Watch: Ukkonen “Viva Las Huelgas” (exclusive)

20 Nov 2013 — Kelsie Brown

We previously touched on Ukkonen's "Viva Las Huelgas" when we first heard the Finish producer's newest taste of his upcoming album. Here's the official video for said track. Directed by London artist Will Clarke, the video sides with the more ambient-leaning aspect of the IDM-esque song. Pastel-colored origami shapes blend into flowers, then back again, blurring the lines between growth and destruction and between space and fullness. As with the sense of slight atonality in "Viva Las Huelgas" coming from the absence of a third tone in each chord (as described more in depth by Ukkonen on his website), the visuals in the video allow the listener to see what's not present. It's a very psychedelic experience still, in the loosest sense of the word, and one that remains very beautiful and warm.

"Viva Las Huelgas" is taken from Ukkonen's upcoming full-length release, The Ancient Tonalities Of..., out December 2 via No Pain in Pop. Pre-order a physical copy over here.

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Choongum “Cold World”

19 Nov 2013 — Kelsie Brown

Bay Area producer Choongum has been steadily releasing music for several years. In his new one, he channels melancholy and feelings of loneliness perpetuated by long, cold winter months. Choongum's sullen voice melts perfect with the smooth piano sample grounding the entire track. It's a great song to soundtrack the upcoming months.

"Cold World" is available on cassette or free download as part of Portland label STYLSS's tenth edition of their Suicide Pact compilation. Stream below, and grab the whole album through STYLSS.

 

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Watch: Cuushe “I Love You”

16 Nov 2013 — Kelsie Brown

Earlier this year we fell in love with Tokyo dream pop artist Cuushe with "I Love You"'s shimmery brand of pop. Watch the video for said song below, which perfectly captures Cuushe's innocence with bright colors, images of spaghetti and meatballs, and an overall abundance of cuteness and sparkles.

Flau's second full-length, Butterfly Case, is now available through Flau Records.

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Planningtorock “Human Drama”

15 Nov 2013 — Evelyn Malinowski

The word “drama” confuses the message of this song: isn't drama something to be avoided in love affairs? Don't we want drama-free, stakeless exchange with our lovers these days? Perhaps the song actualizes a more general or traditional definition of the word, or utilizes an alternative connotation which allows for listeners to comtemplate the nonconventional. Basic definitions of "drama" are along the lines of a scene, a play, incident, or spectacle; yet, none of these synonyms suggest the negative social drama that comes to mind when we think of friends who are dramatic, or attracted to dramatic relationships. 

While romantic drama, that is, heavy entangling of individual boundaries and uncomfortable social spectacles, is something avoided by an outstanding amount of gender-aware individuals and activists, via polyamory, non-definitive dating cycles and sexual preferences, human drama is by contrast strongly desirable. Planningtorock wants an anthropic, fluid, perfectly erroneous and natural sexual scenario, hence, human drama, a type that is free from grinding against manmade barriers, generating discomfort and existential unease. With the lyrics “Trying to find the words to explain my sexuality/
It's liquid, it's living, a moving love defined by itself/
There's no rules, no convention,” we begin to think that letting human sexuality be what it will is the preferred gender: an undulating, unpredictable, incidental, fluent process that does not mold or follow directions well. This is conveyed by the simplistic melancholy of the song's loud melody.

We can anticipate these types of political affects and contemporary themes from the whole of PTR's All Love's Legal, out on Human Level Records February 10, 2014. For now, let us meditate on what is meant by the provocative title and phrase “human drama.”

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Interview: Aïsha Devi / Danse Noire

15 Nov 2013 — Henning Lahmann

Tomorrow on Saturday, November 16, it's finally happening: together with our friends at Urban Mutations, we're proud to present and host a night at Kreuzberg's Chesters to showcase one of Europe's most exciting new underground dance labels, Geneva-based imprint Danse Noire. Featuring live performances by label founder Aïsha Devi and DN alumni Vaghe Stelle plus Lorenzo Senni aka Stargate as a very special guest, you may expect hours and hours of finest forward-thinking electronic exploration. 

To learn a bit more about Danse Noire and the ideas behind this amazing project, we talked to Aïsha Devi via email before she's arriving in town tomorrow. Read the interview after the break, and check out some tracks off of Devi's Aura 4 Everyone EP, released on DN earlier this year.

For more event details, check out Resident Advisor or Facebook.

 

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When did you start Danse Noire?

I had fantasies about a collective platform for a while, I also wanted an other angle on music than my own solo production, a wider vision. So I started the label with my boyfriend and my best friend about a year and a half ago and some other friends joined us in the love circle. We found the name exactly a year ago, while driving back from a show in Turin. The whole trip was hazy and mystic, the name Danse Noire came to us. Things have been pretty intense ever since.

What did make you want to start a label in the first place?

Having a total autonomy and a subversive medium to feed.

What do you want to achieve with the label? What is the concept behind it? It feels like there’s a very distinct idea that characterises DN.

As the whole society is generated by materialistic capitalization, I think the revolution will be spiritual. The label is an experimental terrain for alternate languages, consciousness, activism and magic explorations. Music should return to its fundamental and ritual function. The music I'm appealed to put out is not a functional product but the result of an illumination. 

Aside from the releases, we've been running label showcases and parties. Clubs and raves are the new temples. There's an entertainment side to it, fun is fun but I like the gathering as a possibility to reach transcendence, collectively.

How do you find your artists, and where?

We're truffle pigs, yo. We do hours and hours of Soundcloud and Bandcamp subterranean digging and we also do have some magic friends-connections operating.

Is it easy to run a label from a rather small place like Geneva? How is the music scene in the city? Or is location irrelevant today?

In terms of livability of a label, location tends to have less and less impact. Our communication and audience is rather emerging out of Switzerland, but dealing with your direct environment is a nice challenge too. I feel Geneva is in a bit of a luxury era, avant-garde and non strictly danceable music is struggling out here, Danse Noire is also a reaction to this statism, we don't correspond to the local scene and we have that cool underdog position.

Exporting the label worldwide is awesome but i also like the reverse idea of bringing an alternative here, transforming Swiss media's prejudices about digital culture, curate events and build up a new scenery.

What is the reason behind the decision to abandon your moniker Kate Wax in favour of your given name?

Sometime you feel like what you've created has a story of its own and has reached some limits. I wanted to start the label and produce music as instinctively as I breathe, and I breathe as Aïsha Devi. I reunited with myself, I'm one. I feel like a virgin.

What’s up next, for your own music as well as for Danse Noire?

I'm working on my new album at the moment and we are readying three or four releases for early next year. I'm really excited about this, spectrum extension at its maximum, exploration 2.0.

Charlatan “Night Circus”

15 Nov 2013 — Trey Reis

It seems the more I hear about Charlatan, the less I know about it, which can be an interesting standpoint with which to approach scribbling out these write-ups, especially for an artist so buried in abstract compositions. Funny how my initial reaction in this case is to write about what I “see” when I listen to it. That being said, there is certainly a lot more “night” in Night Circus than there is “circus.” The bleeps and bloops swinging in like trapeze artists over the top of constructed canvas walls of drone being the only semblance of typical circus acts to make their way to the surface of this nocturne. It’s creepy, encompassing, and a fantastic addition to the already impressive Charlatan discography and enormous list of Digitalis Recordings releases.

Listen to the title track from Night Circus below and buy the album digitally for however much you want from Digitalis Recordings.

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Review: Zula “This Hopeful”

14 Nov 2013 — Henry Schiller

Brooklyn's Zula (stylized in a way that this blog writing platform cannot comprehend) have just released their debut album This Hopeful. Though it does indicate allegiance to a certain Brooklyn-born aesthetic, This Hopeful is equally suggestive of an infatuation with a certain British tendency to layer guitar rock over dub beats. And thus, This Hopeful proves to be an invigorated amalgamation of grimy trip hop and lashing, spaced out guitar jams; one that never feels like it’s reaching too aggressively to capture something a la mode.

The dark, trip hopping “This Hopeful” sort of reminds me of Clinic, but with an aquatic psych sensibility that literally oozes from the guitars. Indeed, much of Zula’s sound seems entrenched in the hazy, post-Radiohead psych vibe of groups like Clinic or the loftier Tame Impala. The extravagant melodic contours of “NRGZ” – hidden as they are behind blindsiding rhythmic moods –are especially in the spirit of the latter. “Poison”, on the other hand, sounds like a twisted blend of Placebo and Scott Walker, while “And More Business” is trippy dance pop all twined up in Eno-esque flair.

This Hopeful is speckled with roving, pseudo-experimental non-lyrical fare, such as the anticipation-inducing opener “Loss Less”, and the Mount Kimbie-esque “Subway Safari". These songs do a great job of supporting This Hopeful’s meticulous architecture, and create an interesting dialogue between themselves and the album's more confrontational tracks. This Hopeful builds a space all its own out of a familiarity with a broad range of indie topics and stylistic associations. You can pick it up here; follow Zula on Facebook for indispensible gig info.

 

 

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