Featured Artist: Taylor

Championing new music is always much easier when it is an artist/collection that is worthy of individual praise. This week, I received a 10 track CD from Taylor [real name Adam Taylor], an artist producing progressive electronica, involved with the burgeoning ‘Wigflex’ label.

When producing music within a genre so reliant on repetition, often the biggest challenge is to achieve elements of complexity and melodic development that sit comfortably within the four-to-the-floor boundaries. Nottingham-bred, Manchester-based Taylor is among the elite few that appear capable of this.

Musical life for Taylor began with the guitar, playing classical from a young age. Becoming more creative with the instrument in to his teens he formed a post-rock group, Ad Infinitum, and set about writing epic instrumentals with intricate time signatures and mutating melodic passages. This aspect of his song-writing has followed him in to his current guise as a producer of….well…what genre is it?

“I’ve had a few terms flung my way. Electronica, IDM, Melodic Techno, Maximal, TekHaus, call it what you will, my music’s generally got a beat at the core, with colourful melodies and effects.”

It is a compromise of simplicity and technical complexity that gives Taylor an edge in his field, and it appears that he is looking to use some of his post-rock influences from the past to emphasise this fact in future projects.

“Much of the electronic music I hear – though the groove and rhythm patterns can be quite diverse – is based around a neat 4/4 beat, which fits dance music sensibilities. I’ve moved away from that with some of my productions. The new project I’m working on – as well as some 4/4 patterns – includes different time signatures: 3/4, 6/8, 5/8, 10/4, 7/8. What would you call that?! MathTek?”

The independent label that releases Taylor’s work, Wigflex, is an influential player on Nottingham’s underground electronica scene, and is now branching out nationally with gigs up and down the country. It contains in its repertoire such respected artists as Geiom, Metaphi, and Hizatron, forming a hive of creativity that influence not just their listeners, but each other.

“I owe a great deal of my creative development to this collective. I am very excited about everything I’m hearing coming out of Wigflex, but I would say that! The boys are on fire! It’s gathering momentum, we now boast a club night and clothing line too.”

Outside of the Wigflex stable, Taylor is reluctant to be pigeon-holed when it comes to discussing his other influences, or indeed the state of the genre in which he operates. He mentions a few acts based around the Warp Records label, before going further afield with his citations, such as afro-beat king Fela Kuti, and neo-classicists Stravinsky and Rachmaninoff.

“On the whole I don’t appreciate that much dance music. Often it’s way too functional, though there are some gems in there. My favourite stuff takes plenty of cues from various forms of music and forges a unique blend of styles, not solely a dance music thing. Thankfully there are enough examples in dance music to keep it moving forward. Electronic music embraces new technologies, which develops sounds and styles. The diverse hardware, software, and equipment options open up plenty of ground for exploring creativity. There isn’t a best practice for making electronic music, but preference instead. Definitely a good thing.”

Wigflex 003 will be released in November, featuring Taylor’s ‘Squeege’.

If you wish to see Taylor live, check out:

- October 23rd. Stealth in Nottingham, playing alongside James Holden, Fairmont, Lukid, and Actress.

- October 25th. Bar Eleven in Nottingham, as part of the Hockley Hustle festival.

- November 21st. The Southbank in London, as part of the Wigflex Showcase.

For more info, and to hear Taylor’s music, visit www.myspace.com/adamtaylor84

or go to www.wigflex.com

Sister Blog

Please also head over to my university-centric blog http://tomquickfall.blogspot.com/ for more thoughts and general discussion.

Eclectic Mixup 4: Old Sounds for New Times

Those that are followers of this blog will know that I generally post an Eclectic Mixup when I am short of substantial subject matter to discuss. However, this Mixup 4 comes at the start of a new time in my life, a change of city, and a change of daily routine. The selection below are (some of) the tunes I have chosen to soundtrack this change.

Warren Zevon – Johnny Strikes Up The Band

A fine composer of cynical yet acutely observational rock, Warren Zevon released his most succesful album to date, ‘Excitable Boy’, in 1978. He selected this musical call to arms to open the LP, an intelligent choice with its driving verse rhythm and infectious use of the title line.

Paul Simon – Can’t Run But

Continuing with the theme of great American songwriters, ‘The Rhythm of the Saints’, Simon’s 1990 followup to ‘Graceland’, extended the artists previous African meanderings by incorporating Latin-American influences. ‘Can’t Run But’, perhaps the best song ever written about Chernobyl, begins with a beautiful bit of harmonic interplay between three mallet instruments and the bass. The song is simultaneously frantic and relaxing, with Simon’s harrowing vocal winding in and out of licks from guitarist J.J.Cale (I think…)

Amadou & Mariam – La Fête Au Village

Malian couple Amadou & Mariam had been working away on the West African music scene for a while before they were approached by esteemed World/Latin music star Manu Chao, who produced their 2004 album ‘Dimance a Bamako’. The album made little impact in the English speaking world outside of the exposure it received from Chao’s loyal following. However, success in France and West Africa led to a ‘World Music Best Album Award 2006′ from the BBC. It is an album full of simple and poignant songwriting, delivered beautifully by the pleasing vocal mix of the couple (as well as contributions from Chao himself) and uncluttered production. Amongst the more upbeat tracks lies ‘La Fete Au Village’, a slow and soporific song with a harrowing high melody sung between verses. Village sounds are present in the background to add context.

Roots Manuva – Inna

Roots Manuva – Strange Behaviour

It is hard to believe that ‘Brand New Second Hand’, the trailblazing debut from the supreme talent that is Roots Manuva is now 10 years old. I have included two tracks from the album that for me have always gone hand in hand, both in terms of mood and content. Both tell stories in the artist’s irresistable prose, and further justify the critical acclaim the leftfield UK emcee has received throughout his career.

Milton Nascimento – Lilia

A haunting, wordless piece from Brazilian singer/guitarist Milton Nascimento. Melodies are wrapped around a hypnotic 5/4 rhythm played out by a band including contemporary Lô Borges.

ISAN – Still.blue

British electronic duo ISAN take their affection for analogue synthesisers and produce some great stuff. Still.blue is one of many tracks I could have chosen.

Craft Still Evident in Underground Electronica………

I know I know, it’s been a long time since I’ve posted. I apologise, but I have my reasons.

The changing of seasons, addresses, and mindsets have motivated me to get my act together and revive Essentially Eclectic after its summer break.

There is no denying the slow down of commercial hits emerging from the UK’s ever changing and challenging underground electronica scene. Gone are the reigns of Bristol’s trip-hoppers and London’s lo-fi garage MCs. However, this is not to say that the well has run dry. Quite the opposite, some may argue. With the takeover of the internet as the foremost place to buy music, alongside the countless other methods of creating income from homemade productions,  the pressure of forming crossover potential music has been lifted on the young knob-tweaking talent up and down the country.

Although the clubs still have a big say in which electronic-based forms rule the roost fashion-wise, with the emergence of dubstep, grime, varying forms of house etc, bubbling under the surface exist artists that struggle to inhabit a specific genre or scene, while simultaneously absorbing some of the best bits of the styles around them.

Young Londoner Luke Blair, AKA Lukid, is one of those. With the intelligence and maturity evident in his two albums, one would be forgiven in assuming the producer was easily in to middle-age, with a long and complex music career behind him. Taking the organic sampling style of Bonobo and Four Tet and combining it with modest and subtle synthesis and studio tricks, both ‘Onandon’ and 2009’s ‘Forma’ flow effortlessly and sublimely from start to finish. I’ll stop with the cliche and adjective slinging now and show you what I’m talking about……

Lukid – Ice Nine

Lukid – Slow Hand Slap

Lukid – Onandon

Take & Lukid – Navigators

Flying High in a Friendly Sky…..

It recently came to light in a discussion with a friend that many great songs have been written either about birds or using bird imagery and metaphor. For want of a better post subject, here are just some of the 18 or 19 I could recall. Please feel free to add your suggestions.

Danger Bird – Neil Young

Zuma, 1975

Bird’s Lament – Moondog

The German Years 1977-1999, 2005

Bird In Hand – Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry

Return of the Super Ape, 1978

Sparrow – Marvin Gaye

Here, my Dear, 1978

Fly Like an Eagle – Steve Miller Band

Fly Like an Eagle, 1976

Flying Birds – Rza

Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (official soundtrack), 1999

And Your Bird Can Sing – The Beatles

Revolver, 1966

Introducing – Knall Scharf

After two years of very on and off hard work, my first coherent piece of solo production work has finally been finished (besides very final mastering). The album is called ‘BadMash’, and will hopefully be available for download and on limited CD release in the near future. The final album consists of 13 full tracks (plus 4 little bits of skits etc), cut down from a list of over 56! (Bedroom production lends itself well to sporadic mass productivity)

Keep checking back here for further info, but for now I will leave you with a few pieces from the album. (Also go to www.myspace.com/knallscharf for more.)

Untidy Ethos – Knall Scharf

Blocked – Knall Scharf

Ages – Knall Scharf

Saoco Revisited – Knall Scharf

Concourse – Knall Scharf

Current Listening/Reflective Mood…

Happy new year and all that.

Just some of the latest music to arrive on my headphones for this post, as well as some that I’ve rediscovered/re-appreciated, helping me to reflect on matters personal and universal over the holidays.

Fall Apart – Lukid

London producer Luke Blair, AKA Lukid, is often unfairly lumped in with the other members of the latest wonky-glitched-hip-hop fashion (thankfully yet to be officially labelled), even though his debut ‘Onandon’ preceded the majority of those who went on to stylise the sound last year. This comparison is rendered further inaccurate by Lukid’s ability to create textures from long harmonic passages without relying on aforementioned jerky rhythms to sustain listener interest.
‘Fall Apart’ is taken from his latest offering ‘Forma’, released last month and further cementing the young producer’s
position at the top of my current favourite artists list.

Easy Money – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Having dipped in and out of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ discography over the last few years, I have become confused as to why I have not been struck more often by their music. Cave has most of the attributes I look for in musicians, but perhaps it is his sometime overblown lyrical content or penchant for adding more drama and forced character to his voice than is necessary that has put me off. However, this great slice of songwriting brilliance features on 2004’s Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus double album, and adds further puzzlement and intrigue to the above mystery.

Mon Amie la Rose – Françoise Hardy

The cover girl of ’60s French Pop, Françoise Hardy had the voice to back it up. Stretching her talents to acting (and bizarrely astrology) as well, she fast became an iconic figure in the French speaking world. This beautiful rendition of ‘Mon Amie la Rose’ is from her 1964 album of the same name.

Marquee Moon – Television

Although Television were part of the same New York punk rock scene as The Ramones and The Patti Smith group, to me they sound like pioneers of what became known as ‘Post-Punk’. This is mainly due to the interplay between guitarists Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd. Instead of banging out the same three chords in unison, they worked around each other building complex textures and melodies. Marquee Moon (from 1977’s album of the same name) is a good example of this, the two guitars have even been panned in opposite directions to drive the point home.

Ride Like the Wind – Christopher Cross

Lastly I’m going to throw in some classic ‘Yacht Rock’ from Christopher Cross’ 1979 debut, featuring the Kermit-tones of the legendary Michael Macdonald on backing vocals.

Sample Example

Season’s greetings. Just a quick post to celebrate some more great music.

Sampling as an art form is a relatively recent phenomena in the history of music, with early sampling instruments such as the Fairlight appearing in the late ’70s. It wasn’t until the late ’80s/early ’90s that sampling really came in to its own as a core ingredient to producing music, coming to prominence with the development of Hip-Hop. The idea of using samples instead of live musicians gave those without access to such facilities the opportunity to create new and innovative productions. Hip-Hop’s “Golden Era” (roughly around 1992-1997), with its celebrated producers such as DJ Premier and Pete Rock, chose to sample mainly from Jazz and Soul, shaping a much celebrated and widely acclaimed sound.

However, it is not just the Hip-Hop genre that utilises the sampler as an instrument. Many producers have taken advantage, leading to innovative developments in electronic music. Below I have posted just a couple of examples of samples being used to good effect, along with the original pieces.

Original – I Love Music – Ahmad Jamal

Sample – The World Is Yours – Nas

Original – Heather – Billy Cobham

Sample – ‘93 ’til Infinity

Original – Deliver The Word – War

Sample – Betrayal – Gang Starr Feat. Scarface

Eclectic Mixup 3: Bag of Tunes

First of all, a quick apology for the length of time between this post and the last. Life has recently got in the way, I’ll try not to let it happen again. To make up for it here’s eight of my current favourite pieces of music, unwillingly trimmed from a list of thirty-odd.

Ja Funmi – King Sunny Ade

Nigerian guitarist Ade is both musical and genuine royalty. He released his seminal album ‘JuJu Music’ Chris Blackwell’s Island label in 1982. ‘Ja Funmi’, the album’s opener, features some incredible guitar work set to syncopated African rhythms and Ade’s soft-spoken vocal styling.

Making Flippy Floppy – Talking Heads

This is not the original from studio album ‘Speaking in Tongues’ , but the live recording taken from ‘Stop Making Sense’. A more energetic and satisfying version, Byrne’s vocal is more expressive and succinct, and the band funkier and more exhilarating. This is the case with many of the ‘Speaking in Tongues’ tracks on ‘Stop Making Sense’ (with the possible exception of ‘Naive Melody’), resulting in a heightened appreciation of the studio album because of this.

Population Control – Company Flow

Possibly my favourite beat of all time, Company Flow’s ‘Population Control’ (taken from an album full of similarly great production, ‘Funcrusher Plus’) ticks all the boxes on the ‘underground’ Hip-Hop checklist. Where some who attempt to produce music within the confines of this sub-genre lack in genuine skill, or try too hard and end up sounding just too abstract, Company Flow get the balance right. While the verses on this particular track may not be the greatest ever laid to wax, it matters not to me!

Off Night Backstreet – Joni Mitchell

The second of Mitchell’s Jazz-Folk-Fusion albums, Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter (1977) proves that the greatest songwriters can survive even the riskiest of genre experiments. She is greatly helped here by bass legend Jaco Pastorius, whose fretless sound sits perfectly with the jangly acoustics prevelant throughout.

Stimela (Coal Train) – Hugh Masakela

South African trumpeter and vocalist Hugh Masakela is widely celebrated in the music world. This beautifully performed composition from the ‘Masakela’ album features rich vocal harmonies and chopped, rhythmic guitar. Enjoyed best at night.

Cuss Cuss – Lloyd Robinson

I know very little of reggae vocalist Lloyd Robinson (also known as simply Lloyd), and can’t find much written about him on the Internet. ‘Cuss Cuss’ appears on the Soul Jazz compilation ‘100% Dynamite!’ (and possibly others).

Time After Time – Cyndi Lauper

A guilty pleasure of mine, written and performed by Lauper and Rob Hyman, ‘Time After Time’ appears on 1983’s ‘She’s So Unusual’. I am in no way a Cyndi Lauper fan, not for any reason other than her music is not particularly to my taste, so I don’t know where my affection for this track stems from. I just quite like it, I’ll leave it at that!

Call My Name – Joe Bataan

Latin singer Bataan, from Spanish Harlem New York, is most famous for his late ’60s and ’70s work that incorporated his Latino roots in to American Soul and RnB. However, ‘Call My Name’ is taken from his 2005 album of the same name, and is an explosive composition that pleases right from the opening synth blasts, and continues in to the pacey funk-driven groove of the song.

Prose and Voodoo in Western Popular Music – Incorporating Extra-Musical Devices.

The first 30 or so years of vocal-focused, recorded popular music provided us with an array of classic and enduring songs, particularly from the worlds of Jazz and Rock ‘n Roll. Lyrical content dealt either with upbeat, melancholic, humorous or heartbreaking issues, but very rarely touched on the controversial.

After the taboo breaking of the ’60s, it became the norm, almost a requirement, for musicians to challenge listeners with their music. This resulted in a host of different influences appearing on albums that received both critical and commercial success. The Voodoo infused RnB of Dr John (the alias of New Orleans session musician Mac Rebennack), with his solo debut ‘Gris Gris’, was responsible for being the catalyst for the rise of a whole voodoo scene made up of people who might never have been further south than Pennsylvania. At the same time, the poetry-based folk that had grown to prominence in the coffee houses of major US cities had started to merge in to the rock and psychedelic scenes, taken even further by artists such as Gil Scott-Heron into genres such as Funk and Blues, drawing inspiration from the jazz poets of the ’20s. Many of the musicians that gained mainstream recognition in this style had to water it down slightly for the less ‘far out’ sections of their audience. Some, however, such as Bahamas-born Exuma, went in the other direction entirely, fusing together prose-based voodoo/carnival/folk/african rhythms with everything else that he came across, making it impossible for labels or record shops to place him in a sell-able category.

Where the drunken, pseudo-psychedelic, rambling poetry of singers such as Jim Morrison, or the half-hearted mysticism forged by many rock bands of the era now sounds dated, Scott-Heron’s social commentary or Dr John’s exceptional musicianship ensured that these artist’s critical acclaim would last much longer than the wannabe acts that they inspired.

See also my post ‘Dub in a Voodoo Style’ for more voodoo-influenced music.

Gris Gris Gumbo Yaya – Dr John

Home is Where the Hatred is – Gil Scott-Heron

Dambala – Exuma

See also this cover of Exuma’s ‘Dambala’ by Nina Simone