Author: The Predatory Wasp

Categories
Interviews Music

One Track Mind: A Winged Victory for the Sullen

The ambient duo’s Adam Wiltzie talks about Talk Talk’s genre-defining masterpiece Spirit of Eden

The premise of One Track Mind is pretty simple: I ask artists to pick one track that means a lot to them – either something they’ve discovered recently, something that’s been with them for years, or one that reminds them of a specific time in their life or career – and tell me what makes it so special to them. I get to talk to the artists I love, and they get to talk about the artists they love. Love all round!

Today we welcome A Winged Victory for the Sullen’s Adam Wiltzie. An ambient music duo composed of Wiltzie alongside Dustin O’Halloran, A Winged Victory for the Sullen are set to release their fourth studio album Invisible Cities later this month. Before forming the group, Wiltzie was involved with various ambient projects including The Dead Texan (with Christina Vantzou) and Stars of the Lid (with Brian McBride), and has been responsible for what I would confidently say are some of the most beautiful, powerful and important albums ever made, in any genre. So to say I’m very happy to have him on TPW is a bit of an understatement.

Here, Adam talks about the first time he heard Talk Talk’s post-rock masterpiece Spirit of Eden, and the lasting impact it had on him, and how it influenced his own work.

Continue reading “One Track Mind: A Winged Victory for the Sullen”
Categories
Music

Tangent – The Origin Of Structures

The Origins of Structures is the lead track from Cycles, the forthcoming fifth album by Dutch ambient duo Tangent, and very nice it is too. Combining heavily processed, grainy drums with shifting pads that sound as if they’ve managed to find a way to actually record sunbeams glinting through the clouds, I’d be very happy to listen to this on repeat for the next hour. Which reminds me! Try listening to TMS cricket commentary with wordless ambient playing underneath. There really are few better ways to spend a Friday afternoon.

https://www.facebook.com/musictangent

Categories
Music

Burd Hauz – Fated Feel

There’s very little information out there about Burd Haus, but what I do know is: she’s from Philadelphia, she’s just released her debut album In My Sky and she makes really good music. Also, Fated Feel reminds me a lot of Yves Tumor, which can only ever be a good thing, even though it’s significantly more chill than a lot of their recent work. Possibly it’s the slightly tuned-out guitar licks or the drawling vocal delivery, but whatever, this sits somewhere between R&B, hip hop and indie rock and is highly recommended.

https://www.instagram.com/burdhauz

Categories
Music

Coi Leray – No More Parties

In times gone by Coi Leray’s No More Parties would sound more like a hungover pep talk delivered to yourself after yet another write-off of a Sunday than a grim prediction of just how little fun we’ll be having this year, but regardless: it’s still really fun and I really like it, and lyrics like “I’m only doing shit that’s gonna make me elevate / Only want people around that’s gonna make me better” is making me feel significantly more motivated to Get Shit Done than 1000 ham-fisted open letters from our utter fucking moron of a leader ever could.

https://www.instagram.com/coileray

Categories
Music

Anna B Savage – BedStudy

I’ve now started this post in about half a dozen different ways, considering how to approach why BedStudy is so brilliant from various angles, but the main point is: Anna B Savage’s voice is absolutely extraordinary, managing to be both fragile and devastatingly powerful in the same breath. It’s taken from her debut album A Common Turn which came out last week, many of the tracks from which exist in a similar space, between vulnerability and invincibility, and builds from scarcely strummed guitar to an electronic crescendo as all-consuming as anything I’ve heard for quite some time.

https://www.annabsavage.com

Categories
Music

Kota The Friend – 200 Dollars

Kota The Friend’s wonderful 2020 album Everything really didn’t get the attention it deserves. Not that it seems to have affected his disposition, which is as sunny as ever on his latest mixtape Lyrics To GO, Vol.2, a collection of sub-2 minute tracks clocking in at an incredibly manageable 15 minutes. 200 Dollars is like everything else on there: brief and breezy with KTF’s silky smooth flows leading the way.

https://kotathefriend.com

Categories
Music

Versalife – Shadow Warrior

I first heard this on a live set Versalife (aka Conforce) posted a little over a year ago (it’s great – you should listen to it!), and have been thinking about it daily ever since. He really does do this kind of emotional, hypnotic, breaks-driven techno better than pretty much everyone else. Especially Bicep. Ouch! Bet they’re smarting from that one. This is one of the tracks on his new Present Shock EP, which includes three more of a similar ilk. One day clubbing shall return, and I hope this gets played fucking loud every single day when they do.

https://soundcloud.com/conforce

Categories
Music

Yu Su – Xiu

Written and recorded across various continents, Yu Su’s debut album Yellow River Blue attempts to capture the transient nature of touring, being constantly on the move and trying to be accepted in different places over the course of several years. An homage to her home beside the Yellow River in China, it is an extraordinary tender LP, even in its more upbeat moments, with the now Vancouver-based producer occasionally utilising her ethereal voice to create an additional texture alongside electronic drums and melodies that are rarely anything less than sublime.

https://yusu.bandcamp.com

Categories
Music

Sal Dulu – Girl

Girl is the latest single to be taken from Irish producer Sal Dulu’s forthcoming debut album, Xompulse, which is set for self-release via his own Duluoz Records this February. The last track I featured of his was the impeccable Alien Boy 96, and while Girl is similarly constructed of hazy, sun-bleached sample, it’s loser and more laidback, sitting somewhere between the carefree nostalgia of The Avalanches and the free-wheeling beats of J Dilla. I’m a big fan of everything he’s been putting out recently, so consider this your formal warning to jump on the hype train before the album lands next month.

https://saldulu.bandcamp.com

Categories
Music

JUNKHEART – Typhoon

JUNKHEART is – in their own words – “a mixed-race romantic, making gloomy-pop tunes for comic-book nerds and nostalgic rollerbladers”. God I miss rollerblading. Also, Typhoon is apparently for “fans of thinking about stuff too much”, so it’s bascially made for me. It’s just so good: a gloomy pop banger with both hope and heartbreak enough to spare. It’s an incredibly impressive debut, and Typhoon is the first of six track to be released over the coming months, leading up to the EP in summer, so I’m excited to hear where they take us next.

https://soundcloud.com/thejunkheart