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!