I simply love this track, The punk influence is clear as the track crashes straight into its opening and continues to keep busy in its arrangement instrumentation and composition to create a song that’s constantly shifting and staying vibrant throughout its four minute playing time and stays that way on repeat listens:
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I always look forward to a New Oneohtrix Point Never Release. Danial Lopatin under the OPN pseudonym has always pushed electronic music in unique and exiting directions.
On his new project this sound has been reigned in somewhat due to its purpose as the score for the feature film Good Time. This results in his most accessible work to date for the general listener and a perfect place to start for anyone new to his sound.
Leaving the park features looping arpeggiated synthesis that interweaves with other electronic sounds that vary from the wistful to the sinister. Creating a style reminiscent of the music of John Carpenter whilst also keeping the soundscapes and sound design found in other works by OPN:
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Over the Past few weeks I have listened to a lot of music fitting into the funk and soul genre as I gather a collection together to DJ and I came back to this lesser known gem by DJ shadow.
His work has always sampled music from the history of soul and funk and chopped them up into strong beats and iconic melodies but on this track he decides to return to the very origin of the works creating a modern soul classic with the history of the genre at the forefront but mixed with the modern production techniques that weren’t available at the time to create something that fits into both worlds.
The result is something quite special. A track that seems to come from a parallel universe where soul music stayed close to its routes and in that way it manages to work well in both a modern and old DJ set and can even provide bridge between the two.
Give it a listen below:
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Glen Campbell passed away this week after suffering from Alzheimer’s disease for the last few years. He leaves behind a collection of brilliant country songs and one of my favorite tracks of all time Wichita Lineman.
There are songs that resonate with you at particular points in your life and in the future bring those memories back with vivid detail, Wichita Lineman is a perfect example. One perfect moment where it correlated with me traveling back from visiting Glamorgan university for a taster day when I was 18 years old. My mini disc player had run out of batteries and so I plugged my headphones into the virgin trains seat and on comes Wichata Lineman to accompany me as the train wound its way over the lush greenery of South Wales on a clear day as the sun hung low in the sky.
Listening back to this song takes me to this place and time in my life. A moment when everything was ahead of me. Multiple paths leading to the horizon with both the luxury and fear of the choice to pick which one to walk down. At that moment alone on the train with a Whichita Lineman playing in my ears I came to the realisation that things were changing, I was growing up and yet it was all going to be all right. Feelings I will always associate with this song for the rest of my life and with that Glen Campbell will stay with me long after his passing. A true representation as to the power of music at its best.
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Hans Zimmer has been at the forefront of modern film composition for over 10 years now especially in his collaborations with director Christoper Nolan. He has managed to set many trends that have permeated through all of western cinema which has made him somewhat a divisive figure in circles of film composition. Personally I feel that his work does what great film scores should do and that’s to enhance the cinema experience, beefing up the emotions shown on screen subliminally. what he can lack in melody he more than makes up for in sound design and composition.
On Nolans newest film Dunkirk we’re treated to a relentless barrage of stress and tension as the fear of death lies heavily on the entirety of the film and the score does a fantastic job of complimenting these emotions. Although the whole score is worth a listen, Submarine manages to exemplify the ideas for the whole score succinctly.
A recording of a ticking clock provides the backbone of the tracks which is enhanced by the orchestra and synthesizers to create a feeling of dread. Add to that the compositional technique called the Sheppard tone which gives the impression of a continuous escalating pitch your left with a discomfort that perfectly suits the film:
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For the past few weeks I have been gathering a collection of music together to DJ for a friends wedding which led me into Disco and Soul music because they both manage to bring almost any age group to the dance floor. One of the first tracks I went to and one of my favorite soul tracks was Back Stabbers by The O’Jays and I decided to highlight it here in my track of the week.
Soul music has some of the greatest intros in musical history and Back stabbers manages to keep the trend with strongly defined and beautifully recorded instrumentation that continues underneath the vocals. Its a sound that may be iconic of the 70s but it still holds a quality that is repeated and emulated to this day and still remains popular. An indication that the sound of Soul itself is more than just nostalgia but a style that is naturally attractive to most listeners.
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Clarks ability to blend his unique style based around sound design with the traditional electronic dance genre make him one of my favorites in modern electronica.
Butterfly Prowler with its fidgeting synth melody and vocal samples that shift between pad and percussive elements create something that works both in the club and on headphones.
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The Manchester International Festival has been going on for a few weeks and its a great chance to experience a collection of different performances that are either rare or unique to the festival itself.
One such musician is Holly Henrdon who performed a live set last week which I was lucky enough to see. Her work strongly features the Human voice sampled and chopped in different ways to create elements of both melody and percussion. Its a sound that can only be created from the use of computers and proof that there is still completely new music to be created using the Medium of a laptop as an instrument.
Listen to the opening track from her album Platform below:
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I manged to see William Basinski last week as part of the Manchester international festival and was surprised by his personality. I would have never associated his music with his flamboyantly extroverted persona. It’s challenged me about expectations and bias towards artists based on their work and how close it resembles them. I’m not sure if I will ever find answers to the questions its raised but his performance certainly got me searching for answers.
Most of his music focuses on tape loops, short sections of music that repeat for many minutes which slightly change over time. Cascade is a piano melody that’s heavily surrounded in reverb. Although the melody stays close to its original structure slight warping causes the individual notes of the melody to drift slightly as the piece continues. Its this slight change that allows the pieces repetitive melody to stay fresh throughout.
Give the track a listen below:
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I love ambient music, the average listener may find it simple but for me, the minimalism in its structures allows the sound design and synthesis programming to sine through. Something I am personally invested in with my own music.
Steve Hauschildt has created a great new album with Strands that skirts around the different genre of Minimalist electronica. From more arpeggiated minimal techno style to the warm pads of ambient and in doing so has provided a great example of the current state of minimalist music as a whole. On Time We Have a lush pad and bass melody slowly expands and finally gets mixed with distortion to create a piece that demonstrates many of my favorite elements of the genre without loosing its own identity.
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