music: may 26

This month I read an interview with Shed about the 20+ aliases he has released under. While some carry personal meaning, many were chosen for fun. His main alias, Shed, was just decided on in the moment at the Hard Wax counter, when they asked what name he wants to put on the record. And here is the story behind Sigg Gonzales:

I got the name Sigg from this television show on the Discovery Channel. The captain of the ship is this American guy with Norwegian roots, and his name is Sig. I always thought he was a cool guy, so I took his name. And because the music I was making had a little bit of a Balearic sound, I decided to add on a Spanish-sounding last name. It’s all about having fun, and every time that I release something new from this project, I actually change the spelling or add some letters. So there’s also Sigg Gonzales, Zigg Gonsalezz, Zigg Gonzaless, Zigg Gonzalezz … you get the idea.

That reminded me of an old Autechre interview where they say most of their track titles are just in-jokes. For instance, the track "Maetl" is a phonetic spelling of "mate" said in an "exaggerated West Coast / Australian / Scottish accent".

I'm convinced that "just having fun" is a very rewarding creative strategy. Just getting ideas out, being prolific, not overthinking.

But on the other hand, I think about intentionality a lot, and throwing stuff out there feels like the opposite of being intentional? I guess where it still works is if the intention lives somewhere else – e.g. in how the music is made. And just having fun can be an intention in itself?

But of course there's also the opposite end of the spectrum, where every name is carefully chosen and nothing is accidental – like the Boards of Canada release this month.

Here is my listening journal for May, all tracks on Spotify.

Gravity

• Album: Boards of Canada – Inferno (just on release day I listened to this album 3x, wow, I love it so much, it's a bittersweet mysterious journey through dark IDM, ambient, shoegaze, hauntology, kosmische, and downtempo; I love the AI (?) vocal chops, riddles (?), uneasy creepy vibe, the paranormal atmosphere; just 100% BOC, many favourites: Prophecy at 1420 MHz, Hydrogen Helium Lithium Leviathan, Age of Capricorn, Memory Death, The Word Becomes Flesh, Into the Magic Land, Arena Americanada, You Retreat In Time And Space)
• Album: Ana Roxanne – Poem 1 (piano and voice, drones, at times soft and hazy, at others dreamy and sad; fav tracks: X, Untitled II)
• Album: Calibre – Tricklemore Sea (downtempo, ambient, d&b, bluesy – more reflective, slower and intimate than his usual d&b self; fav tracks: Little Blend, Free One, Modest, Bit Broken)
  • Recent interview with RA: funny where he says he initially dismissed drum & bass as "a drum kit falling down the stairs"
• Album: Yana Pavlova & Pavel Milyakov – Thrill (the late Yana Pavlova, with Pavel Milyakov – finished before her death; some tracks in Ukrainian, a rain version of my fav track "Strong-Willed", beautiful new material like running through and thrill, plus a cover of Spiritualized's "All of My Tears")
• EP: MNTH – Silente Esplendor (I love ambient, I love percussion – how much percussion can you add before it stops being ambient? fav track: siES)
• Album: Seefeel – Sol.Hz (ambient dub, dub techno – spaced out but feels intentional and mysterious, calm but always interesting; perfect background music, with the option to dial up the attention and find deep sound design inside; unfortunately missed them live in Berlin this month; fav tracks: Falling First, Ever No Way, Until Now, Brazen Haze)

I have always loved trip hop. I grew up on Massive Attack and can always come back to the genre, but I'd stopped paying attention to new releases. Somehow I always associated trip hop with the 90s. Lately though, I realised a trip hop revival has been happening, and in May I finally spent some time going through my backlog. Here are a few things I really liked:

• Album: a.s.o. – a.s.o. (one of my favourites here – dim and slow, downtempo breaks, have been listening to Rain Down and Go On on repeat and playing to all my friends in May)
• Track: 6 Underground – White Flag (a nostalgic cover of Dido's White Flag – melancholic, hazy, slow)
• Albums: trickpony – Pillow Talk & 24/7 Heaven (hypnotic whispered vocals, dreamy and atmospheric trip hop – very cool sound from Roza Terenzi, Mike Midnight and Maria Korkeila; fav tracks: Angel, Room To Breathe, Ripple)
• Album: Erika de Casier – Lifetime (smooth, the most pop/R&B thing here; I am not really an R&B guy, but this one is interesting and pleasant; fav tracks: Miss, Delusional)

More here: trip hop playlist on Spotify

Orbit

• EP: Dean Grenier – Four the Eight (dreamy progressive trance, floaty and sentimental, very Martinou / Traumprinz; fav tracks: Dume – ambient intro with crashing waves, 48Amends, Object Impermanence)
• EP: Tristan Arp – (re)weave (breaky IDM bass, polyrhythmic, jittery, nervous but in a vibey way, with a generative feel; sounds like speeding through a kaleidoscopic mirror maze; fav tracks: Shapeshifting Dub, Forking Paths)
  • "When I started making this record, my life and the world felt like a maze." – Tristan Arp
• Track: Leod – Untitled 13 (lean and groovy techno, stripped down and meditative – minimal but hypnotic; love the whole series – discovered Untitled 12 in March)

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think and have a nice summer!

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