WE WATCHED WHITE STARS OVERHEAD

(David Hockney- A Bigger Splash, 1967)

As I've been working away and not achieving very much on a bunch of nowhere near finished pieces and ideas, here's some music:

FOALS- Brazil Is Here (b-side to the Balloons single)

It's kinda interesting that, for me at least, a lot of Foals' better songs are b-sides to the singles, or stuff that just never got released in any official way- and this is especially pronounced around the time of their first record. To wit: the track above, Unthink This, Astronauts and All, Gold Gold Gold- hell, even Hummer and Mathletics were single-only. Add to that earlier, much more math-rocky stuff like Try This On Your Piano (and the even earlier, unreleased, brillaint Modern Art Is For Pricks) and you have quite a sizable collection of quality music. Happy hunting- and if you haven't already, check out the now-sadly defunct sister band Youthmovies. Good Nature is a great, great album.

Hyetal- Phoenix
Hyetal - Phoenix - 002 by william orca

So, apparently Hyetal's (yet) another not-really-dusbstep, prodigously talented producer from Bristol. And this is an absolute gem: euphoric, brilliantly put together... It has everything I could ask for in a song. Plus the synth line that appears later in the song is quite simply one of the most lovely things I've heard all year. As someone I saw on a blog said: this stuff is weirdly close to electronica legend Vangelis, whose composing work on films like Blade Runner make for great albums in and of themselves. (Incidentally, of his studio records, my favourite is the wonderful Albedo 0.39. Well worth yr time, is Vangelis.)

Canzonetta Sull'aria, from Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro.

Most famous for its rather memorable appearance in everyone's favourite film The Shawshank Redemption, this is a gorgeous little piece of music. Tellingly, I've been lead to believe the title translates to 'a little tune on the breeze', although this could be completely wrong.

To be perfectly honest, I never really got the deal with opera; I always was under the impression it's just a glorified, posh person's musical. This, obviously, is not correct, and I'm slowly coming around to the idea that it might actually be rather interesting. The costumes are still ridiculous, though.

Polar Bear- Peepers (live studio recording for The Guardian)

And a little ditty from London 'post-jazzers' (ololol) Polar Bear. I've talked about this band a lot before, so: this is a slightly longer version of the title track of their latest record, which I've been listening to a fair bit. Great stuff, and it's good to see Seb Rochford's hair remains as vertiginous as ever. (There's also a video of them playing Jools Holland, but the sound's a bit off: the guitar is waaay too high in the mix, and the band sound kinda flat. Shame, really.)

...and finally, a track I'll say nothing about, save the fact I've been playing it constantly. And Then He Kissed Me, by The Crystals. Magnificient, classic wall of sound Phil Spector.

LATE EDIT. OR, ONE MORE!
Beam Me Up, remixed by Jacques Renault, original by Midnight Magic.

This has one mother of a groove. From the guys and gals of Hercules and Love Affair, yet another disco revival slice of awesome.

Now, to listen to that Messiaen...