A remix/reinvention of Brooks’ MUSIC FOR DIETER RAMS, a radiophonic marvel in which every single note and sound was sourced from the Dieter Rams-designed Braun AB-30 alarm clock. It was a fascinating bit of work, but RECONSTRUCTIONS is more my speed – reconfiguring the original piece as a 21-minute long motorik ride-out into a very beautifully designed aether. The redoubtable Head Technician of Pye Corner Audio gives it some proper kosmische on the accompanying piece. Stream it here, or click through and buy for four quid. Splendid.
Regular reader will recognise the latter three names as being well-beloved in this parish. These three pieces, amusingly tagged on Soundcloud as “satanic psychedelia,” are as magnificently strange and beautiful as you would expect.
In which the Head Technician leaves behind much of his radiophonic and classical hauntological experimentation and heads off into realms I described on the twitters as British Cosmic. Passing through the 70s TV memoryscape mined by The Advisory Circle, the record crosses into a zone of distortion and beats that is (to me) clearly Kosmische, loping and yet frequently meditational. Analog electronic spacelaunch. And it seems to touch down, on the last track, in a warped Leyland Kirby wasteland, reality foaming at the edges, beautiful and unsettling. It took me a couple of listens to warm up to it: it’s not as immediately pretty as its predecessors, but I’ve found it’s richer and more rewarding. Stream it for free here or click through and buy it for cheap.
Music inspired by the QUATERMASS tv series (which I’ve talked your ear off about many a time before), by Ian Holloway. Ian also does the world a favour by producing his occasional Wonderful Wooden Reasons online music review magazine, unearthing some of the stranger sounds you’ll hear this year. Anyway, this is a properly alien piece of late-night atmospherics, very much befitting the source. G’night.
Meredith Yayanos, longtime friend and editor of COILHOUSE magazine, put me on to this the other day. In her other life, Mer’s a musician, and she will be recording strings for Kristine Barrett’s new album, of which this is a preview of sorts.
Mer describes Kristine’s work as “ageless, eerie song incantations.” Which will do for me, tonight. Good night.
I am very fond of Finland’s fine Fonal Records. They release fascinating work in beautiful packaging. And now they have put up a shitload of their output as a streaming jukebox. According to their tweet, some seven hours and twenty two minutes of music. So that’s me sorted for the day.
John Twells started recording as Xela some time ago. I’ve played some of his work here from time to time, and I know some of you have liked it. Now, there is a final Xela piece, and a blog entry from John (who began as Xela in Walsall and moved to the US), explaining why.
This was a project that for better or for worse lived and died in the muddy puddles outside the Arboretum, and in the 50p bin on the VHS stall at Bescot Market. It doesn’t have any relevance here in Massachusetts, and that’s why I’m bringing things to a close. I’ll still be making music of course, but it feels good to say ‘this is the end’ of this particular era…
Click through for a direct download link for the whole thing:
An update on Nightvision for the curious reader: I am about to announce a series of new editorials and guest mixes; (hint: Moon Wiring Club, Felix Kubin, and John Foxx fans take note). Plans for the Nightvision radio hour are also nearing completion; details on the main show have to remain a secret for now, but I can announce I’ll be doing some XFM cameos again soon, as well as something special on London Fields Radio in January. The live project kicks off in March/April in NYC!
For annoying, (but honest and unavoidable) reasons, I’ve been a bit delayed in rolling out the initiative. Basically, I’ve been traveling, drama-seeking, working my arse off at my daytime magazine job, and ‘dealing with a bunch of boring life-altering shit’ etc. But hold tight, because a lot is about to happen very quickly, starting this week. And luckily, some worthwhile musical osmosis has transpired in the mean time; so many amazing new (and rediscovered) tunes have emerged on my radar, some of which you’ll hear below in a new mutant pop mix I just brewed up. It’s called (Super) Novecano, a nod to various November modes: nihilistic, volcanic, numb, the beautiful decay of a supernova. I stuck a photo of Vivien Leigh on the ‘cover’ because she’s the queen of extremes, and just about everything else.
This is a schizoid pop mix filled with twists and turns; it’s restless, distracted, bipolar, blissful, bratty, leering, contemplative, tragic. A post-genre jumble of sounds with a few thematic tricks at play. There are moments of euphoria and lust and moments of no return. Pop neurons crosswired with something scarier: manipulations from a mindset hellbent on Xenomania and Richard D. James creating a disjointed masterpiece together.
The tracklist, detailed on the Soundcloud page, is filled with a few exclusive and obscure songs, including unreleased gems from Grimes and Maria Minerva, some custom edits, and a deliciously rare (and amazing) Aphex Twin remake of Saint Etienne, as well as a reimagining of James Holden and Bodyrox as one warped entity. May I also recommend the incredible Irmin Schmidt (of Can) and Kumo number? It might be my favorite song of the year and it’s actually three years old.’
Yes, very absent for the last few days. In the meantime, the new and very peaceful temple music by the unpronounceable gkfoes vjgoaf. And, believe me, this is just what I needed tonight.
I made a music podcast for the Broken20 label. It is here.
It is called BROKEN STRATEGY.
It includes Haxan Cloak, Muslimgauze, Delia Derbyshire, Lydia Lunch, Julia Holter and Aleister Crowley. Full tracklisting and direct download at the link, or you can hunt it down through the iTunes if your iTunes is still working after today’s updates.
(We pour one out now for Bendis, whose laptop got bricked by today’s updates.)
It is probably completely unlistenable, but Ruaridh did a lovely job of assembling it, mixing it down and basically making it make sense. It’s a slice of what I was listening to while writing SVK, GUN MACHINE and the CoCities talk.
I thought I posted this a few days ago, but apparently not. A sort of tribal floor-stamping technogothic. Which isn’t a very good description, but it puts you in the general district.
Ólafur Arnalds created and released a new song, one per day for one whole week, recorded and filmed live in the living room of his Reykjavík apartment and released instantly for FREE as streamed videos and MP3 downloads. Living Room Songs.
I’m on Leyland Kirby’s subscription list, so I got to hear this sublimely beautiful and melancholy summoning of memory some weeks ago. Now you can pick it up on Bandcamp for five quid by clicking through, and listen to the whole thing for free right here:
WARREN ELLIS is a graphic novelist, author and columnist. His new novel, GUN MACHINE, available now from Mulholland Books, is being developed for television by Chernin Entertainment and FOX. His first non-fiction book, from FSG, is due in 2014. RED 2, the sequel to the Bruce Willis-Helen Mirren film RED based on his book of the same name, will be released in August 2013.
