Spellbinding Broadcasts

There's been more new things on the Broadcast front - after the re-release of Mother Is The Milky Way and the first official release of a bunch of live recordings on the Maida Vale Sessions, we're getting a new seleciton of previously unreleased demos. James Cargill of Broadcast did promise this some years ago, so it's nice to see them finally come out proper. Some of these I have heard before as they were (sometimes only briefly) on James' Soundcloud, but I imagine they've been polished up as best they can be for the proper release.

The demos are split into two albums, one Distant Call mainly focusing on demos of tracks that actually were eventually released. There is only one of them available for preview right now. It feels fairly final, there's not much difference between the final studio version in terms of structure - but it does have a lovely lo-fi sound which is something I've gained an appreciation for in recent years. I'd have liked a little peek at the early versions of the more electronic stuff from Tender Buttons, but I'm grateful for the preservation of these sketches either way.



The other album, Spell Blanket is entirely made up of unreleased demos, a massive amount of them to boot, clocking in at a fairly hefty 36 tracks. There are 2 tracks up for preview right now (which to be fair is probably the amount that I'd listen to, I tend to drip feed these things these days), and it's been wonderful to hear Trish's voice again in a 'new' context.

Follow The Light is suitably dreamy and once again quite fleshed out for something that is on paper a 'demo'. Having said that it's ver likely that it has been expanded upon from the original - there are moments when the tape hiss cuts out - a little jarring on a close listen but it's not too extreme to pull me out of the experience. Even so, a little bit of assemblage is on brand fro Broadcast. A beautiful slice of melancholy, and a wonderful choice for a 'preview' of the experience.



The Games You Play is the other preview-able track as of now and is another quintessentially Broadcast piece. Trish's vocal accompaniment feels very playful here, and the whole thing is nicely 'looser' than a full on studio piece (which feels like an obvious thing to say about a demo from a collection of demos I know) it reminds me a lot of the live bootlegs I have of the band where there's a lot of riffing and interplay improvisation between Trish & the band



It's still quite a ways away - September as of writing - but I'll be sure to keep this one on my radar. There's a lot to be excited for here, though I've heard some of these demos before it's nice to have them officially out there. Follow The Light is a beautiful listen, and one that has me enchanted by Trish's vocals all over again. It's looking like this might be the last material we get from them, but it's a fitting way to close things out. That'll be all for today, until next time, as always, stay safe and enjoy the music.

-CVF

Saving The Date

Had this scheduled for a while, normally I like to do these date posts for a quick stopgap, but as I'm sure you're aware it has been a hot minute since I've been around (more on that at the end) - so I figured I'd expand it out to somethin' a little bigger. Let's go.

Today we're talking Drukqs, the sort of black sheep of Aphex Twin's discography, and for a long time the last proper full length album from the man until Syro. Hefty in length - 30 tracks over 2 discs (rising to 34 with some bonuses if you snag the donwloadable version from AFX's Warp page), though some of them debatably shouldn't count towards that number - track 13 Aussois being 13 seconds of distant voices, Bit 4 is similar but with a two note warble. But I digress, we're here to talk about the flipside of the album, twinned with the usual Drill 'n' Bass you'll expect from Aphex are a fair few beautiful Piano interludes.

And we may as well start with by far and away the most famous of the lot and the namesake for this post - Avril 14th. Even those not into Aphex at all will probably have heard this in some format: it's been sampled a lot in addition to appearing in a wide variety of media, TV shows and other miscellaneous avenues. It's a perfect demonstrator of this side to the album - achingly beautiful and lovingly recorded in a way that you can hear lots of incredible small details on a close listen. It's not my favourite of this type of tracks on Drukqs, but it's one I will always stop and listen to if it comes up.



I'm going to jump around the tracklist a bit and shine a light on some of my choice picks from the list - the album actually opens with one, the comparatively noisy Jynweythek. Sporting an almost eastern influence in parts, it's very different from Avril while retaining that same overall sound. My favourite Aphex Twin tracks have always had a strong melodic component, it's something that he excels at, and Jynweythek has it in spades. It might not be dripping in acid or backed with ludicrous snare rushes, but something about it remains identifiably Aphex.



Drukqs feels like a very personal album - sometimes in very obvious ways - Lornaderek being a voicemail recording from Richard's Mum & Dad on his Birthday (Currently I am being pained by the realisation I am now older than him at the time of this album's release), the track titles heavily featuring a lot of Cornish language, the region where Richard grew up. Of course, the Piano songs have this inherent pang of nostalgia to them - but one that stands out most of all to me is QKThr, the sole organ track of the key-focused side of the album invokes coastal scenes effortlessly.



Retutning to more Avril adjacent territory next. The opening melody of Strotha Tynhe is one of the first to come to mind when I think of these tracks. Which is a little odd as it only really appears the once, the rest of the runtime flirts with returning to the same, but always with a slight variation. In my more arty moments I might say it's a fantastic depiction of the way things change over time. Very pretty either way.



Looping back around to the same sort of sound from Jynweythek for the penultimate selection. Hy A Scullyas Lyf Adhagrow might be near enough my favourite of the bunch, short and sweet but I could loop it a couple of times and be just as happy. Once again a great showcase of Richard's ear for melody, it's a very pretty listen, the ending note puts a nice full stop to things, would have made a nice end to disc 1 on it's own but there's another Piano tune that follows it.



The actual closing track on the other hand, Nanou2 is just sublime. Very understated compared to some of the other examples here, it shares little in common with it's prequel (that being Nanou from the Windowlicker EP), though that is also a lovely little bit of melodic machinations from Richard. Wonderfully structured and perfectly placed on the tracklist, it's one I can come back to time and time again and it never bores. Simply wonderful.



And that'll about do it for today, apologies again for the long abscence - it sounds cliché to say but I plain don't have as much time as I used to. I am going to try and make an effort to be around more, I have tons of ideas for posts but putting pen to paper (or rather, fingers to keys) is the hard part. If the day does come when I decide to stop completely I will be sure to say so and not just go full ghost. Until next time, as always, stay safe and enjoy the music.

-CVF

As is tradition

There's no shortage of tracks out there with dates attached - now, I'm not normally one for date-posting over here, but I usually make an exception for this one - It's not the only one the Boards Of Canada boys have either, but I like to shine a light on it around the date in question. Hailing from their early pre-Warp days on Skam records, it perhaps a little less known than their later works. Annoyingly, this also makes it very hard to post a legal stream of it.

Normally, I'd go for a hooky Soundcloud upload but I don't quite feel like it this time, so instead we're reverting back to the old tried and tested YT players. With a twist this time! The first video is from an old community video contest that was judged by the band themselves, which ended up coming second. The years passing (16 of them!) haven't been kind to it and it looks crunchy as all get out, but it makes a nice change from the usual cliché BoC fan-vid which leans heavily on the 70's nostalgia, but then again this track is quite different from your usual BoC affair as it is. It comes out looking a little more like the hi-tech Warp videos of old, think Chris Cunningham's video for Autechre's Second Bad Villbel.



Of course, I gotta follow that up with a newer upload, if only for the infinitely better audio quality. It was remastered/repressed in 2014 which in my head makes me think "oh that wasn't too long ago" before realising it's coming up on almost a decade ago... The rest of the Hi Scores EP is worth a spin, there's other bits on there that are more 'BoC' like in execution if the thundering tech of this one isn't for you.



And that'll about do it for today - I'll be back soon enough with more but until then, as always, stay safe and enjoy the music.

-CVF

Evo

Hey all, just dropping by with a quick something - I've been a little sidetracked IRL so haven't had as much time to write as I would have liked. This one is originally planned as a Retro Review (and it still might make the cut yet!) but it's also been sat on the back-burner for ages so figured I'd take a swing at it at the very least.

I mentioned not too long ago that Warp founder Steve Beckett once said that the one record they regretted not releasing was Mark Pritchard's first under the 'Reload' alias, one that he said would have been perfect for the Artificial Intelligence series that they had going on around the time. While they didn't get their hands on that, a few years later some tracks from it would appear on this compilation - The Theory Of Evolution. It's an interesting release for sure, it feels a little out of time in places due to the re-use of older Reload tracks. The opening salvo of tunes is a great selection though - with the thudding techno of Birth Of A Disco Dancer leading the charge.



The opening follows this sequence of a tiny interlude sandwiched between two tracks, so we're skipping over to the next 'proper' track as it were. Another Reload offering, but more acidic this time. Stepping away from the Artificial Intelligence sound a little now, Birth Of A Disco Dancer had a little bit of that atmosphere behind it, but here the 303s are out to play. Not super complex or anything, but as I've said before sometimes a li'l 303 is all you need. Don't worry too much if it's not your cup of tea, there's plenty of more familiar Warp style things to come.



Speaking of, we're hitting up one of my favourite ones next. At the risk of repeating myself, it's tracks like The Biosphere that really make clear what Steve Beckett was talking about - a track like this is very reminiscent of the kind of thing B12 was making, hi-tech sound with a sci-fi edge, and would have been right at home on volume II of the AI compilations. I am very obviously biased toward this sound, but for me this is where Reload really shines. My love for these kind of extended spacey cuts is well documented, and Biosphere is a welcome addition to that roster.



It's mot a flawless compilation though, there are times when the wheels fall off a bit. Take for example one of Herbert's contributions to the tracklist under his Wish Mountain alias, Royal Wedding, 2 minutes and 30 seconds of a distorted Prince Charles reading vows. It quickly wears out its welcome, becoming dull and monotonous before long. I feel like it doesn't really belong on this compilation, even as one of the 'interludes'.

All of which I mention to set up the extreme whiplash you experience if you listen to this compilation in order. You go from by far and away the poorest entry mentioned above, to Amazon Amenity - one of if not the highlight of the whole thing. It's a refreshing change of pace for the proceedings as we change up tempo and enter the world of Drum & Bass. It and IDM are close cousins at certain times anyway but there's no mistaking the out and out D&B style of this one. Very much fashioned after the Jazzy strain of the genre that would remain popular through the latter half of the 90's, Amazon Amenity is full of little flourishes and makes its 9 minute runtime just melt away. It's perhaps a little generic if you're well versed in the genre, I have a lot of love for this style regardless though.



It's a shame that Amazon Amenity is the black sheep of the compilation, it'd have been nice to have a couple more in this style, though the second Link track that follows this is also a prime slice. Opening with some gorgeous pads, it's not long before things take a techno turn again though. I find that Mark Pritchard typically uses different aliases for tackling different genres, but this track once again evokes that same B12-esque methodology, especially on little breaks like the one around 1 minute in.



And that'll be all for today - a quick whirlwind tour. In a nutshell, an interesting slice of Warp history - flawed in places but also home to some nice bits and bobs along the way. I'm thankful for Warp putting a major portion of their output on Bandcamp which allows me to shine a light on releases like this and frees them from being physically limited as well, I still need to go back and update the Warped History posts with the new players actually! The full thing is worth a look if you like what you hear, and certainly check out the early Reload stuff if the IDM style stuff is more your speed. Until next time, as always, stay safe and enjoy the music.

-CVF

20 Summers Back

I'm having a bit of a Warp renaissance as of late - this past weekend the usually dormant Boards Of Canada twitter account came out of the woodwork to retweet some articles celebrating the 20th anniversary of the release of Geogaddi. In times past, I'd have been among them at the time (or at least tried to be) but even having missed the actual date, I think the album itself is more than worth a revisit.

Geogaddi is a very dense album, and not just because it's got the biggest tracklist of all their mainline albums. It's dense because it is steeped in atmosphere - here the Boards really lean into their aesthetic - resulting in an album that is brimming with psychedelia, tinged with 60's nostalgia, and thanks to some subtle (and some not so subtle) nods to the occult, a slightly menacing undertone - the subtlest being the inclusion of one final track of silence on the album that is purely there to raise the album's runtime to 66 minutes and 6 seconds.

As a result it's perhaps not the best starting point if you're new to the Boards, I'd recommend the previous album Music Has The Right To Children for that, but even so it's home to some of their finest works as well. Following the standard Boards Of Canada modus operandi - after a brief intro to set the stage in Ready Lets Go, we immediately dive into Music Is Math. Which is a tune that is going to make me instantly walk back the statement I just made about it not being a good intro to a first time listener - an almost distillation of the quintessential BoC sound, if you like this, you can pretty much go ahead and grab the rest of their discography for more.



But it's not long before the slightly sinister elements make an appearance as it's followed by Beware The Friendly Stranger, which you may recognise from David Firth's Salad Fingers series - it's a melodic interlude, but with a menacing crackle and fizz lurking just below the surface, which is will be a recurring theme throughout the tracklist. We're going to jump quite a bit forward to highlight another standout in 1969, which continues the trend of comforting yet unsettling. The beats are surprisingly heavy on all of Geogaddi which is demonstrated very well here. Crown it with some of the most explicitly deliberate cult imagery on the album (the sample here is "Although not a follower of David Koresh, she's a devoted Branch Davidian", just with Koresh's name reversed) and you have the complete Geogaddi recipe. It's hypnotic but doesn't outstay it's welcome at a (nice) 4:20, the final quarter when the track title's namesake comes into play it is magical - I can never get enough of that robotic '1969, in the sunshine'.



I am skipping over a majority here which does feel like a bit of a disservice, Geogaddi is a record that deserves to be experienced in its entirety at least once - but I am also playing favourites here. Speaking of favourites, some of my top Boards Of Canada tunes all follow a similar formula - the short melodic ambient interludes that punctuate the albums. Over The Horizon Radar is one of them, lovely but fleeting. I usually find myself saying 'just one more time' when they do come up as a a result, this one along with Olson from Music Has The Right To Children are probably my two most played of them all as a result. Over The Horizon Radar ushers in the final quarter of the album, and marks the end of the darker sound as well - the final few tracks are all beautiful in their own ways.



Over The Horizon Radar is followed by Dawn Chorus, which is also one of my favourites (and one I've not done a very good job of describing having searched the archives). You'd be forgiven for not really getting the darker side of the album given my selections, none of them other than 1969 really show it - and Dawn Chorus continues that trend - what can I say, I'm picking favourites after all! It's a sparkling, sun dressed celebration of its title. The end result is nothing short of euphoric, when this one hits on certain days it is like nothing else. It is just wonderful, an absolute treat to listen too, and one that is all the sweeter when its been a long time since hearing it last as is the case with me.



It doesn't seem that long since the 20th anniversary of the album before, Music Has The Right To Children, but then again I suppose everyone's perception of time is a little warped these days (no pun intended). That and Geogaddi will be forever linked in my head as I picked them both up around the same time when I went on my huge Warp Records deep dive however long ago. Two landmark albums that I think any fan of electronic music could do with hearing once - the Boards boys absolutely nailed their aesthetic by this point on both the visual and audio front and would go on to influence many others in the electronic music sphere.

This little excursion has been fun, I'll be sure to rifle through my collection and see if I can't spot any more upcoming album anniversaries that I could cover. I hope you've all enjoyed it too, (my coverage has matured a little bit since the first time I've covered these albums as a teen!) and if this is your first time really listening to the BoC, then welcome - and I'm sure you'll enjoy your time with them. Until next time - as always, stay safe and enjoy the music.

-CVF

Re-Broadcast

Returning to an old flame of mine with this one - we're talking about one of my all time favourites and one of the more lesser known Warp acts, Broadcast. A unique sound amidst the other Warp clientele, Broadcast's works were a refreshing change of pace for a teenage me, who until then had been strictly listening to only electronic music. Not that I didn't have any non-electronic music, but the things I was finding were so much more interesting, you know? I'd still say it's a good 80-20 split to this day, but Broadcast were one of the acts that started that shift.

It's been a long time since then, and to this day returning to Broadcast is a very cosy experience - I have loved and will continue to love these records, but it has been a while since I've been back to them. I've spent a good part of this week doing one giant revisit, as Warp announced some new Broadcast stuff: some reissues of previously tour-exclusive works and a proper official release of some sessions they did for the BBC. It's the latter that has me the most excited, after the Peel Session they did wasn't included when Warp reissued the other ones from the label recently I thought hope was gone. Naturally, I've had bootleg recordings of the sessions for years already, but I am very interested in hearing proper professional versions of them.

Of note is the track Forget Every Time, never released on any albums or EPs, but it is one of my favourites the group ever did. A perfect demonstration of their sound circa the mid-late 90's, full of swirling synths and underpinned with that distinctive 60's throwback psychedelia that would define their first few albums. Coming back to them now, I've fallen in love with Trish Keenan's lyricism all over again - from the playful wordplay and abstraction of Tender Buttons to the more traditional songwriting of their early work, Keenan has penned some lines that sometimes appear from the ether in my head. So I thought I'd share some of them here today.

Going quite early to begin with - Lights Out from the compilation Work And Non Work, a summary of their first few EPs. This compilation was a companion for me during a pretty strange time in my life, and to be honest could make up the whole post with the lines I could quote from it. Lights Out is a slice of melancholy compared to the rest of the tracklist, one that brings the whole compilation tracks to a suitably mellow end. Trish's lyrics on it are also suitably listless as well, full of intensely relatable lines to late teen like I was at the time. Most obvious of them is the curtain call of the chorus: "I want to watch the car park empty / It's easy when they're strangers to say goodbye", but my favourite one is in the very first stanza: "My room's too small for parties / Too spacious when you're lonely"



It's not all gloomy tough, we're jumping forward to their proper debut on Warp Records from 2000, The Noise Made By People. A strong contender for one of my favourite album covers as well - designed by Julian House who does a fantastic job of capturing the audio experience of Broadcast in visual form. On revisit The Noise Made By People is quite a bit more somber than I remember, but Look Outside sure isn't. The whole album is a very good jumping in point for Broadcast (for this era at least), I'm scrolling through the tracklist now and each one is an integral part of the experience. There is of course some admitted bias on my part there, but if you like the sound of the above and this one, you too will fall in love with this record. My favourite moment from this one remains Trish's delivery of the line "You colour in the everyday, wherever I go"



Let's touch on their later work now with Tender Buttons, named for the Gertrude Stein collection of poems and employing a simialr abstract approach to the lyricism. I think that approach works better when set to music as it lets the abstraction play with the rhythms, which Keenan does to great effect throughout, best seen on the title track Tender Buttons. The album itself marks an interesting development in the Broadcast sound beyond the lyrics though, reduced at this point to a skeleton crew of just James Cargill and Trish Keenan, the album is a much more DIY sounding affair - the electronics taking a much more pronounced role than on previous releases. It can be a bit divisive among the fans but I really like it, the feeback-y bits of tracks like Black Cat and this one here are nice (if a little confusing if your phone is nearby!). There are plenty of lyrical highlights scattered throughout the tracklist, but I want to highlight this line from Corporeal because it has a really nice rhythm to it: "Under the white chalk / Drawn on the blackboard / Under the X-Ray / I'm just a vertabrae".



I've neglected to mention the album between these ones - Haha Sound but rest assured I could easily pop it on here among plenty of other examples as well, honourable mentions to Inside the mask, another disguise / I fall to sleep before closing my eyes" from Valerie. But I'm going to put a pin in it for now as I've gone a little long - and I will probably be revisiting this theme once again once the aforementioned 'new' Broadcast stuff comes out. I adore Broadcast, and the passage of time has done little to dull that shine. Very happy to see new material officially coming out as well, James Cargill has mentioned in the past that there is a fair amount of unreleased work they have, and he semi-frequently posts bits and pieces to the web as well.

We'll take this trip again closer to the release of those goodies in a month or so, but until then - as always, stay safe and enjoy the music.

-CVF

Wandering the Boards

I had another one of those moments the other day where shuffle deals me a hand I wasn't expecting - hitting me with some Boards Of Canada. It wasn't like I haven't been listening to them or anything, it was more one of those cases where you only notice something missing after it returns. BoC are near and dear to me as you all may know, but the same can be said of all big Warp acts really. It has been a while since I've actually posted anything from them now I think about it, but I did do a runthrough of all their albums pre-Tomorrow's Harvest way back when as part of the Warped History series. At any rate, immediately afterwards I went on a quick dip back into some of my favourites from their works, and thanks to Warp's appearance on Bandcamp, I can now easily make it into a quick post as well - so let's go!

Eyvind Earle - Three Horses (1987)
We're actually going to start with a bit from Tomorrow's Harvest, their latest release not counting the big rebranded reissue of the Peel Session. I didn't actually review this one when it came out unlike some other Warp albums which is probably for the best in hindsight - it's certainly a grower (no pun intended). It's not my favourite of their albums, but don't take that as harsh criticism, it's still BoC doing what they do best. If you needed proof of that, look no further than the one-two punch of the album's opening Gemini, where the BoC boys lay out their 70's soundtrack influences bare - and how it leads into the second track Reach For The Dead. The whole album is a much... darker affair than usual, but not dark in the same way as Geogaddi was - it's a much more gritty, granular experience. Having said that, it is similar to Geogaddi in that the whole album is laden with foreboding atmospheres, but even so there are moments of beauty on there and Reach is one of them - one that I think stands alone even if the rest of the album leaves you wanting.



We'll be going backwards through their discography from here on out, I've chosen a couple from Geogaddi just to fill things out as my immediate first choice Over The Horizon Radar is lovely but fleeting. A trend that will continue with the rest of my picks actually, these small ambient interludes are some of my favourites they've done, and due to the bite size length I usually find myself saying 'just one more time' when they do come up. Over The Horizon Radar ushers in the final quarter of the album which is a pretty good summary of the whole thing honestly, it has the balance of ambient and slightly sinister trip hop thing that runs through the album down perfectly.



And speaking of, 1969 would be one of my go-tos for the flip side of the album - comforting yet unsettling. The beats are surprisingly heavy on all of Geogaddi, but 1969 seems to stick out a lot more than the rest to me at the moment - top it all off with some deliberately cult imagery (the sample here is "Although not a follower of David Koresh, she's a devoted Branch Davidian", just with Koresh's name reversed) and you have pretty much the album's MO in a nutshell. It's hypnotic but doesn't outstay it's welcome at a (nice) 4:20, the final quarter when the track title's namesake comes into play it's magical - I cannot get enough of that vocoded 1969, in the sunshine.



But if I had to pick just one single piece from BoC's vast discography that I could listen to forever, it would be this. I've brought it up a bunch of times before but I think it's been long enough that I can bring it up again - to me, Olson is the distilled essence of the Boards Of Canada sound, at least on the pure ambient front. Their work is very evocative of a moment in time, and they do a fantastic job of capturing that nostalgic, wistful feeling here - the analogue hisses and warbles are refined to perfection to capture that moment in time that influenced them so. It's maybe a little late to say it in the post, but if by chance you're new to BoC and like what you hear here, I would recommend starting with the album that Olson is from: Music Has The Right To Children and working your own way from there, forward or backward in their discography and you'll probably find even more that appeals.



And that'll do it for this slightly hastily written post, apologies for the widening gaps between them these days, things are getting busier IRL, I'm going to try and continue this short post trend just because it's easier to manage with the current climate and all. I have something else lined up that I haven't started yet so there may be another one out by the end of this week, but if not I'll drop by with it when I can. And as always - stay safe and enjoy the music.

-CVF

Retro Reviews: Aphex Twin - Come To Daddy EP

I was looking to return to the Retro Review format, but didn't want to get bogged down like last time with a whole album. So I went perusing for some smaller releases I could do instead. To my surprise I've yet to cover an Aphex Twin record on these Retro Reviews, though I did do most of them as part of my 'A Very Warped History' series in my early days of writing - and I did cover today's EP briefly in one of a few 'Things I missed' wrap up posts for that series.

But enough background, let's talk about the release itself. The mid to late 90's saw more than a few EPs from Aphex Twin, and more often than not these would prove to be super popular as well. We'll be talking about the first of many of the more popular entires today with 1997's Come To Daddy. It's an odd one for sure for a lot of reasons, you'll find it called a 'mini-album' in some places - if I remember right that was something added to make it eligible for the charts as it's technically too long for an EP. It's also real odd when it comes to choices in sound, which to be fair is something that could be said about any Aphex Twin release but hopefully you'll see what I mean. I will say don't be put off by the slightly unsetting cover, it doesn't really reflect the EP apart from the opening track, more on that in just a second!

We open with the star of the show, the lead track made infamous by that video from Chris Cunningham. It's very much a product of its time in that regard - water cooler chats about "man, did you see that video on MTV last night?" fuelling the fire. Beyond just that though, '97 was seeing Drum & Bass become more popular too and as far as Aphex Twin tracks go, Come To Daddy doesn't go *too* experimental with things. That and the more Industrial sound of this mix must have given it a bit more appeal than to just the electronic market as well. It has rightfully earned its place as one of Aphex's top tracks, it's extremely well done and is pretty much unlike anything else in his discography. However if you picked up the EP expecting more of this throughout, you're going to be left a little disappointed



That doesn't mean the EP is bad though, just none of the other tracks bear even the slightest resemblance to the main mix. In fact, it's kind of the opposite - if you're at all into the more melodic Aphex Twin tracks I can highly recommend this EP as it is full of them. Getting right into it with track 2, Flim. Flim is very much of the school of the more ambient bits of the Richard D. James Album - a gorgeous floaty track punctuated with polyrhythms. Flim is one of my go-to tracks for anyone looking to explore the world of Aphex Twin, it's not too experimental like some of his later works but has enough distinctly AFX elements in there to make it a good first experience. It's one of my favourites of his entire catalogue too - but I always have really liked it when he goes all downtempo-ish like this.



It's track 3 that stumbles a bit. It's not bad by any stretch, but it's certainly not got the power of the one-two punch of the opening salvo of tracks. It too is a more downtempo melodic tune in the vein of parts of the RDJ Album, this time the more... childlike (for want of a better term) tracks. Aphex has a bit of a reputation for not exactly being super serious all the time, there's more than a few examples of him playing around with interviewers or generally having a bit of fun when it comes to his work. The Little Lord Faulteroy mix is where we see the first appearance of that on this EP with the looping vocal here saying "Oooh, you dirty little boy" - with an additional couple of lines like "Watching the water flow past in the canal", but delivered like Danny from The Shining. Some days I can be really into it, and as I said it's not a bad track by any means but it does pale in comparison to the first two.



However it's not long before we're back with another highlight - Bucephalus Bouncing Ball bridges that gap between the gentle introduction to the world of Aphex that was Flim with the much more experimental skittering beats that he's known for. I was guilty of assuming this would be a playing around with spatial sounds kind of deal (a la Plastikman's Ping Pong) but that's not the case. There is a titular 'Bouncing Ball' bit but the track as a whole doesn't lean on that as a gimmick, it doesn't even appear until about 3 minutes in! Truth be told, this track wasn't really on my radar for a long time, but I gained a new appreciate for it after hearing it in a recording of a live show from 1997 - it was there that I fell in love with that break around 1:30 where you have these super heavy kicks backed with the lush kinds of sounds as heard on Flim and the RDJ album, that whole middle part merges the two kinds of AFX sound in the most beautiful way.



That melodic streak continues, this time with a rework of 'To Cure A Weakling Child' from the Richard D James Album. I think of the two, this one might just edge out to be my favourite, the bouncy cut-up vocals of this one make it a joy to listen to. By the time I hit that absolutely divine break at around 1:20 I was completely sold. And it only goes to strength to strength from there, the vocals take a bit of a backseat and are instead replaced with the lovely bassy synth emulating the melody of them that I could gladly listen to all day. It's a great reworking of the original and makes some quality appearances in the live shows of the time, though it does make me wonder how many alternate mixes like this that AFX is sitting on.



We take a trip into the more humorous side after that with Funny Little Man, and I don't really have a lot to say about this one that I didn't already say when it came to the Little Lord Faulteroy mix - even down to the pitched up and slightly sinister vocals. There's nothing wrong with it as I said before but it's just kind of fine you know? After that is the final mix of the title track, this time the Mummy Mix. While it doesn't sound anything like the main 'Daddy' mix - there's a lot of similarity between this one and Bucephalus Bouncing Ball. To me, this is one of the better examples of playful samples - opening with "You've got so many machines, Richard" and with various others throughout it doesn't have that slightly unsettling vibe of the previous vocal samples, and the "Go on, give us a snare rush!" and subsequent avalanche of sound around 2:58 is the capstone of them all for me. Much more beat oriented, the Mummy Mix is yet another track that I can take or leave depending on how I'm feeling on the day: it might have benefitted from some of those melodic touches we've heard on this EP, but sometimes I like it just enough as is.



We close out with another of my all time favourite AFX tracks in IZ-US. I will admit some slight bias because I have some really strong memories attached to this one but even putting those aside I think it's one of his finest works. Sounding almost like something that could have been on 1995's I Care Because You Do, especially with those drums - IZ-US closes out the EP with another smooth almost downtempo piece. Another one of the more accessible pieces of Aphex Twin that there is, unlike Flim it doesn't have much of that experimental edge to it at all. I love everything about this one, it's just well done through and through to the point where it seems almost effortless. Every time I think there needs to be a break there is one, the sounds are played with enough throughout to keep it really refreshing too. It's perhaps a little short, but for a track to close the EP I can't think of a better option.



And that'll do it for this time. It's a great EP and one that I comes highly recommended from me, apart from the two tracks I mention that are just OK there's not a foot put wrong on it. It's perhaps not the best starting point if you're looking to get into Aphex Twin (Personally I would recommend the Richard D James Album for that!), but it's small enough that it's easily digestible and you can kinda use it as a springboard into the other works he has. But be warned, it's a sea of alaises and all kinds of different sounds out there! It's been a while since I listened to this EP front to back like this, and I gotta say it's structured fairly well, whether that was intentional given the 'mini-album' label I don't know!

I liked doing this smaller post, I'll have to look through and see if there are any other EPs I can give this treatment to, though they'll probably be smaller than this one. But I'm digressing again so I'll stop myself here! And as always, stay safe and enjoy the music.

-CVF

Unheard

My Warp revisit continues - when I was first taking my deep dive into Warp's backcatalogue it was a great time as they were doing a year long celebration thing that meant re-issues of classic albums in double pack format were really easy to come by, in this futursitic if a bit clincal grey packaging. Alongise that were three compilations, much like the Warp10 ones but a bit different in practice.

The three are subtitled (Chosen), (Unheard) and (Recreated) respectively. And the titles pretty much give it all away - (Chosen) is community and Warp selected picks from their archives, (Recreated) is covers of classic Warp tracks by other Warp artists and (Unheard) is previously unreleased stuff. And it's this compilation in particular that I'll be talking about today.

The compilation is real good, but there's no denying that there are some deliberately chosen standout tracks on there. Case in point, it opens with the simply divine Seven Forty Seven from Boards Of Canada. If you've ever gone on a trip into the BoC fandom, you will know that there is a mountain of unreleased material from them - from snippets of tracks played only at live shows to early fragments of demos from cassette tapes and Seven Forty Seven is actually a slightly revised version of a track originally 'called' Audiotrack 6A from the 'Random 35 Tracks' tape.

The original is hauntingly beautiful in it's own right - the tape hiss and other cassette artifacts only playing into that fuzzy nostalgia that BoC do so well, though the beat sounds a little out of place, it very clearly signposts the sound that they were heading towards come their actual releases. And that makes Seven Forty Seven so interesting, it's the BoC boys revisiting a decades old sample and putting together a more refined version of their vision that more easily comes with all that extra experience. The track itself would have fit right in on The Campfire Headphase but it's perhaps even older than that, as snippets of this could be heard on the really old Boardsofcanada.com flash (RIP) website back in the day. Over time the song grows into a cacophony of various sounds, but it manages to not feel overwhelming in doing so. It's not my favourite BoC sound, but it's certainly one of their finest hours and an incredible demonstration of their aesthetic approach.



Autechre next - as I've said before their earlier work circa Incunabula and Amber are my favourites, and this compilation was a treat in that sense. Scratching an itch that wouldn't be hit again until they released the Warp Tapes 89-93 as a freebie a couple of years ago now is Oval Moon. Far removed from their genre bending trips into electronic that they are known for these days, their early pieces are very much befitting of that 'Listening Electronic' idea that Warp was pitching around the early 90's, a sort of ambient techno that's often infused with a high-tech melodic edge.

I have plenty of favourites from that era - from Richie Hawtin's work as F.U.S.E. on Dimension Intrusion to the decidedly Sci-Fi Electro-Soma from B12, to Autechre themselves, but I think if I had to pick one song that defined most of the elements of that style it would be Oval Moon - it's maybe a smidge repetitive to be the perfect example IMO, but that could easily be because this is a previously unreleased track, perhaps even a demo. Despite that I'd still consider it a solid example: all of the sounds are there and the little techy flourishes sprinkled throughout are an absolute delight, really capturing the spirit of that series. If you like this as much as I, absolutely seek out those Warp Tapes 89-93 I mentioned earlier (they were free from Autechre's store way back when but I don't know if that's still the case...) - it's essentially two continuous hours of early Autechre jams like this one.



And finally, Sixty Forty, Broadcast's cover of Nico. This one's another case like BoC where the (Unheard) tag isn't 100% true - they had performed Sixty Forty a few times, maybe at some live shows but absolutely on one of their many Peel Sessions (I know this because I have a recording of one!). Still, as with the BoC track it's nice to have a studio version at least and not a radio rip of it - though like Seven Forty Seven the lo-fidelity recording suits the skeletal electronics that Broadcast were playing with around the Tender Buttons era (though the Peel Session recording is actually from a few years before). There are other unreleased Broadcast tracks I would have loved to hear proper versions of if they exist - Forget Every Time from another Peel Session being one of them. The surviving Broadcast member James Cargill has put quite a few demos and other Broadcast miscellany on Soundcloud in recent years, so it's a possibility at the very least.

But that's veering off topic - I love Sixty Forty, but it being a cover leads to many, many pretentious arses whinging about it 'ruining' it. It's a different sound for Broadcast, the electronics are very much like what they would go on to use in Tender Buttons, especially on the title track of the same name - but the slow build up of layers and layers of sound on top of that as the song progresses is something new for them, and one that's done really well here. Trish's vocal is great too, (though that is something that also draws out the cover comparisons) perhaps not the best demonstration of her flexibility but very much in line with that stoic delivery that was present in certain tracks of Tender Buttons, a sound that suits that stripped back approach oh so well too. There is a bit of bias there as I have said many times that Trish is one of my favourite vocalists ever, there are definitely other Broadcast tracks where she shines brighter - but I love the bittersweet Sixty Forty all the same.



That'll do it for today, I could go on and on about these compilations but I'll refrain for now. Do check out the others if you're interested - (Chosen) is a solid rundown of the best bits of Warp and (Recreated) has some astounding covers on it to boot - my favourites being the ambient Piano inversion of Aphex Twin's Vordhosbn from Leila and the intense breakcore styled rework of Milanese's So Malleable by Clark. But I'll hold onto those for a rainy day sometime.

And 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

Sounds Without Borders

Hi all, just dropping by with some new writings. I've been all nostalgic digging back into the history of posts as I put things back to some kind of working order (up to 300 posts now!). Weird how time passes you by, I saw the review I did of the Squarepusher album Shobaleader One: D'demonstrator. Pretty sure I've said this on the podcast before but in my mind I still remember that review, and it seems fairly recent. Well it's clocking in at 10 years old this year! And as always the more things change, the more they stay the same. Squarepusher is still around and is actually just off the heels of a new album + EP. Here's one that he mentioned a long time ago but is just seeing a proper release now, it's gorgeously melancholy which is something that I have been wanting from Squarepusher for a long time now.



SO that tune's been rattling around in my head for a few weeks now; and just yesterday he put out the delightfully eerie video for Detroit People Mover, I actually got to see it 'premiere' too. Remember all those years ago when I lamented Squarepusher not doing more ambient because I loved it (not that I don't love his usual output, but you all should know by now I'm an ambient fiend). Well he must have heard my call, and so I've been looping these two back to back for a couple of days now. Supremely lush, must remember to scoop the EP with these on sharpish. Enjoy!

Ilictronix Podcast: Movin' House

"It's a non V-Day special with some house tracks that Claude and Adam both love."

This week's podcast is live! It's a decidedly different selection from me this week, much to Adam's surprise (and delight), I lean in real heavy on the house stuff. And not just the French stuff you've come to expect from us at the 'tronix. I kick things off with the absolutely sublime When I Fall In Love from A:xus vinyl crackle and all. I did almost swap it out for the Stryke's Blue Vocal Techsture" mix which truth be told is my favourite version of it. After that it's a whirlwind tour of similar territory, starting with out and out legends Frankie Knuckles and Mr. Fingers back to back, taking a bit of a left turn with an instrumental from Golden Boy (minus Miss Kittin) before bringing it back to home plate with a primo piece of electronic goodness from Galaxy 2 Galaxy, with their trademark Jazzy Techno sound.

Adam totally took a leaf out of my book for his choices this week, which I knew he would when he saw my selections. As such I must apologise for any excessive garage vibes that may occur. Joking aside, once again I appreciate Adam's contributions to the 'cast, because my selections pretty much used up my entire supply of that breed of house, (it's a genre that is woefully underrepresented in my collection for a variety of reasons) and Adam provides me with essentially of shopping list of artists and EPs to look at, pick up or otherwise add to my rotations. Full tracklist below as per usual!

Tracklist:
Intro:
A:xus - When I Fall In Love (Album Mix)

Claude’s picks:
Frankie Knuckles - I'll Take You There (Director's Cut Classic Signature Mix)
Mr. Fingers - Ammnesia
Marshall Jefferson Vs. Noosa Heads - Mushrooms (Salt City Orchestra Out There Mix)
Golden Boy - It’s Good For You To Meet People Like Us
Galaxy 2 Galaxy - Hi-Tech Jazz


Adam’s Picks
Forgemasters - Track With No Name
K Alexi Shelby - Vertigo
Housey Doingz - Gobstopper
Kamar - I Need You (Peggy Gou Remix)
Robert Hood - Detroit: One Circle

Outro:
Criminal Minds - Baptized By Dub

Spotify Monthly Selections October

Slight noise issues prevented us from recording a *full* episode of the podcast today, so we're going to pick it up again tomorrow. But that actually gave me a chance to looky at the post list and notice I hadn't posted this months spotify playlist and a rundown of my choices. So let's put it on and have us a little dance shall we?

Well, I say that like the selections don't have something in common with my podcast selections for this week. That is they lean on the downtempo side of things. It's also a bit of a nostalgia dive into what I was listening to (and what was new) when I was at university. A lot of these tracks were excellent backing for my AfterEffects animations, starting with the fantastically detuned and distorted sound of Clark's Tooth Moves. We keep it Warp for the meantime with one of my favourites from Cosmogramma after me and Adam gave our mixed opinions on the album I thought I'd at least talk a little bit possibly about it.



A tune I made the mistake of animating a show-reel to, I can now just again appreciate SBTRKT's Never Never however many years after I've graduated, I'd completely forgotten about that incredibly deep bassline for one. Sampha's vocals in combo with the production make for a deliciously smooth package that I've fallen for once again. I remember writing a review of Moderat's II when it was released, and I distinctly remember immediately being head over heels for Let In The Light. Admittedly you all know I have a massive weakness for distorted vocals of any kind, but lately I've been all about those thunderous drums.

Similarly another album I reviewed at the time, Squarepusher's Shobaleader One d'Demonstrator (which actually got a follow up not too long ago finally). It received mixed opinions at the time but man I will always adore that intro track. Once again, full disclosure I love me some vocoder/talkbox goodness but hot damn talk about establishing an aesthetic effectively. I've seen a lot of comments comparing the album to Daft Punk oddly, I can see similarities to bits of Discovery sure but even then that's a stretch, I much prefer the descriptor I've used since a few weeks after the review: Space Jazz.

Which somehow made me think of Ladytron's Destroy Everything You Touch, one of the standouts from Witching Hour, with Marnie's vocals on point as usual. Another dive into my University listenings with the beautifully laboured strings and beats combo of Apparat's You Don't Know Me, and the surprisingly downtempo Green Light Go from Modeselektor. Rounded out with a random pick of a Tokimonsta tune I like (reminder to me to actually pick up some of her stuff finally). Rounded out with the absolutley crushing Amarillo from the Gorillaz's slightly underrated album The Fall, a fantastic sound if the "mostly composed on an iPad" tale is to be believed.

-Claude Van Foxabt

We Miss You

Today would have been Trish Keenan's birthday. One of my favourite voices from one of my favourite Warp acts, she's had a profound effect on my life and has seen me through some rough spots. The surviving Broadcast member James Cargill keeps fairly active in putting things up around anniversary time which is something I really admire, not only because it's lovely to hear bits and pieces of demos and things that influenced them but also because it must be incredibly difficult to continue on without Trish, and digging through the archives must only compound that.

Here's to you Trish, you've given me plenty of entertainment through the years and that will only continue. Thank you for everything.





-Claude Van Foxbat

Echo's Answer

Was listening back to mine and Adam's project and there's a bit in it where I talk about Broadcast a little. I've tried to keep it to a minimum in the actual posts because I bet I could go on for days about how much I love 'em but I thought I'd finally break and have a little cross section of some favourites. Starting off with the first of theirs I heard beyond America's Boy.



A lot of my picks have a bit of a melancholy streak to them, it's something that's always appeared on their releases even going back to their fist, not to say that they don't have more upbeat (albeit often abstract) songs mind. Much like Beth Gibbons of Portishead, I absolutely adore Keenan's delivery and there are plenty of times where I've been in her shoes with what she describes.



Rounding out with the penultimate track from Tender Buttons, it ushers in the end of the album nicely, it's the bittersweet goodbye before moment of reflection offered by the purely ambient final track. I'd always hoped for more to come, but those tapes mentioned by the band's survivor James Cargill don't seem to be surfacing, or were perhaps already used in the Berberian Sound Studio soundtrack. I am more than content with what we have however, they'll always be a highlight of Warp's roster for me.



-Claude Van Foxbat

I Done Goofed (Soundcloud player broken as of 2020)

Forgot to schedule a post before I left for a couple days, have this belated bit from Warp as recompense not sure if I've heard anything from Darkstar before, they have their cover designs down to a T judging by their previous but it's alright. Nothing mind blowing but I'll have to do some more digging when I return and see for sure. Until then, enjoy!

-Claude Van Foxbat

The Fall

Hooray for Autumn, bringing with it lower ambient temps meaning I can do more rendering without turning my room into a greenhouse. But also a time for me to swap out playlists and get in that cooler mood again, here's some choice picks from my sorting:

Ed Ruscha - Fall All Leaves All Fall (2009)

It should be no surprise that I adore Boards Of Canada (although I still need to fix the enitre Warped series and get them back on the site). Here's a bonus track from The Campfire Headphase, I appreciate a lot of the Warp crew and musicians in general including bonus tracks for Japan to make up for the CD tax or whatever the exact reason was but I do wish we had easier access to them too. Not as show stopping as From One Source All Things Depend on Geogaddi, but a worthy addition to the LP nonetheless.



Keeping it in Warp territory I got around to the mixed bag that is Ultravisitor again. It's not my favourite Squarepusher offering, but I will forever love how the album ends. After a rollercoaster ride of experimental Drum & Bass with the occasional Jazzy interlude thrown in, Squarepusher closes the LP with an absolutely gorgeous combo of tracks; The first an extension of Tommib from Go Plastic which was already a favourite of mine, but the final track is simply some solo guitar work from 'Pusher. A fitting end for ride.



And seeing as I'm staying in familiar territory I may as well give a send up to my former favourite Swedes The Knife. Here again with my semi-annual coverage of one of their tracks from the soundtrack to the film Hannah Med H or A Different Way as it was titled in English. If you've gone and looked it up, it doesn't look like The Knife's icy electronics would gel with the film, but there's plenty of flexibility displayed on the soundtrack. So I leave you with their lush acoustic contribution to the film, Enjoy:

AFX Appreciation Station

Never thought AFX would scoop himself a Grammy (especially over Röyksopp). Who'da thought a lad from Cornwall twiddling knobs and making acid would go on to such great things? Now as you all saw in the Warped history posts, me and AFX are longtime listening bros, but I'd like to take this post to reflect on and be thankful for Richard D. James. Here would be a good place to start if you are new!

Never one to discount his origins, I honestly love Digeridoo in all it's rough sounding glory. A far cry from his later productions, and certainly nothing like the 'IDM' tag thrown around him and other Warp artists. Bump this one loud and simulate your own warehouse rave circa 1992.



If you're jut looking for a crash course in AFX, the Richard D. James Album is a good place to start. Case in point is track 1, I've had this one in my library close to a decade at this point, and it never stops sounding fresh every time. As soon as I hear that opening beats 'n strings combo I can't help but smile.



Mandatory mention of Selected Ambient Works Vol. II now. There's not much I can say that hasn't been said either by me or elsewhere about this album, it's reputation is well deserved and it's been long enough now that I think it has earned it's place among the all time classics of the genre. Absolutely essential ownership for anyone with an interest in ambient, get it!



It would be a long time before Rich returned to his acid stylings, but when he did in 2005 with the Analord series it was pretty special. Here's one of my favourites from it, demonstrating Rich's mean synthesizer skills, as well as his specialist brand of taking the piss as shown here in the track's title.



So ends our brief tour of AFX, if you like what you've heard go digging on here for more, I've covered more than my fair share of it over the years!

-Claude Van Foxbat

A look back at 2014

As we close out 2014 lets take a look back at some of the best and worst albums of the year and make predictions about what is in store for '15. While it was a dry summer with limited releases it wasn't until autumn hit where shit hit the fan and we had great release after great release. Its easy to think that this year was weak overall especially compared to last year, but we did get some classic albums that we all will be listening to for a long time. While Rap suffered the worst, we did see the huge rise of Future R&B, and when Top 40 had a rough year we did see the takeover of PC Music. Its hard to complain when we got albums from Flying Lotus, AFX and Thom Yorke...



This list is in no particular order, I loved these albums equally.


RatKing – So It Goes
Other than run the Jewels 2 this was one of the strongest rap releases this year. With killer features from King Krule and Wavy Spice, this trio from the New York borough of Harlem debuted with a modern take on gritty east coast boom bap rap. Its hard not to be hooked after hearing the single Canal, with a killer sample, it sounds so New York you can almost smell the rotting trash on the sidewalk.
Clark – Self Titled
You have to feel bad sometimes for Clark. One of the biggest slept on artists from Warp, Clark makes music that’s incredible experimental yet unbelievably cinematic. While a lot of albums disappointed this year, Clark delivered one of the best albums since his magnum opus “Body Riddle”. Winter Linn sounds like a more mature version of his hit single Ted and Silvered Iris harkens back to Clarks work on the album “Turning Dragon” Even the track There’s a Distance In You feels like the best elements of “Totems Flare” but expanded even further. This album has been the perfect companion during brutal Chicago snow storms.

Flying Lotus – You’re Dead!
It always takes me a while to fully unpack a new Flying Lotus Records. I still am discovering new sounds on “Cosmogramma” and even “Until the Quiet Comes”. “You’re Dead!” is a culmination of everything Steven Ellison has done to this point. It feels like a final exam and Flylo wants us to all know he has full mastery of his craft. I was nervous I was going to be disappointed with this one, news that Kendrick and Snoop were on it, I like many had flashbacks to the mistake SBTRKT and Rustie made with their albums this year. You’re Dead! meets all my expectations and more. It’s exciting to see Jazz Fusion get exposure like this and having Tundercat all over this record helps with making a dense genre like this somewhat accessible. PREDICTIONS FOR NEXT ALBUM: It won’t be a Flying Lotus record it will be a Flying Lotus and Thundercat Release and they will both have equal roles.
Thom Yorke – Tomorrows Modern Boxes 
I’m not sure why this release got so much hate. If we leave out the distribution method and make the album stand on its own its pretty solid. Focused, brief, and catchy, TMB blows his last album “The Eraser” out of the water. Anyone who follows Radiohead or Thom’s careers shouldn't be surprised on what they hear during the albums 38 minute run-time. No, this is not groundbreaking but we also cant expect revolutionary work from an artist's every release, and if your biggest complaint is that it doesn't reinvent the wheel then you need to check your privilege.
Hundred Waters – The Moon Rang Like a Bell
There is a lot to hate about this album; a synth-pop group, they are from Florida, and worst of all they are on Skrillex’s OWSLA imprint. If you are able to look past all of that (especially Florida) you will walk away smitten from this groups debut. Like Tomorrows Modern Boxes, its not revolutionary but just a solid listen start to finish. For best results listen to this one at 3am when the party is over when the world is spinning and you are lying on the ground, let front woman Nicole Miglis take all your worries away.
Arca – Xen 
Wow! This is what I call a debut! From production credits on Yeezus to helming the production of the new Bjork album, Venezuelan producer, Alejandro Ghersi has everything going for him right now. One of my favorite releases of this year, I had flashbacks to when I first heard Los Angeles, or the Richard D. James album. A strong visual aesthetic is married to his work because of his relationship with childhood friend Jesse Kanda. It could be said that together they are this generations Aphex Twin and Chris Cunningham. Completely different from his earlier EP’s Stretch 1 & 2, Arca uses his signature vocal manipulation maybe twice during the entire album. It was a risky move but proved to be successful, Arca will be one of the most in demand producers by this time next year, guaranteed.
FKA Twigs – LP1 
Move over XX, Young Turks has a new cash cow and her name is FKA Twigs. Destined to become a household name FKA Twigs had a pretty remarkable album. With production credits from Arca, Twigs’ sound is sexy, sensual, heartbreaking and atmospheric, and while the album art can be a turnoff to some, LP1 is the best PBR&B record this year. Now that she is dating Twilight star Robert Pattison, it will be interesting to see if she molds her sound into something a bit more commercial.


Death Grips – Niggas On the Moon
TOO NOIDED TO WRITE ANYTHING, THIS ALBUM GETS ME SO HYPE AND ANGRY!!! BJORK IS NOW A CERTIFIED BOSS ASS BITCH BECAUSE OF HER CONTRIBUTIONS TO THIS ABRASIVE, EXPERIMENTAL LP.
Todd Terje – It’s Album Time! 
If you can listen to this one without smiling once, something might be wrong with you. This release was cute, funky and spunky in all the right places.
Real Estate – Atlas
Jangle-Pop hasn't died yet thanks to New Jersey based band Real Estate. This one made the list because of its incredible hooks and the fact that they recorded it here in Chicago. Atlas makes you feel like lying on the beach while you watch clouds pass you by. It's the album you put on when guests are over and your trying to set a pleasant mood. It was a great follow-up to their last album Days but you get the feeling that there is no where else to go from here. *Special Award* The safest and most harmless release in 2014*
Perfect Pussy – Say Yes To Love  
Can singer Meredith Graves be insufferable, Yes. Could this band be an industry plant? Also yes. Is the name stupid, Yes Yes Yes. Even with all of the politics and negativity surrounding this noise punk band, Perfect Pussy was the shot in the arm this summer needed. In your face and ready explode at any minute Perfect Pussy had an absolutely dense debut this year. Between this release and the new Death From Above 1979 album, punk and noise had a pretty strong commercial year.
PC Music – Various
PC Music is one of the most bizarre things to happen to electronic music in a long time. What exactly is it though, Bubblegum Bass, American K-Pop or something deeper?  Coming out of seemingly nowhere PC Music releases took the underground by storm this year. It’s hard to explain to others what the appeal of this is; it’s so glossy and shinny that you can feel your brain melting. Listening to some of label head A.G. Cooks mixes you get an idea about where this bizarre scene came from. It sounds like a continuation of the sounds that the Lucky Me crew has been doing for a while. Elements of Juke, Trap and Eruotrance can all be found with each single. A killer visual aesthetic is married with the entire label and should become even more outrageous now that they have backing from XL Records. Never has there been an imprint that was more divisive out of the gate than PC Music, especially with their lead single “HEY QT”. It’s best to see this whole scene as high brow performance art.



Honorable Mentions:
Kelis – Food
Shamir – North Town
A$ap Ferg – Ferg Forever
Spoon – They Want My Soul
Alvvays – Self Titled
Mr. Twin Sister – Self Titled
Schoolboy Q – Oxymoron
Caribou – Our Love
Aphex Twin – Syro
Sia – 1000 Forms of Fear
Ought – More Than Any Other Day
Quirke – Acid Beth
OBJEKT – Flatland
Savages – Words To the Blind
Royksopp & Robin – Do It Again
Tennis – Ritual In Repeat
Parquet Courts – Content Nausea
Andy Stott – Faith In Strangers
Little Dragon – Nabuma Rubberband
Liars – Mess
Mr. Oizo – The Church
Lykke Li – I Never Learn


Things that I'm sure were great, I just didn't listen to them enough to know for sure: 
The entire sacred bones label
St. Vincent
Actress
Zhu
Angel Olsen
Sharon Van Etton
Dirty Beaches
Les Sins
Xiu Xiu


What did I hate this year:
First Aid Kit – Stay Gold
Grimes – Go
Perfume Genius – Too Bright
Rustie – Green Lantern
SBTRKT – Wonder Where We Land
Swans – To Be Kind
Sisyphus – Self Titled
U2 - Songs of Innocence
Coldplay – Ghost Stories
Ariel Pink – Pom Pom
Julian Casablancas and the Voidz – Tyranny
Mac Demarco – Salad Days
Sun Kil Moon – Benji
Lana Del Rey/Black Keys – Ultraviolence/ Turn Blue
Usher


Predictions for 2015: 
Cassettes will hit critical mass next year, thanks a lot Ariel Pink….
The return of Hardstyle, much to the dismay of every scene
Jamie XX will finally drop an album
James Blakes album will be great but sound slightly dated, especially if people get tired of the Future R&B scene
Disclosure drops a new album and it the shittiest thing since gorgon city’s debut
Rap will have a huge year with releases from Frank Ocean, Chance the Rapper and Kanye
Kanyes next album will be number 1 on every list next year
The St. Louis music scene gets adrenalin shot because of frustrated youth.
Detroit Ghettotech makes a comeback. *Fingers Crossed*
Being done with Christmas music Sufjan Stevens makes a 4 part album containing original Easter songs
Robert Pattison drops an experimental Drone album and it’s critically acclaimed
Iggy Azalea’s follow up record bombs harder than Robin Thickes’ Paula
Hudson Mohawke drops a new album and it pales in comparison to Lunice's forthcoming album
Burial gets production credits on the next Taylor Swift album.


-Adam