Apologies for the silence here since the annual Notting Hill Carnival playlist extraveganza. Incidently if you want the latest ragga, dancehall, reggae, dub plus a touch of dance and hip-hop then you could join the 800 strong subcribers on my irratically updated Spotify and Apple Music playlists.
Anyway back to Octobers finest… with such a long gap this months selection is huge and it has to be said a bit out of date with some tracks dating back a few months. If you want the latest look elsewhere, but if you’re after the greatest, you’re in the right place 😉
SUBSCRIBE TO A PLAYLIST
There’s a 150 song playlist for October on Soundcloud and even more on OpenWhyd (see embed above).For the most uptodate sounds subcribe to the monthly updated playlist on Spotify or Apple Music.
Spotify – in the app or your browser / Apple Music .
As ever there are loads of tracks that I couldn’t include in the playlists as they don’t exist on compatible streaming sites. I’ve included a few of those gems below along with some others that are just so damn good they deserve a bigger big up!
Je ne sais quoi – Baudouin III
La Souterraine (or ‘The Underground’ in English) isn’t strictly speaking a label as such – operating more as an unofficial network of activists and artists – but whatever ermm… label you choose to stick on them, one thing’s for sure, anything with their name on it is pretty much guaranteed to be worth a listen. Marie Modiano’s epic and beautiful ‘Guérir ma colère’ was one of my highlights of last year and there are plenty more notable delicacies on their Bandcamp.
Their latest Gallic pleasure comes from Bordeaux duo ‘Je ne sais quio’ with their album ‘Qu’est-ce que ça’ and in particular the opening track, ‘Baudouin III’ which originally came out in 2016. Spoken entirely in French so I can’t tell you much about the lyrics or if it’s about Baldwin the third, Count of Flanders (940AD) but if you can imagine James Murphy from LCD Soundsystem on one of his laments/musings on life but with production credits taken by Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel (Air) then you’re getting close. A French friend of mine informs me the lyrics are basically a “long meditation on insomnia, car crashes, space, hunger in the world, science and more existential drifts”.
Borusiade – Hands Watch
Hailing from Romania’s capital Bucharest, producer Borusiade released her debut LP earlier in the year and connoisseurs of discomforting electronics should check out Pinkman’s ‘5 years of tears, Vol.2’ compilation for the previously unheard ‘Hands Watch’.
Borusiade’s melodic take on electronica perhaps stems from the fact she spent her formative years singing, recording and touring the globe in Bucharest’s children’s choir, giving her an understanding of the harmony and construction underpinning hundreds of years of Western classical music…she told Resident Advisor that her “basic inspiration is coming from the Baroque period rather than the ’80s.”
Jeanville – On the Corner of Larkin & Eddy (feat Kierstin Bridger)
Eddy Larkin is a new French bass music label. Taking its name from a street corner, it represents a crossover of genres through the meeting of upcoming talents. Standing at this crossing point between club influences and urban atmospheres, Eddy Larkin gives his hybrid vision of current electronic music.
Snapped Ankles – Tailpipe
East London art wave/post punk/krautrock band Snapped Ankles have unveiled their addictive new track “Tailpipe”.
The song features on their EP ‘Four To The Forest Floor’.
Nobody Loves a Tortured Soul by Owen Duff
So in a laundrette on a street with no trees
I flicked through pages of slick journalese
And thought – a revolution’s coming, someone just has to call it
Owen was recommended to me in glowing terms by Melting Ice Caps and former Luxembourg frontman David Shah way back in 2011 and I can only apologise to David and Owen that it’s taken me seven years to post another Duff tune!
His latest four song E.P. takes the listener on a journey from a sanatorium in the Swiss alps in ‘The Magic Mountain’ to a psychedelic city summer with a touch of supernatural dread in ‘Witches’, by way of the ecstatic love song ‘You Amaze Me’ ending with the ironic disaffection of ‘Nobody Loves a Tortured Soul’. And yes you will be humming the theme tune from Sesame Street by the time your tortured soul finishes loving the final track.
Mars89 – End Of The Death
It’s a decade since Depth Charge last released a record but anyone craving more J Saul Kane could do worse than pickup Mars89 from the always killer, Bokeh Versions label. From the moment Cutty Ranks bellows “Six million ways to die! Choose one!” I was in familiar territory
The Japanese producer lays down a scratchy drum pattern that feels halfway between Aphex Twin’s “At The Heart Of It All” and early Dizzee Rascal, pairing eldritch machinery with the square wave bass of early grime.
Ambienteer – betteshanger
James Fahy aka Ambienteer has been ambienteering for many a year, constantly on a mission to find music in everyday sounds and to manipulate the mundane. He’s got a new album out on Bandcamp which is available for three English pounds. James also finds joy discovering the work of Rothko everywhere on his Instagram page, so to find abstract expressionism in chewing gum, flaking paint, your carpet… head there.
Carla J. Easton – Wanting What I Can’t Have
Carla J. Easton is the indomitable Princess of DIY Pop with a Post-Punk Ethos, fast emerging as one of Scotland’s significant voices and prolific writers from Glasgow’s rich musical landscape.
Carla follows the runaway sell-out and critically acclaimed success of her debut album Homemade Lemonade (as Ette) with lush symphonic arrangements for her second solo offering Impossible Stuff. Produced by Howard Bilerman, who counts Arcade Fire, Leonard Cohen and British Sea Power on his CV, Impossible Stuff sees Carla J. Easton maturing musically with this exceptional Spectoresque offering of ambitious symphonic sounds.
According to Carla the first single ‘Wanting What I Can’t Have’ is about, “I want the first times – the first time you realise you’ve fallen in love, the first time you ride a bike in the sun and feel free, the first time you feel like you’ve arrived in a cherry-bomb burst – knowing I’ll never have those first times again doesn’t mean they can’t still exist in defiant memories.”
A Tribe Called Quest – 1nce Again (Rhythm Scholar AtariFunk 8-Bit Remix)
A Tribe Called Quest vs. The Atari 2600
Let’s go back 22 years (1996) for the rhymes…
and FURTHER back 41 years (1977) for the musical hardware!
(With some special help from the TR-808 from 1980!) 😀
Girl In Red – Girls
No, this is not a phase
Or a coming of age
This will never change…
They’re so pretty it hurts
I’m not talking ’bout boys, I’m talking ’bout girls
“i make songs in my room🏳️🌈🌹🖤” says 19 year old Norwegain, Marie Ulven on the Instagram where she premiered this song live back in June.