Sebastian Melmoth – The Dynamics of Vanity

For about the last week I’ve been obsessed with listening to NTS Radio and not just whatever is live but going back through archives of particular hosts, so much so I even put the app on my phone (which close friends will probably retort with ‘where is Jay and what have you done with him?’). I have mentioned them before but I originally only went there for that one host. I just had this desire one day to listen to dubstep for a while and I only have early Burial stuff so that made me wonder what would happen if I looked around here.

So the final track on this album – all 14 minutes of it – was featured on a show which made me go to this album and check it out. It is far from the only thing that’s happened with, and more posts may follow once I’ve checked out the relevant bandcamps, etc. But the reason I mention that is because – what is not to absolutely love about radio that plays 14 minute experimental tracks? This was far from an outlier, too.

I’m the last person in the world to go around dispensing descriptions. Sebastian Melmoth do experimental post-punk, according to the description on this page though it is a vague pointer at best. Art rock? maybe, whatever that is. That last track I mentioned is a classic but I would have no idea how to describe it. Ambient post-punk maybe. But the E.P. / album is all over the place stylistically. Not sure I can think of a meaningful reference point – at an absolute stretch, maybe one of the tunes reminds me of Faust.

Vanishing Twin – Dream by Numbers EP

There’s just so much music out there, and all of it makes sense to someone, even if only the creator (hello, me). Sometimes you just have to accept that you’ll never have time to grok it all and just give thanks for the nuggets you find that resonate with you. This one resonated with me.

I like their description of ‘dreamlike’ in their small paragraph that accompanies it. Neptune in Pisces and all that, and despite it being released three years ago is still just as accurate a description with the added bonus of the extended Capricorn season. (You’ll need to listen to the mammoth podcast linked if you want to know what that means, unless you already do).

I discovered this via Black Impulse, which I’d forgotten about and started to play catch up the other day. There’s an episode with guest presenters Robbie Judkins and Mia Kukathasan where the tracklisting is woefully incomplete. If anyone out there can tell me who tracks 1 and 3 are, I will be so grateful that I’ll, I don’t know, sing a song in celebration for you, or something. Those tunes are wondrous.

Related to how much great music there is, I had a thought a day or two ago about how great ideas so often get co-opted or (more usually) ignored, yet that is no reason not to keep having them. Indeed, there is no reason not to keep having them. I’ve found personally as I get older that the more I create, the more I create. That is deliberately tautological, but once you turn that tap on, it will keep flowing. So here’s my tip for 2020 – always keep your tap on. And obviously be good to each other but I know you’ll all do that, right?

Tentakel – TwoFace

Although I listen to a resonable amount of electronic music, I’m even worse at catagorising that, so forgive the tags if they don’t seem complete or appropriate.

This may be the first album I’ve linked to on Bandcamp that has no supporters. It’s high on my list, though, for that time in the future when I may start having disposable income again, a time slightly more likely than The Rapture / The Singularity (but I repeat myself).

Paisiel – self titled

We’ve met half of Paisiel before in this parish, one Julius Gabriel. He is clearly one to watch.

The other half of Paisiel has done this percussion album which I listened to lately after one of its tracks was played on a Black Impulse show. It’s on my list of things to listen to again.

 

Wart Biter

And this is why I hate trying to describe music and gave up the futile effort. So non-sequiturs it is.

There is a pyramid above me, but it goes in both directions i.e. point up and point at the top. It’s really difficult to put it into words, bit like trying to describe music, really. But contained within those bounds are an infinity of possibilities.

Imagine: there are two lines on a single page. The lines themselves never actually meet, but the page they are on is finite. Nevertheless, the possibilities are infinite.

I could talk all day, and much to my children’s chagrin, I sometimes do. However, I only know so many words (roughly a hundred and thirteen) and yet, nevertheless, and although I often repeat myself, the possibilities are actually infinite.

The problem with infinity is that no one knows what it actually is, or even if it is. This, ladles and gentlespoon, is what I now suspect may be the true purpose behind the creative impulse (a.k.a. life) – trying to find out whether infinity is actually infinite.

So, what makes your head hurt more? The picture on the above album, or my essay? Me, it’s the lurgee.