Wildest Woes - Sam Radcliff

This great little EP popped into my inbox a few weeks ago and I have been returning to for repeat listens. It was recorded in a bedroom in Berlin by Sam Radcliff and has shades of few cool things in its grainy mix.

The opening track reminds of James Blake and the club sounds of East India Youth. The title track Wildest Woes ripples like a lo-fi The XX and crackles like a male fronted Young Marble Giants. The whole EP is worth a listen and a few of your £'s to download. Hopefully someone will pick up the EP and give it a big promo push as it deserves to be heard by a bigger audience. One to listen out for in the future.

I can't get the player from Bandcamp to imbed so I will come back to it later if I have time.

Widest Woes EP - Sam Radcliff

East India Youth - Total Strife Forever

On the first couple of listens I am loving the debut LP by William Doyle as East India Youth. It has elements of many things I love, electronic systems music, four to the floor electronica, warped left of centre pop and an a vocal that is equal parts papier-mache vulnerable and 3am lonely ache. Some in it reminds me of the first Matt Johnson/The The Record - Burning Blue Soul, well if Matt Johnson had recorded in 2013 as opposed to 1981. The mix of fractured instrumental, vocal looping and loneliness places it in the same sonic space just 32 years apart. Total Strife forever could be Burn Blue Soul's musical baby . Oddly both were written/recorded in the East End of London so it might be something haunting the air. James Blake is a name that keeps cropping up in the reviews but I think this much more interesting sonically and emotional than that.

The closing Total Strife Forever IV builds up from static and distorted strings to a stirring organ hook and chugging noise undertow, it is a blissful hazy way to finish the record.

One for the Mercury Prize in 2014?

The Soundcloud track Heaven, How Long showcases his ability to meld these disparate strands into a wonderful whole.



Some good reviews of the LP here

http://www.metacritic.com/music/total-strife-forever/east-india-youth

http://thequietus.com/articles/14252-east-india-youth-total-strife-forever-review

Nice playlist of tracks that inspired the writing of the LP via Q Magazine

http://news.qthemusic.com/2014/01/playlist_-_east_india_youths_s.html

Article about forming a record label to release the LP as no-one would sign East India Youth
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-siva/east-india-youth-the-soun_b_4589574.html