Category Archives: Track Of The Week

Weekly selection of other artists music

TOTW: Ennio Morricone_ The Man With The Harmonica

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Last week marked the passing of Ennio Morricone. Although the death of someone is always a sad thing, over his 91 years he managed to pack a lot in. Composing for cinema and television, as well as classical and avant garde composition, he created over 500 scores. Its a mammoth achievement that is only matched by its level of quality, experimentation and, at its highest points, some of the greatest compositions ever made.

Probably best known for his iconic spaghetti western compositions, Morricone continued to push the boundaries of classical composition by adding his interest in avant garde music into them, but for me his greatest achievement was his ability to turn these unconventional approaches into tracks that seemed so natural they resonate with anyone.

From the choice of instrumentation, which blended modern and orchestral, to the track structures that used current and traditional techniques, his scores always managed to both enhance the scenes they accompanied and be incredible pieces of music in their own right.

With so many tracks that are worth mentioning it’s hard to pick one but as I’ve already given my favorite (Gabrielle’s Oboe) a previous track of the week I decided to go for “The Man with the Harmonica“ from “Once Upon a Time in the West.”

Maybe not as well known as his more iconic tracks from the Dollars Trilogy, “The Man with the Harmonica” is a sinister track that slowly escalates with its slow string arpeggios, which have become a staple of many tension building scenes in modern cinema. The piece also exemplifies his ability to blend different instrumentation with electric guitar and harmonica intertwined into the more classical orchestration.

The piece both aids the story in “Once Upon a Time in the West” and works on its own as a piece of thrilling music worthy of your time:

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TOTW: Moses Sumney- Colouour

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 I’ve really been enjoying the album “Græ“ over the past week. Lush, dense music underpins Moses Sumney’s amazing vocals on this gargantuan double album, which mixes many genres together with bold ambition.

 It was no surprise to realise that, on further research, Daniel Lopitan (aka. Oneohtrix Point Never), a regular in my TOTW lists, was a co producer on this album.

Looking deeper into the album’s liner notes, you will notice a who’s who of some of the people at very cutting edge of music over the past 5 years.

Its impressive to see this much collaboration from so many strong identities. They have all come together to create something that manages to stay sounding “popular” throughout all of its experimentation, without compromising on any of its artistry.

 Colouour features Keys for both Danial Lopitan and FKG, who also provides saxophone along with Shabaka Hutchings (the saxophone player on my album of the year recommended The Comet is Coming).

It opens with washes of layered saxophones and electric piano. These build to the halfway mark, before fading away to a more sparse arrangement. Moses smooth vocal delivery over an e-piano and deep 808style bass/kick is reminiscent of many a traditional neo-soul track, but it is then peppered with experimental electronic SFX that slightly warp the track into new territory.

Colouour is one of many interesting and enjoyable tracks on an album that is well worth a listen. It could easily be re-appearing in many lists at the end of the year, including mine.

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TOTW: Aphex Twin_#13 (blue calax)

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The Selected Ambient works albums from Aphex Twin are some of my favorite records, with their distinctive lo-fi recordings that give the synths a unique otherworldly feel.

Track 13, also known as “blue calax,” from the album Selected Ambient works Volume 2, is a perfect example. Instrumentally, it is fairly simple, with just one polyphonic synth line and a drum machine. But the use of fx – especially chorus on the synth – create an iconic sound that transports you to another place. A place I love to return to again and again.

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TOTW: The Penguin Cafe Orchestra- The Sound Of Someone You Love Who’s Going Away And It Doesn’t Matter

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The Penguin Cafe Orchestra has always fascinated me as a group. Their eccentric take on music, which blends pop melodies with weirder fringe experimentation, has always been a huge influence on me.

Many of the tracks have a childlike sense of wonder to them; an openness to try things that many would be too afraid to try. And yet by doing so, many of the tracks resonate with my emotions on a fundamental level.

“The Sound Of Someone You Love Who’s Going Away And It Doesn’t Matter” is a track that perfectly encapsulates their ability to tap into your emotions. No percussive instrumentation is used throughout (although a hollow body guitar is tapped in a rhythm for a small section). Instead, this instrumental features a few electric guitars, a bass guitar, an electric piano and violins, which interweave to create a piece that’s both wistful and regretful:

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TOTW: Carla del Forno- Hype Sleep

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Hype Sleep’s main melody is played high on a bass guitar, and repeats every four bars until this tracks outro. It has an hypnotic effect on the listener, lulling you almost into a feeling of sleep. This is backed up by the other instrumentation, which slowly shifts throughout the background of the track.

Although the track fits very much into a soundscape that I enjoy, the one thing that separates it from the majority of these kind of tracks is just how much of the instrumentation isn’t synthetic. Woodblock, woodwinds and electric bass are the core of the piece, with only a collection of effects and sound design. It gives the piece a folk aesthetic that makes it timeless.

What the track misses in melody and suture, it more than makes up for in mood. A chameleon of a track that suits many environments and sticks with you from first listen:

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TOTW: The Drones_Then They Came For Me

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This raucous track instantly grabbed my attention, as I listened to it in a playlist this week. It’s constantly on the verge of collapse instrumentally as Gareth Liddard’s vocals drag it down in a justified anger and cynicism.

Although the track has these harsh, intriguing qualities, its the poetry of the piece that elevates it into an essential listen. Descriptions of how we have enabled the worst in society permeate throughout, with a building rage. That the monsters only propagate because of our own apathy is told with a keen eye and poignancy. But the track never offers a solution, and only ratchets up the tension.

The protagonist of this track is stuck in the same situation as the listener. It’s up to them to change things or continue a course that will end poorly.

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TOTW: David Bowie_ Young Americans

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After deciding to make “Young Americans” my TOTW, I went back through my posts and was surprised to see that I haven’t ever posted a Bowie track as a Track of the Week, despite the many years of writing these posts.

I think this stems from a couple of reasons. The first being that I’m more of an admirer of Bowie than his work. I like the way he continued to experiment throughout his career, creating massively varied music and personas to perform them. He was a proper artist right through to his death.

He was also and still is posthumously massively successful, with many of his tracks ingrained in the British subconscious. At this point, I’ve found the idea of talking about some of my favorite Bowie tracks inconsequential. What’s the point of promoting tracks that everyone already knows?

But on the other hand my Track Of The Week was always about the music I was listening to each week, whether it be successful or unknown. To be honest, I think the main reason Bowie has never been in my Track Of The Week is it’s been rare that I could categorise any Bowie song as a Track of the week. They have always been there, played regularly, as part of a wide balanced audio diet. Yet, they have rarely been the main course.

So, how then did Young Americans end up being my first Bowie Track on my TOTW. I doubt anyone would argue its his best track, and I’d agree with them. It lacks the more experimental nature that I find most compelling in his work. But this week, the UK has been hot. There have been warm, sunny and sometimes stuffy days spent sitting in our garden, listening to music and generally enjoying the little dry weather Manchester offers yearly.

Returning to a track is never the same as hearing it the first time. It is never going to have the surprise it did when you first heard it, and therefore having the excitement about the track to write about it in my blog becomes harder, and more nuanced then a quick take on something completely new to me.

Young Americans overall aesthetic to me is the perfect soundtrack to this current environment. Dripping with R&B swelter, grooving percussion, and simmering sax; it is soothingly steadfast and familiar. As its grooves drift out of a small Bluetooth speaker into an abundant overgrowing garden, it leaves me thinking only one thing. When the track finishes lets put it on again.

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TOTW: The National_Bloodbuzz Ohio

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Sorry for the delay In TOTW recently. Although in the current circumstances I’ve had more time available the hours have been taken up with some bigger projects that you’ll all find out about soon and my track of the week recommendations have slipped slightly.

Bloodbuzz Ohio was easily my most listened to track last week. My girlfriend has been listening to a lot of their back catalog and has taken a shining to this track especially so its been on strong rotation at home. It is the opening single to my favorite album of theirs; “High Violet.”

Bloodbuzz Ohio’s success rests in the counterpoint between the high energy of the instrumentation and the downplayed baritone vocals. This energy continues to escalate throughout the track as it builds to the chorus, where its chord changes cause the track to plateau and resonate between two conflicting moods.

Its one of several styles and techniques that The National are exceptionally talented at and have utilized several times in their catalog. However, for me Bloodbuzz Ohio is the first time that they mastered this technique creating a song that still resonates with me to this day:

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TOTW: Swans_ Red Velvet Corridor

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“Red Velvet Corridor” opens the Swans album “Soundtracks For The Blind,” which sent the band off for a ten year hiatus between album releases.

Swans greatest achievement is arguably their ability to develop and then transport the listener to environments that are so visceral you become part of them. These worlds are often not welcoming places and can involve some of the darker, sinister sides of humanity. This makes the group polarizing to listeners who find their subject matter uncomfortable to hear. But, for me, the craft required in their creations makes this band one of my favorites.

Red Velvet Corridor sets the scene for this album perfectly with its mechanical loops and drone textures, and a sound that sits somewhere between metal rubbing together and a human breathing. Its title reminds me of Twin Peaks, and so does the music with its off kilter and slightly disorientating atonal style. It doesn’t sit quite naturally on the ears, creating a surreal environment that leads you into the rest or the album:

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TOTW: Datassette_Nowhere

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“VOID FILL PRODUCT” Is the new abum by Datassette, who has stunned me for many years with his sound design and unique programming.

In his liner notes, he describes the process of making the album as “one-shot stereo recordings of hardware jams,” which were then refined into finished works. This tried and tested technique has been used effectively through the history of electronic music, right back to its experimental routes. It serves well Datassette’s natural talent for finding great melodies and interesting sounds.

“Nowhere” is a track reminiscent of one of my favorite albums “selected ambient works 85-92,” with its lo-fi recordings and stripped down instrumentation that play around with a single theme throughout its playtime. It’s a sound I love, and Datassette adds his own flair to it with a wonky bass melody, iconic of his compositional techniques. This makes ”Nowhere” a shoe in for my track of the week and an easy one to recommend to any fans of the genre:

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