music

A few days ago I happened to stumble across a list of Eight Great Minimal Electronic Records You Need to Hear. Minimal techno – if it’s what you could call the music on the list – is something I haven’t listened to a great deal so I thought I’d have a listen. First up is Königsforst, a 1998 album by GAS, long-term project of Wolfgang Voight. Long, looping ambient tones evoke an unsettling almost disorienting effect that’s only increased by samples of what seems to be classical music (I would imagine it’s something like Wagner or Berg) with a steady,…

Aphotic and portentous, Richard Skelton’s new album has been played around these parts for a week. It’s magnificent. I’d even go so far to say that it’s a significant piece of modern music. The gloomy, droning soundscape evoked by Skelton on this album is perfect for both this time of the year as Autumn turns its face towards the winds of approaching Winter and for the ongoing period of uncertainty and apprehension we’re enduring. It seems to suit my current sensibility and on more than one occasion over the last couple of days I’ve found myself becoming entranced by the…

Just when you thought it was literally the end of civilisation, The Young Knives (or, more properly) Young Knives without the “The” any more have released a new album, Barbarians. And. It’s. Rather. Good. Indeed. Their last album was something like 7 years ago. It’s very very welcome. Their earlier quirky and delightfully melodic songs – which still get a lot of play around these parts – have given way to some incredibly dark sounding tunes that are eerily menacing but equally amusing. Their description as “self-aware nihilistic miserabilists” is evident in their very odd, disturbing music videos which are…

Standout tracks: Kristallo, Heimatklange, Tanzmuzik. Ralf und Florian was the fourth Kraftwerk album. Like Tone Float, Kraftwerk 1 and Kraftwerk 2, it’s not available for listening other than Youtube or a bootleg. Schneider called their first 4 albums “archaeology” and there seems to have been no desire to re-release their early material. It’s a shame. Before today I’d not knowingly heard any of the tracks from Ralf und Florian. I’ve listened to it through twice and have it on now as I’m writing this. I think it’s great and, in some ways, it’s a stronger overall album to its follow-up,…

standout track: Autobahn It was the news of Florian Schneider’s death that compelled me to spend some time listening again to Kraftwerk. I suspect that Schneider was the source of David Stubbs’ identification of the “deep sardonic comic sensibility that always lurks beneath the surface of Kraftwerk”. If you’ve ever watched videos of Kraftwerk performing live, it’s hard not to miss Schneider’s rascally smile or that comic, knowing glint in his eye while the other mensche-maschine play impassively. I’m sure my first encounter with electronic music was watching something like Tomorrow’s World on BBC One as a child or Popcorn…

I almost missed this. Wire has a second album, 10:20, out this year. And it’s absolutely brilliant. Unlike Mind Hive, their most recent album – which I thought was their strongest in years – this one seems to act as a compilation of re-recorded, reworked songs from old albums or songs that didn’t make the final cuts. The band call these “stray” tracks that have evolved over the years through love performance. Half were recorded in 2010 and the rest more recently. There’s a less aggressive, calmer – maybe supremely assured feel to 10:20 than Hive Mind. Among the tracks…