I distinctly remember sitting in my university library several years back listening to Cluster & Eno as a wave of claustral calm eased my thesis-addled brain and spread to my extremities. There’s something about a benevolently pulsating synthesizer that wholly consumes you—the upper tones that are at once independent and of a bigger whole, brushing together and falling apart like snow whipped up by the wind; the dependable pedal drone in the lower end becoming such a foundation of existence that when the song ends, you feel like you’ve lost your hearing. “Sirens,” the overture of TRAAMS’s long-awaited follow up to 2015’s Modern Dancing, has that same impact. And how do you follow that? With Personal Best, a record that excavates 50 years of electronic and experimental music—adding and subtracting allusive vocal fragments and wiry guitar nodes to resemble a jagged sonic skyline that could collapse into the sea at any moment.
In the protracted gap preceding the Sussex group’s difficult third record, drummer/multi-instrumentalist Adam Stock focused his energy on learning new instruments and acquiring new synthesizers. Coupled with the pandemic-mandated adherence to low-decibel experimentation due to the closure of rehearsal studios, Personal Best finds the group unreservedly embracing the electro-ambient sounds that imbued their earlier, though more stentorian, work. “Before it’s always been obnoxiously loud,” frontperson Stu Hopkins noted in a press release. “All the things we’d usually relied upon—bass and drums locking in, guitar feedback, shouted words—were no longer applicable in this new way of writing.” With this pared-down palette, the band reinvents itself while reinforcing the timelessness of their left-of-center drone rock.
With the record out this Friday, TRAAMS put together a playlist of songs from bands whose electric, avant-garde tendencies match those of Personal Best, and whose influence can be felt in every corner of modern alternative music. “This playlist is something I put together for Matt Peel and Alex [Greaves], who worked on the record with us,” Hopkins shares. “I have a habit of describing noises and sounds that I’m trying to achieve, as opposed to actually learning and/or playing them. This can be really annoying for whoever we’re working with. This collection of songs served as a kind of a shorthand. There’s specific songs, styles, noises, effects, vocals, synths, guitars, and arrangements on this playlist that I used to help explain what I was trying to achieve. For the best part it worked pretty well. Matt did ask if I put some in as a joke though—I hadn’t.”
On the playlist, Krautrock legends Cluster and Can land alongside the minimalist undulations of Terry Riley and the copper-bottomed pop of The Jesus and Mary Chain and Fleetwood Mac. The list elucidates the album’s more recondite moments while reappraising a few bangers that might have been lost along the way. Check out Personal Best here, and listen to the playlist below. You can also read on for Hopkins’ words on five LPs they borrowed particularly heavily from.
If the playlist is a mood board of sorts, here’s a list of records we straight up ripped off:
Broadcast, The Noise Made By People
One of the first records I ever bought, and still one of my favorites. I could have chosen any Broadcast record, really, but this one is always my go-to. They’re so effortlessly melodic.
Eno, Here Come the Warm Jets
I always knew about the Eno ambient records but it took me a while to realize there was a whole post–Roxy Music glam-pop period. I love the guitars on this record so much. If you like this, check out Roxy Music’s For Your Pleasure.
Heather Trost, Petrichor
A pretty new record, this one. I picked it up because of recommendation by the Family Store in Brighton. They have a small but excellently curated record section. I listened to this record a bunch before and during lockdown, and it definitely got my musical brain whirring again. Heather is actually remixing a track from Personal Best for a future release.
Arthur Russel, Complete Works
I mean, you can’t turn on NTS without hearing at least seven Arthur Russel tracks in 24 hours. His work is outrageously great. It’s avant-garde, poppy, intelligent, and accessible all at the same time. He doesn’t sound like anyone but himself. I watched the amazing documentary Wild Combination on him recently. Everyone should check it out.
Massive Attack, Blue Lines / Mezzanine
We talked a fair bit about Massive Attack whilst recording this record, specifically the way they use guests on tracks. There never seems to be too much ego with their guest vocals—they always feel natural, like they’re already a band member. I think it works all the better for it.
