SE Minimix 025 Padraic E Moore

SE Minimix 25 – Padraic E. Moore by Synth Eastwood on Mixcloud

From what we know about Padraic E. Moore we can tell you this; he is a lover. He is a champion of the arts and its effort to illuminate and alleviate the human condition. He is a curator, a writer and a thinker, as curious as he is curio, with a natural capacity for concern and care that is as indiscriminate as it is encompassing. The rest you’ll have to glean from a listen to this mix as he shares some favourites from his vinyl collection and offers a little insight into the musicology of each song as well as his own personal connection and experience of the music.

From there who knows. Perhaps you could give him a shout on twitter if you need any moore.

Track 1
Sound and Vision – David Bowie
There is something so inventive, daring and exhilarating about
the music and lyrics on Bowie’s Low from which Sound and
Vision is taken. As with all the music on this mix my subjective
connection to the tune deepens every time I hear it. Aside from
appealing to my sensibilities in a spectrum of ways the song
captivates me because I feel it’s entangled in and reflective
of very specific cultural, social, political and technological
developments the late 20th century. In some way I suppose that
this is the case with all of the pieces I’ve selected here.

Track 2
Second thought – O.M.D
2nd Thought is taken from the 1980 album Organisation by
O.M.D. The album’s title refers to the band Organisation,
a precursor to Kraftwerk. It is probably the bands most
melancholy album but I think it represents the climax of their
work. Like most
cheap Wedding Dresses of the tracks on the mix this was recorded from
vinyl and is as a result interrupted by a few minor ticks and
pops.

Track 3
My Other Voice – Sparks
I first became familiar with Sparks via their album Kimono
My House which sounds absolutely nothing like the album
from which this tune; My Other Voice was taken. No. 1 in
Heaven was a radical departure for Sparks. Giorgio Moroder is
credited on all of the tracks and I believe that of all his countless
collaborations this is the most unlikely and certainly the most
interesting. In My Other Voice Russell Mael’s gorgeous vocal
melodies are perfectly offset by the signature drumbeats and
pulsating rhythms of Moroder.

Track 4
Plastic Box Surprise – Gina X Performance
No. 1 in Heaven might best be described as ‘cerebal disco,’ and
I think this term would be an equally suitable description for a
Gina X Performance although the latter band do have a much
more detached and colder sound. G.X.P. are without doubt one
of the favourite bands in my personal canon. This track Plastic
Box Surprise is from their first album Nice Mover (1979)
in which the synths and sequencers of Zeus B. Held create a
heady cocktail to accompany the vocals of Gina; an art historian
channeling Marlene Dietrich.

Track 5
Lucky – Giorgio Moroder & Donna Summer
Like the last two tracks on this mix the next, Lucky by Giorgio
Moroder & Donna Summer also dates from the year 1979.
It’s always problematic to attach too much importance to the
biographical details of any artist but I think it’s interesting to
note that the year this album was recordedMother of the Bride Dresses
coincided with Summer having the nervous breakdown which
led to her having a ‘spiritual epiphany’ and being born again.

Track 6
It’s more fun to compute – Kraftwerk
I first heard (and saw the video for) Trans Europe Express on
M.T.V. when I was 15 and something about it all overwhelmed
me. It was one of the most intense musical discoveries of my
life and it opened a door to a whole musical realm which I am
still exploring today. Although I do adore earlier Kraftwerk
and feel that their most innovative and lyrically interesting work
dates from the 70s I’ve included It’s more fun to compute in
this mix. Aside from the fact that it’s more in keeping with the
tone of the mix it’s also one of their shorter tunes which was an
important consideration in this context.

Track 7
New Life – Depeche Mode
I don’t need to say anything about Depeche Mode’s New Life.
This lyrics are celebratory, optimistic and wonderfully abstract.
It’s impossible not to dance with abandon while listening to this
tune. I just can’t get enough.

Track 8
Some of them are old – Brian Eno
In interviews Eno frequently asserts how his lyrics were
constructed randomly and are often without specific meaning.
Nevertheless, Many of his songs seem to capable of succinctly
describing whole constellations of feeling simply because they
are so elegantly obtuse. Some of them are old exemplifies this
and is one of the few tracks which really emphasises just how
powerful and delicious Eno’s vocal abilities are.