random purchases...



Black Dice - Miles of Smiles

For some reason I had the impression Black Dice were an indie band because they seemed to get mentioned on Pitchfork alot - I'm here today to admit that I was very very wrong. We're into some seriously abstract pretty much avant-garde territory here folks! This EP comprises of two tracks, the first one miles of smiles could almost be described as a field recording, it starts off with insect noises which eventually changes to become the sound of a marching band, and what sounds like someone tearing paper. There's some sort of processing done to the sounds which gives them a slightly out of place feel, it's a fascinating piece and keeps me enthralled for its duration. The second track on this EP is slightly more traditional, starting off with a simple organ line and layered vocals - then someone appears to land a jumbo jet in the studio. I think I really like this EP, it's not going to be easy to listen to if your a fan of tunes, but for anyone with any appreciation of sound in general I'd recommend it.



Craig Armstrong - Piano Works

I think this is Craig Armstrong's third solo album, he's also done a few film soundtracks (notably Romeo & Juliet), and worked with Massive Attack (which is how I started listening to him). This album has a conceptual twist in that all the sound sources are from the Piano - although not in any sort of "Aphex Twin-esque making snare drum samples from a piano note", it's basically just several solo piano pieces treated with a bit of reverb. I'm torn between finding it boring or quite dull - I think it says alot that my favourite tune on the CD is 33 seconds long.



Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

I like this film alot, it's quirkiness has a certain charm which seemed to be refelected in the soundtrack when watching the film. When listened to in isolation it's OK, but not anything outstanding. There are a couple of gems on the soundtrack though: Wada Na Tod by Lata Mangeshkar is a fantastic spagetti western tinged bollywood tune, and Beck does a really good version of Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometimes. You may want to hit your favourite file sharing tools to get hold of those.



Godspeed You Black Emperor! - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven

I'm never quite sure where the explanation mark goes in there name, but Media Player tells me it should go after the word emporer for this double CD. Anyway, another one of those albums I should have bought ages ago - bit like Mogwai, but more epic. I can see why pitchfork gave this a 9.0.