Little bit of a sadboy today so expect even more downbeatness than usual, starting once again with even more Bossa Nova style goodness from The Thievery Corp. The whole album is a lovely encapsulation of its title, full of wistful tunes to get down to.
More from Everything But The Girl again. Tracey Thorn once again lending herself to yet another downtempo offering. Much more a product of its time than her appearances on Massive Attack's Protection but that's to be expected, EBTG was the kind of band that occasionally broke through into the charts back then.
And finally another more instrumental number from The Flashbulb's Soundtrack To A Vacant Life. Well, I say instrumental but there are some whisper vocals towards the end, but even then it's very unlike the usual AFX style IDM you expect from The Flashbulb.
Skipped out on a couple of these, but I'm back now with even more tunes to drag you down before monday, So without further ado let's get started.
John Lautermilch - The Decision (2009)
More UNKLE with well known sad boy Thom Yorke on vocals. There's nothing really like it on the album, but that's not to say it's bad it's just a bit of a left from the trip-hop vibes of the rest of the LP.
Winter means more OPN. Nothing like analogue ambient brilliance to see the cold in. One of the shorter bits from Rifts though it feels like it lasts an eternity. Lopatin keeps its sedate here, there's no surprise arpeggios or descent into noise like some of his other tracks, just lush sounds throughout.
David Firth of Fat-Pie fame has been making a splash as of late with animating a video for Flying Lotus and all, few people seem to know he also does music under many a psudeonym. Much like his cartoons there's often a dark streak in them.
Some of you in the know may have seen that my two favourite Scandinavian music folks are calling it a day, I expected it of The Knife after they went on the massive tour they were doing considering they last did it in 2006 on a way more local scale. I can deal with that, Silent Shout is one of my top ten albums and they've had a good run. But the other one is hitting me surprisingly hard...
I honestly didn't expect Röyksopp to be calling it so soon, I mean they were just gearing back up with the Late Night Tales and Robyn collab and whatnot. They're calling The Inevitable End, and wave goodbye to "the traditional album format" and they said they'll keep making music. And I certainly hope so, Röyksopp have been on my music radar since 2001 and I don't know how I feel about such a big cornerstone of my listening history to just suddenly stop, they've seen me through a lot over the years.
However if this is it for albums, I do think the album is a fitting end to the project, it's the perfect blend of their vibe with just a small hint of bitter-sweetness and a bigger focus on lyrical content. Think What Else Is There? and you're about there. Now excuse me while I reflect on 10+ years of Norwegian electronic and maybe cry a little.
This Sunday I actually have a reason to be gloomy. No one should have to see their friend put in the ground, especially one who probably lived more than the rest of us combined. But here we are anyway. So long J, I'll always remember you for never giving a shit about what anyone thought of your opinion, being the first person to show me John Martyn and your love of tattoos and body art. Thank you for being a friend and thank you for being there when I first arrived and had no one. I was a boy then but now I'm a man. Thanks for all the good times and I'll see you on the other side.
How was your weekend? Awesome? Fantastic? Well unfortunately just like everything else in your life it's coming to an end. So do a line of Prozac, put on your comfiest pair of slippers and wallow together, this week might be your worst yet.
Alex Colville - Horse And Train (1954)
Lets start with a whimper off Arca's new album Xen. Many of you know Arca through his production credits on Kanye's Yeezus, and FKA Twigs EP2 and LP1. His debut full length Xen is unlike anything I have ever heard and is a strong contender for AOTY. The track "Wound" has a beautiful cinematic feel to it with a soaring orchestral backbone. Once the empty and cold vocals roll in the track transcends to the next level. The lyrics are undecipherable and that's OK because the pain you're feeling is also hard to put into words.
What happens when you combine the hopelessness and trashiness of Florida with the shame of being associated with Skrillex? Hundred Waters! Signed to Skrillex's OWSLA label, Florida natives Hundred Waters have a pretty dark brand of synth pop. Their label debut "The Moon Rang Like a Bell", was the soundtrack to countless nights of crying myself to sleep. The highlight of this amazing album is the track"Down From the Rafters". Lead vocalist Nicole Miglis has a beautiful and haunting voice that fills up whatever empty room you're in.
Oh hey look its our favorite depressed frontman Thom Yorke! His newest album Tomorrows Modern Boxes is a music lovers "quart of ice-cream after a breakup" One of the standout tracks is "Interference".
The description from Rock Genius sums this one up perfectly:
"In the song, Yorke sings about the transience of our lives, our loves, our identities. We have moments in time that seem to be so eternal, but in reality it will and does come to pass all so suddenly."
How does it feel when the lead singer from your favorite band knows your life is worthless?
Lets close out with a track from Sharon Van Ettens ultra depressing "Are We There?" This one always leaves me speechless so I wont say too much about it and spoil it for you.
I've crawled out of my dissertation den to lay down some additions of my own. When the pressure's on and you have to not fuck up at all because otherwise you've wasted three years of your life, you will not get your degree and good luck getting a job in this post-industrial landscape of Northern England it is difficult to stay peppy. So I don't. Have some existential Brian Eno to help with that.
And when you see them all, somehow managing to live it up, go out an do what your stereotypical students do and manage to write a dissertation too. You wonder if it's all in vain, spending time writing when you could be out with them. If only you lived closer to the town center and didn't have a 1 hour commute to do, perhaps it would be. Don't dwell on it though, distract yourself and sit down with a brew and read over some academia again.
You are again wracked with doubt about whether your work is good enough, or will ever be good enough. As the last render of the night's bar slowly fills to complete, you look outside and wonder if winter is getting darker every year. Shutting down your workstation, you clamber off to bed. Another early morning bedtime. The small things make it worth it, tomorrow's another day and we can do it all again.
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"
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