The music put out by UK based cassette label Opal Tapes is what we can easily classify as a state of the art: it ranges from avant-garde dance music to new age drone, refusing to stand by a particular genre or sound limitation. We've already featured the sound explorer Uio Loi, who mashed together neo-disco, noise and trance; while other stand-outs from the imprint is clearly The Pagan Cinema by Australian beat wizard Tuff Sherm or the underground rookie M. Geddes Gengras. "It was supposed to be about people coming from house and techno who were more interested in making textural music or non-rhythm based music, and people coming from 'outsider' music and making more rhythmic music", summarized label founder Stephen Bishop on Resident Advisor back in January, and indeed so.
UK's drone outfit Rejections and his brand new full-lenght Resin In The Filter makes no exception. Building up on Bishops explanation, Rejections is obviously classified as this kind of 'outsider music', as extremly harsh interference clouds centers his music. The tribal beats that arise and manically hammers from time to time can be understood as a welcoming complement to increase the threatening atmosphere, and as impressive as it is, the tension never really drops thoughout the record's 50 minute-long spin. All in all, Rejections has succeed to create a post-apocalyptic world sounding somewhat like the end of modern civilization, constraining moments of beauty into the otherwise hopeless landscape.
Resin In The Filter is available for orders now via Opal Tapes.
In his review of Stellar OM Source's latest masterstroke Joy One Mile, author Andrew Wagner concluded by writing that it's "an album whose driving force may be an embrace of chaos, existing at the high levels of intensity where seemingly disparate emotions (the misery, the ecstasy) meld together and become one." Even more so than anywhere else on the album, this apt interpretation is best reflected by LP opener "Polarity", whose very title perfectly encapsulates the work's deliberate internal contradictions. The brand new video for the track, directed by Christelle Gualdi herself, translates the concept into the visual realm, creating further fissions on different levels: while the acting characters' beauty is out there in the open, the track's relentless acidic bass assaults give the video's commanding watery images an uneasy feel, adding something indistinctly uncanny to the women's slow dancing's sublimity. Sharing some of her throughts on the video, Gualdi adds:
"A feel of mystery and expectation initiates the sequences. I needed a central character to direct the energy flow, and the girl in blue face became this. When she submerges underwater, we understand her role. The flashbacks explain more before the ballet begins. The object of their dance is revealed in the end: polarity as an exchange of beauty."
Joy One Mile is out on RVNG Intl. Stellar OM Source will perform in Berlin together with Oneohtrix Point Never on October 4.
There are many reasons to fall in love with Dan Bodan: His voice, his music, his style, his eyes! His song "Aaron" for me was definetly one of the best songs of last year, driven by a great heartbreaking melody and a kick-ass saxophone solo at the end. NYC-based legend DFA seems to be in love with Dan Bodan, too. After releasing "Aaron" last year on vinyl, they just dropped the new single "Anonymous". The song is a chill, laid-back tune, revealing what makes Dan Bodan's music so special: It is difficult to locate the Berlin artist's sound. It's a collage of different styles and genres, with much electro and some hints dashes of reggae, put together into something exciting and new. You could name it Pop 2.0 or Cyberpop, as it seems to be a child born from the internet that couldn't even exist without it. At the same time, "Anonymous" spreads the same hypnotizing aura as all of his other songs do. Damn, it is so hard to resist Dan Bodan!
Not only is the new Motion Sickness of Time Travel song every bit as beautiful and forlorn as any of her previous material, but it also just might be the shortest piece of music Rachel Evans has ever released. Like reaching upward and jumping for the clouds in your vast, grassy front yard, "Song of Zenana" always feels like it just might manage to go somewhere else. And it sacrifices nothing, despite its just-under-four-minute duration, although the song is just an excerpt from a future split with Aloonaluna, so this will undoubtedly wind up bookended with equally expansive, gorgeous noise when all is said and done.
Exciting news emanating from the ambit of one of the world's still most exciting cultural institutions, Hamburg's dockside underground mainstay Golden Pudel Club. Resident DJ and curator of the famous/notorious Birds and Other Instruments nights Helena Hauff has just announced her hotly anticipated debut 12", named Actio Reactio and to be dropped by Actress' infallible imprint Werkdiscs, responsible for last year's extraordinary Lonely at the Top by Lukid and Moiré's remarkable Never Sleep EP from early 2013. The piece will be out on August 5. There's nothing to be heard yet, but you should head over here to pre-order and to snag a supreme mix compiled by Hauff, featuring some of her inspirations. Highly recommended. Also, take a listen below to a snippet of her recent Obscure Object tape, put out by Blackest Ever Black's Krokodilo Tapes subdivision in a tiny edition, which is of course long sold out and unavailable, that is unless you have some extra pennies to spare. Pro tip: it's probably worth it.
As surprising as it is, the Stockholm-based instrumental trio Kriget have somehow allowed to pass through the mainstream (international) music media rather unnoticed. Whether it is a reason for this or not (and perhaps Kriget are just a wee bit too ahead of their time), we could perhaps argue that 2013 might not be the best year to release a record such as Dystopico; demanding every single part of your body to respond to their heavily Battles influenced fusion of free jazz and instrumental dance music. Taken under their said influences such as 80's electro/techno group Cybotron, electropunkers D.A.F, and the legendary german free jazz saxophonist Peter Brötzmann, Kriget accomodates a raw, scortching sound from an almost-scizophrenic viewpoint, while several tracks ("Say No More", "Dystopico", "Sleeping With Buddha") twist into organic, hi-hat driven techno — perhaps the most obvious reference throughout Dystopico's 43-minute long spin.
We're excited to give you all the exclusive first listen to "He Lives in the Same Forest as Me", an imperceptibly slower jam off the Dystopico, compositionally reminding us of Fuck Buttons' upcoming Slow Focus. The record is out via the new imprint BLVVD on July 2nd, including the US. Also, don't forget to check out the stunning "Sleeping With Buddha" below.
You're probably already getting a blissful vibe from the poster to the left, and so if you happen to be in Berlin this weekend, there is (literally) no other place you want to be than at Nordic By Nature's annual festive Midtsommar — a slightly strange, but indeed lovely Swedish tradition to celebrate the summer solstice. The difference from last year is the addition of "Festival" to the name; the Scandinavian line-up being bigger than previously, featuring live sets from NFOP favourites Iberia, Halasan Bazar and CTM, as well as Dinner, Anton Kristiansson, The New Spring and Aves. Very blissful indeed.
The best thing about it: it's completely free, and you'll even get a flower wreath workshop and dancing around this strange-looking tree included, if that killer line-up wasn't enough to convince you. RSVP here.
"Against Interpretation" was the first song that really caught our undivided attention when we first introduced London/Oslo duo Saa back in February, and it was the song we kept coming back to while it was sadlyy gone from their Soundcloud due to the happy news that they got signed to a label. A few thingshave been written about the music of Linn Carin Dirdal and Asher Levitas since then, so suffice it to add that not only are the sombre, slow-burning waves of signature track "Against Interpretation" back for everyone's pleasure, but they're now also accompanied by an absolutely gorgeous and appropriate video, unveiled yesterday and made by Tom Brigden. Watch it below.
Saa's self-titled debut EP is out July 8 on left_blank.
