I was reminded recently of the film Ratatouille. Towards the end, the chef creates a jazzed up version of the eponymous dish. A food critic eats it and is immediately given a flashback to childhood. It is powerful. The dark Parisian restaurant disappears and we see the critic as a boy standing in the doorway: sunfilled, Provencal hillsides […]
When the Larry Heard sample drops in Fade, I went a bit giddy. I had never imagined an acid bassline, which I had previously only heard in darkened clubs, as the perfect beat for hiphop. This moment of delight with sampling, is where Kanye West eats. When I got into Kanye West at 15 or […]
I’ve listened to more new music this year than in any other.
“If you look at my last three end of year lists, there’s a pattern” “Yeah some good music with token contrarian pop choices as talking points”
TL:DR? Jump to the list Well that wasn’t a very good year for pop music, was it? We had to wait until November until we were given a half-way decent pop hook (Rihanna’s Monster chorus), but even that was replicating the exact same formula Ri and Slim nailed for the first time a few years […]
I am a huge fan of lists. To-do lists, checklists, and my favourite of them all – end of year lists. This is a task I have undertaken before (2011, 2010) and have for some time now been looking forward to writing this years. ‘But it’s only the end of November’ I hear you shout […]
It’s December, it’s sodding cold and it’s that time when music hacks all over the world sharpen their pencils and start penning their end of year lists. As an ex-wannabe-music-hack, music-lover, and addicted-list-maker, I too like making end of the year lists. If for no other reason than it reminds me the following year how […]
10. Top Girls – Faded Feeling In the year of chillwave and Sleigh Bells, over-compressed and lo-fi should not shock anyone. Faded Feeling leads by that example, that is isn’t until the undistorted vocal swoons in. Haunting melodies echo and lead toward a beautiful solo synth pad that, in turn mesmerises you until the drums […]
I love lists. I’ll make them for almost anything: shopping, plans, ideas, books, films, and of course music. It seems to be a universal truth acknowledged by Nick Hornby that music fans are one of the greatest fans of lists. I will make playlists of favourite tracks for each season, each mood, and each genre. […]
When Kanye West performed for VH1 Storytellers his, already analytic, self-prophesying and auto-biographical, songs grew with an extensive stream-of-conscious flow. Arrogance shone through because Kanye had only ever been self-agrandising, he was was just going through the motions. In between segments of songs he called “I am so disappointed that I can never see me […]