This is part two of a two-part series. Check out part one.

Autechre — Move of Ten

Autechre’s second release of the year is officially an EP, but is just as long as its companion album Oversteps. In the case of the second half of this EP, you can certainly hear that these tracks are different versions of tracks from Oversteps, continuing the ‘versions’ concept of their previous album, Quaristice.

However, the vibe of Move of Ten is quite different to that of Oversteps. Move of Ten is more beats-oriented. It’s glitchier, and it’s funkier. And, as you would expect from Autechre, it is all brilliant.

Babe Rainbow — Shaved

I have a bit of a hot and cold relationship with dubstep. It always seems like it’s on the cusp of being brilliant, but actual brilliance is thin on the ground. Latterly, a lot of it has sounded highly derivative.

But Babe Rainbow caught my attention. Maybe it’s because he’s on Warp, a label that had seemed to have given up on pathfinding electronic music. But this is exciting. In fact, it reminded me of when I was first discovering Warp and artists like Brothomstates. For my money, Babe Rainbow is the most exciting new Warp artist since Battles.

In that sense, I am surprised that Babe Rainbow hasn’t been getting more attention. Or maybe it just goes to demonstrate why Warp have given up on new electronic artists.

Caribou — Swim

Dan Snaith’s latest is poppier and more immediate than previous albums. It’s a bit of a foot tapper. Things have been stepped up a gear.

But none of the experimental or psychedelic edge of Caribou’s previous albums has been lost. As such, Swim is as good for your head as it is for your feet. Which is exactly how it should be.

VHS Head — Trademark Ribbons of Gold

Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. It is so exciting to hear music this strong from a new artist. And it’s especially great to see it coming out on Skam Records, a label that has been largely dormant for the past five years.

Spliced together from samples taken from old VHS videotapes, Trademark Ribbons of Gold mixes the dark nostalgia of hauntology with the futuristic vision of IDM. Part Mordant Music, part Boards of Canada and part Jackson and His Computer Band — but also unlike anything that has ever come before.

This album is absolutely massive, and with the possible exception of Autechre’s releases, the standout of the year.

Jaga Jazzist — One-Armed Bandit

This is Jaga Jazzist’s first album in five years. Releases are few and far between. Apparently being a ten-piece makes it difficult for them to churn them out, though at least it’s alway an event when it does arrive.

I have to be honest. This isn’t my favourite Jaga Jazzist album. But it is still much better than most other stuff going. The band’s tip-top mix of jazz, prog and electronics is almost tailor-made for my ears.

The highlight of the album is undoubtedly Toccata, which builds and builds — no doubt with a bit of inspiration from Steve Reich and Philip Glass.

Autechre may be perceived as being wilfully difficult. Maybe they are. Almost without fail, the first time you listen to new Autechre material it is impossible to get your head around. It sounds like a mess.

But the music always reveals its majesty after repeat listens. It is the aural equivalent of a magic eye puzzle, only less naff and much more stylish.

‘Intelligent dance music’, the genre of music most often associated with Autechre, has fallen off a cliff for me in recent years. It just isn’t exciting to me in the way it was five or ten years ago.

Sure, there are a few big names that you can depend upon. Those are the Aphex Twins and Boards of Canadas of this world — although releases from these artists become less and less frequent. Once you start searching for new acts beyond them, the quality drops steeply. Most ‘IDM’ these days is disappointingly derivative.

But Autechre still always push the boundaries far beyond what anyone else can even think of. It says a lot when even Autechre’s off albums are still more fascinating than the music of their peers.

Listening to Autechre’s back catalogue is like hearing a pair of audio explorers in search of the pinnacle of electronic music. 2001′s Confield was the culmination of the search. My jaw still drops when I listen to it, and it disappoints me that no-one — not even Autechre — have come remotely close to creating another album as good as this.

2003′s Draft 7.30 was a fine follow-up. But since then new Autechre material has felt like a step below what is possible — even though it was still miles ahead of the rest.

Oversteps

Following the slightly clunky and plodding Untilted, and the sketchy and uncohesive Quaristice, their new album Oversteps marks a return to form for Autechre in my book. In both previous albums, it seemed like Autechre were operating within their comfort zone. Quaristice especially sounded like it was churned out without much thought, turning to styles they had explored in previous albums.

In a reversal of the trend, Oversteps brings us an Autechre we haven’t heard before. Their ability to push things forward like this is what I always admired most about Autechre, which is why for my money their new album is their best since Draft 7.30. (I gather the reaction of many Autechre fans has been more negative, which I think is a shame.)

Autechre have probably not been this melody-focussed since 1994′s Amber. But this does not mean that they have sacrificed any of their uncompromising approach — quite the opposite in fact.

As you would expect, this is music unlike anything you have heard before. It is dense and viscous-sounding, yet also shimmering and liquid. Somehow it all feels right, as though this was the way music was always meant to be.

After just a few weeks of listening to Oversteps, it feels like I have been listening to music like this for years, even though it is totally unique. Much of the album has a pleasingly organic vibe to it, ‘krYlon’ perhaps being the best example.

For me, ‘ilanders’ is as catchy as music gets, even though the beats are particularly unconventional. Another highlight is ‘known(1)’, which is deceptively — perhaps irritatingly — simple at first, before transforming into one of the most mind-bending pieces of the album. In that sense, this is the ‘Surripere’ or ‘Fermium’ of the album.

It’s not all about the melodies though. My favourite part of the album is probably the rip-roaring ‘d-sho qub‘, reminding us that Autechre are making (what might be loosely described as) dance music.

Move of Ten

The accompanying EP, Move of Ten is released today. Although it was common in the 1990s for Autechre to release an EP related to each of their albums, that trend had stopped. With Quaristice, they released new ‘versions’ of the album’s tracks. It was a nice idea, almost like a “making of” the album, although by the time the last ones came out it was starting to sound quite repetitive.

Move of Ten sees a refinement of the concept. It reminds me of the 1990s approach where Autechre would remix their own tracks, but with originals being almost unrecognisable. But the relationship with the original tracks is much clearer in many of these tracks — closer to the Quaristice Versions / Quaristice.Quadrange.ep.ae model.

As you might expect, Move of Ten shows us Autechre with their hair down a bit, relative to the ‘serious’ work of an album. Some of the tracks here are very immediate. Autechre have brought the funk, and you can clearly hear the duo’s roots as hip-hop aficionados.

The best example of this is ‘rew(1)’. This track teases you, hinting at an immensely funky basis. But like many of Autechre’s best music, it never fully reveals its full powers, leaving the listeners to fill in the gaps to their own delight.

Move of Ten mixes the best of Autechre’s always-forward-looking approach with nostalgic reminisces of vintage Autechre. ‘nth Dafuseder.b’ in particular sends a chill up my spine as it begins sounding like a lost Autechre recording of 15 years ago. But it brings with it also a jazz vibe with a cold wind blowing through it like the best work of Brothomstates.

I gather that Move of Ten has gone down better than Oversteps among fans in general. For me, it feels more like an EP than an album. It just lacks that extra bit of cohesion that an album should have. But with both releases, Autechre have demonstrated that they are still at the height of their powers, and at the absolute pinnacle of path-finding electronic music.

I just wish that others could step up to the plate and make music as good as this. If not, I hope Autechre are documenting their approaches so that this wonderful approach is never lost.

The Designers Republic back from the dead

The excellent artwork for Oversteps and Move of Ten was designed by The Designers Republic. This marks the rebirth of the firm, which closed down in early 2009. Just another reason why Autechre’s material this year has been great!

Music of 2009

A series of posts

1. My top twenty albums of 2009 — part one
2. My top ten albums of 2009

10. The Fiery Furnaces — I’m Going Away

It wouldn’t be an end-of-year music roundup from me without something related to The Fiery Furnaces appearing on the list. And here it is: I’m Going Away. This is probably the lowest they have appeared in my end-of-year list since I discovered them. Not that I’m Going Away is a poor album (otherwise it wouldn’t be in my top ten). But as The Fiery Furnaces have produced more conventional music, I have found them less interesting. Nevertheless, this album has some great tracks, not least ‘Charmaine Champagne’.

9. Bibio — Ambivalence Avenue

I had not taken much notice of Bibio in the past, but after hearing some clips from Ambivalence Avenue I decided to give it a shot. I was not disappointed. The influence of Boards of Canada is at times painfully obvious. But into the childlike nostalgic sepia-toned mix is thrown more folk-based influences, IDM, hip-hop and funk. And it all feels like it fits well. My favourite track is ‘Haikuesque (When She Laughs)’, even though it clearly owes so much to Boards of Canada.

8. Tortoise — Beacons of Ancestorship

I could not wait for this to come out, yet at the same time I was apprehensive about the results. Beacons of Ancestorship is Tortoise’s first proper album since 2003′s It’s All Around You. Even that was a bit of a let-down, and the bits of material they have released in the intervening period (*cough* not looking at any particular collaborations with Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, you understand) have been poor.

But Beacons of Ancestorship, if not exactly up to the, ahem, Standards of their classic albums, is by no means a let-down. It’s just that you get the sense that nowadays Tortoise operate comfortably within their boundaries, rather than challenging them as they did in the past. What can’t be taken away, however, is the fact that this video for ‘Prepare Your Coffin’ is awesome.

7. Doves — Kingdom of Rust

You might rightly think, “Blimey, Doves. That’s that band that gets worse after every album.” Maybe so, but the fact that they do this and yet their latest album, Kingdom of Rust, is still brilliant demonstrates just how good a band Doves are. The first single worried me somewhat as it seemed like Doves by numbers. But it has grown on me, and the reset of the album shows a good development in the band’s sound, with a harder edge in some parts and a krautrocky and electronic vibe in others. The highlight is ’10:03′.

6. Dirty Projectors — Bitte Orca

Dirty Projectors is an odd band, because they are one of the very few acts that I have ever managed to see live (when they supported Battles a couple of years ago). As a live act they were pretty impressive — the singing was incredible. When you hear Bitte Orca, it might sound suspiciously like the vocals are not real. But they definitely are.

Dirty Projectors are clearly going places. The band has doubled in size since I saw them, and Bitte Orca has been critically acclaimed. And for good reason. The band has a very distinctive sound and almost every song is good. This is ‘Useful Chamber’.

5. Animal Collective — Merriweather Post Pavilion

Animal Collective have been the darlings of the music press this year. While they don’t quite justify all of the hype, their album Merriweather Post Pavilion certainly deserves to be recognised as one of the best of the year. They have done a good job of crafting a poppier and more accessible sound while maintaining their experimental roots. This is ‘Summertime Clothes’.

4. Graham Coxon — The Spinning Top

After spending his past few albums apparently trying to make more mainstream albums, Graham Coxon went back to basics with The Spinning Top. It reminds me of his earliest albums, which is no bad thing. There is a wonderfully natural and gentle sound to this album and right from the first listen I knew I was going to love it. Here is the marvellous ‘Brave the Storm’.

3. Tyondai Braxton — Central Market

Tyondai Braxton is a pivotal member of the experimental electronic / rock band Battles. I think Battles is just about the best band going right now, and I was hugely looking forward to Tyondai Braxton’s solo effort, Central Market. It was not quite what I was expecting, but I was not disappointed. This is the sound of an artist truly pushing himself and exploring musical areas in a way that musicians should do more often.

Orchestral arrangements, crunching guitar loops, sweeping electronic effects and kazoos are fearlessly mixed together. As with his work with Battles, there are sometimes childish melodies — the sort of thing kids might hum in the playground. It would annoy you if it didn’t work so well. Despite the amazing scope of this album, I have chosen to feature one of the more conventional songs, ‘J. City’, because it is so irresistibly awesome.

2. Grizzly Bear — Veckatimest

Grizzly Bear is one of those bands that just gets better and better. Each album is an improvement on the last, and I can’t wait to hear what they can create in the future. They have a wonderful natural sound to them, which means that even though they are often described as an experimental rock band, they are nevertheless accessible. They just write great songs. ‘Two Weeks’ is an instant chamber pop classic.

1. Broadcast and The Focus Group — Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age

This is a true meeting of minds. Broadcast are already well established as a great band with an interesting take on bringing the past to the present in weird and wonderful ways. The Focus Group is Julian House, who has designed artwork for Broadcast for several years and is now one of the chief figureheads of the ‘hauntology’ genre, as co-founder of the incredible Ghost Box record label.

It has to be said that this album sounds like ten parts The Focus Group to one part Broadcast. (Who knows what Broadcast’s new material will be like? A new album is due in 2010, and perhaps it is heavily influenced by the happening hauntology sound.)

Broadcast and The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age presents a wonderful dreamworld collage of sound. Influenced by creepy 1970s B-movies and low-budget science fiction, psychedelia and folk music. Equally childlike and scary, this is the most different-sounding, yet oddly familiar-sounding, release of the year. I am sure that in years to come it will be viewed as the crowning glory of this strange and intriguing new genre. This is ‘I See, So I See So’.

Warp20

A series of posts

1. 20 years of Warp Records
2. 20 Warp albums — part 1
3. 20 Warp albums — part 2
4. 20 Warp albums — part 3
5. 20 Warp albums — part 4
6. 20 Warp albums — part 5
7. Warp20 (Box Set)

Warp Records celebrated its twentieth anniversary this year with an extravagant box set, Warp20 (Box Set). Measuring in at 10 inches × 10 inches × 3 inches, it truly is a thing of beauty. Packed in there are five CDs and five 10 inch records, full of Warp goodness old and new.

It was not cheap either, so was only for the most fanatic of Warp followers. Luckily for Warp, there are plenty of fanatical followers — myself included.

Warp20 (Chosen)

Also released separately as a 2CD album on its own, Warp20 (Chosen) is designed to be a collection of the best of the first twenty years of Warp Records.

The first ten tracks, making up disc one, were chosen by voters on the internet. As such, the top ten is sadly predictable. You really could have forecast in advance the inclusion of the likes of ‘Windowlicker’, ‘Roygbiv’ and ‘My Red Hot Car’ in the top three.

The inclusion of most of these tracks was surely never in doubt. Certainly, the top eight are bona fide Warp classics (I am not so sure about Jimmy Edgar’s ‘I Wanna Be Your STD’ or Clark’s ‘Herzog’, but I can understand their inclusion). There is also a noticeable skew towards the late 1990s / early 2000s. Only one track, LFO’s ‘LFO (Leeds Warehouse Mix)’, is from before 1998.

It is clear that the current fans of Warp Records — at least those who voted in the internet poll — are a bit like me. They were not around for the birth of the label, and cling on to the late 1990s IDM explosion as Warp’s classic sound. I think this is Warp’s best period too, but I would have preferred a greater variety in the first disc.

Luckily, the second disc is on hand to provide some of that variety. Label boss and co-founder Steve Beckett chose a further fourteen tracks which make up disc two. While all the usual suspects are again present and correct (giving the likes of Aphex Twin, Boards of Canada and Autechre two appearances on the compilation), other periods and genres are given rightful recognition.

Ultimately, though, while there are a couple of gems here that I didn’t previously own, Warp20 (Chosen) is a bit redundant for me, and no doubt for almost everyone else who bought this box set. If you are such a great fan of Warp that you are going to shell out eighty quid or so, you almost certainly need no such overview to the label.

Perhaps of more value is the fold-out poster of comments posted by the internet users who placed their votes, providing (relatively) qualitative information to accompany the raw top ten.

Warp20 (Recreated)

This is the surprise highlight of the package — a double-disc album of Warp artists covering classic Warp tracks. It shows you how far Warp has come in the past ten years. For its tenth anniversary, Warp released an album of Warp artists remixing classic Warp tracks.

But with a more diverse range of artists on its roster, and plenty of artists with a different set of skills, it seems as though it makes more sense to ask artists to do covers rather than remixes. The results are pleasingly wonderful. Clearly, when you take maverick musical geniuses and ask them to take on the works of other maverick musical geniuses, the results are going to be deliciously skewed and entertaining.

The album opens with Born Ruffians covering Aphex Twin’s classic humorous tracks from the mid-1990s, ‘Milkman’ and ‘To Cure a Weakling Child’. The band’s stripped down approach works surprisingly well. The vocals are shouted out as though from the rooftops, rather than being distorted by electronic effects, adding to the comedy effect.

Another surprise highlight is Maxïmo Park’s take on ‘When’, originally by Vincent Gallo. This is a wonderful piece of dark synth-pop. Hopefully it signals a new direction for Maxïmo Park, whose sound has otherwise become stale.

Meanwhile, Jamie Lidell’s version of Grizzly Bear’s ‘Little Brother’ is just as beautiful and organic as the original. It is another instance of an artist revealing something otherwise unheard in his audio arsenal.

But the real highlight of the album is ‘Phylactery’ by John Callaghan, which is based on Autechre’s ‘Tilapia’. This transforms one of the first signposts of Autechre’s foray into increasingly unique and obscure electronics into a wonderfully wonky pop song.

One instance where a remix may have been a better idea is when Luke Vibert tackled ‘LFO’. The results are actually rather good — undoubtedly a Luke Vibert take on a classic Warp track. But it certainly lacks the punch of the original. This makes it a slightly trudging, though intriguing, listen.

Overall, though, Warp20 (Recreated) is a marvellous document. It reveals sides to Warp artists that hadn’t been revealed before. It’s like peering into the fourth dimension of an already-extraordinary label.

Warp20 (Elemental)

This disc contains an hour-long mix of 65 Warp tracks, created by remix maestro Osymyso. A similar mix, by Buddy Peace and Zilla, was released five years ago along with the WarpVision DVD. Although Osymyso had five years’ worth of extra material to work with, I am less fond of his effort. Nonetheless, the creativity involved in creating such a mix, containing a diverse array of Warp music from the past twenty years, still astounds me.

Warp20 (Unheard)

Moving on to the vinyl in the box set, we have three ten inch records made up of eleven previously (sort of) unheard tracks. Incidentally, these are smartly presented with a minimalist design and debossed text.

The selection kicks off with Boards of Canada’s immersive ‘Seven Forty Seven’. This is not, strictly speaking, unheard. It was originally featured in an interactive Boards of Canada website several years ago. But it is the first time it has been presented as a track itself. It is so good that I can’t work out why it hasn’t been released before.

This is followed up by the equally exciting ‘Oval Moon (IBC mx)’ by Autechre. Named after IBC, the Manchester-based pirate radio station through which Autechre first made their name, this is real old school stuff. Having been produced in 1991, it is almost as old as the Warp label itself! And it’s excellent.

After these two stonkers, the rest of the collection does not quite stand up to the same level. But it is still a good listen. Fair efforts from Clark, Plaid and Flying Lotus are included, along with classic unreleased material from Elektroids and Nightmares on Wax.

Meanwhile, the plodding and uneventful ‘Sixty Forty’, originally from a 2003 Peel Session, is probably the most disappointing Broadcast song I have ever heard. The collection is rounded off with ‘As Link’, a new Seefeel track, whetting appetites for their rumoured comeback.

Warp20 (Infinite)

Musically, the box set is rounded off with a couple of records made up entirely of locked grooves. There are fifty loops in total, plundered from Warp’s back catalogue. It is an interesting experience to experiment with them for a bit, but probably of limited use to anyone who is not a DJ.

Warp20 (1989-2009) — The Complete Catalogue

The final item in the box is a large book that documents the artwork for every release on the Warp label. It is interesting to leaf through and assess how the label progressed over the years, and recall the memories of hearing all of this wonderful music for the first time.

Warp Records is almost as well known for its strong visual identity as for its music. There is some fantastic artwork in the Warp catalogue. While this book is not at all the best way to appreciate the artwork, it does serve as an excellent historical document cataloguing Warp’s classic covers.

Warp20

A series of posts

1. 20 years of Warp Records
2. 20 Warp albums — part 1
3. 20 Warp albums — part 2
4. 20 Warp albums — part 3
5. 20 Warp albums — part 4
6. 20 Warp albums — part 5
7. Warp20 (Box Set)

This is the final selection of my overview of twenty interesting Warp albums from the record label’s twenty years. To read the other parts of this series, please check the table of contents on the right.

Jamie Lidell — Multiply

Jamie Lidell is clearly a very talented person. His voice is incredible, but perhaps more incredible is the fact that in his earlier career he contrived to hide it. His work as part of Super_Collider (along with Cristian Vogel) and his début album Muddlin Gear were dark, murky, electronic affairs. Although Jamie Lidell sang from time to time, he didn’t show it off.

With Multiply his sunnier persona was unleashed. Instead of the dark and glitchy music of his earlier material, Multiply is very clearly influenced by soul and funk.

But this album is anything but conventional and boring. Jamie Lidell’s considerable skills as an experimental and electronic musician are fully utilised too. This gives Multiply a great crossover appeal. This is on the brighter side of the border that separates pop from experimental music. But clearly there was no way to stop him from pushing the boat out a little bit. This makes Multiply equally enjoyable for those who like to tap their feed and those who like to stroke their chin.

Here is the odd video for the song that effectively introduced me to Jamie Lidell, ‘The City’:

Boards of Canada — Geogaddi

While most favour Boards of Canada’s earlier album Music Has the Right to Children, for me it’s all about Geogaddi. To me, this album is endlessly fascinating, and always an intense listen.

Geogaddi is the darkest of Boards of Canada’s albums. Their other material is known most for its innocent, childlike and nostalgic qualities. Geogaddi retains an element of that, but with a dark undercurrent running throughout.

The music is more complex and multi-layered. Hidden messages are peppered throughout, and some tracks reveal more about themselves when played in reverse. There are hidden references to religion, the occult, mathematics and numerology. Some even say it is a satanic album. (As a joke, the album lasts 66 minutes and 6 seconds — a silent track, ‘Magic Window’, was inserted at the end.)

Whether Boards of Canada were trying to send some sort of message by planting these references is doubtful. Such references are few and far between on Music Has the Right to Children, and absolutely non-existent on the follow-up album The Campfire Headphase. I think the references were planted in Geogaddi to create a talking point and nothing more.

It certainly got fans talking. This webpage lists a full selection of mysterious messages and trivia about the album, even with a track-by-track breakdown.

Needless to say, leaving aside the hidden messages, the music itself is fantastic. Geogaddi is an unsettling album to listen to, but nonetheless hugely enjoyable and an intense experience.

One of my highlights is ‘Gyroscope’, which manages to fuse great music with one of my other interests as it incorporates samples of a numbers station. This is a fan-made video for the track.

Prefuse 73 — One Word Extinguisher

With One Word Extinguisher, Prefuse 73 effortlessly fused experimental electronic music with energetic hip-hop to create a unique-sounding album. The album is jam-packed with ideas — perhaps too many of them. An idea is allowed to develop just as far as it will go and no more, making this an album of many, mainly short tracks.

The music is also quite diverse, fusing many of Prefuse 73′s musical interests, spanning hip-hop, IDM / glitch, rock music and perhaps even a little bit of jazz. As such, the album is a fantastically colourful and diverse journey. There is not much chance to catch your breath.

There are also plenty of collaborations on this album. While he went a bit overboard with the concept in the following album, Surrounded by Silence, on this album the right balance is struck. I particularly like ‘Dave’s Bonus Beats’, containing drumming by David Lebleu from post-rock group The Mercury Program. The track comes complete with the answerphone message sent to Scott Herren to confirm that the drum track had been sent, adding a personal layer to the music.

During this period, Scott Herren was clearly at his creative peak. Very soon after the release of One Word Extinguisher came the accompanying Extinguished, a distinct album made of the “out-takes” from One Word Extinguisher! For a collection of out-takes, Extinguished is surprisingly good — indeed, almost as good as the original album.

At the same time as the material released as Prefuse 73, Scott Herren was also churning out quality albums as Savath & Savalas, a project more focussed on folk and Spanish-influenced music. Sadly, his subsequent material has not been nearly as good. In contrast to the exciting explorations of his earlier music, Scott Herren began to use the same recognisable formulas over and over. I have since lost interest in Prefuse 73.

Nonetheless, One Word Extinguisher remains an excellent album. Here is a track towards the end of the album, ‘Styles That Fade Away With a Collonade Reprise’.

Grizzly Bear — Veckatimest

Warp played a blinder by signing Grizzly Bear. Their pre-Warp album, Horn of Plenty, was charming but not particularly special. After signing to Warp, they came up with the wonderful Yellow House which was full of hidden beauty.

This year, with Veckatimest, Grizzly Bear have released an indie-rock / chamber-pop masterpiece which has propelled them onto the cusp of stardom. Every track is a winner. Gently enticing and maturely constructed, I can’t get enough of this album. This album ought to become a rock classic.

Grizzly Bear is easily the greatest triumph of Warp’s recent policy to diversify further from electronic music. I look forward to hearing what they come up with in the future.

Here is the lead single, ‘Two Weeks’:

Warp20

A series of posts

1. 20 years of Warp Records
2. 20 Warp albums — part 1
3. 20 Warp albums — part 2
4. 20 Warp albums — part 3
5. 20 Warp albums — part 4
6. 20 Warp albums — part 5
7. Warp20 (Box Set)

This month the seminal Warp Records label is celebrating its 20th anniversary. There is a heap of festivities planned, and I am expectantly waiting for the very awesome looking Warp20 box set to arrive in the next week or so.

They have a lot to celebrate. The label has personified the cutting-edge of electronic music for most of its existence. Few labels can claim to have been so seminal, and remain so strong for so long.

I discovered Warp at the beginning of this decade. I had already been developing a taste for experimental and electronic music, but before getting internet access I had no way to explore it. I had heard bits and bobs about Warp, but my first real exposure was when I saw the band Broadcast on one of those late-night music programmes on Channel 4. I remember very little about it, but I think the song that mesmerised me so much must have been ‘Illumination’. Here is a video of the band performing it live in 2005.

Once we got the internet, I was able to explore further. When I visited the Warp Records website, ‘Eros’ by Tortoise was playing on its front page. It was one of the most amazing and unique things I had ever heard.

The mixture of soaring sci-fi electronic sounds, intricate multi-layered drumming and funky guitar playing transformed my expectations of what music could achieve. Compared to the standardised indie-rock I had previously been listening to, hearing something as distinctive as this was an utter revelation.

I knew I had to continue on the path of discovery. Given that Tortoise shared the same label as Broadcast, there could be no starting point other than Warp. I was also quickly. attracted by Warp’s striking visual identity, which was largely shaped by The Designers Republic.

As I investigated the artists of Warp on the label’s website, I was surprised and delighted to discover a huge variety of new (to me) and exciting music. It is no surprise that today many of my favourite albums are ones released by Warp in 2001, when I was 14 and discovering all this amazing, diverse music.

But the Warp I discovered was already very different to the Warp that began in 1989. Back then, the promise of label founders Steve Beckett and Rob Mitchell was for the Sheffield-based Warp to be a “recognised, credible, uncompromising dance label”. Inevitably though, a label cannot survive 20 years without evolving.

Between 1992 and 1994 the label released the seminal series of albums including the eponymous compilation Artificial Intelligence. The idea behind the series was to showcase “electronic listening music” which designed more for home listening than the dancefloor, or more for your head than your body. This series contained music by musicians that were later to become huge: Richard D James (best known as Aphex Twin), Autechre, Black Dog Productions (containing the members of Plaid), Alex Paterson (from The Orb), Richie Hawtin among others.

The cover of Artificial Intelligence depicts a robot reclining in an armchair with copies of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon and Kraftwerk’s Autobahn lying on the floor — an indication of Warp’s ambitions. The label became the most famous outlet of what is known as Intelligent Dance Music or IDM.

The IDM moniker makes everyone cringe. Few of the best IDM artists think of themselves as IDM, and the artists that describe themselves as IDM are usually not worth listening to. Musically, it might be fair to describe it as dance music’s equivalent of progressive rock. It was the necessary next step, but is denigrated by those who think it is too pretentious and impossible to enjoy.

Like prog rock, IDM had a limited shelf-life and it peaked around the turn of the decade. Electronic music as a whole is not the money-maker it once was. So Warp have further diversified. In the words of Steve Beckett, “probably the first sacrilegious move” was to sign Seefeel in the mid-1990s. They are a more conventional band with guitars and drums, associated with shoegaze as much as techno.

More non-techno artists followed, including the jazzy trip-hop act Red Snapper, 1960s-influenced Broadcast and, er, the downright odd Jimi Tenor (I never really got that one). There was also an increased focus on hip-hop with the likes of Prefuse 73 and the Antipop Consortium. Later, there was a distinctive move towards more conventional rock. This was most notable, controversial and successful with the chart-friendly indie-rock band Maxïmo Park.

Today Warp has artists as diverse as its history suggests. It probably remains best-known for electronic music leaders such as Aphex Twin, Autechre, Boards of Canada and Squarepusher. But on the same roster you can find electro-rock shape-shifters Battles, folk-rock bands like Grizzly Bear, the increasingly soul-oriented Jamie Liddell, hip-hopper Prefuse 73, indie band Maxïmo Park and even the satirist Chris Morris. Oh, and in addition to music they also now make films.

This diversity has been good and bad. Undoubtedly Warp lost its way a bit a few years ago as it struggled to find its feet after electronic music waned in popularity. But even after twenty years, Warp remains a path-finding label that anyone interested in experimental pop music should keep an eye on.

When I discovered Warp in 2001, the range of styles on offer was already massive. But each artist was notable for being interesting and innovative. It was easy to view the Warp label as a mark of quality, no matter what the genre was.

Long may it continue. There is absolutely no question that Warp Records transformed my outlook on music more than anything else. I am looking forward to the next 20 years of innovative music.

Over the next week or so I will write about 20 of the most interesting Warp albums from its 20 year history.

This year, instead of looking just at the past year’s statistics, I have decided to look at my entire Last.fm history. A couple of weeks ago, I hit my 100,000th scrobble (instance of listening to a track). It’s a suitably big landmark.

My 100,000th scrobble happened on 7 December, just over four years after my first scrobble on 18 November 2004. By that time I had listened to 730 different artists. Of these, 18 had 1,000 plays or more. 196 artists had over 100 plays.

My top thirty artists chart looked like this:

And my top thirty tracks were:

There are a few problems with this chart. The top track, ‘untitled (live)’ by Boards of Canada, is actually several different tracks from bootlegged gig recordings. I am quite sure that ‘Xmd 5a’ by AFX should not be that high, as one day I logged in and it showed many more plays than there should have been. It’s still a good track though.

John Cage tracks figure highly because I own three different recordings of Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano. In fact, many of these tracks are high up simply because I own multiple versions, normally because I have the single as well as the album. Shining’s ‘To Be Proud of Crystal Colors is to Live Again’ is actually two different tracks with the same title. All of the Autechre tracks and most of the Jaga Jazzist tracks are here purely on their own steam.

It is obvious that, interesting though they are, Last.fm statistics are far from scientifically rigorous. For one thing, one track counts as one scrobble whether it’s 31 seconds long or 31 minutes long. One website, Last.fm Normaliser, attempts to get round this by weighting your artists by the average length of their tracks. This is also completely unscientific, but it is interesting nonetheless.

This table makes my obsession with Autechre even clearer. Even in the normal Last.fm table they have a huge lead. But by this measure I like Autechre twice as much as any other artist. The biggest climber in the top twenty is Steve Reich, who is number 20 in this table, but number 37 in my original Last.fm chart.

My favourite thing to do with Last.fm data, though, is to analyse it using LastGraph. I did this last year, looking at my Last.fm activity throughout 2007. This time, I am looking at my Last.fm activity as far back as the data goes — March 2005, just a few months after my first scrobble.

The graph is so huge that I can’t include a readable version on this page, but a miniaturised version appears below. Click on it to view it at its original size (Warning: It’s a large file).

I love looking at these graphs. They tell a story about my developing taste in music. But they also, in a way, tell a story about what is happening in my life at a certain point. I can glance at the graph and remember that I had exams during a certain period, or I was working lots in that summer, or whatever. It takes me back. I’m also quite surprised sometimes at which artists appear where on the graph. It appears that my memory was a bit out in a few places.

So there we have it. 100,000 scrobbles; four years of tracking my music listening habits.

Quaristice

A series of posts

1. How to quadruple the price of an album and get away with it
2. How not to review music
3. Autechre — Quaristice

I have now had well over a month to digest the MP3s, and I have had the CD (and what a lovely object that is) for a week. High time for me to review Quaristice, Autechre’s first album for three years.

Pinksy encouraged me to write a track-by-track review, but I will not do that in case I make an arse of myself like that other guy. That, and because I can’t think of enough things to say about each track. And I know nothing about electronic music production so I really would be making an arse of myself.

Anyway, onward!

The album starts off with a real surprise. ‘Altibzz’ is perhaps Autechre’s most luscious track since the days of Amber or Tri Repetae. It is not often that Autechre stray into making these beatless soundscapes any more, but it is a real treat when they do.

Paradoxically, for what is perhaps Autechre’s most immediately accessible track in a long time, for this very reason it was disorientating to listen to for the first time. It is an unsettling beginning to the album, because it leaves no preparation for what is to follow, namely the kind of brain-rattling beat bombardment associated with their post-LP5 work.

‘Altibzz’ is immediately followed by ‘The Plc’, a rather more dizzying track. It starts of with a kind of slippery-sounding beat, backed up with a dense synthy soundscape, like a darker ‘Altibzz’. The track progresses, in typical Autechre style, into something quite different yet the same. I love the vocals towards the end.

Autechre aficionados will immediately recognise some parts of Quaristice from the leaked recording of their 2005 gig in Glasgow as part of the Untilted tour. ‘IO’ brings us the first recognisable moment. However, I find this version disappointingly superficial compared to the live one. This had a lot more power live.

The other recognisable moment is ‘chenc9′. For me, this track succeeds much more on the album. It is a real high point towards the end of the album — upbeat, accessible and danceable, but as uncompromisingly intricate as any Autechre track.

However, my favourite track from the album is ‘Simmm’. This is not one of Autechre’s most intricate tracks. It’s rather immediate actually, with a funky melody and a groovy array of electronic percussive sounds. Another top track is ‘Perlence’. It sounds like ‘Popcorn’ by Hot Butter fucked with big time. Despite the ‘popcorn’ connotations in the sounds in this track, it’s a great listen. I also absolutely love ‘fwzE’. It reminds me of ‘The Trees’ but groovier.

A lot has been made about the immediacy of Quaristice in many of the reviews that I have read. I have to say that, in general, I did not feel this at all. I “got” Untilted straight away, and even Draft 7.30 was more immediate for me.

But listening to Quaristice gave me that stereotypical reaction to new Autechre music. I didn’t know what to think, I couldn’t possibly take in what I had listened to. I was quite confused really. I suppose I fell into the trap of wanting to hear Autechre’s last album rather than anything new. I was really looking forward to an Untilted II, which of course isn’t really the point of Autechre.

The initial alienation I felt was particularly exacerbated by the fact that, to me, Quaristice doesn’t feel much like an album. It skips from styles and moods with seemingly little thought to the overall flow of the album. With the additional fact that these tracks are much shorter than those on your standard Autechre album (20 tracks around 3–4 minutes long as opposed to 9 tracks around 7–8 minutes long), I was reminded most of Gescom’s MiniDisc.

Perhaps the fact that the tracks are relatively short by Autechre’s standards is one reason why some people found this album accessible. I just didn’t get that easy door in. After Untilted I smugly believed that I had learned to “read” Autechre as much as I needed to. Quaristice has certainly put me in my place!

It is interesting to point out here that in one of their recent interviews (in Wire magazine, not available online), Autechre have explained that the idea of Quaristice is to get to the meat of the track straight away, without any of the “language lessons” as they called the build-up of the track. I understand exactly what they mean, but for me the build-up was a lot of the fun of Autechre, and that has been taken away here.

If Quaristice has an overall sound, I would have to say that I think this is Autechre’s darkest album to date. One track in Untilted made me feel uneasy — ‘Pro Radii’. My first impression of Quaristice was as though I was listening to ‘Pro Radii’ for the first time, several times over.

A huge period of darkness comes towards the middle of the album. This period begins with ‘paralel Suns’, where, incidentally, the weaknesses of the MP3 format are shown up the most. This is followed by ‘Steels’, perhaps (along with ’90101-5l-l’) the track that most reminds me of ‘Pro Radii’.

Next comes ‘Tankakern’, which at first I felt was reminiscent of ’777′, one of my least favourite Autechre tracks. This, however, has been the typical Autechre grower. Now I think it approaches the brilliance of Confield, which I consider to be the pinnacle of electronic music. This track particularly reminds me of ‘Bine’ from that excellent album. Bonus marks go to ‘Tankakern’ for the inclusion of birdsong.

‘rale’ is where things start to become groovy again. A simple but addictively enjoyable beat accompanied by a rather immediate syncopated melody, though towards the end there are some rather unsettling sounds that remind me a bit of the creepy psuedo-subliminal messages in Boards of Canada’s Music Has the Right to Children.

We only truly emerge from the dark patch with ‘bnc Castl’. The track starts off ominously enough. But within seconds it becomes some madcap shiny, sparkly tune with tinsel flying all over the place. It sounds a bit like an ice cream van having a fight — a really rhythmic fight — with an ambulance.

It transpires that ‘bnc Castl’ is only a surreal interlude, as it is followed by ‘Theswere’. This sounds like it actually could be from a horror film soundtrack, albeit one where the monster is a draining sink. To be honest, this track is a bit cheesy by Autechre’s standards.

‘WNSN’ is not so intimidating, although it still has a very other-worldly quality to it. This track is very reminiscent of EP7-era material, particularly ‘Zeiss Contarex’.

Towards the end of the album we see a return to the more ambient sound found at the beginning. However, these closing two tracks do not succeed as much as ‘Altibzz’ for me. ‘Notwo’ would be quite pleasant, but the melody seems a bit ham-fisted and it’s not the most polished-sounding of tracks. Perhaps that was the intention, but I’m afraid I don’t like it.

The final track, ‘Outh9X’ is more like it, but not quite the triumphant climax it could have been. I know that Autechre are quite challenging, but even though initially many of their tracks sound very odd they tend to make most sense if you switch off your brain and just let it all wash over you; allow it to appeal on an innate, subconscious level.

This is not allowed to happen on ‘Outh9X’. I just don’t get the strange plinky-plonky melody that fades in and out towards the beginning and middle of this track. It seems completely out of place. It is quite off-putting and is enough to ruin the whole track for me.

Overall, I have to say that I find Quaristice to be quite an odd album. By any normal standards, it is brilliant. I don’t mean to come across as fanboyish (although I am a bit of an Autechre fanboy), but I can’t help thinking to myself, why is there no-one in the world who can hold a candle to Autechre? I mean really, why are they so good? There are plenty of imitators, and lots of people making music in the IDM tradition. But why are none of them anything like this good?

On the other hand, by Autechre’s standards, Quaristice is, for me, quite a weak album. It is probably their weakest since Chiastic Slide.

It is true, however, that Autechre material needs a very long time to be digested. The music grows on you and you are forever seeing the music in new and interesting lights. By the time Autechre’s tenth album comes out, I will be craving more material in the vein if Quaristice, just as I was hungry for more music in the style of Untilted.

Even so, I can’t help feeling that this is Autechre’s least ambitious offering for a very long time. For me, the interesting thing about Quaristice is that it covers a lot of old ground. There are elements here of almost all of their previous albums.

I should point out that I have read the interviews, and I am aware of the circumstances under which this album was recorded. Even so, on a purely sonic level — from what my ears feel — Quaristice is retreading a lot of old ground.

I suppose in a way it is a bit too simplistic to think of Autechre’s music as becoming increasingly complex over time. In their earliest albums, this is certainly true. But since LP5 or EP7 Autechre’s music, although changing in style and mood from album to album, has zipped around within the same boundaries as far as the intricacy of their music goes. Perhaps they always wanted to sound like this, but were limited by technology in the early 1990s.

Anyway, I do feel like a right Crispy Godber now because I have certainly analysed this too much. The best way to approach Autechre is not the chin-strokey way celebrating needless complexity. While it’s certainly interesting to consider, the real reason I like Autechre, as I suspect is the real reason why anyone likes any music — or anything, for that matter: instinct. As I said somewhere above, let it wash over you and it will make sense on an innate level anyway.

I will return to Quaristice soon with a review of the limited edition second CD, Quaristice (Versions).

Music of 2007

A series of posts

1. What I listened to in 2007
2. Music of 2007: #40–#21
3. Music of 2007: #20–#11
4. Music not of 2007: three reissues
5. Music of 2007: #10–#4
6. Music of 2007: top three

Getting there slowly but surely. We might be two weeks into 2008, but that won’t stop me from looking back at 2007. By this rate it will be February before we get to the end of this list…

20. The Tuss — Rushup Edge

Whoever is responsible for this is at least a genius at generating hype. While the music is ostensibly by Brian and Karen Tregaskin, there are all sorts of clues that point towards this being the work of Richard D. James.

It’s difficult to imagine such an obscure record to make the pages of The Guardian under normal circumstances, but the whiff of Aphex made it happen. And the sight of IDM spods on the internet excitedly polishing off their magnifying glasses (after The Campfire Headphase failed to contain any codes to crack) carried the hype overboard.

Of course, I had to buy it to see what all the fuss was about. Turns out the music is okay, and it certainly sounds like Aphex. I’d be very surprised if something this accomplished really was the work of a hitherto unheard-of duo based in deepest Cornwall.

19. Field Music — Tones of Town

Field Music are the least well known, but easily the best, of the triumvirate of artsy indie-rock bands from the north east of England (the other two bands being The Futureheads and Maxïmo Park). I have to admit to being a bit disappointed with this album at first, but as with previous Field Music records its wonders were revealed with repeated listens.

Their first album was a little delight that combined contemporary indie sensibilities with a liberal dose of syncopation, Beatles-style strings, some quasi-Steve Reich-style minimalism and little snatches of oddness. Tones of Town (while a bit on the short side) expanded on the template beautifully.

However, my highlight is a song that deviates slightly from the template: the more melancholic ‘Place Yourself’, a pleasant, reflective song.

Since the release of Tones of Town, Field Music have gone on hiatus as a band as we know it. But a solo project on Thrill Jockey is in the offing. I’m looking forward to hearing more of School of Language.

Video: ‘In Context’ — highly recommended viewing!

18. Scott Walker — And Who Shall Go to the Ball? And What Shall Go to the Ball?

Definitely the strangest release I got my hands on this year. Scott Walker wrote this music to accompany a contemporary dance piece. So we know what territory we are in here.

The music took some time to get used to, even for a fan of Scott Walker’s recent work. ‘Part 1′ really just consists of some electronic hums and some strange scraping sounds that sound a little bit like that noise people make before they exaggeratedly spit. This lasts for over three minutes, when some largely atonal strings come in, abruptly starting and stopping seemingly arbitrarily.

‘Part 2′ is no less weird, with a foreboding, driving, deep drum beat and string and horn sections squealing like an elephant in a particularly rhythmic distress. But the biggest surprise of them all isn’t to do with the music. Scott Walker’s distinctive voice does not make a single appearance in this entire work.

As you might guess, And Who Shall Go to the Ball?… takes some getting used to. I was certainly left feeling disappointed when I first heard it. But now I think it is quite good.

It certainly seems as though Mr. Walker is entering a rather prolific phase. In past decades you were lucky if Scott Walker brought out a new album every ten years. But hot on the heels of The Drift, he has been appearing on compilations and all sorts. Not to mention the other projects between Tilt and The Drift such as the Pola X soundtrack or producing Pulp’s We Love Life. Every year he seems to be doing a bit more than in the previous year. Here’s hoping.

17. Jonny Greenwood — There Will Be Blood

I think Jonny Greenwood is one of the most important musicians around at the moment. He is most famous for whacking around with guitars in Radiohead, but his solo music reveals him to be a highly accomplished composer as well.

The soundtrack to the film There Will Be Blood further cements this. The film is set in the early twentieth century, so there is not quite the same space for electronic experimentation as Jonny Greenwood had with Bodysong. What you get instead is a beautiful, melancholic mixture of piano, strings and ondes Martenot. The ondes Martenot is such a magical instrument, and it is used to great effect here.

Maybe I am getting carried away because Jonny Greenwood is a rock star. But I really think that ‘Eat Him By His Own Light’ is within touching distance of some of Erik Satie’s work.

The soundtrack contains a lot of work that Jonny Greenwood has done in his role as the BBC’s ‘composer in residence’. Notably, it contains excerpts of ‘Popcorn Superhet Receiver’. It is such a shame that ‘Smear’ — probably my favourite Jonny Greenwood piece — does not make an appearance as originally promised.

Unfortunately, not all of the music is engaging. Also, this album is only half an hour long even though Jonny Greenwood recorded two hours worth of music for the film. I suppose we should be grateful for the scraps, but the album ends without you realising it was even close to the end. Oh well.

16. Battles — Tonto+

I have to say that ‘Tonto’ wouldn’t have been my first choice as a single. Nothing against the song — it’s just a bit long-winded for a single. Mind you, my brother disagrees with me strongly on this!

There are no new tracks on the EP, although it is still quite a treat. After a disappointing remix of ‘Tonto’ by The Field, the seemingly omnipresent remixer Four Tet comes up with the goods. A remix of ‘Leyendecker’ by DJ Emz featuring Joell Ortiz is good enough, although it completely jars with the rest of the EP and the general Battles vibe.

Perhaps the best part of the EP, though, is two live tracks — performances of ‘Tonto’ and ‘Leyendecker’. I go on and on about how great Battles are live, and this is further proof. But as ‘Leyendecker’ winds down on this EP you can hear drummer John Stainer beginning ‘Race: In’, which just makes me desperate for a full live album of some sort. Make it happen!

Video: ‘Tonto’

15. Sigur Rós — Hvarf / Heim

A fair couple of mini-albums. I was getting a bit sick of Sigur Rós, but Hvarf / Heim won me over again.

Hvarf is basically a collection of old songs that never got released before, so it was never going to be a five star album. But nevertheless it is a good listen.

Heim is a more engaging listen. It is made up of some rather lovely live acoustic recordings of some of Sigur Rós’s best songs. The highlight is one of my favourite Sigur Rós songs, ‘Ágætis Byrjun’.

My original review of Hvarf / Heim

14. Air — Pocket Symphony

A reasonably pleasant album from Air. Not their best, but a good listen nonetheless. My main criticism with this album is that it sounds so similar to Talkie Walkie. So if you don’t like previous Air albums, it’s probably best to give Pocket Symphony a miss.

Even a collaboration with Jarvis Cocker feels like a missed opportunity. Another collaboration, ‘Somewhere Between Waking and Sleeping’, with Neil Hannon, is more successful — although it plays up to the stereotypes of ‘chill-out’ music. Nice song though.

There are some good songs — ‘Left Bank’ and ‘Mer du Japon’ are particular highlights. However, there is nothing approaching some of the killer songs they have come up with on previous albums.

If you like Air though, you will not be disappointed with Pocket Symphony.

13. Gescom — A1–D1

The mysterious Gescom collective resurfaces for the first time since 2003′s immense Iss:Sa. This new EP, A1–D1, appears to be a collection of six remixes, glitched up to the max.

The only one I can recognise is ‘B1′, which is a remix of Brian Eno + David Byrne’s ‘Come With Us’. It really highlights the spookier elements of the original song, which hadn’t really grabbed me before. It’s quite creepy to listen to really. One of those tracks to ban myself from listening to at night.

I haven’t heard of any of the other stuff that has been remixed for A1–D1, although people with a much better knowledge of the history of electronic dance music will apparently recognise them. It’s really groovy though.

‘A2′ is a good blast of messed up acid. ‘C1′ has a tantalising melody and jumpy beat that never seems to sit still (despite the fact that it doesn’t change much, if at all), leaving you wanting more. ‘C2′ starts off with one of the most dizzying soundscapes I have ever heard.

It is also being claimed by Skam that this is the world’s first ‘left-handed’ CD case. Yes, it opens the wrong way.

All-in-all, a really good Gescom release. I don’t know if the Autechre lads had anything to do with it, but it is nonetheless a good CD to have while we wait for Quaristice to come out.

12. Burial — Untrue

What I know about the fledgling dubstep genre could be written on the back of a postage stamp. It would say ‘Burial’ on it. I kept on reading about Burial. Somehow he has captured the attention of the chatterati, as I read more and more about him in places like The Guardian. Having seen ‘Burial’ written in too many end-of-year lists and ‘hear this before you die’ articles, I took the plunge and bought Untrue.

I had no real preconceptions. All I knew was that Burial was a ‘dubstep’ artist (dubstep being a relatively new kind of electronic music popular with Shoreditch types), and that he was fiercely anonymous to the point that “only five people know I make tunes“.

On first impressions I was a little underwhelmed. It sounded good, but it wasn’t quite what I was expecting. It was like a more experimental, sparse garage music. A bit like what Pole would sound like if he came from London.

I have to say, now that I am used to the sound I think it is fabulous. It sounds like it is from a futuristic urban dystopia. “London 2030, you’re the last man alive” sort of thing. A good accompaniment to last-night walks around town.

I don’t know if it will make me investigate the dubstep genre much further. It will certainly make me buy Burial’s first album at some point. Good stuff.

11. Modeselektor — Happy Birthday!

The latest Modeselektor album contains nothing revelatory. It certainly doesn’t grab me in the same way as their first album, Hello Mom!. And in a lot of ways, Happy Birthday! feels a lot like they are recycling old Modeselektor tunes.

However, I have still found myself enjoying this album immensely. ’2000007 (feat. TTC)’ particularly gets stuck in my head a lot. It is an excellent mix of great music and good humour.

The collaborations with Thom Yorke and Maxïmo Park are missed opportunities for me. And if you’re looking for something different to their first album, you’ll have to look elsewhere. But it’s nonetheless a thoroughly enjoyable and engaging listen.

Music of 2007

A series of posts

1. What I listened to in 2007
2. Music of 2007: #40–#21
3. Music of 2007: #20–#11
4. Music not of 2007: three reissues
5. Music of 2007: #10–#4
6. Music of 2007: top three

I am a bit late with my ranking of albums of 2007. I know it’s the new year and it’s not very fashionable to be looking back once the new year has begun. But unlike some people — who publish their lists in early December or sometimes even mid-November — I like to wait until the end of the year until posting my end-of-year list.

Unfortunately, it is taking a bit of time for me to finish off the post. You know how I like to witter on. Plus, ahem, I still haven’t received a rather important album from 2007 through the post.

In the meantime, some stats porn from my Last.fm account to give you an idea of what I listened to in 2007.

A few caveats here. I got an iPod sometime during autumn, which means that I now scrobble my out-and-about listening habits, which wasn’t possible when I used my iRiver. As such, my obsession with Battles early on in the year only registers a little bit, whereas the purchase of Radiohead’s In Rainbows in October is visible for all to see.

Okay, on to the graph. I have written before about the rather fun LastGraph service. I have decided to create a LastGraph of my 2007 listening. Of course, it isn’t restricted to music that was released in 2007, but it does give a flavour of my listening habits over the year.

I’m afraid it isn’t easy to see the detail in this image, but as you can see it is rather large enough as it is. If you click on the image, you will be able to see the full-blown PDF file, if you are really all that interested. (Warning: The PDF is a big file — 2.64MB.)

The first 2007 releases to register in the graph are Field Music’s Tones of Town and Shining’s Grindstone. Battles’s Mirrored makes a small appearance in March, but as I said it is much lower than you would expect if you knew how much I genuinely listened to the album.

Besides Ceephax and Air, nothing too much of interest happens until June. Then comes Björk’s Volta. Not soon afterwards comes the magical week which saw the release of albums by Justice and Simian Mobile Disco. Also registering here are album I bought by Cornelius and Stereolab, although these weren’t from 2007. (Incidentally, this period shows a sustained reduction in the amount of music I listened to, reflecting how unusually busy I was during the summer.)

In August you can see the biggest patch of the year — The Future Sound of London, from when I bought From the Archives volumes 1–3. After that comes another huge patch of Blur, a period where I bought a few albums of theirs and even wrote about them on this blog. A bit of an obsessive period.

Soon enough pretty much everything is crowded out by In Rainbows. If you look carefully towards the end of the year you can also see The Fiery Furnaces, Gescom and Burial.

In terms of charts, here is how my rolling year chart for artists looks like.

1. Radiohead — 811 plays
2. The Future Sound of London — 613
3. Autechre — 602
4. Pulp — 567
5. The Fiery Furnaces — 549
6. Boards of Canada — 538
7. Blur — 530
8. Aphex Twin — 453
9. Squarepusher — 428
10. Battles — 425

And for tracks, In Rainbows pretty much dominates. Not bad considering it’s only been out since October. Battles and Shining also get a look in here. Justice, Björk and The Fiery Furnaces also feature in the top 50.

I’ll post my thoughts on the music of 2007 over the next week or so.