Pivot | Cities

December 19th, 2008 Stu

307A6BDC-A3C4-4AE0-B4F6-58C36169BD4A.jpg

I’m over 2008 already. In fact, two months ago I bought a 2009 diary and I’ve been using it ever since. My personal indignation about all that was unfavourable in 2008 is surely not replicated by Australia’s Pivot. By anyone’s standards, they’ve had an outstanding year: signed to Warp Records, released a sensational album (‘O Soundtrack My Heart’), had an EP remixed by Clark and Rustie, played with Sigur Ros, toured the world. And that was just yesterday afternoon. With so little left to prove, I suspect 2009 might be a quiet one for Pivot. No, sorry, they’re touring Australia next month with Gary Numan – my mistake.

As if their schedule wasn’t rammed to the hilt already, the overachievers also found time to make their own podcast mix series, ‘O Download My Heart’ featuring songs and sounds inspired by their activities over the last twelve months. ‘Cosmic Gods Of Synth’ gave us their tribute to the keyboard wizards of yesteryear (Jean Michel Jarre being reawoken for that one, presumably with his light harp intact), ‘Australian Music’ thankfully reappraised all that is cited worldwide about the Aussie scene, and ‘Autobahn Favourites’ was a 200kph ride through Krautrock old and new. The latest episode ‘Cities’ records their “European Odyssey” with a themed podcast featuring Steve Reich, Trans Am, Flying Lotus, Talking Heads and Scott Walker. One hopes that’s the last instalment in the series – they’re making the rest of us look slack by comparison.

Pivot – Cities | mp3

Subscribe to Pivot podcast series via http://pivotpivot.net/podcast/odownloadmyheart.xml.

Tags: , , , , , ,

Posted in Old Blog Posts. | 1 Comment »

The Long Lost | Woebegone (Flying Lotus’ Luckiest Charm)

December 18th, 2008 Stu

DB8C4B97-3222-46F6-BE25-D716AF8E4CDC.jpg

When Alfred Darlington is not making late-night booty calls on his Casio under the Deadelus alias, it seems that he’s dolling himself up in turn-of-the-19th-century attire and making sweet, acoustic peans to love with his wife Laura. Whilst it might sound like something he should be doing behind closed doors, it is in fact the story of The Long Lost – a project that has been through various stages of gestation over the last decade and is now priming its debut release, ‘Woebegone’, on Ninja Tune.

Cut across the spectrum to this year’s ‘Los Angeles’ release from Flying Lotus, or back to his ‘1983′ album, and you’ve already infused Laura Darlington’s beautiful vocals on ‘Unexpected Delight’ and ‘Auntie’s Lock’ respectively – and there’s also a not-unexpected turn on the closing track of this year’s Deadelus album ‘Love To Make Music To’. Given this long-standing relationship with Mr Fly-Lo, it’s only fitting that he return the favour with two remixes of ‘Woebegone’, one of which drops below. Dovetailing relationships aside, this drifts in like a prize off-cut from ‘Los Angeles’, all shuffling percussion and rising arpeggios, and Darlington’s light lilt draped over the top like wafer-thin gold-plate.

The Long Lost – Woebegone (Flying Lotus’ Luckiest Charm) | mp3

Buy ‘Woebegone’ from Ninja Tune. A second single from the Santa Monica duo, titled ‘Amiss’, is due in February featuring versions from Tuung (described as a “clog stomper” of a remix), Fink and Computer Jay, and a full album lands in March.

Tags: , ,

Posted in Old Blog Posts. | No Comments »