SLP #31: Forest Nativity

[SquishypuffDave]

~S~L~P~

For your SLPing pleasure.

[RoundTheBend]

I want to say there's a "bright" metals theme here (not the genre). Feels like there's pleasing brightness in 90% of the tracks. Whether a horn, marimba, high notes on piano or jangly guitar... that's what I noticed as a mostly common thing.

Very pleasing. Thanks for this.

1. Sunny Morning - Probably my favorite track. Definitely tantalizing.
2. Glare - Very Alt-J for me.
3. Everything is in Line - probably the most vocally interesting track. Getting a small k/j/hk pop influence out of it.
4. M is for... - Probably the least interesting track for me... maybe I need to pay attention to the lyrics, but it was on par to soundtrack type music, which is ok for me.
5. Forest Nativity - I liked the message, but the music itself wasn't really my thing.
6. Annobon - The bass in this was fantastic, and what I'm guessing was a baritone sax...
7. Grand Union Canal - I mostly paid attention to the attack of the bass... haha. Smooth. Jeff Buckley?
8. Modern Drift - this reminds me of how I used to play piano as a kid... had no idea what to play, so I'd play this same kind of rhythm then play with what I later found out was intervals. 2nd favorite
9. Let's Write a Book - QOTSA and David Bowie had a funk love child.
10. Remedios the Beauty - wouldn't play for me

[SquishypuffDave]

Bright and metallic sounds right to me. Cheers. I'm not sure you'd dig the last track, but I'm sure it's on youtube somewhere.

[undefined]

hi BEA, idk if anyone's noticed my recent absence but I promise I still love y'all I've just been swamped with life's absurdity. May or may not make a semi-comeback soon but my first priority is that I promised Dave for his birthday I'd break my rule of catching up with SLP reviews in order and jump right to his (don't worry to the others I've missed, if I indeed do start BEAing more regularly again, I'll be on your SLPs ASAP). Anywho...

what do you expect from a Squishtape other than sheer excellence? Alright first things first, you may or may not know that I adore Francis Bebey with a passion, and you picked a truly top tier track of his for this thing so for that I commend you. Though it's not just that the song itself is top-notch, but idk if you selected to name the playlist after it just because you liked the name (which is more than valid), but I think it kinda works as a tonal center. Like everything here dances around that weird rare crossover point of the lighthearted and downright otherworldly. Like that first track (one of the ones I hadn't heard before, so thanks for that) was trippy and psychedelic but also weirdly earnest and almost lullaby-like. And while the following joint (also new to me!) didn't have the same obvious psychedelic tint, some of the guitar stylings there where definitely in the same vein of "I don't really know what's going on here it's kinda weird but really comforting". That My Brightest Diamond track is always cool and I'm pretty sure I heard it for the first time when you played it on plug actually! Following it up with Louis Andriessen was brilliant (never would've made that connection but it fits so well) and also I'm just thrilled to see Andriessen; dude's made underrated even in minimalist circles. And then of course Bebey and then oh man that Louis Sclavis bit is great. I think you and I talked about Sclavis a bit before? I mentioned he seemed really Dave like and you said you were already familiar and then the gazes of our plug avatars locked in a moment of true connection. Anyway cool transition into Gravenhurst, (Gravenhurst sounds like the name of a black metal band to me for some reason lol). Managed to turn down the tempo without disrupting the overall vibe (which is always a tough thing to nail in any mix), and then you did it yet again (in the opposite direction) moving into that Efterklang track, which was btw very good but damn I wish I had heard that sometime in 2010-2011 when I was all about this kind of highly orchestrated indie rock. Though even now I still think it's great; evokes Sufjan and the best of Arcade Fire. I think that last track couldn't have gone anywhere else. Would've felt out of place as anything other than a closer, and it was a neat idea to end it on a kinda quirky upbeat note. It's like the aural version of a cliffhanger, leaving me waiting for the next Squishtape. So go on and made it so I can listen to it and then wait several months before talking about it

seriously though good stuff Dave. Been listening to it actually pretty regularly since you first posted. Thinking its about time I listen to some full albums from the artists here with whom I was previously unfamiliar... P.S. when do you think we can expect another proper soundcloud mix??

[SquishypuffDave]

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Best present ever, my heart is full. I've promised a soundcloud dance mix in the past, so that has to be my next project. Last one I started didn't quite come together, but I've got a couple of days off. Mayhaps I will start working on that again.