Tag Archives: Track of the week

TOTW: Nobuo Uematsu_ The Oath

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This week I’m going back to the world of video games but with an alternative look at their Music.

Nobuo Uematsu is one of the legends of video game music and anyone slightly interested in the medium will know his work on the Final Fantasy series. Since the early days on consoles, with simple 8-bit sound chips that could only handle 5 sound channels right through to the CD era with its unlimited possibilities. He has managed to create music of a grand scale, almost orchestral in nature. He gave some of the biggest games of their time an authenticity of grandeur. Creating the equivalent of a hollywood blockbuster soundtrack with little more than his own creativity and a limited palate of equipment.

What amazes me about his work, especially as the games progressed, is just how much quality content he could create in a limited time frame. As the final fantasy series got larger and more ambitious so did his scores and during the Playstation one era the release of Final Fantasy 7,8 and 9 became epic in scale including sound. He concluded his exclusive scoring of the series with Final Fantasy 9 which consists of over 140 pieces of music all written by him in a year time period. A truly momentus achievement.

The Quality of the melody’s construction in his work, have allowed it to be arranged into music for both piano and the full orchestra. The music many people as children imagined as grand orchestral compositions, can now be heard in that way thanks to several CD’s and live performances.

The Oath is a track From Final Fantasy 8 and a personal favourite. A perfect example of his work arranged for orchestra:

TOTW: Holy Fuck_ Lovely Allen

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Although their name is quite abrasive, Holy Fuck’s music is nothing of the sort. They create uplifting electronic music using a collection of cheap keyboards and Toys mixed with Live drums and bass.

Although a lot of their music follows the constructs of more main stream electronica the technologies they use mixed with their ideology make It unique. Relying less on programming, sequencing and looping and playing all the pieces live creates a more freeform feel to their sound and makes there live performances more memorable than other electronic acts.

A perfect example of this is the uplifting track Lovely Allen available to watch performed live below:

TOTW: Son House_Grinnin’ In Your Face

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The blues is an area of music I don’t tend to tread on a regular basis, but some tracks strongly resonate in a way other genres can’t.

Grinnin’ In Your Face is as pure as the blues can be. Vocals and the occasional hand claps of Son House are the only instruments on the track. But this sparsity manages to convey a time and place. I can put this track on, close my eyes and be taken into the past of North america, to open fields and long wooden porches.

The gravity of Son House’s voice provides a weight of personal experience. Mix it with the hand claps that seem as if they are backing up a melody in Son House’s head we’re not privy to and your left with an intriguing piece of music that manages to both be historic and timeless:

TOTW: The Lincolnshire Poacher

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I’m bending the rules of TOTW for this post but the idea was to bring to your attention the things I have been listening to. Although you can’t call this a piece of music I have been fascinated by numbers stations since I heard about them a few months ago. The most famous of which is probably the Lincolnshire Poacher.

For those who don’t know, numbers stations are shortwave radio transmissions which can be picked up by anyone with a shortwave radio. They all usually start with a basic looping tune before going into a code. This can be morse code, a fluctuating signal or as in the Lincolnshire Poacher’s case is a collection of numbers.

Although no one has admitted to these broadcasts the fact that they would require large transmitters with a lot of power, have been running reportedly since the end of the second world war and are illegally using the bandwidth points towards a National origin. People believe these are codes from different nationalities secret services, to secret agents in other countries.

Whether you believe the speculation or not there is something about these broadcasts that manage to disturb and intrigue. Influencing artists Like Bords of Canada and Wilco who have used samples of numbers stations recordings in their own music.

For many years people have been cataloguing and recording the broadcasts and are available as The Conet Project either as CD’s or as free MP3 downloads. If you listen to and find the Lincolnshire Poacher as interesting as I do there is plenty more to listen to and read about online:

TOTW: Grandaddy_Underneath the Wheeping Willow

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The Sophtware Slump is an album I Love, I go back to it time and time again, yet it always seems to leave its understated charm on me.

What really stands out is the delivery of the lyrics. The tone in Jason Lytles voice manages to convey a naivety and longing that’s captivating. No other track on the album highlights these qualitys more than Underneath the Wheeping Willow.

It may be short but as it arrives towards the end of the album it really packs an emotional punch. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do:

TOTW: Beirut_ Elephant Gun

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Beirut’s blend of folk and world music (especially Balkan folk music) gives them a distinctive sound that makes them unique.

For me their stand out record is the Lon Gisland EP which comes with the UK release of Gulag Orkestar. In it’s five tracks it manages to blend and condense all the things that make Beirut great. A perfect starting point for any new listener.

As Lon Gisland’s opening track, Elephant Gun manages to mix the great folk stylings and tempos of Balkan folk. Everything falls into place as soon as the hopeful yet mournful melody of the brass section starts to develop:

TOTW: LCD Soundystem Feat Reggie Watts_You Can’t Hide

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LCD Soundystem’s development culminated in their last ever gig at Madison square gardens, whilst they were still at the peak of their careers.

Fortunately this gig was heavily documented and released as feature documentary “Shut Up and play the Hits” which followed front man, producer and musician James Murphy on the 3 days surrounding the gig. The Bonus feature on the release of the Blu-ray was the entire 29 song strong live show which features “You Can’t Hide” my track of the week.

Originally the opening to “45:33” a continuous track on a single CD “You Can’t Hide” was a bit rough arround the edges. But performed live It sums up what LCD manged to do best, apply their unique synth punk aesthetic over another genre. What starts as a arpeggiated synth line breaks into classic disco and the vocal mix of James Murphy and Reggie Watts is magical.

Unfortunately I was late to the party with LCD, only picking up on them seriously after they disbanded. In hindsight LCD soundsytem are a seminal act, Marking the turning point of american music. The integration of synthesis in modern rock, The development of the producer as a frontman and the proliferation of dance influencing mainstream american music are all evident here. LCD were a bellweather for things to come, filling a gap that music needed and all done with Murphy’s over analytical and witty lyrics in songs like “loosing my edge” which seem do define a generation. Their legacy will live on through many acts and the DFA Label which Murphy fronts.

TOTW: Disasterpeace_Synchrosynct

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This week I’m going back to highlighting music from video games. FEZ was a wonderfully complex puzzler that manged to develop its world to such a level of detail that it felt natural. The game is a real pleasure to just spend time in, aided in part by the brilliant score by Disasterpeace.

This Synth heavy soundtrack influenced by chiptune has been remixed by a collection of artists into two albums entitled Side F and Side Z. The original score of FEZ Manages to create allot with a very limited pallet due to the amount of detail in each part of the tracks.

This detail creates lots of great hooks throughout the soundtrack wich provide inspiration for the remixes found on these two albums. Synchrosynct is The opening track from The Side F Remix album and from Disasterpeace himself. The Track opens with a disorienting Syth note which Gives way to a sidechained Compressed Kick drum and Large open snare similar to most house music. Its bold and brash and I love it:

 

TOTW: Team Ghost_Things Are Sometimes Tragic

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I watched Team Ghost live a few weeks ago and bought their album Rituals. I’m a fan of the ‘NuGaze’ genre that is gaining prominence in modern pop. Team Ghost add a garage rock element that provides a contrasting rough edge to the produced electronica sheen found with other bands, whilst still keeping its catchy melodies and shimmering synth pads.

Things Are Sometimes Tragic Is powered by its metallic percussive line, built on with other percussion and synths throughout the piece and swelling to a driving collection of melodies and percussion that I can’t help resist tap my foot to:

TOTW: James Blackshaw & Lubomyr Melnyk_Tascheter

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In One Day James Blackshaw & Lubomyr Melnyk have improvised a beautiful album in The Watchers.

On the linked site for the album James Blackshaw quotes: “We set up, Lubomyr at the grand piano, me directly facing him with my 12-string guitar and began. I would retune at random between songs and together we would find interesting chord progressions, hints of melodies and ways in which to weave those immense overtones that Lubomyr is able to generate on the piano with those of my guitar. No more than two takes per song. Improvisation, spontaneous composition, whatever you want to call it. Either way, it truly felt as if the piano and guitar were as one – inseparable, parts of a bigger whole, a means by which for two people to make one sound. It never felt forced and never less than engaging. Lubomyr was always humble, jovial and open to ideas. The whole session lasted six hours.”

In those Six hours these 4 tracks were recorded and have intrigued me into many listens. What starts as almost chaos, slowly drifts in and out of these beautiful melodies, unpredictable but unforced, glimpses at true majesty.  The continuous playing of the guitar and Piano Creates this element of complexity, making it hard to attach your attention to any element for to long or even at all. This makes repeat listens highly rewarding as I still notice things in my 17th listen to the album. You truly get as much out of their music as you put in.

Tascheter is the opening track from the watchers: