"Emotionally Charged Electronica" & The Ineffable Sadness of Woops

[luka]

Woops has demanded the microphone. We cede centre stage to the master of melancholy, the sage of sadness, the mage of misery, the doyen of depression and eagerly await the unfurling of his top 100. Have your tissues ready, there will be tears.

 

[droid]

The correct nomenclature is 'The emotronica canon'.

 

[pattycakes_]

Fuck, I really thought I had the sadness gold medal in my clutches, too.

 

[luka]

Dissensus has played host to any number of distinguished musical talents over the years; Mike Paradinas, Ed DMX, some bloke out of Black Dog, Sid Viscous, but none of these able to hold a candle to woops, king of "emotionally charged electronica" aka ommm, pioneer of bedcore.

 

[woops]

Frédéric Chopin's "Raindrop" Prelude, Op 28, No. 15

1. Until Chopin classical music was all glory to god, banging hosannas, etc. Suddenly with Chopin there's a new fragility. Gainsbourg would rip him off completely for Jane B q.v.

 

[woops]

Erik Satie: Gnossiennes

2. Forget the much-hyped ambient connection, these melodies are for listening

.

 

[woops]

Debussy - Sarabande

3. Satie's friend with a similar exotic style, but more florid. As a friend once pointed out "it sounds like drinker's music".

 

[luka]

We're underway! We're weeping!

 

[woops]

Serge Gainsbourg - L'anamour

4. Gainsbourg would be a god to me just for getting off with Jane Birkin, but he also happened to be a top musician. The title translates as "The one without love", or so.

 

[woops]

Luna - Bonnie and Clyde

5. Another Gainsbourg song but with a better guitar sound than they had in the 60s PLUS! Laetita Sadier of Stereolab, whose music though I love it, is too utopian for a melancholia selection.

 

[woops]

Broadcast - We've Got Time

6. Like Stereolab but with the added sadness so they make the list. When Broadcast first came out they claimed they could only write waltzes, but that didn't last very long.

 

[Corpsey]

1. Until Chopin classical music was all glory to god, banging hosannas, etc.

This is totally untrue btw but I assume you know that

 

[Corpsey]

Whoops

 

[woops]

Pram - Last Astronaut

7. And if Broadcast make it so do Pram, also from Birmingham, where there was a pretty good scene late 90's, although Metrotone were shit.

 

[woops]

One For the Catholic Girls- Simon Joyner

8. US indie rockers were perhaps surprisingly good at melancholia, listen to these lyrics.

 

[woops]

Pavement - Strings of Nashville

9. Their first three albums were good but this is maybe their saddest song, on a b-side of a single I forget which one

 

[woops]

Yo La Tengo - Autumn Sweater

10. I can see why some of you might sneer at indie music, but this is where it looked like it was going for a short while, but it didn't. Everyone started doing 20-minute freakout jams instead, so I got into electronica. I blame the Wire magazine.



This came on in a pub recently. First time I'd heard it for almost 20 years and I was like f*** me, this sounds a bit like Autumn Sweater, but it must be a remix. It wasn't though, I'd just forgotten how good it was.

 

[woops]

Yo La Tengo - Demons

11. I called for this at a festival and they actually played it, which brings us to this thread.

 

[woops]

Flying Saucer Attack - Psychic Driving

12. Before electronica proper (don't argue Droid), you had space rock, which was on the way, as this track proves, by a band only too capable of the 20-minute freakout.

 

[woops]

The Third Eye Foundation - The Out Sound From Way In

13. And the same goes double or triple for this guy, also from Bristol, who was very remarkable at the time, playing solo with electronic equipment.