2020 - a year like no other in some peoples lifetime, or maybe if put into perspective - predictable and doesn’t even touch on the misery that some people have been living in for decades or even their whole lifetime……I don’t want to dwell on this….this is about the music that’s got me in 2020. As always, creativity is blocked due to work pressures and is never likely to change………this selection is merely a fifth of what I have bought….not even that.
YOU SEE THIS BOX BELOW…YOU HAVE TO PRESS PLAY BECAUSE I DIDN’T START IT AUTOMATICALLY FOR YOU!! GO ON …PRESS IT…THEN READ ON…………
Destroyer - Have We Met?
Vancouver based Dan Bejar pumps out a quite synth based singer song writer……..maybe his lryics can be a bit irritating but this is a lush affair.
Sparkle Division - To Feel Embraced
WTF??? - Lawrence Basinski and aload of Sax orientated easy listening groovy funky stuff, abouta weird off the road concept you could ever get…….those disintegrated tapes have just melted………
Baxter Dury - The Night Chancers
Baxter goes all Gainsbourg on us and that makes it even more irrisistable …. strings galour and lyrics so grubby, you’ll need a wash afterwards…..I’m not your fucking friend!!!!
Holger Czukay - Movies
As recommended by Kin;Aesthetic Stephen and bought from Rotation Records. On non stop rotation up here at Electro Towers…..barking mad esoteric funk and weirdness from what is technically Can…as Scmidt and Liebezeit join Holger…….addictive…like cheese
Blancmange - Clean Your House (Emperor Machine Mix)
The ever prolific and cynical Neil Arthur continues Blancmange with Benge (hang on…isn’t that Fader??). same thing but more cynical!!
An album of Mk 1 League Electronics that rumbles through your speakers - Mindset (which got expanded and remixed just before the end of the year!!)
Womack & Womack - MPB
First heard this at the Kin;Aestheitc Recordings King Lagoons Flying Swordfish Band event at Rotation Records at the end of summer. Jonny from Alphabets Heaven played it in a set and set fire to everyones funky bass magnets…cheers Jonny
DMX Krew - Love Games
I have a soft spot of the 1st Level 42 albums and so does Ed Upton. Turn it on EP brings 4 L42 classics and doesn’t quite ruin them…infact it’s exactly what Ed does…non stop rotation up here at Electro Towers.
and you…yes you….. don’t slag of L42 unless you’ve listend to the 1st two albums….then come back and I’ll have sensible conversation with you….just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean to say it’s shit…does it?? Unless you’re 13 years old still.
Holy Fuck - Deleters
I have to check out any band in that annoying category of Indie Electro, just incase it’s any good and you know what….this is one that is worth staying with.
AK/DK - Kosmiche #1
From the Brighton bands Shared Particles album. There’s some great energy to this and even when it gets noisy it maintains it’s references of Kraut Rock and Kosmische, roughed up in a special way.
Ist Ist - You’re Mine
They’re from Manchester (surprise surprise) they sound like Editors meets Joy Division……so what i’m saying is that they sound like Joy Division…but NOW. Despite all that, they are pretty good, so check them out and their album Architecture.
Blind Delon - Eduordo
Toulouse based Darkwave Trio who get that bass sound just right and those vocals are so deep and french…like deep fried french dark wave……take me to the club…….
Working Men’s Club - A.A.A.A.
From their debut album..everyone’s raving about this as though they’ve never heard anything like it before. Well I suppose if you;ve been around a bit…you’ve heard it all before…….It’s Factory Floor again.
Quoted as a mixture of Post punk, Detroit Techno and Italo House…been there, seen it done it…..again and again.
nevertheless…ignore the hype and check it out…definitely worth a few listens and they look great live.
Cerrone - Let Me Feel
43 years on from Supernature and here is DNA. The Frenchman keeps it mostly electronic and this album that came out and pretty much got forgotten is a brilliant slab of Electro Disco
Pet Shop Boys - Monkey Business (Prins Thomas diskomix)
From the third and final in the Stuart Price album Trilogy Hotspot. Sees our duo with a not so fully dance orientated album (I’ll have to listen to it a few more times). This single is a classic pieces of disco, which takes the piss video-wise and shows our heroes and ourselves looking the same as we ever were…..great stuff…great video.
Roisin Murphy - Narcissus
From the fantastic Roisin Machine album. Adult Disco produced my Neil “Parrot” Barrat ….this gets better each time you listen to it and Roisin’s brilliant fun as well as stunning singer.
A Certain Ratio - Supafreak
From their album Loco…….this album is pure groove and funk and if you don’t posess this…shame on you…….funkiest band on the planet….too fucking right they are……. not a duff track and so well put together.
Sonniku - Let The Night In
Out on Brighton’s Bella Union…wtf?!?! From the album Joyful Death…this is an infectious and perfectly constructed slice of Latin Hip Hop mixed with 90’s Disco House Pop….blimey that sounds a bit rough……nah…….this is brilliant, it’s does all those 80’s genres and keeps it all beautifully danceable and pop…..YUM
Sebastiene Tellier - Venezia
from the ultra slick as french as fuck - vocoderness album Domesticated. This pisses on lush and you could’nt find a better piece of Brie to compare it with.
Orion - Higher
From Italian’s Do It Better compilation After Dark 3. Not a duff track anywhere…I could have just played the whole compilation. Johnny Jewel been a busy man…..oh this is so up Ring Modulator’s strasse!!!!!
Desh as fuck.
The Budos Band - Long In The Tooth
So 2/3rds of the GLC went on a trip to Lewes to buy records and drink beer. On entering Union Records, this was playing and out I came with it….a gorgeous slab of post Morricone Psyche Funk conjurings images of Sphagetti Westerns and all things Goblin like and long black leather jackets….. BLISS….utter dusty BLISS
HHY & The Kampala Unit - Queendom
From the Lithium Blast album on Ugandan Nyege Nyege Tapes. Rythmically untouchable…..electronically terrifying and horns designed to make you shit yourself……..just nothing else like it
Dengue Dengue Dengue - Atlantida
From the Continentes Periods EP…….Beautiful Peruvian Poly Rhythmic bliss…feel the depth of those drums………….
Ramzi - Spring Emu
From the album Cocon. Phoebe Guillemot’s Fourth World Rythmic post club adventures take you to a South american beachas the sun comes up and you’re left using it as the only calm against the mosquito bites!!!
Die Wilde Jagd - Himmelfharten
From the Haut album on Bureau B. So blatantly German yet so Kosmichely beautiful and rhythmic yet relaxing and ……….. bring me a beer on the Rhine as I awake.
Neuzeitliche Bodenbeläge - Markplatz
From the Der Grosse Preis album on Bureau B…a brilliant album of Synth NDW that you can’t stop listening to……..
Sink Ya Teeth - Sweetness
From their second album Two…..two of the most stunningly sexy and nicest girls in music (IMO anyway)….bring their slightly more deeper Post Punk Disco Funk sound …always fun to see and great to have a chat too!!!!!
Lou Rebecca - Bonbon (Johnny Jewel Mix)
More Italians Do It Better , born in Paris , currently in Austin. The album restless…sheer bliss, synthetic pop in an Anglo-Francais sort of way with all that IDIB pulse width modulation lushness that makes you tingle………
Nadia Ksaiba - Virtual Lover
Her single out on Phantasy……brilliant slab of Electro Disco Tech goodness
Marie Davidson & L’Oeil Nu - Renegade Breakdown
From the same titled album of No Wave Electro Disco with bad attitude to make you think….fuck it …I’ll have another drink and dance before I piss off home on my own………
WhoMadeWho - Der Abend Birgt Keine Ruh with Perel
From the Synchronicity album which is like a long car journey to your favourite Tech club in Europe….driving, coming down, going up…motor, sequenced and up lifting.
Automat - Easy Rider
I’ve been buying a lot of Dub Tech this year, catching up on lost Burial Mix, Basic channel and Rhythm and Sound….loving the depth, loving the space and Paul St Hilaire…this album has it all
Yma Sumac - Mambolina No.1
From the 1954 album Mambo!…..I picked up an immaculate 1964 reissue whilst compiling some Exotica for the Kin;Aesthetic Records release of the King Lagoons Flying Swordfish Band all dayer earlier this year at the Rose Hill Tavern. to go with my increasing collection of Exotica and Easy Listening and Bossa. This album is a beatiful recording of barking mad dynamic ranges and exotic touches……mad but addictive.
Yello - the Vanishing of Peter Strong
From the stunning album..Point. To those that say it’s Yello by numbers……. I get your point…but we know Yello have done some forgettable albums in their career. But to produce something that is sonically grabbing, whilst still bringing you the Yellow things we all love, in visual lyrics and characterisations , chord progressions and sounds…..this is like I’m waiting for a Ray Harryhausen clip that turns into a 50’s seedy bar in a port in a mediterranean town……..it’s the whole album not just one track….immerse yourself in it and pretend that 2020 never existed………
21 ANY ONE??????? Have fun xx