Music Discoveries November 2023 #28

See also: Previous and Next (View all)

For $75 I bought a $200 emusic value pack. This will be the last time. After that I will permanently leave emusic; additions from labels are few and far between, and many great labels have already left. Perhaps I could have left a year ago, but I am still discovering little nuggets of genius from the remaining music. It’s been getting harder though. I am still finding that people on bandcamp have been pricing their albums too high, but there’s enough there to keep me happy.

Articles and Interviews

Here’s a nice excerpt from Arjan Rietveld‘s Hypnotized: A Journey through Trance Music (1990-2005): A history of Balearic Trance, Where are the women in trance? , . Also a very nice essay about Beatport’s Definitive History of Trance. I am very familar with trance styles and major players, though it is nice to have everything mapped out so clearly.

Emusic Purchases

1. Adam’s Son by Matthew Wright
2. Atzaro Ibizo — Soundscapes Vol 3.
3. Affirmations by Hoopy Frood
4. Tales from Six Feet Under (Vol 1). by Charlotte Wessels.
5. The Deer by Death of Robert. Spanish pop group.
6. Highways and Heartbreaks by Siobhan Cotchin. Australian country music EP. Very subdued soft sound.
7. The Soundings by Blue States. (actually Andy Dragazis). British Triphop from the 2000s. Very downbeat and relaxed.
8. Home is where the Van is by Battlefield Band. Early 1978 album by iconic Scottish folk band. Iconic as in, they’ve produced dozens of albums and featured an everchanging cast of performers over the decades.
9. 3 Compilation trance albums for 90s trance called Hypnotized: British Trance 1993-2002 , German Trance Music 1992-2001, Dutch Trance Music 1994-2005). (All 3 albums are streamable on bandcamp). There is a very interesting book about the history of trance music by Arjan Rietveld.

Bandcamp Purchases

Name-Your Price using Google.

1. Gently but Firmly by Joyce Delaney. (Consisting of Chrissy Barnacle and Nyla) NYP Scottish dada-punk duo produces lots of minimalist fun songs with screwy lyrics.
2. Various NYP EPs by Nyla (from Joyce Delaney). All are minor fun — she plays the ukelele as well as guitar.
3. Various NYP EPs by Chrissy Barnacle.
4. Sum of the Parts by Blue States. NYP of B-sides

Youtubey Things

Here’s a Spice Girls documentary produced in 2007. I learned a lot about this iconic group. Pointed me to their first major concert in Istanbul — here it is in clips.

Speaking of which, here’s a live performance of one of favorite Asian songs Tao Wang (Escape) by Stephanie Sun. Here’s the original studio recording from 2001. I heard this on some random online radio, and spent months trying to figure out the name of the song and singer.

After reading a reddit thread about most memorable drum performances on a pop song, I was reminded of the remarkable finale of Benny Goodman’s Swingtime in the Rockies. That was Gene Krupa on the drums which by the end was fluttering all over the place.