The Man With the Harmonica (Original Version) – Ennio Morricone
Much sampled but originally From Once Upon a Time in the West.. one of the great sound films.. and a great soundtrack as always from Morricone.
Uaxuctum – Giacinto Scelsi
Apparently Scelsi was admitted to a mental asylum for playing one note on the piano all day long. I’m watching my back.
Requiem II Kyrie – Gyorgi Ligeti
A big innovator of modern classical music.. also used a lot in films.
Howard Skempton – Lento
Composed using chance methods but is really minimal and beautiful.
Atmos III – A Winged Victory For The Sullen
A whole movie in a five minute piece of music.
A Goood Sign – Soft Hair
Connan Mockasin and Sam (LA Priest/Late Of The Pier) Eastgate’s great colab. Lethargic, melancholy funk.
Memories Of Green – Vangelis
A piece from Bladerunner. Flawlessly soundtracks a robot with a soul. The piano notes are the music I reckon tears might make. If tears formed a band or something.
Front Load – Arca
Arca makes some of the most perfectly nuanced tracks in the game. This is a masterclass in subtle, emotive composition.
Polyrock – Your Dragging Feet
Just found out about this lot recently – a late 70s early 80s New Wave band co-produced by Phillip Glass. This track in particular is mind-blowing.
Quavius – Magic Man
I read a review calling this hip-house.. not sure about that but it’s got a really nice soulful, homemade kind of sound to it.
DJ Richard – Nighthawk
Space music.
flies+flies – Milk & Peppers EP
flies+flies are a London based three-piece consisting of electronics, vox/guitar and cello. Their brooding, claustrophobic sound occupies a smoky hinterland encompassing Jeff Buckley’s reflective late-night hymnals, the apocalyptic transmissions of Godspeed You! Black Emperor and the spare, sputtering 808 patterns of early Hessle Audio records. It’s no surprise that Andrew Weatherall was one of the first people to pick up on flies+flies, regularly including them in his mixes.
The band came together from disparate musical backgrounds – Jake Williams (electronics), a former member of Red Snapper and Toob, and currently also one half of Petwo Evans (renowned afro-influenced project that counts Ben UFO and Laurent Garnier as fans) remembers seeing Dan Griffis sing for the first time in Berlin and being “blown away”. Griffis’ voice is disarmingly clear and piercing, a falsetto full of richness and menace. The trio are completed by Martin Kingston, a friend of Williams from their time at Goldsmiths College, whose background is in the neo-classical and folk scenes)
Title track Milk & Peppers is sinister, full of impending doom and anxiety. Hypnotic shifts in basslines juxtaposed effortlessly with Griffis’ seductive and hyper-sexualized croon. The Sea, inspired by the housing crisis, with its submerged guitars, sparse 808 toms and minimal cello provide a haunting and atmospheric backdrop to the vocals. While Wire approved Dane Law’s remix of The Sea brings a new dimension, jittery and uneasy, a lyrical break but no relief from the sense of longing and melancholy.
