Hey, Essay

That time of year again, when it comes to essay writing I get real specific when it comes to selecting tunes, most of the time anything with lyrics unless I've heard it a ton just distracts me. And cliche though it may be I usually resort to my usual warp-centric experimental electronic.

El Lissitsky - Proun 1C (1919)

Leading the charge is another piece from μ-Ziq I usually skip cos it's always at the top of my alphabetical list. Lunatic Harness may not get as much press as tunes from AFX and the like but its's just as sweet. The album might peter out towards the end but it has killer tunes like this to back it up.



If you've not checked out Wisp's reworkings of Aphex Twin's legedary Selected Ambient Works Vol. II I highly recommend it, he takes the original vibe and completely reworks it into something a little more like AFX's usual output. Here's a two in one reworking of Z Twig and Blue Calx.



And finally bringing it all back down, a lush ambient piece from Autechre. I'm missing out on some lovely ambient pieces just 'cos I don't really like the direction they took post Tri Repetae, but what I do have of their ambient work is nothing short of sublime.



-Claude Van Foxbat

In My Box

Busy weeks ahead unfortunately, going to embrace it by returning to my old school method of posting tracks I'm digging atm. With that, here's the soundtrack to my train ride today.

Dabs Myla - Down Is The New Up

A lil' remix from Stenchman, it's from around 2010 so it sounds a little dated in comparison to his newer stuff but it sounds real nice. Stench keeps it fairly simple and I think that works in its favour, a trend he's carried on with his remixes since.

Phoenix - Lisztomania (Stenchman Remix)

A real old school addition here, I threw it in my Play Music app about a month ago and finally popped up on shuffle. Another tune I had a terrible 128kbps rip of from limewire back when that was my go-to source for tunes. Fortunately I did replace it in time, and it still sounds sweet.



And wrapping it up, some of my favourite liquid 'n light drum & bass from Commix. I've posted this one before but every time it comes up I fall in love all over again as soon as that lush intro hits.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Tales from my inbox: Evan Ireland

Now that my email is open and on the net, my inbox is always flooded with artists looking to get their names out. Believe it or not I listen to every single one of them, every so often I'll try and feature one.

The artist from my inbox now is a 19 year old Chicago artist named Evan Ireland. Obviously I have a soft spot in my heart for Chicago producers and this one seems promising. He just dropped an EP recently, titled Kept. The EP is very "burial-esque" with heavy atmosphere and time stretched vocals. If I have a complaint it's that it almost seems to heavy with the vocal samples, and some of the tracks really don't go anywhere. 

The title track was the highlight though. It's direct, foggy and the vocals are kept to a minimum. I had flashbacks to "Bowls" from Caribou's Sun towards the end in the best possible way. 

Check out the rest here: http://evanireland.bandcamp.com/

-Adam

The Kittin Connection

Unichi Hiratsuka - Girl (1930)

Looking over my previous posts I realised I'd neglected one of my favourite tracks of all time! The Salt City Orchestra remix of Marshall Jefferson's Mushrooms is brilliant start to end and is arguably better than the original. Turns out I only posted the cut down version from Miss Kittin's Radio Caroline compilation. Well in that case here's the full length for you to enjoy!



And while I was there I realised I haven't dished up much of Kittin's solo work. She's only got three albums to her name but they're all consistently quality; like she said herself on the CD of her debut "I was sick of there being more 'Featuring Miss Kittin' records than Miss Kittin records".



That's not to discount her efforts with The Hacker mind, their first album remains a cult classic, featuring electroclash anthem Frank Sinatra. While the follow up Two might not have had the same impact or the rough feel of the first, it's still got killer examples of what happens when Kittin and Hacker collide. Look 'em up sometime.



And finally, the track that put Kittin on my radar in the first place when it hit the UK Dance charts sometime in 2002. After all these years I still love it, her lyrical delivery and the instrumentation just merge in the most perfect way. If you can track it down, the Or album is a real gem of the era.



-Claude Van Foxbat