Our Editors each take a seasonal spot to share their favourite tracks of the month, from forgotten friends they’ve dug up from the archives to trying some brand new noises on for size.
Matthew’s top tracks released in October:
Kicking off the best of is Sporting Life’s track ‘Badd’. The producer with seminal New York rap group Ratking, Sporting Life’s first solo mixtape 55’5s diverges from the sound of the two Ratking albums. Experimental, slower and mostly more laid-back than Ratking’s sound, the album, and particularly ‘Badd’, is an uplifting affair.
A of the highlight of the month was Mount Kimbie’s NTS radio show. The duo premiered an untitled collaboration with James Blake made in 2009, that was reminiscent of both artists early work. In particular the piano riff could have come from any of the more up-beat works of Blake’s first album.
Matthew Hansall is one of the composers at the front of contemporary big band jazz. Especially in Europe, big band composers are absorbing experimental electronica as a way to progress what can be a very staid genre. Hansall has work has been promoted on Bonobo’s Late Night Tales mix, and Bonobo’s style of orchestral electronica comes through on ‘Into Forever’. Keyboardist extraordinaire Nihls Frahm has just contributed to the Late Night Tales series. ‘4’33”’ is a beautiful solo piece inspired by John Cage’s piece of four minutes and thirty-three of silence.
Released through Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. Music label Kacy Hill’s second single ‘’Foreign Fields’’ has a James Blake-esque piano riff playing throughout the verse. This sound perfectly accompanies Hill’s falsetto voice. Disclosure’s new album Caracal received a luke-warm reception. ‘Magnets’ and ‘Hourglass’ stand out due to strong vocal performances from Lorde and Lion Babe respectively.
Empress Of’s ‘How Do You Do It’ it is an upbeat experimental work that has references to disco, art rock and synth pop. Me, the album ‘How Do You Do It’ is taken from, received critical acclaim and managed to experiment while firmly remaining ‘pop’ish.
