I received James Blake‘s latest EP about a month ago. I could download the thing, but I couldn’t post one song, not even as a stream. I thought, that’s against the point, so the Buddhist in me told me not cling to the need to listen to Enough Thunder. The mind was quicker this time and said fuck it, let’s have a listen. And of course, it’s great. Well, go stream it over at Abeano.
People expect all sorts of new amazing mind-bending sounds to appear out of the blue and confirm that we’re… progressing. Doing something new and exciting. I must have been one of those people at some point, but right now, this EP does the trick. I can’t say it’s just one thing. It’s like a shapeshifter that undulates, scratches and wheezes itself into your atmosphere. Headphones are ok, but good speakers are more suitable: I’d rather let the music leak into the air around me.
I haven’t written about James Blake before; I felt his music doesn’t need writing about. And I like not understanding the words half the time- it reminds me of listening to the Cocteau Twins.
So this is just a sort of update. To let you know, it’s out there, amidst the endlessly growing jungle of music you want to listen to but forget. // James Blake – Enough Thunder
I think it’s happening all the time. I mean, with my favourite music, the technology really comes second for me in terms of listening to music. I’m not attracted to something based on what effects it uses, like what brand of delay is uses or what kind of boundaries are being pushed. It’s normally just musical, rhythmical or harmonic ideas that I’m interested in first. But once you’re used to these things, those elements come into play and they start being reasons why it’s your favourite piece of music. You start appreciating the technology and the process. I suppose there are process-based musics where that is literally the forefront, like William Basinski or some kinds of more loop-based things, where so much attention is drawn to the process because of the nature of the music and that is first. But in most pop music, it is really just ideas first for me.