Tuesday Clouds

Beginning to think there might be some shenanigans going on when it comes to my semi-regular soundcloud dumps. Whenever I plan one out and set a day for posting it, it always buckets down outside. Not that it's too much of an issue like, because I can always count on my soundcloud feed to brighten things up, starting with another one from Smoothie Tunes. I've re-writtten this bit about 4 times as the track progresses, it's like a meeting of smooth A:xus meets 2-step garage and then, not content with that throws in some MIDI sounding sax towards the end.



Next is yet another hip hop instrumental (I know shock horror). Slightly different from my usual hip hop instrumental love affairs this time though, go beyond the piano and yu're treated to some lovely electronic organ style sounds that I'm pretty sure I've heard on some of the unreleased or early version of Gorillaz's Plastic Beach.



And more smooth electronics to play us out. It's not long before the heavy electro stuff comes in, all backed up by some extra funky sounding synth too. Think some parts of the mix might be mastered a bit loud in all honesty, but it almost gets that Los Angeles FlyLo compression going on and really there's bigger problems than that when it comes to production isn't there? Just watch your speakers/headphones around 1:32 or so :).



-Claude Van Foxbat

Synthwave Sundays

Hot off the heels of recent postings, I finally got around to picking up some things I've had on my list for some time. Now as the title would suggest they are synthwave in nature so let's not beat around the bush and get stuck in.

More Hotline Miami for your ears again. Since the original game turned me onto M|O|O|N in the first place and I've already posted the remix of this one it only seems right to kick things off with Dust. It's perhaps got a little more of a hip hop/trip hop streak in it than the pounding minimalism of Hydrogren, but it very nicely encapsulates Hotline Miami's off kilter atmosphere.



Breaking up the Hotline for a minute for some Ford & Lopatin. I know I've been harping on about 'em a lot these days but I got a real soft spot for their kinda sound. Anyways, here's Alan Braxe giving Too Much MIDI a seeing to, both remixes on offer keep that retro feel, but the slow jam transformation on the bonus one is pretty special.



Back to Miami for the last one. As much as I owe the first game for introducing me to M|O|O|N & friends, I gotta give a honorable mention to the second for Magic Sword. Just when I though I had checked out of being into Electro styled stuff they pulled me back in something fierce.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Linkys

Been a while since I've done something in this vein, it's nice to have some ammo for it though. Here's another piece from Celadon City. Long time followers should be no stranger to his easy going feelgood style that we've come ot know and love by now. But this one's slightly different. I missed it the first time he put it up, but managed to get around to it this time. Not so much rough FlyLo Los Angeles compression on this one, it reminds me more of Soichi Terada's Drum & Bass work and the Ape Escape OST. But more importantly....



A long time ago I says it was important to remember the roots of electronic stuff. I know that can sound like pretentious waffle but you can plainly see the effect of stuff like Disco and Italo on future developments. I've mentioned to CC before that his stuff reminds me of short lived band Plone and their playful electronic, but Dawnjogger reminded me of something a little different. Jean-Jacques Perrey to be exact, using tape, scissors and a Moog he's made all kinds of radical (for the time at least) electronic stuff in a similar vein. This one here is from 1968 which to put in perspective is 10 years before raftwerk would release The Model. Unfortunatle it's my first time being limited by soundcloud pro, but it gives you enough of an idea, and find his stuff is all over on YouTube in full too.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Return Of The Mash

Been a long time since I put up any mashup dealios. To be fair I don't come across them as much because I ain't looking for them, still from the dubbed out vibes of Spacemonkeyz Vs. Gorillaz, the absolute craftsmanship of Dan Warren's Son Of Strelka to Jaya Prime's smash of the two big trip hop hitters Portishead's Roads and Massive Attack's Teardrop there's plenty of quality both official and unofficial to get stuck into. And today's offering comes from a one 8-Bit Mullet.

If you've ever been on YouTube I'm sure you'll find game OST and hip hop mashups aren't exactly uncommon (hell, you don't even need to mash up anything for Sonic Adventure). But this one stood out a lot because of how recent the material is: a combo of a whole bunch of A Tribe Called Quest and the soundtrack from Yoshi's Wooly World of all things. Still, it's a nice change of pace to have somethin that's not banking on the nostalgia factor to get recognised. I've given it the once over and my only complaints is that the fade outs kinda ruin the flow but as someone who's dabbled in mixing before I don't blame 'em for doing it.

-Claude Van Foxbat

Friday Clouds

Hoo doggy summer has crashed and burned here in the UK. Not much of a surprise I know but things were looking up for a while I promise! I did see a hedgehog in the garden though so that's a plus. Luckily I have my man Celadon City to brighten my skies with sound. Here's his latest he's teasing us with.

I'm still on a Ford & Lopatin streak as of late. Think this was one of the last things they put out under Games and it's a damn fine send off if I do say so. Much more of a hip hop style angle to it than the usual screwed vapourwavy style sampling of their EPs.

-Claude Van Foxbat

Heaven Can Wait

A lil' busy this week but I should manage. Originally planned to do another soundcloud dump but the feed was coming up thin. So instead I went to see if I could find a streamer of one of my favourite mixtapes to save me some bandwidth and what would you know I did. So please enjoy some early Ford & Lopatin goodness, which definitely has a lot more in common with Lopatin's Eccojams series than other Games material and even their later stuff under Ford & Lopatin. So settle in for a roundabout half hour of retro style goodness, and I'll see you soon.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Soundcloud Rain

Back again with a couple soundcloud specials for you. Wasting no time and jumping right into some ambient infused IDM-style stuff that wouldn't sound too out of place on a Plaid or The Flashbulb LP. Been a nice accompaniment as I do some menial file management, not as a negative on the tune mind, just the lovely sounds make shifting folders a little bit more enjoyable.



And finally a lil' collabo action from my man Celadon from the upcoming Blend & Press Play Compilation from Smoothie Tunes. I've heard of them in passing before but regrettably never checked them out. Anyway, Mr. City's penchant for gorgeously smooth synth remains, and I am especially in love with the lo-fi one coming in around 2 minutes in.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Cyberpunk Soundtrack Action

I like bars and I like Cyberpunk. So once again I am spoiled by the fact that VA​-​11 HALL​-​A exists. It also helps it has a pretty solid soundtrack to boot. Here's a preview of the kinda stuff on offer; equal parts Sega CD style vapourwave and Hotline Miami style synthwave that is supremely My Aesthetic (tm).



There's also a second volume with 44 tracks for charity that I was going to post too, but I think I'll hang onto that one for a rainy day. Be sure to check out Garoad's Bandcamp if your interest is piqued though!

-Claude Van Foxbat

Feelin' Monday

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

It's a start of a new week again. And what could be better than a slight headache and a real humid day?. But enough about me let's get onto tunes, and of course as we all know the best ones to treat mild headaches are early 90's ambient techno.



Moderat's II hasn't really left rotation since I got my mitts on it. Let In The Light especially so, might to be a little biased thanks to my weakness for pitch shifting,but every time it comes on I have to hove it a full listen.



And finally something a little more downbeat to round it out. Moby's been going all out with the vegan stuff over on his social media as of late which can get a little grating at times, but methinks it's important to seperate the man from the music. After all, you can't really hate the easy going vibes of Play.



-Claude Van Foxbat

MIDI Memories

Real Life(™) strikes again. It's the longest gap I can remember, which isn't too bad all things considered. But I noticed so I thought I'd swing by with a lil somethin' somethin' for ya. Should be no surprise that I'm a huge fan of both retro tech and AFX. Well thanks to soundcloud I get to meet both those interests in one compact packge. Observe:







It's like if Richard D. James made Doom .wads as well as music. And to be frank I wouldn't be surprised if he hadn't knocked out a couple custom maps in his time given the kinda guy he is. I'm surprised the Bass came through so well on the Ageispolis cover, but then again when MIDIs were a thing I only had tinny PC speakers. Until next time!

-Claude Van Foxbat