ALL Y'ALL by the golden years

released June 15, 2024

ALL 'YALL was made by me + buncha hip-hop samples + my keyboard, which has a drum machine & a hundred different voices, from "wind chimes" to "auto swoon." (I'm joking about the latter.)

For another (better) album of similar material, please check out 2023's MOSQUITO TYME IN '89: thegoldenyears.bandcamp.com/album/mosquito-tyme-in-89-2

I love lo-fi hip hop & chillwave (as well as chillwave's obnoxious cousins: vaporwave & synthwave). As much as I love "FLORAL SHOPPE' by MACINTOSH PLUS, the 2015 album WORLD CLASS by LUXURY ELITE is by FAR my fav example of the genre. You can hear it here: crashsymbols.bandcamp.com/album/world-class

This review of WORLD CLASS really NAILS the sublime pleasures of the genre:

*"Imagine for a moment if you will, a parallel universe in which Tom Cruise’s 1988 hit Cocktail were actually a gritty noir, full of smoke-filled scenes of low-lit bars and brutalist executive suites. 'World Class' -- the new full-length from Luxury Elite - is the essential soundtrack to such a film; a love letter to ‘80s America, smooth jazz, lounge music and skyscraper skylines by night. Vaporwave is often greeted with the same nose-up attitudes as chillwave and witch house before it, but with 'World Class,' Luxury Elite demonstrates that there’s more to the genre than just putting a few samples together."*

I love XXYYXX (particularly the song "Intro" which is a masterpiece...those hummed vocals and soaring strings...check it out: www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHHtFee1b8M Check out "Letter 23" by the same artist...it's dope.)

The following are my sonic lodestars (tho I'm not fit to touch the hems of these artists' bell bottoms):

Washed Out (everything from LIFE OF LEISURE-PURPLE NOON)
Keep Shelley In Athens ("Running Out of You" and OUR OWN DREAM)
Teenage Reverb ("Save For Later" was THE best song of 2011)
The Radio Dept ("Closing Scene," "The City Limit," "David")
Foxes in Fiction ("Ontario Gothic")
Cocteau Twins ("The Itchy Glowbo Blow")
Ariel Pink (BEFORE TODAY, DOLDRUMS, "Can't Hear My Eyes")
Neon Indian ("Polish Girl")
Million Young ("On On," "Easy Now," "Calrissian")
Toro Y Moi (UNDERNEATH THE PINE & BLESSA)
Todd Terje ("Snooze 4 Love")
Coyote Clean Up ("Awesome Luv," "You Won't Know").

I played in rock bands for years and I loved it but I've always loved dance music too. House and techno soundtracks to drugged out big city nights. XXYYXX says his music evokes the feeling of "hanging out under an overpass, doing drugs at 5AM."

It's a rare gem, but if you can find the song "You Won't Know" by Coyote Clean Up, you will NOT be disappointed. I've never heard a song that sounds like the very AIR in the room is being manipulated. The song is full of echoes and a strange thrumming, like the vibrant murmur of cities, the hum of the world. Skyscraper skylines at night, endless highways, headlights pointing at the dawn...

I can't find it on YouTube or Bandcamp or Soundcloud but it IS available here. It's the first song on this mix: www.pinchyandfriends.com/5016/house-music/