DJ Koze latest album “Knock Knock” is the perfect accompaniment to the heatwave hitting England at the moment. On the track “Lord Knows”, Uplifting vocal samples driven by a strong hip hop beat create a joyous soundtrack to the long days of sunshine.
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Mark E Everett has created an incredible and varied catalog of music since the 90’s under the band name eels. Although the music has always fit into an indie rock aesthetic, the instrumentation has varied massively along with their live performances.
I have seen the eels play on several occasions and never has the layout of the band consisted of the same musicians or types of instruments. From a two piece to a full string section, The eels sound has morphed and changed over the years to fit the tastes of Mark E Everett. These styles are then applied to older tracks giving them a new life in the live environment every time you see them.
This ability to morph the songs into different styles proves the universal quality of the melody’s and lyrics. Mark E Everett has always spoken for the suffering outsider throughout his career and does so with a poetic reverence that always manages to come across as honest and heartfelt.
An early example of this is the track Guest List from the bands first and self titled album. It portrays a character who’s being turned away from event or club, but this small event is a metaphor for the characters life of being constantly downtrodden and sidelined. There’s a real pain and vulnerability to the vocal delivery that enhances its meaning, Giving the song a poignancy that could be grating from less experienced artist.
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When i first heard the album First Impressions Of Earth twelve years ago the track Ask Me Anything stood out, but not in a positive light. My 18 year old brain was not ready for a track like this, I remember thinking ‘this is barely music’ and yet it has stayed with me for many years and over time, my perspective on the track morphed to a highly positive one.
Now, Turning 31 this week I can see the songs satirical bent. It’s purposefully awkward, as Julian Casablancas out of tune vocals deliver lyrics that can be seen as either self loathing or arrogant. A musician that states he has nothing to say and yet will take up your time telling you about it.
It also adds lyrics of pure self entitlement, “I’d like to watch, I’d like to read, I’d like a part, I’d like the lead, but I’ve got nothing to say” manage to exemplify white privilege at a time when I had no idea what that ment.
It’s this dichotomy in the vocals that keep the track in my head to this day. Should we feel sorry or hate the character they lyrics portray. As he croons over a mellotron i’m left thinking maybe its a bit of both. In all its weirdness “Ask Me Anything” ironically has something to say, And it says it poignantly:
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Hi readers of my site,
I’m sorry for my delay of the Track Of The Week segment from last week and the occasional issues with the website being down over the past week. I needed to do quite a bit of updating on the back end of the site to make it both more efficient and secure.
Unfortunately as a single man operation this work ate into the time I had to write my TOTW. Something I have done consecutively for over 5 years. I will put up last weeks TOTW shortly and things should continue as normal into the foreseeable future.
Regards,
CT
Out of a more psychedelic album, the track American Guilt hit me like a ton of bricks. It’s big distorted blues guitar riffs are driven by John Bonham sounding drums. It creates a sound that is more reminiscent of acts like Jack White or The Black Keys, and came in stark contrast to the more refined tracks on the rest of the album Sex & Food.
The track works well in its own right, but really shines through in the context of an album. It provides a shot of rough energy that keeps the listener intrigued.
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Autechre are an act that have always pushed the boundaries of the electronic musical genre they have worked in. Their Third album, entitled Tri Repetae was released in 1995 and still holds its own to this day as both a great album and an influence to many electronic albums.
My track of the week Eutow demonstrates what makes their work special. Eutow manages to straddle the line between experimental and more traditional mainstream electronic music. It’s minimal instrumentation allows the instruments that are used to be massive all consuming monsters. They chew up the audio spectrum with ripping synth sounds that still feel as modern as they did when they were created.
If electronic music interests you and Autechre haven’t make it on your radar, you owe it to yourself to give them a listen. Eutow is a good place to start.
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Oneohtrix Point Never always manages to defy expectations with every release. His latest track black snow is a ballad; something that’s far more accessible then his experimental work up to this point.
A stripped back sound design provides a minamalist base for the vocals until the halfway part, where larger elements of synthesis and samples draw out a world that is iconic to OPN’s style. No matter the genre of music he’s creating his unique vision shines through.
OPN still manages to subvert and surpass my expectations with every release. And the more populist direction of black snow is the most surprising thing he could have done. A calling card for his new album that I’m now highly anticipating.
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Against All Logic is the pseudonym of Nicolas Jaar and under it he’s released a collection of soul focused house music made between 2012 to 2017. The mix of old and more obscure samples with heavily compressed and distorted electronics gives the tracks a unique flair in a well trodden formula.
On the track I Never Dream sampled drums are chopped to add extra groove to accompany the vocal swells and synths. By the four minute mark the vocal samples are mangled to a joyous rapture of positive energy which provide a counter point to the more downplayed synth section. It manages to keep an energetic and enthusiastic style throughout that’s infectiously fun on repeat listens.
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Mark Pritchards latest album The Four Worlds is a short but enjoyable collection of music that sits somewhere between ambient and club music. Its restraint in composition is also its strong point, allowing each sound to breathe, accentuating their qualities.
On Circle of Fear the lead melody also creates the rhythm for lush pads and strings to underpin. There is a mix of something both sweet and sinister about the track. Its surface level stays the same, but the morphing chords change the feel of the piece subtly as it straddles this fine line between the dark and the light.
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Twenty years ago this month, Boards of Canada released their debut album Music Has The Right to Children. Amidst the wave of popular experimental electronic music that washed its way through the mid to late 90s, it stood up as a high watermark. Its sounds and styles have been hugely influential to many acts, and yet its aesthetics are so distinct that they’ve become synonymous with BOC.
In structure, it fallows a lot of the formulas in the creation of electronic music. Its dreamlike sound design of warbling synths and lo-fi samples create a world that osculates between the sweet and the sinister. A sound that’s laid back but iconic, giving electronics a softer more organic blanket that’s usually missing from his harsher raw tones.
The track Pete Standing Alone, from their debut album, features all of the elements mentioned. It opens with this wide synth melody that detunes and attenuates with a slow tremolo before the low bitrate drums come in with complex programming. This basis of the track is then developed with further lo-fi samples and atmospheric synths to create shimmering world that lies somewhere between reality and the subconscious. It’s a sound they pioneered that still holds its own today; both in their older works and the new ones they continue to create sporadically over the past two decades.
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