Tag Archives: music

Music of 2017

2016 was a strange year for me musically. I kind of stopped listening to music and then restarted in the autumn only to almost drown myself in a range of delights. 2017 – by contrast – felt much more planned and controlled in terms of music. Strangely the consequence is that I seem to have less music to be excited about now, and keep liking the more obvious tracks. But hey ho, maybe it’ll make for more relatable content…

Jane Weaver – Slow Motion

Lots of layered synths and a cold sounding voice? Well, obviously this is the kind of thing I’m going to go for. I loved the album it comes from (Modern Kosmology) and if I was to pick out a less obvious track it’s probably I Wish where Weaver’s voice is paired with some acoustic guitar for a really haunting track.

ONUKA – Eurovision Interval Medley

The Space Lesbians! Well, that was how one conversation on text referred to them anyway. Eurovision interval acts are quite often a bit rubbish and sometimes as bad as the full Riverdance. So kudos to ONUKA and Estonia for putting on an act with a pretty political outlook, and an interesting take on electronica. I was so taken with this that I pretty rapidly found myself heading for Google to try some more and dissect the medley. Of the medley, the best track is definitely VIDLIK which comes from an EP of the same name themed around the Chernobyl meltdown.

My principal recommendation actually isn’t that you go and grab any of the tracks but listen (and ideally watch) the whole concert ONUKA did with the Naoni Orchestra in May – it’s an expensive and glorious show.

Pet Shop Boys – Live at Bestival

I’d been pondering two things in my head for a while – firstly, if I’d ever go to a music festival of any decent size and secondly if I’d ever see Pet Shop Boys live. So when I idly browsed the Oxfam volunteers page in May and realised I could do both late in the summer at a pretty minimal cost I was pretty keen. The festival was – delightfully – a mud bath but with an added wind which destroyed several tents. The gig was a tad late and perhaps re-rigged due to high winds but was everything I’d wanted. And then I got to sit in a marquee on an exposed hill in case anyone needed a hand. (They didn’t, thankfully)

Graceland – Live at Bestival

It was the day of my second shift and I was stationed on the main gate into Bestival from the campsite trying to get drunken/hungover/tired/wet/scared/etc people to show me their wristbands in the course of a series of huge downpours. So it was nice to move on to a marquee and watch a band from Norfolk overcome some pretty irritating sound problems to play an interesting set. I don’t think their current recordings actually capture their full quality, but I made a note to go to a proper gig sometime.

Jon Brooks – Autres Directions

Since Shapwick I’ve had a real delight in Jon Brooks more conceptual works, so even from just the cover of Autres Directions, I knew I would be keen. This and Shapwick are based on drives in enchanting lands so to me they’re about nostalgia for 80s holidays. I would tell you that Lanverec and Autres Directions are highlights but frankly, it’s the complete work from the opening hiss and bongs of Se Reveiller to the ferry grind of Sortie that really makes it shine.

Jens Lekman – Life Will See You Now

In 2015 I delighted in Jens Lekman’s song a week project Postcards and now after some reworking, sample clearance and a hearty cull he landed with an album of just ten new songs including just two from that project. But the flurry of creativity has worked wonders on his songs, which are now that little bit more honed. Postcard #17 on the absurdity of anxiety.

St Vincent – New York

I’m trying not to go full hipster and say that I liked St Vincent more in her early work, but I definitely felt that after the David Byrne collaboration it just never quite worked for me. But the new album was much more in the space in my head that worked. And it convinced me that if I want to make better music all I need to do is date Cara Delvigne.

Pye Corner Audio – Faten Kanaan – The Darkest Wave / Mirror Lake

Pye Corner Audio with lyrics! Faten Kanaan collaborates with Martin Jencks’ continuingly prolific and yet doom-laden persona.

Pye Corner Audio – The Spiral

Look, I just really like Pye Corner Audio. You should. You must. Honest. Chillwave, synthwave, whatever it might or might not be it is good. I want a show based on Pye Corner Audio rather than some music based on how allegedly awesome Stranger Things is.

ToiToiToi – A Travel Agent’s Dream

It’s a song with a dot matrix printer sampled in it. Of course, I like it. And it’s on Ghost Box so I get plenty of other chin-stroking joyous moments elsewhere on the album. But you can listen to it because it’s The Printer Song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qKJT2YIZPg

Mythologen – Ily

Well, isn’t this just very much my kind of modern electronica? A series of patterns floating over each other. If I was still making mix-tapes for general consumption this would be at the end.

And of course, there are some one-line Honourable Mentions…

Frankie Rose – Cage Tropical: Back on form but it does feel a bit like a pleasant reminder of how good Interstellar was.

Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile – Over Everything: A dream pairing.

Future Islands – Shadows: A duet with Debbie Harry. I think I actually want a full album of Future Islands duets.

Orbital – Copenhagen: A relief to know the brothers Hartnoll can continue.

The Emperor Machine – Cheddar Deli: A delight to know Dean Meredith retains access to a wide range of analogue synths and is as gloriously creative as ever.

Moon Duo – Creepin’: Psychedelic rock side project of a psychedelic rock band.

Phoenix – J-Boy: Phoenix doing that Phoenix thing, robustly.

Spoon – Can I Sit Next To You: Spoon doing that Spoon thing, robustly.

Grandmaster Gareth – The Turbulent Thoughts of Gorp: a shining symphony of bleeps from Gareth of Misty’s Big Adventure as he soundtracks the game Loot Rascals. And at Christmas, I found out he also does a good line in writing musicals.

Chris M – Strong Stable Clouds: The inevitable Theresa May / The Orb mashup we were all waiting for. Sadly, lost in a copyright claim.

Young Fathers (featuring Leith Congregational Choir) – Only God Knows: Such a perfect moment in Trainspotting 2, but also probably their best track.

Music of 2016

Been a while, but as in previous blogs it seemed time I actually wrote a bit about the music I listen to, for posterity at least. It’s been a funny old year but bothering to try and listen to new music hasn’t half helped.

My self imposed rules this year are:

  1. No order of importance, but make it vaguely listenable as a mixtape end to end
  2. No more than one track per artist, unless they use a cunning disguise
  3. Try and pick a less obvious track, or not the one that originally grabbed me

The net result is that the list is long, so feel free to skim and make snap judgements with at best incidental relevance to the music at hand. You can also avoid reading me doing the old “dancing about architecture” below by using the playlist at Spotify or on YouTube.

Metronomy – Night Owl

Metronomy does Chillwave? Summer 08 is that usual pleasing retro and Joseph Mount may have lost his band and run off to Paris, but seemingly the sound remains.

Islands – The Joke

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJs–NE-wAo

A crowdfunded album, well, pair of albums indeed from Islands this year. The Joke is from the better of the two, Taste (despite the art work above!). Yes, that is a Morricone-esque flourish in there but it’s the lyric “While the world burns, we just warm our feet” that makes this a 2016 song to linger in the mind.

Haley Bonar – Skynz

I got tired of all of my music and tuned back into 6music around about September and at that time Stupid Face burrowed deep into me. It was the drums first, which are also a bit odd here in a damn pleasing fashion. Bonar’s album Impossible Dream is I think rather brilliant, and the regretful tone and (it must be said) utterly amazing drumming snared me. In a time of Brexit and Trump a song bemoaning complacency from a millennial is right on the money, isn’t it?

The Avalanches – Subways

There was no way the second album from The Avalanches would be anything but a disappointment. But to be able to get even one track that approaches the effort they put into the first album was enough for me, in retrospect. Album never quite grabbed me, but I’m minded to give it a listen free of any expectation.

The Moulettes – Pufferfish Love

The Moulettes’ Preternatural pitched up as a concept album and shows a lot of effort going into their sound as well. The science all checks out here, as it’s based on how the puffer fish mates. I will have to snag them for a pint and see if I can get them to make an album about cycling research. Make that two pints.

Cavern of Anti-Matter – I’m the Unknown

Gane and Dilworth of Stereolab here along with Holger Zapf on synth, but I am just in love with the experimentation here. Which reminds me of Sterolab a lot. There’s even a whole album but I somehow got enough from the mini-EP this was on that I never reached it.

Mogwai – U-235

From the soundtrack album to Atomic, a film marking 60 years since Hiroshima released late in 2015. I found myself thinking as I watched going “gosh, this is getting a bit like Pye Corner Audio” and then chastised myself for not listening to more Mogwai.

Pye Corner Audio – Ganzfeld Effect

A firm favourite of mine for many years </hipster credential seeking> Pye Corner Audio seems to have started becoming a fixture on the soundtrack of Adam Curtis documentaries. Not a bad home for him. His two albums on Ghost Box have I think been the best that label has been able to release and also the most cohesive in his discography.

Head Technician – Zones (listen at Bleep)

Sounding suspiciously similar to Pye Corner Audio, as if he was another name for the same artist Head Technician made a lurid vinyl version of his Zones cassette and managed to improve on perfection. There’s definitely something in the art of fictional creators that helps define some of the Ghost Box / Hauntology kind of scene (that desperately needs a name as simple as chillwave, still). Utterly pretentious twaddle, so of course I love it.

John Carpenter – Utopian Facade

Well, maybe the whole Ghost Box etc. thing should be known as Carpenterism? I’d missed John Carpenter’s first album of Lost Themes in 2015, but found both it and the sequel this year (Vortex was really good on the first). It is astonishing he’d never managed to release music in his own form until now.

The Pattern Forms – Black Rain

Ghost Box does Chillwave. Sort of. Or maybe they’re just going more John Foxx. Or is it Italo Disco? I don’t know, I haven’t scratched my chin enough but it’s good stuff with a surprising number of shifts through the song especially when the beat comes in the first time. But maybe it’s more Friendly Fires does The Advisory Circle as that’s the actual collaboration. Maybe we need a whole indie roster to pair up with the Ghost Box artists for a special album? Alright, maybe I need that.

VHS Glitch – Chrome Death

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NA0GcbrDSo

Discovered courtesy of the excellent Project Moonbase podcast (though I can’t remember if it was the Stranger Tunes or the Escape edition of their imaginary 80s universe). VHS Glitch is a frighteningly prolific man in Japan. Maybe it’s just really 80s there. Chrome Death actually is a retro game as well, but I’ve yet to give it a try. Maybe once I finish Portal, as that’s become quite retro for me to still be playing anyway…

Trentemoller – Circuits

I really have fallen into a hole of retro sounding music haven’t I? Oh well. This should be the soundtrack to some kind of continuation in the Lotus series of driving games for the Amiga perhaps. Or some kind of really amazing scrolling shoot-em-up.

Concretism – Normal Service Will Be Resumed

In a rare event, a friend suggested I should be listening to Concretism and I actually hadn’t come across him yet. I love the relaxed approach to a retro electronic sound here. The title is perfect and you can feel this being the moment of a slightly classier intermission in some regularly programming. At first I feared this artist was being too contrived in doing the retro aesthetic but I actually think they’ve just mastered it in a subtly different way.

SHXCXCHCXSH – SsSs

The album cover looked pleasing so I gave this a try. It’s incredible – crunchy loops a bit like Boards of Canada (sampling them even?) but with a really hard edge. The guys behind it are beautifully obtuse but I fear for the day when I discover there’s a Pete Waterman style svengali behind all of this stuff I seem to like so much.

Steve Hauschildt – Strands

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SqNxSncgJU

Oh, this was about the album cover as well. Someone should really tell all the vinyl heads that little thumbnails on websites do in fact sell albums (after a quick preview listen). What got me about this is that now even 90s targeting retro is doing that analogue distortion thing – which is weird. I guess we just want it to sound like fading memories rather than fading cassettes.

DJ Shadow – Bergschrund (feat Nils Frahm)

I would take a whole album of Nils Frahm and DJ Shadow. This just works obscenely well – beats underneath, distorted spacey electronic over the top and a nifty breakdown.

Clarke:Hartnoll – The Echoes

Vince Clarke and Phil Hartnoll produce what you’d sort of expect though some have said it sounds more Orbital than Erasure. It is bloody good, but they do need to get a bit better at sharing their work online. All I can do is embed the lead single, but it is quite good as well:

Teleman – Superglue

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s82nI9W5Th8

Yes, don’t worry I am still weak and feeble when it comes to resisting indie when it involves lost and confused lovelorn men and a bit of fragile guitar and a synth. And especially when it’s Thomas Sanders late of Tap Tap and Pete and the Pirates. Pity he’ll never top Codeine, though.

David Thomas Broughton – Plunge of the Dagger

David Thomas Broughton is as the documentary about him made plain, a rather ambiguous and prolific character. But screw that, it’s his experimental nature I love and Crippling Lack was a lot of interesting experimentation and collaboration. Luke Drozd’s spoken contributions here crack me up every time, especially the mid-way “When I am dead, I will sleep forever. It will be amazing! I won’t have to get up or anything. I can’t. fucking. wait.”. It’s an indulgent nine and a half minutes, but I bloody love it.

Meursault – The Fix Is In

Meursault are back. That’s about all that matters, really. Annoyingly I can’t make you skip to The Fix Is In which stuck in my head most, but the Simple is Good EP works better end to end anyway.

The Strokes – OBLIVIUS

I tried arguing myself out of including this on the grounds that it’s The Strokes and it’s a bit derivative and something like that, but screw it. I actually like this more than anything else they’ve done. Is it good enough to click through from the embed due to daft restrictions in playback? Probably, at least for the first 30 seconds. The daft lyric video style suits this rather well.

Justice – Safe and Sound

Lyric videos are clearly the in thing. Maybe it’s a karaoke thing. Anyway, it’s a video with a cross in it, and more frenchy electro fun.

Pet Shop Boys – The Pop Kids

“Remember those days, the early 90s” this starts and we’re off into a strange half-imagined half-true (or is it alternative fact?) based story of a pair of boys meeting and sharing a love of music. Delightful stuff.

Barry Hyde – Monster Again

Remember those days, the early 00s? Well, The Futureheads are over, but Barry Hyde has recorded a solo album. Part of the Malody Suite and illustrated above with a rather cute little animation this is Barry working through material that could once have been a Futureheads vampire musical (that and more in this Guardian interview) into a heartfelt use of his (still!) stunning voice to let out the demons within. It’s stripped back, it’s simple and it bloody works. Monster Again is only part of a wider whole, but it reminds me a lot of what I loved in The Futureheads – sparse lyrics delivered strongly working far better than any endless series of verses and choruses.

Field Music – How Should I Know If You’ve Changed?

Also in Sunderland, Field Music keep going. and Commontime was a really bright sounding selection of songs that made this XTC fan quite happy for relatively obvious reasons.

Clark – Omni Vignette

Actually a Clark soundtrack album, but it all works remarkably well. Omni Vignette is at about 2:30 in this, and it’s just Clark mixing a very simple piano line, but it’s cracking.

Aphex Twin – 2X202-ST5

New Aphex Twin, hurrah. At least he’s not naming the songs after computer viruses this time or taking the piss and just releasing a song based on a picture of himself. On the other hand, I have to share the video for a different song from the Cheetah EP because it’s all that’s online. Oh well.

Of course, what’s also remarkable is that this is a video from a 12 year old fan in Ireland who also made this piece of brilliance.

Helen Love – Thank You Polystyrene

Poly Styrene was a bloody wonder. Helen Love are a bloody wonder. Mike Read is a bloody wonder. My love of this song is inevitable and I have nothing more to say.

Let’s Eat Grandma – Eat Shiitake Mushrooms

If it was still the late 00s and I was still going to something like the Brainlove all-dayers this is the kind of thing I’d have seen then wondered what happened to it (come in Octagon Court, your time is up!). However, it’s 2016 and I’m an old man so I heard about a strange pair of young women from Norfolk by listening to NPR’s best of 2016. It’s purposely young and experimental, probably tries to do too much and tries too hard, but that’s what I like. So, never mind. The YouTube video has complaints it was overhyped but reading that six months later when you just got hooked by one odd song seems a bit off. I hope they at least get enough pop stardom to afford mudguards for their bikes.

Mathew Bourne – Alex

Using a specially altered Moog, this is remarkably lovely and it is in no way a coincidence that I wound up picking a track from the album that matched my name.

If you made it to the end well done. Too many men in there, alas. But 2017 appears to be starting with me listening to female helmed electronica so maybe I’ll adjust course.

Twelve great tracks of Twenty-Twelve

Slightly late, but always on time, my music of 2012 posts continue with my favourite tracks. Everything here is new until the end, I’ve weighted the more appealing tracks higher up but skip away, if you like everything on here there’s something wrong with you and if you like nothing on here there’s something terribly wrong with you. Full spotify list is just here folks, links inline with every track for Spotify and iTunes (quick preview on iPad/iPhone etc.).

Frankie Rose – Know Me [Spotify] [iTunes] [YouTube]

I’m not sure you can “waste your time in fiction or rhyme”, but at first I thought this was the lead track off a magnificent debut. Later in the year I realised this was in fact a difficult (or indeed, much improved it seems) second album. “Know me, don’t know me” is my singalong chorus of the year. Continue reading