In [James Blake’s] world, the instruments that play the chords and those that supply the rhythm are the same thing. The melody is the beat. It’s inside of the meter, flitting furtively about, struggling not to be found.
James Blake and Jamie Woon go hand-in-hand in so far as I became aware of and interested in both around the same time. I like Blake’s minimalistic production for the same reason I like Woon’s by turns lush and twitchy style: they do it well.
Zoë Keating and Imogen Heap are the first musicians I ever saw use looping at a live show. At the same live show, no less. Frankly, most performers have the chops to make it work, but they do. So, too, does Jamie Woon.
There’s an edited version of “Spirits”, too (amen break! what’s up!), but the original and the sy.ic remix are still tied for first for me.
(reblogging myself… that’s weird.)
“Night Air”, Jamie Woon (Sound of 2011, BBC Live Lounge)
I like the original, but I think I might like this version more. Woon & co. take a chances with the arrangement and flesh out their range a bit (for those of us to whom they are new!). It doesn’t hurt that I’m a sucker for the kind of layering and repetition going on here, but it definitely leans more toward Burial, than say Imogen Heap.
Both scores strike a really lovely balance between moody/melancholy and optimism/hope. I enjoy how they dig into the mystery of their respective films, too: Bertha’s theme swirling around the edges of Jane Eyre and Those We Do Not Speak Of forever hovering outside The Village.
These are definitely 2 of my favorite scores, although I’m sure I was predisposed to like Jane Eyre since Dario Marianelli also scored Pride & Prejudice, which became a favorite the first time I saw it. (:
A new remix of “Missing”? I know, right? But this one? Hell yes. (1:44 !)
Bait and switch!
Do you suppose anyone at Amazon keeps an eye on the weekly free singles at iTunes, then compares the sale of that band’s single/album in their own MP3 store before, during, and after their featured time in the iTunes store?
I do that: listen to the (now 90-second) sample, if I like well enough, I pop over to AmazonMP3 and buy it (sometimes the whole album). Now, I’m curious to know what those patterns look like.
Incidentally, “Love” is definitely related to Bobby Darin’s “Beyond the Sea”. Every time that commercial comes on—and it shows often when you watch football all day—I start humming, “Somewhere…beyond the sea”.
