is a quick rundown of what I think is the quintessential introduction to what Warp does; it features bits and pieces from the entire history of the label including some of my all time favourites and even features some albums I didn't write about for the Very Warped History series. Enjoy.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Ilictronix Podcast: Sample Stories & Adam's Mini Mix

Claude and Adam talk about their favorite tracks of the week. Claude takes listeners on a story of sampling and shares how different tracks can use a sample. Adam shares a mini mix.

We return! This time we both tactically deploy little somethin' somethin's we've been holding in the wings. I lead the episode by using The Nightmares On Wax track to set up my three-in-a-row set of songs revolving around one sample (and the original too), with some more funky stuff courtesy of Chromeo and Thundercat rounding out my choices for this week. Adam treats us to something he's mentioned a few times in the past, in lieu of our usual tnes 'n talk combo, Adam instead gives us a mix he did the night we recorded! It's an idea I've mulled in my mind when there's been a few scheduling conflicts that might have made me unable to appear, so I'm more than happy to see it work out so well. Also I apologise in advance for the slightly rambling tangent I go on towards the end of the sample stories section, I make some good points and all but we were having connectivity issues, in the interest of keeping our audio synced I went a little off the cuff! Of course, the full tracklist and show notes follow as always:

Tracklist:
Intro:
Nightmares On Wax - You Wish

Claude’s picks:
Chromeo - Don't Turn The Lights On
Gary Low - I Want You
Miss Kittin & The Hacker - The Beach
Washed Out - Feel It All Around
Thundercat - Heartbreaks + Setbacks


Adam’s Mix
Geography Of Heaven - Pinky Promise
R.M - Chikyu-u 002
Cosmjn - Sunset Soul
Viceversa - Flat Earth
Rimbaudian - Let Me Beat U
Rythm Plate - String Thing
Lousie Chen - Reach (Raw Mix)

Outro:
Ian Pooley - Feel It



Show Notes:
Oh boy here we go. Starting off with the sample I mentioned at the beginning, You Wish HEAVILY takes elements from Judy Clay & William Bell's Private Number, like from the word go. Which is funny 'cos I was holding onto this to make another instalment of sample stories, because it's also heavily sampled in Pretty Light's Finally Moving too in pretty much the same fashion.



A little light on the show notes this week, and I can **guarantee** that I will have forgotten a couple, it's late here in the UK so I'll have a proper listen over the next couple days and fill in any I find. To repeat what I said at the end of my section of this episode, I ask you all to be safe out there and of course to enjoy the music naturally. See you all next week for more from Myself and Adam, we'll leave the light on for ya.

-Claude Van Foxbat

Weekend Reflections

Things slowing down and had time to think. Might not have been the best of ideas but hey whatever cannae change anything now so musn't dwell. Now that slightly depressing glimpse into my life is over let's talk tunes again.

Pierre Alechinsky - Pavan One Thousand Regrets (1971)

Been on that Ford & Lopatin train again, shame it seems lke we won't see another LP from them for a while, I dig out this and their earlier work as Games every so often and fall in love with the retro aesthetic they have going on. The LP, Channel Pressure is a lot less sample based than the Games work and features a lot more of Joel Ford too, definitely check it out if this tickles yer ears.



Also found an old copy of one of Evan's mixtape type dealies he put out. Was always nice to get a mediafire link from him every now and then and have me instrumental hip hop needs catered to for a while. It's been a while since I've had one but I don't mind, looking over the stack of stuff he's given me for free, it'll tide me by for a few years more methinks.

Ev K - Morning

Also Nightmares On Wax has been back in rotation too. I mean, he never really left but still. After hearing about how one of my co-workers worked on the design of an early album of his I dug them all out in full force once again. Thought So... always seems to get overlooked in the grand scheme of NOW stuff, but it's home to some of my favourties. I'll have to get around to fixing up all the Warped posts sometime next year and see if my fave picks are still the same.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Friday Bread

Ralph Hotere - Hang In There Mate (2011)

In need of a pick me up today so here are some smooth as ever tunes for both of us. Starting with Nightmares On Wax once again, my favourite descriptor of this track will always be that it's like if trip hop was made in a more tropical location than Bristol. It rings true throughout too, it's got N.O.W's trademark positive vibe in there in spades, pretty much the antithesis of the gloomy side of trip hop.



Some old school Clark too, back when he was still billed as Chris Clark. Lord Of The Dance is a real standout there, in amongst the early markings of his later trademark distortion comes this little happy numbr. I'll forever love the sounds on offer here, it's a joy to listen to.



On that same note, my summer album of 2007 or so is back once again. Simian Mobile Disco's debut LP is short but very very sweet indeed, I Believe being one of many highlights, featuring Simon Lord from the original Simian lineup to boot. Part of me wishes they'd get him back as a guest and revisit the style, but at the same time it's a perfect time capsule of the sound that I'm happy with it as-is.



-Claude Van Foxbat

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)

Lousy Smarch Weather

I woke up to snow today. I thought we were done with that but evidenly not. So naturally I went lookin' for some tunes to warm things up a bit. Here we go.

Kent Bellows - Kitchen Counter: March 1983 (Dirty Dishes) (1983)

And what better way to do that than fire up this one from Projections' debut LP. A lot slower than the Bossa Nova of say Thievery Corporation's Saudade but still carries that sound sensibility with it. The breakdowns are gorgeous, and there's plenty of them to be had over it's 6 minute run time.



Keeping things downtempo with another visit to my man Nightmares On Wax. This one was particularly ironic as I grabbed my brekky this morning, talking about spring in Egypt as I watched the snow out the window. The tune's not too shabby either I s'pose, deffo a highlight on Carboot Soul



Bibio has a new album out this April too, seems to be a theme for him and I can't blame the guy, his tunes definitely have a sweet spring / summery vibe to them. So I decided to go back in time about 5 years and give Mind Bokeh a listen again. My updated verdict? Still as sweet as ever.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Forever Late

Eyvind Earle - Late Afternoon (1994)

Oops it has been slightly longer between posts that I would have liked again. Not much new to report; the paint arrived and we got a wall done, I'm still abysmal at decorating. Anyway back to the music side of things. Starting off with some more Bebop remixes, this time from a couple of blokes from my neck of the woods with a surprisingly exotic name putting a downtempo spin on Forever Broke.



Lets keep it local, in fact getting even more local to my hometown. I've always got time for N.O.W, who if you've been following us for a while is one of my all time favourite producers of chill things and holds one of the few coveted spots on my 10/10 albums list. Here's a crash course in why Smokers Delight is on there.



One last stop on the Damon Albarn feel train for a while with one of the finer parts of D-Sides. Probably bending the definitions of 'electronic' a bit again but I've had this one on far too much recently to pass it up. Enjoy while I return to decoration.



-Claude Van Foxbat

What Is Happening

Even though I am officially done with Uni tensions are still high, got almost too used to taking it easy and now got a pile of stuff to arrange for the final exhibition to sort. And me being me some things that should be simple are becoming crazy complicated, sometimes because I like to overthink things, other times because it's tiny tasks that aren't really worth doing the 1 hour commute for but still need doing. I'm currently trying to offset it with audio as usual.

Devajyoti Ray - A Quiet Evening

Held off on posting this one for a while because I didn't want to overload you with Seatbelts but now seems like a good a time as any. Slight detour from the usual jazzy creations of The Seatbelts, Fingers almost sounds like something from Nujabes or ilk. A gorgeous blend of loungy piano and a hip hop beat, get this one in yer collection.



And I can't mention piano meets hip hop without giving an honourable nod to my all time fave of the format, Massive Attack's Weather Storm one of the few and by far the best instrumental on the album. Honestly there's not much else to mention, it nails its atmosphere thoroughly and is a highlight of the album.



And of course what would a post by me about hip hop things be without a shoutout to my hometown hero? Not mentioned this one on the blog for a whopping 4 years and I'm here to change that. By far and away one of the best intro tracks of all time, sets up the rest of the album beautifully and is a perfect start for any N.O.W newbies.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Fixin' Thangs

Took some time out yesterday to try and make the monthly selections part of the sidebar work again. Now Grooveshark is dead I decided to swap to YouTube of all things, while a ittle unorthodox it seems to work! try it out and shoot me a tweet or something if you find anything wrong. Also some more songs seeing me through my PDF puttin' together.

Chris Cunningham - Still from All Is Full Of Love (1999)

I give N.O.W's Mind Elevation a bit of stick in the grand scheme of things. It's not a bad album, but I dunno something about it just isn't as solid as say Smoker's Delight. Regardless of my whinging, there are some quality songs on there for sure. This one's helped me through a bunch of work, and I continue to put it on because it sounds like everything's gonna be alright.



Seeing as I used a screenie from the video I may as well put the amazing All Is Full Of Love up again. An amazing video backed up by an equal song, I've watched it a bunch of times recently as I'm making music videos for people. Naturally making full on articulated robot props is a bit beyond my scope but I can dream.



Rounding us off is a rather somber tune from UNKLE's debut. Unlike the other one's I've posted from this album, DJ Shadow's contributions to the group are less obvious, there's no scratching and no B-Movie samples to be seen. The tune is absolutely gorgeous overall though, especially those strings in the outro..



-Claude Van Foxbat

Bank Holiday

Ah, Bank Holiday Monday: a British tradition. Not so much of an impact this one seeing as I'm only in Uni on Wednesdays these days but hey ho any excuse. So sit tight as I regale you with audio offerings from my collection.

David Hockney - Yves Marie in the Rain (1973)

As you may have seen on our FB I went thorough a bit of a Chemical Brothers thing, working my way out of it now but I will still say Exit Planet Dust is still the cure for what ails me. And the opening track will always have a place in my heart as well as the annals of Great British Electronic.



Keepin' it on the isles, I've been looking back at my 2-step shenanigans I enjoyed as a yoof. Back in 2002, The Streets dropped Original Pirate Material. The lyrical content may be a bit dated these days (dropping references to Nintendo 64's and that) but as a soon-to-be-teen in the grimy post-industrial landscape of the north there was no record that I connected with better. That's changed since then of course, but I'd be lying if I didn't have a soft spot for tunes like this.



And one last local tune, what would be a post from me without a little Nightmares On Wax?. An early highlight on Thought So..., 195lbs is a perfect example of the jam style structure of the LP, as it was recorded in parts on a road trip as N.O.W upped sticks from the UK and settled in Spain.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Typography Blues

To those of you out there with no experience in the world of typography, consider yourselves lucky. Nothing I know f in this world is as stressful as shifting kernings by fractions trying to get things looking nice. Even worse when it moves like in my videos! But I digress, I'm taking some time out to share some sound with you.

Edward Hopper - Western Motel (1957)

N.O.W has come back on me in a big way. I'm staggered by how good of an album In A Space Outta Sound is, it doesn't top Smoker's Delight for me, but it's a close bloody second. Many a time this tune has seen me home through the streets of Leeds.



Went digging up some DMX Krew earlier this year, and with it I found a new addition to my smooth synths section. I couldn't have done it without the original track that tipped me off to him, that is another remix from Music For Freelance. It's not much like the other's I've posted, it has a much more electronic edge. Get a load of that bouncy bassline though.



And finally another tune from Pretty Lights which accurately sums up my work ethic at least 33% of the time. Another solid addition to any playlist you may be prepping for the coming warmer months, as is any Pretty Lights really. Enjoy!



-Claude Van Foxbat

Pre-Hand In Post

Hand in of my dissertation tomorrow for like 30% of my degree or something. Good news for you lot, cos you don't have to hear me moan about it no more, and I get more free time to lavish you with audio. So here we go with some old favourites.

Sigmar Polke -B-Mode (1987)

Long time music bud of mine Nightmares On Wax with perhaps the shortest tune he's ever done. Clocking in at just under a minute I have to loop it every time it comes up because it's just so sweet. Check out the full album, Smokers Delight for more of this vibe.



Before I go diving more into UNKLE's discogs I've been revisitng the debut LP and more importantly the tune that got me to revisit them in the first place. Enjoy the brilliance of when DJ Shadow & James Lavelle give trip hop a go.



Speaking of revisiting stuff, MTB's been back in my rotation after a lengthy absence. First heard her on Tricky's debut LP Maxinquaye before deciding to look into her other work after her guest bit on All Alone from Gorillaz's Demon Days. A real treat and really underrated, here's my favourite of hers.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Days Off

Semester is over finally. Not out of the woods yet with the whole dissertation and all but whatever I'm taking a proper day off as compensation. Enjoy some choice relaxation selections from me.

José de Almada Negreiros - Black And White (1929)

Blu Mar Ten deserve an honourable mention as being one of the warmer albums I have on this winter. The opening track has been a long time favourite of mine, it's incredibly well done and a massive departure from their previous Drum & Bass shenanigans.



Said before it took me a long time to gt into Thievery because I was convinced that the Americans just couldn't do Trip Hop like us, which wasn't unreasonable given it was born out of Bristol and that. Turns out I was wrng on multiple levels. The Corp. sure don't do the moody vibes of say Portishead, but that's not what they're about. For example tey do a whole bunch of other stuff, take their most recent album Saudade for example, which is pretty much lounge come bossa nova through and through. And I totally adore the opening track:



And of course local hero of mine Nightmares On Wax is never far from my playlists. Here's one tune I missed out posting in my semi-review, was released just before the LP and only further sold me on NoW's newest. The man hardly disappoints and is by far and away one of my favourite ever dealers of chill tunes. Deffo check him out if you haven't already.



-Claude Van Foxbat