Listening to: The Charlatans – Modern Nature

Perfect sounds – hope blooms for Spring

The Charlatans Modern Nature

I didn’t like this when I first heard it – which usually means it’s going to become something special in my collection. Sure enough, a few days later the harmonies and lyrics started to pop up inside my imagination and I sought to listen to it again. Now I’m listening to it constantly. Soundtrack to an interesting moment in my life.

It’s an album seeking positive emotions against a backdrop of darkness. Metaphorical Spring emerging from Winter.  Their drummer Jon Brookes passed away in 2014 from illness. Pete Salisbury of the Verve took over Brookes’ role, joining New Order’s Stephen Morris and Gabriel Gurnsey of Factory Floor as guests on the album. Great to have in headphone clamped to skull whilst drifting around Bristol on cold but sunny days.

LINKS:

CD from Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Modern-Nature-The-Charlatans/dp/B00OQTJOGM

MP3 download from Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Modern-Nature-Charlatans/dp/B00SH8V28G/

Official Album Stream on YouTube:

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Evoking sound of 80s horror: John Carpenter’s LOST THEMES

Click to visit Sacred Bones Webpage

So I am listening to John Carpenter’s LOST THEMES. Released this month. I bought it today. Slowly starting to love it. Really love it, in fact.  I had to adjust my brain back to heavy keyboard sounds of 80s movies – but that is no bad thing.  You have to be a fan of his previous work to enjoy it, I reckon. But try the preview: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00R3IVM86

Update (later same day).

I’ve had this album playing a few times through the day but my brain was focused on work at hand. Re-write of Yellow Dawn for the 3rd edition. Now I’ve got a chance to just sit and listen. There’s a sense of intimacy  with this music. It feels as though John Carpenter has made this album for John Carpenter – which in turn means he has made it for me (for you and me).  Know what I mean?

John Carpenter is responsible for striking soundtracks in the 15 movies he’s both directed and scored. Themes that will inject your memory with classic scenes of eerie menace and horror.

“Lost Themes was all about having fun,” Carpenter says. “It can be both great and bad to score over images, which is what I’m used to. Here there were no pressures. No actors asking me what they’re supposed to do. No crew waiting. No cutting room to go to. No release pending. It’s just fun. And I couldn’t have a better set-up at my house, where I depended on (collaborators) Cody (Carpenter, of the band Ludrium) and Daniel (Davies, who wrote the songs for I, Frankenstein) to bring me ideas as we began improvising. The plan was to make my music more complete and fuller, because we had unlimited tracks. I wasn’t dealing with just analogue anymore. It’s a brand new world. And there was nothing in any of our heads when we started other than to make it moody.”

True to  Carpenter’s style, repetition is the key to the evolving mood of these tracks.  A nod to his past works, as well as ancestors like Mike Oldfeld’s Tubular Bells and Goblin’s Suspiria.

You might also like:

Tracking down The Fog, John Carpenter (1980)
Part of my California road trip in a convertible Mustang:
https://davidjrodger.wordpress.com/2010/10/09/tracking-down-the-fog-john-carpenter-1980/

Mystical Sun – Nebulous Mist (Bjorn Fogelberg remix)

A gem from the archives of Swedish music producer Bjorn Fogelberg

I first heard this back in 2001.  Used to listen to it on my shiny mini-disc player (remember those?!) along with a bunch of his other stuff.  It kind of got lost amongst my collection but last week I rediscovered this one, and

Step back into the 80s with Mike Score’s new album Zeebratta

Zeebratta by Mike Score

Zeebratta by Mike Score

I was heading to Morocco for a few days, needing R&R away from the writing and a bit of adventure.  Like most trips I wanted a soundtrack to build memories around the experience. I bought this on random impulse as it appeared on the feed of new releases on Play.com.  A couple of listens to the samples left me uncertain, which meant it was going to be a grower and grabbed it. That always happens. If you hate a piece of music then leave it alone. But if you’re not sure, buy it, because your mind and imagination will shape itself in new ways around it. Morocco was amazing. And so is this album.  I used Marrakech as a base, but did a couple of road trips – one to Essaouira and another to the Atlas mountains. This album took me there and back.

Listening to this I was intrigued by how much it sounded like a polished 21st century piece of music but had this wonderful depth of 80s-ness! to it. No wonder.  Mike Score…

It shows a little bit of ignorance on my part (or a brain too crammed to pay attention) but I didn’t realise Mike Score had been in Flock of Seagulls.  Never heard of them?  Shame. Check out “I Ran”.  Early to mid-80s brilliance.

The track “Home” really got me with its background synths gliding up from the underflow to snag your thoughts. A bit of Sly Fox “let’s go all the way” in there somewhere too.

Zeebratta.  Fab album.  You should buy it today!

UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zeebratta-Mike-Score/dp/B00IRSOVIE

GLOBAL: http://www.amazon.com/Zeebratta-Mike-Score/dp/B00IRSDMHK

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David J Rodger – DATA

 

Music for Writing: FRKTL – Descent by Sarah Badr

Piano Riffs to Sweep your Imagination through Scenes of Tender Emotion and Character Resolution

Source: the wonderful and eclectic ambient gems harvested by Ryan at ASIP.

Sarah Badr tinkers with electro on this stupendous track. Available to listen on Soundcloud here:

Photo – Cloud Busting, by David J Rodger

Cloud Busting, David J Rodger, All Rights Reserved

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Spotlight: EDGE has the shock factor of blood on snow

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David J Rodger – DATA