Aphex Day

Thought I'd squeeze in a quick Aphex post for Avril 14.

Raji Rags has dropped a two-hour mix for Bleep today of  AFX classics and rarities.

Bleep · Bleep Mix #281 - Raji Rags - Aphex Twin Mix

Neis.

Related post: Happy Aphex Twin Day!

Futuromania Delayedia

I had a good post day today with Simon Reynold's new book Futuromania arriving. His first book in 8 years, Futuromania "shapes over two-dozen essays and interviews into a chronological narrative of machine-music from the 1970s to now." Right up my street.

It also came with a little fanzine called 'From Synthedelia to Memoradelia', which is nice. 

I'm reading Bob Mortimer's The Satsuma Complex at the mo, so I won't be diving straight into it, but expect tracks mentioned in it to crop up in future 9-in-1 lists. Though maybe not the next one as I think that's already full.

In the meantime, Reynolds did a guest show on NTS this week, so you can get a taste of what's to come.

NTS Latest · Simon Reynolds: Futuromania 090424

Numberwangs

I finished The Number Ones by Tom Breihan the other day - "Twenty chart-topping hits that reveal the history of pop music" is the blurb.

Another library find, the book is plucked from the Stereogum series and focuses on the Hot 100. I knew most of the tracks and was particularly looking forward to the later ones, big pop tracks from after I dropped out of following the charts.

So, I know I'm out of the loop, too old, too slow, but it still came as a surprise that I'd completely missed a track that's approaching 1 billion views on YouTube. A song that topped the US charts for seven weeks in 2016.

I'm talking about Black Beatles by Rae Sremmurd feat Gucci Mane...

I mean it's shite, but I should still be aware of it, right? How much else have I missed? And what have you missed? Everything is fractured, everything is walled off. Even the charts aren't the charts. As Breihan wraps up his book with a look at BTS and K-Pop, he states:

"... the Hit 100 is no longer a historical record of the music that dominates pop culture at any particular moment. Instead, the pop charts look more and more like a battlefield for competing fan armies."

And y'know I think that's a shame. Again, I'm acutely aware I'm an old bastard, but the charts should chart what's popular. 

And again, I'm saddened that we're losing a consensus, or shared experience, of what-happened-when, some cultural touchpoints which we can all acknowledge. It feels like sports are the only points-in-time events anymore, and even those are disappearing behind paywalls. Plus for the most part, the final score is the final score, an objective truth that can't be twisted or distorted.

Anyway, The Number Ones is a solid pick-up for anyone interested in pop, and particularly strong on tidbits and trivia. I mean, did you know that Chubby Checker was a pun on Fats Domino? Well, it didn't pop into my bubble.

PS: Use your local library before it's too late.

9 in 1 (33)

Am I hitting a dead end with the distorted pictures for these 9 in 1 lists?

M(h)aol - Pursuit

Heard this in the bath after my son decided to pee on me. 

To be clear, my son is four and it was an accident.

Good song this. Scratchy propulsive indie rock.

SYBS - Gwactor

Heard this in the car on the drive to Porthmadog the other weekend. Thankfully no pee was involved in this anecdote, though you could also call this scratchy propulsive indie rock.

Sachasom - Braf Oedd Byw

This and the previous SYBS tracks were the opening two tracks of a recent Mirain Iwerydd show on BBC Radio Cymru. Her show is well worth a listen to get a taste of some of the interesting stuff happening yn Gymraeg ATM.

Stereolab - Tempter

I preordered that Little Pieces Of Stereolab (A Switched On Sampler) album that's coming out soon.

 "Alongside the Switched on Vol 1-5 boxset, Stereolab are also releasing a budget priced, 15 track introduction to the Switched On series, taking 3 tracks from each volume and housed in a simple card wallet with bespoke artwork." 

Are there two finer words that "budget priced"? Anyway, while the CD is getting posted at the end of the month I got the mp3s straightaway and Tempter is one of the standout tracks. 

Hot science fact - I ordered the CD off Bleep rather Bandcamp as the postage was a lot less. You're welcome.

The Human League - The Sound Of The Crowd (Instrumental / 2012 Remaster)

Veronica Vasicka played this on her recent NTS show and stripped of most of the vocals, it really focuses on what a taut banger The Sound of The Crowd is.

Ginger Ale - Happy House (D.Funked Remix by Dexter)

Richard Sen kicked off a recent show on Do!! You!!! with this 00s electro cover of Siouxsie and The Banshees. It veers very close to naff, but there's just enough here to keep it to the right side of the banger line.

N.E.R.D - Run To The Sun

Flo Dill on NTS now, dropping some sweet summery nostalgia.

The Doobie Brothers - What A Fool Believes

I felt the sun's warmth on my face for the first time in a long time the other day. And that means it's Doobie Brothers time.

Alien Ant Farm - Movies

There are a lot of tracks I heard on the radio in this list but this one takes the biscuit. When OG played Movies on Do!! You!!! it was a moment. It may have fixed me. I found February really hard, with the rain and illness and the rain and work and the rain. I even managed to fit in a tiny menty b and walked out of work and all the way to Cowbridge.

But hearing Alien Ant Farm - of all things - flicked a switch. It's curdled nostalgia but it worked and I feel a lot better now. The power of music, lads, the power of music.

9 in 1 (32)

Suppose it was only a matter of time before PhotoMosh started watermarking and charging. TBF I've been using it for years on here, surprised it hasn't happened before like.

A Tribe Called Quest - Dis Generation

Q-Tip and Busta Rhymes still doing it. You love to hear it.

David Axelrod - Holy Thursday

Gotta say I only really know this from Lil Wayne's Dr Carter but it seems it's been sampled extensively and used on all sorts of soundtracks including a GTA game. Incredible jazz funk rock from 1968.

Ouri - Down

Throbbing electronic music from Ghostly in 2018 though it sounds a little older than that. I heard this on Hyperdawn's Sunday Mix for Crack Magazine last month.

Youandewan - Be Good To Me, Poly

When those chords start I always think it's gonna be a bit Radiohead then it starts twisting and twinkling and ends up nearer early Caribou... and looking at the YouTube comments, it samples Weird Fishes by Radiohead, so there you go.

KLF - What Time Is Love?

Right, the next couple of tracks have all been mentioned in Party Lines, Ed Gillett's excellent exploration of dance music and British culture. The first half of the book is particularly strong, debunking the myth that acid house exploded out of nowhere in 1987 when Paul Oakenfold et al brought the music, the pills, and the vibes back from Ibiza. Instead, it traces a lineage of 'illegal' partying through the New Traveller movement of the 1980s, the free festival scene of the 1970s, and blues dances and sheebeens of the 60s. 

Smith and Mighty - Bass Is Maternal

Party Lines also traces how the state suppressed these gatherings and through the co-opting of rave, we've ended up at business techno and santisied festivals. There are other excursions in the book, from a stinging takedown of Boiler Room, plague raving during the panny d, and the rise of pirate radio, but it's the first half that really sticks.  

Will Powers - Adventures in Success

Actually, the stuff on the Nine o'Clock Service, which blended rave music with Christian worship in Sheffield is also mind-boggling. Turns out it was a personality cult riddled with sexual and psychological abuse, with people still coming forward over 30 years later. Proper grim.

DJ Pierre - Box Energy

Also in this section about Christian worship and dance music, it mentions a Channel 4 show fronted by Adam Buxton called God In The House. You will not see anything more cringingly 90s and it's no massive surprise that Dr Buckles doesn't ever bring it up.

Red Hot Entertainment - Junior Spesh (ft. Jaxor, Klayze Flaymz, Terra & Ray)

Anyway, I really dug Party Lines, especially as picked it up by chance from the local library, something I've not done in years.

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Feels like it's only a matter of time before they come for the libraries. Get down there while you can.

And yes that's Kiell Smith-Bynoe.