the sun is shining the music is PLAYING | 07/08/20

Hello all of you! I'm choosing the hottest day of the year in London to get round to writing this, probably because I don't have the willpower to do anything but flutter my fingers over a keyboard. I'm finding less and less time to write bits these days, and obviously less events to write about, which is sad. But I will always keep this up in some form; I've been learning to produce my own tracks recently and as results get better, potentially I'll start including some production breakdowns of interesting bits I've done during the process on here, if that sounds cool. Anyway, today I want to do some old school 'let's talk about the music' analysis so have taken a handful of tracks to talk about. As usual, let's look at a male vocal, female vocal, upbeat electronic, ambient, but can't resist two wildcards this time. Sit tight, get your iced coffee ready and let's go... 

#1 - I Wonder Why - Joesef, Loyle Carner

The endless stream of the on-beat tipper-tapper on the hihat underplays the dulcet tones of Joesef and Loyle Carner's classic flow. While the latter's verse is briefer than feels fitting, both bring a cool serenity to the track. Backing vocal 'ooo's and bulging strings merge and split to provide a lush bed for the leads and the guitar provides some countermelody, particularly in the spoken verse. It feels very 'smoke over a burnt orange sunset' throughout, with the soundscape settled very firmly into evening chill-out. It's the first collaboration I've heard from Glasgow's Joesef so far, and does go down very well, although I can imagine more exciting combinations in the future.

#2 - A Mirror - Kllo

Kllo's new album 'Maybe We Could' dropped a couple weeks ago, providing us all with a reflective peace to bounce against our eardrums. This track in particular actually sounds like your reflection in a lake, the beat ripples that wobble across it. The vocals in the first minute are spread across the stereo field and at different octaves, building up slowly on top of each other, giving the sense of whispering and chattering around your head. As we continue, the vocal samples continue to build in and out of each other, and the drop at 01:23 lends interest but doesn't break the peace. The plucked harp-like instrument coming in after the third minute broadens the stylistic influence on the tune, setting us up for one more drop and keeping the pace up. A lovely little number, but really do take the time to listen to the whole album for further context.

#3 - SYL - salute

If I had to describe salute's sound, I'd say it's the authenticity of UK garage injected with whatever's in Super Mario's mushrooms. Elements feel old school, yet there's something almost hyperreal in the brightness of sounds chosen. SYL is a case study into this, with the rising melodic motifs reaching into the heavens and pitched up vocals even more celestial. The EP also features 'Glamour Loop' and a version of this in reverse with the drums rearranged. It's fascinating how great they both sound, but particularly with the reverse version how intended it sounds. Not even sure which one is my favourite, although SYL makes the list for me as I haven't been able to get that 8-note melody that unites the core concept out of my head. Big fan of the album art also; the beams of bright light leaking into the landscape uncontrollably feels like a great reflection of the sound itself.

#4 Pius in Tacet - Pantha Du Prince

Pantha Du Prince, aka Hendrik Weber, is a german composer, producer and conceptual artist, and that's exactly what this track feels like; art. The brooding rhythms of the metallophone keep the trance of the track continuous as the beat brings us between moments of tension and release. Percussion from around the world is reminiscent of Bonobo's style, and the snare from about 03:30 breathes some fresh air into the story. I find the cello to be one of the most wonderful, earthy and emotive instruments in the world, and to have it used here for the bassline allows Weber to ground what otherwise feels like a very ethereal atmosphere. It's enjoyable to hear regardless, but its solemnity really brings something special when listening in solitary contemplation.

#5 - Ur2yung - Machinedrum

Machinedrum is back with an album releasing on Ninja Tune! Can't say I'm not excited. This one was an instant first-listen banger for me. The way low and high pass filters are used constantly throughout just makes you feel so gassed when the unfiltered hook comes back in every single time. It's an example of how a track that remains rhythmically the same for very long periods can avoid ear fatigue. The enormously stretched out section from 2:13 is particularly unexpected, but incredibly satisfying to allow your mind to sink into after the groove so far. It just feels very new and exciting from the North Carolinian native, and I can't wait to hear what else he has up his sleeve.

#6 - Up Inna - Cadenza, M.I.A., GuiltyBeatz

To be honest, this is the first track I've heard M.I.A. on that I've loved in a long while, and that alone has had me obsessed. Everything about it feels rapid and frantic, bringing you into the frenzy right from the get go. Just as you think there are moments of repose, the next line of agitation begins to build in. I love the occasional moment of unique movement in the bassline, and various sounds that are stylistic of South Asian music are blended in to add that flavour without feeling cheesy or try-hard. Something about the way words seem to permeate the entire track but without ever carrying the meaning in the song fascinates me. It's almost addictive, and bonus points for being a great one to run to. 

So, that should do it for this post. I'm going to try and make it to the electronic music exhibition at the Design Museum in the next few weeks, so hopefully next time I sit down to write it's about an event, for the first time in a long time! Really enjoying the playlist I've put together this week, which you can listen to here. Enjoy the rest of the heatwave weekend everyone! xx

Day Festivals | Lovebox | Junction 2 | 15/7/19

Hey, how is everyone? It's been a hot few weeks and summer is definitely in full swing, weekends have been busy and the sky is still light till about 10pm. I was walking through a park in Elephant and Castle the other day and about 5 different groups of people were having barbecues, everyone was smiling at each other and it makes me soooo happy. It really does seem to go quickly though, I can't believe we're already halfway through July! I've been to a couple day festivals so far, with Lovebox being this weekend just gone and Junction 2 happening at the beginning of June. I've enjoyed both, but also found it interesting how different the experiences were.

First of all, Junction 2 is a newer instalment, and it stills feels relatively young. While the size probably works out being pretty similar, it didn't have the internal world feel of a festival but rather a handful stages/tents dotted around. It's not really an issue, but maybe takes away from the encapsulated excitement you get most of the time. That being said, the setting is incredible, and very much unique. The most obvious fixture is the fact that the second stage is situated underneath a motorway, and with rain forecast all day it was a relief to know there would be some shelter. On the way, there, you pass over a babbling stream, and the open space of the main stage sits right next to a small wooded area. It breaks it up nicely, and manages to cover a lot of different scenery in a relatively small space. The token system is pretty crap though; the drink prices are set up to be just over the minimum amount of tokens you can get, and then as they multiply the problem continues, so you essentially end up wasting money unless you spend a lot in there. Not cool.

Musically, I mean it was phenomenal. Everything I heard in there was quality, and while the focus centered around house and techno for sure, disco and so on provided variety and kept it light. Daphni was pure, undulterated fun, main stage bangers. It was around the time 'Sizzling' had just come out and so the crowd was hyped when that came on, but my favourite moment was him dropping a song called 'Baiana'. Based off a folk song from Bahia, the arrangement by the Brazilian producers Barbuteques is sick, and Daphni used the silence under the chant, followed by the beat slowly building up as a real crowdpleaser. DJ Koze was my personal favourite for all the same reasons I saw him at Printworks. 'Pick Up' followed by 'Operator' just doesn't get old, and this time he closed it off with 'It'll All Be Over'. So, so good, and I got quite emotional at how nostalgic the tracks already feel. You can't not have a good time at his sets, and I enjoyed dancing to one in the light of day this time. If you're looking for the intense stuff, Daniel Avery was definitely providing it, and I've got to say Bicep were probably the best choice to finish everything off. They're accesible, everyone is going to enjoy it, and 'Opal' followed by 'Glue' to finish off as night has fallen, gave a great light show. It was wonderfully emotive, and definitely ended on a high note. Getting out of the festival was easy enough, it didn't seem to be too crowded. 

Lovebox has been going for over 15 years and is certainly much more well known. With that, of course, comes certain downsides, and the whole day felt a lot more commercial for sure. the payment system was much more straightforward with card machines for most things, but it seemed like the focus was constantly on trying to get you to spend money rather than just the music. There were plenty of gimmicks, massages and fairground rides, and all of that really isn't my thing. That being said, there was so much variety in food on offer, and while the queues were very long at times, the bar staff seemed pretty great. The crowd was a mixed batch, but leaned more towards not great if I'm honest. I feel like I can't be surprised, and didn't expect it to be any better. Oh, and it was hot. Being there the whole day I had to make sure I took some time for shade breaks, I can't even imagine how intense the Saturday of Glastonbury must have been. 

Now while I'll say straight away that I was blown away much more by the music at Junction 2, it was all still enjoyable this time, and the diversity of sound was clear throughout. We were aiming to arrive for Amber Mark around lunch, but as you'd expect we were a bit late and only really caught the last song, 'Way Back'. It was still worth it, and it's a shame her amazing voice was only shown to the small early hours crowd. It wasn't my first time seeing it, but Rodigan's Outlook Orchestra is always fun during the day, and breaks up your expectations from a standard set, taking you through the development of Caribbean music through the 20th century. Shifting away from anything remotely acoustic for a while, Krystal Klear's set was jokes, quirky, upbeat, and got me properly dancing for the day. I missed a bit in the middle so not sure if they played it, but was quite sad not to hear 'Neutron Dance' live, cause that would have been one to remember. Jayda G always knows how to create a proper party atmosphere, and coming on straight after her set complimented the last one well, bringing it back to earth from outer space but maintaining the funky vibe. 

Back into live music, Brockhampton made their UK exclusive performance, and it was definitely gas. I can't say I was part of the real fan crowd, but I enjoyed their performance loads, and everyone was going mental lol. Lots of stagecraft kept the eyes busy, and heavy bass and consistent bars kept it gritty and exhilarating. Back into electronic for a bit of Ross From Friends, who I've seen before but honestly this was great. The mosh was less aggressive than I'd been in before so maybe that was why, but 'Talk To Me You'll Understand' and 'Bootman' back to backed, getting you dancing to those filtered hi-hats for a solid ten minutes. Four Tet was amazing, but no need to reiterate things yet again. The only thing I'll say is his inclusion of 'Skeng' was unexpected and a showstealer. It fit with the overall atmosphere of the day, and felt like a solid throwback. I only caught the first fifteen minutes of Chance The Rapper as stuff was going on in my group at this point, but his opening was so exciting and you could tell it was the highlight of the festival. He commanded the stage pretty much immediately, and as everyone collected to watch, unity was coming out for the big finish. Wish I could say more on him, but as you can see the variation in styles of performance was constant and really noticeable. I have to give Lovebox credit for that, as it's hard to pull off while still having a clear theme musically. 

Both had their strong points, but in terms of the technicalities of the festival itself, I'd say Junction 2 won out quite substantially, especially as ticket prices were a lot cheaper, although Lovebox is more accessible. If anything, they made me yearn for a proper camping festival already, to really get the sense of being at home and the authentic microcosm experience.

On an unrelated note, I've decided I want to occasionally mention 'throwback albums' that I notice give me a real impact unexpectedly when relistening. This time, it's M.I.A.'s 'Kala', a real classic. She's one of my favourite pop stars of all time and I really respect the interesting stuff she does with her music. I've felt for a while that her first album 'Arular' is my favourite, with the consonance of the drum machine bringing the whole work together, the simplicity of the production and the clear determination to produce something to get notice. I might be changing my mind, though. With a lot more financial and label backing, M.I.A. travelled the world to record the instrumentation and vocals in the tracks, and the combination of sounds and cultures is incredibly unique, with different ends of the earth meeting and clashing and blending in ways that just work. 'Mango Down Pickle River' features indigenous Australians, The Wilcannia Mob, and Afrikan Boy on 'Hussel' is brilliant. Solid stand alone tracks 'Bamboo Banga', 'Boyz', 'Jimmy', 'XR2' and of course 'Paper Planes' provide a backbone for the album, but it's all great. Listen to it all together, it's well worth the hour.
Anyway, that's it for this post, hope you enjoyed, and I believe there's some exciting music coming out soon, so hopefully I can do a proper new album review at some point. kind regards xxx

The Sounds That Surround Us | 19/4/19

Helloooo everyone, how are we doing? I'm currently in Singapore for work stuff, and having never left Europe before, can honestly say, humidity is mad. So is jet lag. I don't get it, really, because I swap around my sleep cycle on the weekend anyway, but this ish hits different. Anyway, none of that is relevant to my topics today, which essentially cover some thoughts I've had on a listener's relationships with sounds that surround them and how this plays into music. Might not make much sense now, but I promise I'm going somewhere with this. 

First of all, there's much to be said about the relationship and inter-influences between video games and music. I read a really incredible article by Patrick Hilton which I'll link here which reaffirmed my ideas and eloquently articulates the ways in which the two are linked. Essentially, I think that the reason electronic music appeals to our generation a lot more than older ones (not to say it can't, just a comparison with numbers) relies on the sounds we hear growing up. Since we've constantly heard synthesised sounds, electronic, 8-bit melodies and effects, we're familiar with both the personal associations we make with these sounds - winning or losing certain games, happy childhood memories - and the general ones that come with the intended purpose of the sounds. We therefore have an empathetic connection with them, and a musician is then an artist in the way he can combine these in a form of both emotive and musical euphony. The article above breaks down how subconsciously interspersed this idea is with the example of the first video game, Pong. Unable to recreate the actual sound of a paddle hitting a ball, the game designers created an entirely new effect that sounds nothing like the real life version, and yet in our heads of course this is the sound it makes. It's a really interesting idea, and in the grand scheme of things you can see how these technological sounds then redefined what music could sound like to the children of that time. 

It's indicative of a constant dynamic between music and culture. What I think is really interesting with video games is how ahead of their time the music and sounds within them ended up being. Hilton explains how the constrictions of the software they had forced them to think outside the box in how they would still be enjoyable and appeal to their audience. As a result, lots of the music became iconic, and undeniably extremely influential on music being produced right up until today. I've mentioned him before for this exact topic, but Burial is a prime example of this, especially relevant considering how influential his own sound has been. He uses Metal Gear Solid effects in 'Archangel', Zelda sounds in 'Indoors' and 'Young Death', and the list goes on. There's a small sample in 'Wear Me Down' - Ross from Friends that heavily resembles the opening theme of Ocarina of Time, and Ryan Hemsworth and Kero Kero Bonito's music are examples of sounds where you can really hear the correlation. Of course, it extends beyond this into everything, really - honestly, read that article, he does a way better job at breaking this down than me.

This then got me thinking about the more general digital influences on music as we've grown up, and there's a couple of other points of interest. The PC music record label, Danny L Harle, Hannah Diamond etc., (+ SOPHIE, although I don't know if she's actually PC) provides us with this ultra-synthetic textures and sounds, heavily pitch-shifted vocals and strong distortions. It's a very tech-age gender statement, like a form of drag, and so it shows how the sounds of technology evolve to reflect this. Something else quite cool, MIA's album MAYA is innovative and before its time in terms of addressing internet privacy that is being discussed all over the place now. You really hear it in the sound of the album, with the jarring and heavily dissonant, and so it's another perspective on digitally influenced sound, this time with the rise of the internet and a paranoia of surveillance and privacy in the work.

So, as these kind of sounds make a rise in relevance as technology surrounds us more and more, what about sounds that have always been there? What about the sounds of nature? We're all a part of this planet and so we understand how it communicates and how these communications reflect emotionally within us. The calm of crashing waves, the wind rippling rustling through forest trees, these sounds are all heavily atmospheric and have their place in music. 'Monsoon' by Amber and Mia Mark is lyrically heart-wrenching as it describes the pain of the loss of their mother, and with the namesake of the song this is complimented wonderfully in the pitter-patter of the rain behind the creaking percussion and husky vocals. I watched Our Planet recently, as I'm sure everyone else has, and it really hit home that, to be quite honest, we are definitely going to kill the planet unless we do something about it now. It's just sad, it's disappointing that as a race we can't see past ourselves enough to stop it happening. From a musical perspective I think about what we'd be losing. 

Don't get me wrong, I obviously love mechanical, manufactured and synthesised sounds, but anyone who knows me will tell you that ultimately my taste comes in submerging this within traditional, analog, acoustic and natural sounds in a way that makes them sound as one. 'Dead Wind' uses the ambience of crashing waves and the rest of 'The Sailor and The Mountain' uses more natural sounds, 'In McDonalds' drives home Burial's melancholy with rainfall. Branko's 'Let Me Go', Affelaye's 'Whir' both combine traditional and electronic sounds. Ultimately, acoustic instruments rely on nature in what they inherently are. If music is influenced by the sounds that surround us, then the maintenance of natural life couldn't be more important. I'm not saying these sounds wouldn't exist, but as they are part of nature we maintain that emotional connection to the sounds while the planet lives on, we share a mutual understanding. The heartbreak of rain. The ecstasy in sun spells. The calm of night.

Sooooo maybe I got too deep into that, but you get what I mean! I'm visiting Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong and Langkawi in the next couple of weeks so hopefully will have some cool stuff to share next time I write something. Other than that, Four Tet's Alexandra Palace gig is coming up in a couple of weeks so get ready to hear about that, I've been planning to talk about it for about six months lol. Hopefully get some good footage of the lights too, gonna be mega. Anyway, have a nice week xx