As mentioned above this isn't a completely new development, in fact you can see streaks of it poking through on a couple posts ago on We Are All Connected. And with that, there have been several artists and tracks in my library I turn to when it strikes me: Clark's The Autumnal Crush, The Knife's Raging Lung to name two. But I was interested in branching out a bit and not just re-treading, so I gathered some recent finds that fit that bill and will be talking about them today.
First we have a crossing of two mediums that definitely are thematically appropriate; Heaven Will Be Mine entered my radar not too long ago and based on what I've seen/read/heard it seems like it's supremely up my alley, just get a load of the store page quote: "HEAVEN WILL BE MINE is a visual novel about making terrible life decisions in the midst of a hot-blooded battle between giant robots.". Between that and the soundtrack I've heard so far it has definitely climbed up the "to-do" ladder very quickly indeed. Terraformer is actually what inspired this post, it's oppressive kickdrums sparking that idea in my head to begin with.
HEALTH predictably make an appearance here, as would make sense given how most if not all of their releases are in ALL CAPS. Any number of tracks from Death Magic or their other releases could go here and would fit the bill just fine, I love the direction they've taken since Death Magic and am more than happy to see that trend continue on the follow up Vol.4 :: Slaves of Fear. Fear Nothing is another one that my mood can change on given the day, sometimes I can leave that intro but if I stick with it until the title drop around a minute in it all clicks together once again. It's not their most intense piece of work for sure, but it's definitely scratching that itch mentioned in the opening paragraph for me at the minute. I cannot overstate how much I love Jake Duzsik's unique vocal stylings, though I don't think this track is the best example of them, but from the lyricism to the delivery I really resonate with them.
It's worth nothing that songs I put in this category don't have to be abrasive or aggressive; we're rounding out today with a much more sedate number, from a recent addition to my library and one that barely missed out being included on We Are All Connected as another Fan Compilation. In this case it's straight up Ambient Techno, and a gorgeously lush example at that, evoking images of Warp's Artificial Intelligence series. On paper it'd be a tune that I would like but definitely consider too long but in practice that hasn't happened. Could be that I'm spending a lot more time at home using headphones these days but there are lots of subtle intricacies that keep it interesting. To admit my bias I just love the smoothness of it all, and the sudden dip in tempo that plays out the last quarter of the song is just divine. It's found itself in a very niche category of 'Songs to play when it's a muggy 3 AM and it's too hot to sleep' along with Boards Of Canada's Slow This Bird Down.
So ends a particularly scrambled selection of tracks. I'm not so sure we actually elaborated on that feeling I mentioned in the first paragraph but we certainly got some good tracks out of it, both posted and linked to/referenced. I hope that some of these tunes piqued your interest and you check the artists featured out further. Just a quick aside before I go, the Wired Sound For Wired People compilation is Name Your Price on Bandcamp so you can scoop it for free if you'd like. It's a solid compilation, a bit too experimental toward the end for my taste but there is plenty of good ambient and the like on there to get stuck into.
And as always, stay safe and enjoy the music,
-CVF
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