Gloomy Sundays Vol. I

Shamelessly stealing an idea me and Adam cooked up after his latest special depressing edition of the wingman series, we're gonna cover some sad songs today in what will hopefully be a semi-regular feature (and what may be the first ever collabrative post in ilictronix history) Tunes and more after the art.

Edward Hopper - Summer In The City (1950)

Starting off with the absolutely crushing end to The Knife's Silent Shout. Here the album dumps all the twisted electropop sensibilities that underlined the whole album and gets real for a second. Like From Off To On some tracks before it, it's a pitch shifted ambient trip in introversion.

"Was it worth it? Could it be worse than this?"

It's probably a bit of a cliché to mention Portishead here, but I'm gonna do it anyway just because a few lines here real resonate with me, and I'd be lying if I didn't say the way Beth Gibbons delivers the lines is pretty much perfect.

"For it's such a lovely day to have to always feel this way"

Broadcast may not be the first band that jumps to mind given their usual sound, but there's more than enough downbeat stuff to go around. I've already given out some love to the lonely vibe of their earlier tune Lights Out, but there's some quality pieces on The Noise Made By People too.

"How wrong I'll be, none of us have anything"

-Claude Van Foxbat




Adam's Picks 


First on my list today is a track from Instra:Mental and I heard this one thursday night when James Blake played it on his residency on Radio 1. I've had this one on repeat for 3 days now and has really sucked my joy. A pretty danceable track with some pretty sinister undertones and a heartbreaking vocal sample makes this track really special. Oh, don't forget those out of this world synths.

"Ill be waiting around, I'm sorry" 

Next we have a new one from Aphex Twin. Off his stellar new album Syro the closing track is a pretty bitter sweet one. It sounds like a rain cloud on a bright and sunny day.




I'm sure your all familiar with this one but its still a favorite downer of mine. Stripped, barebones, and vulnerable is that makes this track memorable for me.

"People get crushed like biscuit crumbs and get laid down in the bitumen" 

-Adam