Days Of Thunder

Thought I'd fallen behind again but pleased to see that I haven't yet! Going to cover some more obscure OPN side projects this time, I try to keep the ambient to a minimum cos I know it's not everyone's bag but this one in particular has been striking a cord with me at the mo. (2020 edit: apologies for the YT players, this is a pretty obscure release that's nowhere else)

There's only 4 tracks to the Days Of Thunder EP, a collaboration between Daniel Lopatin of Oneohtrix Point Never and Mark McGuire, formerly of Emeralds (though they were still together when this was released). So all in all as you would expect from those names, a pretty solid combination, it wastes no time getting down to early OPN Juno-60 goodness. I adore the bassy backing synths coming in around a minute in, I'm a sucker for the Juno stuff anyway but that is something else.



Mark McGuire's contributions are a little more pronounced on track 2, which is more of a meandering ambient piece in comparison to the synth jam vibes of Flight Simulator, it's a nice contrast to have some acoustic accompaniment to the usual synthetics of OPN's work. It does go off on a Clark-esque distortion kick around halfway through though, and as much as I like that I would love to hear another track in a similar style, the collaboration a little more obvious.



And finally Sky Ramping, given the title you think it'd be a perfect summation of the EP but I don't think so. It's still nice like, the whole structure has a lot in common with another OPN tune called Nest 5900, and McGuire's influence is again not as clear. Still it's nice to hear, the EP as a whole is very nice with nary a weak point on it, it's just a shame that Flight Simulator steals the show so early.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Röyskopp's Track Of The Month Archive: Part 3

Moving into the final part now, which gets off to a rocky start with Malangen Fra Bruhodet. Ain't nothing wrong with it, it's perfectly serviceable on its own and all but it does feel a little half baked in the grand scheme of the free tunes so far. There's nothing here to really grab you, just some easy going easy listening, wouldn't be bad as a website loop like what Boards Of Canada used to do tho.

Röyksopp · RYXP - Malangen Fra Bruhodet

All doubts take a backseat immediately though, and we're treated to something that in it' own rights could have been a B-Side to Junior. The vocal contribution is a tad bit different from Junior but the spirit is there, I can see why it was nixed tho, it's certainly more electro influenced than the rest of the LP. It's crying out to be on an EP, I certainly would have liked to hear MSTRKRFT or the like give their hand to those already punchy kickdrums. Actually come to think of it Felix Da Housecat would be a fitting candidate for it too, the 'Sopp lads themselves remixed What Does It Feel Like? for him back when and it'd be nice to reincorporate some of Kittin's vocals here.

Röyksopp · I Wanna Know

Shoulda held off on this one for another month or whatever, but here we go. It is what it says on the tin, Röyksopp did an electronic cover of Le Cantique de Noel. It's nice to have some more electronic Christmas music rather than just making a winter playlist. This is where I think parts of Senior start to shine through, the overall structure is very reminiscent of the album but not quite as ambient, but saying that the intro is a real soothing listen.

Röyksopp · Le Cantique de Noël

And finally, ironically enough the tune that was the hardest to get hold of, Stronghold. It really harks back to their Melody A.M. days stylistically, very understated with smooth sounds and hint of vinyl crackle. Small flourishes throughout keep it an interesting listen; true ambient in that it works both as background accompaniment or active listening. I would have liked to see them go out on a more upbeat tone but then again this is a little more in line with Senior which would have been fresh in mind then.

Röyksopp · RYXP - Stronghold

And that about wraps it up, there is however one more bonus tune they gave out, I don't recall whether it was for another late Track Of The Month or what, but the good news is I not only already had a copy, but it was very very easy to find (and the one I found was even better quality than the one I had). It's called Shores Of Easy if you'd like to hear it for yourselves, I'm keeping it under my hat for another day, it's a 14 minute Röyksopp jam session and it is lovely.

-Claude Van Foxbat

Tough Times

Slight hiccup in scheduling as is the ilictronix way, but spent the last few days working and then having to try find an emergency plumber (that later turned out to be an emergency electrician that we needed). So in short all my scheduled things are outta whack and I'm not exactly in the mood to sit and write a lengthy post, so I went back and dug out some of my favourite more obscure tunes from The Knife. Stay tuned and we will resume normal schedule shortly.







-Claude Van Foxbat

Back With Celadon

Our long time pal Celadon is back with more feelgood vibes to brighten up your midweek. Taken from upcoming EP Summeryoung I held off putting this one up in the hopes he'd drop a couple more but alas nothing yet. Here's what the man himself has to say about it:

"This EP was formed from the recent unstable moments of my life. I always found time to sit down after long days at school and write skeletons of songs. It wasn't until the summer that everything connected for me and I found the right moods for the EP. Emotion is always a central part in my songwriting, and so constantly I am trying harder and harder to deal with those moments and hopefully molding it into music that I can learn and grow from."



I can kinda relate as a fellow arty folk, I've still got a million and one side projects on the go like always, but there's not nearly as much pressure to deliver now I've graduated. Which is actually quite nice, I like to bounce between things so I don't get burned out, now with the added bonus of being able to take my time with them. Regardless, enjoy the tune and I will be back with the final Röyksopp part shortly!

-Claude Van Foxbat