The always consistent Opal Tapes has just dropped a couple of new releases for our listening pleasure, one by Lumigraph (as previously reported) and this one by the mysterious Uio Loi. In true Opal Tapes fashion, this Uio Loi track takes something nearly familiar and tears it to shreds. In this case, it’s a kind of neo-disco beat force-fed through a wall of distorted trance filters. The result is a something of a decimated-Blade Runner-esque look at a potential future of trance music, wherein flamethrowing industrial chimneys tower over a cityscape filled with seizure-inducing neon advertising and the patched-up remains of the city that used to exist underneath. It’s refreshing and stands as proof of Opal Tapes' forward-thinking take on many of the trends in tape music currently being explored nearly to their own limits.
Listen to the “Cane 4” excerpt below from the upcoming Uio Loi tape.
Yet another fabulous addition to ClanDestine's impeccable roster (though there has actually been a split tape with Ela Orleans before already), Philadelphia's Curt Crachrach sports a ridiculously enjoyable talent for digging out long-lost record collection and library gems and blending those found snippets into brief pieces of funky, hip-hop induced beat music. On debut LP Lonely Holiday however, it's the collaborations that clearly stand out, like "Rehab" featuring lyricist Milo Martin. Over an organ-heavy funk break, the rapper laconically spits a story about drug abuse and life failures in general. Marvelous. Watch the accompanying video below.
Following a long list of remixes and self-released material over the past year, Oslo producer Snasen has announced his next EP, Failing Upwards with Sellout! Music. The entire EP continues with Snasen’s developing method of abstract electronics which deconstructs the heavier, layered tendencies of beat music. His style opts to subtly detail every stripped-down aspect of the production, and reconfigure it in a way in which the overall product is exactly equal to the sum of its parts, while hinting that each bass wobble, auxiliary drum hit, and expressionist vocal sample could still stand up on its own. Attention to detail doesn’t even begin to describe it.
Stream the EP in full below and look for it on Oslo’s Sellout! Music.
Nearly 100 years ago, the German Expressionist silent horror film, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, was released. The film helped lay the groundwork for the jagged, abstract angles that came to define the German Expressionism style within the realm of filmmaking. In 2012, the Walker Art Center commissioned Minneapolis noisemakers, Brute Heart, to soundtrack the entirety of the film, which until now was given the same generic, orchestral soundtrack treatment to be played over the film while viewing it.
This Brute Heart treatment is a much more fitting representation of the dark, disconcerting nature of the film. Building up from minimal string, keyboard, and vocal arrangements, the band’s empty take on the film’s eerie investigation more properly fits the pace of the plot, without sacrificing any of the dramatic effect.
You can listen to an excerpt from the soundtrack, "Prophecy", below, but you should really pick up the entire soundtrack from Moon Glyph and view the film as it has never been seen before.
Of all those things that the British just know how to do so much better than anyone else, in terms of music their knack for immensely compelling female vocalist/cutting edge producer combination has always struck me as particularly remarkable, especially the seemingly effortless ability to turn such a collaboration into a perfect pop song without in any way making compromises on the forward-thinking production end. Examples for this claim are countless; of recent date, surely AlunaGeorge come to mind, but also Vessel's more pop-leaning (and lesser known) stuff together with his friend Lily Fannon. Today, add to that impressive list Saa, a duo recently formed by Old Apparatus member A. Levitas and singer Linn Carin Dirdal. To call their first three tracks 'promising' would be an understatement - everything sounds well-considered and strikingly confident. Dirdal's vocal delivery is gorgeous, and behind the knobs and screens, Levitas reminds us why we considered "Schwee" one of the best tracks of 2012, a track from Old Apparatus' Alfur EP, which was credited to him. Just as with his elusive collective, the production's overall tone is dark and melancholic, with wide-ranging influences from post-rock to trip-hop, R&B, and contemporary UK bass, with highly convincing results. Take a first listen below, I am pretty sure we'll be hearing a lot more from these two soon.
As to expect from the excellent but mysterious Opal Tapes, there still isn't much info to be found around their upcoming release with Lumigraph, which will be the Dublin-based producer's first proper release since appearing on the imprint's compilation Cold Holiday. Entitled Nautically Inclined, the first excerpt from the tape builds up a strange, scizophrenic techno banger in a post-futuristic outfit, obviously of heavier caliber than what we've previously heard from the impeccably talented producer.
A few new releases have already been announced throughout the past 24 hours, so we urge you to keep an eye up on their facebook page for more goodies.
The grey and cold expanse of Tempelhof's runway floors. The borders of the grass go on and on and on forever, I keep thinking they will never end. It's hard to believe people live all the way round, this flatness feels so out of place. I remember when I saw Tempelhof for the first time, all those many (or not so many) moons ago. I felt weird being in a place so expansive in a city that is probably the size of a hundred Tempelhofs! It made me feel quite small. But it reinvigorated me too – it made me want to strive to fill even the tiniest bit of its all-encompassing space.
I've been bumping Ben Houghton's (This Thing) recent EP so hard lately. It's got that fresh intensity and optimism that comes from being thrown into a fresh scene for the very first time. This Aussie ex-pat is making very good use of the town he now calls home, his first EP of 2013 exploring both the quiet and audacious sides of tech-house. Hold on for "Think About It"; a late-night, synthy techno track that is the perfect accompaniment to any solo wanderings through large, expansive spaces.
Tempelhof is a 'pay what you will' download at Houghton's bandcamp, so chuck the poor, struggling artist some coin.
Copenhagen artist Cæcilie Trier aka CTM's glorious and lush ballade "Jewel" was one of our favourite tracks of 2012, but it seems as if this modest instance of pure, if slightly retro, pop songwriting mastery had been overlooked by most. This rather unfortunate fact should change now though with the release of Trier's debut solo EP Variations, a marvellous collection of five unapologetically luxurious and sweeping pop gems that showcase a confident and ambitious, and above all remarkably accomplished artist. To celebrate the release, we're exclusively giving away the download for EP opener "Elsa Palma", a song that starts a little more upbeat than "Jewel", yet features the same variety of 80s-infused synth pads and guitar licks that provide a perfectly comfortable background for Trier's outstanding vocal delivery.
