James Blake

Still not completely worked out what i think of Mr Blake, I've enjoyed all his work as Mount Kimbie and have grown to love CMYK over repeated listens, sometimes persistence pays off. The awesome repeated cut up sample"Look I found her, Damn, Red Coat!" over and over as gentle twinkles sparkle over ambient house swells, before exploding into something quite wonderful, whilst still maintaining a feel of minimalism.

In all the time I've worked for my present company I have never heard any song played on the radio that resides on my ipod, hence why i had to pinch myself when i recognised James Blakes latest single, Limit to Your Love blasting out on Radio 1 (i think). It turns out its a cover of a Feist song, which goes some way to explain its popularity. It's quite different from the majority of what I've heard from him so far, simply him singing of reverbed pianos for almost a minute before it drops out and the rumbling dubstep wobble bass kicks in, yet it maintains a backseat position, rumbling like the sound of a washing machine in the flat above, shaking the floorboards without drowning out your personal comfort zone.

Understated and brilliant.

Love the contrasting Boomkat and Norman reviews, I'm almost certain Boomkat have never said anything bad about a record so it's quite refreshing to see Norman being honest in a market were sell, sell, sell is the only thing on most retailers minds.

James Blake - CMYK by jdillon89

James Blake - Klavierwerke (128) by factmag

James Blake - Limit To Your Love (Radio Edit) by factmag

Spoiler : What Boomkat Said :

Impeccably presented, one-sided 10" pressing of James Blake's remarkable 'Limit To Your Love', housed in full-colour sleeve. So, after a string of mindblowing singles which dismantled dubstep and rebuilt it with a baroque, electro-acoustic refinement, Blake has simply gone Pop proper, with jaw-dropping results. It's as though the rare elements of padded subbass and splintered percussion he isolated in the bell jar of those early 12"s have plainly fused into something alchemical and sublimely affecting. Factor in a voice that could stop a riot at 20 paces and piano keys falling like feathers from angels wings and you've got the most heartfelt description of this record we could muster. Sincerely though, this is surely some kind of anthem for a generation...

Spoiler : What Norman Said :

Some of my favourite electronic music this year has been made by James Blake and Mount Kimbie. Blake's superb two EP whammy - 'CMYK' and 'Klavierwerke' both contain really good examples of what we may call post-dubstep. Skittering beats, late night 'Burial style atmospherics and upbeat soulful samples leading to some really fine forward thinking electronica with a heart. I'm not sure if this gives him the excuse to start singing though. This is a cover of a Feist/Gonzales tune and is a gospel ish slow burner led by piano with Blake's Jamie Lidell style soul crooning over the top. The voice also has hints of Antony and the Johnsons but if Anthony knows anything his how to pronounce his 't's. Alas Blake repeatedly pronounces 'waterfall' as 'waerfall' which is exremely infuriating. A flip to the B side and there's nothing on it. So that was a total waste of time then. More worrying its a taster for his new LP so I just hope its a red herring otherwise he's another one headed for the coffee table which would be a real shame.

Motoro Faam Reviewed ...(Boards of Canada, World's End Girlfriend etc)

Motoro Faam - …and Water Cycles (Preco)
Motoro Faam are three highly talented twenty five year old musicians from Japan mixing classical and contemporary music with irregular beats and sampling. This is probably the most genuinely moving thing I’ve heard since Johann Johannsson’s IBM 1401 – A Users Manual and perhaps the most original and thought provoking thing since I was first wowed with Godspeeds intelligent outlook on modern music. It’s like Lucky Dragons should they ever decide to soundtrack a ballet recital, pianos roll and electronic glitches flicker like decaying static.
The sound will satisfy those partial to the sounds of Max Richter and the like, however this is one if not two steps ahead of their game and is one of the most exciting discoveries I’ve had the pleasure to stumble across lately, timeless yet undeniably original. …and Precipitation weaves and delights with bubbles of waters and waves, sandstorms and gentle pianos beneath stormy rainfall, it’s unlikely you will find anything quite so delightful this year.

Motoro Faam – …and Surface Runoff MP3

Motoro Faam – …and Condensation MP3

Motoro Faam – … and Evaporation MP3

Website

Preco Records

Myspace

Normans Records - We have another great Motoro Faam CD on the Preco label from Japan called 'And Water Cycles'. This is pretty lush sounding stuff. Gorgeous electronics and neo classical nubbins mixed together in a sexy love pot all ready to pour into your unsuspecting ears. There's a healthy dash of Ryuichi Sakamoto in there and maybe some more. It's quite experimental and there's an awful lot going on. The sound is very dense and full, but together it makes a really beautiful listen, what with all the lovely classical-ness being chucked into the electronic mix. Mingus thinks it sounds a bit like Takagi Masakatsu....highly recommended anyway!

Boards of Canada

Long term readers will need no introduction to the fact that i absolutley adore Boards of Canada, I stumbled over these videos on youtube, the excellent video for ROYGBIV, the song that turned me on to them (thanks to an NME compilation!!) and then a rather crazy but suprisingly good Audio/Video mashup/blend of David Hasselhoff's cover of "Blue Bayou" mixed with Boards of Canada's "An Eagle In Your Mind"...nice!!

And a couple of other videos i saw that summarise some of what i'm getting more and more into at the moment...beautiful stuff

at the close of every day - Hemelsblauw

World's End Girlfriend - We Are The Massacre