Music
Album Review: Memories Of Machines ‘Warm Winter’
When I was sent a copy of Memories of Machines ‘Warm Winter’, I was a bit skeptical until I read the guest spots: Steven Wilson, Colin Edwin, Robert Fripp, Jim Matheos, Peter Hammill, and more. Holy prog-rock boner inducing list! Seriously, though, can you think of a guest list that gets your rocks off more than that? So, with a list like that, you can easily understand why I had quite high expectations. But were those expectations met?
The production of this album can be described in one word: warm. Everything sounds lush, organic, rich and, in the end, warm. It’s an album that embraces you, never shunning you with harsh tones or piercing frequencies. A perfect example is the cello in the beginning of ‘Beautiful Songs You Should Know’: I felt like I was sitting in a concert hall as its tone washed over me, almost seeing the bow slide across the strings.
Tracks such as ‘Lost and Found In The Digital World’ and ‘Lucky You, Lucky Me’ are standout tracks, rich in ambient soundscapes and lush tones.
The Final Word: Warm Winter is a sublime debut from Memories of Machines. It’s not an album for everyone but rather for those who can appreciate the beauty of feeling melancholy and yearning. Enjoy this album while remember times gone by.
It’s a new day, and you’ve got new John Carpenter to listen to. John Carpenter, Daniel Davies and Cody Carpenter have released the new track He Walks By Night this morning, the second single off their upcoming album Lost Themes IV: Noir, out May 3 on Sacred Bones Records.
Lost Themes IV: Noir is the latest installment in a series that sees Carpenter releasing new music for John Carpenter movies that don’t actually exist. The first Lost Themes was released in 2015, followed by Lost Themes II in 2016 and Lost Themes III: Alive After Death in 2021.
Sacred Bones previews, “It’s been a decade since John Carpenter recorded the material that would become Lost Themes, his debut album of non-film music and the opening salvo in one of Hollywood’s great second acts. Those vibrant, synth-driven songs, made in collaboration with his son Cody Carpenter and godson Daniel Davies, kickstarted a musical renaissance for the pioneering composer and director. With Lost Themes IV: Noir, they’ve struck gold again, this time mining the rich history of the film noir genre for inspiration.
“Since the first Lost Themes, John has referred to these compositions as “soundtracks for the movies in your mind.” On the fourth installment in the series, those movies are noirs. Like the film genre they were influenced by, what makes these songs “noirish” is sometimes slippery and hard to define, and not merely reducible to a collection of tropes. The scores for the great American noir pictures were largely orchestral, while the Carpenters and Davies work off a sturdy synth-and-guitar backbone.
“The trio’s free-flowing chemistry means Lost Themes IV: Noir runs like a well-oiled machine—the 1951 Jaguar XK120 Roadster from Kiss Me Deadly, perhaps, or the 1958 Plymouth Fury from John’s own Christine. It’s a chemistry that’s helped power one of the most productive stretches of John’s creative life, and Noir proves that it’s nowhere near done yielding brilliant results.”
You can pre-save Lost Themes IV: Noir right now! And listen to the new track below…
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