Ilictromix: Fuji Kureta

The temperatures are rising outside and to celebrate Ilictromix is following suit. This week we go all the way to Istanbul for a stellar mix from duo Fuji Kureta. Some lush, sticky, worldly, sounds are weaved throughout some delicious Turkish melodies for this weeks mix. Its a polar opposite from last weeks mix but equally rewarding.

Fuji Kureta consists of members Sahin Kureta and Deniz Ozturk who have only been DJ'ing since 2008. They met while working as translators and both shared a love of Glitch and fellow Istanbul producer,  Ah! Kosmos

They just dropped a new album titled Andrey and its a stellar release. The mix they provided us with feature songs that they listened to while recording Andrey. There are some solid original tracks and some favorites of mine from Jon Hopkins and Little Dragon.

Check out their Album Andrey 

Or their Soundcloud, Twitter, Facebook

Tracklist:

Angggry Byrdz - Mykki Blanco

Chinna Chinna - Jaaska

Tillop Till Dramatikk (Upland Remix) - Snasen 

The Whale - Fuji Kureta

Phaedra - The Baths

Collider - Jon Hopkins

I’m not Dancing - Tirzah

Les Grandes Marches - Moderat

Papaoutai - Stromae

Seconds - Little Dragon

Somewhere Else - Mariam the Believer

Go with It - Tokimonsta feat. MNDR

Coffee - Sylvan Esso

Les Folies Francaises - Matmos

-Adam

Lush V.1

Returned to my previous mainstay of the chilled side of things, this time I got a real hankering for smooth sounds that only a certain few can provide. Here's my choice selections that fit this end.

Tim Doyle - White Dragon

br> Starting off with something I covered a long time ago, Clark's hard to come by Throttle Clarence EP was a real mixed bag of sound varieties. Though saying that it ens on a lovely note which combines the roughness of Clark's usual output with a much more softer melodic edge.



OPN's debut on Warp is pretty special. Only ten tracks long but I can't think of one off the top of my head that I'd get rid of. It's great to hear the advancement in concept from Replica reflected in the sounds themselves. Even with that deliberate lo-fi aspect to the whole album I think it sounds very futuristic, one of the most interesting electronic albums in recent memory that I highly reccomend.



And finally, something a bit more obscure. Taken from one of the well titled Old Tunes tapes, these are probably the best document we have of BoC's output pre-Twoism. Like the few pieces I've posted before their future talent certainly shines through here, the track is very smooth and decidedly more digital techy sounding than the usual expected sound of BoC.



-Claude Van Foxbat

End Of Week Quickie

I apologies for the lack of updates, I'm busy these days with the recent arrival of my american relatives. The number of people in your house suddenly doubling is not an easy thing to manage. Anyways here are some songs I've managed to fit into what little downtime there is.



Leading the charge is one of the first bits that The Actress Not The Character sent me from the 5N tape I posted not too long ago that hasn't left my airplay since. Totally reminds me of a more digital sounding version of Massive Attack's Angel and is really intoxicating. Check it!

Nexta track I've passed up posting one too many times. From the first free Suspicious Stench album way back in 2010, that opening is downright fantastic and the callbacks to it during the breakdowns are gorgeous too. The dubstep parts might not have aged too well but it's still one of my favourite examples of excellent builds.

Suspicious Stench - Crucifix

Leaving you with something a little lighter, some old school Flying Lotus from 2005 on the July Heat tape. FlyLo's love for the stuff used on [adult swim] bumps is pretty evident here, it's simple but very very effective. Would love to see him return to this model in his more contemporary style.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Dark Skies

More typically british weather today as opposed to the more recent sunny spells we've been having. As such it's been pretty dark since about 1PM and combined with me having ot trawl through books and other research for my upcoming dissertation it's not been too cheery. Here's some musical accompaniment.

Francis Bacon - Self Portrait (1958)

Kicking it off is a rather underrated bit from Gorillaz's debut. Tomorrow Comes Today seems to be the favourite example of the trip hop style that came up on their self titled debut, but honestly I almost prefer this over it, that heavy beat and Albarn's downbeat delivery on it is superb and sums up the post-millenium sound quite nicely.



Next is 5 strong noise-rockers HEALTH. Their work always had a electronic edge to it that is only becoming more pronounced as time goes on (and is said by them to be the forefront on the new LP their working on). See this for example, if I had to sum up the kind of sounds on display here, it'd be Sigur Rós's ethereal sound meets dubstep with perhaps just a smidgen of trip hop in the mix. And I mean the good old school dubstep too, not the monster its become. Speaking of...



I've mentioned Distance before, he's one of the few veterans still bigging up the old school sound of dubstep. His debut LP back in 2007 was absolutely killer and has been in and out of rotation by me ever since. It's filled with lots of little bits of expertly placed noises which is of course all tied together by the bass. Decent soundsystem or headphones are an absolute must with this album to pick out all the intricacies.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Eclecticism #2

Here's some tunes, a picture I made, and some writing I wrote. Read my writing if you want.

Polar Noise

First up, Girl Talk; sampling so fine, it's like a quilt made of musical silk.



Japanese electronic pioneers Yellow Magic Orchestra rock out this tune. I just love the entire vibe. Lyrics of sadness & despair, the synths stabbing, swelling and grinding.



One of my favourite track by old-school-digital hip hop group Mantronix. Simple loop, with a sweet simple beat. I will admit, it does sound a little repetitive, but it's such a good sample that it doesn't really matter, because you should be too busy enjoying those sweet sounds. The vocals mix it up a bit, and distract from about 4 minutes of the same loop.



I've had this one going quite often for the last two weeks. That 80's sound that I've been searching for, I finally found in this song. It's not over the top with those horrid synth sounds, but it's still clearly from that era. The amazing vocal work carries a really smooth melody throughout, helping to meld those shorter synth lines together. 



I'll admit that Apogee is not my favourite from Awake; but it is still amazingly well produced, and for that, I love it. The drums simply blow me away, particularly in that intro. The compression is clearly taking its toll on that kick and it works so beautifully, helping to really bring out that energetic first minute and a bit. It's still a Tycho tune, so in all honesty, it's not really anything new. There is a small section that utilises a sampling type sound, and a little bit more guitar. 



-Sulphties

Synthesized Summer

On much more of a feel-good trip as of late. Which is surprising me as I spent at least the last year and a half in full on chillout mode. As a result I've dug out a few more upbeat examples from my catalogue to share with y'all. Words and sounds after t'art.

Patrick Nagel - 1578

Despite what I say every post I bring up Rex about supposedly being back in the studio working on his sophomore LP, nothing has come of it so far. Which is both a shame and quite alright at the same time because every single track from his debut is downright fantastic, I would definitely recommend you his unique house vibes to see you through till the fall.



Another bit from Ford & Lopatin's original incarnation as Games. Like The Rex The Dog Show I just mentioned, their EP That We Can Play doesn't put a single foot wrong. Leading off the strength of track 1 Strawberry Skies comes this little number out of nowhere. Chock Full of bleeps and lush synths with the occasional distant vocal, it's a joy to listen to.



And seeing us out is by far and away my favorite lady DJ stroke producer Miss Kittin. In the four year gap inbetween I Com and Batbox her style evolved nicely; the atmospheric tracks are more atmospheric and the more dancefloory numbers like this one here have a lot more kick to them than the slow builds of I Com.



-Claude Van Foxbat

The 5N Tape (Main link broken as of 2020)

You might remember The Actress Not The Character from some posts back. I really dug his stuff a lot but I've been all quiet about posting it because we've been collaborating on some projects, since then we've both gotten pretty busy with our own stuff, and this is what he was working on in the meantime:



Still loving the sounds here, lovely IDM styled stuff throughout, really glad I read his email back when, it's really refreshing to have stuff like this in an age of EDM saturation. All the tracks are available for download too, so feel free to grab a couple if they take your fancy, you can also support him and grab the rest of his backctalogue on his Bandcamp

Highlights include recent collaboration Learning Experience, remixes of the likes of Nine Inch Nails and Talking heads and a reworking of Appendages from his upcoming EP, keep your eyes peeled for that, as I had a hand in the visual side of things and I'm really excited for y'all to see the results!

Find more from The Actress Not The Character at:
Bandcamp
Soundcloud
Twitter
Facebook


-Claude Van Foxbat

Ilictromix: Matthew Prain

This year I have been on a huge Drone/Ambient kick, so I'm really excited for this weeks Ilictromix! It comes to us from Matthew Prain a 23 year old Brisbane resident. I never knew that such moody dense music was coming out of Australia's scene, but after listening to his EP's and this mix my ears and attention are going down under. Also Surprising is how bright and cheery he is for how dark the material is that he puts out. I was introduced to his work after I fell in with the track "You Should Have Told Me (From The Beginning)" So I asked him a couple of questions and invited him to make a mix for us and luckily he agreed.

IL: So how did you get started and how long have you been producing? 

MP:  I started producing music in 2007, but I was really just messing around with pre-made loops and remixing Nine Inch Nails' songs at that point. I made some albums along the way under many lame pseudonyms until I finally got into film music in 2011.

IL: Minimalist and drone are some hard sub-genres to get into though what led you down that road? 

MP: I've always been interested in minimalist music where it's fairly repetitive in nature with only slight changes over time. The synthesizer I used in the EP (the Buchla Music Easel) was basically perfect for that style.

IL: So what are you listening to now then? 

MP: Lately I've been intrigued by the sounds of Death Grips and Tune-Yards, but my most recent favorite album would have to be Half-Eaten Guitar by Wyrd Visions - it's easily the most unique thing I've heard in a long time.

IL:  Oh you know how much we love Death Grips here! So then if right now you could work with any artists who would it be? 

MP:  I would have to say Phil Elverum of Mount Eerie, since I always go back to listening to his music at some point. Plus, it would be pretty cool to combine more electronic elements with his style of music...

IL: So how do you find inspiration for such dense textures and creating moody atmospheres? 

MP:  I guess the inspiration came from wanting to do an electronic album that was more personal and revealing, which I've always tended to avoid doing with most of my music. I was also inspired by Alessandro Cortini's solo albums to restrict myself creatively with using only a Buchla synthesizer, as well attempting to make it somewhat more performable live. Sound-wise, my inspiration comes from a combination of non-electronic artists like Mount Eerie and Wyrd Visions, and electronic artists like Tim Hecker, Andy Stott, and Boards of Canada.

IL: Oh ok that makes sense, So what Equipment are you using? 

MP: Apart from the Buchla Music Easel and a EHX Cathedral reverb pedal, I record with Ableton Live on a Mac. Tracks 2 and 4 were the only tracks that were multitracked while tracks 1, 3, and 5 were performed live in one take.

IL: If you could mail a letter to yourself 5 years ago what would it say? 

MP:  "You will stop listening to NIN in a few years time."

IL: Do you have a favorite flavor of Ice-Cream? 

MP: Chocolate easily, but sometimes vanilla depending on the mood. No extra gnarly toppings though - I like my ice cream to be minimal as well!

IL: So the EP is just stellar! Whats next for you? Rumors have it your going to sell out and make a Trap album? 

MP: I'm currently working on "Part 2" of Thoughts, so I can turn it into a complete album. The rumors are true - I'm planning on working with Kenny G to make a new style of trap music called "easy listening trap".

Tracklist: 
Andy Stott - Numb
Oval - Textuell
Boards of Canada - Reach For The Dead
Andy Stott - Execution
Tim Hecker - October, Part 1
Tim Hecker - October, Part 2
Aphex Twin - "Rhubarb"
Tim Hecker - Black Refraction

You can find more of Matthew Prain here: 

Soundcloud
Twitter
Website

-Adam

Press Play

Had an interesting talk about the nature of electronic music the other day, with me saying that I love it because it's so diverse and covers all moods and atmospheres. Until someone says what about happy stuff. And granted there's a lot I could throw out that fits that bill for me, but I was looking for stuff you could play anyone and at least get them to crack a smile. Here were my choices.

Jim Rosenquist - Dishes (1964)

Underrated Warp act Plone lead the charge here, their unique brad of electronic is straight up gorgeous and I've yet to hear something along the same lines as it. Shame they disbanded so soon too, I could easily see them thriving in the indie circuit with this kind of output.



Add to that pile a little bit from their purported second album which was finished and set for release on Warp, but never came. Is it legit? Not a clue, but even if it isn't it captures the spirit of Plone in a way I've not heard before or since.



Rounding out we have Bibio. A little bit harder than Plone sure, but it retains that easy going D.I.Y feel that ran through their work just with a rougher edge. When Bibio does stuff like this it's the closest we get to having a spiritual successor to Plone on Warp, there may be others out there but the world is a big place. If you find anything in a similar vein please share it with us!



-Claude Van Foxbat

Night Heat

I am very unprepared for summer, to the point where I'm finding it stupid hot throughout the day here and it's only been hitting 19c (66 Fahrenheit for you USA dwellers), the worst is it lingers well into the night and everything's all humid. Still lots of opportunity to bust out more chiller sounds, so here we go.

Andreas Nilsson - Still from Hour Of The Wolf

Starting with something more in the vein of chillwave, as I mentioned a few posts back, Games' debut EP Everything Is Working definitely has more than a touch of Lopatin's Eccojam sensibilities to it. Their output got less sample based as time went on, but this is still a solid track, especially for a debut.



Norway's main electronic exports Röyksopp normally have a wintery vibe to their releases. Can't say that for this bonus track from their sophomore LP The Understanding, with that warbling melody and driving beat it's a far cry from the usual downtempo vibes that I associate with them.



And finally the soundtrack to my summer nights circa 2010; Scribbled Paper, Tucked away at the end of Little Dragon's self titled debut, They were a new addition to my radar back then thanks to Plastic Beach. When it comes up all the memories come flooding back in droves. An absolutely gorgeous track full of lush sounds.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Revisiting an old friend: Sepalcure

Fate is a bizarre phenomenon. You have those albums where your lukewarm when you first heard them and then overtime life happens and you rediscover and fall in love with the record. This just happened to me with Sepalcure's self titled album. Sepalcure is a super group consisting of Praveen Sharma and Machinedrum and this release is better than anything Machinedrum has put out. (#SHOTSFIRED)

I was never super hot on all the post dub-step especially around 2011. But after spending a lot of time with Jamie XX, James Blake and Mount Kimbie I think I "got it" and was finally ready. Yes this album came out in '11 but its literally the only I can listen to right now, and that's saying something because Death Grips just dropped a surprise album with Bjork. 
Lets go through some of my favorite cuts off the album and revisit this monster of an album. 



This one starts off pretty average, but then around the 2:30 mark that beautiful synth rolls in and just whisks you away. 





A pretty stellar Reggae vibe on this one. The manipulated vocal sample just swirls around with that echo'ed piano, its dizzying but in the best way possible. 






The real meat of the album, one of my favorite beats of all time. Its dark, busy and the production keeps all the intricate layers of track in place so nothing sounds blown out. Once that bottom end comes in, you know this is a special track. The urgency of the beat is what makes it whet my whistle. 



-Adam 

Giorgio Redux

Hey guys, Nite here with a quickie today. Whilst I was browsing on the web today, I couldn't help but notice that a certain Italo-Disco/Electronic Producer just released a new track today for free. That's right folks, Giorgio Moroder has given us something new to listen to, and it is GOOD. Released specifically for Adult Swim's 2014 Singles Program, this 7-plus minute track is filled with piano chords, synthesizers, and crisp beats that make this track feel very Midnight Express-ish in both sound and style. Alas, I have taken enough of your time talking about this track. I'll let you guys decide whether it's good or not.

GiorgioMoroder · Giorgio Moroder - Giorgio's Theme

Whilst we're on the topic of Moroder, here's a wonderful mashup of The Chase and Daft Punk's Digital Love, as done by Todd Edwards a while back. It's a tad basic for sure, being a mashup of Daft Punk's vocals over Moroder's track, but still wonderful nonetheless. Enjoy!



Peace out,
Nite

Coming Down (Again)

More late nights ahead as I have no more university to keep me accountable to a schedule. I usually swap over to more chiller stuff around like 9PM just cos I dig the vibe and I'm a considerate neighbour with my subs, heres a sample of late night goodness for y'all.

James Doolin - The Flow (2002)

Starting with a gem from my youth that I only recently remembered, you won't find anymore Scrapyard Mongrel productions out there because it was a one off for Rockstar Games back in 1999. The track itself is lovely, it really captures the vibe set out by the title and would fit snugly into a trip hop compilation. I love the samples in this one, distant sirens, faint voices, laughter and answering machines are all scattered throughout, ready to put the nerves up any unsuspecting listeners, under substances or otherwise.



Opening bit from Blu Mar Ten's debut will always have a place in my heart, picked it up a long time back looking for more stuff like Röyksopp's Melody A.M and has seen me through a lot since. Home Videos is quite a bit different from their usual Drum & Bass output, but I absolutely love it, everything from the title down to the hypnotic guitar work is excellently done.



Playing us out is a highlight from the KLF's landmark post-rave soundtrack aptly called Chill Out. Released in 1990, it's a concept album revolving around a road trip by night from Texas up to Louisiana, made up from bits and pieces of ambient DJ sets they'd done. The album is steeped in interesting history and backstory, to quote Bill Drummond on the LP: "I don't know what those places are like, but in my head, I can imagine those sounds coming from those places, just looking at the map."



-Claude Van Foxbat

Ilictromix: CLAMR

I have been absolutely slammed this week with work so slammed that I'm late on this weeks Ilictromix. Lucky for me, this weeks Ilictromix artist CLAMR has put together a mix so great it made my weekend hustle manageable. Seriously this mix for me has been like a jolt of espresso after an all nighter.

A 24 year old from San Diego, Liam McManus is a Dj/Producer you should all keep on your radar this week. A quick glance at the tracklist reveals a super diverse and eccentric taste in a wide variety of genres. I picked him this week because of his love for a great well thought out set: "In my opinion, this mix really describes me as a person and as an artist. I love low-key but upbeat jams, that can get the party bumping, but can also be listened to on chill night in." When asked what he listens to: "I've been stuck on Neon Indian - Era Extraña, Washed Out - Life of Leisure and Party Supplies - Going Back To New York for a couple months now. I Also just picked up Daft Punk's Discovery on vinyl, so I've been rocking out to that recently as well."

CLAMR has been DJing for 8 years and producing for 7 of them. He told me if he wasn't producing he would be playing ice hockey. I for one am glad he choose Dj'ing. 


Tracklist: 
1.92109 - CLAMR
2.Cool - Le Youth

3.I Got U - Duke Dumont feat. Jax Jones

4.(ID) - CLAMR

5.What Else Is There (Jacques Lu Cont Thin White Duke Mix) - Royksopp

6.Cupcakes - Captain Obvious

7.Digital Love - Daft Punk

8.Going Back To New York - Party Supplies

9.Polish Girl (Dutchie's 'Indie' Breaks Remix) - Neon Indian

10.(ID) - CLAMR

11.NRG - Duck Sauce

12.Stranger (feat. KillaGrahm & Sam Dew) - Skrillex

13.White Tiger - Hippie Sabotage

14.Last Train Home - CLAMR

15.Hover Traps - Rustie

16.Eagle Soul - AWE

17.Mirror Maru - Cashmere Cat

18.All Your Love - Hudson Mohawke

19.Fashion Killer - A$AP Rocky

20.Streamers - Wave Racer

21.(ID) - CLAMR

22.Teion - BeatauCue

23.Thank You - Hudson Mohawke

24.High - CLAMR

25.Long Road Home - CLAMR

26.Black Panther - CLAMR

McManus is also a pretty down to earth guy: "I'm always looking for fresh tracks to throw in my sets, as well as collaborate and network with other producers, DJ's or just music enthusiasts. So feel free to hit me up any time, and unlike some other people in the industry I promise I WILL respond." 

You can find more of him and show some love:

Facebook

Twitter

Soundcloud

-Adam

Time Keeps On Slippin'

Lined up a bunch of retro-infused tunes today, and after spending a good while trying to think of how to not clumsily tie them together under a theme I decided to abandon it entirely and instead focus on the years of release (which may or may not have been influenced by my recent annual trip to Ishkur's guide to electronic music).

Patrick Nagel - 1334

Ford & Lopatin (formerly called Games) first, their only album so far was released in 2011 and the progression they made since the first Games EP in 2010 is pretty incredible. While Everything Is Working was more like Lopatin's Eccojam work, this is a straight up love letter to 80's new wave and the Juno synths that Lopatin is so fond of.



Thought I'd finally get around to putting up the original When I Fall In Love after so many remixes. This track just turned 14 this March (or at least the album I took it from did), and is a pretty shining example of modern Deep House. Funnily enough the formula hasn't changed much since the 80's but if it ain't broke don't fix it. I think the remixes are better songs, but I can't hate this little time capsule back to the turn of the millenium.



A much smaller jump this time, back to 1995. Drum & Bass is the in thing at that time, and Goldie's just released his debut Timeless. Here's a bit from near the end of the album, mixing the jazzy bits from earlier like Adrift with breaks and beats. Perhaps more at home in the lounge rather than the dancefloor, but very well made, The piano doesn't sound half as cheesy as you would expect and in all honesty has aged pretty well.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Back On Time

Hey y'all, sorry for the slow weekend, took some time off and went around. Anyway, I'm back now with a selection of audio goodies to treat you all with, hang tight for the tuns after the pic.

David Firth - Firey Pete

Normally not a massive fan of summer, that's changed recently because that's when we finish for the year here at university. So I spent my Saturday night with a cold brew and this to have one big chill to. It wasn't even planned thanks to my reliance on shuffle but I gotta thank the random maths for making a near perfect decision to put The Flashbulb's stellar acoustic meets IDM sound on then.



Not staying downbeat for long though, couple of bits from Clark's Clarence Park grabbed me; Lord Of The Dance and this one, and since I already wrote a fair bit about how much I love Lord, let's get stuck in here. Fairly short this one, but that just keeps it sweet. Whenever it comes up I fall in love with that melodic streak all over again, a perfect clash of lush and abrasive noises.



With just time left for a last minute request I only saw a few minutes ago (shoutout to the commenter on my big AE/AFX post). Around Chiastic Slide is where me and Autechre start to part ways as the more melodic elements start to take a backseat. Still got time for some of it though, this track is pretty sweet for one but I can't help feel like it's missing something compared to their previous output. If it had those little smooth bits of sound breaking through at the end scattered throughout I think I'd like it more, regardless, enjoy.



-Claude Van Foxbat