First up is a bit of an unlikely choice - Aphex Twin is definitely not my first thought when I'm looking for something a bit more mellow to listen to, but '4' is definitely not standard Aphex fare. When it came out in 1996, it became one of those songs that everyone recognised - it seemed to be the soundtrack to every single advert that was trying to be uplifting. A quick google search shows that it was the backing for a US government anti-drug advertisement spot, as well as an advertisement in the United States for the Special Olympics... There's a reason the advertising community picked up on this song: its one of the most beautiful electronic songs every made (if you ask me...). That mix of violins and that classic glitchy drum beat make it truly beautiful. I'm not sure I hate all my family enough to put them through having such a depressing and uplifting song played at my funeral, but apart from that this is one of my top picks for song to be played at my funeral.
The next song is one of those ones you just find on your computer one day when you leave your itunes library on shuffle, and never have any memory of how or when you obtained it (other notable ones I've discovered include - Rolf Harris' pastiche of Tie Your Mother Down, Tie Yer Kangeroo Down Sport, collection of prank calls from someone called Kerpal to an Arnold Schwarzenegger soundalike, and a Bill Clinton soundalike's own take on Chumbawamba's Tubthumping: Tubthumping, Whip It Out. The joys of itunes shuffle. BTW get in touch for links to any of these, they're all top class. honest.) I don't really know anything about the band who sung this, or the song itself, but all I know is it's lovely:
Another artist who might seem like a bit of an unlikely choice - Flying Lotus. Flying Lotus' brand of experimental hip hop is largely the last thing I'd want to listen to on a Sunday morning, especially with a headache like this. But this one song has Laura Darlington on vocals (No idea who she is, but her voice is nice. Nuff said. Get in touch if you know who she is). The vocals and instrumentation are both fairly sparse, but it works all the better for it. This song was the closing track to FL's latest album Los Angeles (highly recommended if you haven't heard it yet), and the breathy whispers fit perfectly over the electronic piano loops. Again, just like 4, this song manages to be both delicately haunting and eerily alienating while strangely uplifting at the same time.
The next track is a bit more upbeat than everything else I've posted today, but seeing as we're finally getting some nice weather, a bit of a summery tune never goes amiss. The cheery vocal refrain fits perfectly with this track, and its definitely going to get rinsed by me come real summertime. if you liked this then get over to JK's myspace, he's nothing to do with Jamiroquai, and his music is a lot better.
Another unlikely sounding pick from me (I think the reason so many of these are that is because it's the songs that don't sound anything like what you were expecting, and stick in your head for exactly that reason.) The second dubstep remix of the Black Ghosts (Skream and Plastician's Remix of Some Way Through This for your information), Skull Disco's Appleblim and Komonazmuk takes Simon Lord's vocals and gives them a deep, dark dubby backing, transforming the track into a beautiful, moody take on the Black Ghost's Full Moon.
Last one from me today is by New York band The Walkmen. One of my favourite songs by the Walkmen has always been this one - it's tinkling pianos and faraway drums create this kind of delicately drunken waltz feel, and Hamilton Leithauser's broken crooning fits perfectly.
oh dear you have no idea about aphex twin do you? hahahaha
ReplyDeleteWhy do you say that? I don't think I'm alone in saying that Aphex Twin's best known songs are not exactly mellow (Come to Daddy, Windowlicker), and the ones that are a bit more mellow (We are music makers, to cure a weakling child) I usually find that the beats, wierd ambient noises and structure are just a bit too much for me if im looking for something fairly mellow.
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