Tunes heard on KCRW PART ONE OF SEVERAL

Whoa! Hey!
I'm back! Whoever reads this! (Somehow each post gets hundred of views? Who are you all?? Tell us).

I now live in the very sunny city of Los Angeles. I can't remember the last time it rained here. Earlier this week for 3 days it was at least 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Anyway, enough about the weather. As a resident of this city, like many I ended up getting a car and in said-car (I named her Mariana...and also one of my two protagonists in the next film I'm writing is also named Mariana...heh) I listen to the radio. The legendary KCRW plays some good stuff sometimes. Thursday night on my late drive home I realized that they play some electronic tunes and other cool things.

A couple of discoveries I made so far, the new Burial tune - which Fahad says he blogged or WhatsApp'd about before, oops. Check it out, it's fantastique:



Another one is by a band I never heard of, apparently they are a Australian "psychedelic rock" band. Well upon reading that Wikipedia description of them I may not get around to hearing more of their stuff, but this tune is great. Here's the longer version, rather than the radio version, of "Let It Happen" by Tame Impala:


More soon. I must say, Shazam is extremely handy.

Summertime '83

I do feel like most things in pop have already been done.  Not exactly a profound thought, I know.  I heard this Style Council song for the first time today (go ahead, judge me) and I found it to be so 2010's -- more so after watching the quite astonishing video.  Very sexual?  Check.  Wonky R&B played by white people?  Check.  Drake-style dad dancing?  Check.  Retro (!) electronics?  Check.  It's got it all!



A couple of months ago I finished my second Mark Radcliffe book.  I quite like the bloke as a DJ but his writing is... surprising.  Actually what's surprising is that he's had so many books published.  Anyway, the one I read recounts tales from his life in music, and includes an account of his first interview with David Bowie.  At the time Bowie said that his favourite albums of his own were 'Diamond Dogs'and 'Lodger' so of course I checked those out from the library and yeah, not bad.  'Diamond Dogs' has that 70's sound that I'm not really into right now, the glam thing, but 'Lodger' was better than expected.  I was afraid of something sludgy but it's quite bright, which I suppose makes sense since it came out on the cusp of the 80's.



Incidentally, the cover to 'Lodger' wouldn't look out of place today -- it looks like a (good) fashion ad.



The artist formerly known as Throwing Shade is now trading under her own name of Nabihah Iqbal and is about to release a new album on Ninja Tune.  I heard the first single off of it online yesterday and on the radio today, and it's quite nice -- has a very 80's sound to it, and I can relate to it's lyrics about ennui upon waking up in the morning very well!  It's extra interesting to me because, having seen a video of her process, I feel like I can almost hear how the track was made.  That's not to belittle her achievement, or say it was easy -- there's still musical talent involved (and after all, she's studied ethnomusicology at SOAS!).  But check out her FACT video and maybe you'll be able to hear the components of the new single too.