These are the tunes that have been on high rotation inside and outside the ENCODER Sound Mastering Studio over the last few weeks. Available in playlist form at your preferred streaming service, follow the links: Spotify | Apple Music [If you really love an artist’s music, scoot over to Bandcamp to send them a few dollars more directly]
Beck — Colors, Colors (2017) — I love the blend of depth and punch in the master. Their’s also lovely sonic transitions from verse to chorus, and vice versa, subtle timbral shift that are very effective.
Death by Denim — Feels Like Fiction, Feels Like Fiction - Single (2021) — This mix feels so lush and full, but with clarity retained. I also dig the vocal delivery.
Richard Dawson — Civil Servant, 2020 (2019) — The songwriting and lyricism is the thing here. Each section so logically moving into the next, it’s really masterful. Sonically, it’s all at once high fidelity and lo-fi/real.
Kurt Vile — Pretty Pimpin, b’lieve i’m goin down (1997) — For me, it’s the way the drums wrap around the outside of this tune, very natural sounding with a thick attack. The drums really drive the whole thing, but of course it’s a pretty nice vocal delivery. The lyrics are poignant but use an everyday vernacular, I like that kind of stuff.
Bjork — Army of Me, Post (1995) — The rumbling low end on this track is so thick, it gives that feeling of real depth. I like how the beat is pretty wide, and different elements in the production highlight smaller subdivisions, it reminds me of some Nine Inch Nails production for this reason.
Radiohead — Identikit, A Moon Shaped Pool (2016) — The Radiohead back catalogue hit Bandcamp a month or so ago, and this instigated a bit of re-listening. I’m loving the subtle reverb tails on the vocal, they dance just out of earshot giving the sense of a really activated space that this song is taking place in.
Widowspeak — The Good Ones, Plum (2015) — This kind of close, produced, tight, but kind of natural drum sound is really cool. The sparse instrumentation also opens up space for all elements to be really weighty and present.
King Britt & Tyshawn Sorey — Untitled Two, Tyshawn & King (2021) — I’m a big fan of improvised music. There is something special about the energy of records that capture artists inspiring their collaborators and in turn being inspired during the process of making the work. Tyshawn & King record has that feeling.