“What are you listening to at the moment,” he asked me over a coffee? My mind went blank and I said so, adding “I could give you five different answers in five different moments, just not right now. Let me get back to you.”

So here's one answer.

walking around – Cabaret Voltaire + adjacent work

If we look at the overall life span of Cabaret Voltaire, 1994 isn't strictly “late” but it's at the very end of Stephen Mallinder's time with the band, when they'd gone fully instrumental, morphing well beyond their delightfully scuzzy early years and mid-80s frontier synthpop deep into house territory – remember the 90s? The Conversation hits a groove and still feels like the band, though, and also feels like plenty of other Richard H Kirk work, such as Electronic Eye's Neutrometrik from 2000.

I discovered a 2022 album from Stephen Mallinder called tick tick tick this morning, and it made a good accompaniment to my Saturday suburban wander. The album keeps that same late-CV house vibe, with some of his familiar vocals lingering amongst it. I hope I could be a tenth as creative when I'm 67!

resting at home – Sparklehorse

On the way home from the gym yesterday, I popped into the bottle shop to get a bottle of wine for the weekend. The young person behind the counter was listening to Sparklehorse, rather surprisingly. I told her how I appreciated the reminder, and she said “I'm trying to listen to whole albums.” What a great choice!

If you haven't tried them, the first two albums vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot and Good Morning Spider are worth your time – they careen between fuzzy noise and careful, heartfelt moments.

working from home – Fennesz

I'm fortunate to find myself in a position, after some years of crazily busy jobs, where I have space to listen to some background music as I work. (Christian) Fennesz' work is a long favourite of mine for his warm fuzz and enveloping tones that take a different tack from shoegaze-y acts, which might be the first thing you think of when you read “warm fuzz and enveloping tones”. Quieter, and more contemplative, and closer to drone-like bands. You could try Venice or Endless Summer but my favourite by far is one he did with Jim O'Rourke, cunningly called It's hard for me to say I'm sorry.

#music #NowPlaying #CabaretVoltaire #Sparklehorse #Fennesz

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This was a post from Cos.

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