Track of the Day: 'Lit' by Gidge

Taken from the album 'LNLNN' which is out today on Atomnation, this is a beautifully Scandinavian slice of crisp and clean electronica. The tracks on the new album have evolved from their last album 'Lulin', but this time the ambient shapes have been defined into a more dancefloor-oriented style.

Recommended music: 'Lost Themes' by John Carpenter

You have to wonder why it took John Carpenter so long to get round to doing this. With his soundtracks revered as much as the films he made them for, and recent re-releases from Death Waltz Records (I got the orange vinyl Escape From New York and the marbled edition of The Fog) his impact and influence has possibly never been greater.

The record he's put out, in collaboration with his son Cody and godson Daniel Davies, displays all the hallmarks of a classic Carpenter soundtrack, but with the benefit of today's modern equipment and recording standards. To be honest, I think a lot of people would've been happy if he'd just gone into the studio and re-recorded some of his 'greatest hits' so we could hear them in a better quality, nut I think it's great to have some new output from him, even if there's no film to go with it.

I've read that these tracks grew out of jam sessions between John and Cody, but you wouldn't know that to listen to them. Some, like opener 'Vortex', are crisp, focused and recognisably Carpenter while the sprawling tracks like 'Obsidian' and 'Domain' go to a number of different places and are almost like  mini soundtracks in themselves.

The album as a whole is brilliantly put together so that it doesn't feel like a collection of pieces but instead actually works like a soundtrack to a film he never got round to releasing - the tension ebbs and flows, the moods change subtly and the whole thing comes together in a way that encourages you to picture the scenes in your head. You might argue that at 67 he's got no business making a record at all, but which would you rather have - some 20 year-old in his bedroom making second rate pastiches of his work, or something new from the master himself?

It's worth noting that when I downloaded the mp3 files that came with my vinyl copy there were six bonus remixes from the likes of Zola Jesus and Blanck Mass on top of the nine tracks - I hadn't seen this mentioned anywhere so it was a nice surprise!

Highly recommended. 

Tracklisting:

1. Vortex
2. Obsidian
3. Fallen
4. Domain
5. Mystery
6. Abyss
7. Wraith
8. Purgatory
9. Night
10. Night (Zola Jesus and Dean Hurley Remix)
11. Wraith (ohGr Remix)
12. Vortex (Silent Servant Remix)
13. Fallen (Blanck Mass Remix)
14. Abyss (JG Thirlwell Remix)
15. Fallen (Bill Kouligas Remix)

PS I'd love to remix some of these tracks myself, so if any of you know Mr Carpenter can you get him to throw the stems my way?

Recommended music: 'At or From a Distance' by Steiner

The third release in Glass Reservoir's series of commissioned recordings is a contemplative affair. Mixing field recordings with waves of musical sound, the overall effect is one of transience, of moving from one state to another, and of a general sense of not belonging. It's hard to tell whether the music has been created on keyboards or naturally - there's a recurrent sound that could as easily be the sound of a ringing bowl as its electronic counterpart.

When you put the rather mystical song titles together with the sound ('I seem to glimpse you in every window', 'The opposite of now', 'I seem to glimpse you in every window', 'Topography/Hiro') you end up with something that becomes the aural equivalent of a Haruki Murakami novel - you're not entirely sure where the journey is taking you, and ultimately it raises more questions than it answers, but it's an engrossing experience that you'll want to repeat.

'At or from a distance' is released on 17th February on download and a limited run of handmade CDs - click here for details.