Tag Archives: TOTW

TOTW:Actress- Actress_Leaves Against The Sky

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Actress has managed to create a uniquely identifiable sound in electronic music. It’s dark and and amorphous sound seems to contradict the locked loops of the instruments themselves.

On listening to their complete albums, these techniques create works that have a strong mood. I have found it captivating when in the right mindset. It has kept me returning to them over the years as their subtleties worm their way with time into my subconscious.

I can see that being the case with the most recent Actress album, “Karma & Desire.” Fragments of the record already loop around in my head from time to time; one of them being the piano line on “Leaves Against The Sky.”  It follows the same off kilter production that his work is known for, but with an unusually up tempo driving kick drum in sections.

Listen to “Leaves Against The Sky” and let it sit with you for a few days. If you’re anything like me, you’ll want to return to its distinctive opaqueness to try and grasp onto what makes the track so compelling:

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TOTW: Bicep_Atlas

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The next couple of weeks are going to be short ones. A lot is going on in my life with a big move to a new house. Which will also provide me with a space to finally build a studio.

With it comes a lot of packing and arranging along with a potential lack of internet for a few days whilst we get it up and running. So with my time and attention on that I will have less time for these blog posts over the next few weeks.

However I will still try to keep the Track Of The Week segment going if not keeping it brief.

Whilst packing I have been listening mostly to audio books with a scattering of music in between. Atlas by Bicep was one of the tracks that really grabbed my attention. A electronic track with interesting synth design and well produced will never go amiss and Bicep has them in spades.

“Atlas” is the closing track (and my personal favorite) from their “Sundial” EP, Give it a listen below:

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TOTW: Lomelda- stranger sat by me

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I found the track “stranger sat by me” by “Lomelda” when listening through a long playlist of music from last year, and found it instantly enchanting. Its got a naivety to it, with the vocals being so low in the mix, but then mixed with an odd assortment of instruments and strange synth and guitar sounds.

“stranger sat by me” is the perfect name for this introverted little track and I recommend you give it a listen.

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TOTW: Future Islands- Born In A War

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Future Islands manage to filter pop music through an odd prism of the past. Modern synthesizers carry the aesthetics of classic mo-town records, and that’s backed up with Samuel T. Herring’s vocals that sound absolutely nothing like, and yet encapsulate, the feel of a soul singer.

Born In A War is a perfect example. If you break down elements of the track, they don’t quite make sense out of context; especially the vocals, which in isolation sound like they come from a completely different genre. But when you put them together the result is a well crafted pop track with plenty of soul.

An easy recommendation for my Track Of The Week.

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TOTW- Nick Cave- Man In the Moon (Live at Alexadra Palace, 2020)

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The album “IDIOT PRAYER” features Nick Cave playing on piano a collection of songs from throughout his career.

Lyrics have always been one of the strong points of his music, in both The Bad Seeds and Grinderman. By stripping the tracks down to these smaller and more traditional arrangements, it shifts the lyrics framing slightly and often enhances their emotional weight.

Many of the tracks are great, but I really like this version of Man In the Moon. The sound of the space adds a greater loneliness to the lyrics than the original, and the way they interweave with the piano only enhances it further.

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TOTW- Moses Boyd, Joe Armon-Jones_2 Far Gone

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Moses Boyd’s album “Dark Matter” takes the fundamentals of Jazz and paints them with modern production (especially in the drums) to create some highly enjoyable music.

On 2 Far Gone is one of my favorite tracks from the listing. The percussion shuffles between several genre of dance music and provides a drive to the piece that the smooth horns can’t shake with their coolness:

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TOTW: Freddie Gibbs, The Alchemist_Something to Rap About (feat. Tyler, The Creator)

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The Album “Alfredo” is another collaborative album from Freddie Gibbs. This time, he teams up with The Alchemist whose production enhances Gibbs’ always great rhythmic deliveries.

The style of production of this record feels very old school in its sound elements, with a traditional funk and soul flavour in sampling. I’m not aware of the legacy of the sounds on this production, but they sound so cleanly produced that they give the album an air of a modern classic that will suit fans of classic HipHop.

It’s hard to pick a favorite track, which is always a good sign. The album just has an overall mood that is easy to enjoy and hard to describe. That being said, “Something to Rap About,” with the feature from Tyler, the creator, really stood out to me on first listen. Smooth instrumentation underpins great vocal delivery from both Gibbs and Tyler. It epitomises the feel of the album and would be a great place to start:

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TOTW: Ólafur Arnalds_ Woven Song

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Ólafur Arnalds continues to create some of my favorite music of the past few years. It’s mix of electronics and intimately recorded classical instrumentation always comes across with a strong textural identity that’s rich and complicated even when the melody’s are often the opposite.

Woven Song is another great example of what he does well. This intricate and otherworldly piano sound that dances around a thin vocal field recording. It sounds as if this field recording was very much the initial key ingredient that provided the muse for the piano and finally the string arrangement that takes over from them both halfway through the piece. It’s another great example that when you can make instrumentation sound this good and you give it room to breathe it can pack an emotional punch that far outweighs more complex tracks for the listener.

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TOTW: Taylor Swift, Bon Iver- Exile

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I have never been a huge fan of Taylor Swift’s music. I have never hated it but have never felt impassioned to talk about it on the site, especially when she’s so ubiquitous that most people will have already made their minds up about her music.

I have however always listened to her work. It has gained rave reviews and I’ve found it all to be great examples of modern pop, with exceptional production, but nothing that got its teeth into me.

That was until the latest album Folklore, which has really grabbed me. I think this is due to the choice of collaborators on the record; in particular the production work of Aaron Dessner, whose work – both as a composer for film and in The National – I have always loved.

It’s the production and instrumentation that elevates this album into something that should be heard by any music fan even if you have always avoided Taylor Swift before.

Instrumentally, Folklore is lead by piano and guitar, but with that usual cool slightly melancholic otherworldly sound that elevates the work of The National. It gives dramatic power to Taylor Swift’s lyrics, which have always been strong but have often felt a bit weightless under a more traditional pop presentation.

That strength continues with the addition of Bon Iver as a guest on this track Exile. It’s a great example of the sound design found on the album, It interweaves with a tried and true duet structure.
Piano leads the track and is gently accentuated with strings that slowly grow into a dominant emotional force towards the tracks conclusion.

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TOTW: Christian Lee Hutson_ Twin Soul

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As the year comes towards a close, I listen to more music and try to get through as many albums as I can for my albums of the year list.

 I really enjoyed album Beginners by Christian Lee Hutson. The album still proves the effectiveness of a traditional singer songwriter album when they have a unique world view that shines through.

 It’s the same old formula of an instrumental sound and a stylised vocal delivery that has been done countless times, and yet it still holds your attention and proves that simplicity can be just as effective as experimentation when it is done well.

Twin Soul was the stand out track on the album for me from the way the narrative slowly reveals itself over each verse.

It’s a bitter sweet track slowly showing the worries and struggles of a relationship from an insecure narrator. The earnestness of the piece is what stood out to me and the ability of the vocals to reflect this fragility makes it work incredibly well:

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