Singleversity #47

Audiversity’s weekly column, even more modified, on music we stumble across during our sonic adventures. No random numbers, just straight audio goodness.

MA:



A couple months ago I stumbled upon a compilation called Sculpting from Drake, Vol. 1, and my level of interest since has risen from a glancing curiosity to verging on an obsession. Released on the Michigan imprint Elsie and Jack Records back in 2001, it features mostly Midwest American artists individually reinterpreting the graceful tunes of arguably folk-pop’s greatest icon, Nick Drake. Thanks to the diversity of artists involved, the album contains a wide range of reimaginings. Where artists like Archer Prewitt or Flashpapr are able to pay tribute by providing similarly stark and solemn recreations of Drake’s lulling sound, more experimental cats like Ben Vida or Drekka stretch and mold the compositions with their personal artistic fingerprint until they are nearly unidentifiable from the original. The more I spin the record, the more one particular track seems to separate itself from the mix because it combines both approaches. The team of the now defunct UK psych/shoegaze outfit Electroscope and someone by the name of Zurich patiently weave somber electric guitar noodles and wavering feedback for the first half of "Things Behind the Sun" before a welcoming female voice does impressive justice to Drake’s lyrics and deceptively simple vocal melodies. A Drake tune alone is incredibly hypnotizing, but by melting his impeccable songwriting into a gentle whirlpool of psych guitar, organ swells and tape loops, you’ll be lucky to drag yourself out of the sonic vortex. (p.s. Dear Elsie and Jack, please put out a second volume, sincerely Michael)

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Who's the fetching fellow behind the chessboard of this photo and the mixing board of the b-side to M83's owl-inflected latest single, "Couleurs"? Answer: Flying Finn Jori Hulkkonen, an electronic artist and relentless remixer slipping in treatments for Goldfrapp, Cabaret Voltaire and Chromeo to name but a few. Hulkkonen got no less a dancefloor icon than Tiga to write the bio on his webpage, and his long career as both artist and resident DJ stretches back to early electro experiments in 1988-89. He's come a long way from deep house remixes in the early 90s, and the extended journey continues two decades on with both a radiant Italo-garage hybrid for "Couleurs" and a new single on F Communications with John Foxx called "Never Been Here Before." Check out his MySpace for even more goodness from the man bred on Swedish-pop and Finnish folk in the remote "city of snow and sea," Kemi.