Tortoise 'As You Said (Joy Division cover)' (Hut, 1995) (mp3)

Respectfully spartan and metronomic Joy Division tribute by the Tortoise 'lads'.

A lo-fi guitar opens with a puttering, drum machine marking out a steady pace before evolving into a more recognisably Tortoise-ish burble and glitch. It's the Tortoise of 'Djed' and Luke Vibert remixes rather than the melifluous, deep brown stuff. The vibe is kept instrumental and mysterious.

Post-Punk meets Post-Rock.

Download Tortoise 'As You Said' (mp3) (Mediafire)

Portishead 'Theme From 'To Kill A Dead Man'' (Go! Beat, 1994)

Noir-ish, moody, theme from an imaginary Bond film. Epic stuff.

Early Portishead b-side that lays out the blueprint for their John-Barry-meets-Wu-Tang-Clan-uptown early sound. Kindred spirit of Roy Budd's Get Carter soundtrack and Harry South's Sweeney end-theme.

It opens with great sweeps of backwards piano, undulating bass wobble, evolving slowly with twanging guitar, atmospherics, more backwards loops and some gorgeously sombre piano.

By the time it eventually builds to cloudburst with epic, Axelrod drums and a funereal string section, you're hooked.

Pretty awesome.

Download Portishead 'Theme From To Kill A Dead Man' (Trip Hop, downtempo, soundtrack, mp3) (Mediafire)

Explosions In The Sky 'First Breath After Coma' (Live, 2004)

Breathless, euphoric instrumental post rock business from Explosions In The Sky.

A piercing, repetitive single-note reveille introduces Explosions In The Sky's signature tune. It builds from there, matching melodic loveliness with blasting sonic power, conjuring up images of the fireworks of their name.

Download Explosions In The Sky 'First Breath After Coma (Live, 2004)' (instrumental, post rock, live, mp3) (Mediafire)

Download the whole Explosions In The Sky live set from Nottingham Rescue Rooms, 02/09/2004 over on Archive:Live+Rare

Devics 'Red Morning' (Bella Union, 2003)

Languid, moody, downtempo melancholy. 


Devics seem to have passed into history now with pianist Dustin O'Halloran now releasing solo albums. They released a sequence of albums on the Bella Union label back before it had its breakout hits with Fleet Foxes et al.

'Red Morning' is a taster of their 'The Stars Of Saint Andrea album which is currently available from the Bella Union online store for very reasonable £5.99.

'Red Morning' starts with warm acoustic guitar and stately drum machine, adding in a yearning female croon and understated bass guitar. A curling synth tone weaves in and out of the mix creating a sense of unease, anticipation.


It's a delicious, oozing slab of moodiness that brings Beach House to mind or maybe the later records of the Cocteau Twins. Very lovely.

Download Devics 'Red Morning' (shoegaze, indie, alternative, mp3 download) (Mediafire)

Goldie vs SBTRKT 'Inner City Life' (Bootleg, 2009)

Soulful, post-dubstep type re-rub of Goldie's drum'n'bass classic.

I'm a bit behind on my homework - this little gem was snuck out in 2009 before SBTRKT hit the post-dubstep news.

This is a lovely, rolling re-edit that respects its forebears while bringing the beats up-to-date, playing off dark drum and bass against SBTRKT's brighter flavours. It then drops out the vocal and moves into a passage of SBTRKT niceness with some twisty synth action. The vocals and shifting synth strings of the original are brought back and it develops into a fusion of the spirits of the old and new.

Very nice indeed.

Download Goldie vs SBTRKT 'Inner City Life' (post-dubstep, drum'n'bass, remix, mp3) (Mediafire)