Ahoy!

Here’s some music, and some thoughts:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ci7lssNMRI — “Down in the Park” by Gary Numan. This song rules because it captures perfectly the feelings of isolation, and the unfeeling world of technology. The song is about robots (or “machmen”) sitting in a park in a world where humans are hunted. It is a very minimal song, but it’s very haunting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1p4Qa_z65g – Anything from Secret Chiefs 3. This band helps me a lot because the music is like a puzzle — I can never really tell where the music is going to go. It’s very releaxing to try and sit back with my eyes closed and try to predict the song. The band is a mixture of 60’s surf guitar, persian, death metal, arab techno, and so many other influences.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GF9Rha3wpE – Anything by Holy Fuck, a Canadian band. They use analogue instruments, looped into feedback devices, wired into old kids toys, looped back into amps, then fed through distortion filters, etc. No two live shows sound the same as a result. They are very good at improvisation, and rock super hard. I like to listen to them while cleaning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=434ydOVMirM – “Rusting Shells”, by Nocturnal Emissions. This song is an ethereal collage of disquieting whispers, and a droning melody. For some reason I find it soothing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgcAvINYX1M – The Japanese band, Chu Isikawa. I like to listen to them while walking to work. It is old-school industrial, and brings to my mind the decay of the city, and the frantic pace of industrialised society.