Last year, producer Airick Woodhead, aka Doldrums, released a mixtape on VHS, information which I imagine has already set the blood boiling with those of you still reeling from the continued attempts to revive the audio cassette. However, I’m confident that if you try to put that out of your mind for a moment, Woodhead will manage to redeem himself with the music on it, all of which will be released on more palatable formats in the next few weeks.
On 14 Nov, XL will re-release Portishead’s ‘Chase The Tear’ on twelve-inch, backed with a Doldrums cover of the same track (which originally featured on the previously mentioned mixtape), in aid of Amnesty International. Keeping the same pace, Woodhead’s version drops Portishead’s arpeggiated synth down an octave or two and ups the psychedelia with heavily effected vocals and sharp-edged guitar. Somehow it manages to maintain an almost identical structure to the original, and be completely different at the same time.
Chase The Tear:
But you can get your hands on some Doldrums goodness sooner than that, because yesterday No Pain In Pop released an EP of his work, entitled ‘Empire Sound’. The release features the other tracks from that mixtape and is available now in download form, with twelve-inch vinyl to follow shortly. Track two on that EP, ‘I’m Homesick Sittin Up Here In My Satellite’, should be the one to fully swing you over to Doldrums fandom, should you still need a little nudge. Incorporating a variety of samples from jazz drum solos to Bollywood strings into a tense, creeping pop song, Woodhead brings his vocals out from underneath the effects you heard on ‘Chase The Tear’ and shows he can really sing.
I’m Homesick Sittin Up Here In My Satellite:
Just coming to the end of a run of UK dates, you can catch a live stream of Doldrums playing at The Boiler Room tonight.
Sections: by Andy Malt - CMU Approved | Tags: Doldrums
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