Floating Points

I think it's time for Mr. Samuel T. Shepherd to have his own thread. Nothing he has released has been a dud (the Floating Points Ensemble was the closest thing) and most of his releases have been phenomenal. Plus he's an incredible dj. Let us celebrate!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8uHoBA-E7I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d38xbAFnCSQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANXeY7Ob5W0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsbgbVKDOHk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIo2vs0kmU4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNN7vFrkIjw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-xNxzmNtjs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qL73y7jG21c

So that's half the discography covered then..."Red Light" off the Fatima EP is also essential imo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_I5RkApQW1s

something about this guys stuff always feels a little corny to me. i like the jazzy keyboard stuff, but for me the beat needs to have some kind of edge (sonically or rhythmically) to keep things from getting hotel lobby-ish, and i don't usually hear that here.

did not like what i heard of the ensemble music either (just on that ninja tune xx comp), it made me want to listen to early 00's Cinematic Orchestra.

these are nice to listen to at work though.

Only heard the Shawdows and Fatima EPs, but he seems very accomplished and kinda boring. Jordan otm.

New album is gorgeous.

Love "Silhouettes (I, II & III)", which was made available in advance: https://soundcloud.com/floatingpoints/silhouettes-i-ii-iii

Guardian interview just published, appetite further whetted: http://d.gu.com/CbJLD5

Yeah, this album is certainly going to end up in my top 5, if not 3. Streaming here: http://www.npr.org/2015/10/28/450599927/first-listen-floating-points-elaenia

Only heard one track (the closer) and it was fucking amazing.

Of the tracks I've heard over the years, I only really love Vacuum Boogie, but people have been saying incredibly good things about this record.

it hasn't actually grabbed me as some of his epic singles over the past couple of years but obv only one listen in

Somehow I've managed to not hear of him until yesterday. Which seems bizarre.

Presumably that means you haven't heard the Four Tet fabriclive? Which isn't my thing at all but he pops up quite early on that.

i would recommend vacuum boogie/people's potential/wires/nuits sonorés/nectarines/king bromeliad/montparnasse, all of those are amazing

I shall acquire all I can download this evening.

Enjoying this quite a bit.

Is the last track supposed to just stop like that?

I was listening to this earlier this week and i thought it was interesting but a bit weird, definitely different though.

then i realised i had left soundcloud playing so i was listening to a dj mix simultaneously

Quite a lot of it is so ambient that you could do that without realising for a long time.

This definitely worked for me as a Sunday afternoon kinda record - Silhouettes is definitely the best thing here (that orchestral swell!) but in general a move away from the dancefloor is quite a wise step for him.

Haven't heard this album yet, but Floating Points is great, one of the most consistently interesting producers out there. It's weird, because I wouldn't say I am typically drawn to jazzy house, but he does it in a way that really brings out groove in a tasteful way, and somehow is never cheesy or too smooth.

i haven't heard this but then i realised i had left soundcloud playing so i was listening to a dj mix simultaneously happens to me all the time. i get frequent "wow! this producer is really pushing the boundaries of dance music" moments only to realise, no, it's just yet another dull as ditchwater tech house track. i will check out the new floating points album simultaneously playing along the next time i'm wading through dance promos for a potentially more interesting experience.

Quite a lot of it is so ambient that you could do that without realising for a long time.

this is my issue with it really. floating points' last few singles haven't been dancefloor-oriented either but there was just so much going on in them, 11-minute tracks that really made full use of the running time. this is def a lot more subdued, maybe more subtle but also less engaging

This is lush.

omg this is so fusiony

last three tracks on this are incredible

or four rather. great album

^^^^^^^

have you guys heard the singles he's released over the past year or so?

any time you have a lex/Tim f/scick mouthy/murgatroid/ Ronan/ Matt dc/ Dominique/ stirmonster/ brad nelson consensus you know it's gonna be wonderful

first weekend of November is such a perfect time for this to emerge too

have you guys heard the singles he's released over the past year or so?

yeah! i like "nuits sonores" and "montparnasse," but i've never really loved this guy as much as kinda just respected what he did. i love that for the full length he totally luxuriated into fusion and space, which is really weird bc 1) i usually am not into that lp approach in dance music 2) i especially wasn't expecting to love it here but it's so... gorgeous?

Yeah i sort of see the big singles and the album as fulfilling different functions - like while it's fun and awesome when one of his earlier tracks like "sais" temporarily launches off into intergalactic jazz travel, it's differently awesome how the album just sits in that zone.

nuits sonores is very good & brad otm

The collab album with Mahmoud Guinia is excellent

Not heard anything else yet but looking forward to - at the moment the instant-gratification part of my brane is telling me I'd like more tracks like Peroration Six, or for the ambient-y ones in the midsection to have a house beat dropped over them, and hopefully the earlier singles will satiate this desire. (I have a strong hunch that in the fullness of time I'll be glad of the juxtaposition of the ambient-y, Tangerine-Dream stuff with the jazziness.)

Main other thoughts at the moment = he plays with dynamics really nicely; there's a really beautiful swell of sound in the opening track, and this seems triangulated to hit all my sweet-spots at once; Tom Skinner drums on it, he's mates with Four Tet etc, and he keeps talking about Laughing Stock. What's not to like?

i haven't heard this but then i realised i had left soundcloud playing so i was listening to a dj mix simultaneously happens to me all the time. i get frequent "wow! this producer is really pushing the boundaries of dance music" moments only to realise, no, it's just yet another dull as ditchwater tech house track. i will check out the new floating points album simultaneously playing along the next time i'm wading through dance promos for a potentially more interesting experience.

hahaha - two wildly different tracks playing at once, it's the undiscovered country!

gonna give this record a proper listen today - i have some cleaning to do. #life

This album is absolutely incredible on headphones, there's so much detail lurking in there even among the minimal arpeggiated Snooze For Love one.

What this reminds me of more than anything is a Hatchback album, that sense of something beautiful unfolding very slowly and just luxuriating in it throughout. I like it a lot more than his more dancefloor oriented singles because his slightly wonky approach to rhythm works much better in this context.

Also "mates with Four Tet" is completely meaningless at this point because he is mates with pretty much everyone including Terror Danjah and Skrillex.

Like I think initially approaching this as Balearic is probably the single best way to listen to it, as far as managing expectations goes.

Think I must be alone in liking his earlier, housier stuff! I much prefer the Shadows e.p. to this new one (although the last track *is* incredible)

album really reminds me of this (song and album)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwmT8b39aQY

Yes very much.

I think the fusion guy it actually reminds me of most is jan hammer

― on entre O.K. on sort K.O. (man alive), Friday, December 11, 2015 11:20 PM (three years ago)

i've never heard this guy before but i def get the same vibe as that one J.H.G. track andy kellman used to great effect on more than one of his doubt beat mixes

jan hammer is a good point of comparison i think! i was toying with tangerine dream.

the abruptness

a handful of tracks i'd say - seems to be a thing

ok this guy is the shit

This grows on me with each listen. There's an unstructured audio collage feel to it that I like. Works well as a whole album. I was also thinking about it the other day and wondering how Vacuum Boogie didn't show up on the 2000-2010 singles poll. Still probably my favorite Floating Points song.

i think it's dumb how so many reviews cite his neuroscience degree/job when the obvious fact of note is that he studied music, he's got an amazing tact for mixing modes

On paper, this music touches on many things I love dearly--RJD, Kompakt, ECM, electric Miles, Krautrock--and yet the cumulative effect invariably has me shrugging, and I can't say why. It always sounds great when it's playing but I almost never want to return to any of it. I plan to keep trying though because it really does feel like something that will click at some point. It may just require the right weather / occasion / drugs and / or mood

i'm impressed without being particularly moved by it.

next time through i'm gonna try and imagine i'm listening to an ecm record

enjoyable but not exciting seems about right but it needs a few more spins

Just popped up on my t/l

We are proud to announce Promises, a new album by @floatingpoints and #PharoahSanders, featuring @londonsymphony and artwork by #JulieMehretu. Find out more at https://t.co/vmGn7WkIuR.

Available worldwide March 26, 2021 @luakabop#ListenToPromises pic.twitter.com/QuE5dtNmc0

— Luaka Bop (@LuakaBop) February 16, 2021

!!

Wow!

Why do they always have to get a symphony orchestra involved

omg I love Julie Mehretu (and Pharoah Sanders of course)

I've never heard of this guy before, but this album is pretty great. I'm reviewing it for The Wire. I guess I'll have to wade through his back catalog to get a sense of exactly what he's bringing to the table.

I thought Elaenia and its neighboring singles (especially "For Marmish Pt. 2") were a really interesting blend of proggy fusion and electronica, but I haven't been into most of his stuff since then

I've enjoyed pretty much the lot so news of this this morning was damn intriguing.

Totally loved Elaenia but kept forgetting to give Crush a proper chance. I think I kept figuring I would pick it up at an NYC shop but 2020 got in the way.

dang

love floating points, love sanders, curious to hear this for sure

it's gorgeous on first listen

absolutely incredible. wow. i thought there was no way this could live up to expectations.

instant classic and i'm going to listen to it for YEARS

WAY, WAY better than i had anticipated.

It's really good. When I first got the promo, there was exactly one second of digital silence between each track, which was super fucking annoying. But hearing it properly now, it's really something. I'm gonna buy a physical CD copy to really let it fill the room.

so that we don't bounce between artist specific threads:
Floating Points and Pharoah Sanders and London Symphony Orchestra - Promises (2021)

I'm not sure how long it's been there or how long it will last but his take over of the Spotify Deep Listening playlist is pretty great: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DX5y2yPmGqrG8?si=f39HicePRpeQzjO17DblFg&utm_source=copy-link

Anyone still listening to this? It feels like it came out one million years ago.

It does.

Too much new stuff flowing in every day that I absolutely have to listen to to revisit it often, but it's still very likely to make my year-end list.

Funny I just pulled this out the other day and still enjoy it. Feel like it’ll be a good spin as the weather turns and the days get shorter over the coming months.

the languorous romantic quality of it reminds me of being a kid and first hearing Prelude To the Afternoon of a Faun

i went back to it the other day and it's still as sublime as ever

so it turned out he produced half of the new hikaru utada album???

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUmnh3omeE4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uctD_1SKqtM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FL7ahAmdp8

here's the tracks he co-produced they all rule

i'm wondering what the connection is. the first two tracks sound nothing like floating points, though they do seem a bit like "modern" takes on old soul/funk stuff he plays in his sets, especially with the horns in them. the last track has a tiny hint of FP in it

sonically it all very much sounds like his production, the latter two really aren't too far removed from his work on elaenia at all. the first is a little further away but still seems like a fairly natural expansion on that sound.

I hate it :(

hardly any tracks on elaenia have a steady beat. the sounds also have a lot more movement that makes most of the album sound a bit more organic and "wavy." i forget if sam was already using modular synths on that album, but i want to say it at least sounds like he is

the outro on the last two hikaru utada tracks get modular and have a bit more movement, but it's much tamer

also, what's with the 12-minute song? i assume a radio version of that would cut sam's "noodling"

Weird, I was just idly wondering if he would make a return to dance music after the Pharoah Sanders album

https://floatingpoints.bandcamp.com/album/vocoder

This is a tune

i miss that Vacuum Boogie sound.

yes, this is great

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05uM6sP7Kdk

Nice

i like this one way more than the first single.

another banger

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWLpR6Fsc6Q

FYI, he has a collaboration on the new Shabaka album that was a standout for me.