David Emery OnlineB-Sides and Rarities
10 July 2008
The (gradual) return of Tom Vek and other such stories
Tom Vek is one of those odd artists that seems to have almost completely disappeared. His debut album – We Have Sound – came out way back in 2005 and was quite extraordinary; you don’t get such confident and imaginative records every day, and you certainly don’t expect such a tour de force from a debut.
It’s an album that is without filler, so choosing tracks to highlight is difficult, but Nothing But Green Lights – the last single off the album – is as good a place to start as any:
And then; nothing.
3 years down the line and hardly a peep – a solitary ‘Tom continues to work on the follow up to 2005 debut “We Have Sound”’ message on his website and vague rumours that a new album is done but facing record company problems is all we have to go on. The only ray of hope (quickly extinguished) was the appearance of a track on the GTA IV soundtrack. It was the traditional “hey, I wonder what this is – it sounds a bit like Tom Vek” moment, which led to a quick google search that confirmed that it was.
Sadly, I say “quickly extinguished” hope as it turns out that as opposed to a new track, ‘One Horse Race’ is actually a b-side from the old album, so we’re still no closer to something new. However, it’s a brilliant track that is better then most bands a-sides, so shall we just pretend it’s a new single and enjoy it anyway?
Tom Vek – One Horse Race (mp3)
Luckily we don’t have the same situation with LCD Soundsystem – I don’t think I could really cope with a 3 year break from them – but I have got a similarly obscure track to share with you. Before Sound of Silver – their stunning second album that came out last year (and was the 2nd best album of the year) – they released a 45 minute long track on iTunes (called 45:33, although actually 45:58 long) which while ostensibly for running to (as part of the whole Nike+iPod stuff) was really more an extended mix tape introducing parts of the album. It’s really exceptionally good, unsurprisingly.
Just over a year later the track was released on CD and vinyl, and contained some remixes and b-sides including one track ‘Freak Out/Starry Eyes’ that I wanted to feature here. It’s very much in the same vein as 45:33, in that it’s a long track (which is really two tracks) that meanders and explores the beats and musical phrases it starts out with – it’s essentially dance music, but played and performed in a more traditional, alternative music way.