New Music Week (Well Couple of Days)

Mathew over at Song By Toad has been musing about when it is that you stop seeking out new music and get into a rut or as MES would say turn into a "look back bore". Mathew thinks that he has another good couple of years before this happens which would take him to 35 which somewhat dismayed me, cos as you will probably be aware I turned 40 this year and am still looking for those tracks which will make me feel the same way as I did when I first heard From Across The Kitchen Table or Loaded. Granted it doesn't happen very often but when it does it feels just as good.

Mathew's musings however got me thinking of how others perceive this quest for the new and spending more time in King Tut's than a forty year old father of 2 should. I have noticed the funny looks sometimes from the predominantly younger members of staff on my infrequent visits to my company's office when I am extolling the virtues of We Were Promised Jetpacks, Meursault or the like. Am I seen as some sadsack trying to keep young by looking out for new bands? and , Do I care what they think anyway when most of them are more interested in the X Factor than the brilliant burgeoning music scene in the central belt of Scotland these days. The answers to theses questions is I don't know and frankly I couldn't give a shit.

Recently the new music that I have been listening to is mostly dance and electronic. Some time in the early noughties (I fucking hate that term) I decided that it was quite sad for somebody over 30 to still be buying 12" dance singles and trying to mix in his bedroom. L may have had something to do with this decision as it was her bedroom too. Another reason was probably that nothing was really grabbing my attention.

This all changed in 2006 when I heard the first Burial album and started listening to dubstep. Since then I have been gradually buying more and more dance music, mostly minimalist techno and dub step but other things as well, some electronica and of course anything with Weatherall's name on it, didn't really give up on him at all but even he seemed to be steering away from dance with the Wrong Meetings albums.

Anyway, this year has seen me buy more dance 12" singles in the past 6 months than probably the last 3 years.

Today's track is the flip side mix of the new single on Soma from Funk D'Void, one Lars Sandberg previously of Glasgow but now a resident of Barcelona, I think. He has a long history with the Glasgow label Jack Me Off, his first single being released on Soma in 1995. The track is a collaboration with Sian whom I know absolutely nothing about. The press release says Sian is now becoming recognized as a truly unique figure in electronic music. His list of aficionados reads like a who’s who of contemporary dance culture, from Luciano, Loco Dice, Ricardo Villalobos, Steve Bug, Carl Craig and M.A.N.D.Y to Sasha, John Digweed and James Zabiela. More of Villalobos and Carl Craig in the next couple of days.

This track reminds me of early Warp releases without being retro or dated sounding and probably sounds absolutely wonderful at full volume in somewhere like the Subby.

For all of those who think that dance music is that formulaic thump thump thump that you hear coming out of fucked-up Citroen Saxa's, have a listen to this and give it a chance.

Funk D'Void and Sian - A Raven Wheeling Overhead (Sleazy Dub mix)