The listening pleasures of us and our mates seems to have taken over the site this week. Normal service will be resumed from Monday, I promise.
We’ll bring it to an end today with this list from Kieran Evans followed by the choice of Stephen Wilkinson, known to his record buying public as Bibio.
Kieran is a film maker friend of ours who has impeccable taste in music and everything on this list will definitely be worth investigating.
We wrote lovingly of Bibio’s latest album, ‘Ambivalence Avenue’, on it’s release and it’s still on heavy rotation in the CBTR tackle shed. I couldn’t resist adding a track that I’m particularly fond of from that record, the ever so pretty ‘Lover’s Carvings’. (JB)
Hey Jeff
Have had a few tech issues with getting you more CBTR stuff over… Hard Drive went down…grrrr….normal service resuming soon. Will try and get the last of the Port Eliot Fest sorted this weekend….loving Fionn’s album btw. Been reading everyones fave CBTR music bits so thought I’d throw my tuppence worth in with what’s filling the air in my studio at the mo…Have a good weekend!
Yo La Tengo – Popular Songs
I love YLT. There’s something wonderfully stubborn about them…and they do have an ear for melody and words…and soul music…so with that in mind they’ve gone and recorded another great album…but in their own unique way…9 short and classic tracks topped off with three epic, sonic barrages at the end that last longer than the 9 tracks that have just passed…there’s that stubbornness again…god bless em..
Judee Sill – Live in London BBC Recordings 1972-1973
There’s an ok-ish covers album of Judee Sill songs called Crayon Angel out at the mo but this is a fantastic intro to an amazing songwriter…Compiled from a few BBC sessions over a two year period, it’s just mainly voice guitar, piano and hushed tones…The chat in between songs is as illuminating as the performances. She clearly was someone who thought about her work a lot and reworked her songs constantly. Some tracks pop up a few times…but no two songs sound the same…they just remind you what an immense talent she was.
Soulsavers – Broken
Another amazing soundtrack album to an imaginary film…they’re probably bored of that cliched description but any music that conjures up this level of atmosphere and intensity deserves to have a film made for it.
Washed Up – Life Of Leisure
Came across this on one of my late night web trawls…it sounds like a lo-fi 80’s NYC electro / disco hybrid but laden with guitar hooks and a phasey vocal which creeps up on you and sticks in your head…for days…
Cluster and Eno – Cluster & Eno
From soundalikes to true originals…it’s Mr Eno and German chums Cluster proving how exciting and experimental electronic music could be. Running at only 36 minutes, it also reminds you that the best electronic albums always leave you wanting more. This could soundtrack any sunset. Fab cover too.
Memory Tapes – Seek Magic
Opening track Swimming Field sounds like something Sakamoto and the Cocteau Twins would have made together…and that’s not a bad starter…from here you go on a real musical road trip through electronic sounds and beats before being dumped in a desert car park…
and finally, two incredible remixes that literally make me want the weekend to begin right now. Both works of genius and both with a Scandanavian slant…I really need to go clubbing in Oslo soon.
Lindstrom & Christabelle – Baby Can’t Stop (Aeroplane Mix)
The Phenomenal Handclap Band – You’ll Disappear (Prins Thomas Diskomiks)
now over to Stephen;
“In September I received a promo copy of Hudson Mohawke’s new album ‘Butter’ from Warp. It’s a notch-up from previous stuff I’d heard, some of which I also thought was really great. See Hudson for me has a very distinctive sound, kind of kitsch at times, sometimes spindly, plasticky even, but this is what I like about it. It’s got groove. Hudson did something I’ve been waiting for with ‘Butter’, he has incorporated sounds which contrast with the current trends and in particular it contrasts with the current genre in which he is supposedly placed, which right now is all about stodgy compressed beats and 8 bit blips. But he’s using sparkly 80s FM piano type sounds, general midi woodwind instruments and other sounds which according to some may be considered risky. Despite using those sounds, it doesn’t sound like a shallow quest to be ironic, which is prevalent in today’s pseudo-bohemian culture, instead he’s made those antiquated kitsch digital voices sound fresh by placing them in a context which is certainly playful, but not dumb. Some of this album is classic Hud Mo, some of it is pure forward-thinking pop, like some kind of twisted DIY Quincy Jones-esque project. I can see the dude being asked to produce many a vocalist in the future, people are definitely going to want a slice of his imagination.”
Hudson Mohawke at Warp, click HERE.
Click HERE to go to Bibio’s myspace page where you can hear more great music and check out his films too, he’s good this kid.