I’m cleaning my very messy room, while re-listening to the Atoms For Peace Essential Mix. Throwing away trash, organizing pieces and making space to breathe is a fitting analogy for what Thom Yorke and Nigel Godrich have done in this 2-hour exploration. These songs have a distinct place in the musical landscape, not grasping onto cliches and instead taking you deep into the mind and nature of the world around you. On a production and sound quality level, I feel this is one of the more superior Essential Mixes created, since the series began in 1993.
I remember the first time I heard this mix, it was 4 am. I was so entranced by what I heard. Lying in bed with my headphones on, I felt like I was floating in this ocean of sound. I listened through the whole thing, and at 6 am thought, “what the fuck just happened?”. It was wonderful, and it is that kind of reaction that I hold onto as an artist.
I want to start by commending Dazed and Confusedon their February issue. I hold this magazine up as my personal favorite, and once again they deliver the goods, this time with an in-depth look at Thom Yorke’s newest ventures. Thom is on the cover for his Atoms for Peace project, which will release it’s debut album entitled Amok on February 25th. An interview wasn’t enough for the Dazed crew; they posted a 25-minute mix of unreleased solo material and remixes, a Uni of Yorke digital feature, which has 14 producers asking Thom a question each (Actress, Machinedrum, Flying Lotus, Pearson Sound +). In addition, there is an Atoms For Peace competition to create cover art accompanying that 25-minute mix, with the chance to win a Thom Yorke signed copy of Amok. This magazine goes above and beyond expectations to present an immersive and collaborative experience with one of the world’s most distinct artists.
For the remainder of this Disco Droppings feature, I will hand the controls over to Tremel, who first pitched the idea of discussing Thom Yorke as a DJ.
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Ever since Kid A was released back in October of 2000, people have been fascinated with Thom Yorke’s affection for electronic music. His influence has burgeoned further since then, into a vast modern tapestry of all shades and colors. We’ve all known for some time that Thom dabbles in DJ’ing (reference any of Radiohead webcasts and you’ll see him plopping records down on his techs). But it’s only in the last year or so that he’s become more active, crafting DJ mixes for radio (BBC 6 mix, XFM), underground parties (Boiler Room Radiohead takeover, the “surprise” Low End Theory set) and even a party for Occupy London (with Massive Attack’s Robert “3D” Del Naja). The selection of artists for the King of Limbs Remixes releases indicated a finger on the pulse of the electronic community, that has to be related to Mr. Yorke’s recent activity. The Internet is a surfeit of Radiohead and Thom Yorke fanboy-isms. For me, it is the thoughts I’m left with after hearing him DJ, not what made my feet move that interests me most.
Listening to his DJ mixes, I find myself wondering how much time he spends searching through music. You can hear how many different things grab his ears, his attention. How listening, for him, might be a meditative process through sound and texture. How transcendence seems to take priority over escapism. He seems to strive to hear things from the crux of intellectual and emotional reaction in order to trigger inspiration. You can almost hear the painter in him – the very techniques DJ’s use to make floors move become more like brush strokes for Thom. He stitches soundscapes together like pictures or lost memories, with so many of his own scraps of ideas finding their way into the mix.
It seems as deliberate as it is accidental, that the lines become blurred about what is strictly dance music.
For Thom, mixing tunes seems like another medium to explore ideas. For us, it’s a unique adventure into someone’s creative space. It’s an interesting way to walk the fuzzy lines between different perspectives about music, all the while in search of exactly that – Perspective. –
I’m going to share some personal experiences that influenced this post. I’m tired of being the odd man out when it comes to love. I have wonderful friends and family, but romantic relationships have been highly elusive. For the past 4+ years, I’ve focused my attention on music instead. Lack of that significant other, and an awareness of dysfunctional relationships as a kid have been a few of the forces driving my creativity. The other morning I was feeling lonely and a bit jealous of that relationship that I just can’t seem to find. I drove home thinking, “what artist understands isolation and loneliness?”. Burial.
I started his 2006 self-titled Hyperdubalbum. The environment created by the rain and the freeway worked perfectly with his music. I felt super emotional taking everything in. “Night Bus” was very moving, and a few tears later, I felt refreshed. I spend a lot of time reminding myself that if those feelings and experiences and longings can be collected, compressed and translated into art, something very special can come out of it.
Burial fiercely embraces solitude and anonymity. A rarity nowadays, with social networks encouraging constant communication to the point of overstimulation. Personal events that influence Burial’s music are a mystery, but I pick up on a deeply passionate and sensitive individual, who prefers introspection and realizing lingering memories through music. In an archived2007 interviewwith Fact, Burial says “The sound that I’m focused on is more, you know, when you come out of a club and there’s that echo in your head of the music you just heard…I love that music, but I can’t make that club sort of stuff…but I can try and make the afterglow of that music.”.
He reminds me of “The Hermit”, a tarot card that came up in my first reading recently. This character retreats for enlightenment. At night he travels alone across a bare landscape, staff and lantern in hand. Through examination he illuminates the areas that were once hidden, both in the physical world and his mind. The Hermit goes wherever the inspiration leads. He is similar to the lantern, lit up from within by all he is, able to pierce the darkness.
Burial presents the future with precision and balance. A foundation of UK garage and rave give birth to a shadowy dubstep landscape. References are made to various genres, but his delivery is more about the memory of hearing these sounds, bringing back those vibes in a ghostly way. Burial is unique to say the least, productive with releases without ever playing shows. His followup 2007 album Untrue solidified Burial as a visionary, with Resident Advisor saying inreview, “..the reclusive south London producer returns with his follow up album, Untrue, which lays another strong claim to Burial being the most innovative and expressive artist not only in dubstep, but in the whole of electronic music.”. Burial has worked with Four Tet (see “Moth / Wolf Cub” release on Text Records) and Thom Yorke (see “Ego / Mirror” release on Text Records), and remixed Massive Attack, Bloc Party and Jamie Woon among others. His newest release, “Truant / Rough Sleeper” can be purchasedhereon the Hyperdub site.
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