Day 0830 - Second Toughest in the Infants

Underworld "Second Toughest in the Infants" (1996)

Another electronic album... though I guess the genre was going through something of a renaissance at this point.    

The members of Underworld had started off playing electro pop in a couple of different bands.  Even the early incarnation of Underworld itself had been more in an electro-rock, electro-pop direction.  The band enlisted DJ Darren Emerson and moved more fully into techno/electronica, working with pulsing beats and repetitive looped musical ideas.

This approach creates the musical bed for the minimalist and again often repeated vocals.   There was a time when I didn't really dig this style of music, I preferred a constant influx of new ideas or at least some regular evolution of the main idea.   I think now I'm less able to absorb that unless I'm focussing solely on the music.   I used to be able to listen to quite complex all-over-the-show music while reading a book or writing etc, but now I find I need to give a lot more attention to my listening.   Having something that loops and repeats that I can wander in and out of has an ever increasing appeal.

Day 0547 - This Nation's Saving Grace

The Fall "This Nation's Saving Grace" (1985)

The band had had a bit of a reshuffle prior to making this album.  One of their two drummers having left, and their stand-in bass-player moving onto keys and guitars once their original bassist returned from parental leave.

According to the book, the Fall teamed up with producer John Leckie who gave the band's new songs a glossy, professional sheen... which singer Mark E Smith hated.  He insisted that the producer instead work with the shabby audio cassette version of the recordings that he had.  One song even ended up with some sounds inadvertently recorded over the music by Smith when he was at home, leading to an impromptu sound collage that... actually kind of works.

The album is somehow noisy, uncompromising, yet quite accessible and catchy.  I guess that must be 'the way of the Fall'.

Day 0434 - Live at the Witch Trials

The Fall "Live at the Witch Trials" (1979)

A British band championed by the late great DJ John Peel.

There's a definite punk feel to the album, but with a broader range of sounds such as spoken word sections, moments of musique concrete and theatricality. I can see why a musical omnivore like Peel would enjoy it.

The rhythm section is tight and pounding with guitars that are sometimes abrasive, sometimes washy and insubstantial, playing over and against the off-kilter organ and with Mark E Smith's frantic Mancunian voice over the top.
 

Day 0396 - The Man-Machine

Kraftwerk "The Man-Machine" (1978)

The Kraftwerk men-bots take their idea of music made by machines a step further, occasionally having robot copies of the band standing in for a song or two during their shows.

This album seems like a continuation and development of the sound of 'Trans-Europe Express' with repetitive minimalist percussion and synth loops with the variety and flavour added by spare lead synth parts and vocals.

Nothing much to say about this that I didn't already say with "Trans-Europe Express" but it was enjoyable.