Pandering

Repeatedly heard a track I like thanks to an unlikely source, and that led to some thoughts.  The track is the Bambino Casino remix of The Time is Now by Moloko, and I keep hearing it at work, where we have Pandora radio on all the computers.  I've got one set to the Little Dragon station, and this track keeps coming up.

Streaming, and how it's changed my music consumption, is something I've been thinking about recently, as I signed up for the paid version of Spotify and immediately realised I'd probably never buy another CD.  Because more than one thing has changed -- the technology has changed, but so have my own habits.  The days where I'd listen to one album repeatedly are done, as far as I can tell.  Now I'm constantly listening to new things and moving on to more new things.  Partly because of technology, and hearing new things being so easy to do.  Partly also due to technology and the incredible amounts of information giving me ideas about what to listen to.  And also because there is so much new music out there too (which, I think, is also due to technology).  I think there's a negative to this approach in that it reduces the likelihood of me finding a new favourite album, for instance -- I just don't spend enough time with anything.  I also have this distracted feeling a lot of the time, which I think is due to this lack of focus -- or vice versa.  That has less to do with streaming and more to do with the internet and screen-time in general, but still. 

I also wonder what the point of music is for me now?  It provides a nice soundtrack to various tasks, and I also think I use it to preview shows I want to go to.  But it used to be I'd go and see acts live because I liked their music... now I think I go and see acts I like for the experience of going, but I'm not sure how meaningful that is?  Maybe it doesn't really matter.  I went to see Nick Cave despite not being a huge Nick Cave fan but I still really enjoyed it.  Supposedly we're in the age of experiences taking precedent over ownership, but is that true, or are we actually in the age of needing to do things so we can tell others what we did?  And show them via photos and videos?  There's probably a mix of reasons going on, but I don't think there's any denying the role social media, and the internet in general, is playing in changing my, and our, habits when it comes to music. 

But on the plus side are discoveries like this track, which I don't think I'd ever have heard were it not for the Pandora algorithm!  So algorithms, they're not all bad ya know.  Actually, I just realised this track is on the Moloko Back to Mine album... so in the old days I have picked that album up used somewhere and heard this ... As for the track, I loved the slowed down tempo, which I think enhances the lyrics.  I love the original track, but this is a great remix.

November commute tunes #3: Small lizard chronicles

Aah, lovely lovely songs.  And I think they're all linked??  Most of them anyway, by Little Dragon.  I first heard of them when they featured on a Gorillaz record.  They already seemed like a band I felt I should have heard of back then.  I can't say I've paid them loads of attention since, but they'll pop up on singles I like here and there. 

First up, here they are with BadBadNotGood.  Another band who have tracks I like, but I'm not necessarily a fan.  They're also an example of a band who I didn't like as much live -- I prefer them on record, their live show was pretty unenjoyable.  Anyway, I love this track, very atmospheric:



Now, here they are with SBTRKT; I heard this next one again today:



Now here's one by just them!  It's from their latest EP, which is meant to be a dancey and positive record.  This track definitely fulfills that mandate:



Ok, last track now, and it's destroying my Little Dragon link cos I don't think this person has any link to them (I could definitely be wrong).  This is by Jon Hopkins and it's pretty great.  I saw him live once, supporting the XX.  Can't really remember much about the show, but I think he'd be good on stage. 

The Joints

The library is demanding I return a few CD's I've had for a while so I thought I'd write a little about them first.  After all the hype around Sampha and his debut album, Process, I decided to check him out a bit, but I wanted to go back to the source -- I read about his guest appearances on albums by SBTRKT so started there.  To be honest, while I think Sampha has a unique voice with a very warm quality to it, he wasn't really doing it for me; I even saw him live recently, with the XX, and felt the same way; just not feeling it.  But I do like SBTRKT!  He has some really great sounds on his records; I particularly love the squelchy synth bass on this track, Wildfire:



Features Little Dragon -- keep coming across them recently.  Another good thing I've noticed about that track in particular is that it rewards repeated listening -- I keep hearing new sounds that I hadn't noticed before, like the warbles behind the singer's voice at certain points.


Second CD due back is 'Malibu' by Anderson Paak.  Now, this guy is hardly unheard of; in fact I decided to check the album out after getting round to listening to a best of 2016 podcast from NPR.  But there's so much music out there these days, including so much lauded good music, that even though he's on best of lists that doesn't mean you've come across him -- all I'd seen was the name, but hadn't heard anything.  Really glad I got the album out though, as it's really good.  I've been listening to the whole thing at a time as it all gels really well, though I can't say it's been sit-down in-depth listening -- mostly it's been on in the living room on a weekend morning.  But I'm cool with that -- music that I can just put on and enjoy is more than welcome.






Non-library and newer listening now.  I came across JLin thanks to NPR first listen.  The accompanying write up for her album Black Origami talks about one of her records being played by Aphex Twin recently, her album being on Planet Mu (a UK label), and how some footwork-y music has junglist elements to it.  All pretty interesting stuff and, to be honest, I even found the fact that she's a black woman releasing this type of music pretty cool and unusual in that I don't come across that often (maybe I'm looking in the wrong places). And she's from Gary, Indiana!  I stopped there, once, in a snowstorm, on the way to Chicago with my brother and cousin -- we wanted to check out what was then described as the most dangerous city in America; we didn't stay long. Anyway, the album's hyper-erratic beats don't necessarily do it for me, but I do like this next track, and can definitely hear sounds that would fit right into some jungle:

Gorillaz - Plastic Beach

Gorillaz are back with a new album out next week. It's another concept piece and I have to say I'm a little surprised -- I thought they'd called it quits after some big shows in Las Vegas were billed as their last ever. But here they are, and they'll be playing Coachella next month too. The new album, 'Plastic Beach', can be heard in full here. I've given it a listen and I'm pretty pleased, there are some very nice tracks and some cool collaborations (half the Clash, Bobby Womack, Little Dragon, and Mark E. Smith are some of the stand-outs). Might even be worth a vinyl purchase in fact. Hear it yourself and let us know what you think. If you're a bit ADD you can hear a mix of all the tracks at the Gorillaz Youtube site, and watch some other vids and things too -- vid for the first single should be up tomorrow.