Music For Horses no. 27

Once again I find myself writing a post for this Music for Horses playlist, which, considering it was an in-joke that I expected to last all of about three weeks, I find a little surprising. It’s now been running almost as long as this blog, but I still find songs that I want to include.

Moving on to the good stuff though. The first song is a beautifully engineered piece of electronic music; dark, moving and sophisticated, it’s got all the ingredients for a good song. The song begins as a quiet drone and quickly builds as the different layers come in to play. The main melody flicks between guitar and piano and could be a case study in simple perfection. It comes from his 2006 album The Humbucking Coil, and the song is called ‘Phones And Machines’.

B. Fleischmann – Phones And Machines [Buy]

#188 – Secret Diaries Remixes Stubbon Heart

Secret Diaries, the producer we featured a little while back for his Stock-71 double-mix has just let loose this remix of Stubborn Heart’s recent song ‘Knuckledown’. The original starts with a soundscape that makes you feel like you’re on a haunted beach before the warped, melancholic vocals drop in with a mournful lyric.

Secret Diaries has managed to capture all of the emotion in his remix

Music For Horses no. 26

There are times when I listen to a song and immediately know that it belongs in this playlist. But when it’s as good as my first choice today it needs an equally superb companion. It took a while, but I was able to find the perfect ‘part 2’. Anyway, I’ll stop talking about myself and start on the music. We begin this evening with SBTRKT’s ‘Wildfire’, which features the vocals of Little Dragon. The laid back, synthy bass that drives the song gets in your head, while the vocal melody floats above it in a way that I’m struggling to find words to describe.

It’s not a new song, but that doesn’t take away from it’s pure class.

SBTRKT – Wildfire Feat. Little Dragon [Buy]

Our next song is well worth getting excited about.

#184 – Fancy Mike’s New Track

It’s been almost exactly a year since we last posted about Fancy Mike, and seeing as he’s just put up a new song on his Soundcloud it’s about time he got some more airtime. Or pixeltime. Or whatever you want to call this.

Moving on from the semantics, the new track is a two minute treat.

#183 – Welcome To St Lucia

I was sent a copy of the newest Kitsuné mix the other day and I’ve been trying to listen to it but I’m having problems. These problems are due to the first song, by St Lucia, being so damn good that I have more or less put it on repeat and not listened to the rest of the mixtape.

Regular readers will be only too aware of my (and the other writers’) love for all things electronic. Specifically the sunny, slightly camp electronic stylings of Cut Copy and Architecture In Helsinki, so the first song on Kitsuné America fits the bill nicely.

St Lucia is Jean-Philip Grobler

Review: Belleruche – Rollerchain

Tru Thoughts’ Belleruche are now on to their fourth full-length release and they’ve made a concerted effort to shake things up a bit. We all know that they do the DIY electro-soul thing well, so it seems that they wanted to show us they can make a darker, more complex sound work too.

Luckily, they don’t disappoint.

#179 – Anchorsong Told Me To

If you’ve visited the site recently you may have heard us – specifically our newest contributor Max – raving about Anchorsong. Max saw Anchorsong supporting Belleruche last month and was blow away. Some people apparently describe the show “like watching a painter drawing on a white canvas”; Max said he’s pretty sure the guy uses some kind of black magic to make his live show work. Whatever it is, you’ve got the chance to see him touring his awesome debut Chapters, starting in London’s Cargo on March 22nd.

In support of this Masaaki (that’s what his mum calls him. Well, she almost certainly doesn’t call him Anchorsong!) was good enough to contribute to this regular feature, picking a few of his favourite songs and explaining why. It’s enlightening and his choices are thoroughly enjoyable (I’m a particular fan of the Pumpkins song he’s chosen). If you want to hear a little more of his music, then read Max’s previous post. And if you want to buy tickets for the 22nd March, then you can get them here. I’ll be there at the front and hopefully some of you will join me. If you’re quick you can get your tickets for a fiver too…

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Fiona Apple – The First Taste [Buy]

#174 – Secret Diaries Mix For Stock-71

The man who’s the brains behind Sheffield/London based Secret Diaries was recently asked to make a mix for Stock-71, the French music website. Unfortunately he’s not all that good at following instructions… Luckily this means he made two mixes, instead of the one they asked for. He’s split them into ‘Day’ and ‘Night’, with the songs he’s selected fitting the moods appropriately.

#172 – Chilling

It’s two slices of Groove Armarda for you today, although they’re both remixes. The first is by my favourite camp disco producers The Twelves. This is a more sedate slice from them, but it’s got all the ingredients that make a fantastic Twelves production. It’s still funky, dance-worthy but if it’s on a little quieter then this would go down a treat for a chill.

Groove Armarda – Drop The Tough (The Twelves Remix)

#171 – Songs From Our Mailbag

We get loads of music to listen to every week (which we like) and a good chunk of it is really good (which we really like). Unfortunately it’s impossible to put everything we like up, but we’ll have a crack. Here are five songs from signed and unsigned acts that have ended up in the Safety, Fun & Learning inbox this week.