A bit of a delay in getting to this episode. I've hesitated over whether to do a full-on Bowie tribute as there are so many brilliant tributes already. It almost felt like jumping on the bandwagon. Instead I've bided my time, and its now evolved into a tribute to three people who've died too early in 2016: Lemmy Kilmister, David Bowie and Terry Wogan.
hickensian / tags / troika
Tagged with “troika” (25)
-
-
Troika #24: Dearly Departed
-
Troika #23: Best of 2015
Its an end of year list! Only shorter! This three-piece won't take long to read or listen to, but it took me a very long time to choose just three from so much wonderful music in 2015. To make it easier, I excluded any music that has already featured in Troika.
So without further ado, my three most-played are: 'Satellites' by Mew, 'Repetition' by Purity Ring and 'Winter Dress' by The Amazing
-
Troika #22: A Hickensian Christmas II
Ho Ho Ho, Part 2! Here we have another episode of Chrimbo tunes, this time with traditional songs covered by modern bands. These sound a bit more atmospheric compared last weeks more jaunty tunes!
'Once in Royal David's City' - Sufjan Stevens My favourite carol, performed in a plinky-plonky piano style by Sufjan Stevens (again!). Achingly beautiful
'Little Drummer Boy' - Low Low specialise in a genre called 'Slowcore', and their 'Christmas' album from 2000 is a mix of upbeat ditties like 'Just like Christmas' to the really rather dark 'Long Way Around the Sea'. This cover of the traditional favourite is somewhere in the middle.
'The First Noel' - Over the Rhine I first saw Ohio's finest back in 1992 and immediately became a fan. This is taken from their first Christmas album 'The Darkest Night of the Year' from 1996, but they recently released a second called 'Blood Oranges in the Snow'. This is probably my favourite piece of Christmas music - one for Christmas Eve by the fire.
Intro music is 'Adultery at Christmas' by Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer
Have a very Happy Christmas!
-
Troika #21: A Hickensian Christmas
There’s so many decent Christmas songs, that one Troika isn’t going to be enough! So I’ve split them over two episodes – maybe more if I pull my finger out!
‘Oh Santa!’ – Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer While not strictly ‘explicit’ (there’s no swearing), it is a rather rum tale that minors may find disturbing. Mr B is the inventor of ‘Chap Hop’, a delightful blend of hip hop and chapness. ‘Get behind me Santa!’ – Sufjan Stevens Sufjan is the King of the Christmas song, if you need a good Christmas music that isn’t cheesy (at least unintentionally) you can’t go wrong with his many covers of traditional songs and original Xmas tunes. This one is a conversation between an Anti-Santa curmudgeon, and Santa himself. “I don’t care about what you say, Santa Claus You’re a bad brother breaking into people’s garage”
‘A Snowflake Fell (and it felt like a kiss)’ – Glasvegas After two songs played for chuckles, this Troika ends with a more serious tone from Glasgows’ Glasvegas. This is the title track from the Christmas EP, and I love this song, but I particularly put it here as its one of Leigh’s favourites! More crimbo musicality next week!
(The intro music is ‘Winter Wonderland’ by Lew Stone & His Band)
-
Troika #20: Take it Slow
This time its all about taking it slow. Songs or pieces of music that either sound better, or take on a new form, when slowed down.
'Feel it all Around' by Washed Out Ernest Greenes' project 'Washed Out' take the backing from Gary Low's 1983 single 'I Want You' and slows it to nice laid back pace, creating this lovely slurry sound. I'm told this is also the theme to the TV Series Portlandia, but I haven't seen that yet.
'How do I make you' by The Chipmunks To record Chipmunks versions of songs, they have to be sung at a slower pace, so that when sped up, both the pitch and length is correct. So what happens when you slow the whole back down to the pace of the original vocal? Sludgepop! There's loads more on Soundcloud (https://soundcloud.com/alvin-thechipmunkson16sp). Check out 'My Sharona in particular - I just felt it was a bit long for this episode,especially when you see how long the last track is…
The Jurassic Park Theme - 1000% slower Drawn out to almost an hour, John Williams' theme to Jurassic Park is a beautiful ambient drone epic!
In this episode I also mention about how Hans Zimmer's soundtrack for Inception was inspired by the slowed down version of Edith Piafs' "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien”, a musical motif used throughout the story. More on that here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVkQ0C4qDvM.
-
Troika #19: Bleeps
In the early eighties I was really into artists like Jean Michel Jarre, Depeche Mode and Howard Jones. I loved synths! After about '86 I moved away to more guitar-based music, Metal and then a wee folky phase in the early nineties.
During my last year at college in 94 I started rediscovering electronic music. As well as purveyors of ambience like Aphex Twin and The Orb, I also got into the 'dancey' end of the spectrum, even though I wasn't a fan of dancing or nightclubs. I kind of just nodded my head along,
So, without interruption, here's the three tracks I've chosen from : Leftfield, Future Sound of London and The Chemical Brothers. Enjoy!
-
Troika #18: Randoms
Troika number 18 is a straightforward simpler episode! The only thematic link this time is tracks that I've discovered either by shuffle or playback glitches. Random songs! (Maybe a little bit of swearing too)
-
Troika #17: The Scotch Egg
This Troika is a musical representation of one of my favourite foods - the mighty Scotch Egg! 'Breadcrumbs' by Deca, 'Valley of the Sausages' by Mr Scruff and 'Egg' by The Garden.
-
Troika #16: Diddly-dum! Diddly-dum!…
With the new series of Dr Who starting this weekend, I decided it was time for a Troika on the iconic TV theme! There has been a lot of 'official' versions and many more covers (including a terrible disco-ified one by Mankind in 1979), but here is the original, along with my two favourite unofficial versions!
Doctor Who (1963 original theme) - Ron Grainer & Delia Derbyshire Ron Grainer wrote the score, but it was Delia Derbyshire at the BBC Radiophonic workshop that brought it to life, using techniques that she and Dick Mills invented as they went along. It was revolutionary, and their work continues to inspire electronica today, especially in bands like Stereolab
'Dr Qui' - Bill Bailey Bill Bailey is the first artist to be featured again on Troika, and this time it's for his Belgian Jazz (with french lyrics - http://lyrics.wikia.com/wiki/Bill_Bailey:Dr._Qui) version of the theme. (He also appeared in the show as Droxil in 'The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe' fact fans).
'Dr Who?' - Orbital (live at Glastonbury) The men with laser beams for eyes regularly perform this lively EDM version in their live set. This one is taken from the 2004 Glastonbury Festival. They came back in 2010, and performed it with the then Eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith.
P.S - Sorry about the abrupt end to the last track!
Page 1 of 3Older