Ilictronix Podcast: The Instrumental Edition

"In this episode: Claude brings some bump worthy beats. Adam brings a rainy day ambient mix."

We are live again for this week! Another mixed bag but not the complete whiplash of atmosphere that was last week. It's been a hectic week for me and I've taken the opportunity to unwind with one of my musical dalliances that I dig up every now and then, I went all in on instrumental hip hop. I've expanded a little from last time's 'bump-worthy' selections, this time focusing (unintentionally) on killer samples, which means I get to flex my opinions once again on the subject, though I assure you that my take isn't very hot in the grand scheme of things. I drop some weapons I've been holding onto for a while, tarting off with a couple pieces from the Samurai Champloo OST from Force Of Nature and Tsutchie. As mentioned in the episode I deliberately avoided Nujabes' productions for the OST, not that they're bad or anything but he does tend to steal the limelight when it comes to discussing that soundtrack. That said, if you liked this episodes sounds you should absolutely jump into Nujabes' back catalogue for more of the style

Adam also brings something new to the table with a mix instead of our usual tunes 'n talk combo. Truth be told it's an idea I've played with before but never really thought too much about until now. Like we say in the Ep I think it could be really good to use in cases like this where we'd interrupt the flow with our usual routine. That and it'd give me a chance to crate and play with my 'mixtapes' I used to make one again. Full tracklist follows as usual:

Tracklist:
Intro:
Force Of Nature - Just Forget

Claude’s Picks:
DJ Krush - Song 1
Tsutchie - Sincerely
MF Doom - Arrow Root
Akira Yamaoka - Alone In The Town
El Huervo - Rust


Adam’s Mix
Tim Hecker - Step Away From Konoyo
Kara-Lis Coverdale - Moments In Love
Karel Goeyvaerts - Pour Que Les Fruits Mûrissent Cet été
Mark Pritchard - Untitled
Talk Talk - Myrrhman

SHOW NOTES:

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

Eclecticism #2

Here's some tunes, a picture I made, and some writing I wrote. Read my writing if you want.

Polar Noise

First up, Girl Talk; sampling so fine, it's like a quilt made of musical silk.



Japanese electronic pioneers Yellow Magic Orchestra rock out this tune. I just love the entire vibe. Lyrics of sadness & despair, the synths stabbing, swelling and grinding.



One of my favourite track by old-school-digital hip hop group Mantronix. Simple loop, with a sweet simple beat. I will admit, it does sound a little repetitive, but it's such a good sample that it doesn't really matter, because you should be too busy enjoying those sweet sounds. The vocals mix it up a bit, and distract from about 4 minutes of the same loop.



I've had this one going quite often for the last two weeks. That 80's sound that I've been searching for, I finally found in this song. It's not over the top with those horrid synth sounds, but it's still clearly from that era. The amazing vocal work carries a really smooth melody throughout, helping to meld those shorter synth lines together. 



I'll admit that Apogee is not my favourite from Awake; but it is still amazingly well produced, and for that, I love it. The drums simply blow me away, particularly in that intro. The compression is clearly taking its toll on that kick and it works so beautifully, helping to really bring out that energetic first minute and a bit. It's still a Tycho tune, so in all honesty, it's not really anything new. There is a small section that utilises a sampling type sound, and a little bit more guitar. 



-Sulphties

Eclecticism #1

I enjoy musical diversity. I feel it broadens my thoughts, and helps with the whole emotion thing. I don't know if it's just me, but sadness and dub step don't mix, neither does feeling energetic and listening to Tycho. So here's a bunch of random tracks, with no matching mood. You'll find a track in here to suit how you're feeling, hopefully.


Positively relaxed? Emancipator is easily one of my favourite artists to listen to when I feel relaxed. This is a little upbeat, kind of makes me turn a good mood into good actions. Particularly nice for cleaning, or dancing, or doing both at the same time. Productive and positive.
The whole jumpy bass vibe really rings through, giving a bouncy/dance feel to the track. The mechanised snaps add a slight krump element, but those melodies soar so smoothly and softly over everything else, resolving all bounce into a flowing bouncing track that's bound to incur some sort of positive movement. It's like someone putting a bouncy ball in a jumping castle. It's bouncy, but it flies through the air with grace and fluidity.



Sadly relaxed, or maybe sleepy and a hint of sad? This is the one for you.
Again, really really quite relaxed. However, fitting into the Hearts A Mess theme, this is a melancholy  mix. The bass hit deeps and not entirely sinus - the first sign that this is not a particularly soothing tune. The pads sweep slowly behind the haunting, and slightly distorted, samples of the original. The hats and other percussions echo this haunting, collecting themselves over time, like scattered thoughts. 




Friday Night? This is a winner for those of who who feel like it's a friday night, and time to go do something not entirely relaxing or sad. Girltalk is an absolutely amazing artist, no doubt. Personally I feel like he put's too much into the beat most of the time. I don't get that feeling in this track. Keeping it to a simple 1234, samples abound. Tempo perfect for exciting times, energy of all the samples, even one from The Prodigy.



Peaceful and happy? Can't go past clams. Beautifully distorted, soothing vocal samples with bass too match. This for me is a life moment type of track. A track that would fit perfectly into a moment of achievement or clarity.



Wall punching amounts of anger/sadness? Let it out man, and let it out to this. I first found Crystal Castles when I was a mere 14 year old watching the first season of Skins. After seeing the episode that contains this song, my brain automatically relates it to sadness and immense anger. Also related to remembering that people are actually there for you.
Sonically, this tune got me away from nu-metal, and started my entire electronic music expansion. The sheer emotion of it. I always imagined electronic music to be 'blip blip blip blop I'm a robot who's cold and has not heart'; but this changed my life in so many ways. I can only hope that affect is paid forward.




I'll leave this up to you guys. I personally listen to this if I'm in a weird mood. It doesn't help at all. The MV for this is equally weird, but somewhat amazing.



-sulphites

Eccojams

So I'm apparently late to this whole 'Vaporwave' thing. It's a 'micro-genre' that's already in decline. It's a shame really cos I dig the vibes and visuals for the scene. So I thought I'd share probably my favourite example of it. A little cassette tape called Chuck Person's Eccojams Vol. I. Now, Chuck Person is really just an alias for Daniel Lopatin of Oneohtrix Point Never fame, you may recognise some of the cuts on here from his youtube channel SunsetCorp.

click for big (1,003px × 596px)

now unfortunately because it's a half hour mix on both sides A & B, and because I've run out of soundcloud time I'm having to upload it to YouTube of all places. Butbefore that I'll leave you once again with a couple of bits I've posted before from OPN's Memory Vague that just so happen to be on this mix too! Enjoy.





In Red,
- Claude Van Foxbat

Sit Up Straight

So my good friend Earl Da Grey AKA The Deadbeat Demon finally dropped his beat tape that he's been working on for a while. It's been a long time coming and I've loved the last couple tracks he's put out, and I knew from the preview that it was going to be pretty damn good. Check out the preview after the pic!

And just because, I'll hit you up with couple other tunes from the tape that I think is pretty swell. Guys on a roll lately when it comes to hittin' my sweet spots for hip hop, and I can't wait to see what he comes up with for our little collabo. For now though this is more than enough quality to keep me going.

Deadbeat Demon - Ice Cream

Deadbeat Demon - Filters

Find More Deadbeat Demon At:
'Good Posture' Beat tape
Soundcloud
Bandcamp
Twitter

What's The Dealio?
-Claude Van Foxbat

Memory Vague

I recently got back into making art with Photoshop again, and as always the almighty shuffle has been present throughout. However, yesterday I found MP3s of what is one of my major influences and inspirations at the minute: the soundtrack to Oneohtrix Point Never's Memory Vague DVDr.


Now, there's a lot of Oneohtrix's usual synth-rife affair on here, but there are a couple tracks that stand out to me from both a visual and audio standpoint, but I'll elaborate more on those when we get to them, but for now enjoy some of that synthesized sound that OPN does ever so well (note: this is the Rifts version of the track, which is longer and better quality)



This was the first standout I was talking about, it deviates from OPN's usual MO and is mostly sample based, something he'd come to again on his latest LP, Replica. But what stood out to me the most was the sample itself, it's only a few seconds long, but the things done to it sound amazing. After doing some snooping I found that OPN makes stuff like this mostly in Audacity, which got me to thinking I could do it too. But once again, more on that later.



There are a couple other tracks that deviate on here, adding some beats into OPN's usually melodic productions. This is the first and also my favourite of the two, Chandelier's Dream. It reminds me a little of the Arcade High LP I posted a bit on not too long ago, and to a lesser extent OPN's other side project simply entitled Games.




It's not long before some synth heavy stuff comes along again though, this time with an almost early 90's videogame vibe. It still revolves around OPN's tried and tested arpeggio based production, but that is in no way a bad thing because he very consistently pulls it off, and this track is short enough that it's not too obnoxious.



Finally, the other standout track to me, and an almost perfect end to the LP. This and the stuff OPN made for the Eccojams Vol. 1 tape have been in constant rotation by me while making art things. I definitely advise you to check out the dvd, or even OPN's YouTube channel, which has slices from the DVD on it. You can find him at SunsetCorp.



I've dabbled in a few of these sample based jobs myself, I have the basic sound down but I can't quite manage any further edits without it sounding strange, if you're interested you can find it over on my SoundCloud. Also if you are interested, give it a crack yourself, Audacity is a free program and isn't massively difficult to learn.

Tonight,
- Claude Van Foxbat

Son Of Strelka, Son Of God

We here at ilictronix are no strangers to cutting things into teeny tiny pieces and then using those pieces to create something bigger, just look at Pogo for example. But what I bring you today takes that concept and does something truly amazing with it.



I saw this a few weeks ago, over on the Something Awful Forums and have waited anxiously for it to be completed. Son Of Strelka is an audio story set to music. Nothing unusual about that right? Well, the bloke who made it, Dan Warren, dissected the audio version of Barack Obama's autobiography and has meticulously been re-arranging it for the past four years to make this tale of creation set to music. I was skeptical at first, expecting not much in the way of quality but I was wrong. The whole thing flows amazingly well to say it's formed from fragments of sentences from throughout the book. So, in essence what you are left with is a 30 minute short story narrated by Barack Obama himself. And with that: Enjoy the first four chapters of Son Of Strelka, Son Of God

Dan Warren · Son of Strelka, Son of God

If you want to read more about Son Of Strelka or just simply hear the rest of the story; find the original thread with download and torrent links provided by Dan Warren himself here: Here and animations of the first two chapters here and here.

Words & Music,
-Claude Van Foxbat