Peaking Lights‘ progression from the hazy, psychedelic, dubbed-out jams on 2011’s still-sublime 936 and sophomore record Lucifer and through to this year’s LP Cosmic Logic has been subtle but impressive once you peer a little closer; not unlike their music, in fact. The mist has lifted and the sprawling codas have been reigned in, resulting in some of the spousal duo’s tightest and most pop-leaning compositions to date.
Tracks like “Dreamquest” and “Breakdown“, plus various NTS drop-ins and Testpressing mixes have been filling the air at BR HQ all throughout the unseasonably warm autumn months, so we thought it’d be a fine idea to tap the duo up for the next instalment of our In Stereo series, set against an extremely colourful morphing backdrop.
With sonic cues now taken from the kind of far-flung recordings dug up regularly by curators like Awesome Tapes From Africa‘s Brian Shimkovitz, as well as the band’s usual peppering of crackly dub, chintzy electronica and oddball funk (this line-up makes a lot of sense in that context), we figured it would make sense to get a few choice influences from the band’s Aaron Coyes. His infamously wide-ranging tastes shine as brightly here as they do on record and in performance: something wholly evident in the set they laid down for us.
Until the broadcast on Monday 22nd, dig into this.
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Aleke Kanonu – “Home Sweet Home” [Arcana, 1980]
“Lucifer was so conceptual because we wrote it so quickly – we basically wrote it while we were in the studio recording it. For Cosmic Logic, we were never in the studio at the same together until we got to point of arrangement. The songs were less jam-based and a lot tighter. There were a lot of elements we started playing with because we were able to have a cleaner sound. It would be nice to get back in the studio together and write in a similar fashion to 936 where we just jammed things out. It can be great to use that extended runtime: when it works, it really works. All 13 minutes of this Aleke track are gold.”
Alfredo Smith – “Your Doctor” [Sudden Impact, 1988]
LEDA – “City Of Light” [Metronome, 1978]
The Mary Jane Girls – “Candy Man” [Motown, 1983]
“The point where commercial disco dropped the tempo and regained its soul was a really important moment. It’s something we try and touch on a lot.”
Gregg Major – “Yardie” [PLJ Records, 1988]
“Stone. Cold.”
Codek – “Tim Toum” [Island Records, 1982]
“Production-wise, this is pretty much as experimental and out there as any record going under that genre tag today.”
Tom Tom Club – “As Above, So Below” [Island Records, 1981]
“Tom Tom Club, as something that both of us grew up with, has been an influence on a lot of different levels; especially on the first record. I’m a big hip-hop fan, so when I was younger, Tom Tom Club’s first record really crossed over and was really in both hip-hop and pop – the concept of that crossover is super important. When writing Cosmic Logic, I had an understanding in the back of my head that lots of modern day hip-hop tends to be a relatively slow BPM. And on 936, we were using tape loops and I was using a synth to specifically try to make something like this song. I cut a tape loop out of the synth line on “As Above, So Below” and that melody because “Summertime”!”
Loose Joints – “Tell You (Today)” (Original 12” Vocal) [4th & Broadway, 1983]
“I like both iterations of Arthur Russell, but some of the more outside pop stuff is just a little too outside. Because the US is so spread out, during that time music was very regional-based – I mean, music is still very regional, although it’s becoming less and less so – and some pop has a specifically Midwestern feel to it. The exciting thing about when he started working within disco is that it was taking those weirder elements and fully being influenced by a different culture of New York. Letting those other elements come in and effect the rhythms was really exciting.”
Tappa Zukie – “Freak” [Stars, 2008]
Marvin Gaye – “Sexual Healing” (Extended Version) [CBS, 1982]
“Again, another one that I grew up listening to. As you know, we do a ton of remixes and whenever I try to do remixes, I always try to make the song longer. If you’re in a band, that Marvin Gaye track is something you would definitely play as opposed to a house track where you would just be looping or sampling it. When you’re actually playing music, you can really feel the moment and keep yourself in it. It’s simply such a good song.”
