Revisiting

Marjorie Strider - Rosemarie's Bag (1973)

Keeping it on a tight sched here for now, here's a couple tunes to keep you goin. Revisiting my new favourite Swede since The Knife split, Simon Viklund. If you've kept up with his stuff I've posted you have an idea of the electro styled stuff he normally puts out. But way back I mentioned I'd love to see 'im tackle hip hop or trip hop again since he last did in like '09 or so, well my wish was granted a little while back and it's nothing short of fantastic, Make sure to stay tuned after the fake-out outro at about a minute in cos it gets even better from there.



Speaking of revisiting, I've been giving Squarepusher's jazz record Music Is Rotted One Note another go. It does have some real experimental stuff on there that isn't everyone's bag (mine included) but also these damn fine displays of his musical flexibility too. And My Sound is by farad away the best example on there.



And one final revisit to complete the trilogy. Massive Attack are incoming with a new LP it seems, there's a couple of tracks out from it right now but I haven't got around to listening to them yet. The original run was limited to apple things which is pretty silly if U2 has taught us anything. Regardless, Massive have been going since '88 and show no signs of stopping soon which is lovely news. Here's one of my all time faves from their sophomore LP Protection.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Through The Machine

Guess who made a surprise appearance on my radar t'other day. It's been a long time since I've heard any rumblings from Maybe The Moon, last I recall they only had a couple songs on their soundcloud but they were scratching my occasional electropop itch something fierce. And then out of nowhere there's not only a few more tracks but an EP announcement too? They're spoiling me.



I'm trying to ease off the comparisons when it comes to these things, but I'll be damned if the Au Revoir Simone comparison isn't apt as ever from the get go. The opening tune also has me very interested in any pure instrumentals that they could put out. Not to disparage Karmen's vocal contributions mind, but I am very much on the market for some 604-era Ladytron goodness like Mu-Tron.

The EP itself is out right now, you can scoop it from Bandcamp. It's name your price so if needs must you can get it for free, but feel free to throw a couple quid their way if it tickles your fancy. I will most definitely keep my eyes on these two for any further developments, they always seem to come 'round when I'm looking for sonds in that vein.

-Claude Van Foxbat

Dear John

I've had a passing interest in James for a while now, (you probably know 'em from the cult classic Laid) like other britpop style groups of the time I thought they'd called it a long time ago. Now imagine my surprise when I got to look up Laid to show to a friend, they actually dropped a new LP in March. While not strictly electronic 100%, this one is giving me a little of the feeling I get around Röyksopp's Junior & Senior. There's an arty video to boot. It's been stuck in my head all day and with any luck now you have it too.



I tried to find a alt streamer too, but it's not even up on their official soundcloud and Spotify embeds don't work too well anymore so this'll have to do for now. I'll be back in due course with more sounds for you.

-Claude Van Foxbat

Strange Days

Luc Tuymans - Solitude (1990)

At the time I'm writing this I'm not sure how I feel, and odds are it'll be the same when it's published too. No surprises there you say, but that'll be the end of it as I dive right into the tunes. Ms. Topley-Bird has been a muse as of late, her solo career every bit as good as everything she did with Tricky & co. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for some lovely trip hop vibe with a soulful streak.



Looking through my library and there's a few songs that come close to encapsulating this feeling, first of being Aesop's Forest Crunk (Which I suppose is technically a Blockhead instrumental but still). It's a solid tune all in all, why it didn't make an appearance on any of Aes' or even Blockhead's LP's is anyone's guess.



I do really wish I had more stuff in the vein of what Lykke Li did with Röyksopp on Junior, even when it was new something about Lykke's delivery made it have a tint of nostalgia to the proceedings. Of course now it has extra layers of that thanks to time passed, and the few tunes that Li guested on are still as solid as ever.



-Claude Van Foxbat