Exhibition Beats

Pretty sure I'm at least 80% done with my final exhibition prep now, not that I had much to do compared to some people. The joys of doing video art include not having to put shelves up for your work among other things. But enough about that, let's talk music as usual.

Roy Lichtenstein - Oh, Jeff...I Love You, Too...But... (1964)

More Seatbelts this time, because I am addicted to future jazz (literally future jazz in this case). Taken from the limited edition box set verison of the Cowboy Bebop OST, this one takes a little whileto get goign but when it does I cannot stop grooving to it. Ridiculously smooth, just what you need on a Tuesday afternoon.



A recent return to my library, there's not a bad mix present on Everything But The Girl's Blame EP. Taken from their brief foray into drum & bass, but it's very well done indeed and that's not just my 1999 nostaliga talking. Since I've already given the rundown on my favourite mixes of the track I think it's high time I post the original.



More from Viklund again, this time its one of his more downbeat contributions to the soundtrack. Still a little dramatic with the strings in the background, but I love the tune and it's slow post-rock style build to the final section.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Icarus Again

The Icarus boys the FFRR people were so nice to tell me about back when have been on the up recently, not only did I see a poster for them playing in my hometown but in my inbox was their latest est courtesy of FFRR PR!



I think you can forgive me fr being skeptical at first seeing as we've seen so many promising electronic musicians go down the shitter after they get some popularity under their belt (such as Mr. C. Harris.). But like all I'd covered from them before it opens very strong indeed, a far cry from the ravey nostalgic piano stabs they were using before. This is also the first of theirs I've heard with an actual vocal accompaniment which again could have been hit or miss, I couldn't find a credit for whoever did the vocal here but it's one of the more unique ones I've heard in dance music for a while and compliments the track well. The track is excellently structed also, it's nice to see more artists breaking the 30-second-intro-then-drop rinse/repeat mold, and with it they've easily slotted another entry on my summer playlists.

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M-i-s-s-i-s-s-i-p-p-i

It's my pleasure to introduce you all to the world of Mississippi Jones, A duo of J@$ and Mississippi herself. I've known for some time now thanks to me having some back-and-forths with the woman herself on twitter. She seemed nice enough which is always a plus and based on what people were saying about their stuff I was inclined to like it, yesterday she was nice enough to hook me up with some of their latest music. Let's dive in.

Y'all know I'm no stranger to moody stuff, and seeing some comparisons with Portishead I was well prepped to get my sad on. Imagine my surprise when after the intro out of my speakers comes this sound almost like if La Roux did a collab with Amy Winehouse. There's other comparisons I could draw too, some of the more synthy tracks from Little Dragon's self-titled debut and maybe a smidge of Au Revoir Simone but the point is it's very, very well done.



I had barely enough time to recover before I got slammed in the chest by the next track. I haven't been taken unawares by bass like that since James Blake's cover of Limit To Your Love. A little change in direction here, definitely more on the electronic side, certainly some of that dubstep feel present on Blake's work. The production is on point here, well balanced and compliments the vocal talents of Mississippi well throughout, especially on the intro.



Ending with more of a poppy feel again, not that that's a bad thing mind, in fact it's something I've been meaning to pick up more of for a while now. More shoutouts to the production here, with yet another gorgeous intro and killer bassline. Not to discredit Mississippi herself, who is giving me major Martina-Topley Bird vibes here. this one's probably my favourite vocal of the three.



Mississippi Jones will be releasing the second part of their Recourse: Elemental series on July 20th digitally. I'll definitely be keeping tabs on them from now on, the variety on display here is promising and I'd very much love a band to fill the Broadcast shaped hole in my heart since we lost Trish Keenan.

Find Mississippi Jones at:
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Blue

Back home for a brief spell, going to knock out a quick post again. And just to make it a little easier, there's goign to be a not-so-subtle theme throughout, see if you can pick up on it.

Jim Dine - Blue Clamp (1981)

More from Mr. Scruff again, this one's a cheeky bonus track included on the 10th anniversary edition of Keep It Unreal. A lot of the bonus ones are allegedly from early album sessions and they certainly fit for sure but they are a little unrefined in spots, my only complaint for this one is that it runs on a little longer than I'd like it too. Still, I'm not one to turn my nose up to more Scruff for my buck.



Second is a real throwback from years ago. I remember picking this one up after hearing a snippet of it in a David Fith cartoon circa 2007 or so. I have some other Svahn floating around on my HDD too, I should catch up with him and see what he's up to these days, he had a bunch of tunes up on his site last I checked.



Remember me moaning that the extended mix of Poison Lips was relegated to a B-side of an EP? Well that's not the biggest crime of the EP. No, it's that the headline track of the EP is probably one of the finest in Vitalic's catlogue and could have easily been put on Flashmob without sounding out of place. But I digress, I have it in my libary now, and you should too!



-Claude Van Foxbat