last year as mentioned in a previous post, my budget was severely curtailed meaning that most of my muisc purchases ended up being the random odd and sods that i would find in my local charity shops.
in order to keep track of what i found and how much i spent i kept a notepad ‘diary’. turned out that this became really useful for me as i could scan through it to remind me what i had managed to add to the archive (oh how i would love a ‘just added to the library’ option in the sonos app !).
this year i am going to upgrade the notepad method, to this blog, after all, i pay the fees etc, i may as use it for something !
with that in mind, here are the years first entries :
– isis : oceanic
– flying lotus : cosmogramma
– various artists : the sound of dubstep 3 (2cd set)
despite not being a massive fan of the whole flying lotus sound, it’s very rare i see anything in my local rounds like that, so i thought i would check it out, and to make up the “2 for £2” deal, i randomly picked up the isis cd as i had never seen/heard of this before. of course, the flying lotus album is exactly as i expected : weird cut up beats, random melodies, electronica vs jazz, and not the most involving of listens.
like the debut, ‘los angeles’, it’s all very worthy, and probably clever, i just find most of this style of electronica cold and uninteresting.
the isis album however, is very different. slow-n-low heavy guitars, and deep on atmospherics. this is one for when a certain moods hits. admittedly, it’s not a mood i find myself in too often, but when i am, this album is going to really hit the spot. basically, i hit the jackpot with this random find, well chuffed.
and, finally, the dubstep compilation.
cheesy as you like, but i happen to have a thing for this type of dubstep mixtape/compilation. so much so, that i now have all five, yes five, volumes of the ‘sounds of dubstep’ sets and finding the one that had so far eluded me, volume 3, was a genuine thrill.
these compilations (put together by bass loving journo, joe muggs, so you know you are in for a treat), are a perfect way to dive into the various strands of the dubstep genre, from its deep weird underground roots, to radio pop chart smashes, often via remixes that have never seen an official release before.
as i am not one for 12″ singles (vinyl or digital), then there is no way i would normally get to hear all these mad woofer shaking remixes, so, these mixtapes are a great pick-n-mix option.
of course, a lot of the selections are major record label hyped remixes that have been made to order by nameless studio engineers, but still, the production levels are insane, and hearing pop vocals being rattled about inside 3d rib shaking electronic music is always going to be an enjoyable experience.
summary : a cracking start to the random charity shop groove of 2020, all for £2.50.