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Classical, World

Ravi Shankar – Three Ragas

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Ravi Shankar – Three Ragas
When Ravi Shankar put out this album in 1956, the world was a small place, and Rock n’Roll was still an infant. Ten years later and Ravi Shankar had taught George Harrison how to play sitar and you could hear it on Beatles and Rolling Stones albums across the world. Beatles tracks like Norwegian Wood and Within You Without You, certainly gave the western ear their first taste of the distinctive tones and made it cool. Earlier than that even Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones had immortalised the ringing introductory sounds of Paint it Black.

A great album to put you into a trance, where your fingers fly across the keys and the next thing you know you have completed some words and are feeling better for it. This is one of the earliest and most famous Sitar albums and certainly one that will suck you in, if for nothing else, as an extremely effective tool to help you write.

A raga comes from the Sanskrit for colour or passion. The raga is based on a scale or set of notes with a set of motifs to create a mood. The form of the Raga has specific themes and cultural associations such as with the time or season. The raga is typical associated with the sounds of the tabla and sitar that are associated as the classical music of India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. As a non-musician despite these associations I can hear blues, jazz, and gamelan related themes.

Released
1956

Lyrics
No lyrics

Mood
I don’t know how to describe the mood. The three tracks can go from slow to frenetic often in the same track. I like this variation of place and it can get me onto a real roll of fast typing. I smell incense when I listen to this music and it definitely has its own mood.

Good to work to
These ragas put you into a trance of typing and word production. It is a meditative piece that will take you away from yourself. I find this music takes me away from the cultural references that I tie music to when I hear it. This taking away from the everyday and normal, is essential to my creative process. When I’m listening to this music it clears away some of the static in my head. It certainly blocks out the other distractions that can get in the way of the flow of words.

Like
Sitar music is pretty unique. With that said, I can only compare it to other Sitar music. He is an acknowledged master of the sitar so rest assured it’s not too shabby a recording. I did look online to look at all of the other classical artists of the genre, but I don’t know enough of their work to give any worthwhile recommendation.

The Artist/s
Ravi Shankar is world music royalty. John Coltrane named his son Ravi after him. He is the father of Norah Jones. After touring the world with his brothers dance group. In 1938 he commenced studying sitar under the tutelage of Allauddin Khan. Through the forties and fifties Shankar performed and gained acclaim in India. In 1956 he toured the world and  and recorded this album the three ragas.

Subsequently Shakar educated western audiences in Indian music. His most famous pupil was George Harrison of the Beatles who popularised the sitar for western audiences using it on multiple trances.

Born in 1920, Shankar died in 2012 after a long career winning multiple Grammys.

Other works
Shankar recorded many albums including Full Circle:Carnegie Hall 2000. I haven’t heard all of his music, but I can’t imagine that if you like this there won’t be much of his output you can’t get your hands on.

Where Can I buy it, and in what formats
You should be able to find this in any format you want. Although you might have to search for a little while to find it on vinyl. You should have no problem finding it on CD or as an MP3 from the usual commercial suspects.

The Verdict
I give this album a big thumbs up. This may be what you’d call a gate way drug that could send you into a world of Classical Raga enjoyment.

electronic, Groove, Jazz

Bonobo – Black Sands

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Bonobo – Black Sands – writing music
This is a contemporary electronic groove mood album that bubbles along. No doubt at some stage it will be considered cliqued along with its production values, but for me it works. It all fits together and despite the fact there is some cleverness the music fits together thematically and maintains the grooves that work for my brain to keep typing away.

This album is put together tightly and works without the kind of distractions that may throw you off track while you’re writing. There are lots of tight drums, keyboard, the occasional sample, violin, bleeps, but all very smoothly worked in.

Tom the french dude who works in my local coffee shop put me onto this album, and it is certainly flavour of the last few years, and prime grooving in the coffee shop kind of music. If this album were a colour it would be warm and tasty, kind of like caramel. It has good production, but it is quite subtle. Definitely not and in your face kind of album.

Released
2010

Lyrics
Some but not a lot of lyrics. There is the odd downbeat songs with lyrics, but not the kind where the vocals feature to an extent where they are used as much more than another instrument. Groove lounge music.

Mood
This is a really chilled out groove album that is more reflective and downbeat than anything else. It’s not really the kind of music that is going to have you opening a vein, but don’t expect any chuckles. The whole reflective tone of Black Sands is exactly what you want when you are writing.

Good to work to
I got it as a safe birthday present for my brother and it works well for dinner parties and for writing when you are already on track and know what you want to write. Sometimes when you’re in the groove a metaphorical athletic support can help everything on its way.

This is a great album to work to for all styles of workers. It is an experimental style of music, but done in a very safe way. It might not sound that attractive, it’s something you could play for your mum without any fear of upsetting her.

Despite this mixed review, take it from me just plug it in and you’ll start working. It’ll get you tapping. The nice thing about this album is that it keeps moving. For me all that is important is to keep moving, keeping on typing and the music has done its job. You might even enjoy it after a while I definitely have.

Like
This is one of those albums that used to be included in ministry of sound compilations, that are played at groovy bars and coffee shops.

The Artist/s
Bonobo also known as Simon Green is an English DJ.  Bonobo has been releasing music side 1999. I have only known about him for the last few years, but that means nothing. His work has been described as trip hop electronica, and many other strange words, such as ‘new downtempo’.  New downtempo, give me a break!

Other works
Bonobo’s more recent offering is called “the North Borders’ is quite a good album also and comparaitive in quality for your writing aid.

Where Can I buy it, and in what formats
You should be able to find this everywhere. I’m sure this sounds great on vinyl, but I don’t know whether I’d bother, I like it but more in the background when I’m doing things.

The Verdict
This is a good one to listen to first before making the perfect. I think it works really well, but I don’t think this groove album is for everyone. Black Sands definitely takes you on a journey. It is a seamless journey but a journey nonetheless. I find this whole concept of a journey really important in an album I write to it gives my head some peaks and troughs. Who knows whether some of the sounds will appear dated in a few years, regardless I think it will still serve its purpose. The one thing I will say is that for some people this music will not different enough to take you into a different headspace.

Folk

Beck – Sea Change

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Beck Sea Change
I can’t believe it this review is almost identical to the review of Morning Phase, probably because Morning Phase is pretty much a continuation of Sea Change.

When work is stressing me out I need something that not only allows me to work, but gives me an extra push. An album that can put me into a different mental state and immerse myself into is worth an extra thousand words to me. The words come out, and I don’t feel the passage of time. Beck’s voice and warm guitar, bass, harmonies, acoustic arrangements succeed in taking me to that place quickly. This album is a companion piece to Morning Phase which was released 12 years later in 2012. It was written after the breakup of  his long term relationship.

Although there are a few standout tracks on Sea Change, like most music I like to work to it retains an even feeling throughout. There is no doubt Beck is an outstanding performer and musician, but his performance does not dominate my workspace. I feel there is plenty of room  for me to overlay whatever I am working on. Most importantly this feeling persists when played at louder volumes.

Released
2002

Lyrics
Yes, but not abrasive lyrics. Beck has a warm soothing voice complemented by relaxing arrangements to the songs. I find it easy to listen to his voice as it were another instrument in a mood ensemble. My only concern is that I may be biased as I have listened to a lot of Beck so think I may be slightly biased in his favour.

Mood
Beck is a specialist in the mood album and has gone through an eclectic range of styles. Sea Change is no exception but for the writer of any style this is the kind of Beck album for you. While I would not recommend all Beck albums this one puts me into a relaxed mood ideal for immersing myself in the written work. There is a sad quality to this music which makes me feel somber, but focussed. Likewise I would fin this an ideal album for an intimate dinner or curling up on the couch with a mice glass of wine or three.

Good to work to
I could write anything to this. I may have difficulty writing a chase scene, but I could write fiction or non-fiction. It might be a little harder to write a fight scene while listening to it, but it would be far from impossible. I’m finding it hard to describe exactly what it is good for, but more than anything it puts me in a contemplative, internalised headspace that makes it easy for me to block out the world, and be present in the moment.

Like
I hesitate to compare this to Nick Drake as it has a far more polished american feel. This is the album of a polished performer confident in their musicality, and with an ability to surprise at times.

The Artist/s
Beck has been lauded as a musical wunderkind, specialising in genre hopping sonic collages of beats, soul, country, and everything in between. His earliest hit was 1994s “I’m a loser baby so why don’t you kill me. Other performers such as the Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne have branded him a d**k, something Beck has explained as something of a misunderstanding due to an illness during their tour. What is certain is that Beck is a virtuoso, but what is not so sure is that someone who can make such fine music is indeed a d**k. His musically eclectic style is no doubt influenced by his visual artist mother Bibbe Hansen (one of Andy Warhol’s superstars) and prolific composer and arranger David Campbell.

Other works
This came out off the back of his largely eclectic back catalogue and there were thoughts that it would not get the air play his earlier more successful works had received. This prediction proved to be incorrect and this proved to be one of his most critically acclaimed and successful albums.

His earlier and highly successful albums, mellow Gold, Odelay, and Midnight Vultures are not of the ilk of this. If you are after more of the same try the later sister album Morning Phase.

Where Can I buy it, and in what formats
Like everything these days you’ll find it everywhere, except on Vinyl. I would recommend Morning Phase its later (2014) sister album which you might still be able to find on vinyl.

The Verdict
For me a winner. I rarely like lyrics, but these ones are soothing, rather than demanding.

electronic

Lemon Jelly – Lost Horizons

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Lemon Jelly – Lost Horizons – Best music to write to

With track names like ‘Nice weather for ducks’,  ‘The curse of Ka’zar’, and ‘Return to Patagonia’ you can guess this is a fun album. It moves along at a nice pace and is a pleasure to listen to. Lemon Jelly sound like they have a lot of fun making their albums. They throw in lots of samples and ideas and create fun grooves, that consistently keep you moving along and your fingers typing.

The most distinctive thing about Lemon Jelly before you have heard their music is their cute visual style. You would be pardoned for thinking albums with such cute looking packaging could not fail to be a bit ordinary underneath it all. Luckily this is not the case with Lemon Jelly.

This is Lemon Jelly’s second album, but the first album was their first three Eps combined, so their second is the first real album in one sense. I am not sure whether all the tracks are more connected or not or whether it is just my imagination as both are great listens.

Released
2002

Lyrics
No lyrics, but some of the tracks have quite a few samples

Mood
This album is extremely light, like the earlier album it is uplifting and happy. It is tempting to just use it as an album to listen to while wandering around the house or cooking, but it is equally effective to help you when writing.

Good to work to
Indeed, very long grooves that give you time to really get into what you are concentrating on. Not every track is light in mood although the early ones are, and I find this makes it easier for me to start writing without getting distracted. The vocal samples are more used as instruments than vocals, they are mostly spoken in any event.

Like
I can’t really think of a direct comparison, except for their first album LemonJelly.KY. There are lots of electronic easy listening albums, but Lemon Jelly inject a combination of lightness, with organic and electronic sods that feels unforced and like some people you’d like to hang out with having fun.

The Artist/s  
Lemon Jelly is Fred Deakin and Nick Franglen. They are both from London, and were in the same crow of friends without ever being mates until ten years later. Deakin started a graphic arts company and DJ’d, while Franglen worked as a landscape gardner then as a studio programmer for some big acts (n.b. no idea what a studio planner is). In their brief career they won some awards and their music was used in various tv shows including the brilliant Simon Pegg vehicle ‘Spaced’.

There early Eps went well they got picked up by a label and discovered people really liked their music. The first album in 2000 was Lemonjelly.KY, the second was this one, followed by 64-95 which is music using samples from each of the years. They decided to have a break in 2008, and their website says they’s be coming back.

Other works
Lemon Jelly’s earlier album Lemonjelly.KY is an amalgam of the first three EPs that the cup put out and fits in the same mould. I will also review this album in due course. There other major album is called ’64 to 95’ an album that is great but has a very different feel to the two earlier albums. I will have to have a think about whether or not I would put it in this category of good work albums, but  don’t think it will make it. There is one extra piece I would recommend which was a kind of mix tape they put together that my lady friend happened to get a copy of when she met the graphic designer for there albums at a conference.

Where Can I buy it, and in what formats
You should be able to get this album  on CD and as MP3 most places. I did at one stage search for it on vinyl, but this is another of those rare treasures that don’t last long on vinyl. At this stage I don’t think it is going to be repressed any time soon.

The Verdict
Definitely a great album to write to. Also a great album to bounce around the kitchen to.

electronic

LCD Soundsystem – 45.33

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LCD Soundsystem – 45.33
45:33 has a name that is a play on the 45 and 33 record speeds, the album is longer than 45 minutes and 33 seconds long. The composer is James Murphy the main cog in LCD sound System and DFA. It is a low key electronic odyssey.

This album was commissioned by Nike via marketing and PR firm Cornerstone to help its marketing for one of its products/brand. Nike promoted it as good to listen to when jogging, “to reward and push at good intervals of a run.” It was released originally in 2007 exclusively for Nike people as a gift for registered Nike+ users (whoever they are). It was also for sale on iTunes for a brief period of time and briefly released on CD.

Murphy is quoted as saying the tracks had been refined over several runs on the treadmill. Murphy later said that this was a lie and he does not jog. I find this lie endearing. Murphy was actually inspired by a long instrumental piece called E2-E4 (I assume a play on a chess board move) by Manuel Gottsching. Gottsching later said that 45”33 is more like a megamix of Murphy’s other work, but for all I know he loves Murphy’s other work and listen’s to the album when he’s jogging in his Nike shoes wearing a Nike headband, on his iPad, iPhone, and iBatphone when he’s making love (beep beep beep)

Released
2007

Lyrics
No lyrics in the main, but a few more used as samples than anything else. On the whole mainly just beeps and squeaks

Mood
Upbeat, and fast moving. This is an album that pushes you along.

Good to work to
Very good uptempo tracks

Like
Electronica, a slightly more beefed up version of the genre midway between Kraftwerk, Daft Punk, and acoustic, disco.

The Artist/s
LCD Soundsytem is the alter ego of James Murphy dance and rock collaborator. Some of the tracks on 45:33 are derivative of tracks that were, or were to be recorded by LCD sound system. I think there is no doubt that James Murphy is a talented artist with a great ear for a hook.

James Murphy – drums, percussion, drum programming, handclaps, bass guitar, guitar, vocals, glockenspiel, clavinet, organ, synthesizer, vocoder
Musicians
Alex Frankel – wurlitzer piano
Eric Broucek – programming
Jason Disu – trumpet
Carter Yasutake – trumpet
Terra Deva – vocals

Other works
Many others but none I would equate to having anything like the vibe of this album. That is perhaps a little hard line as some of the tracks on this album were later used in the LCD Soundsystem – Sounds of Silver album. The other albums of LCD sound system definitely don’t have the same vibe. I have friends who really rate LCD Soundsystem, I have never been such a fan. I do like this album to write to, and DFA which is basically Murphy do a great 10 minute+ long dance remix of the Gorillaz track ??? She’s com in up, she’s com in up with samples from the great Shane McGowan of the Pogues.

There was a 45:33 remix album re-released in 2009 but I have not heard it, sorry. I like working to it but I don’t find it groundbreaking enough to go and find everything associated with it.

Where Can I buy it, and in what formats
Originally only released on iTunes, now rarer but available in other formats. I have seen it for sale on various sites on vinyl.

The Verdict
I am not sure whether it is because of it’s links to Nike that is limiting my praise. This is a little hypocritical as if you didn’t know of the Nike link you would judge it on its merits. You don’t judge Shakespeare more harshly because some of his plays were commissioned by royalty with some commercial and health related parameters on what could be said.

This is a good album to listen to if you want to get typing quickly. It is not going to send me to the metaphysical depths of my brain pan, but realistically for a lot of the things I write I don’t need that level of inspiration, and sometimes even for the writing I care the most about, I just need to pump out some words.

Classical, Haruki Murakami music

Bach – Brandenburg Concertos

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Brandenburg Concertos
The Brandenburg Concertos are a series of six instrumental works of the Baroque period. I am not a big classical music fan, but find this a good album to work to. Universities like Standford have done studies of people’s brains while listening to baroque music and noted the increase in brain activity and concentration. With that said a lot of the music of this type makes me want to rip my ears off. This will be a familiar sounding album, as it is one of those classics you’ve heard in the background of movies, and performances a million times before. It is also name checked in Haruki Murakami’s novel Hard Boiled Wonderland and the end of the world.

Bach composed these pieces over a long period of time while working as the Kapellmeister (person in charge of music in a chapel) of Kothen. Bach uses around 17 instruments, because this was the number of musicians he had at his disposal in his job as Kapellmeister. There is a real mix of strings, brass, woodwind, you name it lots of harpsichord etc. This mixture of instruments was one of the reasons it was send out on the holder record which is a phonograph record containing a broad sample of the sounds, language and music of the planet, as sent into space with the two voyager probes.

Baroque music is said to work on your brain in a different way to other classical music. The tempo various instruments working in different tempos is said to stimulate both sides of your brain. As soon as I heard this I went on the hunt for some. I can’t say I really love classical music, so this is at times akin to eating food you hate because you’ve been told it’s good for you. However I find this is an enjoyable piece of music to listen to.

These concertos innovated with the traditional forms of the period, and in line with the name baroque ornamented the sound. This and other baroque works made music more complex than it had ever been before.

Baroque music such as this has a tempo of 50 to 80 beats per minute. Researchers at John Hopkins University say this leads listeners into intense focus in the alpha brain wave state. They note that listening to this kind of music improves learning vocabulary, memorisation, and reading. They note that different kinds of music help with different feelings you may want to engender.

Another source I found says that rhythms of around 60 beats per minute is similar to a resting heart rate.

Released
1721

Lyrics
No lyrics, all instrumental.

Mood
The mood is very ye olde advertisement for mead with some freaks in smocks with bowl haircuts wandering across the screen. It flows along and despite all the connotations that usually cause me to switch off, successfully bypass that fuse in my head and keeps moving till soon I’ve forgotten it’s on in the background.

Good to work to
Good for anything that requires concentration. This is a good one to concentrate to. The fact it isn’t like any of the other music I listen to or like helps a lot.

Like
There are many other artists of the Baroque era, but I have no real background in this type of music. However, I would recommend other classical music like Lizst might work for you.

The Artist/s
Johann Sebastian Bach is one of the big guys of classical music. You name it he did it.

This work was commissioned for Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt. This music was from an era where artists worked under the patronage of a rich, usually royal protector. You name it they did it from playwrights like Shakespeare, painters like Leonardo, and of course the musicians. Classical musicians were contemporary musicians at the time and many like Bach moved around with work, but at least his role as a musician could get him jobs.

Other works
Hell yes, Bach was a working musician. Mentally I can’t put myself through listening to a plethora of classical music. This is a goody though.

Where Can I buy it, and in what formats
You should be able to pick this up in multiple formats, by multiple orchestras. I think they are all going to be fairly good vaue, so I wouldn’t worry too much which one you get your hands on.

The Verdict
Yes a simple an easy pick. If you just want a bread and butter album that will be able to deliver you some concentration this is the one to go for.

Jazz

Miles Davis – Bitches Brew

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Miles Davis – Bitches Brew
Warning: This album will definitely not help everyone to write. When I first listened to this album I did not get it and had no idea why it was considered such a masterwork. The thought of working to it was the very last thing in my mind.

Most music critics consider this to be one of the best albums of all time. It is an eclectic album that Davis set up and recorded quickly. It has a more extreme playing and production style than any of the earlier cool jazz and earlier styles of jazz that made him famous. Recording with different groups of students, effects that were new at the time, and intense editing techniques.

The whole mood of this album is synonymous with the night and things that groove with it. I find it to be one of the best albums in terms of putting me into a different headspace. I find that a lot of the smoother writing albums don’t cut through every time, this one does but what comes out is not always going to work for every type of writing.

There is a moody desolation to this music which does it for me at any rate. When this album was recorded there was only a few people like the Beatles who were experimenting with the cut up style. It influenced many later albums and the later jazz musicians. The improvisational style is deceptive, because this album was also the result of a lot of time in production.

The album has some pretty cool sixties seventies artwork as well. I don’t know what it means but it works. This shows the best of electric Miles stage, around about when this was recorded Miles had married and divorced the funk queen Ketty Davis and definitely been influenced by the experimental electric music of the period, and artists like Jimi Hendrix who Davis hated because he was jealous of his friendship with his former wife Davis.

Released
1970

Lyrics
No lyrics, lots of brass, lots of weird noises guaranteed to get you going.

Mood
There is a weird ethereal, spooky vibe to this music. It took me a long while to get into the movement of it and then it sounded natural. The weirdness is something that will push you out of your comfort zone, but once you’r used to it, it succeeds every time in instantly focussing me on work with no distraction. This is generally exactly what I need to get typing without distraction.

Good to work to
A great album to work to. I would include the proviso that this is a really good introspective album rather than a mechanised disciplined album. This is a wild animal of an album, one that everyone should have listened to at least once.

Like
I can not think of anything that is like this, this is only an album that has been imitated ever since. Maybe you might find some more atmosperic works of the modern day that might approximate it, but I don’t think so.

The Artist/s
Miles Davis is jazz royalty. He was the king of jazz.
Teo Macero – Producer
Wayne Shorter – soprano saxophone
Bennie Muapin – bass clarinet
Joe Zawinul – electric piano
Chick Corea – electric piano
John McLaughlin – electric guitar
Dave Holland – bass
Harvey Brooks – electric bass
Lenny White – drum set
Don alias – congas
Juma Santos – shaker congas
Airto Moreira – percussion and cuica

Other works
There are so many other albums I could recommend, but I can only ponder what is the correct one to use for writing.  There are so many great albums, one of my favourites is ’In a Silent Way’ recorded the year before which would be considered as a much more straight up and down album.  I can’t give you a direct comparison with any to the other albums though, perhaps ‘Sketches of Spain.’

Where Can I buy it, and in what formats
If you can’t find a copy of this to buy you’re not looking, it’s everywhere.

The Verdict
As pointed out in the earlier warning, this album is definitely not for everybody. Use it for concentrated burst of creativity or when you really need to take your head to work world quickly.

Folk

Fleet Foxes – debut

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Fleet Foxes self titled debut, and Sun Giant EP
The Fleet Foxes self titled album and the Sun Giant EP that is often packaged with it,  are ultra-relaxing and take you to that different place you need to go to get those keys a tapping. If you’re like me I’m guessing sometimes when you write you need to calm down from the events of the day. This album is like a valium suppository to a burns victim. If you think I understand how that metaphor works you’ve got another thing coming.

The whole vibe of the album is folksy seventies american male vocals with multiple harmonies. They are probably more in the Crosby Stills and Nash tradition more than anything else, although they also remind me of church music. Matching beards back when this released completed the folksy hippie look of this band. I think of them as looking like well groomed old english sheepdogs in flannel shirts.

They won oodles of prizes and the music industry fawned over them for the moment in time when this album was released. The music is timeless and could have been written forty years ago as easily as in 2008, but for all that it was quite fresh when it came out.

The album has really cool cover art being a close up of the Pieter Bruegel’s, Netherlandish Proverbs, from 1559. If you buy this album on Vinyl you can check out all the cool details scattered throughout the painting. It really is a great painting with all these people wandering around this village with all these little stories. It one an award for best cover art, but as it is an old masters painting that’s really cheating I think. With that said I think it’s cool that they recycled what is a great painting lots of people would never have seen otherwise. What’s music for if not turning people on to great ideas, inspiring them. Right on Fleet Foxes, bravo, bravo.

Released
2008

Lyrics
Yes full of folksy melodic harmony soaked lyrics. However, they are not the dominant kid of lyrics.

Mood
This is an extremely calm album. The album soothes and relaxes and allows you to get a little mental massage as you tap away.

Good to work to
This is a very chilled album, the issue is whether it relaxes you too much. I find I can get into things and (not sure whether this is a bad thing) completely blank out the music.

Like
It is a mixture of two styles late seventies easy listening and folk. Kind of like back woods church music with a little bit of sympathetic instrumentation thrown in occasionally. If you like this you might like Bon Iver.

The Artist/s
These guys are from Seattle, they started out small selling Eps at show until they were ‘discovered’ by uber indie label Sub Pop and soon became the album everyone was talking about. Pecknold the writer for the band is one of Seattle’s foremost authorities on philately of the pre civil war period and regularly sets up philately stands at his shows for eager stamp collectors to show and trade in what have been termed high philately roadshows.

The Fleet Foxes are made up of
Robin Pecknold, songwriter, lead vocals, guitar
Skyler Skjelset, lead guitar
Nicholas Peterson, drums vocals
Casey Wecott, keyboards, vocals
Craig Curran, bass, vocals
Produced, engineered, and mixed by Phil Elk
Mastered by Ed Brooks

Other works
They have released some later albums, and in most releases the Sun Giant EP comes with the album. The Sun Giant EP and the album have the same vibe regardless.

To be honest (because I usually lie) I hadn’t heard great things so I haven’t listened to it. They are coming off a pretty good bass, but I can’t really imagine them evolving from in some meaningful way that I think I’ll find  as good or different. I really like this album though and think that most bands would be doing well to ever produce something of its quality.

Where Can I buy it, and in what formats
This you should be able to find everywhere on any format.

The Verdict
Cruisey fun time listening. This is a great chill out and immerse yourself in the sound album.

electronic, High Tempo

Kraftwerk – Man Machine

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Kraftwerk – Man Machine – music to write to
Man Machine is classic Kraftwerk German electronica. From the opening track ‘We are the robots’ the tempo is set. Beeps, whistles, and seventies pseudo computer sounds create a memorable and ground breaking album that set the scene for much of the music to come over the next forty years. This album takes a lot of beating as a writing album. It is cohesive, fun, speedy, and great to drive your fingers as they tap away at the keys.

Kraftwerk were unique at the time and even with the passage of time the quality of their work is not diminished. This is one of those great albums where even the artwork is laid out to  enhance the listening experience. The album cover as above is another reflection of the tracks on the album that pull you along with a thematic experience of the man machine.

They actually designed and created some musical instruments to enable them to record their albums. They also conceptualised their music as a response to technology and modernism. The red and black cover with the whole band in matching uniforms is inspired by Russian artists of the Suprematism movement, in particular El Lissitzky. Suprematism is based around geometric forms and a limited palette of colours. Suprematism refers to ‘the supremacy of our artistic feeling. The movement was born around the time of the start of world war one, but with the development of the Russian revolution developed artists were pushed into conforming. Like many artistic movements it foundered but gave birth to further art movements that I also know little about. To the outsider the symbolism looks purely authoritarian and also shares the nazi colours. This album grabs the iconography of extremes, super imposes the world of machines and industrialism, and isolation, to make a great cohesive album. It was massive at the time and will be one of those timeless album that is always around.

They are as you would imagine by looking at the artwork on their albums, eccentric visionary chaps. They are notoriously reclusive. The standing information that they hand out about contacting them is that they have set up the phone in their studio so it does not ring so they are not interrupted when they are recording. They advise of a time when the phone will be answered.

Coldplay apparently asked to use a sample and had to write several letters through their lawyers to the Kraftwerk lawyers to get into contact. Apparently they received a handwritten letter with a single word written word. I can see a certain synergy there as Coldplay also write music as if it were written by robots, although it is written by humans.

Bottom line, a great album to write to.

Released
1978

Lyrics
Yes, but not that money. As you listen to this album the only lyrics sounds more like electronic directions for how to use the dishwasher than song lyrics.

Mood
Mechanical and speedy. Not quite inhuman, but it certainly has the feel of people trying to sound like computers, but just before the era when it would have been possible for them to actually make the entire thing with computers.

Good to work to
Yes, Man Machine puts you in the mood to do something quickly straight away. The album is melodic in a really simple minimalist way, but it is the insistent tempo that keeps you working.

Like
There was a veritable plague of German electronica in the seventies with bands like Can and Nue, so much so that the term Krautrock was coined as a result.

The Artist/s 
Kraftwerk are one of the most influential electronic bands in the world. Kraftwerk mean power station in germ on.

The Kraftwerk line-up that created Man Machine were
Ralf Hutter – album concept cover, keyboard, synthesiser, vocoder, voice etc
Florian Schneider – album concept, electronics, synthesiser, vocoder
Karl Bartos – electronic drums
Wolfgang Flur – electronic drums

Other works
They have a whole set of great albums, you aren’t going to find a big difference in sound between these albums but a whole

Where Can I buy it, and in what formats
You can get Kraftwerk everywhere in all formats

The Verdict
Perfect for writing, a steady pace and active tempo to work to.

african, World

Ladysmith Black Mambazo – Shaka Zulu

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Ladysmith Black Mambazo – Shaka Zulu
Shaka Zulu is an acapella aural sensation. I find it unlike anything else in my collection. There are a lot of percussive sounds in the acapella arrangements that give it a palpable depth. It could just be that I don’t understand a word of the vocals, as most of them aren’t in english, but I  find this album just floats along below the surface while I write. The steady rhythms and percussive nature of the different tracks, despite the lack of drums, that keeps me moving along.

There is something about the harmony between the many voices which is essential so the whole thing doesn’t fall apart that gives me energy to keep on going as I write. I don’t want to give the impression that I just blank out the music when I’m listening to this album, because in those moments where I need some respite from tapping, but I generally find this album enjoyable whether I need to write or not.

I have written about this in the past but one of the things about world music that works for me is that it is not in the familiar musical patterns of songs that I’m used to. I need something different that I can’t immediately grasp onto to set me free and immerse myself in my thoughts. The sounds are sweet and harmonious, so despite the cultural differences for a westerner like me I don’t find the sounds distracting in any way. On the contrary I find this to be an album that helps me set patterns that I integrate in my keystroke pattern. This sounds pretty good when I wrote it, but I don’t know whether Zulu QWERTY is a style of writing, but it is now.

Released
1987

Lyrics
Yes in multiple languages, some in english some in Zulu.

Mood
This album has a calm feeling. The deep resonance of the vocals is definitely calming. The songs which are all acapella have percussion inserted.

Good to work to
I find this is a relaxing album to work to. It creates a different atmosphere which creates space for you to zero in on whatever you are writing. The soulful deep basses and harmonies touch me, but let me keep working.

Like
It is soulful but I don’t find it to be specifically like anything else I can think of. If you were going to give it a label I’d say world music.

The Artist/s
Formed by Joseph Shabalala, Ladysmith Black Mambazo are a South African acapella group. They gained fame as a result of their earlier work with Paul Simon on the Graceland Album but were active in different incarnations since the mid 50s and as Ladysmith Black Mambazo from the mid sixties playing weddings etc. They did not record their first album until the 1973.

Ladysmith Black Mambazo came to prominence when Paul Simon came to South Africa in 1986 to record his Graceland album. This move was extremely controversial as there were sanctions against western artists performing in South Africa due to the apartheid policies of the white South African government. The collaboration was however highly successful. Graceland sold over 16 million copies but tarnished the populations of Simon. Ladysmith Black Mambazo benefited greatly from the exposure as did a suite of other African acts.

After Graceland Simon produced Shaka Zulu as Ladysmith Black Mambazo’s first American release album. The only shared track between the two albums is homeless a co-write between Simon and Shabalala. It was hugely successful and heralded a run of others and collaborations with other major US acts such as George Clinton. They have one multiple awards and Grammys over the length of their career.

Other works
Ladysmith Black Mambazo have released many albums, but I have not listened to enough of their other albums.

I know it has been overplayed but if you like this album I would recommend Graceland, but only as an enjoyment album not as a writing album.

Where Can I buy it, and in what formats
You will be able to get copies of this I any format, although chances are it will be second hand.

The Verdict
This album is a good one. Great for working to and great for changing the mood of what you are doing. Not many other albums have this level of resonance and you need to make the decision whether this will be more distracting or helpful for you. For me I find this to be a meditative album. That and the fact that I feel like singing along even though I usually don’t know the words makes it a winner for me.