Moving into mid-Autumn the days may well be getting shorter but we’ve still found the time to source some eclectic selections for you to check out in our monthly playlist. Tune into inertia.fm and check out the post below for some choice cuts of Charlie and Ewan’s favourites.
Charlie’s Picks
BENEE – Glitter
I’ll throw my hands up and admit I’m a little late to the party when it comes to realising how good this whole EP is. Released in June of last year to critical acclaim, it launched New Zealand artist BENEE onto the radar of many yet she kind of passed me by until now. Recently, I’ve barely found time to listen to anything else. The whole EP is sublime, and the upbeat, twinkly melodies have been earworms for me all month: I’ve caught myself whistling along to them whenever they’re not being played. I think the worst of it is behind me, but in case you want a new song to get stuck in your head definitely check out Glitter, which showcases her phenomenal voice and compelling sound at its finest.
Flabaire – Shabbat Jam
French producers really just show everybody how it’s done when it comes to producing house thumpers, and this song is no exception to that rule. The groove on this one is so deep it feels like you might just fall into it. This song rumbles into gear and delivers a silky-smooth guitar bass line coupled with some snippy kicks that get your toes tapping. Just to keep things interesting an added layer of swirling filter effects whizz the different elements into a soupy, danceable delight that knows how to take things down a level without losing any of the energy. A+ for me.
Ought – Passionate Turn
Ought is a band that I’ve listened to in fits and starts for many years now. For some reason I find myself returning to them recently once again, this time mostly centring my listening around their sophomore LP Sun Coming Down. I’ve always loved their self-aware lyrics and how they thumb their nose at a lot of the mundanities of day to day life, but I think what sets their sound apart from bands that engage in similar themes is how weirdly heartfelt their songs can sound despite the heavy doses of irony. Passionate Turn sees them ditch their typically flippant style in favour of a reminiscent, reflective, even remorseful display that proves the breadth of their talent as musicians.
Ewan’s Picks
Cocteau Twins- For Pheobe Still a Baby
One of Scotland’s finest musical exports, Cocteau Twins manage to create entire fantasy-like worlds on each of their albums. Released at the height of their powers, Blue Bell Knoll is one of my personal favourites from their archive and this song is a highlight pick from the album. Cocteau Twins are a kind of indecipherable phenomenon, the kind where I both feel a deep connection to and alienation from. Not being able to understand what they are saying 80% of the time doesn’t even bother me, as the result is a kind of dream-state that has an almost transportive quality to it. For Pheobe Still a Baby is a classic in my eyes and I’ve had this tune on pretty much every day of October so far.
Fat White Family- Rock Fishes
Former outcasts Fat White Family released what I can now safely say is one of my favourite albums ever last year with Serfs Up. Having spent years on the fringe of British music and failing to gain any real critical acclaim, the Fat Whites managed to release their first commercially successful album. After soaring reviews across the board, it is fair to say that the album brought the band some long deserved respect in the scene. The cleaned up sound may have surprised some fans, but the signature gritty and clever lyrical content was still at the forefront. Rock Fishes encapsulates the allure that I have found in the album, a kind of historically grounded look at the vast discrepancy in modern Britain life. The chilling vocals from frontman Lias Saoudi over the orchestral arrangements and drum beat all blend together into a perfectly strange tune.
Special Request- Vortex 150
A new take on classic electronic and dance music, Paul Woolford’s alter-ego title Special Request, has released some of my favourite projects in recent years, with Vortex being right up there in terms of electronic albums of all-time. The robotic soundscapes that are carefully crafted of breakbeat, techno and jungle components manage to stay cutting edge despite taking major influence from the music of the 90s and 00s. This is likely a result of Woolford’s own involvement in the underground DJ scene at the time and his vast experience over the years. To sustain such a career must take such skill and innovation that it is no real surprise that Vortex 150 manages to feel so afresh yet dystopian, with metallic stabbing synths and old-school drum beats.
inertia 