Guest Mix

Fresh guest mix from WN resident Moth, here serving up a whole party in 90 minutes, from sultry summer slow jams to raucous rave and techno via footwork, salsa and acid. So many of our favourites in here we've lost count.

Exclusively on White Noise, here's the tracklist:

Linkwood Family – Miles Away

Pender Street Steppers – The Glass City

Ishmael – Time & Time Again

Hidden Spheres – Waiting

Mosey – Tuff Times

D-Ribeiro – Down You Will Get

Cool Peepl – Free

Damiano von Erckert – We Flow 

Harvey Sutherland – Bermuda

Matthew Herbert – Earthenware

Obas Nenor – Change Got To Come

La Pesada – Cumbia y Tambo (En La Lluvia)

Paradise’s Deep Groove – I Love

Adesse Versions – Pride

Todd Terry – Bounce To The Beat

TXC – Dream Is Alive

Luca Lozano & DJ Fett Burger – Telegronn

Luca Lozano & Mr. Ho – Dripbox

Henrik Bergqvist – Caballo Blanco

Paxton Fettel – Lift Off

Foreign – B1

Paranoid London – Lovin U (Ahh Shit)

AFX – VBS.Redlof.B

Jessy Lanza, DJ Spinn & Taso – You Never Show Your Love

Guest Mix

Our main man Moth has come up with another sweet mix, this time charting some chilled summer house and disco, with a lot of WN favourites in the mix. Listen here:

 

Just for WN readers, here's the tracklist:

Moodymann – The Thief That Stole My Sad Days

Unknown Artist – A Jazz Thing

Metro Area – Piña

Mark Barrott – Saviours Or Savages

Domenique Dumont – L’Esprit de l’Escalier

Ben Sun – Seven Sisters

Ben Morris – Polarna Flyger Till Kuba

Paxton Fettel – Dots on the Skyline

Alice Smith – Love Endeavour (Maurice Fulton Remix)

Pablo Mateo – Roxy

J Albert – Love Delivered

Panama Brown – Theme From Panama Racing Club

Merwyn Sanders – Mimi Likes 2 Dance

Davina – Don’t You Want It

Move D – Eastman

Kornél Kovács – Malon

The Bass Foundation – Recognition (Club Rave)

Dream 2 Science – My Love Turns To Liquid

Samo DJ – Flyer Edit

Jean Adebambo – Say That You Love Me (DJ Nick The Record Re-Edit)

Aphex Twin – Alberto Balsalm

Contemporary Classical, Ambient, and everything in between

For the last few decades, classical music and the experimental fringes of electronic music have been on a collision course. As living legends Philip Glass and Steve Reich became early advocates of electronic production, a number of the electronic generation’s upstarts are going back the other way; with genres like Ambient and Drone eschewing the pop and dance worlds’ need for hooks and simple melodies and replacing them with patient meditations and hypnotic loops.

In this playlist I hope to draw a bridge between contemporary Classical music and some of electronic’s more patient microgenres. This list is by no means exhaustive and should serve only as the most casual of introductions to these dense forms of music. Most of these tracks are contextualised immensely by their surrounding albums, but this should offer a tantalising taster for some of the most beautiful and thought-provoking music currently being put out.

Tracklist:

Philip Glass – Metamorphosis One

Max Richter – On The Nature of Daylight

Steve Reich & Musicians – Music For 18 Musicians

Aphex Twin – Avril 14^th

Tim Hecker – Chimeras

Nils Frahm – For

Loops Of Your Heart – Cries

The Caretaker – All You Are Going To Want To Do Is Get Back There

William Basinski – DLP 5

Fennesz – Endless Summer

Stars of the Lid – Even If You’re Never Awake

From the melancholy instrumentals of Philip Glass and more recent composer Mix Richter, the list takes in one of Steve Reich’s most vivid compositions in the form of Music For 18 Musicians.  The big daddy of IDM, Aphex Twin, has tried his hand at purely organic music in the form of the achingly pretty Avril 14^th, while Ambient legend Tim Hecker offers a typically dense soundfield in Chimeras. Nils Frahm’s  For is a reverb-drenched affair that followed his beautiful piano-led album Keep, and it’s followed by The Field alter-ego Loops of Your Heart, whose slow-burn Cries fits surprisingly well into the mix. Next Leyland Kirby’s The Caretaker project and legendary loop-master William Basinski approach the subjects of memory and loss by decaying samples to different effects, and Fennesz’ glitchy classic Endless Summer somehow evoke the sunshine behind a great deal of beautiful electronic noodling. The list closes with Stars of the Lid, a familiar name in Drone circles, with their haunting (and beautifully titled) Even If You’re Never Awake.

It’s not too hard to draw the lines between classical and experimental these days as the borders soften between organic and electronic instrumentation, and I’m sure we’ll see an enormous amount of innovation and beauty continue to bloom from this heady intersection. But that’s not to say this isn’t happening already- I urge anyone who takes an interest in these tracks to go out and explore these artists; there’s a whole world waiting already.

Total Redraw: Home Listening Edition

Remixes that really shake things up

No self-respecting music fan is a stranger to the idea of the remix. After a track is completed, the stems are passed off to other like-minded producers and are reshaped to allow the style and personality of the remixer to come out while elements of the original are retained. While the odd remix on the B-side of an EP really shines, they can all too frequently come across as unnecessary additions to the original mixes, so when a really good remix comes about you’re sure to take notice.

This feature doesn’t focus specifically on ‘great remixes’, but rather remixes where the producer has taken the core track and has really invigorated the original track, leaving it recognisably the same but taking the tune in a totally different direction. After much ploughing through my music library, I’d like to present some of the most successful remixes I’ve heard where the remixer on hand has really gone beyond the call of duty; and these will be shown  and discussed along with the original tracks.

Running through a real range of contemporary music, a lot of these will be dance-focused but some are even stranger takes on recognisable classics alongside less well-known contributions. So without further ado, let’s get listening and check out some of the best remixes to be found in the White Noise vaults.

This two-part series will be split, with the first section dedicated to home listening tracks and the latter a big playlist of remixed dance music. Enjoy part 1!

Gold Panda – Marriage (Forest Swords 1am Hotel Room Redraw) 

In this stunning rework of one of Gold Panda’s best tunes, the atmospheric Forest Swords completely rebuilds the track from the ground up, entirely with acoustic instrumentation. The melody is still there, but it’s hard to imagine a more imaginative and successful redraw.

Efdemin – Acid Bells (Martyn’s Bittersweet Mix)

Sounding more Aphex Twin than Efdemin, legend Martyn relegates the original’s driving rhythms to the background, allowing a haunting piano melody to take centre stage.

Aphex Twin – Untitled (Four Tet Mix)

Apparently devised at the tender age of 17, Kieran Hebden’s IDM-fuelled mix of one of Aphex Twin’s most brilliant ambient tracks is a dream collaboration that retains aspects of both producers’ styles.

Mount Kimbie – Maybes (James Blake Remix)

James Blake applies a trademark warmth to one of Mount Kimbie’s best, fuzzing up the duo’s crisp production and lending it a woozy dubstep momentum.

Fever Ray – If I Had A Heart (Fuck Buttons Remix) 

Here Fuck Buttons take Fever Ray’s darkness as far as it will stretch, wielding a driving 4/4 and growling bass frequencies to create something black and wildly hypnotic.

Fever Ray – When I Grow Up (Version by Lissvik) 

Alongside for comparison, the most bizarre remix here is courtesy of one half of Balearic duo Studio, as Lissvik sets Fever Ray’s straining vocals to bouncing house with tropical synthlines. The strangest thing isn’t that it works, it’s that it works so damn well.

Star Slinger – May I Walk With You

Although not technically a remix, Star Slinger’s rework of Life Without Buildings' The Leanover is a brilliant recreation, taking Sue Tompkins’ jittery vocals to their logical extreme alongside tough beats and some of the catchiest looping you’re likely to hear.

Bibio – Lover’s Carving (Letherette Remix)

This dreamy hip hop rework of Bibio’s upbeat classic works like a charm, chopping up the vocals while retaining the sunshine of the original. The only flaw is that it’s all too short.

Lianne La Havas – Forget (Shlohmo Remix)

Shlohmo on excellent remixing form again, applying Lianne La Havas’ vocals both in original and chopped forms to a dreamy soundscapes replete with clicks, blips and deep haunting bass.

Agaric – No Way I Know I Feel  (Axel Boman Remix) – Clips of Original

Axel Boman takes Agaric’s dense original and cleans it up, making that nagging vocal the centrepiece of a world of swirling samples and twinkling beats.

Shlohmo – Rained The Whole Time (Nicolas Jaar Remix) 

The superb Nicolas Jaar livens up Shlohmo’s melancholy original with harder woodblock beats, blowing up the guitar in the original alongside soulful beats and samples that shift and swirl magnificently.

Colonel Abrams – Trapped (Hell Interface Remix)

Boards of Canada, under their Hell Interface moniker, take chopped and screwed to a new deathly extreme in their growling slow-down of Colonel Abrams’ 80s classic.

Burial – Shell of Light (Shlohmo Remix)

Tampering with Burial is not done lightly, but Shlohmo nails this one, isolating the hopeful last 30 seconds of the original and casting them onto an emotional widescreen with deeper-than-deep bass and ghostly vocal touches.

Nuyorican Soul – I Am The Black Gold Of The Sun (4 Hero Remix)

It’d be hard to outdo the original, backed by Masters of Work production and Jocelyn Brown’s honey tones, but 4 Hero turns the tune into a feelgood jazzy odyssey, thoroughly living up to the glory of the original.

Songs to come down

For today's playlist I've created two short compilations of tracks to come down to. Whether that's after a really heavy night out or a difficult period emotionally, I think these tracks will suit any downer period. Not that these are really sad songs, I tend to prefer downbeat or curious to out-and-out despair in songs unless I'm in a serious sulk. So here are a couple of collections of tunes to relaxedly get you through those glum times.

I've divided the selection into two, an Acoustic playlist and an Electronic playlist. Please note these aren't strict names, for example I'm aware Baths and Shlohmo aren't really acoustic while Memory Tapes is only arguably electronic, but the titles just refer to the overall feel of the playlist. The other thing to mention is that I've compiled these playlists as downloads on Mediafire for the first time, so if you like them just click on the playlist title and take them with you wherever you go.

Enjoy! (or, you know, despair...)

Acoustic

Kicking off with a couple of classic tracks, firstly the suitably titled and pleasantly jazzy I'm Comin' Down by Primal Scream is both low-key and relaxed, proving a perfect intro. Lou Reed's soft vocals coast through Candy Says and we move onto more recent fare, such as Baths' ambient interlude Rafting Starlit Everlades and the over-exposed but not necessarily overrated The xx with the taut Infinity. One of Animal Collective's first truly brilliant tracks, Banshee Beat follows, with a tense and hushed soundscape full of twittering noises and Panda Bear's glorious wordless vocals at the end. Next a couple of piano tracks from more electro-centric artists; James Blake mournful debut closer Measurements* and Aphex Twin's slow and melancholy Nanou2. Beach House makes the first of two appearances with their particular brand of syrup-thick composition and Victoria Legrand's always-perfect vocals. Another downbeat Baths track moves through to Bonobo's gorgeous Black Sands which becomes grander and more fluid as it goes on, all rather impressively in waltz time. Then the ever-peculiar Books meditate on the meaning of the word 'aleatoric' and we enter a final stretch composed of some of my very favourite songs. The immensely simple and powerful Take Care by Beach House is without a doubt in my top 5 tracks, and this feeds into one of Do Make Say Think's best, the meditative Soul and Onward. How to Disappear Completely is majestic and sweeping, as well as being my firm favourite Radiohead track (cue arguments), and it suits the mood perfectly, leading into the final track; where we hear Jason Pierce's uniquely raw brand of sorrow in Spiritualized's comedown lullaby Goodnight Goodnight.

* - If I've put an asterisk next to a track it means it wasn't on youtube so won't play on the embedded player, but the song will still be in the downloadable compilation don't you worry

Feature: Aphex Twin

Everyone knows that Aphex Twin is one of the godfathers of modern day electronic music, especially for his pioneering acid and ambient-inflected techno of the 90s. But how did he get to this pinnacle of respect and admiration? And with so many tracks and albums, where does the new Aphex Twin listener start? This feature will answer these questions and explore the musical journey that Richard D. James has taken over 20 years through some of his classic tracks.

James was born in 1971 and spent a great deal of time listening to the acid and ambient scenes that were exploding in the 80s, and their application to techno in the latter half of the decade. He took the name Aphex Twin as a dual reference, the 'Aphex' name derived from Aphex Systems Limited, a brand of audio processing equipment that itself took its name from 'analogue effects'. The origin of 'Twin' is far more interesting. James in fact had an older brother, also named Richard James, who died as a child before Richard D. was born (his grave can be seen on the cover of the Boy/Girl Song EP) and James took the 'Twin' moniker in reference to his being the single remainder of these two brothers. Taking this name, he released his first 12-inch EP Analogue Bubblebath in 1991 after spending his childhood tinkering with audio equipment and DJing at raves in Cornwall.

Analogue Bubblebath - 1991

In this title track many of the traits he would later become known for are already present: squelching synths, a hard, rushing drum beat and a superhuman knack for musical precision; techno layers emerge and recede in perfectly spaced intervals in this spacey, propulsive track. However here we also hear a softer edge, the lo-fi wash that thrums quietly in the background from around the 1 minute mark shows a lush, analogue quality that was lost until much later in his career.

After changing his recording name to AFX (one of many names he records under whilst tending towards the Aphex Twin staple), James went on to release the track that first brought him recognition, the single Digeridoo, first released on the Analogue Bubblebath 2 EP on his newly established label Rephlex records that he set up with a DJ friend, Grant Wilson-Claridge with the aim of promoting “innovation in the dynamics of Acid – a much loved and misunderstood genre of house music”.

Digeridoo - 1991

Here James first took on the cold acid precision mixed with a techno aesthetic that would become his musical trademark. Quite literally an electronic digeridoo sound, he recorded it at first to tire out the audiences in his DJ sets. The brutally paced synths were dancefloor gold and the ever-increasing force of the track made it interesting enough to get onto newly-legal radio station Kiss FM's rotation and got him quickly signed with R&S Records. He released the EP Xylem Tube with alarming rapidity shortly thereafter.

The climate for 'intelligent' techno was warming in the early 90s, leading to the genre title IDM – Intelligent Dance Music – that the artists it was applied to rejected, James himself stating “It's basically saying 'this is intelligent and everything else is stupid.' It's really nasty to everyone else's music.” The Orb had proven the commercial viability of ambient house music and with their chart-topping Blue Room, and in 1992 James released his first full-length album Selected Ambient Works 85-92 to massive critical acclaim, described by Allmusic as a “watershed of ambient music” and Pitchfork as “among the most interesting music ever created with a keyboard and a computer.” The album showed a heavier ambient leaning than his previous works as a collection of home material he had recorded during the past few years. If the timespan of the album title is to be believed, James created some of these tracks from as young as 14.

Heliosphan - 1992

In one of the many highlights of this landmark album, James showcases more fully formed and carefully constructed songwriting than ever before, with several layers of quick-fire percussion laying down a seamless beat for oceanic ambient sweeps and a distant but addictive recurring synth-line. Many of these tracks are ambient techno classics from the ethereal electronic fuzz of opener Xtal to darkly churning and atmospheric Hedphelym, the album is astoundingly consistent in its innovation and brilliance.

As his reputation grew, James was commissioned to remix artists such as St. Etienne, The Cure, Curve and many others; producing almost unrecognisable reworkings of the originals. In early 1993, James signed to Warp Records, the influential label trying to chart the future of electronic music with stablemates such as Autechre and FUSE. After the release of Analogue Bubblebath 3 in 1993 which rejected any ambient influence with bracing beats and hard acid-styles, James toured America with Moby and Orbital, continuing to play more of his headbanging fare. However following this, James did a complete 180 and released his second full-length, Selected Ambient Works II in 1994. These tracks, said to be inspired by lucid dreams and synaethesia, almost completely remove the beats and melodies of his previous work and lay bare unsettling ambient soundscapes.

Rhubarb - 1994

In this slow and majestic track, vast landscapes unfold from the loops of off-kilter ambient synths which throb with sorrow and life. This album was James' mellowest release so far, and in a characteristic move he didn't stay with the sound longer than this one release. Interestingly the track was looped for many months during BBC's digital widescreen test transmission screen as it was introduced across the UK in 1998, so it would've been on show for anyone tuning in for many months.

1995 kicked off with James' compilation release of Classics, including material of the Digeridoo and Xylem Tube EPs with a handful of other tracks. A harsher mix harked back to James' repetitive tracks with acid house sensibilities, analogue synths and punchy drum machines. Later in the same year he released his third full-length, ...I Care Because You Do, the last of his 90s material to be produced with analogue synthesisers, and also the first to utilise the motif of James' own face in his album covers and music videos.

Ventolin - 1995

In this abrasive dedication to James' asthma inhaler a high-pitched ringing sound reigns, referencing the reported side effect of tinnitus that this particular asthma drug induced. This is pounded out of shape by crashing drums in perhaps James' most aggressive release.

Following this James adopted software synthesisers, again ahead of the curve in adopting computers to make his music before the mainstream had even conceived of it. With his new equipment he produced the uncompromising Hangable Auto Bulb EP and later in 1996 his next album, Richard D. James Album.

4 - 1996

In the opener James elegantly fuses jolting beats with sweeping melodic fragments and synth-lines to craft one of his most masterly pieces. Elsewhere on the album James showed more range than previously noted, from the nostalgic fuzz of Fingerbib through the creepingly brilliant sampling of To Cure a Weakling Child and the combination of pastoral plucked strings and rushing DnB beats in Girl/Boy Song.

His next releases were aimed towards his skewed notions of becoming a chart-topper, an ironic twist on his heavy DnB beats were seen when he released the Come to Daddy EP, accompanied by a video produced by Chris Cunningham.

Come To Daddy - 1997 

All of his trademarks can once again be heard in the harsh stuttering beats and metallic time-stretched vocals. The jungle-inflected track's horror is almost so over the top that it loses its power (especially the children's song just after the 3 minute mark), but Cunningham's genuinely creepy video cemented this as James' highest charting hit and one of his best-known tracks to date.

Flim - 1997

Short and sweet techno-pop cut Flim was also included in the album, a floating synth tune that reins in the heavy horror and ended up as one of James' airiest and freest tracks, as well as one of my personal favourites. Placing these two tracks on the same EP hinted at the extremes of aesthetic to be seen more clearly in his most recent album proper, drukqs. However before he got there James also released his other MTV success Windowlicker with its own EP in 1999, another acid storm of DnB with a similarly creepy video, this time transposing James' face onto female models instead of children.

Vordhosbn - 2001

In 2001 the sudden release of drukqs showed an album that was a mixture of abrasive drumkit exercises such as the masterly and storming Vordhosbn that contrasted with tracks like mellow oriental opener Jynweythek (many of the tracks on the album are written in the Cornish language, for example 'jynweythek' translates as 'machinemusic').

Avril 14^th - 2001

Most surprising of all were the carefully programmed computer-made piano instrumentals such as Avril 14^th and closer Nanou2. Critics didn't take particularly well to the release, calling it a contract breaker with Warp (which holds some weight, his next major release was on his own Rephlex label), with some magazines such as Rolling Stone calling the piano pieces in particular “aimlessly pretty”, but you can judge for yourself- I see the tracks as aiming further to a deeply-felt mourning, complicated by the electronic shadow of their computer-creation. You can hear the fingers rising from the keys, before you realise there are no fingers at all in these John Cage-inspired prepared piano pieces.

Since this release all was quiet on James' front for a while, until in 2004 the rumours of a return to an acid-techno sound were realised with the Analord series (once more partly under the AFX name), 11 EPs of a few tracks each that return to using analogue equipment and a meticulous pressing technique for the vinyls.

Fenix Funk 5 - 2006

A selection of these tracks was compiled and released on Chosen Lords in 2006, and opener Fenix Funk 5 showcases both a return to acid-squelches over the beats but incorporates James' more melodic bent with chaotic syths that work fluidly to create an enthralling whole, showing that James is still going strong. Throughout this period James released nothing else, but still frequently DJed at festivals and club sets.

Since these releases there have been many rumours of new albums, with James stating in a 2010 interview that he had 6 completed albums ready to be released, but apart from a rumour that he is recording as The Tuss on the Rephlex label (for which there is rather compelling evidence), we will have to be satisfied with odd tracks for now until James deigns to return and show us how its done all over again.

In a career spanning 20 years, Richard D James has again and again shown himself to be a superb innovator, championing many styles and creating some that are uniquely his own. His music isn't the easiest to get into, but it is rarely less than thrilling, and hopefully this article has proved interesting or offered a way in for those looking to follow the progression of one of electro's biggest stars.