Troika Hicksdesign

We had to say goodbye to our beautiful golden retriever Olive a few weeks ago. She really was the goodest of girls and the fluffiest of floofs, and as part of the Hicks family she deserves her very own episode of Troika. The tracks are:
'Olive, the other Reindeer' by Johnny Hart, 'Golden Retriever' by Super Furry Animals and 'We Watched you Disappear' by Hammock.

An episode of Troika to celebrate my son Daniel's 18th birthday, featuring music that he's chosen. A Moment Apart by *ODESZA, Freaking Out the Neighbourhood by Mac DeMarco and Taken For A Fool by The Strokes.

This special double episode is devoted to the music of one of my favourite artists, Montreal psychedelic rock band The Besnard Lakes! Featuring the tracks Like the Ocean/Like the Innocent, Chicago Train, Agent 13, Color yr Lights in, Necronomicon and The Last of the Great Thunderstorm Warnings. Also features interview snippets and extra bonus track!

This first edition of Troika is about ambient music. Not the bleepy,beaty, dancy kind, but the more soothing 'neo-classical' or drone style of Ambient. Music for watching the stars (amongst other things).

I heard an interview with Jarvis Cocker where he was asked about 'guilty pleasures'. His response was "There's no such thing as a guilty pleasure. If it's music, and you like it, why feel guilty about it?". Quite right - there's too much music snobbery. Somehow there's this rule that certain types of music are to be embarrassed about. With that in mind, I want to present three songs on a similar power ballad/rawk arena that all come from the 80s/ early 90s. They're not the kind that get repeated ad-infinitum on commercial radio though.

I'm not a fan of Kraftwerk at the best of times. I have friends who adore them, but they leave me cold. I was listening to one last week that was all about using a 'Pocket Calculator' - adding and subtracting. In particular, when there is a Cycling related programme on telly, the likelihood is that they will end up using their 'Tour De France'. Its feels about as far removed from the experience of cycling as I can think of. I love electronic music, but for me it doesn't have the right feel. I think Rapha have got it spot on. They're a high-end cycling clothes brand, but to promote their range they regularly publish videos of their rides. If you were cynical, you'd say these are just big adverts, which they are in part, but they're also very inspirational. It was watching these videos that made we want to get a proper road bike and head out into the countryside. Maybe they've twisted my view of what 'music to cycle to' should be, but these are the sounds in my head when I'm riding.