Aphex Twin, Burial and Kraftwerk tracks feature in University Challenge
And now for something completely different. Tracks by Aphex Twin, Burial, Kraftwerk and Massive Attack have cropped up in a round of University Challenge.
The popular academic quiz, which was first broadcast back in 1962, featuring a round where a team comprised of students from Jesus College, Oxford were asked to identify the performers of 'Trans Europe Express' by Kraftwerk, 'Xtal' from Aphex Twin's 'Selected Ambient Works 85-92', 'Ghost Hardware' by Burial and 'Unfinished Sympathy' by Massive Attack.
The Sound Of: Central Processing Unit
Tracklist:
Maelstrom ‘Lost Echoes (Featuring Djedjotronic)’
Datassette ‘Kestrel Manoeuvres In The Dark’
MNLTH ‘Traffic’
96 Back ‘Celsius Loss’
Alek Stark ‘NGC 4569’
Mikron ‘Dry Sense’
Annie Hall ‘D'un Altre Planeta’
Noumen ‘Clinch’
Calum Gunn ‘Pins’
SDEM ‘Arc Rail’
96 Back ‘Knock Out (Jensen Interceptor Remix)’
Noumen ‘White Silence’
Microlith ‘Remember Members’
Squarepusher announces new album on Warp, ‘Be Up A Hello’
Squarepusher will release a new album, 'Be Up A Hello', via Warp on 31st January
The record will mark a return after a five-year hiatus, which has seen Squarepusher, aka Tom Jenkinson, delve into various other musical projects - including scoring music for the BBC's kids channel CBeebies.
TNGHT are right here, right now
On Cue: Ethiopian Records
Ethiopiyawi Electronic defies the colonialist idea that the cultural (and monetary) value of African art increases only when Westerners pay attention to it. “I worry about appropriation and gentrification because the West.. [has had] a very abusive relationship with my continent,” Mulu says. “I also worry about this attention we are getting [from the West], like African people worry about their raw materials and lands. I think the only way for Africans to be safe here is for people from my continent to take ownership of their cultural evolution.
As Western labels, DJs and producers continue to look to Africa as a source for “obscure” records to be “discovered”, often with little or no financial remuneration for the original artists, the spectre of colonialism feels close and sinister.
“People aren't appropriating just because they love something,” Mulu says. “They are appropriating because they think this is the next big thing. My continent is the future and everyone knows it. This is their gold rush, and I am horrified by it.
Mulu has become involved in a pan-African music platform, Crudo Volta. Run by Rome-based collective Python Syndicate, which has released documentaries on African electronic genres like gqom (in Durban) and afrobass (in Accra), they recently unveiled a new miniseries, Taxi Waves, which showcases a new wave of artists from Lagos, Maputo, and Addis Ababa.
On Cue: Plaid
The emotional blend of many elements is something Plaid have refined over almost 30 years of recording together as a duo. They’ve moulded a characterful sound from meandering off-world melodies that bound off at unexpected tangents, and beats that skirt the edges of dance music but refuse to conform to stiff regulation. ‘Polymer’ finds Plaid in especially tuneful form, while maintaining the exploratory impulse that has made them one of the UK’s most celebrated leftfield electronic acts.
Though they might intend to make dancefloor-geared material, Plaid’s way of creating sounds instead leads them off on more colourful, non-linear paths, governed by interweaving harmonic ideas rather than gridded beat structures.
“We love dance music and it influences our work, but we find it difficult keeping things simple,” Turner says. “When we’re working on a few bars for hours, it feels natural to keep adding or altering to keep ourselves interested. We want the listener to go back to discover more.”
“The branch of techno we loved initially was the hopeful Detroit version, the Carl Craig, Derrick May, Juan Atkins stuff,” Ed Handley says. “A lot of their earlier output was very positive, it was sort of melancholic, but it was trying to find a better way. It was a response to alienation, trying to create something warm from the technology. I’ve always liked the meeting of the two, where you have this machine quantisation, but then you have these almost romantic harmonies.
Though Plaid appreciate the positive effects of technology — as well as noting its potentially harmful aspects — their feelings on the damage brought about by mass consumption and climate change are clear. Both are supporters of activists Extinction Rebellion, and hail the recent peaceful protests in London as a positive step.
Tracklist:
Anastasia Kristensen announces debut EP, ‘Ascetic’ on Arcola: Listen
Anastasia Kristensen will release her debut solo EP, ‘Ascetic’, via Arcola on 1st March.
The Moscow-born, Copenhagen-based DJ extraordinaire follows up tracks and remixes on labels like Houndstooth with her first release of entirely original material. Featuring four-tracks of immersive dub techno, formidable breaks and dancefloor demolishers, it’s been more than worth the wait.
Aphex Twin reveals new merch inspired by his videos
A new range of Aphex Twin merch will go on sale from Saturday (24th November)
Premiere: Mount Kimbie ‘T.A.M.E.D. (Ellen Allien U.F.O RMX)’
Mount Kimbie’s ‘Love What Survives’ is the sort of album that reveals itself more and more with each listen, its intricate, subtle details becoming more apparent the more time you spend with its new-wave inspired guitars, lush electronics and sublime guest vocals from the likes of King Krule, Micachu and James Blake.
Aphex Twin’s last remaining Fuji Rock cassette offered up by Warp
Aphex Twin’s limited-edition cassette, ‘Apex Mt. Fuji 2017’, has now vanished from the Warp Records’ stock room. The label offered one fan the last remaining cassette for making a purchase at London’s Independent Label Market on Saturday 25th November.
The tape was limited to 500 copies and sold exclusively at Japan’s Fuji Rock festival in July. It is now selling for hundreds of dollars online.
Warp has not publicly revealed the winner of Saturday’s rarity.
