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A little divine intervention (as much as I want to avoid blowing ego’s too far out of proportion) can have great consequences. I reflect, and I see that most of my knowledge of any of the latest-and-greatest on the interweb can be traced back to when I was hunting vigorously for the sextabulous Placebo cover of Kate Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill’ (this back when The O.C still had a tight-fisted grasp over the minds of any teenager with a half ounce of cool within them), and found myself on the ludicrously named ‘Good Weather ForAirstrikes ‘. Still, why not, it was well written, it had free music, and I was looking for something to stuff my Google Reader with, so I added him.
GWFA is run by a cheery American chappy called Deryk Davies, on of them up and coming music journalism types, who I imagine has a decent career somewhere in the Rolling Stone direction lined up for him by the powers that be, if not something similar. His life, humble as it is is, is the more or less average student routine of drinking, partying, studying, gigging etc, only with a much heavier focus on the latter. Every so often, fairly regularly, he’ll choose and artist and do a decent sized piece on them, with a few selections of material as evidence, and a verdict. There are single reviews, there are gig discussions, comments on movements in ‘The Scene’, and, if all else fails, a smattering of who IS big, and who WILL be big. What he lacks in quantity of post (since fair enough, everyone needs a life, even worn music hacks), he definitely makes up for in quantity, and to be honest he represents something of a star in a world where most blogs hold 90% of their value in the actual hosting capacity of them.
But while I’m normally uplifted to see a new post from Deryk float to the surface, I give twice the love for one of his compilations. Consider these as bite-size Zeitgeists of music, shifting in tone, mood and purpose seemingly at will. Back when I first gave him a try, I found M3 Volume 12 Parts 1 and 2, which were organized along the theme of “the first disc revolving more around dark guitar rock tracks and the second disc focusing more intently on dark pop songs and electronica tracks”. And there I had my awakenings to the joys like Patrick Wolf, Paul Epworth, Tokyo Police Club, and, most importantly of all, Justice. Therefore, very influential on me. M3 Volume 13 would later make a decent going away present as my best friend went off to Uni, and in turn convert his girlfriend to the Electro that we had since found and made our god. M3 14 (The D.A.N.C.E Edition, appropriately) showed me a sign of how far I’d grown, featuring few songs I hadn’t found around the place already, and even seeming a little thin on the ground to me. But still, one of the worthiest primers for newcomers to the movement around. M3 15 – a change in tack that proved GWFA more than a one-horse pony, with a focus on singer/songwriters inspired by a sabbatical in the UK in the name of career advancement.
This leads me to the latest release, M3 Volume 16. A stroke of genius, the theme is “slammin’ rock and electro tracks that are ideal for driving at absurd speeds on dark highways”. And indeed they are. This even does it for me when running too, has a whole vibe about it. There are no obvious ways out taken here, but every song hits the note required perfectly. I’d never have considered Bloc party’s new single, or indeed Luno, but it definitely does the job. It also shows a penchant for fast, nuovo-alternative rock such as The Strokes, Test Icicles, and Les Savy Fav. And then there are the relatively unknowns (I think at least) like FORTUNE, These New Puritans, the the Damn Shams, which ensure that this maintains its well established level of respectability. I’d call volume 16 easily the his best mix thus far, if only for the amping up of some speaker function to 11, for the better. Electro and Alternative, are together at last, and its working.
It’s not like I can actually finish this with a big gesture of commitment like ‘Buy this record’, or ‘Abolish the monarchy’, or ‘Fuck tha police’, since there’s only so much you can do for Deryk. Start by visiting his blog though. That’s not really helping him, more doing ludicrous amounts for you, but it still spreads a little happiness everywhere. Maybe M3 17 will drop soon, which would be lovely. Hint Hint.
