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