Patten

PSI

Warp • 2016 • ab 33.99€

Zur Review

patten: This was a real shift away from the more subdued mixdowns of previous Cocteau Twins recordings towards a certain type of hi-fi clarity. The interaction between sparkling drum machines & synths with Liz Fraser’s glossolaliac vocals and Robin Guthrie’s heavily chorused guitar melodies is at its most crystal clear on this record and is all the stranger for it. There’s an almost glowing technicolour warmth that bleeds through every heartfelt moment here. Supremely evocative.

5 – »World of Echo« by Arthur Russel, Upside Records, 1986
Find it at hhv.de on 2LP
patten: 1980s NY underground legend Arthur Russell’s fragmentary and maze-like love letter to pop music. Listening to »World of Echo« is like watching light split and recombine through a prism, with its heavily effected cello and vocal melodies ringing out into a cavernous but weirdly intimate sound stage. Owing as much to dub music’s disembodied sonics as to Simon and Garfunkel’s most stripped down and deeply human moments, this is one we hope will still be being discovered by new ears in 50 years time. A special album.

6 – »Beat Bop« by Rammellzee vs K-Rob, Tartow Record, 1983
Find it at hhv.de on 12inch
patten: This collaboration between Rammellzee, and K-Rob with Jean-Michel Basquiat is a raw coming together of avant-garde music, art and the club. There’s a video floating around of an extended version with performance footage – a good watch for context. Rammellzee masked-up, mic held close, spitting bars like the end of the world is going to hit any second. Essential listening.

7 – »Maxinquaye« by Tricky, 4th & B’way Records, 1995
Find it at hhv.de on LP
patten: A high-density 90s classic. The whole scene around Bristol has spawned a whole set of classic records and super-specific forms of music – definitely something about that place. Tricky’s debut really set the bar high for that deep, heady UK sound. His voice, his embrace of the androgynous and hard to define, the fully emotional ache that pours out from between every broken sample and close-miked intake of breath. As protected and soft as it is hard and confrontational – »Maxinquaye« almost feels more like a complex set of emotive environments to explore than an album. Four dimensional.

8 – »Selda« by Selda, Türküola, 1976
Find it at hhv.de on LP
patten: Transmissions from 1976 Turkey, reissued more recently by Finders Keepers in 2006. Selda Bağcan’s story is a unique one, with her politically-charged and subtly experimental versions of traditional folk songs earning her a massive following in Turkey and later throughout other parts of Europe. Bağcan is a prolific recording artist with over forty albums to her name, and she still tours widely with a huge following amongst a whole new generation of music fans. This eponymous collection is a perfect entry point to her distinctive world. That voice!

»Press Color« by Lizzy Mercier Descloux, ZE Records, 1979

patten: Initially making a mark on the No Wave scene in New York as part of the performance art duo slash band Rosa Yemen, Descloux went on to gain popular success in her native France and across the globe with a number of charting hits. These later pieces were still as challenging to common formats as the entrancing and spiky Rosa Yemen tracks, yet approaching her creativity through the pop spectrum. Fusing non-Western influences with 80s synth pop, she was able to produce singular works that captured both hearts and minds. »Press Color« compiles tracks from between these two points – her debut solo just after Rosa Yemen folded. There’s a strange knack for making the non-standard make sense on these recordings – an approach that spanned across her whole career.

10 – »Berkeley University Museum – November 7, 1970« by Steve Reich
Find it at hhv.de on LP
patten: Tune in, turn on, drop out. Classic Reich on a recently issued archival live recording from the end of 1970. Nobody at the time of recording could’ve guessed how legendary these pieces would eventually become. Undulating melodies and phasing patterns – the sound of history being made realtime. Fully essential listening.

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