This Track Is Fire!

I've noted previously that I have a lot of music, perhaps too much, and that yeah, sometimes when I think I have discovered a band, oops, I already bought something from them months, or years, earlier. This isn't quite that case, but rather, I have so much music that I sometimes I lose track of an artist that I truly love ( like Missio ) because, well, life happens, work happens, and I get behind. That's what happened here with Purity Ring. For me, their 2015 album another eternity  is perfection, an album I had on repeat for what seemed like forever. They got popular, Katy Perry asked her to work with her on one of her albums, and then asked them to tour with her (I went thanks to a $25 Groupon), and then, sometime after 2017, nine years ago now, well, I think I just kind of lost track of them. I remember WOMB  and watching them perform on a late night talkshow, but again, this is on me and does not reflect on the quality of the band or their music, I just kind of lost tou...

I discovered Ninajirasha sometime last year and was immediately blown away at the new-yet-old-school-sounding techno she was dropping. Porter Robinson, if you're not familiar, is a bit of an icon in the EDM world (and also, my stepson's favorite artists), so seeing the established working with the up-and-coming is always fun. This is especially true when their collaboration brings forth a track as good as this, but I may be biased by my love for both artists. It's Monday, start your week strong! Enjoy! WannaCry by Ninajirachi & Porter Robinson

Note: In honor of one full year of This Track Is Fire I thought I would highlight the top 10 posts over the last year, but there's a tie in the seventh position, and a three-way tie in the tenth position, so instead you're getting the Top 12 Posts over the past year. At #8 is a track so good, so funky, that it made me wish that my dad was still alive just so that I could share it with him,  Irvine Welsh & The Sci-Fi Soul Orchestra "A Man In Love With Love." Seriously, a soundtrack for a book written within the Trainspotting  universe should simply not be this  good, and yet, it is. Check it out!

The xx just performed at Coachella on Friday night, and they're going to do  the same thing next Friday . Other than some shows in Mexico City the week before, this was the first time that The xx had performed on stage together in almost eight years. Part of that time away was used by each of the respective members to release solo works. This one belongs to Jamie xx, and though this is not the track that he played during The xx set, it is my favorite track from his album In Waves . In short, if you're in the mood to shake your ass, you can't do much worse than this. That driving beat, man!, it just gets me going every time. I love it! Happy Wednesday, you're more than halfway through the week. Enjoy! In Waves by Jamie xx feat. The Avalanches

In late January my friend Jeff sent me a link to an Instagram post from KEXP and the band Chalk  and since then I have posted here about them twice, so three times in two months is probably a bit much. And yet, here we are. Chalk are playing a handful of US dates before jetting off to Europe, so after much hemming and hawing I decided to grab tickets for their Chicago show (I knew I wanted to go, but I had to make sure I had someone to go with). I mean, listen to "I Can't Feel It" and tell me it doesn't tickle your synthpop pleasure centers (if you have them; I do!). Their entire debut album is great, but I've gone back to this track more than a few times now. Enjoy!

I fully admit that this type of music is not for everyone, but sometimes I like rhythmic noise and music that's not entirely comfortable, but with a beat. Music like this won't show up in the Top 40, but I love it no less. And with a career around 40 years in the making, there aren't many people that do challenging electronic music better than Richard D. James, AKA Aphex Twin. This one keeps looping back into my play list and every time it does it puts a smile on my face. Sure, it's a bit of a cacophony, but there's that driving bass that pushes everything forward. Like I said, I love it, maybe it's not for you, but check it out!

It's only been two weeks since I first posted about Chalk, so I probably should give it more time before I post about them again. The thing is, since first posting about "I.D.C." I have since purchased their three EPs and have become properly obsessed. There's not a bad song in the lot, but of particular appeal to me of late is the track "Afraid." A song like this make me want to turn it up loud and drive fast.  I don't, but I want  to. So, drive fast and listen to Chalk (only don't, because that's dangerous)! Enjoy! Conditions III by Chalk

Last week my friend Jeff sent me a link to an Instagram post from KEXP and the band Chalk thinking I might like their music and boy, he was not  wrong.  I think I was hooked within the first minute, and by the end of the two songs I was full-on obsessed, so much so that I had already started looking for their live dates. I am now debating if I want to go see them in March in Chicago. To say that I was immediately impressed with this band in a very short time is an understatement. Their debut album, Crystalpunk, debuts on March 13, but they've released "I.D.C." as one of its singles. I fucking love it! Enjoy!

I just discoverd this song, and its album, last week, and almost immediately I thought to myself, "this is a banger!" I have already added this as to my Bandcamp wishlish for purchase this coming Friday , because I am certain to get an alert from Bandcamp that I can't play this album any more because I have listened too many times without purchasing it. That won't be a concern soon! I still love "classic" EDM artists like Deadmau5, and I was lucky to see some of the (formerly) newer artists this past year (including REZZ), but with Gen Z coming onto the scene I am confident that EDM is in good hands. Enjoy! I Love My Computer by Ninajirachi

This is going to be a longer entry than most, so please bear with me. Last Friday would have been my dad's 72nd birthday, had he not passed away from cancer in the Spring of 2014, but I think he may have loved this. When this album first showed up in my Bandcamp music feed I was curious. "Wasn't Irvine Welsh the author of the book Trainspotting ?" I thought to myself, wondering why he would be making an album. Turns out this is the companion soundtrack to his latest novel, Men In Love , that takes place in the same world as Trainspotting  (I'm not entirely sure if it's a prequel or sequel). That said, Welsh thought that a soundtrack needed to coincide with the book, and honestly, I love it. Sure, I'm linking just the first track, but the entire album is great, so much so that for my money, this is my favorite album of 2025 (so far). This is a touch surprising for me; as you can see from this blog I'm usually the guy that likes music that goes boop-boop...