Insomnia Music with Scott Young

Music

"Make more weird mutant music. Be brave and create your own world. There's nothing more interesting than that."

If you've wrapped your ears around Hong Kong-born producer Scott Young's past releases, you'll know he follows this mantra. Since his debut in 2015 on Samo DJ's Born Free imprint, he's displayed his far reaching tastes that drift from leftfield club music to ambient musings and experimental soundtracks.

In 2016 he landed on Discos Capablanca for the first time with his Homeless EP, which ranged from deep dub to jovial house jams, and now he's making a triumphant return to the label with perhaps his most significant work to date, Ket City.

Ahead of the release, which is penned for V-Day, he selects some of the tracks that he reaches for during the moonlit hours…

Have you clicked into this feature looking for an antidote to insomnia? Sorry, it hardly works the way you may expect.

The tracks I’ve picked here are for zoning out. There’s no rationale in this playlist, it’s one that just goes on, selections which allow you a space to neglect time. Feel free to be uneconomical and turn up the volume for now.

Being somewhat of a Hikikomori and an Otaku recently, I’ve started to seriously appreciate a wide range of electronic music. Ranging from downtempo sounds to slowly morphing techno to acoustic concrète cuts. I first came across these tracks during daylight hours, but ever since hearing them I usually fetch for them again at night.

They represent a pragmatic way to spend late night hours, better than sulking! Nothing ever really got resolved at midnight anyway. Just listen to these, feel better, and work on whatever it is you need to do again in the morning.

Buy Ket City on Discos Capablanca. Photo credit: Rebecca Salvadori.

LISTEN

Lusine - Auto Pilot

A personal favourite and a formative downtempo track. My very first introduction to Lusine and Ghostly. The footage of driving through the rain with the sounds of radio frequencies in this YouTube video adds a lot to the listening experience. First time I heard it, on a humid night in Hong Kong, it helped alleviate the summer heat.

Lusine - Auto Pilot

A personal favourite and a formative downtempo track. My very first introduction to Lusine and Ghostly. The footage of driving through the rain with the sounds of radio frequencies in this YouTube video adds a lot to the listening experience. First time I heard it, on a humid night in Hong Kong, it helped alleviate the summer heat.
Steve Moore - Frigia

A real staple and a carefree out-of-the-zone track, early L.I.E.S material, before they went full on industrial with a lot of their more recent material.
Catherine Christer Hennix - Equal Temperament Fender Mix

Unpredictable loops of Fender Rhodes, released on Blank Forms / Empty Editions. This has an absolute doozy of a development.
Harry Pussy - I Don't Care About Sleep Anymore

A genuine self-explanatory catharsis. I came to Bill Orcutt very late, a recommendation thanks to Low Company. He was part of Harry Pussy but is now primarily a soloist. Check out his No Response Festival clip on Youtube too, Bill’s a real virtuoso.
Morton Feldman - False Relationships And The Extended Ending

Imagine Jerry Goldsmith under SSRIs, very slowly you pretty much get the track. Its sense of uselessness often gets me through the night. It’s not music that pretends to cheer you up.