Mixtape #1

The noble mixtape, that thing of the past, once so ubiquitous and easy to do. Blank tape, record songs, try not to get annoyed at the DJ spelunking through the last 30 seconds. Yes its fantastic to have such a wide variety of media and great access to new ways of getting it ON to solid formats but.....nostalgia sometimes makes me want to go back to those old taped days of family cars and unending loops of Al Stewart. It seemed geared romantically towards the semi-professional pretensions of music fans with the veneer of the artisan, the simulation of the capable that the hand-holding approach of CD burning places on you. Maybe that was the main difference - you felt like you were imposing yourself on something by physically imprinting it, by the clicking of large and vulgar buttons with semi-universal symbols on them. Once you strip away the physicality of music maybe you lose something?

Sam Amidon - How come that blood

With that insistence and repetition of an ancient folk song combined with the misery-loves-company lyrics of country this song strobes and bottlenoises itself along forcefully under the surface. Electronic noises disrupt the surface of the song and perfectly match the theme of the lyrics. 

Foals - This Orient

An omnipotent bass wends its way through the surprising d'n'b of this indie examination of conquering sexually and of examining the other as purely different. Coming from a band who declared they would make 'a ballet with beats' this could be remarkably ridiculous stuff but luckily it avoids the minefield of the rest of the Foals' back catalogue by being....well.....good. 

Holly Miranda - Sweet dreams

A little piece of poetry and wailing concealed crescendo's with an upbeat horn section that embeds itself amidst the sparkles.

Errors - A rumour in Africa

Those lovely occasional brushes of the piano light up this track, the excited kisses of the guitar making a smile cross your face involuntarily whilst the perfectly proportioned segments of sound divide and partition each other with a neat segue. A definite happy song.

Janelle Monae - Cold war

Apparently Janelle Monae is Afrofuturistic which is an awesome genre but whatever genre she is moulding let it be known that she is fantastic at anything she points her vocal cords at. One of the more straightforward pop songs on the album it showcases her craft perhaps more than her invention and ingenious squarerooting of exhilarating music from the 20's onwards. Check out her whole album - it comes seriously recommended. 

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Heads will roll (A-Trak Remix)

What should be a brutal and fairly insensitive remix actually takes off at points into a weird sort of sexually lucid and postmodern clubbing fairytale. Surreal strings and and ear ringing beeps service a melody that appears to have escaped from the 90's.

Lawrence Arabia - Look like a fool

A stunningly rounded piece of indie-pop that seems to plunder everything fantastic from the Beatles of the experimental early 70's and emerge with its own identity feeling fresh. A dash of Elliot Smith makes a delicate and breathy vapour of music that sways from vocal cracking high note to definitive snare hit. 'Just leave me undesirable?' I'm afraid with tracks this short and sweet its a hard confection to resist.

  

Thievery Corporation - Sweet tides

A morning sun rising over excess and indolence, little pools of sweetened affection making you close your eyes and drift off. 

What has made a difference though is we can now put those moving picture whatsmadoodles in with the soundamajigs. And THAT is awesome. Price of progress = one part super sad, one part super awesome. 

Ahhh another great instrumental - somewhat more brutal than the above though.

Yoav - A Foolproof Escape Plan

Only half way through the year and already I have at least 3 of my favourite albums for 2010 with LCD Soundsystem's alleged swan song and Janelle Monae's latest eclectic offering making up 2 parts of this triptych. Okay, okay Broken Bells self titled EP is in there as well but it didn't look as neat in my head. Needless to say its been a surprisingly strong year for music from the leftfield - specifically for those artists with a neat melody or a haunting synth line. 

Which is where Tel Avivan (Viva Gaza?) Yoav comes under the radar with his choral melodies from the back of the throat and pride in highlighting influences. Striking a balance between high noon and an orientalist's vision of sleepy midday Tel Aviv this record keeps on coming back to suspended moments of time and tension. There are moments when a wail almost makes its way out his throat just to be restrained by a sawing guitar or a far off call to prayer. 

The opener 'Greed' is possibly the most obvious song in the album and at points sounds like David Gray with a bassy, ominous rumble behind it. This is possibly the least interesting song on the album but very well crafted. 'Moonbike' is where that taut sound begins to establish itself and a wide variety of dischordant counterpoints all highlight how silky Yoav Sadan's voice can get. The hollow interior sound of his style sounds like voices inside of his head that the listener is peeking into, a voyeuristic and overwhelming journey that turns the passive listener into someone who wishes to second guess the direction of his music. The obsessed 'Yellowbrite smile' plays with the genre staple of quiet, loud, quiet, loud and emerges not exhilarated but more anxious to remove the homogenous emotions it protests against in a huge splurge unreciprocated emotion. 

'Spidersong' is heat haze off a road, shimmering and obscuring the obvious instrumental heights whilst also letting them occasionally waft transcendentally over the rest of the chorus. The delicate pluckings that precede these 10 seconds of opiate bliss are perfect den-fellows for the brooding cello lurking behind the treble. 

What this album is in 5 statements;

Intense as first love.

Brooding and unsettling.

An uncomfortable statement of a mind caught between dream and reality.

A drum skin tight series of arrangements and tension that posits relaxation as a temporary solution.

Very lonely.

A fantastic album and one that probably deserves a little more exposure.