and a promised here are my thoughts on the CD which turned out to be from @paulo13
Destroyer are one of those bands who have been on my radar for a long time but I’ve just never paid much attention to. This tune is okay but I can’t help thinking if you’re going to call your band Destroyer you should be doing something a bit meatier than inoffensive synth pop.
Thanya Eyer is a new name to me. I like the percussion on this one, and the passage toward the end when it goes all woozy. One to investigate further.
I was also previously unfamiliar with Jonathan Bree. I’m going to stop saying that, because there are very few artists on this mix I previously knew (which is kind of the point, right?) There’s a sort of synthesised loucheness to this one, a seedy Jacques Brel recording on Garageband vibe, which I like.
This Alexandra Saviour track has a similar feel, with a dark carnival undercurrent. It’s my favourite of this section of the disc - it’s of a piece with the previous tracks but is a lot more successful for me.
The next track is my least favourite so far though! It’s not like there’s especially wrong with NMANDI, but it’s just a bit nothing. I’ve listened to it a few times now and can’t find anything to hang on to.
Up next, Noiserv have some nice touches, another one with a good percussion element, but ultimately there’s not a lot in the song itself to grab me.
Kraków Loves Adana offer a good strong track. Simple, pretty much just a synth bassline, and a couple of pads and melodies winding around it, but it works really well. One of my favourites on the mix.
Spinvis is another one that largely passes me by I’m afraid.
Spirit Fest - The Snow Falls On Everyone has a good country / folky groove, and actually puts in mind of the HC McEntire track on my mix - they’re both kind of rustic takes on motorik (if you squint a bit). There’s nice metallic twang to the lead instrument as well - I think it’s an acoustic guitar but it sounds almost like a banjo. Another good track .
The Delmar Darlon came in like it was going to be an M83 style synthy shoe gaze kind of thing and my interest was piqued, but unfortunately that first minute is the best part of the song for me.
Those vocals in the chorus of the Austra track are an interesting choice, aren’t they? I hated them on first listen, but over time they are growing on me.
TSHA - I like that nagging insistent instrumental break that comes in a few times. This is a superior slice of dance pop, digging it quite a bit. Not really what I associate with Ninja Tune, I remember when it was all head nodding spliff addled bollocks
The Cocorosie (at last! An act I do know!) track is another one I like. I think it benefits from being allowed to stretch out over five plus minutes (you’ll have seen from my disc that I like a long song, and you’ll probably be grateful when I tell you I had to cut a 20 minute track in the final cull). A lot of the songs so far have been little vignettes or cameos, and it’s nice to have something take it’s time a bit more.
Alex Mayr is more Europop, another to file under “doesn’t do much for me”
Sault, of course, is one I knew in advance, and an act that almost made it onto my own mix. This is a highlight, with a really smart piano part throughout.
This Sevdaliza song is a bit goth, you know. And that’s fine with me. Listening to the rest of her latest album as I type this out.
Jazzier late night vibes with DakhaBraka, at least until….I always like records that sound like two different things at once. I bet this would be great at a festival!
Not, however, so keen on Lyra Pramuk’s vocal layering and layering, and by “not so keen” I mean “this is the sort of thing they play in Hell”.
The penultimate track is Dino Brandeo and his mates. Another hmmm one, I’m afraid
…and we close with Evening Hymns, which is a great choice for the final cut. It has that woozy melancholy tiredness to it that seems to go on forever, like when you’re shattered and sprawled on the sofa as the day ebbs away.
There’s a definite mood and type of song throughout here, I suppose you’d call it something like contemporary singer songwriter / alternative pop? You’ll have figured from my mix that it’s not the kind of thing I normally listen to. I usually prefer a bit something a bit sloppier and rougher over the kind of poised sophistication we have here, but that’s not to say I’m not open to it. There are a good five or six artists here I’ll make an effort to hear some more by. It’s hard to say why one track grabs me and another doesn’t, but that ineffable alchemy is what makes music so good, isn’t it? I also noted that there’s what seems to be a lot of European music here, and I’m curious how you discover it all? Any good blogs etc, or is it all just Spotify recs and so on? Anyway, thanks very much for compiling and sending the disc! I got to hear loads of things I wouldn’t have otherwise, and like I said about five thousand words ago, that’s the point!
