Pride (Soundcloud player broken as of 2020)

A litte late on this one, but long time pal of the blog and ex-writer Joe (Now producing under Cloudfill) got around to releasing the newest project for his label Hexmania. The concept is simple enough, the compilation is chock full of productions and each one is by a LGBTQ+ artist, and all the proceeds from sales (both digital and casette!) go to The Kaleidoscope Trust, an intentional LGBTQ+ rights orginisation.



The results speak for themselves, from the bouncy sugary sweetness of the opening track Keep Moving!!! to 8-bit bass from Cloudfill himself there's not a dud note on it. And honestly to get a little if you're into electronic music at all, you owe the LGBTQ+ community a great deal seeing as they have been integral to its history and evolution, and despite the progress made in recent times discrimination and marginilisation is still a massive issue for these folk. So give it a listen and as always, stay safe and enjoy the music!

What Is Happening

Even though I am officially done with Uni tensions are still high, got almost too used to taking it easy and now got a pile of stuff to arrange for the final exhibition to sort. And me being me some things that should be simple are becoming crazy complicated, sometimes because I like to overthink things, other times because it's tiny tasks that aren't really worth doing the 1 hour commute for but still need doing. I'm currently trying to offset it with audio as usual.

Devajyoti Ray - A Quiet Evening

Held off on posting this one for a while because I didn't want to overload you with Seatbelts but now seems like a good a time as any. Slight detour from the usual jazzy creations of The Seatbelts, Fingers almost sounds like something from Nujabes or ilk. A gorgeous blend of loungy piano and a hip hop beat, get this one in yer collection.



And I can't mention piano meets hip hop without giving an honourable nod to my all time fave of the format, Massive Attack's Weather Storm one of the few and by far the best instrumental on the album. Honestly there's not much else to mention, it nails its atmosphere thoroughly and is a highlight of the album.



And of course what would a post by me about hip hop things be without a shoutout to my hometown hero? Not mentioned this one on the blog for a whopping 4 years and I'm here to change that. By far and away one of the best intro tracks of all time, sets up the rest of the album beautifully and is a perfect start for any N.O.W newbies.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Bank Robbery

Even more bank holidays incoming. Strange how we have so many in the spring innit? almost as if we make 'em up to get extra time off. Of course we don't mind, that would be preposterous. Anyways, to wash the taste of my shameless plug out of yer ears, here's some more tune.

Patrick Nagel - 1446

More Vitalic because hot damn have I missed me some quality electro in my recent rotations. Have an extended version of Poison Lips from Flashmob which unfortunately got relegated to a B-Side on an EP. While it is a little long to be the album version, it should have been anyway.



Games have been back in my rotaton too, because in addition to my electro throwback I needed to go back to when chillwave was cool too. The influence of Chuck Person's Eccojams Vol. 1 is pretty obvious here from Lopatin, not that I mind much before getting stuck into all it's haziness.



Also reposting the UNKLE track from a while back because not only am I a thicky bobo and forgot to check the code before I posted, I'm still digging the tune in all it's depressive glory. Must remember to get more UNKLE soon, the debut LP is coming back on me something strong.



-Claude Van Foxbat

I Made A Thing

Hello all, I have finally gotten around to releasing my ambient project I have been sat on for some years now. Off the heels of my sc-fi binge; enjoy my futuristic themed EP thingy It's not anything amazing like, but I think some of you might be interested in hearing it,so hear you go.



-Claude Van Foxbat

3 Years Later...

Officially handed in my last project for uni. It's out of my hands now and I'm not sure how I feel. Legitimately nothing to do for a while, and I'm going to try enjoy it before becoming an adult. But where are we in terms of music 3 years down the line? Slightly different, nothing on when I got major into Warp way back when but still. Let's 'ave a look shall we?

Indie184 - Electro Magnetic (2014)

Thought it only appropriate to one of the genres that put me here in the first place. As a wide-eyed naive 15 year old, a teenage Foxbat thought that electro house would be his bread and butter for the rest of my listening days. While that may not be true there are many stonking good tunes that take me back to the dark ages of blog crawling. The break on this Peaches track around 2:10 still gets me goin'.



Viklund continues to serve up the good stuff, even after I've sunk an ungodly amount of hours into Payday they are all still my jams. This one was a bit misleading in-game, there's no real hook to it until shit hits the fan, but when it did it's sick. I'm very much liking the techno-esque turn Viklund is taking these days, here's looking forward to what else he can bring in future.



I desperately need to catch up on Vitalic, I took his LPs back into rotation for the first time in a while and goddamn is OK Cowboy an amazing record to come back to. It's hands-down one of the bets structured electro albums out there, and is still a prime source of jams nearly ten years later! Check out long time fave of mine Repair Machines:



-Claude Van Foxbat

Let's Cyber (Punk)

As you might have guessed based on my outpouring of love of the genre not too long ago, I dig me some cyberpunk. And one of my frequent digital haunts is explicitly devoted to sharing tunes that fit into it nicely. And It's been fun as owt, even got some of my experimental stuff in there to boot, so let's have a rundown shall we?

Syd Mead - City On A Megabeam

Honestly Yoko Kanno could be queen of this post, between her contributions to Ghost In The Shell and Cowboy Bebop there is more than enough future tune to go around. I love the more techy sounds than the jazzy vibes of the Bebop OST though, so lets have more of that.



Aphex has his cyberpunk moments for sure, but nothing comes close to this bit from the Analord series where RDJ lets loose with his own DIY synth, hence the track title. Imagine the cliche Hollywood hacker setup circa '87 and you can almost imagine this one there too. It helps that the tune is real nice too though.



And of course I can't not mention one of the chief players in the ambient field. OPN's blown up in recent years but he still has quality tunes in him. This album was a massive inspiration for me when I started doing video stuff in year 2, and the closing track bears posting again.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Be Back Soon

Out of town for the weekend again, I'm just dropping by to leave you some words and sounds to keep you company while I'm out. A bit like leaving the radio on so your dog doesn't go mental and eat the blinds.

Futura - Nuevo Negro Futura (2008)

Accompanying my PDF layout adventures today has been Modeselektor. Truth be told I'm not a massive fan of their more minimal compositions, or minimal in general for that matter. But today something about B.M.I is ticking the boxes. Might be therapeutic listening as I painstakingly alter the kerning of text.



Leading the jazzy charge in my library alongside the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack is even more Mr. Scruff. I'm actually more of a fan of the regular album version with some solid lyrical throwdowns from Roots Manuva but the 10th anniversary re-issue includes this nice instrumental of it, and I shan't turn my nose up to free extras.



More UNKLE, breaking away from the moody trip-hop vibe that I adore, we have more of a display of DJ Shadow's contributions to the debut. Part 2 of Drums Of Death is chock full of turntablism, samples and more emceeing. Part 2 is my favourite of the two, and rings in the downtempo last part of the album in in beautiful fashion.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Diggin' On Vadim (Soundcloud player broken as of 2020)

Been tracking down all the people from the Music For Freelance remixes and seeing what they're up to, most of them are still kicking and making tunes! Today's pick was DJ Vadim, I put his remix of Fe in the sidebar playlist a month or two ago, gave me some lovely fuzzy Portishead vibes. Found him on soundcloud pretty quick and already hit an early highlight with his collaborations with Sena Dagadu. This is the first I've heard of her, but I'm definitely itching for more after this, give it a listen for yourself!



-Claude Van Foxbat

Seein' Doubles

Over the last week or so my mouse has picked up the annoying quirk or double clicking when I press it once. Not terribly inconvenient but still irritating. To counteract this I've been changing up everything to be doubled, from music to visuals and all sorts. Enjoy!

Chris Cunningham - Still from New York Is Killing Me (2010)

Starting off with an often overlooked instrumental from the Gorillaz's debut. It's not hard to see why, in a sea of solid tracks a tune that's entirely instrumental save for Damon popping in to say "All of which makes me anxious, at times unbearably so" would be the one to lose out. Still a nice tune, and it nicely captures the Gorillaz vibe of Phase One.



More from Pretty Lights. As I said this tune like many others feels right at home in Los Santos. I almost feel like it drags its heels a little, but just as I'm mulling over whether its overstayed it's welcome, the killer cuts on the outro sell me on it once again.



And finally more from my new favourite Swede since The Knife split. I can't get over the intro for this one, as soon as that thick bassline hits I know I'm along for the ride. Like most of Viklund's tracks it knows how to leave you wanting more, and it mostly delivers on that promise I just wish the intensity of the outro didn't end in a fade out.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Fixin' Thangs

Took some time out yesterday to try and make the monthly selections part of the sidebar work again. Now Grooveshark is dead I decided to swap to YouTube of all things, while a ittle unorthodox it seems to work! try it out and shoot me a tweet or something if you find anything wrong. Also some more songs seeing me through my PDF puttin' together.

Chris Cunningham - Still from All Is Full Of Love (1999)

I give N.O.W's Mind Elevation a bit of stick in the grand scheme of things. It's not a bad album, but I dunno something about it just isn't as solid as say Smoker's Delight. Regardless of my whinging, there are some quality songs on there for sure. This one's helped me through a bunch of work, and I continue to put it on because it sounds like everything's gonna be alright.



Seeing as I used a screenie from the video I may as well put the amazing All Is Full Of Love up again. An amazing video backed up by an equal song, I've watched it a bunch of times recently as I'm making music videos for people. Naturally making full on articulated robot props is a bit beyond my scope but I can dream.



Rounding us off is a rather somber tune from UNKLE's debut. Unlike the other one's I've posted from this album, DJ Shadow's contributions to the group are less obvious, there's no scratching and no B-Movie samples to be seen. The tune is absolutely gorgeous overall though, especially those strings in the outro..



-Claude Van Foxbat

Take A Spin Again

Dropping by with another set of audio fer yer ears. Told you I'd keep it consistent! (at least for now anyway) so let's take another look into what I've been filling my airwaves with for the last 48 hours shall we?

Robert Del Naja - Heligoland 2013 (2013)

It's obvious to all y'all now that Ghost In The Shell in all its forms was a major part of my cyberpunk binge a while back. Revisiting Stand Alone Complex I rediscovered a tune that I'd long forgotten; Inner Universe is an absolutely perfect introduction for the show with its clash of technology and humanity, and it was also my introduction to Origa and her unique voice. Origa sadly passed during my re-watching of the series, but I'll always love her contributions to the series.



Time for something a little more laid back now, with a bit from classic trip hop LP Mezzanine. This one's a bit of a black sheep in Massive's discography (no pun intended), after Manfred Mann took them to court over an unauthorised sample. They've play a remixed version dubbed Black Melt at their live shows a bunch though, but I still love the hazy vibes of the album version the most, illegal sample and all.



My custom radio for GTA V has given me new-found appreciation for Flying Lotus' debut. It's a solid album all round for sure, and there's plenty of signposts that hint to the direction he'd take his sound in hindsight. One that I hadn't considered is the pronounced Eastern influence on Unexpected Delight, which pops up a few times throughout his work. It's a gorgeous piece on its own regardless, but it's interesting to reflect on for sure.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Bank Holiday

Ah, Bank Holiday Monday: a British tradition. Not so much of an impact this one seeing as I'm only in Uni on Wednesdays these days but hey ho any excuse. So sit tight as I regale you with audio offerings from my collection.

David Hockney - Yves Marie in the Rain (1973)

As you may have seen on our FB I went thorough a bit of a Chemical Brothers thing, working my way out of it now but I will still say Exit Planet Dust is still the cure for what ails me. And the opening track will always have a place in my heart as well as the annals of Great British Electronic.



Keepin' it on the isles, I've been looking back at my 2-step shenanigans I enjoyed as a yoof. Back in 2002, The Streets dropped Original Pirate Material. The lyrical content may be a bit dated these days (dropping references to Nintendo 64's and that) but as a soon-to-be-teen in the grimy post-industrial landscape of the north there was no record that I connected with better. That's changed since then of course, but I'd be lying if I didn't have a soft spot for tunes like this.



And one last local tune, what would be a post from me without a little Nightmares On Wax?. An early highlight on Thought So..., 195lbs is a perfect example of the jam style structure of the LP, as it was recorded in parts on a road trip as N.O.W upped sticks from the UK and settled in Spain.



-Claude Van Foxbat

MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY

fiWe made it! Finals are all wrapping up, flowers are finally blooming, we made it through winter and then all of the April showers. Spring is finally here and the summer sounds are going to be rolling in hotter than a heat wave! So what should you be listening to in preparation of spring? I'm glad you asked!

Since may is filled with random cold days to remind you that summer is not quite here yet, here is a downer from friend of the site, and drone expert; Matthew Prain.




Like Claude, I've also been on a huge 80's kick so here are some fantastic jams to get you shaking that winter fat off!







And then finally some deeper tracks until next time....











-Adam 

Goodbye, Old Friend (Hello, New One) [Soundcloud players broken as of 2020)

After many years of continued service, my favourite underdog streamer Grooveshark has gone under. I used them for the monthly playlists on the sidebar, thanks to their no BS model of embedabble streamers available to all, with or without accounts. Also no audio ads too. But them days are gone and now I have to scour the archives and fix anywhere they were embedded. But let's not dwell on that too long because I have new tunes.



Doing the rounds on Reddit this morning, happened to see this post in Cyberpunk Music one of my favourite haunts. This guy's not too far from me surprisingly, and I'm digging a lot of what I hear on his soundcloud. In fact I think that these tunes and the little getaway for this weekend I have planned will be enough to get me out of this anti-creative funk I've been in. Before I go have another one of his tunes for your enjoyment.



-Claude Van Foxbat