2000-09: 100 Songs
Under the cut, songs by cLOUDDEAD and Amon Tobin
cLOUDDEAD - "The Keen Teen Skip"
Released in 2004.
appears on:
This one narrowly beats the excellent "Pop Song" as my favourite cLOUDDEAD song, and is perhaps the most enjoyable mind-fuck of the decade. The song opens with a nursery rhyme, only to cut it short mid-word, and then loop that partial-word to create a strange, broken-doll sound sample around which the opening verse is structured. If that wasn't odd enough, the first style shift feels like half a dozen different time signatures are being overlapped at once, accompanied by a half-lumbering dual vocal that seems to fit none of them individually, yet somehow syncs up with all of them at once. The whole thing is a surreal, unfamiliar and surprisingly catchy delight.
Audio only:
Amon Tobin - "Slowly"
Released in 2000.
appears on:
It's a bit strange that my favourite song by Amon Tobin - an artist who's made his name primarily via upbeat, swing-influenced drum & bass tracks - should be a distinctly minimalist affair. Tobin keeps the drum kit in the background on "Slowly", allowing thick, smokey synths, ghostly strings, liquid bass-guitar lines and a late night, lounge-music aesthetic to dominate every aspect of the track. Every now and then a sparkle of colourful keys lifts the song above the surface of the water, only to dissipate and have it sink back below and start over. It remains the smoothest piece of music he's ever recorded.
Music Video:
cLOUDDEAD - "The Keen Teen Skip"
Released in 2004.
appears on:
This one narrowly beats the excellent "Pop Song" as my favourite cLOUDDEAD song, and is perhaps the most enjoyable mind-fuck of the decade. The song opens with a nursery rhyme, only to cut it short mid-word, and then loop that partial-word to create a strange, broken-doll sound sample around which the opening verse is structured. If that wasn't odd enough, the first style shift feels like half a dozen different time signatures are being overlapped at once, accompanied by a half-lumbering dual vocal that seems to fit none of them individually, yet somehow syncs up with all of them at once. The whole thing is a surreal, unfamiliar and surprisingly catchy delight.
Audio only:
Click to viewAmon Tobin - "Slowly"
Released in 2000.
appears on:
It's a bit strange that my favourite song by Amon Tobin - an artist who's made his name primarily via upbeat, swing-influenced drum & bass tracks - should be a distinctly minimalist affair. Tobin keeps the drum kit in the background on "Slowly", allowing thick, smokey synths, ghostly strings, liquid bass-guitar lines and a late night, lounge-music aesthetic to dominate every aspect of the track. Every now and then a sparkle of colourful keys lifts the song above the surface of the water, only to dissipate and have it sink back below and start over. It remains the smoothest piece of music he's ever recorded.
Music Video: