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Soundtracks of Our Lives week ending 30 December 2017 CE
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Fatalist
Fatalist
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Re: Soundtracks of Our Lives week ending 30 December 2017 CE
Jan 01, 2018, 23:00
Anna von Hausswolff – Dead Magic. Fourth album in, and AvH is more gloomy and grandiose than ever. Takes a while to get going, but by the epic central track, she’s progging out with the best of them. One of those few artists to have convincingly created a sound world all of their own. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=werYFrzGiwU

Bjorn Riis – Coming Home

Can – Future Days / ‘Halleluhwah’. This turned out to be the perfect soundtrack to cooking Xmas dinner (with the kitchen door firmly shut).

Gentle Giant – Octopus. Spurred on by their appearance on the front cover of this month’s Prog, thought I’d try to get to grips with these guys once again… but they’re as slippery as the cephalopod of this album’s title. Lots of interesting moments, but also lots of madrigal vocals, and overall a feeling of being scared to just let rip and go for it a la VDGG or King Crimson.

VA – 2000 Light Years From Home. MOJO psych comp freebie. Possibly the way my brain is wired, but a lot of ‘classic’ psych just sounds like novelty music to me – perfectly pleasant, but difficult to get that excited about. However, this comp did reacquaint me with the beautiful ‘On A Meadow-Lea’ by Bobak, Jons, Malone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6N6_xlSVi0

Y is for…

Susumu Yokota – Sakura. This guy was a big noise (if that’s not a contradiction in terms) in ambient electronica in the 90s and 00s, and I think this album is regarded as one of his best. Certainly The Wire seemed to think so, making it their ‘electronica album of the year’ in 2000, according to the sticker attached to the cover. I’m not sure I’d go that far, but it is very good in places, and covers a variety of styles rather than just following some sub-Eno-esque formula. Overall, it doesn’t sound that ground-breaking these days, but then context is often everything. Lovely use of vocal loops in this track (which I’ve just discovered are from Joni Mitchell's ‘Songs To Aging Children Come’): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46a-mCdmNjQ
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