28 Feb 2013 — Henning Lahmann
London native and Berlin-based rkss has dropped his sophomore Submerged EP, another three-track effort that marks a big step forward for the young producer, the work being a much more confident and accomplished transmission than last year's already promising Basement EP. The music's basic premises remain untouched, every part is still lingering in that familiar territory between techno, house, and bass music experimentalism, at times leaning towards noisier realms and invariably resting upon broken structures that make it rather hard to see the tracks being introduced into a set smoothly (though we've tried before, and would like to think that we've succeeded). The individual pieces all take their time to develop, going through segments of sudden deconstruction and unsentimental interruption before eventually opening up and unfolding; the compelling centrepiece "Move" is particularly remarkable in this regard. The producer's overall approach is playful and eager to surprise the listener – to take a single example, on closer "Release", an almost classic, house-indebted organ unexpectedly sets in, leading the hitherto cumbersome track into friendlier, almost shimmering dancefloor spheres, while the beat remains decidedly reluctant to attune. On the whole, Submerged is more than merely hinting at rkss' notable potential; let's keep a close eye on him.
Stream the Submerged EP in full below, and get it now over at bandcamp.
Read more →
28 Feb 2013 — Andrew Wagner
Synth lover Dylan Ettinger has returned with a new tape, Crucify Your Love. Ettinger’s given us the first taste of the tape with track "Dawn", which finds him melding the twisted-pop approach of last year's Lifetime of Romance with the more meditative and atmospheric looping compositions of 2010 masterpiece New Age Outlaws. It’s a welcome move: while Lifetime of Romance could sometimes come off as a bit too aggressive, on "Dawn", Ettinger’s harsh vocals find a welcome complement in the track’s pared down and comparatively warmer synth grooves. In all its experimental weirdness, "Dawn" has a hypnotically danceable quality to it, its looping synth lines flirting with borderline-ominous beats. "Dawn" is a definite step forward for Ettinger, leading him into territory at once strange and enchanting.
Crucify Your Love is out now on cassette via Night-People.
Read more →
28 Feb 2013 — Henning Lahmann
Yesterday, Swedish artist Sarah Assbring aka El Perro Del Mar unveiled the video for "I Was a Boy", taken from her 2012 full-length Pale Fire. The accompanying digital single for the song includes, on its virtual flip side if you will, this staggering remix of another album track, "Hold Off the Dawn", an appropriately terrifying deconstruction by Bristol producer Seb Gainsborough aka Vessel. Check it out below – the piece is holding off the dawn indeed.
Read more →
27 Feb 2013 — Henning Lahmann
Deptford Goth's eagerly anticipated debut full-length Life After Defo is one of the most fragile, genuinely moving pop efforts of late. As another little foretaste, Daniel Woolhouse recently recorded a four-track live radio session at his home, which aired on London's xFM the other day. One of those songs is album track "Lions", a brief, disarming little gem, here marvelously stripped down, without further effects recorded by Woolhouse alone with his Rhodes piano. Breathtakingly beautiful.
Life After Defo is out March 18 on Merok Records.
Read more →
27 Feb 2013 — Tonje Thilesen
Last year, the ever-excellent Parisian (and declared NFOP favourite) Holy Strays released a new 7" via Morning Ritual Recordings, containing two supremely flavourful tracks, "Christabell A" and and "Christabell B", that made us very excited about his announced full-lenght to drop later this year, but before that, we've got a few other goodies for you. Having joined forces with fellow Parisians Trésors, their two different takes on electronic music collides, resulting in this remix swap below, that will receive a very limited run of vinyls on April 1st, including additional remixes from Steve Moore, Bestial Mouths and Blackmail. Where Trésors moves Holy Strays' "Christabell A" in an organic, minimal direction, Holy Strays dips his remix of "Pleine Lune" into a multi-layered, psychedelic techno space; transforming the soundscape into a melting pot of clashing sounds, which in our opinion, is probably his best remix aid up to date.
To our French friends in Nantes, don't miss the two of them at Le Stakhanov on April 12th.
Read more →
27 Feb 2013 — Parker Bruce
AlunaGeorge's Aluna Francis kind of summed it all up recently, telling Digital Spy that 'when the album's out, there's going to be a full spectrum of music there. I don't think it's going to propel us into some other planetary pop world, because some of the songs are immediate, but some need listening to a few times'. "Attrating Flies", the duo's latest single, definitely belongs to the 'immediate' category. It’s all big thwacking drums and cooing wind instrument solos, sounding a bit like the recent output of Kate Boy and Syron or Sean Kingston and even Rihanna. In the same interview, Aluna also pointed to their focus on 'really intricate beats' – however, while this might indeed well have become AlunaGeorge's trademark, this time, things are way more straightforward: "Attracting Flies" makes you want to get down on it Solange Knowles-style. Through their music, AlunaGeorge are teaching us how to get reaquainted with our own bodies; hence the forthcoming LP's name, Body Music. They started us off slowly with 'really intricate beats' – but by now we've learned enough from their EPs and singles to be finally able to reach full movement.
"Attracting Flies" will be available March 10. Body Music is due July 1.
Read more →
26 Feb 2013 — Will Stevens
As an individual track, "Dracula’s Castle" plays as a silver-tongued late night mover with an infectious funky synth baseline. As the track unfolds, layers of textural synth samples are added, creating an archetypical progressive Detroit techno-inspired record. But for the track to be fully appreciated, it has to be played within the context of the whole album. Ø has an evocative quality, as it plays as a medley of sounds from the past. Each track has its own distinctive reminiscent feature created through its own blend of samples and live performances. Whether it’s the psychedelic "Morning One" that features Dakota Bones’ vocals and sampled country guitars, or the percussive-heavy "Different Moons" with its vehement use of the saxophone. Some of the tracks may lose their originality when played alone, but as an album, it’s an engrossing listen full of surprises.
Ø will be released on cassette via the brilliant MJ MJ Records, who are always able to release unique records that arrive as excellent products. It's part of the label’s DNA and it somehow makes the listener feel totally a part of its journey. Get Ø over here.
Read more →
26 Feb 2013 — Henning Lahmann
Cankun's new full-length Culture of Pink arrives at a time when psychedelic tropical haze has long ceased to be the dernier cri in underground pop music. However, listening to Vincent Caylet's laid-back guitar meditations over unobtrusive drum rhythms and the occasional rainforest-indebted sample makes us realise how much we've missed this sort of music, especially during a Central European winter that, as reports tell us this morning, has been and continues to be the least sunny in decades. Plus, it's not that this particular sort of psychedelia hasn't also evolved in the past few years. While most tracks on Culture of Pink do remain fashionably low-key and meander along aimlessly, lulling the listener into that pleasant if still a bit too familiar hypnagogic state of mind - see above all the album's excellent, seven-minute centrepiece "Why Do You Laugh?" - a few tracks disobey by putting on a more upbeat, dazzling gestalt, as if running through the jungle has become a thing by now; with mostly successful results, see most notably opener "Agave Sticks", or the almost frantic "Science Can Help You", which we had already written about before.
Culture of Pink is out via Hands in the Dark on March 5. Stream it in full below.
Read more →
