SubVersion: Electronica

Muttley

Just got the first (1st pressing) catalogue edition "Skalp" of Boards Of Canada (BOC)'s "Music Has The Right to" LP. I have wanted to own this artifact on dubplate, acetate or plain record for more than 15 years. Now I have a dub vinyl. I use the term dub vinyl because there's little variation from the original pressing, but enough to keep it fresh.

The pressing quality is good. I got it from Truck Store Oxford. The vinyl sounds better than the digital. It's of course warmer, but very clear, at the same time. And punchy, too, but not so that the drums swamp the mix.

To me MHTRTC was always BOC's best album. There were two EPs before its official release in 1995. I think those were "Twoism" and "Hi Scores". Also very good releases. Especially for "Happy Cycling" and "Oirectine".

For me personally, the early stuff was when they were itchy, untamed and scratchy.

Then as they smoothed out, they got itchy and scratchy but were tamed by then.

It's also worth noting the type of anti-austerity mix and mash of the vinyl sides on this repressing 25 years on.

"Rhombuses And Triangles", one of the interleaves from Twoism EP, closes side 1 of 4. A fitting serenade. I wanted to provide audio linked in my post like I used to do, but YouTube's reliance on its subscription is beating me. So you'll have to make do with these words. It's all very well put together as incidental music sequences go.

Honestly, "Music has The Right" is one of the finest albums by older electronic musicians I've ever come across in life. It's just right. Like it has the right. And like that it uses that right. The right of music. Giving plans to children. Even if you never plan to raise children yourself (I don't want kids), Boards Of Canada provide a good working score. Sit back with a glass of water, a doctor's apple and a lime and sprinkle over your glass the essence of true British vim.

One for the home bodies.

Muttley

...official SubVersion review of Goldie - "The Journeyman 3CD", by Andy Popin

It's fine to comment on whole triple albums...and if you are reviewing for publication purposes other than self, it is just the kind of sheet you do, implicitly. But for me, there's something extra extra special about the closing (read: not bonus) third CD that concludes Cliffy 'Goldie''s best work since "Timeless" in his triple disc mother lode, "The Journeyman" on Metalheadz. Not only did it manage to make this hefty rockhead shed a few tears at recent exterior memories on my favourite piece of his whole album, the totally friggin terrific "Run Run Run" piano focused piece (yes it has piano, go figure) but "The Instra Suites", as this ascending journey disc spanning nearly eighty minutes and no less is titled, confirmed to me what I love best about Goldie - when he "actually finishes a tune".

Insult? No way.

For anyone who knows Ciiffy, whether it's just journalistically from afar like me and the average Joe, the ethic of putting the kitchen sink in good and proper - on each tune - is clear, and that dialectic genius he has of one of the precious few which too much weed didn't mess up musically from the 1990s is as clear as day on, for me personally, and to agree with Goldie for once, a better opus effort than "Timeless", the album that garnered so much acclaim.

Let's dispense with the long-winded verbals for a moment, and just appreciate the scene. Goldie has been around. God, is that an understatement? James Bond's assasin in The World Is Not Enough; the two left-footed Dad on Strictly Come Dancing; faux-thug on soapy depressant Eastbenders (pardon no pun); first-year psych workout Celebrity Big Brother glam points on a career spanning over three decades from the foundations of B-boy graff, Reinforced Records graft and London street seller grit and grime. It really shows on the closing dnb-turned-Detroit-tech cut "Redemption" at the end of disc three, a fiercely inventive swipe at the hangers-on of Jeff Mills, Frankie Knuckles Chicago-an House, Laurent Garnier acid techno Eiffels; his 'ardcore Rufige Cru life. Meanwhile as on the opener to this journey, "Natalie's Truth", "tomorrow lies in a sculpture", which points towards the Body Of Songs project "Electric Abyss" paradox-psychology of concept construction.

Speaking of more close-to-home, hearty influences, the sounds of "Timeless" engineer Rob Playford (Omni Trio) are dotted all over the analog bass balm and early club warming up sounds of "Horizon". The bass pattern plays a simple trajectory; minor 7th addition to major 7th subtraction but the drum counterpoint reverses and kaleidoscopically explodes the flow. In addition, musically so, glimmers of light piano and Rhodes points to roads untravelled by liquid funk since Lincoln Barret and Dom of Calibre subtracted the stepper breakbeat multi-match and doused in the rinse-and-repeat club putty of rolling percussion. These sounds speak of the unspoken divide between the liquid funk sub genre and atmospheric techno, rotating their influences like a heart-on-sleeve pallbearer passing out pamphlets of multi-faith worship at a parish. In lesser terms, that does not normally happen.

The next chapter takes us down into a Massive Attack and Portishead style meander - and a great one, with utmost focus - called "Mountains". It's too heavy for a strictly chill station; too light for a jungle tearout station. The best kind of description for stuff like this is "saturated hip hop", that Photek tune of the same name. This to me is better, and not just because it's more musical, it also has production balls, not saturated fat. "Ballad Of Celeste" takes that blueprint and adds violin, reducing (or rather transducing) the overall granular convolution that comes with forgetting memories on a journey as they start to happen. The album is low on lacular amnesia, to borrow from The Caretaker's titles; everything fits into place nicely, and is recollected as a memory pure, as it should be. Nice rice-grained harpsichord irons out the attention tenets of the time listening to "Celeste", which is "Mountains" romantic candour and counterpoint suggestion, also bookend with baby chuckles and samples of twinkling Poinsetta prettiness. "Castaway" ups the pace to around 162bpm by my internal heartbeat.

For the first time in this CD, wind instruments are ferociously introduced, darting all over the beat like a moth caught in a circus lightshow. Echoes of the synth used on Seal's "Killer" ("solitary brother, is there still a part of you that wants to live? Soiitary sister, is there still a part of you that wants to give?") sprinkle in the background like a kind of confetti-coloured moss; a disguised past. And that's exactly what "The Journeyman" feels like, on the whole...and a "glorious future past". The transition from hardcore to dnb reimagined for a less nascent, more grown up audience. It's an absolute mind killer of a journey, to use that dnb buzz word; it takes me to spiritual and heavenly palaces of the eye andear without moving a finger, except those on the hand to put this in the CD player with. Everything fits into place, as I have stated throughout.

It's like "The Journeyman" just came to show us that in tomorrow, and even yesterday, lies a sculpture of optimism...and that the journey of life never ends.

Andy Popin

Muttley

I have a lot of love for Bjork Gudmasonnitir (her stage name, at least, but aren't they all). I have all her studio experiments, but only one album physically - "Vulnicura" from 2015, on acetate for Record Store Day (coincidentally, as it happened). I bought everything else back from eMusic.com...luckily I downloaded everything before they made their needed alterations to the site (which only unfortunately wiped every account of its previous downloads; but kept the saved lists).

I met her once, and while she was warm and friendly, there was a natural likeable aloofness that resonates chiefly in her music creations. She is at the forefront of a superbrain production ethic, amassing layer upon layer of cellar-dwelling closet skeletons with bones for emotions. The density of each composition - take "Possibly Maybe (Lucy Remix)", with its erotic language intoned over vocoded scatterbrain chromatic synapse-wringing, speaks of a deification of the female spoken word.

A good place to start is "Debut". One of my favourites from Bjork from the start was "Play Dead"; later "Venus As A Boy"; "Isobel" has its moments; and "Big Time Sensuality", "Army Of Me" and the classic "All Is Full Of Love" neatly make up a fair portion of the "Greatest Hits CD" highlights. While no track is a standout, every track is a statement. But it's poetic, and like the best poetry, the meanings are endless, not robotic. Bjork is one of those artists where, like Alison Goldfrapp after her, the syllables she speaks can be about anything - they, just like her music and attitude, is frankly stunningly beautiful. "Big Time...sensuality, oh baby".

Muttley

subversion stop 249=250 - subversion recommends muttley: uncertain things (muttley's 27th bday mix)
feat. altus, asc, vangelis, foci's left (fl), little red, slow club, seconds before awakening, sky residents
(enjoy & eschaton), fanu, simon bean, 36, eveson, grouper; 1h 15 minutes length.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tkwiw3zez098z40/Uncertain%20Things....mp3?dl=0

/|
poetry by muttley
|/
doctrine of unexpected endings and quelled finalism.
kicking a habit like the smoke was blown out of the room by a vaccum.
diarising over a point-free exponent of the mind.
missing the details where there should be cognition inside.
changing the format as if it were pepperspray across a restaurant table.
finding sinuous connections until we're rarely unable.
controlling uncertain things may be a doctrine of unexpected endings i find.
but it's another thing being just controlled by the tide...

Muttley

Nightshift prospective review 11: [rout] at AudioGraft night 3, Holywell Music Room, 13.03.15

Audiograft's third event of 2015, organised by the reliable Oxford Contemporary Music and featuring sonic art from Jennifer Walshe, James Saunders, Felicity Ford and others, proves to be a remarkable event even just three pieces in. The [rout] based collective on display tonight forge new paths out of the finish Trevor Wishart, a pioneer of the term 'sonic art', profligated since musique concrete made headway from humble origins in the 1930s jazz destructuring, later advanced by The Radiophonic Workshop.

Recorded by Wire mag types Resonance FM London, this gig makes an oblique statement early: is the room about to explode? Because here the pipe system of the Holywell has been modified to impression springing a multitude of audible leaks. It's engaging enough stuff on the surface - peppered with instrumental sprinklings - but it's the second piece for full group, a dilated worldview organism of a score, that strikes as a collapsing limb trying to admirably rebuild its core aesthetic.

After a segmented voice and movement piece at its best in choral/body matching tendencies, then a 10 minute interval, the amply attended gig takes on a tutorial pattern recognition exercise where chromatic scale is treated as a cornerstone to voice a dual idea from - "A, B, E" - "strum, strum, strum", combining the small acoustic guitar and extrapolative leanings in body direction. A gong-y double bass tone starts out a more moat-mouthed exponent of castle-like sound sculpture. The wailing violin sonar counterpointed with saxophone and Christopher Bissonnette-esque tribal gong sounds like the waves began to play their own tune. The prepared piano sidelines a melodic bridge in higher register, only to be a postcard sent from a forgotten land.

The last piece is testament to [rout] collective's vision - a fantastic old school drama with disharmonic piano and mournful strings, topped off by French vocals. Strangely, for all the craterous pacing, [rout] seem to have their roots in all adventurous places possible.

Mick Buckingham (www.kapsil.net/muttley / www.focisleft.bandcamp.com)

Muttley

003 Foci's Left – Future Past (EDM Variation)

Clip length: full track

Complete track length: 2:16

From: Unreleased, free www.soundcloud.com/subversion-2 dls

Link: www.focisleft.bandcamp.com

Clipticism:

"Remembering the past can bring hope to the present". ~ Our Daily Bread.

www.kapsil.net/muttley

Muttley

002 DZA – Sakura

Clip length: 2:30 128kbps

Complete track length: 4:41

From: "Big Bang" EP

Link: https://how2make-rec.bandcamp.com/album/dza-big-bang-ep-luxurious-edition

Clipticism:

"Early in his career jazz player Herbie Hancock was invited to play in a quintet with Mies Davis, already a musical legend. In a interview Hancock admitted being nervous but described it as a wonderful experience because Davis was so nurturing. During one performance when Davis was near the high point of his solo, Hancock played the wrong chord. He was mortified. But Davis coninued as if nothing had happened. "He played some chords that made my chord right", Hancock said. What an example of loving leadership. Davis didn't scold Hancock or make him look foolish, he didn't blame him for ruining the performance. He simply adjusted his playing and turned a potentially disastrous misttake into something beautiful." ~ Our Daily Bread.

http://kapsil.net/muttley/Ideologues%20Quotes%20And%20Clips%20-%202015/002%20DZA%20-%20Sakura%20%20%282m30%29%20%2807.01.15%29.mp3

Muttley

An example of a previous chart:

2012 (7 contributors - 10 entry format)

This year it's a max of 15 extravaganza with the SV Drip-Feed underpinning everything.

I'm at the bottom for reasons of space. :)

Jonathan

01. Favourite track: Tom Chang - Spinal Tap: Goes to 11

02. Favourite album: various - The Orchestra of Futurist Noise Intoners (Sub Rosa)

03. Favourite label: Dancing Wayang

04. Favourite mixtape: DJ Trax - Mixrace 92-96 mix (for Blog to the Oldskool)

05. Favourite SC thread: In this thread we post tips to decrease apathy

06. Favourite gig: Dave Phillips, Rammel Club, Nottingham

07. Favourite book: Ivan E. Coyote & Rae Spoon - Gender Failure (Arsenal Pulp Press)

08. Favourite food (or Snax): Borders' Dark Chocolate Gingers

09. Favourite guilty pleasure: I'm too old to feel guilty about pleasure.

10. Favourite random moment: looking at the Championship table today and seeing Brentford in third after a 4-0 win

InfiniteSloth

Label (overall): Samurai
Label (for concept and art direction): Weevil Neighborhood
Snax: almond butter and raw cashew cheese tacos
Remix: Hidden Element and Liquid Break - Outsider Blues (Icarus Remix)
Gig: NOizefest, New Orleans
Streaming platform: Spotify
Dig: Max Roach 4 Plays Charlie Parker
Youtube channel: Numberphile
Random moment: Lenny Kravitz strolling down the street while I was walking the dog.
SC thread revivalist: firefinga

Kermit McBollocks Muppet Version 10

Favourite trak - Kermit Ensemble - It's Not Eezy Being Green
Favourite albm - ASC - Troof Bee Told (Soylent Seesawn)
Favourite fred - Kermit's Dictionary Fred, wer I correct der fadar about his grown up werd usage.
Favourite muppet - Muttwee, the ever-stinking ferris Wheel Of Fortune of the internet.
Favwit book - Pool Mackendra - Change Yor Loif In Seven Daze - vewwy moteevational!
Favwit feckwit - Russell Brand, he iz raizin his Sultan status of shitness by der day.
Favoureet telly - Mongrels, so oi can curse at der Nelson for not pimpin der Destinee
Favvit food - caveearr, ho ho ho and a bucket of finest Champagne.
Favourite mix type - Stattzi
Favweet label - Elmo, it bee zee ome of Muttwee's loif in pictures, and in the past tense.

Yelp!

firefinga

*) SC Thread of the Year:

Most "current" sounding subvert dnb made in the 2000's?
http://subvertcentral.com/forum/show...-in-the-2000-

*)Label of the Year:

Euphony's Omni Music, Pinecone Moonshine, Subtle Audio, R & S

*)Mixtape/Radioshows of the Year:

DJ Trax and Nucleus' "Catch A Groove" Shows, Code's "Sublte Audio" shows, both on Jungletrain.net.
Euphony's Omni Sessions, Law's and eXtreme's mixes.

*)Guilty Pleasure 2014:
Reading the News section on Factmag.com and occasionally posting links on here.

*)TV Show 2014:
Last season of "Breaking Bad"

*)Movie 2014:
Snowpiercer
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1706620/

*)Book 2014
Bernie Krause "The Great Animal Orchestra"
http://www.thegreatanimalorchestra.com/

*)Album 2014:
+)Subtle Audio Vol. III
+)The Bug "Angels & Devils"
+)Dev Null's "Darkside Compilation" on 8205 Recordings:
http://8205.bandcamp.com/album/darks...mpilation-2014

*)Track of the Year:

DJ Trax and Naibu "All Is Silent" on Subtle Audio Vol. III

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Q-OvAYtkq0A

Euphony

01. Favourite track: Too numerous, but the following had me groovin' in my undies; Entama - Primeval Forces (Cadence)

02. Favourite album: Cryogenics - Through the Eons LP or Rainforest - Path of the Warrior LP

03. Favourite label: Monochrome

04. Favourite mixtape: Anything mixed by Cryogenics :)

05. Favourite SC thread:

07. Favourite book: Intelligence in nature (Jeremy Narby), Chaos, Creativity and Cosmic Consciousness (Sheldrake, McKenna, Abraham) and Ninja by John Man

08. Favourite food (or Snax): My delectable spicy casseroles

09. Favourite guilty pleasure: Walking on my own in the rain

10. Favourite random moment: Either: going out for a pub meal and sitting there complaining about the fact that they had to change the menu, as the previous one was really good and better value, and complained to the staff as a result. We also didn't like the way they had re-decorated, but we kept that whinge to ourselves. Anyway, it wasn't until we were driving home out of the village that we suddenly spied the pub we were meant to (and thought we were!) eating in! d'oh!....That's something my dad would do! jaysus....or: Trying to gatecrash Brad and Angelina's film set in Gozo only to be chased away by dogs

J-Breaks, www.omnimusic.org

02. Favourite album: Kontext - Dispersal (Absys Limited). Definitely my favourite release this year! I've come to expect original ideas from Stan for a while now and I'm never disappointed.

Daniel Crossley, www.fluid-radio.co.uk

08. Favourite food (or Snax): It's cooking fillet steak 'asado style' over the grill outside our van in the many wildcamping spots we found throughout Argentina

dionysus

01. Favourite track: Maybe not the greatest song eva! But the track I've listened to the most is:

Dawn Day Night - The Re-Animation of Scottie

Have a good New Year y'all! Off to Barca...

Muttley

01. Favourite track: Grouper - Holding (Kranky, released October 31st 2014).

(1st of Top 20; remainder 19 of Top 20)

Angel Olsen - Windows
Ryan Teague - Scale And Ratio
Digital & Spirit - Wayout
Colo - Doorframe 1
Betty Davis - If I'm In Luck I Might Get Picked Up
Audion - Motormouth
Tropic Of Coldness - Distressing Dilemma Of Rational Choices
Saaad - After Love
Blue Six - No Two Things
Little Red - Down
Bat For Lashes - Skin Song
ASC - Some Other Life
Mizeyesis - Spring Hope
Equinox - Tribulation
VVV - Turn Away
Jo Quail - South West Night
36 - Always
DJ Trax - '89 'Till Infinity
Foci's Left - Anything Becomes Possible With Time

02. Favourite album: Little Red - Sticks And Stones (All Will Be Well)

(1st of Top 5; remainder of Top 5)

Grouper - Ruins
Jo Quail - Caldera
Christopher Willits - Opening
Metamorphosis - Conception 1982

03. Favourite label: For once, as there's too many labels I like to choose from, it's a production house: Novation.

I bought this analog synthesiser in the Summer as a proto-housewarming present, and have since been making several practice live sets with the machine. It looks like this:

http://d19ulaff0trnck.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/novationmusic/products/Bass-Station-II/BS-II-Banner-ii.jpg

Here is the ongoing live sets archive:

http://subvertcentral.com/forum/showthread.php?60699-Foci-s-Left-Live-Set&highlight=foci%27s+left+live

04. Favourite mixtape: Little Red @ Old Fire Station, Oxford, Friday 14th November 2014. Second would be Blevin Blectum's Liveondublab set (on SoundCloud), actually from 2012, while following that is SB81's 92 Hardcore Favourites Mix.

The latter two are reposted at www.soundcloud.com/subversion-2, my and Statto's joint account.

Of my own spurious output it's FTAL 005 - Handling Grief (in the 60,000 unique viewers strong For The Ambient Lovers (FTAL)...review and mixtape archive 001 thread:

http://subvertcentral.com/forum/showthread.php?56404-For-The-Ambient-Lovers-review-and-mixtape-archive-001/page12

05. Favourite SC thread: "today, I..." (begun by Statto in January this year. Because I'm partly a narcissistic bastard).

http://subvertcentral.com/forum/showthread.php?60224-today-I

06. Favourite gig: Little Red + Stuart Clark + Gus Hewlett @ Old Fire Station, Oxford, Friday November 14th 2014.

http://www.subvertcentral.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/subversion-stop-233-little-red-stuart.html

07. Favourite book: Carlos Castenada - The Art Of Dreaming

(Excerpt from the book, as I haven't really read any other books this year)

"You are not yet ready for a true merging of your dreaming reality and your daily reality", he concluded. "You must recapitulate your life further".

"But I've done all the recapitulating possible", I protested. "I've been recapitulating for years. There is nothing more I can remember about my life".

"There must be much more", he said adamantly, "otherwise, you wouldn't wake up screaming".

I did not like the idea of having to recapitulate again. I had done it, and I believed I had done it so well that I did not need to touch the subject ever again".

"The recapitulation of our lives never ends, no matter how well we've done it once", don Juan said. "The reason average people lack volition in their dreams is that they have never recapitulated and their lives are filled to capacity with heavily loaded emotions like memories, hopes, fears, et cetera, et cetera.

"Sorcerers, in contrast, are relatively free from heavy, binding emotions, because of their recapitulation. And if something stops them, as it has stopped you at this moment, the assumption is that there still is something in them that is not quite clear".

"To recapitulate is too involving, don Juan. Maybe there is something else I can do instead".

"No. There isn't. Recapitulating and dreaming go hand in hand. As we regurgitate our lives, we get more and more airborne".

Don Juan had given me very detailed and explicit instructions about the recapitulation. It consisted of reliving the totality of one's life experiences by remembering every possible minute detail of them. He saw the recapitulation as the essential factor in a dreamer's redefinition and redeployment of energy. "The recapitulation sets free energy imprisoned within us, and without the this liberated energy dreaming is not possible". That was his statement.

Years before, don Juan had coached me to make a list of all the people I had met in my life, starting at the present. He helped me to arrange my list in an orderly fashion, breaking it down into areas of activity, such as jobs I had had, schools I had attended. Then he guided me to go, without deviation, from the first person on my list to the last one, reliving every one of my interactions with them.

He explained that recapitulating an event with one's mind arranging everything pertinent to what is being recapitulated. Arranging means reconstructing the event, piece by piece, starting by recollecting the physical details of the surroundings, then going to the person with whom one shared the interaction, and then going to oneself, to the examination of one's feelings.

Don Juan taught me that the recapitulation is coupled with a natural, rhythmical breathing. Long exhalations are performed as the head moves slowly and gently from right to left; and long inhalations are taken as the head moves back from left to right. He called this act of moving the head from side to side "fanning the event". The mind examines the event from beginning to end while the body fans, on and on, everything the mind focuses on.

Don Juan said that the sorcerers of antiquity, the inventors of the recapitulation, viewed breathing as a magical, life-giving act and used it, accordingly, as a magical vehicle; the exhalation, to eject the foreign energy left in them during the interaction being recapitulated and the inhalation to pull back the energy that they themselves left behind during the interaction.

Because of my academic training, I took the recapitulation to be the process of analysing one's life. But don Juan insisted that it was more involved than an intellectual psychoanalysis. He postulated the recapitulation as a sorcerer's play to induce a minute but steady displacement of the assemblage point. He said that the assemblage point, under the impact of reviewing past actions and feelings, goes back and forth between its present site and the site it occupied when the event being recapitulated took place.

Don Juan stated that the old sorcerers' rationale behind the recapitulation was their conviction that there is an inconceivable dissolving force in the universe, which makes organisms live by lending them awareness. That force also makes organisms die, in order to extract the same lent awareness, which organisms have enhanced through their life experiences. Don Juan explained the old sorcerers' reasoning. They believed that since it is our life experience this force is after, it is of supreme importance that it can be satisfied with a facsimile of our life experience: the recapitulation. Having had what it seeks, the dissolving force then lets sorcerers go, free to expand their capacity to perceive and reach with it the confines of time and space." ~ Carlos Castenada, The Art Of Dreaming, p147-149.

08. Favourite food (or Snax): Beef Rogan Josh, Slimming World Fakeaway Style, with added Chickpeas.

Rogan recipe (For clarity when using Lamb instead of Beef as in the original Slimming World guidelines - just get some fry Beef Steaks or Boneless Beef for the Beef version and cook for the same time)

"This rich and meaty north Indian stew is infused with enticing spices that leave a lovely warmth in your mouth. We've
added carrots and swede, though you could use other root vegetables like potato or parsnip).

Free on Extra Easy and Original SlimmingW plan, 9 1/2 on Green (more vegetable based weight loss plan, the quickest diet)
Ready in 2 hours.

Ingredients

low calorie cooking spray
500g lean lamb steaks, visible fat removed, cut into bite-sized chunks
2 onions, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed
2cm piece of root ginger, peeled and finely grated
2 cinnamon sticks
2 tsp chilli powder
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp cardamom seeds, crushed
4 tbsp medium curry powder
400g can chopped tomatoes
1 tsp sweetener
600ml boiling lamb stock
2 carrots, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces
1 swede, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces
salt and freshly ground black pepper
small handful of finely chopped fresh coriander, to garnish

(Me: you might want to add natural yogurt/creme fresh to cool the heat down).

Spray a large, heavy-based casserole pan (or wok) with low calorie cooking spray and place over a medium-high heat.
Add the lamb and cook for 4 minutes, stirring, or until browned (you may need to do this in batches).
Transfer the lamb to a plate with a slotted spoon.

Spray the casserole pan with low calorie cooking spray again and add the onions.
Cook over a medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring often, until soft and lightly browned.

Add the garlic, ginger, cinnamon, chilli powder, paprika and cardamom seeds.
Stir-fry for 2 minutes then add the curry powder and return the lamb to the pan (or wok).
Stir-fry for 2-3 minutes then stir in the tomatoes, sweetener, stock, carrots and swede.
Season well and bring the mixture to a boil.

Reduce the heat to low and cover tightly. Simmer gently for 1 hour 30 minutes or until the lamb is meltingly tender.

Remove from the heat, scatter over the coriander and serve with rice of your choice.

*

I have had so much amazing food this year, mainly from The First Floor, Cowley, my favourite restaurant in my life so far. Some dishes:

Indian: Mutton Dopiaza / Handi Ghost / Butter Chicken / Chef's Special Lamb / Lamb Madras
Chinese: Szechuan Beef and Sweet Chilli Curry / Lamb in Oyster Sauce / Tofu in Sweet Chilli Sauce / Chinese Seaweed / Chicken in S&S sauce
Thai: Chicken Massaman Curry / Deep Fried Fish / Chicken Satay / Chicken in hot Mustard sauce / Deep Fried Thai Noodles

Other Oxford restaurants that come recommended are: La Cucina Italian (St. Clements); Thai Orchid (St. Clements); Arbat (providing you don't have an unremarkable starter, the Cheese-topped grilled Gammon with a Toffee Madeira Cake for dessert is great - Russian - Cowley); Majiliss (Cowley); Mirch Masala (Cowley); Rice Box (Cowley); The Beehive (Carterton - particularly Puy Lentil & Sweet Potato curry).

09. Favourite guilty pleasure: losing 1 1/2 stone by Summer to take my weight down to a much healthier 16.7. For 6'5 I want to be getting down to a weight that still isn't overweight - hoping to touch 16st next year.

10. Favourite random moment: Favourite and least favourite at the same time - struggling with personal identity and family relationship as to how my family in relation to my friends fit into my world.

11. In light InfiniteSloth's adaptation list I'm adding two optional to others entries to mine, one being: favourite festival. Which is:

Pindrop Performances Presents: Midwinter Drone Fest @ Modern Art Oxford, 11.12.14 (Petrels, Paddox, After The Thought, James Maund, Lee Riley)

Mind blowing event.

12. Favourite below radar movement: Eilean Rec. - https://eileanrec.bandcamp.com/

EOY Charts 2013-2015 SC thread

Muttley

For the fourth part of SubVersion's first Drip-Feed series, we're presented with a fantastic exclusive track from fellow Omni Music producer Simon Bean, who has remixed Eschaton and Foci's Left priorly. Ambient electronica styles in a jungle framework with lots of melodic pad sweeps. :)

http://kapsil.net/muttley/SubVersion/Simon%20Bean%20-%20%20Lust.mp3

Thanks so much to Simon Bean for providing the track. Find more Simon Bean at www.omnimusic.org

Muttley

Instead of spam with multiple postings, I'm collecting all of the essential Foci's Left publicity from May 2013 to May 2014 into one post, upon release of my third album, "Derelict Career".

A lot can happen in a year...in reverse chronological order:

Foci's Left - Derelict Career LP (Foci's Left LP 002)

01. Pathological Darkness
02. Anything Becomes Possible With Time
03. Eternal Sands [The Shapeshifter's Reprise feat. Eschaton] (Album Version)
04. Talking With Birds Lament
05. Liez
06. Wandering In A Bright Spot (For Advertisements)
07. The Light You Shine Prevents Me From Being Uptight
08. Seeing The Sights (For Film)
09. Spared Merit (Vocal Version)
10. A Rose In The Desert Wind (Simon Bean Re-model)

Released: 12 May 2014
Price: £5

http://focisleft.bandcamp.com/album/derelict-career-lp

The album is called "Derelict Career". Concept: the ambient music protagonist (me) sees that ambient-exclusive musicians are fit for a "derelict career", as besides Brian Eno, the style has no sustainable capital powering it; it must stay a hobby. Ambient is Eno''s invention and to have success, musicians must look outside their niche to move through different styles. Ambient has been going since the 1950s - it is often mixed with new age as a genre, music for Tai Chi, and healing/therapy medicine. So the point to make is to, jokingly so, try and avoid a "derelict career", in order to progress and have an audience - the most important faculty for me; money isn't important, people are.

The album artwork is an exclusive commission from William Rye, a young artist who curated the Unconscious Volume exhibition in Kent, UK in 2012, in memory of my uncle John Buckingham who died age 45 from Motor Neuron Disease. The image has a special clarity for our family, my father being a painter, as I once was, with the brush being melted into the book representative of my career choice to be a writer, whether of tracks, songs, lyrics or poetry. So far I have been successful at this, with my dream jobs becoming more reality than ever before. With each sale, a percentage is donated to William, and the remainder helps to cover any CD packaging / gear upgrading as I venture further into music production. Thank you immeasurably for your time and support.

Reviews

"The long track is great, as well as those which concentrate on soundscaping. But (as you'd probably expect

) I don't like the vocal tracks at all. Anyway, just because I don't like the vocal tracks doesn't mean other people won't". ~ Jonathan Tait, Subvert Central Recordings owner and published letter writer in The Wire 2013 concerning Meredith Monk.

"Overall it seems you're still searching for a sound, but tracks 1-4, 8 and 10 are the way to go in my opinion. Of course you should not really adapt based on one person's opinion ~ better to collect a group of opinions and go from there!" ~ Richard Allen, www.acloserlisten.com editor and central writer.

"Listening to Pathological Darkness right now - really liking it.

Like how the brighter synth emerges (1:08) as the track progresses but still with the darker sounds infiltrating the mix. It does really make you feel like you're inside a gloomy, distracted mind. Given the title, that's mission accomplished." ~ Code, Subtle Audio label owner (Mary Anne Hobbs / Aphex Twin featured).

"I like the sound design going on" ~ Nic TVG, Pinecone Moonshine owner (Equinox, Icarus, Macc et al).

"I listened. And this remind me even more of The Residents. But much much more spooky. Some scary atmospheres in this one. I notice something interesting in your tracks. You don't start slowly and build the tracks - like most of the ambient/drone artists - but instead from the start you insert the listener into your soundscapes. Eternal Sands (The Shapeshifters Reprise) I like the most so far." ~ Kristian (Fyhwds), Noise For Blues For Noise artist.

Credits

Mick Robert Buckingham - all synths, keyboard work, processing, mastering, except "A Rose In The Desert Wind" which is re-modelled by Simon Rametse.

Artwork commissioned exclusively from William Rye, from the "Unconscious Volume" 2012 exhibition, dedicated to my uncle John Buckingham, who died of Motor Neuron Disease in 2002.

Tags

ambient foci's left label omni music simon bean dark drone electroacoustic emotional pianism second self-released lp third album vocal harmonies yin & yang Oxford

Foci's Left - 15 Minutes Of Fame Pt.1 - I Want To Touch The Sky - Derelict Career Promo Mix (May 2014)

01. 00:00 The Inventors Of Aircraft – Early Morning Trauma (Earthtones Vol.1, Tessellate Recordings, Bandcamp, 2013)
02. 01:40 The Angling Loser – Night (Author Of The Twilight, Time Released Sound, 2013
03. 07:45 Abdul Mogard – Studded Procession (Futuresequence, Sequence 7, Bandcamp, 2013)
04. 07:50 Metatag – One Dream Lost One Dream Found (Transmisson LP, Bandcamp, 2014)
05. 09:20 Eeem – Shores Of Midgard (Futuresequence, Sequence 7, Bandcamp, 2013)
06. 15:40 Foci's Left – Pathological Darkness (Derelict Career LP, Foci's Left, Bandcamp, 2014)
07. 17:00 Boards Of Canada – Reach For The Dead (Tomorrow's Harvest LP, Warp, 2013)
08. 21:20 Grouper – No Other (A.I.A: Dream Loss LP, Yellowelectric, 2011)
09. 23:50 Duncan O'Calleiagh – Low Across Dawn Waters (Distant Voices, Still Lives, Parvo Art, 2009)
10. 23:50 Foci's Left – Anything Becomes Possible With Time (Derelict Career LP / Tara EP, Foci's Left, Bandcamp, 2014)
31:34 end

http://kapsil.net/muttley/2014/Foci%...%202014%29.mp3

Enjoy people.

Mick

http://subvertcentral.com/forum/showthread.php?60487-Foci-s-Left-15-MOF-Pt-1-I-Want-To-Touch-The-Sky-Derelict-Career-Promo-Mix-%28May%29

Goldfrapp - Stranger (Foci's Left Instrumental Remix)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=MnySVVID3ag

Free Mp3 download on the SubVersion SoundCloud:

https://soundcloud.com/subversion-2/...rumental-remix

Published on 3 May 2014

Bonus audio from the soon-arriving "Derelict Career" LP by Foci's Left, the solo project of Mick Robert Buckingham from Oxford, UK. Due to respect of copyright this original version is online as a stream and not on the paid download of my third album.

The LP will be available at: www.focisleft.bandcamp.com for an inexpensive £5.

Please buy Goldfrapp's records. "Tales Of Us" is a fantastic record closely followed by their debut "Lovely Head" and then "Seventh Tree". You can find Goldfrapp's music available on Amazon, iTunes, and more reputable stores.

Don't forget to check www.goldfrapp.com

Thanks for listening.

Foci's Left - Life In A Less Southern Town (Omni Music Ohm Series 02)

http://subvertcentral.com/forum/showthread.php?60331-OUT-NOW-The-Ohm-Series-Foci-s-Left-Life-in-a-Less-Southern-Town-LP-%28Ohm02%29&highlight=southern

#6 in the drum 'n' bass bestsellers one week in March 2014, #32 for the month from hundreds (it's not even d'n'b, it's at best electronica).

#Supported by Niels Roosen (www.jungletrain.net owner), Jonathan Tait (Subvert Central Recordings owner), Simon Rametse (Simon Bean, Omni Music), amongst others.

#Critically acclaimed by seasoned www.nightshift.oxfordmusic.net writer David Murphy in print.

#Collaborative effort with a Brian Eno collaborator - Simon Scott of Slowdive - and Mike Twelve (Seconds Before Awakening / The Giraffe And The Tree).

The LP is based on emotions I experience writing music in the town of Carterton, Oxfordshire; additionally Oxford, as a means to express myself - as opposed to Rochester, Kent, where I could express very little. "Life In A Less Southern Town" runs the gamut of the ambient, drone, synthesizer and modern classical worlds to offer something unique.

"Erratic Pathway" is remixed on the disc by Simon Scott of Slowdive. Scott worked with Brian Eno on the group's "Souvlaki" LP in the early 1990s.

The disc comes with 4 bonus tracks. CDs ship immediately (please put your address in the Paypal notes and I'll send your copy).

Many thanks for your support - an audience means the world to me.

Mick Buckingham (Foci's Left)

www.omnimusic.org

reviews

"There are two sorts of ambient music. One gets you relaxed, and one makes you uneasy; one's a warm duvet and one's a chill breeze; one's a forgiving hug and one's a suspicious glance.

Although the second album by Oxford musician Mick Buckingham covers both ambient strains, it's definitely better when leaning towards the latter. The most satisfying element of this record is its density - where many ambient composers are happy to let things run, Buckingham has created a CD of real sonic depth, with a lush textural variety, from the pitched-up honks at the opening (that remind us of "Galleons Of Stone" by The Art Of Noise) to "In Our Lives, There Have Been Many Terrors", in which distant metallic clanks are borne on zephyrs through crumbling ruins.

Occasionally the sounds are just too well worn, and the ear can't help but associate echoey piano with lachrymose US soaps, and sawtooth synth hums with encroaching Silurians, but in general this is a well-constructed thoughtful slice of musical atmospherica.

Perhaps "Transistory Stringency" - yes, the titles are best ignored, frankly - is thin and meandering, but in general this record marries the amicable bubbling of early Global Communication with the elegant austerity of Tim Hecker or Leyland Kirby.

The record ends with some unexpected drum 'n' bass action, and if the breakbeat tweaking is a little ham-fisted, the mournful Aphex horns underneath embody the record's true, dark heart. Good stuff, in short, but more misery next time, please, Mick; perhaps we should have written a bad review, to get the ball rolling." ~ David Murphy, Nightshift reviewer, April 2014. (www.nightshift.oxfordmusic.net)

"It reminded me of Vangelis. It's better than your first album. :)" ~ Jonathan Tait, Subvert Central Recordings and published The Wire Letters contributor concerning Meredith Monk. (www.subvertcentral.com)

"That's pretty out there man. I didn't dislike it, that's for sure, but the main thing I took from it is it was very adventurous in what it tries to do." ~ ASC on "Love Never Fails", producer mentioned by Joe Muggs in The Wire 2012 Rewind as breaking new ground. (www.auxiliarymusic.com)

"First impression: your music is very strong compositionally and sonically, very well made and beautifully executed. :)" ~ Pascal Savy, Fluid Radio.

"Yes I liked it. You've got a real talent there. I think you're an innovator." ~ Geoff Brooks PhD, clinical psychologist, hypnotherapist and Reiki healer.

"I like the mood of the release, which I would classify as darkly contemplative. It's always good to play to your strengths, so my recommendation would be to continue further down this path." ~ www.acloserlisten.com

"I like it :) Suddenly starts to get moody when the organ comes in." ~ Shiva, Bitrate Music on "With Aid Of The Assertive" [CD-R Bonus Track] (www.bitratemusic.com), attendant of Technicality raves in the ongoing jungle / drum 'n' bass revival.

"I thought is was nicely meandering without losing its focus." ~ Bob Macc on "Love Conquers All", jungle track in 4/4 and 5/4 time signature. (Outsider, Paradox Music, Subvert Central, Breakin, www.subvertmastering.com)

"Sounds like a good lead into a d'n'b track. The arrangement is very pleasant to me." ~ Nic TVG on "In Our Lives, There Have Been Many Terrors" percussion section. (www.pineconemoonshine.com)

"I like the part where the drums start to fall apart the best." ~ Nic TVG, Pinecone Moonshine label owner (Macc, Icarus et al) on "Love Conquers All".

"Nice ECM style album cover as well!" ~ James Sargeant, Moshka promoter, Oxford.

credits

released 02 March 2014
Mick Robert Buckingham - all synths, instruments and processing, except on "In Our Lives, There Have Been Many Terrors" where Mike Twelve contributes the middle part. All mastering by Foci's Left, except "Love Conquers All" which has additional mastering by Bob Macc (www.subvertmastering.com)

tags

tags: ambient electroacoustic pianism second album synthesizer vocal harmonies Oxford

license

Foci's Left - Tara EP (Foci's Left EP 003)

Tara "Moose" Buckingham, our 16 year old Colly / Alsatian cross, died on January 9th 2014 of kidney failure. There was nothing more we could do, it was her time. Me and my close family enjoyed 8 years with her. She was a rescue dog from the RSPCA.

As a way to mark this loss cathartically, and as a tribute, I present "Tara EP", a four track chronological excursion of Tara into the afterlife ("Anything Becomes Possible With Time"), emotions in lament ("Non-Corrosive String Solution"), the memorandum ("For Tara"), and finally, my belief she may come back as a woman one day ("To The Woman With No Name"). This is an EP of very personal emotions, from the one who was ironically least close to her because of my own illness.

The EP is an inexpensive £3, being sold as a whole, as it is meant to be heard. 50% of proceeds will go to our local Animal Sanctuary shop, where "Moose" as she was infamously called every day (due to her appearance) was took for walks regularly.

I hope you enjoy the music. Here's to you Tara, hopefully we'll speak again someday.

SPECIAL OFFER

Order "Life In A Less Southern Town LP" on CD-R and "Tara EP" for £10. Email mbucki07 at hotmail dot co dot uk or send your Paypal payment to this address clearly labelled "Special offer" and I'll send both releases to you digitally. :)

REVIEWS

"It reminds me of early(ish) Pink Floyd :)" ~ Jonathan Tait, Subvert Central Recordings on "Anything Becomes Possible With Time".

"My favourite artist at the moment...classic releases!" Simon Rametse, March 2014.

"i like it. i wonder what it would sound like if it gets a bit more complex. nice one anyway. " ~ logburner, Subvert Central forum on "Non-Corrosive String Solution".

"it's rhythmic very odd – it sounds as though everything is always slightly behind the beat – disturbing :)" ~ Jonathan Tait on "Non-Corrosive String Solution".

"I like it, very interesting, I'm going to show the rest of the gang and I let you know what everyone thinks." ~ Shiva, www.bitratemusic.com on "Non-Corrosive String Solution".

"It's nice. It sounds like an improvisation :)" ~ Jonathan Tait on "To The Woman With No Name".

credits

released 02 March 2014
Mick Robert Buckingham - all synths, piano, strings, processing and mastering, except "To The Woman With No Name" which is mastered by Bob Macc (www.subvertmastering.com)

tags

tags: ambient electroacoustic pianism third self-released ep vocal harmonies Oxford

Foci's Left & Geoff Brooks - Hypnosis Session 1 - Dreams (November 2013)

I, Mick Robert Buckingham first met hypnotherapist and alternative medicines/therapies specialist Geoff Brooks in 2010, when I was going through a transition in diagnosis from bipolar and psychotic depression to schizo-affective disorder. Within 1 session I felt really at ease and liberated by Geoff's emotive techniques with positive affirmations and anxiety disorders. He trains in imaginal realities, psychotherapy, dream work, EFT (emotional freedom technique), hypnotherapy and Reiki healing.

With 3 degrees with distinctions to his name, I was motivated by my deteriorating 2013 health to seek guidance from Geoff once again. After this particularly resonant opening session to the series - on the subject of dreams and activating their merits - Geoff commented since I was recording these sessions for my personal use if we could make them publically available to be bought on the internet. This not only increases Geoff's audience just by having audio online, but benefits both of us as we split any profits from downloads equally.

The price for the first 51 minute, carefully mastered (by myself) hypnosis session is £15, since Geoff's sessions, lasting roughly 90 minutes each, are £40 each. I hope this gives you a taster into the curated content discussed by me, Foci's Left and Geoff in the session, gives you an insight into what I want to create, a showcase of Geoff's remarkable skills in his respective fields, and maybe motivates you, if you are within reach of Swindon, UK, to look up the Shaftesbury Centre where he works to arrange a session of your own.

credits

released 05 November 2013
Mick Robert Buckingham (Foci's Left) provides base subject matter, Geoff Brooks (hypnotherapist) weaves a dialogue to New Age background music. Carefully mastered by Mick Robert Buckingham.

Image is a free online take by Bat For Lashes' Natasha Khan of the coastline while she was on a US tour with her band. www.facebook.com/batforlashes

Foci's Left - Dumping The Rock EP (Foci's Left EP 002)

"Dumping The Rock" is a varied showcase of the Foci's Left sound, but aims specifically to disperse any aggression of past releases toward something more mellow and beautiful. You can map different tracks together in a Foci's Left playlist with this release.

Artwork: "Cyclist" by Antonymes (Ian Hazeldine), who took this picture especially for me upon the release of his album "The License To Interpret Dreams".

Purchasers will receive a bonus Modern Classical piece called "The Calamities Of Confusion [21.12.12] (For Lata S.) in their download.

Total EP running time 13:52.

reviews

"This is breathtaking man" ~ 247, Futurepast Fanzine ed. on "Overdriven Terrain".

"Love it :)" ~ DJ Trax (Moving Shadow) on "Overdriven Terrain".

"Ah, 'The Calamities Of Confusion' - I like this one". ~ Jonathan Tait, Subvert Central Recordings.

credits

released 19 August 2013
All tracks written, produced and engineered by Mick Robert Buckingham (Foci's Left).

tags

tags: ambient electroacoustic pianism second self-released ep synthesizer vocal harmonies Oxford

Foci's Left - Grumpy Love (Foci's Left LP 001)

Dedicated to my sister, the beautiful Joanne Buckingham. Modicum: to raise a smile. This is a soundtrack of my llife so far.

Artwork is "Leopards" by Niomi Jackson.

reviews

"Introducing ‘Not Seeing Reality’ – the wayward, often mysterious journey that defines the pathway of what we call life. For many, reality is totally dependent on individual perception. The notes begin their life in innocent infancy, but by their teens they have snaked their way into the more unruly, dissonant territory, interacting with one another until a harmonious chain reaction ensues; one that started off with a primary note – a single heartbeat, the survivor in the battle of selection – but one that quickly brings in a thousand more.

Reality is then able to shape-shift into a sporadic, sparse piano line, accompanied by a gorgeous wave of crimson synth. Only, a line doesn’t quite work; it is bloated enough to feel pregnant with the baby bump of melody, oozing out of the thicker line and then submerging the original, vulnerable piano with new life.

Foci’s Left is the alias of Fluid Radio’s own Mick Buckingham, a name that regular Fluid readers will know very well. Told as a chronological tale, Grumpy Love isn’t nearly as dishevelled or as depressed with the state of things past and present as its grumpy name would seem to suggest. It is, in fact, shrouded by heart-felt sensitivity and deep personality. It is very much the opposite of grumpy. After all, there are two words up there; the oh-so-thin space that divides the first word from the second, ‘love’, is close enough to be considered intimate.

Love never fails. Love conquers all.

Grumpy Love is a beautiful, personalized painting, left to hang at a slight angle on the uneven canvas of life, with both enjoyable and difficult moments that come to claim every man. When linked together, they reach a teenage crescendo. ‘Piano Paint’ introduces some beautiful synths that jut into the piano, coating it with an intoxicating harbour of nostalgia – the nostalgic element traces a radiated line of melody, as if the early memory on which it was based has physically escaped, deceiving what we all thought of as reality and instead containing itself within the music as a precautionary measure. It cocoons itself against the decline that age brings and the mood swing of swift change that can affect our recollections as one decade passes into another.

Saturated in the vintage, ambient warmth of pure tone, when the genre itself was in its infancy, the synths are a mesmerising serenade. It shares the same angelic timbre that made the early Brian Eno classic, Music For Airports, such a lovable listen. You can tell instantly that Grumpy Love is a deeply personal recording just from this synth alone. The later drums seem to propel the passages of life forward, with no pause for reminiscing. That comes later on, because Grumpy Love has some beautiful, open spaces ideal for reflection. Life may, at times, feel like ‘An Upwards Slope’, but listening to the music here is to know that the inner serenity of peaceful ease is always there. Always. Here, a thinner drone is disguised as Cupid himself, but the darker echoes of possible distress lie just beyond the doorway. It is the tense, anxious sound of the unknown; a place where dusty road-signs are always blank with unmarked destinations.

‘For Fluid’ is a loving piece of music that is as much a generous tribute as it is a personal reflection. Grumpy Love narrates the passage of life with painstaking thought. The older hand outlines the black tail of a nurtured note like the embrace between a newborn and a parent. In this picture, the thin brush gives life to the paint. It holds itself in the palmed trust of the future, while taking one last look back at the past – this is the final dedication." ~ James Catchpole, Fluid Radio

www.fluid-radio.co.uk/2013/09/focis-left/

"After the disconcerting dissonance of his last demo (FTAL Attraction), Foci's Left - the solo work of occasional Nightshift contributor Mick Buckingham - casts forth a full album set on a far less turbulent plane.

Nine tracks of stretched-out electro-acoustic ambient pianism and electronic minimalism drift and shift with soporific intent, microtonal drones morphing and gradually mutating with precision-restrained variation. Best of the pieces here is the drone-drift of "Decompress The Magnet", while it's marginally more imposing twin "An Upwards Slope" dovetails into it seamlessly. "Regurgitated Impulses" adds a necessary glitchy interlude, while "Piano Paint" is both light in tone and texture but random enough to be distracting.

Where the album occasionally falls down is a lack of brevity on a few of the tracks - "Piano Paint" for example has run its course long before it concludes - while "For Fluid" is anything but and simply sounds like Mick's plonking random keys on his piano, but beyond such lapses, "Grumpy Love" is a neat enough addition to the ambient drone cannon." ~ Ronan Munro, Nightshift Magazine ed.

(www.nightshift.oxfordmusic.net, October 2013)

"I find you on Bandcamp and I'm listening right now "Grumpy Love". This is strange music so far :) Dark soundscapes and atmospheres but lighten up with childish imagination coming from the piano playing (currently I'm at the ending of the second track). Interesting. " ~ Kristian, Noise For Blues For Noise.

"It is very...interesting :)
Well at times I really like the aesthetic and the goofiness of the sounds. Sometimes it is a tad too much for me I have to admit. Maybe it is something I have to listen to more carefully. But it is very inspiring at times." ~ Nils Frahm, Erased Tapes Records.

"It's pretty amazing. I really like 'Decompress The Magnet' and 'An Upwards Slope', they are my favourites. I'm going to have to burn it to CD for the car." ~ 247, Futurepast Fanzine ed.

"Well done Mick. Congrats!" ~ ASC

"I really like 'Decompress The Magnet' :D" ~ GlassBox

"'Decompress The Magnet' really is outstanding." ~ Roo Stercogburn, Omni Music.

subvertcentral.com/forum/showthread.php?59592-Foci-s-Left-Grumpy-Love-LP-(my-debut-album-OUT-NOW)

"It has a nice flow to it" ~ Roy Buckingham, my grandfather on "For Fluid".

"I am very impressed, the Grumpy Love LP, it really has a lot to offer. 'Decompress the Magnet' has a depth of creativity, emotion and inspiration resonating from it. 'An Upwards Slope' has a feeling of a eternal dose of mystery and passionate adventure of abstract life just breathing in and out through the song... I wish the LP had a fixed price on it because it is of good value. Brillliant work love it!" ~ Simon Bean, Omni Music via Facebook.

credits

released 19 May 2013
All tracks composed and recorded by Michael Robert Buckingham (Foci's Left), with additional production on "Decompress The Magnet" by Mike Twelve (Seconds Before Awakening / The Giraffe And The Tree).

tags

tags: ambient collage electroacoustic first album pianism synthesizer vocal harmonies Oxford

license

Muttley

FTEL 015 - February 2014

Fanu - Bassoradio 17.02.14
Fanu SoundCloud download

This radio show from Janne Hatula aka Fanu is a running example of the amalgamation between slowfast as a movement and old school hardcore. Pensive buildup moods ("Flocon" by Moresounds) are mixed into mellow Think break steppers like Dillinja's "Sovereign Melody" at 160 BPM. The general mood is borderline chaotic yet timbrally streetwise; flows of breakbeats and 4/4 from The Prodigy's "Everybody In Da Place" juxtaposing well at the slower tempo and connection with older rave music. Fanu's own "Paracosm" makes a brief apppearance, sounding purposeful and extra-tight in the drums department, while Lemon D's All Roads Music gets a showcase through "Big Poppa", a free download on the Inflect Bristol website right now. A rollicking 2 hour sonic microcosm if there ever was one!

https://soundcloud.com/fanu/d-b-show-with-fanu-on-4

Crashfaster - Further LP
Russian Winter Records download

Best bracketed as electronic rock rather than electronica, or dance rock, Crashfaster's "Further" is a great album that deserves patience in every department. The buildup in ultramundane themes such as God ("I've been waiting for this moment, moment to come, well here it is [above the world] / I've got everything I need here, right here with me, above the world" speak of a mischevious crossing between heavenly enunciation and heavenly feeling. Some of the lyrics, especially the shouted ones, are incomprehensible, and it's unclear to me yet, on several listens whether this adds to its otherworldiness. I think it does currently. As for the effects otherwise, the beats are pretty kinky and spiffy, whereas the track ordering feels consistent, even though the last third pales in comparison to earlier on.

http://crashfaster.bandcamp.com/

Recondite - Hinterland LP
Ghostly International download

Recondite's demeanour is similar to Murcof, however Autechre of the "Amber" style gives the record its unique, telling character. Organic beats, little synth ditties, eddying your eardrums like a sandworm in rev-up mode, splay out all the tracks in complex arrangements with the beatwork. 54 minutes of delicate melodies and stylish new age-meets-techno drums and bass to digest. "Leafs" repeats in E, mixing up scales and chords like a proficient instrumentalist. These tracks really are instrumental wonders, vamped with blood red carnations of seriousness and loving totality. Pacing of the record feels very thought-through, dense enough to invite acutely active listening but spacious also to recline you into the passive. A gem of a techno LP from Ghostly International, and surely remaining forever now.

http://ghostly.com/releases/hinterland

FTEL

Muttley

Nic TVG - Then I Disappear - review 3 for The Wire Magazine
Subtle Audio 2xLP / CD / DL

The journalistic jungle revival of the last 6 months, from The Wire's Joe Muggs commenting on dBridge being from a genre long "declared moribund" (drum 'n' bass) by the mainstream music press, to Mixmag's "Jungle is back" article by Alex Jones, only goes so far in counter-measuring that these experimental fusions of breakbeats, sampledelia and Auxiliar-ite (see the Autonomic movement in 2008) genre-crossing never went away. Nic TVG, the Pinecone Moonshine label owner meanwhile has a dependency on drumfunk, one of the many subgenres of drum 'n' bass that combines funk, jazz, jungle and hiphop. Coined by Paradox circa 2004, "Then I Disappear", Nic's debut LP can be observed as a serving of semblance with all these genres and influences.

With "The Clown" a dedication to Charles Gayle's street jazz persona, the hoppy parallels with IDM of "Out Of No More" and the titular "Then I Disappear", Nic dose-drops us with his main surgically-annotated weapon: depth of drum work. Time-stretches on the opening piece "A Mouse Among Monsters" thuds like a polluted heartbeat in LSD-infusion with Autechre-ish synths and whirlwind rides. The pace is stripped back by noir-esque strings that accent on the synths later on, leading into "The Clown" and its nappy-clappy hi-hats and snares. It's the baby of the set, a naive walker stumbling on a jazzy modulated bass, only to be shot in half by filtered breakbeats that cut up the sound space like an angle grinder stuffed with jazz samples from the Davis/Hancock continuum.

Nic's persistent strength on this album, and indeed all of the Subtle Audio label's releases (The Wire's Simon Reynolds commented "original, exciting, inventive" to the CD that was sent to him on Blissblog in 2007) is that he just lets loose with whatever creative (and) percussive trajectory that appeals to him for writing. "Playing Drums As Pads" reverses the placement of drums in the mix in an ideological point of view, and it's little touches like these that keep the reader on their toes of his narrative with the jazz and funk greats of old. So though firmly rooted in breakbeat and drum 'n' bass / jungle BPMs, "Then I Disappear" is certainly not something straying from the systematic of adventure, no matter where he's gone after the 12 tracks have been handed over to Conor O' Dwyer (brother of Second Language's Aine O' Dwyer). And wherever the trail leads, the results are never less than excellent.

Mick Buckingham

Muttley

Brad Rose has run the Digitalis label for over 5 years with great releases from Chicago psych-rockers Zelienople, Pocahaunted & Robedoor, and Rose himself under one of his many production pseudonyms, Charlatan. When I asked him if he'd like to contribute a 15 Minutes Of Fame mix to the 7.5 years running series, he was really enthusiastic, and now we have the great results - a 40 minute, 10 track mix covering the best in tapes for 2013. Check out Brad's Isolatarium eBook and download on Bandcamp for a taster into his area.

TRACKLIST

01. The Rainbow Body "Free Sentient Beings #4" (Ginjoha)
02. Virile Games "Steel Church" (Hospital)
03. Tiger Stripe "Prismacolor" (Self-Released)
04. Cream Juice "So Smooth" (Orange Milk)
05. Giant Claw "Wombs Forever" (Tranquility Tapes)
06. DYNOOO "FitzryvA" (Astro:dynamics)
07. Emily Reo "Metal" (Crash Symbols)
08. Wizard Of "Never Die IV" (Rocket Machine)
09. Waxy Tomb "Interchangeable Limb Replacements" (Weird Ear)
10. Attack Bear "Superfucked" (Reckno)

Download

http://www.foxydigitalis.com/foxyd/

Muttley

'Basal Sounds' is ultimately a column for music that hits you in the chest - basal being doctor terminology to measure heart rate and the thumps of the muscle. It's also kinda catchy given bass music has become so first-rate for catching everything between 120-160 BPM that doesn't quite fit its own genre. As a writer, I, Muttley SubVersion have been covering leftfield drum & bass, jungle, ambient and electronica for 7 1/2 years for over 10 publications, so now it made sense to get involved with Organic, seeing as they're some prime movers alright!

Read October 2013's column

Keep updated

Muttley

FTEL 014 - Volor Flex & Encode - Altiplano EP
Dark Clover 12' / download

"Altiplano" is wired to the internal organs of Dubstep and Future Garage circa the post-Burial era. Imagery of emerging bonfires, which require a repeat listen, abound the suburban soundscapes like a marshmellow stick poking the flame - sweet in initial flavour, charred in overall propensity. Spoken word overdubs in the post-mix work well with the sounds on offer, as do a keen set of ears for Industrial textures. This is the second Volor Flex I've heard, and the first with collaborator Encode, and they make a fine sound together. What is crucial to their hit rate is a wringing out of a sample set with deft precision, and an orthodoxy in Dubstep 140 bpm-centric tempo. The timbres are not razor sharp, but neither are they blunted, which gives an experience akin to changing a light bulb in a lava lamp: glowing deep.

http://www.tailored-communication.com/release/altiplano

Muttley

Photo: Natasha Khan

A body that lives a long time, accumulates debris. It cannot be avoided. Partly inspired by Dave @ Low Light Mixes with his "A Solitary Sea", I chose tracks based on circumnavigating the drowning condition - whether it be your sorrows, tears, or loneliness.

Unlike "Weathering" and "Gravitation To Resolution", I wasn't rooted by track names. Bat For Lashes' "Sleep Alone" is the sole track with national radio play. I saw them live in October and was staggered by the quality of their second album, particularly Natasha Khan's haunting voice. "Sleep Alone" is based on the relationship I lost, and if I will start all over again - which I surely will, in 2010.

Conjoining tenacity for creation with artists receiving scant attention, "I Shall Not Drown" is the second Muttley set built in Acoustica Audio Mixer, which I can see myself using ever greater as the years roll on.

TRACKLISTING

01. Drowning The Virgin Silence - To Reach The Clouds (from Beneath The Sulfur Sky)
02. Rameses III - Across The Lake Is Where My Heart Shines (from I Could Not Love You More)
03. Eluvium - All The Sails (from When I Live By The Garden And The Sea)
04. Peter James - Adrift (from Holding On - Letting Go)
05. Stars Of The Lid - The Evil That Never Arrived (from And Their Refinement Of The Decline)
06. Herzog - Our Friends Save Us From Drowning (from First Summer And The Running Dream)
07. Fennesz - Rivers Of Sand (from Venice)
08. Arovane - Seaside (from Tides)
09. Seafar - New Town Dreams (from Hegira)
10. Black To Comm - Trapez (from Alphabet 1968.)
11. Bat For Lashes - Sleep Alone (from Two Suns)
12. Atomic Skunk - Liquid Dharma (free download - www.atomicskunk.com)
13. Global Communication - 12-18 (from 76-14)
14. Bitcrush - To Drown (from Epilogue In Waves)

Download

Featured post

Friday, 29 May 2020

Friday, 4 August 2017

Tuesday, 23 May 2017

Tuesday, 17 March 2015

Sunday, 15 March 2015

Monday, 12 January 2015

Wednesday, 7 January 2015

Tuesday, 30 December 2014

Monday, 22 December 2014

Monday, 12 May 2014

Goldfrapp - Stranger (Foci's Left Instrumental Remix)

credits

tags

license

tags

credits

credits

tags

credits

tags

license

Monday, 24 February 2014

Monday, 2 December 2013

Sunday, 27 October 2013

Thursday, 24 October 2013

Friday, 18 October 2013

Tuesday, 22 December 2009