Wrapped With Warmness

It's been a long time since I've done one of these, I've had my head in a tech troubleshooting hole for the better part of a week now. So I thought why not knock out one of those mixtape things I used to make? So over the course of an afternoon I put this together. I'll say what I say in the Mixcloud description: As always I'm no master DJ but I'm pretty happy with the flow of this one! Themed around tunes to keep you toasty as the winter months close in (at least for those of us in the northern hemisphere), it's almost an extension of my 'cosy electronic' stuff I was posting a while back (with Sparks being one of my staples for that) but with some extra upbeat stuff put in. I hope you enjoy, tracklist follows the player!



Tracklist:
Mitsuto Suzuki - Clear
Cornelius - Drop (The Tusen Takk Rework by Kings Of Convenience)
Hajime Hyakkoku - Winter Night In A Warm Room
Röyksopp - Sparks
DMX Krew - December Darkness
Nami Shimada & Soichi Terada - Sunshower
Mondo Grosso - Labyrinth (Album Mix)
The Flashbulb - Let Me Walk You To Your Honda
Yoko Kanno - Strangers
Pascal Michael Stiefel - Fast Food


-Claude Van Foxbat

Da Funk Back To The CyberPunk

The final in the trilogy of cyberpunk posts and by far the broadest in terms of genre. This time it's my all purposes Cyberpunk playlist. Here is home to anything I feel fits that atmosphere which means that unlike the Cyberia Mix, I'm not limited to more dancefloory stuff. That's not to say that there isn't any crossover between the two, (hell just loading it up for this post I spotted a Dopplereffeckt track that I missed that happily sits on both of them), but certainly expect more downbeat, introspective and minimal pieces intertwined throughout.

It's sitting at a cool 300 songs right now, clocking in at just under a whole day's worth of audio accompaniment. I'm pretty happy with how it is, there are a couple choices that I could give or take depending n the day but overall I think I've got a pretty neat overall feel! (even if it does lean a little heavy on the ambient side to begin with, I listen to it on shuffle anyway though). Not to throw shade at people but the variety is part of why I made this playlist to begin with, and more importantly why I kept the amount of Synthwave on it to a minimum, as there seems to have been a massive uptick in 'BEST OF CYBERPUNK SYNTHWAVE' playlists after the announcement of a certain upcoming RPG with the same name. Don't get me wrong, you all know I do like the Synthwave, but I'd like people to be aware that there are other perfect examples of Cyberpunk Music outside of that! Get some industrial techno and old school electro in there, contrast that with some ambient and lush IDM and you're well on your way to having a nice mixture of tunes for that High-Tech Low-Life.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Wired Sound For Wired People

Part 2 of this month's cyberpunk shenanigans is one that I think I've mentioned before here but I'm not sure. It's another curated list of mine over on spotify, this time we're talking about the Cyberia Mix.
It has a really varied history, beginning as a love letter to the fictional club of the same name from Serial Experiments Lain, before being slightly adapted as an in-universe soundtrack to a setting I was work-shopping for the sci-fi tabletop RPG Shadowrun before finally becoming a mixture two; it's still a love letter to Lain, but I'm also planning to use it once again as an in-universe soundtrack for another Cyberpunk project with a heavy emphasis on the different genres on offer, which is why it's become much more varied recently.



Basically, anything cyberpunk-y and dancefloor ready goes in this list, but it has to be sufficiently 'techy' to make it in (or at least that was the criteria for the initial block you'll see above). You can see the progression of how I was using the playlist in the tracks that are selected, they're in no real order, I just add them as and when I find or remember to put something into it. Which again reflects in the choices; starting out largely minimal techno-y, with a dashing of Electroclash and Trance here and there, before taking a sharp left when Chikada 'JJ' Wasei actually released a sequel to the album that gives its name to the playlist.

From there the selections remain fairly consistent with some more genre additions with some hard Drum & Bass and a little Breakcore. Unlike other playlists I've put together with a certain 'feel', I don't think I've gone back and removed any tracks from this one (minus some unintentional duplicates). I feel like some of that techy feel is getting a little lost with my latest additions at the very bottom, which are mainly Trance. But to get super nerdy for a second, the project I have in mind is going to focus on the genres in particular, the crowd that listens to euphoric trance is going to be very different from the ones in the dark rooms with Dopplereffekt playing see?

Before I go though, a honorable mention to some tracks I wanted to feature but aren't on spotify, starting with a tune I intended to use to bridge the gap between the minimal tech and house to trance: Jackmate's Airraid. I've known about it via Erlend Øye's DJ Kicks compilation for years now, and never did I imagine it'd be so hard to find for streaming (which goes for most of the tunes on that compilation too). A good demo of the kind of sound I had in mind for the Cyberia Mix at it's inception though.



And finally, one of my all time favourite trance tunes that is sorely missed, Slyder's Neo (The One). It takes a little while to get going, but when it does it feels amazing every time. I know I've said this before about other tracks and all that regular cliché stuff, but I could seriously live in that moment of the build & drop at 4:50 for ever. Which is kinda the point of euphoric trance innit?



One more playlist to share, it'll probably be next weekend at this rate when that one goes up. I appreciate your patenience as I try and get back into the swing of things. Until then feel free to dig into my other spotify playlists and as always: stay safe, and enjoy the music.

-Claude Van Foxbat

Tears In Rain

I've been waiting to make this post for a couple of years now. Purely so I can use the image above. Yep it's time that I celebrate my favourite science fiction sub-genre and more importantly, the effect it's had on electronic music as a whole. This isn't going to be limited to a singular post mind you, I have a couple lined up for this month (again purely so I could use the above image). As for this post, well, there isn't really a plan for this one beyond some thoughts I've been having recently so apologies if it comes across a little rambling, lets get stuck in.

It's only fitting that I start with the actual namesake of this post (and source of the above image), Vangelis' soundtrack to 1982's Blade Runner has been a mainstay in electronic music circles for an incredibly long time, though curiously the soundtrack didn't see an actual release until 1994. Chalk it up to the film being fairly unpopular in its day, and the strength of its cult following in the years to come. Personally, I point to Vangelis' work for the Blade Runner OST as evidence that more films should be using electronic music in their OSTs. Granted, I am slightly biased because I love the film and electronic music and you could argue that it's thematically appropriate to the movie, but just listen to how iconic Blade Runner Blues sounds all these years later, especially compared to a generic orchestral score.



You should already be able to hear similarities going forward, most prominently being the work of Daniel Lopatin under his Oneohtrix Point Never alias. Beyond just the love of arpeggiated analogue that they both share, Daniel's signature sound in the early days of Oneohtrix Point Never revolved around using the exact same models of Roland synthesizers that Vangelis did on Blade Runner. Daniel's sound has since evolved and moved quite a ways away from this analogue noodling, but I will always hold a special place in my heart for these works, particularly those on the Betrayed In The Octagon release.



We're going to jump backwards a little bit now to talk about another series of releases I'm incredibly passionate about. In the early 1990's, Warp Records set out to revive what they called 'Electronic Listening Music', evoking images of Kraftwerk and Pink Floyd on the sleeve of the first compilation that would give the series its title; Artificial Intelligence. To quote Warp Records co-founder Steve Beckett on this decision:

That's why we put those sleeves on the cover of Artificial Intelligence – to get it into people's minds that you weren't supposed to dance to it!
— Steve Beckett

It's this vision and mission statement that comes to mind for me first when thinking of Warp Records, at this time electronic music in the popular sense was Acid House and Hardcore and the associated rave culture, so for Warp to push the envelope like this was an interesting decision. Not an entirely unforeseen one though, given the popularity of chill-out rooms and the release of Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works 85-92 that same year on R&S Records. Still, Warp stuck to this idea for the next couple of years and would release 6 albums and another compilation under the {Artificial Intelligence} label.



The reason I think these albums appeal to me so is that for as long as I can remember I've been fascinated by just the actual sound of electronic music. I've shared that story of being enthralled by my dad's cassette of Kraftwerk's Autobahn and just how different it sounded compared to anything I'd heard before. Though I didn't fully dive into the world of electronic music until I was a teenager, it twinned nicely with my interest in technology too, a high tech sound for an increasingly high-tech world.

Which leads to an interesting contrast for me. To me, the Artificial Intelligence series has an almost positive sound to it, like technology is going to guide us through the 1990's and beyond. Maybe it's just the hindsight, but I can definitely hear the sound get more cynical, more jaded over time. This comes to a head around the 2000s, with Electroclash ironically embracing the shallow celebrity culture, Massive Attack taking on their now trademark melancholy tone with Mezzanine and most importantly for me, the release of James Stinson's Lifestyles of the Laptop Café, funnily enough also released on Warp Records.



While not officially part of it, to me Lifestyles of the Laptop Café represents the end of the Artificial Intelligence series; it carries with it that Electronic Listening Music sensibility for one, but the tone is now much more focused on very personal themes like disconnection and loneliness, with the technological element forming a backdrop to this. Again, maybe it's the hindsight (and to be honest my own personal experience in these areas) talking, but those themes have only gotten more relevant with time, even if the cover art has become a little dated in those 18 years. And in one final twist of fate, Lifestyles of the Laptop Café was originally released on September 3rd 2001, just 8 days before the world would change forever.

Well, this post took a direction I wasn't expecting. Aplogies again if it's a little rambly and more thinkpiece-y than my usual output. The other Cyberpunk Month posts I have in mind are much more structured so stay tuned for those if this one's been a miss for you. As always, stay safe and enjoy the music.

-Claude Van Foxbat

Spooky Electric

Was planning to post this a little earlier, and have more tracks in it too but it's been very busy as of late. What's that saying about mice and men? Anyway, figured I'd best get it out there seeing as we're getting close and also I'm pretty sure it's the 31st already over in the states. So please enjoy my carefully curated list of vaguely Halloween-y tunes. There's no real order to them beyond the first 4 or so, so feel free to shuffle!



It's a real mixed bag of upbeat and downbeat too, the most recent additions being what precious little of Akira Yamaoka's Silent Hill soundtracks there are on spotify. Hopefully there's some stuff in there that you dig, and if you'd like to follow the playlist I plan on adding to it a little more over the next couple days. I found it much harder than in previous years, but then again my library has grown considerably since then. Regardless, enjoy and I will see you all again soon!

-Claude Van Foxbat

A Return To Listening To...

Miwa Ogasawara - Ausgang (2007)

It's been a few since I did one of these. Probably a little rusty but there can't be much to go wrong. Starting off with a recent addition to my library that will not stop haunting me. And I mean that quite literally, I know I say it for a bunch of stuff in my collection but I could quite happily live in that melancholic intro for ever and ever (I even sampled it on my latest EP in the post below!). SiLC as a band existed only very briefly towards the turn of the millennium, though from what I gather from a bit of reading this was intentional, you can definitely hear that not-quite-pop feel that was so prevalent at the time but even with some slightly dated sounds, SiLC have been a very interesting addition to my listening. To be honest I'm just amazed I could find this on streaming.



The Flashbulb has come more into the fold for me recently too, I think the mistake I made last time was going all in on the IDM front and gathering as much stuff as I could that fit the admittedly broad definitions o the style. Since dialling it back I've a newfound appreciation for it and some other artist's work to boot. Love As A Dark Hallway is a much more easily digestible listen than my previous recommended Flashbulb release, Soundtrack To A Vacant Life, but its by no means less of a quality induction into his works. Keeping with that slightly haunting theme (fitting given it's October and all) we have Virtuous Cassette; which begins with some sounds straight out of Aphex Twin's Rhubarb. That is, before the beat abruptly slides into position around 40 seconds in, making the whole thing more in line with Wisp's rework of Rhubarb. That is not a complaint; I absolutely adore the smooth sounds throughout this LP and the beats, while contrasting, never feel out of place.



I mentioned on the podcast that I love to cosy, almost-DIY electronics of Hajime Hyakkoku's soundtracks and that has not changed. I've been purposefully metering them out in order to get the most mileage out o them but I have since listened to them all. This example in particular reminds me especially of Mitsuto Suzuki's solo albums in terms of sound, I think I mentioned those on a podcast or post previously too, they are hard to find but full of gorgeous pieces like this. As we head to the tail end of this year I expect to pulling more and more of these into rotation to give myself a little bit of audio warmth.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Self Promotion

I never did get around to posting my ambient EP after I finished it. So here we are. After a four year hiatus I dusted off some half finished things on my HDD, made some new ones and actually got around to putting all of my audio releases on a bandcamp page for all to enjoy (all my releases are pay what you want and always will be, so feel free to pick them up for free if you'd like). I'm going to actually quote the release page now:

"Started as a quick follow up and a return to me making music, it's been an often delayed project interspersed with moments of great productivity. It's finished now though.

A much more sample-oriented than my previous works, partially because of the huge influx of new music I acquired between the last release and this one. I think this EP also more closely resembles my original inspirations for creating ambient, that being Rifts-era Oneohtrix Point Never. I hope you enjoy."

I'm currently trying to make more audio things right now too actually, granted this will probably bite me in the back as this EP did but if I keep mentioning it I'll remember to work on it!, embedding the player below:

And finally before I forget, a list of samples used for those interested in spotting them. Some more obvious than others, and as mentioned above each track has a sample in it, happy hunting!

Track 1 contains a sample of "Prototype J" by Akira Takemoto

Track 2 contains a sample of 'Aya's Diary' by Naoshi Mizuta

Track 3 contains samples of 'Tears Stained Eyes' by Konami Kukeiha Club and 'boundaries and limitations [sunday driver]' by Echochamber

Track 4 Contains a sample of "In Heaven" by SiLC

Track 5 Contains a sample of "Can You See" by R·O·N

-Claude Van Foxbat

Aeria Gloris

In another strange twist, I found out recently that more of Yoko Kanno's work has made it onto Spotify. Not just any of her works either, no this time it's the entire soundtracks she made for the Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex TV series. You might've heard me mention Kanno several times previously, she's one of my favourite composers even when not working with electronics. I'd have liked for more of her work to land on streaming platforms but you can't go much wrong with the Stand Alone Complex works. So I'm going to take you through them and choose some of my all time favourites to share with you.

I couldn't be talking about these OSTs without starting with this one. We're kicking off with the opening theme to the first season, Inner Universe featuring Origa. Fantastic production, and incredibly befitting of the high-tech world of Ghost In The Shell, the clash of Origa's unique vocal contributions and the slick electronics establishing the whole man/machine thematic elements of the series in an absolutely gorgeous fashion.



Jumping to the second OST album now with it's opening track "Cyberbird", used to amazing effect within the series itself but more than capable of standing on it's own. That intro is just as euphoric every time I hear it, and while on paper I'm not a huge fan of strings in my electronic music, I think it works incredibly well in the tracks favour here (and if you want to get all philosophical again, ties into that man/machine theme once more).



Keeping on that slightly euphoric theme, this next track in particular I think may be my favourite example of the electronically oriented ones. The overall execution reminds of The Knife, especially in their Silent Shout era (though it came out the year before that album). Here's "Torukia".



And finally, a side of the soundtrack I've failed to mention until now. Among all these upbeat and other tracks there are quite a few downtempo pieces, sometimes bordering on Trip Hop. Any lontime readers will know I am a sucker for any and all things of that nature so it's a testament to the soundtracks I'm only mentioning it now. Featuring yet another unique vocalist contributor in Ilaria Graziano, this one does take a little while to get to the meat of the track, but stick out the jazzy percussion of the first 2 minutes and you're treated to a deliciously smooth piece of downtmepo goodness. It actually has a bit of a late 90's - early 00's feel to it, the smoothness of the synths in particular is giving me major All Saints - Pure Shores vibes, which was produced by William Orbit after all!



And so wraps up my whirlwind tour of all things Ghost In The Shell Soundtracks. There's another album or two I didn't mention here, if you like what you've heard so far check out Yoko Kanno's stuff on Spotiy and hopefully we'll see more of her work make the platform in future!

-Claude Van Foxbat

Trails (And Tribulations)

Hello. It is me again. Thought I'd swing by with yet another update on what exactly is happening. The site is still live (barely), I haven't been updating as much as I should have for a variety of reasons, IRL reasons like being promoted at work (good!), taking a trip to Portugal (good!) and having to deal with house moving headaches (not so good!) but regardless I'm trying to make more time for y'all once more. And with that in mind let's dive into what I have today.



Hot off the heels of a live radio event and Aphex Twin's latest live set on September 14th, warp comes through once again with the announcement of the "WXAXRXP Sessions" just in time for the 30th anniversary. This will be a huge box set of a bunch of sessions both new and old from the backcatalogue, most interestingly being the above. For the first proper time you can have the Complete Boards Of Canada Peel Session from 1998, featuring the until now bootleg only "XYZ". Which is a good thing because it's one of their finest tracks, though I will admit it is a little strange listening to it without the radio hiss and John Peel's dulcet tones introducing it as I'm used to from the bootleg.

It's not just Boards on the roster however, the other offerings from the "WXAXRXP Sessions" feature a who's who of the label past and present; Aphex Twin, Bibio, Oneohtrix Point Never, Flying Lotus, Plaid and LFO being the highlights for me. The WXAXRXP Sessions are available come November (15th I want to say?), as a 10x12" vinyl boxset or digital, tracklists and details over at Warp's official retailer Bleep

Plus One

It's been a little while since I wrote a proper post, but I thought I should this time. It's that time of year where both me and the blog tick over one more year. It's not philosophical or anything, me and the blog just happen to share the same birthday.

2018-19 has been a fuckin' hell of a year for me and the site. It's resulted in a drastic overhaul of every post ever made (which is why so many are missing, I'm working on it) and to be frank I'm amazed we made it this far in the previous state. Still, we made it to the big 10 year mark before everything caught fire so I can be content with that.

Though we are still dealing with some bullshit too, like a nonsensical DMCA for the St. Patrick's day episode of the podcast which shouldn't even apply as it's hosted on mixcloud and we don't even offer downloads of the episodes but sticking my neck out is what got me in this situation in the first place, and given the stories you hear about a certain video hosting site being especially incompetent at dealing with them I'm not going to bother. the show along with all the other episodes we've done is still up on mixcloud or what it's worth Silver linings though, the first ever proper on-depth series I did here; A Very Warped History is now once again complete with all broken images (that 17 year old me thought was a good idea to hotlink) and the next/previous links fixed too so you can navigate the whole series from that first post there. Pleas excuse some of my teenage attempts at writing, but overall I'm still very proud of it.

In the meantime, I thought I'd throw up some birthday selections for the first time in forever. Starting with a bit of euroebeat I was saving for the podcast one day. I think I did mention on a previous show that I don't use the term 'guilty pleasure' anymore re: music. You shouldn't be ashamed of what you like, but that doesn't mean you can't view it objectively. Which is what my collection of late 90's Trance and Eurobeat are to me. Both of them hit the same buttons for me, sometimes it's nice to cut loose to some frankly unashamedly obnoxious synths and downright cheesy vocals and the occasional euphoric break. Eurobeat is also interesting if you approach it from a electronic music history angle, the genre is very heavily Italian producer biased and you can certainly hear the Disco, Italo and Hi-NRG influence on some tracks, especially with them MIDI piano hits. Enter Burning Up For You, which I think covers all the bases I mentioned above.



Another tune I mentioned and played on the podcast if finally on Spotify. Essentially what I said on the show is my usual spiel about not shaming folk for how they discover music they like, especially when it comes to soundtracks: I personally have seen Peace & Tranquility introduce multiple people to House, even if it as as inconsequential as a comment asking "what genres is this?", and I am always happy to see more people come into the broad and exciting world of electronic music. Even if the song does get memed to death in the process, which is a bit of a shame because it's one of my most favourite recent house tunes.



Speaking of euphoria, I've been revisiting HEALTH's Death Magic recently and it's still a solid listen. Don't be put off by the dark artwork and ALL THE CAPS, some of these tracks are surprisingly light, certainly not like Carpenter Brut and other Synthwave that I put it next to in the podcast episode. Dark Enough being my most recent looper, I love what they do with the electronics and how the twin with the vocals to make this dreamy feel despite the heavy kicks.



And after overlooking him last time I covered hip-hop stuff in the podcast, here's a little bit from Nujabes. I still think it's a shame that his works overshadow the other contributors to the OST for Samurai Champloo, because eoff of the mare very much quality but I cannot deny that Nujabes was good at what he did. I speak a lot about tunes that from the get-go just grab me and I think that he and the rest of the OST cew have the highest rate of that in my collection, all of these instrumentals are a treat for the ears, as are the brief excursions into more R&B territory. Even if you have no interest in the series, stream the rest of this album and seek out the other OSTs, they are incredible hip-hop albums on their own.



I think that's enough variety, reminds me of the old end of year roundups I used to do. I don't know how active I'll be with *new* posts, but I will keep re-publishing old posts as and when I can, some of the older ones are an absolute mess to detangle but I'll get it done. Until next time, enjoy.

-Claude Van Foxbat

An Update

Hello. You might have noticed new podcasts have been absent for a few weeks now, and you may be wondering why that is. Truth be told I don't know myself, me and Adam ended our call after the last recording session and I haven't heard anything since. I shot him a message asking if we were swapping over to Wednesdays for the rest of the month but got no reply, and he hasn't updated the google doc we keep for the podcast notes either. That's pretty much it, I know as little as you, while I wouldn't be against continuing the show solo, I think it is much stronger with Adam and myself so I won't be doing that. I don't have access to the mixcloud account either.

In the meantime though, I'm finally getting around to re-publishing my first proper series I ever did on this blog, the slickly titled A Very Warped History. I've not got them all done yet but it's a start. I'm changing very little about them, there are some dead image links and some typos I'm correcting but they are otherwise as-is, as such please forgive some of my ham-fisted writing, I was around 15 at the time of the first posts and they'll be 10 years old next year!

While I'm fixing those however, I thought I'd at least post something. So have this playlist I cooked up that is a quick rundown of what I think is the quintessential introduction to what Warp does; it features bits and pieces from the entire history of the label including some of my all time favourites and even features some albums I didn't write about for the Very Warped History series. Enjoy.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Ilictronix Podcast: The Legacy

"In this episode: Claude brings some Kraftwerk flavors. Adam goes Balearic.

We are live again for this week! As the strap-line says, this week I try something new by bringing an adaption and expansion of a post I did a while back called "A Model's Legacy". In it, we see how Kratwerk (specifically their early 1980's hit The Model) has, and continues to influences electronic music worldwide in its many forms. Not to discount the other non-electronic things its influenced, but we are an electronic music show mind, we take a trip from its home Germany to the UK, Japan and back again, and I hope you find it as interesting as I did to talk about and compile!

Adam treats us to some yet again more summery selections, though I was disappointed that his choices weren't all literally Balearic Beat, the precursor to Tropical House. Joking aside it's a cool rundown, I really dig Adam's ability to merge new and old stuff in his selections in a way that is so smooth (even if that Jai Paul track is technically both new and old at the same time). I'm aiming for a return to the strictly upbeat myself come next week, which I think will be Thursdays from now on due to Adam mentioning his slight schedule change in the episode. Nothing should change though, we are going up a little late today but that's because I got side tracked at home. Anyway, tracklist follows as per usual! Tracklist:
Intro:
Otik - Actress

Claude’s Picks:
Kraftwerk - The Model
Ladytron - He Took Her To A Movie
Hajime Hyakkoku - Virtual Love
808 State - One In Ten
Doug Lazy - H.O.U.S.E (The Remodelled Remix)


Adam’s Mix
Jai Paul - He
Kapote - Delirio Italiano
Don Carlos - Alone
Ian Pooley - Coração Tambor (Needs Remix)
Hoover1 - 2B2 (Mr. Speaker Mix)

-Claude Van Foxbat

Ilictronix Podcast: The Instrumental Edition

"In this episode: Claude brings some bump worthy beats. Adam brings a rainy day ambient mix."

We are live again for this week! Another mixed bag but not the complete whiplash of atmosphere that was last week. It's been a hectic week for me and I've taken the opportunity to unwind with one of my musical dalliances that I dig up every now and then, I went all in on instrumental hip hop. I've expanded a little from last time's 'bump-worthy' selections, this time focusing (unintentionally) on killer samples, which means I get to flex my opinions once again on the subject, though I assure you that my take isn't very hot in the grand scheme of things. I drop some weapons I've been holding onto for a while, tarting off with a couple pieces from the Samurai Champloo OST from Force Of Nature and Tsutchie. As mentioned in the episode I deliberately avoided Nujabes' productions for the OST, not that they're bad or anything but he does tend to steal the limelight when it comes to discussing that soundtrack. That said, if you liked this episodes sounds you should absolutely jump into Nujabes' back catalogue for more of the style

Adam also brings something new to the table with a mix instead of our usual tunes 'n talk combo. Truth be told it's an idea I've played with before but never really thought too much about until now. Like we say in the Ep I think it could be really good to use in cases like this where we'd interrupt the flow with our usual routine. That and it'd give me a chance to crate and play with my 'mixtapes' I used to make one again. Full tracklist follows as usual:

Tracklist:
Intro:
Force Of Nature - Just Forget

Claude’s Picks:
DJ Krush - Song 1
Tsutchie - Sincerely
MF Doom - Arrow Root
Akira Yamaoka - Alone In The Town
El Huervo - Rust


Adam’s Mix
Tim Hecker - Step Away From Konoyo
Kara-Lis Coverdale - Moments In Love
Karel Goeyvaerts - Pour Que Les Fruits Mûrissent Cet été
Mark Pritchard - Untitled
Talk Talk - Myrrhman

SHOW NOTES:

Ilictronix Podcast: Ebony & Ivory

"In this episode: Claude feels the rhythm of HOUSE. Adam feels his avant-garde oats."

We are live for this week! I try to keep things on the uptempo trend after a brief dip into chill stuff last week; only to have Adam take the entirely opposite approach. Still it's a good, if tonally inconsistent episode. I get to share some absolute clangers of tracks I've been holding onto, and we get to touch on our mutual love of ambient and experimental music too, which we haven't had much chance to as of yet besides passing mentions. I appreciate it's not for everyone, but as we discuss in this episode and have in previous, we love all forms of electronic music and to be honest its high time we give the experimental stuff some airtime. The beauty of the podcast format means you can skip around if it's not your cup of tea too (which I won't judge you for if you decide to do).

I try and (mostly successfully) try to make a list of not-french house, some new names on there for me and some old, I've been really into Guidance's back catalogue for a while now, and that influence shows on the A:xus and Franche tracks, as well as a bit of the local flavour courtesy of Everything But The Girl and Rex The Dog, rounded out with a Parasite Eve remix from Yoko Shimomura and Dan K to ease into the Deep House side of things. Adam meanwhile brings a whole host of new names to the table (minus AFX and Hopkins, naturally) which I actually really appreciated. I have a love for ambient synth work that I've been sorely neglecting and this episode provided me with more than a few notes to take down! Full tracklist follows as usual:

Tracklist:
Intro:
Caterina Barbieri - Fantas

Claude’s picks:
Everything But The Girl - Wrong (Todd Terry Remix)
Yoko Shimomura - Missing Perspective (Dan K’s Late Night Session)
A:xus - Suite Disappointment
Rex The Dog - Bubblicious
Franche - What’s In There


Adam’s Picks
Suzanne Ciani - Concert at WBAI Free Music Store (excerpt 9:00 - 14:00)
Jon Hopkins - Singularity
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - First Flight
Aphex Twin - T69 Collapse
Pavla & Noura - Siblings Music

Outro:
Inner City - Big Fun (Simian Mobile Disco Remix)


SHOW NOTES:
We mention Chikyu-u Records again this episode, they're the label that the Franche track was on. They have a ton of bandcamp releases like we mentioned, and you can find their full discography is here. Also as we mentioned most of the releases on there are Pay-What-You-Want so you can pick them up for free if you'd like, personally I'm definitely throwing some £ their way after I dive further into their discogs.

ilictronix Podcast: Tune In, Drop Out

"In this episode: Claude and Adam both share their "day off" playlists."

We are live for this week! It's a return to form for me as we enjoy our collective time off with a little bit of downtempo. I feel like I've earned this one, I kept it upbeat for a few episodes after all; we take a trip down memory lane with some new and some old additions to my collections, opening with another piece from Mehdi's pre-Ed Banger debut beore hitting up my recent bounties from my dive into Guidance Recordings' back catalogue from The Dining Rooms, Projections and Flunk (whose album you can still buy quite easily, see the show notes!) and then the real trip down memory lane with Blu Mar Ten and The Deadbeats completing my sweetly smooth selections for this week. It's a list I've planned for a while, originally stating out as one based on our conversation last week about songs that are just 'Ok' but that quickly got sidetracked because I HAD to play Kingsburg and from there it was a sure shot that this would be me back on my downtempo vibes. Adam treats us to his approach to the same prompt, as luck would have it he's been off as well, and unlike me the downtempo fiend he's got a whole host of house and other recent goodies for us this week. It's quite varied, not that Adam usually isn't in that department mind you but I was certainly surprised to see Plaid of all artists on there. I very much need to listen to more of their stuff but I outline my favourites so far in the episode! Tracklist as usual follows:

Tracklist:
Intro: DJ Mehdi - Along The Way


Claude’s picks:
The Dining Rooms - M. Dupont
Projections - Kingsburg
Flunk - Honey’s In Love
Blu Mar Ten - Trauma
The Deadbeats - You Never Know


Adam’s Picks
Harry Romero - Indy Loop
Kedr Livanskiy - Sky Kisses
Whodat & Viola Kein - Funeral Song
Plaid - Anything
Cinthie -Time To Move

Outro:
Kim English - I Know A Place (E-smooth Club Mix)


SHOW NOTES:
The Mehdi interview Alex did way back when is still on the site. I couldn't find it at first because I had the dates wrong, Alex re-published it the day after Mehdi's passing. You can read it here

Flunk, unlike many othe rartists I've found on Guidance have a real easy way to pickup their stuff, seems like most of if not all their stuff is on bandcamp, including the two albums I talk about this episode; For Sleepyheads Only and Treat Me Like You Do (For Sleepyheads Only Remixed) are on there, and you can even buy a CD of Sleepyheads Only which is pretty neat for those of us that like Physical stuff!

I mentioned it very breifly in passing at the very end of the episode but I am also working on another ambient EP, it's been just under a year in the making at this point but I'm pretty happy with it so far, You can find the latest track I made on my soundcloud

-Claude Van Foxbat

ilictronix Podcast: Electro-clashin'

"In this episode: Claude's Electroclash power hour! Adam brings some summery house tracks"

We are back on time after our unexpected break last week. It would have been nice to have these back to back as well because for this week's offerings I took a leaf out of Adam's book and went all in on the genre front, not the eurobeat like I keep threatening, but something equally European! Yes it's everybody's favourite slightly retro and usually sleazy electronic subgenre in Electroclash! It's a fairly limited scope this time, there no choices here that I could see people disagreeing with like I had last time (bands like Ladytron and the like). We go in hard at the deep end with Miss Kittin & The Hacker's Frank Sinatra 2001, Miss Kittin's sultry french tones telling you "suck my dick" should let you know what you're in for. From there though it's a who's who of the genre and some of my favourite pieces of it both well known and slightly obscure; kicking off with ADULT.'s absolutely bombastic remix of Tuxedomoon's No Tears which as I say in the episode epitomises the punky side of electroclash for me.

From there we take a trip back to the sensual and sexy side with Fischerspooner, Mount Sims and Peaches back-to-back. The 'Spooner tune kinda ruins the pacing but it was definitely a highlight from the album (helpfull called #1), and I wasn't going to play the already overplayed Emerge (which while I do love, I think is not in keeping with the rest of the selections so...). Mount Sims makes his solo debut on the podcast as well with by far and away his most popular track from the brilliantly titled UltraSex in How We Do. I mention in the episode that some of Sims' rhymes are really weak but I find them endearing, with the possible exception of the heinous "Don't wanna bite your lip / I'd rather bite your hip" which is almost unforgivable. We finish up with my touchstone for every time I've mentioned electroclash in Peaches, in one oh her rare less risque tracks.

Adam turns up the heat in his own way by giving us a choice cross section of some more summery vibes as we both try to desperatley recapture that little bit of sunshine we had a little while ago. I'm not even a huge fan of summer myself but it has been especially dreary here in the UK, as it has in the Windy City from the sounds of Adam this week. Regardless, he does a choice job of it, certainly much better than if I had tackled the same theme if only because it isn't filled with an absolute glut of Crydamoure, Roulé and other miscellaneous french house. Not that that's a bad thing, but I'm certainly trying to expand my 'summery' horizons beyond that and Adam is doing an excellent job of assisting with that. Tracklist as usual follows:

Tracklist:
Intro: Kerri Chandler - Atmospheric Beats


Claude’s picks:
Miss Kittin & The Hacker - Frank Sinatra 2001
Tuxedomoon - No Tears (ADULT. Remix)
Fischerspooner - Turn On
Mount Sims - How We Do
Peaches - Downtown


Adam’s Picks
Ricky Castelli - U Can Feel It
DJ Sneak - Beat Phreakin'
Natural Rhythm - Something Big
Brame & Hamo Lamaj
Slim Media Player - Quicksand

Outro:
Felix Da Housecat - Madame Hollywood (Tiga’s Mister Hollywood Version)




-Claude Van Foxbat

ilictronix Podcast: Upbeat & 'Ardcore

"Claude brings some smooth deep flavors that pleasantly bring in the new season. Adam tips his fedora for a "EUPHORIC POWER HOUR (I'm so sorry)" and brings some hi-nrg tracks.

Going up a day late because Adam uploaded slightly later than usual (also I fell asleep oops). Regardless we are back for this week! The description he wrote above really does it justice. I continue on my quest to break the mold of what I feel like is stuff I usually pick, mixing it up with a purely upbeat selection for this week, starting with the buttery smooth Mount Amazing 2 from Soichi Terada, and I try my best to keep the vibe of that track alive throughout, keeping things eastern with the first (of what will be many!) appearances of TeddyLoid, taking us on a surprisingly blog-house nostalgia train before checking in with what Shinichi Osawa's up to as of late too. A visit from Philestine too, featuring that deliciously nostalgic 'Show Me Love'-esque organ synth that coloured so many moments of my youth. We round things out in very very smooth fashion too, with back to back tracks from ZHU and Hudson Mohawke. I haven't been able to stop looping the ZHU track for roundabout 2 weeks now, me and Adam also go down memory lane again over the fact its a MSTRKRFT remix, there was a time when they were coming out every week! And we close things out with the out 'n out vibes of HudMo's Scud Books, I mention this in the episode but this is one of those tunes that found me at the perfect time and it will always transport me back to that place. It helps you can get down to it too.

Adam sheds all pretences this week and treats us to an all you can eat buffet of Hardcore & Hi-NRG. Once again I'm emboldened for when I eventually do do that Eurobeat episode I keep talking about (it'll be soon™ I promise). We joke around the topic and all but I'm going to echo what I've said in past episodes about stuff like this; there is no such thing as 'Guilty Pleasure', you like what you like! And don't let anyone make you feel bad for doing so. Here at ilictronix (as you will have heard if you've listened to a couple of these episodes) like a whole ton of the spectrum when it comes to electronic music, and it really shows with how passionate Adam can get when describing some of these. Tracklist as usual below:

Tracklist:
Intro: Soichi Terada - Mount Amazing 2


Claude’s picks:
TeddyLoid - White Out
Mondo Grosso - Labyrinth (Album Mix)
Philestine - Skippy The Bush Kangamoo
ZHU - In The Morning (MSTRKRFT Remix)
Hudson Mohawke - Scud Books


Adam’s Picks
Vibes & Wishdokta - Givin It All I Got
Lone - Melted
Force Mass Motion - The Pressor
Edit V - Burning Love
Jimmy J & Cru-l-t - Take Me Away

Outro:
Kaotic Chemistry - The Come Down




-Claude Van Foxbat

ilictronix Podcast: Synth 'N New

"Claude digs deep in the synth wave well to bring us some neon soaked cuts. Adam shares tracks that are all "new".

We are back again for this week! We officially have hit our first ever sequel to an episode, this week I get all synthwavey again (and get on a fairly lengthy sidetrack on what exactly makes 'cyberpunk' music). I switch it up a little bit more this time due to me having some new artists and sources to get my 'wave on, starting of strong with a bit from NINA as appears on the Adult Swim compilation Fever Dreams. As I say in the episode I had never encountered her stuff before, and its moments of discovery like this that make me not feel so bad about talking about soundtracks a lot, after all finding stuff you dig is a good thing, no matter the source! After that we take a tour of the usual suspects (and some perhaps not-quite synthwavey additions from HEALTH and my most recent electronic loves Sidewalks & Skeletons.) I was surprised once again despite me sayin I don't have much of the genre I didn't use up *all* the tracks I'd consider putting on this show, but that's a tale for another day. Adam's selections are on point again, in a rare break for both of us here at ilictronix Adam treats us to some brand spanking new tunes he has to hand (which I almost did with the new Chem Bros. album as I say in the episode). Rest assured despite the age of Adam's choices this week, there is still a healthy amount of Piano Stabs(tm) to go 'round. Tracklist as usual below!

Tracklist:
Intro: Project Pablo - Wildest Way To Go


Claude’s picks:
NINA - The Calm Before The Storm
Power Glove - Sloan’s Assault
Mitch Murder - Ocean Avenue
Sidewalks And Skeletons - Disappear
HEALTH - Max: Panama


Adam’s Picks
Kettama - East Side Avenue
Harvey Sutherland - Something In The Water
Paul Woolford Ft. Karen Harding - You Already Know
Skee Mask - Trackheadz
Octo Octa - Bodies Meld Together

Outro:
Carpenter Brut - Escape From Midwich Valley


SHOW NOTES:
The two cyberpunk playlists I mentioned in the episode can be found on my spotify! The first is just general atmosphere, any song that feels slightly cyberpunk to me goes here, from techno to ambient and back again, it is very creatively called 'Cyberpunk'. The other one I mentioned, meant to be in-universe stuff played at near future raves and the like is called the Cyberia Mix, I've been adding a lot to it lately and I'm very happy with the vibe it has, check it out if you're due some techy goodness.

Mitch Murder's Bandcamp is a goldmine of stuff if you dug his uniquely retro sound. As I said in the episode you can pick up all the 'Selection' albums for free if you so choose, definitely check out his other EPs if you're into it though there's a ton of good stuff.

-Claude Van Foxbat

Ilictronix Podcast: The Intros Round

"Claude shares tracks that lack a long intro and get right to the "good stuff." Adam shares some recent breakcore, rave and hardcore tracks."

We are back once again for this week! I indulge my instant gratification side with a heap of songs that have killer intros and just keep on giving, kicking off with an absolute smasher from the granddad of disco himself Giorgio Moroder. We then navigate the avenues of my music collection by way of more stuff from OCRemix, old school Clark, one of my first electronic loves in Felix Da Housecat and more. I really liked this format and like I said in the show itself the is SO MUCH ammo to be had when talking intros, I didn't touch on it in the episode but I have some examples where I don't much care about the main body of the song but I could live in the intro forever. Adam's choices are surprisingly unsurprising this week, but again as I say in the show I genuinely look forward to my weekly injection of piano stabs and general hardcore come old school rave, it's definitely a shake up of my usual listening rotation and gives me further things to add to my (admittedly very small) collection of rave. Tracklist and show notes below.

Tracklist:
Intro: Girogio Moroder - Giorgio's Theme


Claude’s picks:
Mattias Häggström Gerdt - Morning, Thinker
Chris Clark - Lord Of The Dance
Felix Da Housecat - Madame Hollywood
Cornelius - Heart Grenade
DMX Krew - Place Called Love


Adam’s Picks
Maruwa - 31 Seconds
Ilana Bryne - Dub Box Medicine
PCK - Amen Garage
West Norwood Cassette Library- feeling too big to dance
Concept e25 - What Did You Say

Outro:
Siasia - Asirium (Kuba Sojka Detroit House Remix)


SHOW NOTES:
The album I talk about from Mattias Häggström Gerdt is simply called "The Answer" and like most if not all OCRemix projects has it's own promotional mini-site where you can read about the album and also download it for free! If you liked Morning, Thinker as much as I you can get your hands on it there!

-Claude Van Foxbat

Ilictronix Podcast: Lost In Electrons

"Claude and Adam share and discuss their favorite tracks of the week, in this episode: Claude shares electrons from F.U.S.E. Moderat, Simian Mobile Disco and more, Adam is back on his usual kick of house and piano stabs."

We are back again for this week! I've been feeling a little scatterbrained at the minute, same as last week to an extent actually due to IRL things. I tried to not let it effect the show too much but it definitely did or this episode, due in part to me taking a deep dive into learning software again too. So as I (admittedly rather poorly) tried to explain at the top of the episode, my choices this week are all tunes I've found myself lost in. There is an overarching theme of spacey sounding synths too that was a semi-conscious choice when I was formulating this list. On the way we make some diversion on the subjects ofCopyright in the modern era, naming your albums, Deluxe Editions once again and all the usual points you've come to expect by now. We have some good talk in this episode, helped along in part by Adam's lovely rebound choices, a far cry from the deliberatle dreary atmosphere of last week, Adam is once again as the man himself put it, Back On His Bullshit™. It's delightful to have him once again hitting us with our weekly dose of piano stabs, it's certainly been a comfort to me in these uncertain times. Anyway, enough waxing poetic, tracklist as usual below!

Tracklist:
Intro: Flo Milli - Beef FloMix


Claude’s picks:
Moderat - Let In The Light
Yoko Shimomura - Out Of Phase
Simian Mobile Disco - Do Not Exceed Stated Dose
F.U.S.E - UVA
Ulrich Schnauss - Nothing Happens In June


Adam’s Picks
Head High - Hardcore
Cody Currie - Asteroid Belt
Martyn - Elden St.
Chaos in the CBD - Green Dove
The Pharmacist - Vision

Outro:
Burial - Rough Sleeper


SHOW NOTES:
The BBC Radio 6 show I talked about where they interview Yoko Shimomura and other composers of the video-game circle is available here, but only for 5 more days as of writing. It's an interesting listen, and definitely check out the other episodes in the series too!

-Claude Van Foxbat

Ilictronix Podcast: Button Mashin' D&B, Breakup Playlists Continued

"Claude brings some Video Game DnB. Adam goes through another breakup and continues his breakup playlist "cuffing season edition" "

We are live for this week! I one again revist the world of videogames, with an initially unintentional (but then I made it so) focus on the world of Drum & Bass and all it's flavours. We cover a whole bunch of ground in this episode; from old school breakbeat to liquid funk and even a little bit of breakcore in there too. I couldn't have contrasted more with Adam's choices this week but more on that as we get to it.

I appreciate that these episodes blur the lines with what the show's about, and that it might not be for everyone given the subject matter, but as mentioned last time it came up games played an integral part in my electronic music journey and continue to do so to this day! I also tried to keep it fairly varied in terms of the audio, even though we're mostly dealing with Drum & Bass this week, I tried to bring a selection of flavours from a selction of sources; we have fan works, independent works, and dedicated composer's work too. Though saying that my intro choice for this week breaks that trend, as teased (off-mic) last week I have recently picked up a bunch of quite obviously Rustie and Hudson Mohawke inspired stuff I am still absolutely in love with. Major shout-outs to OCRemix this week, with two of the tracks for this week coming from albums hosted on their site (of which you can find links to in the show notes!).

Adam's choices for this week are very much considered, and once again I very much appreciate having him on the podcast (and as well for editing and uploading it of course). We touch on many things ABOUT music in his section of the show, which is something we've talked about a little in previous episodes where we discussed how we listen and why (or why we think) we do that. And honestly I really enjoyed it, part of what makes ilictronix what it is is not just the electronic music component, but the passion as well, and you can hear as Adam talks us through his choices this week that each one has been carefully considered and has its place in the listing. Perhaps a little bit deep for a show where we mainly just talk tunes in a casual fashion but I feel its an important aspect of the musical experience, and I definitely would rather have it this way than us just talking about dancefloor bangers back-to-back (even if we do from time to time!). Tracklist and the show notes below as per usual!

Tracklist:
Intro:Louis Futon - Shoulda Known (GANZ Remix)


Claude’s picks:
Rom Di Prisco - Quantum Singularity
Flexstyle - Unstoppable (Critical Hit!)
0edit - Impetus
Toby Fox - Your Best Nightmare
Zircon & Jillian Aversa - The Search For Ambrosia (NYC Streets)


Adam’s Picks
Arca - Brokeup
Calibre - Addict
Other People Place - You Said You Want Me
Kraftwerk - Computer Love
Basic Channel - Lyot Remix
Outro:
Thom Yorke - Truth Ray


SHOW NOTES:
Shoutouts once again to OCRemix for doing what they do and providing a ridiculous number of albums and remixes over on their website. Two tracks I talked about this week are taken from their albums, the first being Flexstyle's Unstoppable (Critical Hit!) which you can find on the album ARMed And DANGerous, which is available for free here!. The second is from the Deus Ex themed album I mentioned, it's my favouirte of the OCRemix albums I have for a variety of reasons, all the tunes are excellent for a start but it also includes several different cover designs so you can customise it further, even printing it out if you wanted to make a jewel case out of it. The second track I talk about is Zircon & Jillian Aversa's The Search For Ambrosia (NYC Streets) which is available on the album Sonic Augmentation, which is also available for free here!

I do own it through Steam, but if you have no desire to pick up the game, or just want to throw a bit of money his way, you can find the Undertale Soundtrack on Toby Fox's bandcamp here. I would reccomend giving it a look, aside from that breakcore example I played there are some really good tunes on there, and some really beautiful chiptune-style pieces too.

Finally, Ed Harrison's new 0edit bandcamp is here, the Neotokyo soundtrack is split into two albums; NSF and GSDF, I can wholeheartedly recommend both. I have yet to check out his other solo release but I most definitely should given how I've fallen back in love with the Neotokyo stuff.

Ilictronix Podcast: Strictly Retro

"Claude and Adam both take a look back at retro sounds and artists who are recreating older genres."

We are back once again this week, with a sligtly altered format of some ideas we were throwing around last week. What started as an 80's episode in my mind quickly morphed into an appreciation of all things retro, both new and old. As reflected in my choices, we go from the (relatively) recent sounds of Mitch Murder and Games, to the grand-master Moroder himself, a little more Italo from Gary Low, all rounded out with some very New Age style stuff courtesy of Software. I tried to really run the gamut here, though I stuck to more synth and chillwave than I'd have liked for the modern portion. And I feel like I could've chosen a more fitting intro track but hey, I will forever love Blue Monday so easy come easy go. Still saying that, I think I did a decent job outlining some of the old/new combos like I say when we hit the disco phase you can really see where folks like Chromeo get their inspos from.

Once again though Adam has completely shown me up in this department. And I mean that with all sincerity, once again I am reminded of why I love doing the show so much; Adam brings a much more different vibe to the table than I do while maintaining the theme of the episode. And he had even less prep time than I did too! And it all culminates in that absolutely bombastic Ryderz courtesy of Hudson Mohawke (that I may have a little bit of a moment over as we introduce it) It's not a competition sure, but I definitely feel that Adam's choices this week are certainly more on-point with the old/new thing I had going on, and I hope you enjoy both of our selections. Join us as we appreciate a wide variety of genres both new and old, tracklist as always follows:

Tracklist:
Intro:New Order - Blue Monday 1988 (7" Mix)


Claude’s picks:
Mitch Murder - Alright
Games - Strawberry Skies
Gary Low - Play The Game (I'll Do The Same)
Giorgio Moroder - E=MC²
Software - Island Sunrise


Adam’s Picks
Citizens of Vice - Pikes
Patrick Cowley - Hot Beach
Luke Vibert - Feel the Melody
Zomby - Where Were U In '92
Lone - Vapour Trail

Outro:
Hudson Mohawke - Ryderz

Ilictronix Podcast: This One Time, At Band Camp

"Claude and Adam are back to discuss their favorite tracks of the week! In this episode: Claude shares some recent Bandcamp finds, Adam shares what he listened to while in Texas"

After a longer than anticipated break, we are back on track with all things podcast! As I say in the episode it's actually been quite refreshing, though I've been itching to lay down these selections for a while now (and some of them will crop up again in a few months when I do the inevitable cyberpunk episode I've talked about). It's a slightly eclectic cross section of my bandcamp library this time (be warned it leans heavily on the soundtrack side because that's where I pick up all my indie game stuff!), this is definitely a format I'm going to revisit in future, I really like shining a light on the random bits and pieces I've acquired, doubly so when it gives us a break from the usual big names I talk about. Starting with a piece from Echochamber's i'm real, i'm here (which again, is most certainly going to make another appearance in the future). I'm not really doing the album justice by playing a single track from it here, as I say in the episode it's absolutely an album that is meant to be experienced sequentially. I picked the lone hip-hop infused track for this week's choices, there's nothing really else on the album like it which makes it stand out even further to boot, it takes a more downtempo turn towards the end that's more like the rest of the album's vibe though. But I included it because it's re-ignited a love of instrumentals once again so stay tuned in the next couple weeks for that showing up.

After that it's a tour de soundtracks once again, I talk about Graeme Norgate and how important his soundtrack work was to a young Foxbat, before hitting you with yet another example of me legitimately loving a song that's become a meme with Pascal Michael Stiefel's Peace And Tranquility which is no word of a lie one of my favourite house songs of recent years despite it's original context ans subsequent meme-ification. After that it's awhirlwind tour of sci-fi soundtracks courtesy of Ben Prunty for FTL, a fantastic album that is full of lush space-y sounds and finally a bit of the Neotokyo soundtrack by Ed Harrison (who now goes by 0edit). **Links to everyone's respective bandcamps will be in the show notes!**

Adam returns on top form, with a vertical slice of his southern listening that is once again very much his style. It's almost a shame I was the first to go this week, I'd have loved to hear Adam's choices back-to-back. He hits s with the usual affair, though definitely tinged by his recent travels. We even hit some absolute classics towards the end too which again makes me wish we'd coordinate lists sometimes. We at least planted the seeds of an 80's episode once again! be sure to remind yourself of that, future me. We leave off this week with a bombastic bootleg courtesy of Jean Sean and the collective Sophisticated Delinquency, you're not going to want to miss it! Full tracklist below as per usual.

Tracklist:
Intro:
Carly Simon - Why

Claude’s picks:
Echochamber - blindfoldz [& ticking clockz]
Graeme Norgate - SpyFi Tileset
Pascal Michael Stiefel - Peace And Tranquility
Ben Prunty - Engi (Battle)
0edit - Stopgap


Adam’s Picks
Vtgnike - Nervnii RnB
Shigeto - Detroit Pt. 2
Jacques Greene - Another Girl
Girl - Higher
Inner City - Good Life

Outro:
Amerie - 1 Thing (Mr. Alexis Remix)


SHOW NOTES:
Oh boy do we have a whole host of show notes this week, going artist by artist:
Echochamber's album 'm real, i'm here is available on bandcamp here, and additionally that campaign to get it pressed on vinyl has succeeded! if you would like one of your own on vinyl they are still taking orders as far as I know on the project page here!

Graeme Norgate's bandcamp is here, and it is full of (most of) his soundtrack work going back to the N64 days! I reccomed the Timesplitters albums naturally,they have some gorgeous pieces on there, and some straight up dnacable tunes too.

Ben Prunty's bandcamp is here! he does stellar work (no pun intended). I once again recommend the FTL soundtrack, as well as the mini-EP of extra tracks he released when a big update for the game happened too.

Finally, Ed Harrison's new 0edit bandcamp is here, the Neotokyo soundtrack is split into two albums; NSF and GSDF, I can wholeheartedly recommend both. I have yet to check out his other solo realse but I most definitley should given how I've fallen back in love with the Neotokyo stuff.

Jean Sean and his collective have a few releases under their belts already, the rmeix for our outro this week was taken from Tesoro Vol. 1, and you can see the rest of their releases so far here!

Belated 2019 Spotify Selctions

I've been putting this off for a while, and there's not really a good way to say it. Simply put: I beefed it majorly when it came to the monthly playlists, I chalk it up to having a pretty crazy winter period and some familial turbulence in the past month or so along with other naff life elements. Regardless, I wanted to break away from that and so we won't dwell and will instead talk about the tunes I have lined up again.



Now I think about it, I was a little worried about using potential tracks that I would've included on the podcast but I'm trying not to fret too much this year. And with that in mind I made some lovely downtempo / trip hop (and all the other umbrella terms) selections for you. In stark contrast to me agonising over the stuff to include in last week's podcast I threw this list together shockingly quickly. Not to say it's sloppily done mind, I even had to cut some here and there for flow reasons. There may be some repeats from last year's playlists in here but there's far too many of them to check (and to be fair all of them on here have earned their place.) Let's jump in.

We open with the gorgeously dreamy and subtly bossa nova-y sounds of Delarosa And Asora. I was turned onto this LP fro Miss Kittin's Radio Caroline compilation and this tune has been waiting for its time to shine. It opens my Yellow playlist, firmly planting the whole sound of it from the get go. A word of warning to those who check out the LP proper; it isn't all in this style and is much more IDM in parts, still worth a look if you're into the same stuff as me tho.

The next one comes with a bit of a tale, this is the first submission I've received from Reddit of all places. Not complaining like, I'm just used to tweets and DMs at this point. Saying that, while I don't have my Reddit listed on here but I'm sure you can guess the username. Anyway, I've publicly mentioned several times my love of all things Adult Swim form way back when: their use of Warp's stuff for one, their support of indie musicians second and of course their overall aesthetic third. I've also lamented that for better or worse, the scene that popped up around it with all kindsa folk making fan-made bumps and sometimes questionable beats has been and gone. Well, that's not entirely true, I had also stopped looking because of the sheer volume of them, and as it turns out there are some folk out there keeping that flame lit as evidenced by what landed in my inbox. Voker's Is This Lo-Fi Or Chillhop to be exact, kicking off with a sample of the famously dodgy voice acting from Sonic Adventure which is a bold choice. Perhaps a little on-the-nose with the title and all but I think we're all at least a little guilty of that.

After that it's a tour of all things that scratch my itch in that vein, from the big hitters MF Doom and Nujabes down to the more obscure, like my favourite cut from DJ Mehdi's debut album The Story Of Espion, a beautiful piece that makes me wish he were still around to bless us with more tunes, and oddly enough a track from the Bojack Horseman original soundtrack too. So I hope to be back on track from here on out, I hope that this makes up for me missing January and I'll see you all next month with more!
-CVF

Ilictronix Podcast: Movin' House

"It's a non V-Day special with some house tracks that Claude and Adam both love."

This week's podcast is live! It's a decidedly different selection from me this week, much to Adam's surprise (and delight), I lean in real heavy on the house stuff. And not just the French stuff you've come to expect from us at the 'tronix. I kick things off with the absolutely sublime When I Fall In Love from A:xus vinyl crackle and all. I did almost swap it out for the Stryke's Blue Vocal Techsture" mix which truth be told is my favourite version of it. After that it's a whirlwind tour of similar territory, starting with out and out legends Frankie Knuckles and Mr. Fingers back to back, taking a bit of a left turn with an instrumental from Golden Boy (minus Miss Kittin) before bringing it back to home plate with a primo piece of electronic goodness from Galaxy 2 Galaxy, with their trademark Jazzy Techno sound.

Adam totally took a leaf out of my book for his choices this week, which I knew he would when he saw my selections. As such I must apologise for any excessive garage vibes that may occur. Joking aside, once again I appreciate Adam's contributions to the 'cast, because my selections pretty much used up my entire supply of that breed of house, (it's a genre that is woefully underrepresented in my collection for a variety of reasons) and Adam provides me with essentially of shopping list of artists and EPs to look at, pick up or otherwise add to my rotations. Full tracklist below as per usual!

Tracklist:
Intro:
A:xus - When I Fall In Love (Album Mix)

Claude’s picks:
Frankie Knuckles - I'll Take You There (Director's Cut Classic Signature Mix)
Mr. Fingers - Ammnesia
Marshall Jefferson Vs. Noosa Heads - Mushrooms (Salt City Orchestra Out There Mix)
Golden Boy - It’s Good For You To Meet People Like Us
Galaxy 2 Galaxy - Hi-Tech Jazz


Adam’s Picks
Forgemasters - Track With No Name
K Alexi Shelby - Vertigo
Housey Doingz - Gobstopper
Kamar - I Need You (Peggy Gou Remix)
Robert Hood - Detroit: One Circle

Outro:
Criminal Minds - Baptized By Dub

Ilictronix Podcast: Down With The Sickness

"Claude explores the genres and artists he has mentioned in passing during previous episodes. Adam is sick and shares a bedridden playlist."

We can't catch a break these past couple weeks, between weather delays and various inconveniences last week we had our fair share. This week has it's own flavour though, as Adam is besotted with some kind of dreaded lurgy. Still it served as good inspiration for his selections this week, opening with the incredible vintage Clark with Slow Spines from Empty The Bones Of You. We soon hit my patch tho, which this week is loosley themed around artists I've mentioned in passing or have otherwise overlooked in the past episodes.

Peaches to start with, I was originally going to say in the episode that I didn't think she'd done anything since but a quick look at discogs quickly proved that wrong (though it kept I Feel Cream's reputation as the 'cleanest' Peaches album though. Still goes hard even coming up on 10 years later. Rex The Dog also makes his first appearance, I sum up my thoughts on the album pretty succinctly in the episode, but the short of it is that it's a quality bit of house that suffers (only slightly) from being cut down slightly from the OG versions of the tracks. Ladytron also appear, think it's their first time too which is surprising for how much I like them. My pick for this week comes from their later works, but I touch on their history while discussing. Adam also drops some extra knowledge about one of their albums that I didn't know.

Rounding out with Modeselektor (who I think I have mentioned before, but again not this album). Miss Kittin also makes her first solo appearance too, which would have been really fitting had I chosen something from her first album I Com but I went with the second Batbox instead. Most of what I said for I Com applies to this album too, they're full of gorgeous breakdowns and of course Kittin's trademark vocals.

Adam's selections for this week are the most eclectic they've been so far, which is only fitting given his predicament. I must say they at least flow together very very well, which is something I always try to implement in mine. Saying that they are also essentially the sequel to his scrapped super depressing winter selections from last week which would have been nice to hear, if a little bleak back-to-back, it's nice to hear something other than garge piano stabs for a change too (I joke, I joke). I owe Adam thanks anyway for soldiering on despite being gravely ill, and for getting the episode edited and uploaded on time to boot! Tracks and a singular show note after the linebreak:

Tracklist:
Intro:
Chris Clark - Slow Spines

Claude’s picks:
Peaches - I Feel Cream
Rex The Dog - Bubblicious
Ladytron - Destroy Everything You Touch
Modeselektor - (I Can't Sleep) Without Music
Miss Kittin - Play Me A Tape


Adam’s Picks
Kemikal - Graffiti
James Blake - Overgrown
Galcher Lustwerk - Idhouse
Total Art Of Percussion - Wuhan Wuchang
Juan Atkins - Riod

Outro:
Ellen Allien & Apparat - Way Out


SHOW NOTES:
Adam linked me to his little slice of childhood fever-dream trauma (that made him become one with electronic music) turns out it was a clip from Superman III of all things, so now both you and I are clearer on what exactly he was on about.

And with that, we'll see y'all next week, where we'll be bringing you more selections, same time same channel!

-Claude Van Foxbat

Ilictronix Podcast: The Cold Snap

"In this episode: Claude gives us his comfy and cozy playlist. Adam picks his tracks to keep him busy during the arctic blast in Chicago.

Apologies for the slight delay on this one, I personally have had a hell of a week for a variety of reasons but that pales in comparison to what Adam has had 'round his neck of the woods. As I'm sure you're all aware there's been a hell of a weather thing going on in that part of the USA. This post ideally should have gone up sooner too but the timezones meant it went up at 2AM my time so again apologies.

Anyway, with the weather in mind, I break tradition from my usual cold playlist choices again and dive into things a little bit more sweet; kickning off with the deliciously smooth ComfyCozy from Luke Vibert before taking a trip to the (fairly limited) J-Pop portion of my collection. We continue the trend with an injection of cute courtesy of the A Hat In Time soundtrack (which as I mention in the episode was one of the choices I cut from last week's videogame-centric choices) before rounding things up with the usual suspects of Röyksopp for that early 00's downtempo goodness, Squarpusher for some light jazz (and not some Drill 'N Bass like you'd expect) and finally going full jazz by way of Mr. Scruff. As mentioned at the top of the ep, I hope that these selections have warmed you in these trying times, or at least provided you some new listenings.

Adam reworked his tracklist last minute and I don't hold it against him. Those of you that were around for our 'Gloomy Sunday' posts way back when will know that when me and Adam explore the more depressing side of our collections we can go in HARD, and given Adam's current predicament it would make sense but hot damn if his swapped out ones don't work just as well for the opposite reasons. It's as you might have come to expect from him a lovely cross section of what makes him tick: a wide selection of Garage and fantastically smooth house both new and old. I think it almost qualifies as another digital crate digging installment (only with mostly real vinyls this time) and really what better way to pass the time on a wintery day than go browsing through your records eh? As per usual, full tracklist and notes below:

Tracklist:
Intro:
Luke Vibert - ComfyCozy

Claude’s picks:
Aimer - Cold Sun (Ryo Nagano Remix)
Pascal Michael Stiefel - Scootin’ Through Clocktowers Beneath The Sea
Röyksopp - Boys
Squarepusher - Iambic 9 Poetry
Mr. Scruff - Night Time


Adam’s Picks
DJ Rou- Dante Says Truth
Scott Garcia - A London Thing

Dem 2 - Destiny

Ian Pooley - Relations
Toolate Groove - Track M

Outro:
Lone - Blue Moon Tree


See y'all next week, where we'll be bringing you more selections and we'll hopefully be on time to boot!

-Claude Van Foxbat

Ilictronix Podcast: The Van Foxbat Chronicles - The Videogame

"In this episode: It's a Claude-centric week! Claude shares some some electro pop tracks. Adam shares his favourite cuts from video games.

We are a go for this week! and this episode makes me wish that me and Adam collaborated on our choices. As you should all know by now I am no stranger to including soundtrack stuff in my selections, hell just last week we had a remix from a Serial Experiments Lain as the intro. Long story short I end up talking pretty passionately about not only videogames as a whole, but their role in shaping my music taste as a wee Foxbat, being one of the few sources I had for *new* electronic stuff.

Anyway, I return to the days of ilictronix gone by, putting together a playlist out of whatever came up on shuffle. Aside from dropping a few unsuitable additions that have come into my library since, it even turned out like my old school shuffle posts to boot, we have some deja vu inducing tunes that come close to previous weeks'; with Shinichi's cover of Star Guitar leading the nostalgic electro charge, as well as yet another version of Rippin Kittin that actually features the title in the lyrics in this mix! Rounding out with a little from my longtime favourite animator come musician David Firth under his Locust Toybox alias and rather fittingly, another bit from The Chemical Brothers' Push The Button.

The second half of this episode me and Adam drop all pretences of dive right into our shared history of finding (and loving) tracks from videogames. It's not uncharted (ha) territory for me, but I was very excited to hear Adam tackle it and he did not disappoint. We share a lot of these choices in common, particularity towards the end. We have some good discussion in there too and like I said I wish that we could have collaborated fully on this list, I could talk for days about Rez for example, and I wish I recalled more of the info for this episode. Regardless, enjoy our choices for this week, and look forward to an ultra-long episode in future focused on soundtracks. As per usual, full tracklist and notes below: Tracklist:
Intro:
Jesper Kyd - Vegas

Claude’s picks:
Mitch Murder - Runners
Shinichi Osawa - Star Guitar
Golden Boy With Miss Kittin - Rippin Kittin (Glove Radio Edit)
Locust Toybox - Arisa
The Chemical Brothers - The Boxer


Adam’s Picks
Michiel van den Bos - Foregone Destruction
Amon Tobin - Ruthless

Claude's Special Replacement Selection:
Keiichi Sugiyama - Buggie Running Beeps 01

Photek - The Third Sequence
Omni Trio - First Contact

Outro:
FILTER FISH - Selected ID


Show Notes:
The Mitch Murder EP I talk about Mech Hunter OST is available from on his Bandcamp, it's name-your-price so you can pick it up as a freebie if you want, I personally threw a couple of quid his way because he has mos def earned it. Check out his other stuff while you're there if you wanna hear some of that "YuppieWave".

Mentioned in passing, but the Original upload of the music video for Shinichi's Star Guitar that takes more than a hint of inspiration from The Chem Bros' one. It's amazing how far streaming video's come on in 10 years, the compression's unfortunately reduced this one to a muddy mess.

I can't mention Rez without including a video of it in motion, I'm not exaggerating when I say it's a completely different experience in that context, and not only because the mix is slightly different on the in-game one. One of these days I'll dedicate a full episode to talking about it.

Probably missing one or two as per usual, but I will update as and when!

-Claude Van Foxbat

Ilictronix Podcast: Trip Hop In Purple

"This week: Claude gives a primer into the genre of trip hop. Adam has a selections of songs that remind him of the color purple."

We carry on into the wild frontiers of 2019. This week I give what I call a vertical slice of trip-hop, nothing too obscure, but carefully skirting the big hitters such as Massive Attack's Teardrop. The opening mix of Duvet is fantastic. I adore the original too of course, but the mix is jut so deliciously 90's, it really pushes those partially nostalgic buttons of mine. It's coming up on 21 years old this year too, but that's the extent of my Benjamin Button-ing for this week. After that I dive into a bit of UNKLE, specifically the album Psyence Fiction where DJ Shadow was part of UNKLE, it's a fantastic addition to anyone whose into downtempo's collection, as well as another bit from the Sneaker Pimps remix album Becoming Remixed, which as I say in the episode is a masterclass in popular electronic genres of the time, in stark contrast to the timeless Spin Spin Sugar rework, 6 Underground maintains its moody edge with yet another slightly dated treatment from Perfecto

Rounding out the Trip Hop selections, we return to its roots in Bristol, with a back to back appearance from Tricky and the Massive Attack boys. I said pretty much my thoughts on Overcome in the episode, it's an absolutley stellar opening to an album and one that immediately springs to my mind when I think of what makes the Trip Hop sound. And of course we round out with Unfinished Sympathy, an incredibly popular record at the time circa 90-91, it's reputation is well deserved. To think that a track this well produced comes from a debut album is nothing short of sublime, the Massive Attack boys had solid tunes from the get go and it's great to see them (or rather, some of them given the line-up change between Protection and Mezzanine) still going strong today.

Adam takes us on a Synesthesia tinged tour of his listening history. The colour in question for this week is Purple. It's an interesting approach for sure, and one that I'm no stranger to if you listened to past episodes where I talk about my CMYK playlists (see the show notes!). Adam's choices this week maintain that downtempo mentality but obviously flip the genre, I was surprised at how well they fit together given how we've compltley contrasted in terms of sound in previous episodes. Once again though I am very happy to hear whatever Adam brings each week, and this week was no exception, there's some beautifully lush tunes in the second half of the show. I perhaps wouldn't tag them with purple myself but there's a definite theme going in with his choices. As always full tracklist and show notes are below!

Tracklist:
Intro:
Bôa - Duvet (Cyberia Mix)

Claude’s picks:
UNKLE - Unreak
Thievery Corporation - Until The Morning
Sneaker Pimps - 6 Underground (Perfecto Mix)
Tricky - Overcome
Massive Attack - Unfinished Sympathy


Adam’s Picks
Frits Wentink - Theme 5
Hot Music - Harry Romero
Feelarama - Sanasol
Armonica -Ngeke (Andhim Remix)
DJ Central - HejHej

Outro:
Byron The Aquarius - Truth Is What U See


Show Notes:
Right, well first things first I didn't explicitly mention putting this in the show notes, but I have to post the video for Unfinished Sympathy, it's fantastically shot and really drives home that americana influence that the first Massive Attack album had. Get a load of that early 90's fashion too.

And finally, the other thing I mentioned, re-posting the CMYK playlists when they each hit 100. They're all pretty close actually! but in true Van Foxbat form the one to hit it first was the Key playlist, home of all things dowmtempo and otherwise slightly depressing. Not strictly elctronic this one, which probably gave it a bit of a leg up in hindsight but regardless, you can find it here and if you're interested, my profile, with the rest of my playlists

Ilictronix Podcast: Hello 2019

"The Ilictronix Show is back in the new year! Claude and Adam share and discuss their favorite tracks of the week. Claude waxes poetic about Electropop. Adam shares his favorite tracks from his NYE sets"

We are back with our first episode of 2019! I wanted to get all nostalgic about my electropop itch that comes up every couple of months, but it soon turned into a reflection of "Holy shit how are these tracks turnign 10 this year". After Adam's on-point as always intro, I open things up with the always in my heart Broadcast. Something I say in the episode is how overlooked I feel they are but what I didn't mention is how it pains me to know that there'll be no more Broadcast records after Trish's untimely passing some years ago. Though there are some rumblings from Cargill about potential future releases, so fingers crossed eh? A detour into more of what I had in mind when I chose Electropop as a theme with Au Revoir Simone, who in similar fashion are long overdue for a new release! A little bit from Gorillaz, as I touch on my relationship with Plastic Beach and how it became a listening mainstay for me (and some brief wonder at the age of the LP).

And a little bit of nostalgia to round things out for long time readers and myself; probably my most featured artists so far on the podcast, I touch on the production values and methodology behind Röyksopp's musical goodbye to the album format, The Inevitable End. As a single Running To The Sea is fantastic, if (as mentioned in the show) a little over-produced in parts. I draw a comparison to their previous big hit What Else Is There? too, but really they're very different beasts, with Running being a much more pop-informed piece. And finally one of the standouts from Simian Mobile Disco's Temporary Pleasure. There were a couple of big singles from it but it seems largely overlooked, while it does suffer from being that difficult sophomore album for the group I think it's a little unfair, case in point with Cruel Intentions. Apologies in advance for choosing for the absolutely crushing Until We Bleed as an outro track too, I promise you the rest of Kleerup's album is much more upbeat!

Adam also takes us on a rundown of his picks for his NYE mixing shenanigans. While I'm a little disappointed we don't have any recordings of them actually being played live, I almost prefer them in this format. Something about Adam talking about them while they play in the background made for a very evocative experience, same as those satisfying videos out there of people passionately talking about their craft. Something else I'd like to appreciate going into this new year is just how different Adam's selections are from mine. I mean that in the nicest possible way too, it's great for you all as listeners to have these different curated lists, and it gives me a much needed glimpse into electronic stuff I may not have come across otherwise (mainly due to me being out of touch with what's new these days, but also as we've mentioned in the past, the sheer volume of electronic stuff out there can make it tricky to find anything). Adam also had some good points on romanticising DJ culture and nightlife in general that I think bears repeating, especially this early in the new year. We've lost a fair few performers over the last couple of years, and it goes without saying that clubs and the like can be dangerous places. It also plays into some othewr side projects I have going on too but we won't dwell on it much longer, as always Stay Safe, Enjoy the music and the Full tracklist follows as per usual.

Tracklist:
Intro:
Crackazat - Holding You Close

Claude’s picks:
Broadcast - America's Boy
Au Revoir Simone - Shadows
Gorillaz - Broken
Röyksopp - Running To The Sea
Simian Mobile Disco - Cruel Intentions


Adam’s Picks
Kettama - Body
Junktion - I'm Wishin'
S3A - Antois Benime
M.ono & Luvless - Just Like Magic
T.U.R.F. -Reggie Fox

Outro:
Kleerup - Until We Bleed


Show Notes:
Adam mentioned something to go in the show notes, just reserving this space until I get a chance to listen to the EP and fill it in!