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CMU Approved CMU Playlists
Playlist: CMU Re-Approved
By CMU Editorial | Published on Thursday 4 October 2012
There’s a lot of new music out there to listen to. It comes and it comes. And that’s great, it means we’re able to fill the CMU Approved column every day of the week with some new gem for you to check out. Problem is, much of that music is yet to be officially released. So, maybe you check out a one track SoundCloud or YouTube stream and think, ‘Hey, that’s pretty good, I’ll check out the album when it comes out’. But then three months later your mental note has fallen down the back of your brain, or got mixed up with no longer required memories that you need to buy milk and bread.
It’s OK, it happens to all of us. Hence, here is the first of an occasional series of playlists revisiting some tracks that have appeared in the CMU Approved column in recent months that now have full releases to go with them. Listen to all ten tracks via the Spotify playlist linked below, then explore the ones you like further, and read on to find out what we said about them when they were first approved.
CMU’S RE-APPROVED TEN
Click here to listen to the playlist in Spotify, and then read on to find out more about our choices.
01 Taken By Trees – Dreams
“A hyper-real hallucination in luau-style guitars with a tropic dub remix to match, [plus check out] its strings-gilded sequel ‘Large’, whose birdsong outro was taped live at a Hawaiian sunrise”.
02 Delicate Steve – Ramona Reborn
The LP’s lopsided scenery skims the easy, breezy rapture of its overture ‘Ramona Reborn’ and the wide-loping ‘Afria Talks To You’, shining forth with the pro-joy vibes its title promises”.
03 The Oh Sees – Flood’s New Light
“Frisco rock royalty Thee Oh Sees’ studio cache to date (a prolific thirteen LPs over fifteen years) is as unknowable as is the quartet’s infamous live set, a broad bank of psych-pop, krautrock, and numerous other sounds slotting beneath the lo-fi banner”.
04 Dum Dum Girls – Lord Knows
“A further affirmation of main Girl Dee Dee (aka Kristin Gundred)’s ever more adroit songwriting prowess, ‘End Of Daze’s penultimate track ‘Lord Knows’ is saved from the ennui of its gothic organs and halting drum-hits by her voice, which soars and swan-dives with aerial grace”.
05 R Stevie Moore – Pop Music
“What’s most apparent from the collection is the breadth of the musical assays he’s made over the decades, from alt classic ‘Pop Music’, to ‘Here Comes Summer Again’ (an arch play on ‘Pet Sounds’), to the LP’s kitty-backed (ie featuring a shrill chorus of cat noise) last ditty ‘Find Any'”.
06 FaltyDL – Hardcourage
“Going back to the old school, it’s a classic double A-side twelve-inch, taking us very much back to the future in a sterling manner”
07 MYPET – Pays To Know
“Driven by a rhythm beaten out on (or at least sampled from) a hi-hat that sounds like it’s coming close to the end of its life, with a winding bassline and occasional interjections from beefy but understated synths, singer Amy’s vocals are draped over the top”.
08 The xx – Angels
“Romy Madley Croft’s voice plays like a cool ocean swell over the band’s signature dual guitars and, sidling in towards the end, a sharpened snare rattle unlike anything heard on ‘xx'”.
09 Melody’s Echo Chamber – Endless Shore
“An even-toned rush of synths and exquisite guitar eddies, MEP’s vocal parts on ‘Endless Shore’ were recorded by a lone Melody Prochet in her late grandmother’s beach house, a scenario she defines as ‘intense, emotionally… but the perfect place to write and sing'”.
10 Fang Island – Seek It Out
“‘Seek It Out’ still holds to that ‘here’s the three minutes of an eight minute song you actually want’ ethos of Fang Island’s debut album, but is structured with more depth for those repeat listens when you want more than just instant gratification”.
