Kuedo-Severant

After my "meh" reaction to the Arcade Fire album from my last post I felt like I needed to listen to and blog about something more positive just so that I could maintain the momentum of writing. Therefore I deliberately chose this album, rather than let shuffle choose for me because I've listened to it often at least in comparison to most of the stuff included in this blog.

In addition to Heavy Metal, my other seminal influence is electronic music from the 80s like Yazoo, Human League and Kraftwerk and this album has echoes of that period.

I believe, in terms of genre, it's what  "The Kids" call "Chillwave" . It's almost entirely instrumental and, to my ear, sounds like Kraftwerk gave Vangelis a hand at writing the music for Blade Runner while, at the same time, inventing Drum & Bass in Brian Eno's studio while he made Music for Airports.

Frankly, I love it. The titles for each piece, I can't call them songs, are pretty obscure such as "Ascension Phase and, my favourite, "Visioning Shared Tomorrows". However, the lack of a narrative actually draws you into the music rather than excludes you. There's space that allows you to really listen and engage with what's going on in the piece. This is a treat and gives a jaded pair of ears a real lift.

THE RULES (Take Two)

I suspect that these rules may become increasingly "Pythonesque." I've just been reviewing the play list I've created to go along with this blog and I have, after all, decided to include some artists who's work I am familiar with but I may not be as familiar with their "post download" output. I still won't be including bands such as Kraftwerk, however, since I love them with a passion and anything they have or will release will automatically be classed as brilliant.

I hope to have some time this afternoon to start on the first album.

THE RULES

There is only one rule...so far!

1. No albums from artist/bands that I was familiar with prior to beginning downloading because I think this might given them an unfair advantage. By familiar I mean an artist/band who's work I already possessed, knew and liked prior to starting downloading. So, for example, there's no Kraftwerk since I already owned "The Man Machine" and a couple of others but have subsequently downloaded several others. Further, I've heard of a band called "Throbbing Gristle" but I've never heard any of there stuff. So, by my definition, I'm not familiar with them and they could be added to the list.