Tag: Music

Listened 1981 studio album by Yellow Magic Orchestra by Contributors to Wikimedia projects from Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.

BGM is the fourth studio album by Yellow Magic Orchestra, released on March 21, 1981. The title stands for “Background music“,[1] though Japanese TV and press advertising alternately used “Beautiful Grotesque Music”.[2] This album was produced by Haruomi Hosono. Recording started on January 15, 1981, in an effort to release the album by March 21, 1981. The album was the first of any kind to feature the Roland TR-808, one of the earliest programmable drum machines;[3] YMO had already been the first band to use the device, featuring it on-stage as early as 1980.[4][5] In addition to the TR-808, this was also their first studio album recorded with the Roland MC-4 Microcomposer.

Source: BGM (album) – Wikipedia

I am late to the party with Yellow Magic Orchestra. Dylan Jones touches on them in Sweet Dreams, placing them alongside Kraftwerk, but I had never consciously listened to their tracks. “Cue” (キュー) was shared with me on a playlist, which led me to BGM. I really enjoyed this album, its drive and textures. I assume YMO were an inspiration for Severed Heads and Lindstrøm. Also, pretty sure that Mark Ronson sampled “Ballet” (バレエ) in his track “True Blue”.

On a side note, I tried listen to some of the other albums, but was a bit confused by some of it.

Read Rememberings by Contributors to Wikimedia projects

Rememberings is a memoir by Sinéad O’Connor published on 1 June 2021 by Sandycove, an imprint of Penguin Books

Source: Rememberings – Wikipedia

Sinéad O’Connor’s memoir, Rememberings, offers a glimpse behind the curtain, reclaiming the narrative of her life in the process. I wrote a longer response here.

Continue reading “📚 Rememberings (Sinéad O’Connor)”

Listened Debut, Self Titled Album, by Twinkle Digitz from Twinkle Digitz

Nine hot pop songs drawing influence from an 80s childhood, a 90s adolescence…. and beyond.

A heady mix of electro pop, synthwave and psychedelic ROCK delivered with post punk ‘tude and some ‘umour simmering beneath the surface. It’s a pretty nostalgic sounding record.

Recorded in the summer of 2024 at Sound Park Studios as it was being demolished (and rebuilt soon afterwards)…. I went in with lots of half cooked, home baked tracks and got Idge to run them all through his deluxe analog gear and make them sound delicious. I took in loads of snacks too, which really got the vibe going.

Mastered by Richard Stolz at Woodstock studios who ran it through some more deluxe analog gear, and brought it to a polished pop sheen. I’m really stoked with how it turned out!

Released February 18, 2025

Source: Debut, Self Titled Album, by Twinkle Digitz by @bandcamp

I wondered if I was ever going to hear Twinkle Digitz in full hi-fi, not just via a lockdown recording. I always joked that it was going to be some kind of Chinese Democracy? I wondered if pressing of the album was held up by Taylor Swift Industrial Complex. But really I wondered how many artists with the creativity condition aren’t given the permission, the time, the space and funds to complete work? I guess in the end what matters is being grateful that it is finally here.

There are some disparate albums that desperately try to sound whole, but end up sounding disjointed. Twinkle Digitz self-titled debut album is definitely disparate, with so many sounds and influences spread throughout. Rather than sound like a group of random songs with no sense of continuity (listen to Daniel Johns’ FutureNever for example), it feels like different sounds and ideas – robotic voice(s), syn tom-toms, spoken samples – are used to anchor the listener, while at the same time invite them into a wider cinematic universe. (I know Bat for Lashes wrote Lost Girls as a soundtrack to an imaginary film where a gang of biker women who roam the sunset streets of an eerie, make-believe vision of LA. There is a similar quality to this album, I am just not sure what the imaginary movie is.) I think this sense of continuity is what makes the album an improvement on the live set. I had heard the majority of the songs across the three times I have seen Twinkle Digitz live, but I believe the whole is greater than there parts. It truly feels like an album, especially with the Brian Wilsonesque slow jam Wait in the Future (Friendo) that it finishes with.

Another interesting element to this album is that even with all the pastiche references to the past with synths, drums and vocal treatment, I feel there is only ever one Twinkle Digitz. Reading a few books about post-punk lately (Rip It Up and Start Again, Talking with Girls About Duran Duran, and Sweet Dreams), I can’t help but hear a nod to Haysi Fantayzee in the music of Architecture in Helsinki or Scritti Politti in the music of Yeasayer. However, I feel it is harder to make such explicit through-lines with Twinkle Digitz. I remember reading a comment from Peter Walsh about the Go-Betweens in the early days and how you knew what records they had been listening to.

PETER WALSH: They’d never say it, but you could tell which part of the record collection he’d (Robert Forster) listened to in the two minutes it took for him to write that song.

Source: The Go-Betweens by David Nichols

Although there are clearly references throughout Twinkle Digitz’ album, they never take-over. Here I am reminded of Jon Hopkins point, made in a conversation with Jamie Lidell, that he wishes he could ‘choose’ the music he writes. Instead, Hopkins argued that we have no choice over what we do, the choice is about what our body gives energy for. All we can do is appreciate the outcome. Thinking about Twinkle Digitz, this means that even when he tries to make a 80’s synthpop track like Dancing In My Dreams, it sounds like everything and nothing all at once. A bricolage of ideas brought together to create something new. This is only extended further with the video clips. In addition to the sound, there is something to be said about the intended audience of this album.

I remember listening to an interview with David Byrne and Annie Clark about their collaboration. The first consideration about the music was what sort of venues they would be playing.

A lot of pop music originates in small, fairly intimate clubs, and then it finds itself in the unfortunate situation of, as the act gets more popular, being performed in school gymnasiums, and it sounds horrible. From there it goes from the frying pan into the fire, the act becomes even more successful and they’re playing in sports arenas where in many cases it also sounds terrible, although there’s plenty of technology to try and accommodate that as best as possible. So there’s kind of a sad example of music that really sounds great in a small space, but finds itself, when it does well, being rewarded by sounding horrible.

Source: The Inside Sleeve – David Byrne and St Vincent (ABC Radio)

This sense of starting small does not seem to be Twinkle Digitz approach (nor Damian Cowell’s Disco Machine). With so many different sounds and ideas it can be hard to work out what the ideal space or audience is (probably not necessarily The Thornbury Local nor a bath.) One of the things I was wondering about the recorded version was how the songs might differ from the live sound. As a one man band, I had imagined that many of the elements were sequenced, therefore laying these down on tape would be straightforward. A quasi-live recording. I think I was wrong. The recorded versions feel like they have taken the flesh and bones of the original tracks and built them out sonically, layering melodies and vocals, bringing in even more wacky effects, and somewhat controlling the chaos. I definitely cannot hear the interference between the glasses and the music equipment in these recordings.

All in all, Twinkle Digitz self-titled album is a pleasurable release, bringing the id to the forefront, and taking the edict of ‘treat them to an anchovy‘ to the point of sometimes forgetting the other toppings altogether.

Listened It’s Autonomous, Thomas, by Twinkle Digitz from Twinkle Digitz

track by Twinkle Digitz

“OH NO!!! SOMETHING’S GONE WRONG!!!!” 😉 A conversational narrative between an A.I. chat bot and a guy called Thomas (mainly for the rhymes available!)…

Seeing as everyone is a bit wary of A.I. suddenly appearing in all spheres of our lives, I thought I’d comment / capitalise on that!

I actually tried using an A.I. lyric generator to “collaborate” when I started writing this song – BUT I found all A.I.’s lyrical suggestions to be hilariously NAFF * (not in a good way either) , so I just wrote them myself!

*An example of an A.I. generated lyric “He drives like a car, just a filthy boy with eyes” ! That was one of the better ones !!!
Personally, I really like it when A.I. gets things wrong, when it’s in a creative way (eg. videos that look really wrong/ unreal /uncanny) – it’s the thought of A.I. getting things wrong in a destructive way which is the scary part hey!

Source: It’s Autonomous, Thomas, by Twinkle Digitz

The rolling arpeggios, the slow build, the conversation with technology, the littering of weird and wacky whoops and wizzes, is Twinkle Digitz the Man Disco Machine? I was also reminded of 80’s opera, but maybe like A.I. that was used to help write the song, I am hallucinating?

Listened Cover Story: Lay All Your Love On Me from ABC listen

Metal, marimbas, vampires and EDM: ABBA’s Lay All Your Love On Me as you’ve never heard it before, with producer Paul Mac and composer Alice Chance.

This is the first episode of Cover Story, a new series from The Music Show in which Andy and his guests take songs of the popular music canon and examine their cover versions, for better, worse, and weirder.

Source: Cover Story: Lay All Your Love On Me – ABC listen

In the first episode of a series discussing cover songs, Andrew Ford, Paul Mac and Alice Chance discuss ABBA’s Lay All Your Love On Me. I liked Paul Mac’s use of ‘Consumptionwave’ to describe the artists whose voices sound so thin and fragile it is as if they have consumption.

Bookmarked Orbit – Follow the music and find your vibe (bbc.co.uk)

Support undiscovered artists and find new tracks for your playlists, handpicked by local BBC Introducing teams. No algorithms, no genres and no personalisation – all you need to do is listen to music samples and tune into what sounds good.

Orbit provides another means of adding serendipity to your music feed.

Replied to Hottest 100 2024 – triple j (triple j)

Each year, you, along with hundreds and thousands of people from all around the world, choose the songs that have soundtracked your life, leading to one hell of a listening party in January. It’s a countdown curated by you, for you!

Source: Hottest 100 2024 – triple j by @triplej

I must be honest, I am more Double J, than Triple J these days, however I always find it interesting to stop and reflect upon my favourite songs of the year. So here my list of the ten songs that grabbed me this year:

without you – annie hamilton

There was no new music from Jake Webb this year, but he did produce annie hamilton’s Stop and Smell the Lightning. For me, without you was the standout track.  The song’s intensity builds and builds, without exploding. I also love how the drums slap.

Pull the Rope – Ibibio Sound Machine

Ibibio Sound Machine were a new discovery this year (found via Pitchfork’s new music). With the strong groove throughout, this song feels like it could be placed in the middle of a Chemical Brothers set. Alongside the Hot Chip produced Electricity (which I subsequently bought on vinyl), these albums soundtracked a few of my jogs this year.

I think about it all the time – Charli xcx

I really was not sure about Brat based on the early singles, 360 and Von Dutch. However, as a whole, I feel that the album really clicked. My favourite track ebbs and flows and depends on the moment, but I think about it all the time is a real standout for its rawness and honesty. “I think about it all the time / That I might run out of time.” This stands out even more on the album as it is following by the contrasting 365.

Life – Jamie xx feat Robyn

Jamie xx’s In Waves ebbs and flows throughout like the crashing of waves, but it really hits with Life. As a track, I find it gives me life and possesses me every time I listen to it. Whether it be my feet or my hand, something always starts tapping.

Un-Australians – The Fauves

I had Celebrate the Failure on high rotation earlier in the year, I felt that it captured the sentiment of a moment, even if it was written for a different time. I feel that Un-Australians builds upon this with its reflection of the current political climate. “You were in, now you’re out / And the cost of living is all you want to talk about/ It’s pain / Cos we’re the Green, woke, vegan, yes-voting Anzacs.”

Sweetest Fruit – St. Vincent

St. Vincent has spoken about the electricity that runs throughout All Born Screaming. For me, this is epitomised in Sweetest Fruit with the way the different flows – synthesiser, melody, drums – interlace throughout the track.

Blackmail Boogie – Twinkle Digitz

The opening single from the long awaited self-titled debut album, Blackmail Boogie is a sonic spell that begins with the opening oohs and aahs and comes to a crescendo with the epic guitar solo that conjures up a crowd seemingly out of nowhere. No matter my mood, this song has the magical ability of both taking me to another place, as well as reminding me that I am not alone. I wonder if the secret that Twinkle Digitz has – “If you don’t do as I do / I’m telling on you / I’m telling the truth” – is that no matter how serious we think we are, we are all a bit phony in the end?

Silver Thread Golden Needle – A. G. Cook

Across nearly ten minutes, this songs is always moving. Although the groove stays the same , there is always an ingredient being added, changed or removed. It never quite leaves you settled. I feel it is akin to running on a treadmill where the pace is just that bit too fast leaving your breath always out of sync. Genius?

Anything – Griff

I came across Griff via her cover of Charli XCX’s Apple. I subsequently fell into her album Vertigo. Some have criticised it for being safe (is that because there are no swear words), but sometimes there is nothing like a warm blanket on a cold day? Personally, I am a sucker for how slick this track is (and album is). Also, after watching some live clips, I appreciate that it is something more than Ableton and a Launchpad.

The Tortured Poets Department – Taylor Swift

My daughter and I bonded over The Tortured Poets Department this year. It is also my Jack Antonoff track of the year (although Please, Please, Please by Sabrina Carpenter was pretty good too.) I really like the way in which this track has some many sonic layers.

Read Sweet Dreams – Dylan Jones
Sweet Dreams – The Story of the New Romantics by Dylan Jones covers the period between 1975 to 1985, exploring the music that influenced the New Romantics and those caught up in the movement. I wrote a longer response here.

Continue reading “📚 Sweet Dreams – The Story of the New Romantics (Dylan Jones)”

Liked https://www.npr.org/2024/07/02/nx-s1-5017760/bruce-springsteen-born-in-the-usa-remixes-arthur-baker (npr.org)

The dance remix — often an extended version of a song with the balance shifted toward the beat, rebuilt to be played in dance clubs — already had become currency for electronic and pop-adjacent bands, and would soon become standard for a record’s release plan. It was a harbinger of the way rock and pop and soul and dance would intermingle in the mid-’80s, a melding of genres that widened the horizon for artists and music fans. That vista seemed to vanish a year or two later, and with it, the kind of broad acceptance and understanding of cross-genre pollination that made the presence of a Springsteen song on the dance chart feel different, sure, but also cool as hell. But once that horizon closed, even the very existence of the remixes as part of Springsteen’s history seemed to vanish.

Source: The nearly forgotten story of the ‘Born in the U.S.A.’ remixes by @NPR

Read Kraftwerk by Uwe Schütte

An exploration of the astounding musical phenomenon that is Kraftwerk, and how they revolutionized our cultural landscape

Source: Penguin

Kraftwerk: Future Music from Germany by Uwe Schütte is an exploration of the origins, output and legacy of Kraftwerk. I wrote a longer response here.

Listened to the audiobook via Spotify.

Continue reading “📚 Kraftwerk – Future Music from Germany (Uwe Schütte)”

Listened 2024 soundtrack album by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross by Contributors to Wikimedia projects from Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross had previously worked with director Luca Guadagnino, scoring Guadagnino’s 2022 film Bones and All.[1] Guadagnino approached the pair to score Challengers by sending them an email that read, “Do you want to be on my next film? It’s going to be super sexy.”[2] Guadagnino wanted “very loud techno music” for the film,[3] taking inspiration from Berlin techno and ’90s rave music.[2] The end result was intended to amplify the pace and high-stakes nature of the film.[4]

Challengers (soundtrack) by Wikipedia

It is not very often that a soundtrack not only stands out, but rises above a movie, but this is one of them. The choice of music, slightly over-mixed, helped build the tension of the film. I thought that Atticus Ross captured it well in their acceptance speech for the Golden Globes, “we always thought we’d get the call to turn it down”:

Ross did give a short speech: “This really means a lot, particularly in this special moment. First I’d like to thank my best friend, my musical partner, the great Trent Reznor. The music never felt like a safe choice, but it always felt like the right one. I’d like to thank the maestro, the visionary director, our friend Luca Guadagnino.… To be honest, we always thought we’d get the call ‘Can you just turn it down a little?’ But it never came, and here we are.”

Source: Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross Win Best Original Score at Golden Globes 2025 for Challengers by Nina Corcoran

Replied to https://blog.edtechie.net/music/vinyl-of-the-year-4/ (blog.edtechie.net)

It’s been a very good year for vinyl, with lots of top-of-their-game releases from favourite artists and a few new ones I’ve discovered. I’m stealing Pitchfork’s use of RIYL (Recommended If You Like this year, so here are ten of the new releases I’ve enjoyed the most this year

Vinyl of the year by Martin Weller

Martin, I really like your use of RIYL in reviewing 2024.

Also, what I find interesting with all of these reviews are the differences with what stood out.

Bookmarked Between Goblincore and Taylor Swift, I’m baffled and embarrassed by my Spotify Wrapped by Virginia Trioli (ABC News)
I was intrigued to see what data Spotify had wrapped up for me. Would I again be grouped with those in Hobart, like I was last year? Well, no (as Spotify seemed to realise that grouping people by location was … weird.) Like Virginia Trioli, I was left wishing Spotify would some how see me through all the noise:

The pitfalls of refusing to buy a separate Spotify account for a 12-year-old…

Just once, I wish my Wrapped actually wrapped up me.

Between Goblincore and Taylor Swift, I’m baffled by my Spotify Wrapped by Virginia Trioli

My top songs were those I played for my children (Please, Please, Please by Sabrina Carpenter.) I was left thinking about the artists that I thought I had on high-rotation, but did not make the list, such as Ibibio Sound Machine or Fanning Dempsey National Park (although I think this one suffered as there were no standout tracks that were placed on high rotations?) In the end, I think what taints some of this is that there is some much that I listen to outside of Spotify (on vinyl) that does not make the count?

Trioli also highlighted the amount an artist receives per play:

The American UMAW has been needling Spotify with irrefutably uncomfortable data of their own, showing that Spotify pays a maximum of 0.003 cents per stream and has fired most of their curatorial staff, instead relying on AI for the $2.5 billion salary the union says Spotify founder, Daniel Ek, makes.

Between Goblincore and Taylor Swift, I’m baffled by my Spotify Wrapped by Virginia Trioli

I was left feeling guilty at only paying only $1 for Twinkle Digitz. However, I am now left thinking that clearly is not so bad, because at 0.003 per play I’d have to play Blackmail Boogie 33333 times, which on my rough estimates would involve playing the track for 2425 minutes. I like Twinkle Digitz a lot, but I am not sure I have played any track or artist for 2425 minutes, so maybe Trioli is onto something?

Listened Blackmail Boogie, by Twinkle Digitz from Twinkle Digitz

My attempt at the ultimate dance floor filling party hit. An open blackmail letter “inviting” all to dance…. or else!
Lead single from debut, self titled Twinkle Digitz album, out in Feb 2025,

Source: Blackmail Boogie, by Twinkle Digitz by @bandcamp

I got an alert from the ‘God Machine’ today announcing the release of the first single from Twinkle Digitz’ debut album, coming out in February. I no longer need to depend on the unofficial recording. Every time I hear this track, I imagine a Chris Cunningham-esque video (see Windowlicker) with a disco floor full of dancers with Twinkle Digitz’ head.

Liked https://blog.ayjay.org/court-and-spark-half-a-century-on/ (blog.ayjay.org)

“Chords of inquiry” is Joni’s term for sus chords — which “suspend” (i.e., don’t play) the third of a triad and instead go down to play the second or go up to play the fourth. When you remove that third the chord itself also becomes as it were suspended between major and minor. It is ambivalent; it moves us to inquiry into its character. 

Source: Court and Spark by Alan Jacobs

Listened Death To Art, by TISM from TISM

29 track album

Death to Art is the seventh studio album by Australian alternative rock band TISM, released on 4 October 2024 through their own label genre.b.goode and DRW Entertainment. It is the band’s first full-length album in 20 years, since The White Albun in 2004. It is also their first studio album to feature Vladimir Lenin-McCartney as lead guitarist, as their previous lead guitarist Tokin’ Blackman passed away from lung cancer back in 2008 (who was with the band from 1991 to the band’s split in 2004). At 80 minutes and 20 seconds, it is the band’s longest studio album.

Source: Death to Art (Wikipedia)

I was intrigued as to what expect on a new TISM album in 2024, especially after Damian Cowell suggested in an interview a few years ago that “it’d be shithouse.” I liked ‘I’m Going Hillsong’ when it came out last year, but the rest left me wondering. Well, all of the initial songs released last year, including the The “C” Word EP, are all here on the album and more.

In some respects there is the same silliness as before, with tracks such as Cnut the Dyslexic King, but then there are the more cutting tracks such as I Can’t Wait for My Generation to Die. Interestingly, no new Ron diatribes, although there were a couple released last year.

One thing that needs to be said, I feel they are as innovative as ever, tying all the tracks together with a number of muzak style songs listened on the drive to Springvale Cemetery. This also brings a sense of theatre to the album.

In the end, I was left thinking about what Andrew Stafford wrote in response to Custard’s comeback album and the challenge of recapturing the past:

A comeback record was always going to be a more difficult proposition for Custard than most. That’s because a key part of the band’s appeal was an innocence that often tripped over into a playful sense of anarchy. Their early recordings, especially, are full of the exuberance and abandon that marks one’s late teens and early 20s. And anyone who’s ever grown up knows how difficult that feeling is to recapture.

Source: CUSTARD: COME BACK, ALL IS FORGIVEN -Notes from Pig City by Andrew Stafford

I am not sure TISM have the same challenge, but I am left wondering how much is stuck in nostalgia? As Stafford touches on in his review of Death to Art.

Part of the visceral thrill of TISM was their ability to make the listener uncomfortable. Theirs was a comedy of manners aimed at the most hypersensitive of targets: earnest, university-educated and snobbish indie-rock fans. We should not miss TISM’s -isms. Now we’ve grown up a bit, we might look back on our secretly tasteless, vulgar and puerile youth with a certain nostalgia.

Source: TISM: Death to Art review – rock’s satirical provocateurs have lost their darker edge by Andrew Stafford (The Guardian)

I was left thinking about Damian Cowell’s recent work and the focus of TISM to recapture the past. I have not seen TISM live, but have seen my share of videos. They clearly attract an audience, but there is something about the daggy disco music that really did it for me, especially live. Or maybe I am just overthinking this all and should stick to Hemmingway?

Continue reading “🎵 Death to Art (TISM)”

Listened Brat and It’s Completely Different but Also Still Brat by Contributors to Wikimedia projects from Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
I was really intrigued by Charli XCX’s remix album, especially with all the names included. Although these tracks clearly reference the original tracks, as Kieran Press-Reynolds touches on, it is almost a whole new project.

Unlike those remix albums that tack on five DJ flips of the same tune or specific genre edits of a handful of hits, Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat is pretty much a whole new project. The guts of most songs—lyrics, structures, beats, even the feelings—have been rewired, but without completely erasing the essence of the originals.

Source: 5 Takeaways From Charli XCX’s New BRAT Remix Album by Kieran Press-Reynolds

Along with listening to The Bleachers reworking of Strange Desires with A Stranger Desired, I wonder what place the original serves? If Brat and It’s Completely Different but Also Still Brat came out first, would it still have the same impact?

Bookmarked YourBeatsWithAi: Mashups and Covers Made Easy with AI (yourbeatswithai.com)

Discover the power of AI with our easy-to-use music tools. Effortlessly extract stems from your favorite tracks, create AI covers using one of the many AI voices available on the web, generate unique songs from text, and mix them all together for exciting mashups. Make music your way with cutting-edge AI technology!

Source: YourBeatsWithAi: Mashups and Covers Made Easy with AI by

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YourBeatsWithAi allows you to use YouTube songs to change the vocals or split a track into stems using artificial intelligence. I think like all of these sorts of things, sometimes it can be interesting, while other times it can just sound weird.

ᔥ “Tom Woodward” in Weekly Web Harvest for 2024-09-29 – Bionic Teaching ()

Replied to https://view.nl.npr.org/?vawpToken=KIYKYA4PQHJUVKXY5EMLEXF5SI.60244&utm_source=npr_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20240922&utm_term=9727105&utm_campaign=music&utm_id=46620160&orgid=&utm_att1= (view.nl.npr.org)

This week, Lars Gotrich fills in for Ann Powers and asks NPR Music’s staff to dig through their personal collections to highlight favorite demos, bootlegs and unofficial musical ephemera.

Source: Unofficial recordings we love by Lars Gotrich

What is my ‘unofficial recording I love’? It is not the Boss or even early Radiohead recordings, such as Lift (which finally got released). My unofficial (what does that even actually mean) is Twinkle Digitz’ COVID recording on Facebook, which I have downloaded to listen to as an audio recording. I have seen Will Hindmarsh’s one man show a few times, however there is no official Twinkle Digitz recording.