January 13, 2018
A great book which I really enjoyed last year. Mark Fisher wrote about how we are haunted by futures that failed to happen. In Ghosts of My Life, he searches for these lost futures in the work of David Peace, John Le Carré, Christopher Nolan, Joy Division, Burial and many others.
Sadly Mark Fisher died a year ago today.
January 12, 2018
Bleep:
Having dropped a red-eyed techno 12 MS Ghost for Dark Past Bright Future in 2016, Blackest Ever Black call on Russian artist тпсб for an exercise in this very vivid form of dread-jungle. This is the sort of sound that made Foul Play, Omni Trio and A Guy Called Gerald such staples within our '90s listening habits, and it's great to see BEB pushing this lesser-explored corner of ambient-jungle (tekno).
Sounding rather heavy-eyed from what we assume is many nights staying up late in front of a monitor and crunchy tower block running Cubase, carefully piecing together the album's complex web of breakbeats and dreamlike BST atmospherics, Sekundenschlaf is sort of like the reverse sound of Pessimist's paranoia-drenched DNB chill. Where that record was full of scything breaks, Sekundenschlaf is more restrained, held back for the dream squad. When it hits though, the breaks roll with a fierce velocity that is fine-tuned by a mind well-educated with the expanding possibilities of early hardcore and techno. Making it a strongly suggested listen for all AWOL, Black Dog & Dream Catalogue End Of World Rave revellers.
January 12, 2018
Bleep:
Paper Dollhouse unveil the radioactive ambient pop of new album The Sky Looks Different Here via the group's independently run MoonDome imprint. Produced by Planet Mu's Asher Levitas and featuring artwork by Finders Keepers' Andy Votel. The Sky Looks Different Here is an incredibly vivid journey through a nuclear nightside dreamworld.
Having previously recorded two albums for Jane Weaver's Finders Keepers sub-label Bird and the Glasgow based imprint Night School, The Sky Looks Different Here features twelve tracks that draw parallels between the project's past roots in spidery post-punk electronica and a neon-lit, radioactive ambient pop sensibility. This has lead to the creation of what is sure to be the most concise and realised Paper Dollhouse record yet.
Recorded between North London's New River Studios with Asher Levitas and Nina's studio in Suffolk, together they have crafted twelve tracks of ambient electronica blended with field recordings of the surrounding studios environments, shot through a spectral technicolour narrative. One that mixes the group's signature brand of darkwave influenced left-field pop, urban field recordings and electronic composition.
The Sky Looks Different Here is a journey through a city drowning within the endless downpour of metallic rain and a radiant haze of dawn, a map through a vivid and bucolic utopia.
Pre-order here.
January 11, 2018
Back in December 2107, Leyland James Kirby (The Caretaker) released a new album dedicated to Mark Fisher.
Entitled Take Care, It's A Desert Out There, copies of the first album were first made available during Kirby's performance at London's Barbican on December 8th for an event organised by Unsound.
350 CD copies of the album were made available on Boomkat over the weekend, but quickly sold out. Each of them were signed and individually numbered. The album features previously unreleased material from Kirby, comprising a single, 48-minute long track.
You can hear it on YouTube and another general release of the album will appear sometime this year.
January 10, 2018
Edith Wharton (1862-1937)
“But I have sometimes thought that a woman's nature is like a great house full of rooms: there is the hall, through which everyone passes in going in and out; the drawing-room, where one receives formal visits; the sitting-room, where the members of the family come and go as they list; but beyond that, far beyond, are other rooms, the handles of whose doors perhaps are never turned; no one knows the way to them, no one knows whither they lead; and in the innermost room, the holy of holies, the soul sits alone and waits for a footstep that never comes.”
The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton.
January 9, 2018
A few people have asked about my books since I migrated from Squarespace and lost those landing pages. Squarespace is a great service but too expensive for me. At the moment, I publish on two platforms, Amazon Kindle and Apple Books.
Inexact Shadows
On a remote island, scientists have made a fantastic discovery. A technology thought impossible. Sabotage investigator John Miller is brought in when the labs are destroyed and something stolen. He is joined by Peter Williams, a soon to retire MI5 agent. As part of an unlikely group, together they must solve what has happened. Their discoveries trigger a whole chain of unwelcome events both past and present.
The Wind Took Your Answer Away
A collection of ten short stories. A tour through time and space. Enter a strange past with stories that almost could be or might have been - A post office hides an unwelcome secret; a world where words are cyclical; cherry blossoms that herald something unspeakable and a boy who finds beauty among the tidal pools.
I am currently working on a third book published sometime late 2019 or sometime in 2020.
My Amazon Author page is here.
January 9, 2018
Two new albums from this Japanese artist whose work has often been released by the Skam record label. His latest works are available now on Bandcamp.
January 9, 2018
Long-awaited remix album of last year's Async. Includes reinterpretations by OPN, Andy Stott, Fennesz, Alva Noto and Jóhann Jóhannsson. It arrives on February 22nd.
January 9, 2018
Woozy, spaced out electronics from this Canadian artist. Surprisingly alluring music. Samples on Boomkat but currently out of stock. You should still be able to find a good retailer somewhere.
January 8, 2018
Jana Partners and the California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS) called on Apple to consider the impact excessive use of smartphones had on the mental health of young people. The two are worried that if Apple does not address growing concerns about smartphone use, its stock market value and general reputation could become damaged.
According to a Reuters report, half of US teenagers believe they are addicted to their mobile phones and feel the need to respond immediately to messages.