Friday Random Five goes it alone.

So much good music out there! Next time you hear someone complaining that “there’s no good music anymore”, feel free to tip over their walker for me. And what’s playing now, you ask? Usually these days it’s…

Señor Coconut! The nom de guerre of Uwe Schmidt of Atom Heart. Since his move to Chile, he’s merged his love of electronica and Latin band music by releasing ‘El Baile Aleman’, a Latin-themed collection of (get this) Kraftwerk covers. I listen more to the second album, ‘Yellow Fever!’, Latin reworkings of songs by pioneering Japanese techno band Yellow Magic Orchestra. Part parody, part homage, all very listenable and well-done. Will they take away my membership in the Techno Club if I say that they sound better than the originals? if only because YMO’s production sounds a bit too 80s at times. But Señor Coconut is brilliant. He even throws in a little drill and bass when he thinks he can get away with it, and that’s when you’re getting the real Uwe.

But random songs are enjoyable as well.

Archangels by The Wild Swans
Album: Bringing Home the Ashes
I think this may be one of the rarest albums I have. I bought this first Wild Swans album in 1989 when it first came out. I liked the way it combined the boyish October sounds of the Icicle Works and The Ocean Blue, while bringing its own fresh British sensibility. The time of day is early morning, it’s cold, and you’re zipping past rows of trees on a motorcycle. Soon the Wild Swans would release their psychedelic-tinged second album Space Flower and lose all their fans, but this album is seriously worth tracking down.

Wish Coin (Go It Alone) [Diplo Remix] by Beck
Album: Guerolito
I’m not sure how it worked out, but Diplo has managed to work the nervous ska of the English Beat’s Twist and Crawl into Beck’s ‘Go It Alone’. About time someone gave the Beat some props. And it works with the song. Why didn’t Beck think of doing this himself? I guess he can’t think of everything, and he did write ‘Satan Gave Me a Taco’ after all.

One Minute More by Chris & Cosey
Album: Skimble Skamble
Not everyone likes this Chris and Cosey era, but I’m not sure why. Cosey Fanni Tutti’s vocals are, as always, cold, emotionless, and ever so slightly off-key. The sequencing is, as always, smooth and detailed. Could it be that Chris and Cosey didn’t have many ideas by this point? Or is it just that thing where everyone gets tired of a band’s new material even though they’re still brilliant? No, it can’t be that. Chris and Cosey were never the most brilliant band. But they were awfully good at weaving together weird and dangerous mood pieces, and this is just trancy enough to do the job.

Everything You Do is a Balloon by Boards of Canada
Album: Boc Maxima
BoC is the best and most memorable band to come out of the IDM (Intelligent Dance Music) genre. To their repetitive drumbeats and damaged layers of sound, they’ve added a fine sense of musical structure. This rather long song comes from their early period, and the structure is tryptich. First, spangly notes hang in the sky, falling, like something a baby might grasp at before falling asleep. Then a heavier-than-usual drumbeat (their signature boom-boom-bop) rolls along with deep slow-moving chords, while a single querulous horn lends the song its hook. The third part of the song sounds like nothing more than Tibetan drums and frogs (though the ‘Hi Scores’ EP version omits this last part). A fascinating piece that I never tire of.

Tantos Desajos by Suba
Album: Serve Chilled 2
In the battle of Spanish v. Portuguese, give me Spanish. Why? Sensible orthography and sheer comprehensibility. If that’s important, why do I speak English then? Huh? How come? Hey, no dissing English, you malcontent. If that’s the way you’re going to be, why don’t you just listen to this song, which has Portuguese in it. And I must say, the liquid phonology of that language does sound nice coming from this singer, whoever she may be. I was going to categorise this as Latin Chill House, but genres can’t be three words long unless there’s a hyphen.