Train Tracks

I like trains. They're alright, but up until now I've never had a reason to take them every day. Until now. I managed a few days before I couldn't cope anymore and enlisted the help of my ever trusty headphones. And that's where it comes into its own, the train journey now becomes your own personal music video.


Of course, I can't mention train soundtracks and music videos without dropping the most infamous example of it. The Brother's prolific video for Star Guitar was certainly present in my mind the first couple times I took the train, and it was only fitting that it was one of the first to accompany me on it. It felt fitting to use the original stone cold classic, while I do love Shinichi Osawa's electro-fied version, I had to give the Chems their run for the video alone.



It had been a while since I'd given Skream's debut a listen again, It's bloody quality stuff to this day, as a lot of earlier dub is. One of the standouts to me was the closer that just happened to come up after Star Guitar, it's filled with little flourishes in sound that are just great. And that constantly rolling bass lurking in the background of the mix doesn't go amiss either.



Just over halfway there and shuffle steps things up a bit, with a dollop of new school house from Rex The Dog. I love this track because it's a bloody perfect example of drop-teasing done correctly. Unlike tracks where you get 5 minutes of buildup for 30 seconds of payoff before another five minutes of build (looking at you there, Deadmau5), Rex teases you with snippets of the main hook before delivering in spades and heading effortlessly into breaks. It's really something.




I just couldn't leave Shinichi hanging though, after all The One is pretty class. So as we pull into the station this little number comes on; the closing track to The One, filled with all the good vibes and electro warbles that the rest of the LP has, all based around that one loop. I always get it and The Patch mixed up, they are quite similar 'cos they're both are based around a loop, the difference being I listened to The Patch to death and had forgotten all about Ami Nu Ku Tuu so that was a nice surprise!



And finally, giving me an upbeat start to my day was a long forgotten track from UK indie kids The Go! Team. Get It Together joins the exclusive club alongside Chris Clark's Lord Of The Dance of tunes I have with playful wind instruments in them. While that whole part of the track is pretty sweet,the real highlight for me is that amazing breakdown at the end (2:45) that completely changes the feel of the track and infuses it with some vinyl scratchin', hip hoppin' goodness.



Right, and now m'off to go book my ticket in preparation for doing it all again tomorrow! I'll catch you again somewhere down the line.

De-railed,
-Claude Van Foxbat