29 Nov 2012 — Tonje Thilesen
Our talented Sydney-based friend Guerre returns to the surface with the sensually gentle B-side "For Qwanisha", taken off his 'digital 7 inch' on Yes Please Records, following the A-side "Rashad (Loose Pace)" that was given to us last month. Listen to both singles below.
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29 Nov 2012 — Tonje Thilesen
Amongst New York's many exciting, up-and-coming imprints, Ceremony has indeed made it to the list of our personal favourites, and after putting out releases with excellent producers such as Albert Swarm and Bam Spacey, their most recent signee The Soft (as we introduced last year), is obviously yet another superb pick from our dearest friends over at the Big Apple. "Mori" is the first single effort from the Suffolk, UK production trio, an absolutely gorgeous pop dreamscape of the finest sort.
New EP on the way for early 2013.
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29 Nov 2012 — Henning Lahmann
Sick new project by Noah Anthony, formerly known as Night Burger, who now records as Profligate. On eight and a half minute monster "Conditioning Trench", the b-side of his new Videotape 12", things are appropriately bleak and dystopian, as Anthony proceeds to delineate some proto-techno/industrial sonic pattern for the post-apocalyptic landscape. The whole breed of contemporary Manchester-infused noisy dance music comes to mind, even Factory Floor at times, though things here stay deliberately less messy and intricate on the rhythm parts, instead focusing on a whole bunch of playful if sullen synth explorations. Speaking of rhythmical elements though, those hand claps are killer. Superb release.
The Videotape 12" is out now on Not Not Fun.
Watch the video for the a-side after the jump.
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28 Nov 2012 — Henning Lahmann
In anticipation of Ela Orleans' forthcoming double LP Tumult In Clouds, to be released in mid-December (take a first listen right here), the UK via Poland artist's label Clan Destine has summoned a bunch of musicians from various strands of underground pop, all appropriately attached to the darker side of things, to re-interprete songs from her rich back catalogue. The remixers, among them The-Drum, Slim Twig, U.S. Girls, Fostercare, or Mushy (see the complete tracklist below), mostly succeed in exposing so far hidden facets of Ela's delicate, sombre chamber pop, with results that range from relentless noise assaults (Skitter's take on "Apparatus") to murky lo-fi fuzz (U.S. Girls' rework of "Living World") or skittering post-rave explorations (Pyramids of MU's "She Who Could BIND You" Remix). Cologne-based Silver Strain have delivered a particularly compelling effort, turning the quiet and restrained "Axon Terminal", orignally on NEO PI-R, into a menacing, thoroughly unsettling occultist dance anthem that grabs you by the throat and won't let you leave ever again. The accompanying (mildly NSFW) video is superb as well, perfectly encapsulating the rework's subtext. Watch it exclusively below.
Ela and Thee Prophets is out on Clan Destine Records, strictly limited to 100 copies. Order yours over here.
This post was synched with Electronic Beats as part of our weekly cooperation that effectively starts today. Watch out for more!
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Tracklist:
Side A:
(1) Axon Terminal Voices (Silver Strain Remix)
(2) Amsler Grid (Slim Twig Remix)
(3) The Season (The-Drum Remix)
(4) She Who Could BIND You (Pyramids of MU Remix)
(5) Apparatus (Skitter Remix)
Side B:
(1) Something Higher (Dan Melchior Remix)
(2) I Know (Mushy Remix)
(3) Planet Mars (Os Ovni Remix)
(4) Light At Dawn (Nattymari Remix)
(5) Walkingman (Fostercare Remix)
(6) Living World (U.S. Girls Remix)
Take a listen to The-Drum's take on "The Season" as well:
28 Nov 2012 — Henning Lahmann
The fine folks over at FACT have gone ahead and done the inevitable, which is naming Bill Kouligas' Berlin-based powerhouse PAN best label of 2012, a decision that's almost hilariously obvious (that being said, they forgot one or two labels on their list, but we won't go into detail now). On December 7, the imprint will drop another outstanding release, Lee Gamble's Dutch Tvashar Plumes, the artist's second work within a few months after his overwhelmingly excellent blurred jungle homage Diversions 1994-1996, an EP so forceful and moving we're still not done struggling to wrap our mind around it. Dutch Tvashar Plumes draws on similar conceptions of hauntology and abstraction, still steeped in noise and the United Kingdom's electronic music legacy, yet the LP (which might be called a proper full-length) also manages to turn the music's focus back towards the dancefloor, with allusions to contemporary techno and house more prominent than before, in a way that very much resembles Actress's or even Vessel's approaches to dance music as of late. Highly recommended, take a listen to first cut "Plos 97s" below.
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28 Nov 2012 — Tonje Thilesen
Darragh David Nolan of Sacred Animals might be our most dedicated reader, so it would only make sense for us to ask him to share some tunes from 2012 that has captivated his ears; tunes that we haven't covered in this space already. Read his words, and listen to the mix in entirety below. (ed.)
This is a mix designed to inhabit the spaces between dusk and dawn, a place where darkness never quite reaches, bypassing slumber and slowly drifting into a delirium where your body shuffles and stutters through a familiar but warped terrain, one you've visited before but you're not quite sure how or when. Dreaming with your eyes open, hints of deja-vu, your body feels ecstatically intense while each passing moment twists & shifts the movie before you.
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Having assumed that Natten was a solo project, possibly as a result of the video for track 'Hatet' containing a solitary character, upon further research I find they are a four piece band (Arvid Lärksäter - Trumpet / Jan Sydolf - Bass / Robin Donaire - Beats, electronics and Fredrik Adolfsson - Synthesiser) — which does make sense, as the central melodic and sometimes slightly atonal focus revolves around a solo trumpet, creating a rather uniquely hypnotic sound. Check out the hazy woods-based Alien Versus Predator-esque video for 'Framtiden' above featuring robotic dancing kids.
Amsterdam-based Salvador Breed and Stijn van Beek come together as Breek to create beautifully compelling moments built on clicking percussion, squelching synths & melodic pulsing pads, resulting in dreamy & hypnotic tracks that gently place you on a higher plane. Putting this mix together, 'Inuit' was the track that insisted on revolving around my head for hours afterwards. The 'Burst EP' is a self-described 'sensory attack of intense sonic textures'. They're not wrong either, it's well worth your time and/or money.
According to himself, Deaf Joe writes 'folk songs; sometimes romantic, sometimes dreamlike, always cathartic', and I can't say that this description isn't apt, particularly in its understatement. The video for 'Joanna' above shares this quality featuring a lightly colored silhouette of Joe slowly revolving around 360º. That's the thing about Joe's music, if you let the subtly blooming melodies, dark lyrics and hazy atmosphere suck you in, it will grab you and spin you around completely. 'Joanna' is taken from his excellent album Burrowings, released back in February.
Tracklist
1 / Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory - We Are The Music Makers
2 / Chromatics - Blue Moon
3 / Soffie Viemose - To The Woods (Shatter Hands Remix)
4 / Ryan Vail - Heartbeat (Unknown Remix)
5 / Natten - Framtiden
6 / MØ - Maiden (Sleep Yen Remix)
7 / Breek - Inuit
8 / Submotion Orchestra - Blindspot (Maribou State Remix)
9 / Nosaj Thing - Eclipse/Blue Feat/ Kazu Makino
10 / Ryan Hemsworth - Overthinking
11 / Tom Day - Echoes
12 / Halls - Funeral
13 / Sebastien Schuller - Nightlife
14 / Chromatics - Cherry
15 / Goodtime - Can't Get Away (Jape Remix)
16 / Parisian - Heavy Petting
17 / Daughn GIbson - The Day You Were Born
18 / How To Dress Well - Cold Nites (Koreless Remix)
19 / Foxes In Fiction - School Night
20 / Deaf Joe - Joanna
21 / Evan Ireland - Pause
22 / Nathan Fake - Rue
23 / Actress - N.E.W.
24 / Aphex Twin - I
28 Nov 2012 — Henning Lahmann
There's been a great deal of Tomas Barfod hype around the interwebs this year, largely ignored by us, which of course not only is totally unjustified but also pretty stupid, so apologies. Barfod's originals are great, no doubt, but most of all it's that stunningly high-profile collection of remixes that puts the whole thing to another level, being so contemporary and aware that in ten years time, if you want to know what 2012 sounded like, all you probably need to do is listen to a couple of Tomas Barfod reworks. His November Skies EP is out now, featuring Nite Jewel, Sepalcure, Berlin upstart Touchy Mob, Jerome LOL, and Sekuoia for the twiddling duties, and every single one of them somehow manages to add something unique and challenging. This is how it's done folks. Listen to Sepalcure's and Nite Jewel's particularly enticing versions below.
November Skies has been released by Friends Of Friends. Get it over here.
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28 Nov 2012 — Tonje Thilesen
Following their Sun Kissed Blisters EP in July and last year's debut 12" EP via Everybody's Stalking, the Liverpool duo Sun Drums return with a less vocailly dominant piece, but caliginous and exploring as always, and in my opinion, severely improved from their debut EP. From the nearly 11-minute long jam "Order of Nothing", an acutely rich atmosphere evolves in the first few minutes, before an industrial-like dub takes over the landscape, filtered through layers of astral ambience.
"Order of Nothing" will be released on 300 LTD 7", available via Wolstenholme Creative Space now.
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