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James Blake’s mainstream popularity has always seemed odd. His naturally melancholic vocals, bleak and abstract lyrics, grating synths, jerky beats and overwhelming bass lines intertwine to create somber soundscapes that are often difficult to listen to. Assume Form doesn’t deviate too much from this surprisingly successful – if well-worn – rubric. But what is noticeably […]
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‘’Cause I couldn’t care less / If they call us reckless’. Accompanied by blasts of garish horns and a skittering electro-pop beat, this chorus from album opener ‘Dangerous’ rings out like a manifesto for The xx’s latest album, ‘I See You’. It’s a surprising shift for the notoriously shy trio. Back in 2009 when they […]
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Netsky is a name that’s making waves among the EDM (Electronic Dance Music) community. The Belgian producer’s drum and bass albums have been incredibly successful so far, with Netsky bagging number ones for both his 2012 album ‘2’ and his latest single ‘Running Low’ (featuring Beth Ditto) in his home country.
Continue ReadingFew words are more applicable to Wales’ Manic Street Preachers more than ‘longevity’. I choose this word very specifically over ‘reliability’ or ‘consistency’, as these would do them the disservice of tacit agreement with those who would seek to label them pedestrian, predictable, or simply guilty of churning out the same po-faced, inept political bellyaching […]
Continue ReadingZomby’s latest album follows his after-hours clubbing experience in an entertaining way, though still manages to retain the dark, and subtle quality that he has perfected in a genre whose music can all too often slip into being either too aggressive or too repetitive. You could be forgiven for seeing With Love as a canny […]
Continue ReadingWith his first album released two years ago, there is a sense running throughout of James Blake’s awareness of the decline of dubstep yet, at the same time, his awareness of the sonic possibilities within the genre that had yet to be explored. He was creating a sound which we might now identify as ‘post […]
Continue ReadingIf you tuned in to Radio One sometime between seven and eight pm on the 6th June 2011 you might have been surprised to hear something from the more artistic end of the electronic dance music spectrum – dubstep, replete, as is still the fashion, with synthesised orchestral soundscapes and atonal, sci-fi dissonances. What if […]
Continue ReadingListening to Crystals are Always Forming is like looking through a kaleidoscope – every time the sounds form a recognisable shape they dissipate and the process starts over. This enigmatic release, the second by record label Slipdiscs, offers something from the worlds of both Stockhausen and Aphex Twin, from disjointed pointillism to mechanical beats. Coates […]
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