Safe

Rene Magritte - Early Morning (1942)

Almost forgot to write this one today, but here I am! Let's not waste any time and dive right into some synthwavy goodness from M|O|O|N again. I definitely recommend it for the basslines alone, but I really dig the slightly off kilter lead a whole lot too.



Not staying that way for too long unfortunately, I hope you all aren't too sick of my latest jazzy / Bossa Nova excursion cos it ain't over just yet, got Music For Freelance on again and it is still very much good. Here's Ian O'Brien's treatment of Piano Black



Finishing off with another soundtrack number, this time a slower tempo take on Hardfloor's Spook & Spell I posted some time ago. The transition from the techno to the slower BPM here isn't as jarring as you might think, and comes out sounding a little Underworld-ish in parts.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Blue Monday

Hello! You will be pleased to know I am not dead, I have only recently taken up a weekend night job dealio so Friday through Sunday may be a bit dry from now on but I plan to try and make up for it through the week. Now that's out of the way here are some songs I am recovering to.

On Kawara - Oct. 23, 1989 (from Today Series, Monday) (1989)

Been a while since I've laid down some proper ambient but that changes today. Taken from an album where all the songs are untitled comes this 'un from The Green Kingdom, loved it for a long time since it was the backing piece to Hotline Miami 2's main menu, the combo of the visuals and this may make it a contender for chillest main menu ever.



Been on a bit of a BOC bend as of late, so I thought it'd be ample time to mention the Peel Session EP again. It mainly some alternate version of songs from Music Has The Right To Children (and if you're lucky the rare XYZ). It is pretty short on the whole too, but it's all worth it to hear this extended take on Olson.



Let the Röyksopp boys play us out again, with yet another bit from The Understanding. This one's actually the penultimate track if you only have the vanilla version of the album without the few bonus tracks, but I think it sets the mood well enough.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Keepin' It Ez

Julie Mehretu - Easy Dark (2007)

Nothing too major going on, but you know what they say, no news is good news. Straight onto the music it is then, here's something I meant to put up for a long time now but it never felt like the right time. Regardless, enjoy the sweet sounds of Midge Ure's synthy cover of The Man Who Sold The World, still sounds pretty fresh for '82.



More Tracey Thorn just because I'm still in that kinda mood. I love her guest spots on the album a whole lot, I coulda posted the title track from Protection again but I think everybody could do with hearing the bassline of Better Things more often.



And some more instrumental FlyLo to see us out. It's no secret now that I got a soft spot for them, and FlyLo's demo tapes are a solid source that get overlooked quite a bit methinks. So sit back and enjoy some vinatge FlyLo circa 2005.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Bluesy Tuesday

Carlos Saenz de Tejada - A Sad Girl (1921)

Little bit of a sadboy today so expect even more downbeatness than usual, starting once again with even more Bossa Nova style goodness from The Thievery Corp. The whole album is a lovely encapsulation of its title, full of wistful tunes to get down to.



More from Everything But The Girl again. Tracey Thorn once again lending herself to yet another downtempo offering. Much more a product of its time than her appearances on Massive Attack's Protection but that's to be expected, EBTG was the kind of band that occasionally broke through into the charts back then.



And finally another more instrumental number from The Flashbulb's Soundtrack To A Vacant Life. Well, I say instrumental but there are some whisper vocals towards the end, but even then it's very unlike the usual AFX style IDM you expect from The Flashbulb.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Lazy Sunday

Meant to put something up yesterday but I went out instead. As such I ain't feeling too hot so expect a thoroughly chill cross section of tunes today, starting with some Thievery Corporation. And while searching my soundcloud feed for cures for my ails I come across some perfect instrumentals that do well to rest my weary head. That and they help fill the void left by Adult Swim bumps. Def. going to be keeping an eye on these in future.



And a lil jazzy number to play us out. Good soundtrack for starting to feel a little bit better. Normal service will resume in due time, but until then, enjoy the selections and I'll see you soon.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Hangin' Around

Jack Tworkov - Thusday (1960)

Feelin' a little trip hop hip hop this time, picked out some things that have been tickling my fancy this mornin'. Starting with a lil' something from Scattle, a bit of a departure from the synthwavey-y stuff of his I've posted before but there's still hints of that slightly menacing vibe there. It's a short one but sweet as, can't get enough of that bass.



Throwback from one of the many music side projects under David Firth's belt. This one has been a long standing favourite of mine; I understand why vocals are sparse in his Toybox work compared to say the folk styling of the Grape Digging Sharon Fruits but his long time pal Christian (AKA Crust) did a solid job here.



And finally yet another tune drilled into my skull, which I mean in the nicest way possible. The times I've heard it must number almost a thousand by no, and every time I can't get enough of it's hazy vibe. Easily in my top 10 of go to tunes to scratch my instrumental itch.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Belated Monday Updates

Fell behind a little again, but I m prepared. This time it's a good old soundcloud roundup because I've been meaning to for about 2 weeks at this point. And look who's back, that's right it's everyone's favourite vowel hating Canadians MSTRKRFT! Boy I do love their electro stuff from back in the day, I wonder what they've been cooking up in the meantime...



Oh my, is that... Acid? It's a bold move all things considered, I'm sure everyone (probably me too tbh) would like to see the glory days of blog electro return but as controversial as this move is, I kinda like it. Sometimes you gotta have abrasion in there and it's done pretty well here. It's a bit like the darker half of Daft Punk's Homework, the Rollin' & Scratchin' compared to Da Funk



Unfortunately that's all for the abrasive stuff, moving onto the tune I've been meaning to put up for those two weeks! Not a real lot to say, hits all my instrumental hip hop buttons and that wh-wah is giving me major flashbacks to Nightmares On Wax's remix of Olive's You're Not Alone and that is a very good thing indeed.



Playing us out is a bit more of an upbeat period piece. Calls itself dub-lounge but methinks it's a bit too fast for either, but that's really not a concern. Enjoy the bassline and I'll see you again with more in couple of days!

-Claude Van Foxbat

Simon Says

Clumsily I let today sneak up on me and had no concrete post planned, luckily the Van Foxbat clan are masters of cunning last minute plans so I have salvaged it. Deets after art.

Simon Hantai - Blanc

It's been a while since I've posted anything from Simon Viklund, and it just so happens that I have picked out 3 tunes of his that I wanted to cover. They're all reworks of tunes he did way back in 2012 or so, starting off with the very aptly named Breach.



Next comes the Gun Metal Grey rework. Honestly, not so hot on this one in parts. I adore the original and the dubstep parts feel really tacked on (see about 1:35), and for some reason Simon decided it needed a 2+ minute fadeout? Still, I think it's pretty nice overall, it's nice to see parts of the original peek through every now and then.



Thankfully the Crime Wave rework is free of those complaints, albeit at the cost of being a lot similar to the original. Not that I blame him at all mind, that main riff is killer and it'd be a shame to replace it with generic wobbles. It's punchy, builds well and doesn't overstay it's welcome, in short everything I like when it comes to Mr. Viklunds work.



-Claude Van Foxbat

It Must Be Tuesday

Slightly off kilter schedule has been corrected, just one day out of the usual sched now! But as I said last time I found some time to dedicate to a full post, so here we go. Words and tunes as usual in a sec.

Peter Blake - Tuesday (1961)

As you've probably come to expect by now, a lot of chill things going on this time. Fell back in with Golden Boy's one and only debut LP again, an in between all the pop meets electroclash and house stuff on there is this. Even though I can't jive with minimal a good 80% of the time, I'll be damned if this track isn't absolutely gorgeous once in a while.



I'm massively behind on all things Tellier too which is an absolute shame because I love most of the man's backcatalogue. Here's a surpisingly loungy number from Politics, a far cry from the sexy time electronics of Sexuality that came after.



Anneli Drecker has also been standing in as my muse for the past couple days. Ever since hearing her on Röyksopp's Sparks all those years ago I've been a fan, this week her live version of Sparks and this from Junior have been doing it for me. Not to discount the 'sopp boys' production either, which is also top notch here.



-Claude Van Foxbat

A Lil' Behind

Fell back a little bit but I done had a busy weekend so I think I can let myself off this time. And I had something lined up to post too, remember when I covered Blog buddy Joe's label with the then-current Choco Love? well there's been a tasty batch of remixes just come off the line, and hopefully they'll be enough to keep you satisfied until I can dedicate some time to a proper long form post.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Lousy Smarch Weather

I woke up to snow today. I thought we were done with that but evidenly not. So naturally I went lookin' for some tunes to warm things up a bit. Here we go.

Kent Bellows - Kitchen Counter: March 1983 (Dirty Dishes) (1983)

And what better way to do that than fire up this one from Projections' debut LP. A lot slower than the Bossa Nova of say Thievery Corporation's Saudade but still carries that sound sensibility with it. The breakdowns are gorgeous, and there's plenty of them to be had over it's 6 minute run time.



Keeping things downtempo with another visit to my man Nightmares On Wax. This one was particularly ironic as I grabbed my brekky this morning, talking about spring in Egypt as I watched the snow out the window. The tune's not too shabby either I s'pose, deffo a highlight on Carboot Soul



Bibio has a new album out this April too, seems to be a theme for him and I can't blame the guy, his tunes definitely have a sweet spring / summery vibe to them. So I decided to go back in time about 5 years and give Mind Bokeh a listen again. My updated verdict? Still as sweet as ever.



-Claude Van Foxbat