I’m shocked that in searching through my track of the week history. No work by Telefon Tel Aviv has been mentioned, especially the track fahrenheit fair enough.
To call this a track of the week feels more of a copout then what this track deserves. For me It’s up there as one of my favourite tracks of all time, Its Jazz Chords collide with some of the finest glitch percussion ever processed and create a track that I haven’t got tired of for the past ten years. A truly remarkable piece of work:
I don’t know much about Chroma Key Other than its the solo project of Kevin Moore the ex dream theather keyboard player. His music features electronic and organic instruments and is clearly influenced by the ambient music genre but with slightly more drive.
All of Chroma Keys work has a nice blend of sound scapes and can sound nieve and even childish at some points but all tracks have a dark maybe even slightly sinister tinge reminding me of old nursury rymes or fairy tales.
I have cosen the title track from “Graveyard Mountain Home” An album that uses more traditional folk instruments to create his unique blend of genres. The album was designed as a soundtrack for the social guidence film Age 13 when slowed down by half its original playback time. If you like what you hear from the track below and fancy seeing/hearing more the film is availabe to stream with a quick serch of the internet:
Plenty has been said about Burial by many different areas of the media and its easy to see why. He appeared out of nowhere with a fully developed and original sound on his self titled debut album in 2006. This mix of extremely polished production and his anonymity made him become a major talking point.
6 years later and the dust has settled on the speculation but he’s been no flash in the pan. He has developed a unique sound, creating something that both stays fresh and yet is distinctively his. The new EP/Single “Truant, Rough Sleeper” Has longer and more harmonically focused tracks, without loosing that sparse sound he’s become notorious for.
Although I love both tracks, it’s the development of rough sleeper that really does it for me, the use of organ and saxophone really makes the track feel fresh and the constant stop and start of the track keeps you on your toes. 14 minutes of fantastic and unique music:
The album Rounds by Four Tet has a lovely natural feel to it. Traditional instruments are severalty sampled and then treated to the electronica production ethos that would usually be applied to synthesis, resulting in something fresh.
There are often arguments that the computer revolution has resulted in “lazyer” music. Created by producers which lack the technical proficiency of an instrument that was required until the development of the Digital Audio Workstation. I would argue that the skill for these artists comes from the art of production itself.
Bands still exist to appease the rhetoric “real music” fans. But now we also get this whole new development of music as we know it. Albums like Rounds do something that would have been impossible 30 years ago. Technology has progressed to the stage where an individual can compose a full album on a laptop computer. Along the way this freedom is only going to allow more diverse and interesting music and the work of Four Tet is a perfect example of this.
Sorry for the late track of the week.
My original aim was to post a track every monday around clock off time, to get rid of those monday blues. unfortunately this week I have been delayed by going to the Parklife festival in Manchester, add traveling by boat and I have only had time to post it now.
The stand out from two days of music was definitely the classic disco act Chic, their afternoon slot had the whole crowd dance the rain away and a guest appearance by Johnny Marr was icing on the cake.
Everybody Dance is a classic Disco track with some toe tapping rhythms and smooth bass lines which always brings a smile to my face:
This week it has been roasting hot in the UK, a fantastic change from the usual Manchester weather. This mixed with my birday and the film premiere I worked on selling out, has left me feeling joyous most of the time.
However even when happy I like to wallow in self reflection alot of the time. Dancing Mountains by M83 is a beautiful accompaniment to this self reflection. The track only consists of a piano and a synth but it is equally beautiful and harrowing, well worth a listen if you are of like mind:
The production prowess of Miike Snow is hard to come by in other bands but as the backbone of the band is made up of 3 world-renowned producers its easy to see why.
Their music manages to have a modern pop esthetic whilst using innovative production styles and devil’s work is a perfect example, View below:
The Track of the Week goes to Undertow by the fantastic band Warpaint.
Warpaint have released a fantastic EP and Album both well worth a listen. What really stands out for me is the fantastic drumming that’s heard throughout and Undertow is a perfect example. Have a listen below:
Happy New Year,
To celebrate I thought I would throw in my opinions with my favourite 5 albums of last year. There are still plenty of albums I need to hear, but these are the ones I have listened to the most over the year. If you haven’t given any of these a listen, I highly recommend you get hold of them and if there are any you think I should listen to, please tell me in the comments section. So without further ado roll on number 5:
Mastered two new tracks,
However getting a bit tired now to wait for the upload to the site so i will do it tomorrow.
CT