8 in 1 (5)

More music I've been enjoying lately. Classic hip-hop, post-punk revivalism, soulful house and a song about Alexa all feature...

Finn - RTS‌

Closing out his recent mix for Resident Advisor (RA.746 - Finn) with his own soulful filter house jam is a nice touch, just like the mix into it from Trotters Independent Traders' Gotta Believe. Tidy. 

‌The Fall - Hit The North

How many tracks from The Fall will I include in these X in 1 lists before I admit I'm a fan?

 ‌A Tribe Called Quest - Bonita Applebum

Just some smooth AF classic hip hop.

‌Holy Tongue - Emet

Liquid Liquid-like dubby punk-funk from Al Wootton (who used to be Deadboy) and Valentina Magaletti. The whole Holy Tongue EP is on this tip, bang into it.

‌Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Turn Into

I'd like to tell you all about it [guitar solo that sounds like a theremin]. 

Dug out Show Your Bones the other day and goddammit I love the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I looked at a couple of album reviews from when it came out, and there were some sniffy critiques, mainly around it not being as good as Fever To Tell... but what is? Show Your Bones is still a solid LP.

The ‌Futureheads - Man Ray

Another hit of post-punk revivalism. Man, I just want this to be over and be in a sweaty, dark room jumping around to The Futureheads.

Boards of Canada - Duffy

One of the snippets from This is Hexagon Sun, Duffy is one of the very few tracks that has been confirmed as BOC from the phase where they only handed out their music to friends and family. It's off Acid Memories from 1989.

‌The Cool Greenhouse - Alexa 

I adore novelty songs that speak to a specific time. This critique of voice assistants is funny, to the point, and a bit like a cross between Art Brut and The Teenagers. Trevor Jackson played it on his latest NTS show and it's available to pre-order on some weird random colour eco-vinyl 7".

Related post: 8 in 1 (3.0)

Buzz Jónsi

 

I reviewed Jónsi's new album, Shiver, for Buzz Magazine this week. Well, I gotta do something on my week off now that I can't leave Cardiff.

Anyway, Salt Licorice is the clear highlight from the Sigur Rós vocalist's solo album, as any track featuring Robyn usually is. Oh and A.G. Cook from PC Music co-produced it. Nice.

Shiver is out today (Friday 2 October 2020).

Related posts: Previous Buzz reviews yerr and I appear to have my own tag on Buzz which is nice.

This is Hexagon Sun

This is Hexagon Sun: A Video on Boards of Canada sat in my recommended list on YouTube for about a month.

It was there for a while because an 80+ minute fan video for one band is a bit of an ask. Yet, footloose and fancy-free on a Friday evening - and two cans deep into the Champigneulles - it was time to give it a go. And I'm happy to say it was worth the time.

It thankfully eschews voice narration (bar the odd snippet from John Peel) and lets Boards of Canada's sublime music breathe, with details and insight shared in captions. Visually it's very BoC, all grainy archive footage and fractals, and as such, you can slip it on and let it stream, drifting in when a sample catches your ear. 

As well as a relaxing slow TV-like watch, This is Hexagon Sun is also thoroughly researched. I learned a lot on a band I thought I knew quite well. For while I own all the main Warp albums, I didn't know that BoC has been active since 1989 nor how convoluted the campaign was for 2013's Tomorrow's Harvest.

This is Hexagon Sun is clearly a labour of love, so it's a little bit of a shame that it only has 40,000 views. So why not crack open a Champigneulles and give it a go?

Related post: Boards of Chinook

Original image: model's own.

10 in 1 (2)

Once again, I am asking you to give two hoots about what I've been listening to recently.

Au Pairs - Inconvenience

Scratchy punk-funk from 1981. Post-punk will never die on Ceefax of Life.

‌Parris - Soft Rocks With Socks

As featured on Joy Orbison's new Radio 1 Residency show, Soft Rocks With Socks by Parris is a little plinky mellow roller that's tidy like.

‌Giorgio Moroder - The Chase

Giorgio doing what Giorgio does - 13 minutes of glorious electronic disco music.

‌Autolux - Plantlife 

As featured on Erol Alkan's NTS show on 1 September, Autolux is one of those bands that I can't quite figure out how I've never heard of before now. Like shoegazy alt rockers going at it since 2001, I mean c'mon, how? 

‌Scan X - The Soul

As featured on the seminal (well for me it was) Sonar 2003 CD. Got it just after my 18th birthday for £14.99 in the Virgin Megastore on Queen Street. Pretty sure there's a picture of me holding it up with a pint of Guinness outside the 'little' O'Neill's on what Google Maps says is Trinity Street. Time is slipping through our hands like sand.

Oh the track? It's driving thumping techno mate. Came out on the French label F Communications, who are celebrating 25 years this year. Bon Anniversaire, Laurent Garnier! Time again. 

‌

No_4mat - 1992

YouTube decided that last week I really needed to listen to some lo-fi house spliced with hauntological videos. And it was right.

‌999999999 - love 4 rave

See above but replace lo-fi house with nosebleed techno. The footage is of an Osho's dynamic meditation session. Looks a right laugh. 

Bustin

I know this is a joke but it still slaps. I don't make the rules. Do you reckon Ray Parker Jr has seen it yet? 

Bustin bustin bustin bustin bustin bustin bustin bustin bustin bustin bustin bustin.

Hiroshi Yoshimura - Green

I feel like this should be higher in this list, even though there's no ranking to these things. Why? Because I've been listening to so much Hiroshi Yoshimura this week.

And similar to Autolux above, I'm not sure how I've never heard of him before now. I mean he's the godfather of Japanese Ambient for crying out loud. You'd think during my big Susumu Yokota phase I would've found a pointer somewhere. But nope, and here we are in 2020.

Anyway, thanks to the YouTube algorithm for dishing up Soundscape 1 surround 1986 on Monday and kicking off a big week for Hiroshi Yoshimura in this household.

Also, I'm wracking my brain over where I've heard Green previously. Someone's either sampled it, used it in a mix, or it's a been on a soundtrack. As you can see, I've not really got very far with figuring this out

‌Hudson Mohawke - Vitalize

Another month, another collection of HudMo rarities dropped onto Bandcamp. Happy days. Vitalize is off Poom Gems. Lovely artwork again.

Related post: 10 in 1

Radio 1 Residency: Autumn 2020 Update

Another six months, another shuffle of the Radio 1 Residency slots.

Fitting with the times, this new roster doesn't really do it for me. Here's why.

Caribou's shows were essential and even Grimes's oddball selections have been worth a listen. Both are out after one season. They're joined by Paul Woolford AKA Special Request. This is especially gutting, as his raucous shows have always been top top stuff, with him dropping cutting edge electronic music from the harder end of the spectrum, as well as the odd early hardcore classic. It was a lesson.

And the replacements? Well, there's the Legendary DJ EZ decent start like, it could be good to hear where UK Garage is at right now. Joy Orbison might be alright, though I wasn't fussed on his first show. I gotta say, I don't know who Amelia Lens is, sorry. And then there's the giant shrug that is Disclosure.

Still, at least Teki Latex and Saoirse are returning.

Ins and Outs of Radio 1 Residency Autumn/Winter 2020

Ins

• Disclosure
• Joy Orbison
• Amelie Lens
• DJ EZ

Outs

• Paul Woolford AKA Special Request
• Caribou
• Grimes
• Denis Sulta

Remainers

• Eris Drew + Octo Octa
• Teki Latex
• Sherelle
• Saoirse

Bios and pics are up on the BBC Radio 1 website.

It feels weird not posting any music, so here's the last track from Special Request's last show, FBD Project - The Core, proper '93 jungle mate.

Related posts:

• Radio 1 Residency: Spring 2020 Update 
• Radio 1 Residency Goes On and On