In addition to the compilation of old material I released earlier in the week, I’ve just released this new EP of material produced between 2017-2019.
Check it out on your digital distribution or streaming platform of choice or Bandcamp. Cheers.
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Naomi Perera & Adam Langley are ordinarily a gigging, live performance based outfit. Naomi plays imaginative, improvised flute over Adam’s evolving soundscapes of bubbling, swelling electronics.
Strata is the sound of these two musicians, who would normally work together in person, isolated apart by the current pandemic. This is a science of file swapping & overdubbing, one improvising along to what the other has produced. The results are an excellent EP of experimental drone textures.
There are moments in the tracks on Strata when the breathy flute melodies seem to morph into bubbling arpeggios of synth noise & you’re left uncertain whether what you’re hearing is a synthesised sound or the flute. These moments are incredibly effective, in my opinion, the textures overlapping in transcendent swells of noise.
Embedded in the soundscapes are all manner of day-to-day sounds such as birdsong & the mumbled conversations of neighbours heard through the walls. These sounds add to sense of isolation experienced during the lockdown & strikingly emphasise that we are actually at home & not in a recording studio.
The combination of these warm tones (bassy synth swells & flute) with harsh, buzzing, digital sounds gives several of the tracks a sense of underlying, building menace. This reflects for me the way the Coronavirus pandemic slowly built in seriousness throughout the month of March before the full blown bleakness of lockdown. There’s an almost hauntological aspect to these sonic textures that I can’t quite put my finger on but, nevertheless, I’m utterly captivated by.
Here’s some more shameless self promotion from me. I’ve just released this compilation of old unreleased or rare tunes I produced under the moniker Breakmagos.
Some of these tracks were intended for releases, some were produced as part of the Weekly Beats 2014 challenge & some of them were created as exclusive pieces of music to include in live sets. Watering Can Ban is the only anomaly here, as it was released on the Toys & Games EP in 2013, my oldest release.
I hope you enjoy it. It’s available on Bandcamp & all good digital music services.
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Day 9 (I) & we’ve finally hit a vein of pure Radiohead. After the success of OK Computer in the late ’90’s, the music industry had high hopes & expectations for Radiohead’s follow up. Radiohead however, made one of (if not the) most dramatic left turns in music history. During the touring & aftermath of OK Computer, Thom Yorke & the boys had been listening to a lot of the electronic music which was starting to really gain momentum at that point. We’re talking Aphex Twin, Autechre, Boards of Canada & Squarepusher to name a few.
Radiohead took these new influences on board wholeheartedly, and emerged from the studio with Kid A, an album of experimental electronic music incorporating all of these influences. Despite the “moral panic” & hate from so-called “hardcore fans” over this change of direction, Kid A isn’t quite the departure it seems at first listen. Scratch the surface and you still find all the elements which made Radiohead great in the first place.
Idioteque, despite initial indifference, has in later years taken it’s place in the Radiohead catalogue as a firm favourite for me. This BBC performance (which serves as the “official” video) gives an excellent insight into how Radiohead would play these experimental songs live to the same high standard as their more rock-based material.
Who’s in a bunker?
Who’s in a bunker?
Women and children first
And the children first
And the childrenI’ll laugh until my head comes off
I’ll swallow till I burst
Until I burst
Until IWho’s in a bunker?
Who’s in a bunker?
I have seen too much
I haven’t seen enough
You haven’t seen itI’ll laugh until my head comes off
Women and children first
And children first
And childrenHere I’m alive
Everything all of the time
Here I’m alive
Everything all of the timeIce age coming
Ice age coming
Let me hear both sides
Let me hear both sides
Let me hear bothIce age coming
Ice age coming
Throw it in the fire
Throw it in the fire
Throw it on theWe’re not scaremongering
This is really happening
Happening
We’re not scaremongering
This is really happening
HappeningMobiles squerking
Mobiles chirping
Take the money run
Take the money run
Take the moneyHere I’m alive
Everything all of the time
Here I’m alive
Everything all of the timeHere I’m alive
Everything all of the time
Here I’m alive
Everything all of the timeThe first of the children [Repeat until fade]
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Day 4 (D). Crunchy breakbeats, heavy guitar riffs and unusual vocal samples are the order of the day on Death In Vegas’ 1996 single Dirt. I remember first hearing it on a CD which came free with Vox Magazine and absolutely loving it.
As well as the official video, I also present to you an excellent fan made video I found while looking for it. Enjoy.
This is one thing that I was gonna wait a while before we talked about. Maybe we’ll talk about it now so you can think about it. Because you all, we all have to make some kind of plans for ourselves. It’s a free concert from now on…
But the one major thing you have to remember tonight when you back up to the woods to go to sleep or if you stay here, is that the man next to you is your brother and you damn well better treat each other that way, cause if you don’t, then we blow the whole thing, but we’ve got it right there.
What’s that spell!
“fuck!”
What’s that spell!
“fuck!”
What’s that spell!
“fuck!”
What’s that spell!
“fuck!”
What’s that spell!
“fuck!”“Gimme an “F”
“F”
“Gimme a “U”
“U”
“Gimme a “C”
“C”
Gimme a “K”
“K”
What’s that spell!…?
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Florian Schneider, founding member of pioneering electronic music group, Kraftwerk, has died today following a short battle with cancer. He was 73.
It’s safe to say that without Florian Schneider’s contribution to music, the world would be a different place today. The robotic rhythms and experimental synthesiser work outs that Kraftwerk were known life have influenced almost all music we listen to today.
My own field, electronic music, would be practically non-existent without Kraftwerk. Their contribution to experimentalism, with tracks like the 22-minute classic Autobahn, is equal to their contribution to synth pop, with tracks like beautifully simple The Model.
It is difficult to imagine a world without the musical influence of Kraftwerk.
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If you like your beats dirty glitchy and industrial, then you could do far worse than to check out 13x’s Electronic Press Kit for the Antiscene EP. It’s chock full of brutal electronic music and distorted and glitched visuals. Strange disembodied voices float by in a sea of reverb as the punishing aural assault bludgeons you into submission.
If you enjoy this then subscribe to her YouTube channel and head on over to bandcamp and download it. Support small, independent artists. especially in the current economic uncertainty.
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Scruffy Theory 