Weekend Service

Roy Lichtenstein - Alka Seltzer (1966)

Back again for the weekend edition. Things are still mighty downtempo so I apologise if that's not your bag but that's just The Person I Am ATM™. Starting off with more Cornelius soundtrack stuff, I haven't actually seen the accompanying movie yet but the sounds are on point as usual.



More of the slower parts of E-Z Rollers' Weekend World again, the jazzy sound of the whole LP goes excellently with either the Drum & Bass or the more Trip Hop style sections. Nightfall is probably my favourite example of this cos both the production and the vocals absolutely nail it.



And finally another from my fave moody melody makers Portishead. Haven't posted this one before, it's a lot smoother than a lot of Dummy but the bassline will still give your shelves a good old wobble. There's a bit of tracklist weirdness too, if you pick up the album on vinyl this tune simply isn't there for whatever reason.



-Claude Van Foxbat

It's Massive

I made the mistake of going into this week's soundcloud roundup expecting there to more indie stuff to cover. Turns out I fell down the Massive Attack rabbit hole and here we are. Starting it off right with a semi-rare remix I only barely remembered, Portishead give their once over to Karmacoma. There's nothing too interesting about it until 1 minute in where there's some absolutely gorgeous guitar dropped into the mix. It doesn't show up as much as I'd like but when it does it's fantastic.



And leading right into another tune I forgot about, FlyLo lends his touch to some Massive material, and it comes out sounding like some of his production for Gonjasufi, hell if you didn't know it was Massive Attack it could almost be a cut B-side from Los Angeles with a Horace Andy sample. And it's brilliant throughout.



And finally, producer extraordinaire and grandfather of ambient Brain Eno and his take on Protection. There's not much re-mixing going on here, but in true Eno fashion it almost sounds like a re-arrangement for a film. Certainly a more laid back take on the original, and I'll always adore the storm SFX sprinkled throughout.



-Claude Van Foxbat

EVK RADIO (Day Late Edition) [Soundcloud player broken as of 2020)

wazzam

New mix for you guys, stars hard and ends that way too, enjoy!

Soundcloud this time.

Be Easy,

Earl

Gloomy Sundays Vol. I

Shamelessly stealing an idea me and Adam cooked up after his latest special depressing edition of the wingman series, we're gonna cover some sad songs today in what will hopefully be a semi-regular feature (and what may be the first ever collabrative post in ilictronix history) Tunes and more after the art.

Edward Hopper - Summer In The City (1950)

Starting off with the absolutely crushing end to The Knife's Silent Shout. Here the album dumps all the twisted electropop sensibilities that underlined the whole album and gets real for a second. Like From Off To On some tracks before it, it's a pitch shifted ambient trip in introversion.

"Was it worth it? Could it be worse than this?"

It's probably a bit of a cliché to mention Portishead here, but I'm gonna do it anyway just because a few lines here real resonate with me, and I'd be lying if I didn't say the way Beth Gibbons delivers the lines is pretty much perfect.

"For it's such a lovely day to have to always feel this way"

Broadcast may not be the first band that jumps to mind given their usual sound, but there's more than enough downbeat stuff to go around. I've already given out some love to the lonely vibe of their earlier tune Lights Out, but there's some quality pieces on The Noise Made By People too.

"How wrong I'll be, none of us have anything"

-Claude Van Foxbat




Adam's Picks 


First on my list today is a track from Instra:Mental and I heard this one thursday night when James Blake played it on his residency on Radio 1. I've had this one on repeat for 3 days now and has really sucked my joy. A pretty danceable track with some pretty sinister undertones and a heartbreaking vocal sample makes this track really special. Oh, don't forget those out of this world synths.

"Ill be waiting around, I'm sorry" 

Next we have a new one from Aphex Twin. Off his stellar new album Syro the closing track is a pretty bitter sweet one. It sounds like a rain cloud on a bright and sunny day.




I'm sure your all familiar with this one but its still a favorite downer of mine. Stripped, barebones, and vulnerable is that makes this track memorable for me.

"People get crushed like biscuit crumbs and get laid down in the bitumen" 

-Adam 

Better

After working a frantic 14 hour day yesterday, I got everything done and handed over. Good news is I have today off to just be really lazy so I thought I'd write up another post. Here's a semi-random selection of what I've got on currently.

Indie184 - Chill Out

Starting with early highlight and surprisingly heavy track from Portishead's still sublime debut. This a pretty solid example of their sound circa then, the way those beats meld with Beth Gibbons' moody vocals is pretty special, especially when it all comes surging together at 1:15.



Another bit from Plone's unreleased second album. If it had been released, I can guarantee this tune would have been licensed for all sorts of advertisements and whatnot like their track from the We Are Reasonable People compilation, Plaything has. Not that that's a negative, it has the same playful vibe as the rest of their output and is a joy to listen to.



The Flashbulb now, with a bit of a change up from his usual sound. Sure it starts off with an ambient edge like so many other experimental electronic folks have, but then that bassline hits and the song keeps on building and building until you hit that post-rock esque climax around 2:40 that is almost perfection. Then Benn is kind enough to give you a couple minutes of comedown time too, it's a real experience this one.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Times Is Changin'

I'm heading towards my last few weeks in college, the workload's stepping up and it's hard to imagine that soon I might even be be heading off to an art college. Anyway, It's a pretty tense time, everything has to be done on time to the highest standard and all that jazz. So I've been looking to counter those bad vibes with - what else? a lil' audio therapy. I've been digging up some old gems from my old HDD I have sitting around for the past couple months and getting all nostalgic re-discovering some tracks I thought I had long since lost, sprinkle a couple new addition in there and you have a nice example of what sounds have been filling my airwaves in recent days, check this out. Kicking it off is a semi-rarity in my collection: a N.O.W Remix. The few I've heard are brilliant, and this one is no exception, Mr. Evelyn takes the iconic dancefloor classic and gives it his own personal twist, until the vox hit you could almost swear this was an original track, slick stuff as always.

Wali Rahman · 19. Olive - You're Not Alone (Nightmares on Wax Mix)

Another obscure-ish N.O.W gem, this one's a cover of an old Cymande track that the wax man slotted in on his installment of the Late Night Tales series. It came out around the time Mind Elevation, and it's vibe is present on this tune, particularly with them drum workings and bongos. Even though it's based around one sample it's cut up and kept fresh enough to be interesting, what else would you expect from N.O.W?



Tricky's debut album was a textbook example of trip hop done well, the opening track Overcome is probably one of the best examples of the sound there is and is among my favourites from my genre. This remix included on the 2009 re-issue took me by surprise, taking the sublime original down a more subdued path that just works. I still prefer the original and it's hazy atmospherics but definitely check this one out.

Tricky · Overcome (2009 Remix)

And finally, a mashup I heard not too long ago. I scoffed at when I read the title, I couldn't imagine these two tracks sounding well together and I was expecting a cheap amateurish sounding 'mashup'. The track not only took my expectations and smashed them completely within the first 10 seconds, but continued to do so for eight whole minutes. You don't want to miss this one out, it's just amazingly put together.

Jaya Prime · Massive Attack vs Portishead - Teardrop on Roads (Mashed by Jaya Prime)

I know it's only a small post, but small posts is better than no posts right? right! (even if I do forget to update sometimes, or get lazy) and with that in mind I'm jetting off once again, sadly not away on holiday. Witty One Liner, - Claude Van Foxbat