First Floor #102 – Where Has Holy Other Been Hiding?
a.k.a. Ending a long hiatus, the shadowy UK artist grants his first interview in years, plus a round-up of the week's electronic music news and best new tracks.
Hello there. I’m Shawn Reynaldo, and welcome to First Floor, a weekly electronic music digest that includes news, interviews, my favorite new tracks and some of my thoughts on the issues affecting the larger scene / industry that surrounds the music. This is the free edition of the newsletter; access to all First Floor content (including the complete archive) requires a paid subscription. If you haven’t done so already, please consider signing up for a subscription (paid or unpaid) by clicking the button below. Alternately, you can also support the newsletter by making a one-time donation here.
HOLY OTHER RETURNS
How long can an artist reasonably step away from the spotlight? In today’s music environment, where fans expect near-constant updates and regular peeks into artists’ personal lives, disappearing for even a few months can prompt people to start asking, “Whatever happened to that guy?”
Holy Other fell into that category years ago, and until about a month ago, he’d more or less completely disappeared from the cultural radar. In the early 2010s, his melancholy, post-Burial, R&B-infused textures were the toast of the electronic music world, but a full a decade has passed since his first (and only) album, Held, came out in 2012—and had been greeted with widespread praise, much like its predecessor, his breakthrough 2011 EP, With U. In the LP’s wake, the British artist had continued to play live shows, but those too eventually became sporadic, and stopped altogether about five or six years ago.
For those of us who witnessed Holy Other’s initial ascent, not to mention all of the hype and hoopla around the “witch house” genre / aesthetic that he was quickly lumped into, his subsequent vanishing act seems odd, at least in retrospect. Although he repeatedly spoke about anxiety and intense shyness in the few interviews he granted during those early years, and had initially underlined the point by keeping the details of his identity secret and performing live with a literal hood over his head, it’s still almost unheard of for a modern artist—especially a relatively young one with only a few entries in their discography—to stay out of sight for so long. We hear artists declare that they’re “taking a break” all the time, but most of them ultimately get back to business pretty quickly. Maybe someone will step back for a year or two, but five or six? That’s longer than most artists’ careers last in the first place.
And yes, there’s a whole conversation to be had about what this reality says about our collective attention span, and how that impacts artists’ mental health and the quality of work they produce, but for now, let’s keep the focus on Holy Other, because he unexpectedly resurfaced late last month. He’s completed a new album, Lieve, that he’ll be self-releasing on November 19—his former label home, the much celebrated Tri Angle Records, closed its doors last year—and he’s making his tentative first steps back into the public square.
Curious to find out more, and simply ask where he’d been, I got on a call with Holy Other last week. It was the first interview he’d granted in years, and though his trademark shyness hasn’t gone away, there was still plenty to discuss, including his extended hiatus (and what caused it), the legacy of witch house and Tri Angle, his dalliances in the pop realm, the new album and his ongoing struggle to not literally run away from his problems. Holy Other may not be accustomed to sharing the details of his life, but at least for now, he’s opened the door to his work and psyche.
To read the complete interview, please click here.
PLEASE NOTE: The full interview was originally published yesterday and shared with paid subscribers, but the paywall has been temporarily removed for the next 24 hours. If you’d like exclusive first access to long-form First Floor pieces—and unlimited views of all newsletter content—then please sign up for a paid subscription.
REAL QUICK
A round-up of of the last week’s most interesting electronic music news, plus links to interviews, mixes, articles and other things I think are worth sharing.
With vinyl production delays plaguing the entire music industry, it seems like every major media outlet is putting together a story detailing what’s gone wrong and whether there’s any reason for hope on the horizon. (Spoiler alert: not really.) Last week, Ben Sisario examined the issue in a piece for the New York Times, and Mixmag has followed with their own feature penned by Megan Townsend.
Serving as a sort of follow-up to Cherie Hu recent deep dive into music livestreaming, last week’s edition of David Turner’s Penny Fractions newsletter added more detail to the topic, asking the simple question, “Does anyone want a virtual concert?” Investors certainly seem to think the answer is “yes,” but audiences have yet to show widespread interest.
This has already been up for a couple of weeks, but London DJ and Rhythm Section founder Bradley Zero is the subject of this month’s Beatportal cover story, which was written by Ben Murphy.
Guy Contact’s Drinking from the Mirage was highlighted in last week’s newsletter—and is easily one of this month’s best long-players—and now the Australian producer has been interviewed by Freddie Hudson for Inverted Audio.
JUST ANNOUNCED
A round-up of noteworthy new and upcoming releases that were announced during the past week.
When I interviewed Anthony Naples last month for First Floor, the NYC producer mentioned that he’d quickly be following up his new Chameleon album with a club-oriented EP. The details of said EP have now been shared. It’s called Cub Pez, and will be released on November 5 through his own ANS imprint. Ahead of that, he’s already made available one of its tracks, “Pez Anthem.”
Jordan GCZ, the Amsterdam-based artist who’s also one half of Juju & Jordash (and who I interviewed here in the newsletter last October), has announced the impending release of his first solo album. Entitled My Brain’s Brain, it’s due out in February via Minimal Detroit Audio, a label that techno veteran Terrence Dixon launched earlier this year. No songs from the LP have been shared yet, but Resident Advisor posted the full tracklist and also pointed out that a couple of songs from the record popped up in this mix that Jordan GCZ put together last year.
Galcher Lustwerk—yet another artist who’s previously done a First Floor interview—surprised everyone with a new standalone single last week, the NYC artist’s second of the year for Ghostly International. It’s called “Bansby,” and can be found here.
Batu has completed a new EP. Entitled I Own Your Energy, it’s his first solo release since 2019, and is set to arrive on November 12 via his own Timedance label. Ahead of that, he’s shared one of its tracks, “Inner Space.”
Rising UK producer Otik is the latest addition to the roster of Martyn’s 3024 imprint. His Soulo EP is slated for a November 19 release, and the title track has already been made available.
A couple of weeks ago, Ostgut Ton announced the impending release of Fünfzehn + 1 (translation: Fifteen + 1), a compilation box set that was originally designed to come out last year in celebration of the iconic Berlin label’s 15th anniversary. The pandemic threw a wrench into those plans, so now it’s arriving one year later (hence the “+1” in the title), with an official release planned on November 5.
Preview clips are available here, and the full tracklist includes a new song from MMM, along with special collaborative tracks from Avalon Emerson x Roi Perez, Luke Slater x Barker, Martyn x Duval Timothy and many other enticing combinations, including JASSS x Silent Servant. Their contribution, “Años Perros,” was premiered here last week in an article that also includes an interview with JASSS—whose latest full-length, A World of Service, is also due out next month on Ostgut Ton.
MY WIFE HAS BETTER TASTE THAN I DO
My wife Dania is a wonderful person, but she has little regard for my taste in electronic music. Head of the Paralaxe Editions label, she often describes the music I like with words like “cheesy,” “simple,” “predictable,” “boring” and, worst of all (in her mind), “happy.” In contrast, I think she has a fantastic ear, and I’m constantly amazed by the obscure gems she unearths, both from record bins and the dark corners of the internet. Given that, I’ve asked Dania to share some of her finds with the First Floor audience. Each week, she highlights something that she’s currently digging, and adds some of her thoughts as to why it’s worth our attention.
Memotone “Swan Song” (Memorecs)
Hello. This one is off Shiro, the new self-released tape from Memotone (a.k.a. Bristol artist William Yates). I like this release so much that I committed a radio faux pas and played three of his songs on my last dublab show. This particular track is my favorite, and it has three distinct elements: distant metallic drones, electrical cackles and sad, dissonant brass notes. As an added bonus, the Shiro cassettes were made using recycled plastic shells and eco card sleeves, with the whole project being manufactured by a company that offsets all of their carbon emissions.
Follow Dania on Twitter, or check out her monthly radio show on dublab.es.
NEW THIS WEEK
The following is a selection of my favorite tunes that came out during the past week or so. The ones in the ‘Big Three’ section are the songs I especially want to highlight (and therefore have longer write-ups), but the tracks in the ‘Best of the Rest’ section are also very much worth your time. In both sections, you can click on the track titles to hear each song individually, or you can also just head over to this convenient Buy Music Club list to find them all in one place.
THE BIG THREE
Tristan Arp “Pond in Moonlight” (Wisdom Teeth)
Tristan Arp “Photosynthesis” (Wisdom Teeth)
Not many bass music labels are great at albums, but following excellent full-lengths from co-founders K-Lone and Facta, Wisdom Teeth has now made it three for three with Sculpturegardening, the sophomore LP from Tristan Arp. Based in Mexico City, Arp has previously displayed a serious talent for playful, off-kilter rhythms (mostly via releases on the Human Pitch label, which he runs alongside NYC’s Simisea), and this new LP maintains that lighthearted sensibility, even as he frequently scales back the music’s percussive weight.
Whimsical album opener “Pond in Moonlight” foregoes drums altogether; one of several tracks that features processed live cello, it ultimately sounds like Arthur Russell guesting on a Japanese ambient record from the ’80s. “Photosynthesis” is a bit more energetic, but it follows a similarly bright path, its gleaming melodies tinkling atop the song’s impassioned cello groans and modular acrobatics. Sculpturegardening isn’t really a record for the club, and it’s all the better for it—this is music for frolicking under sunny skies in wide-open spaces.
Grouper “Pale Interior” (Kranky)
What more can be said about Grouper? You most likely don’t need me to tell you that Liz Harris does amazing work, and her influence across the musical spectrum is practically immeasurable. “Sounds like Grouper” is basically its own genre at this point, and what’s truly impressive is just how many different kinds of artists could potentially fall into that category.
Shade is Harris’ latest full-length, and a collection of songs that she says is about “respite, and the coast, poetically and literally.” Feelings of loss and isolation run throughout the LP, and those emotions are laid particularly bare on “Pale Interior,” a warm and intimate number that consists of little more than Grouper’s voice, a gently strummed acoustic guitar and a steady blanket of tape hiss. Reminiscent of previous albums like Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill and Ruins (i.e. some of her best work), the song has definite tearjerker potential, but even if it leaves you reaching for a tissue, there’s no shame in crying over something this beautiful.
Only Now “Time Suffocation (feat. Kamaljeet Ahluwalia)” (Bokeh Versions)
Only Now “Inverted Memories (Rajib Karmakar)” (Bokeh Versions)
During the past few years, Bay Area producer Kush Arora has taken his Only Now project in a darker, more experimental and significantly noisier direction, cozying up to jagged, wall-of-sound sonics that would make artists like Stephen O’Malley and Hiro Kone proud. The transformation has been compelling to witness, and now Arora has leveled up yet again with Indian Unclassical Vol. 1, an effort that taps into his roots, combining elements of Indian classical music with his own ethereal expanses and militant drone.
Many artists attempting this would have been content to simply hijack some samples and get to work, but Arora goes beyond mere pastiche—he’s enlisted actual tabla, bansuri, santoor and sitar players. The LP is a truly vibrant hybrid, and something that far exceeds the usual “traditional sounds from the Global South combined with modern electronics” formula. “Time Suffocation” opens the album on a particularly bruising note, its ominous atmosphere and psychedelic melodies giving way to a punishing rhythmic assault, while “Inverted Memories” is more of a brooding number, its rich tones echoing across the song’s lush textures. These are just two highlights from what is truly a stellar piece of work, and given that the release has been branded as Vol. 1, one can only hope that additional volumes are somewhere around the corner.
BEST OF THE REST
Jacques Greene “The Look” (LuckyMe)
I’ve never been a particularly sentimental person, but I have to admit that I had a lot of capital-F feelings while listening to ANTH01, the new anthology compilation from Montreal producer Jacques Greene. Focusing on his early releases (and throwing in a couple of previously unreleased tunes), the collection has so many great songs—many of which I hadn’t revisited in years. Going through the tracklist, “Another Girl” and “(Baby) I Don’t Know What You Want” remain his most recognizable anthems, but “The Look” is just as good—and a great reminder of just how revelatory Greene’s music felt in the early 2010s. Blending bits of R&B with elements of house, techno and garage might be commonplace nowadays, but a decade ago, this silky combination felt groundbreaking, particularly for gruff dudes whose initial introduction to club music was pounding techno or brawny dubstep. Ten years later, ANTH01 could be seen as a sort of victory lap, but even if that was the case (it’s not), Jacques Greene has earned it.
Call Super “bodiesinheaven II” (Can You Feel the Sun)
Can a track be both jittery and epic? That’s a question Call Super attempts to answer on “bodiesinheaven II,” a difficult-to-categorize standout from the new Cherry Drops II EP. With its bouncy Korg M1 organ riffs, the song at times recalls the work of ’90s house dons like MK, but its streaky synths and twitchy rhythms—which seem to shuffle farther and farther from a strict four-on-the-floor pattern as the track proceeds—take things into a headier, almost new age territory.
Bell Curve & Strategy “Spacey (Doctor Jeep Remix)” (Worst Behavior)
Bell Curve “For the Birds (Star Eyes Remix)” (Worst Behavior)
Maybe I’m biased—after all, both Doctor Jeep and Star Eyes were co-workers of mine at RBMA—but these two have delivered the top two cuts on Bell Curve’s new Unstable Orbit (The Remixes), a collection that also includes reworks from Kush Jones, Anna Morgan, Breaka and several other talented artists. On his version of “Spacey,” Doctor Jeep fortifies what’s essentially a ravey techno track with some wobbly, dubstep-style basslines, while Star Eyes’ take on “For the Birds” is a head-smashing tech-step bruiser, echoing the sort of drum & bass menace that labels like Virus Recordings epitomized back in the day.
Ibikun Sunday “Burn It All Down” (Spirituals)
The dramatic lead track on Ibikun Sunday’s The Last Wave EP, “Burn It All Down” packs a lot of gloom into its two-and-a-half-minute runtime. The song is equal parts ominous and eerily serene, and though Sunday is a classically trained violinist, the dense, fuzzy textures he’s created here are bring to mind the dramatic swells of artists like Tim Hecker and William Basinski.
Lomond Campbell “Sister” (One Little Independent)
Speaking of William Basinski, his influence looms large over Scottish artist Lomond Campbell’s LŪP, an album that’s just been given a wider release after initially surfacing on Bandcamp last year. Rooted in a custom tape looper (also called LŪP) that Campbell originally built for another musician, the LP is minimal and frequently moody, and yet the slow-rolling drones of “Sister” do retain a distinctly cinematic quality. Think of it as the audio equivalent of looking out across a great natural expanse on a grey, rainy morning.
aya “the only solution i have found is to simply jump higher” (Hyperdub)
One of the many brain scramblers on aya’s new im hole album (and one of the record’s few instrumentals), “the only solution i have found is to simply jump higher” is a technicolor whirlwind that sounds like Ryuichi Sakamoto on a sugar high. There are hints of old-school grime and classic video game soundtracks in its gleaming syths and synthesized strings, but like most things this London artist does, the tune largely exists in its own manic universe.
Claudio PRC “Orakle” (Delsin)
Archivist “Stone Eater (Claudio PRC Remix)” (Sure Thing)
BPMs have spiked as pent-up ravers flock back to the dancefloor, but not all artists are interested in simply bashing punters about the head. Italian techno producer Claudio PRC, for one, is following a more introspective path. “Orakle,” a smokey highlight of his new Rites of Passage EP, is built upon a sturdy foundation, but even with its low-end muscle, the song’s steady churn is more meditative than celebratory. Similarly hypnotic is his slow-burning rework of Archivist’s “Stone Eater,” which is actually one of two different Claudio PRC remixes that appear on the Seattle artist’s new Psion EP.
Om Unit “Ramp” (Self-released)
The tracks on the new Flux EP aren’t exactly slow—most of them sit around 150 bpm—but relative to Om Unit’s usual jungle and footwork experiments, they do move at a slightly reduced velocity. “Ramp” still packs a punch though. Sitting atop a skippy, percolating beat, it almost sounds like a souped-up UK garage rhythm, but it’s the song’s heavy-duty low end that truly makes an impact, its bassy reverberations wildly swinging back and forth like an industrial wrecking ball with a manic toddler at the controls.
Holden Federico “As Infinite” (SK_eleven)
Lovers of vintage Jeff Mills, Robert Hood and other purveyors soulful, sci-fi techno shouldn’t miss Deliverance, the latest dispatch from New York artist Holden Federico. Given that he’s also the man behind the 90s Techno Redux Instagram account, the sonics of his new Deliverance EP aren’t exactly surprising, but tracks like “As Infinite” offer more than a trip down memory lane. It’s a hard-charging dancefloor cut, yes, but even with its barreling kick drum, the song retains a real sense of swing, not to mention a subtly ravey sensibility that’s sure to trigger an endorphin or two.
Chrissy “Lift Me Up” (Hooversound)
Liquid Earth “Scope Zone” (Kalahari Oyster Cult)
Yes, I did write a whole essay last week about the rising tide of nostalgia within electronic music circles (and why that’s potentially concerning), and yet here I am touting two tracks that openly channel the joys of ’90s rave. What can I say? I too am susceptible to the pleasures of metaphorically hopping into a rave time machine every now and again, and “Lift Me Up”—the ostentatiously jubilant closer from San Francisco artist Chrissy’s new Physical Release LP—offers a concentrated shot of piano- and diva-fueled dancefloor glee. (Even better, the song’s bubbling acid and slick vocals also call back to ’80s freestyle.) “Scope Zone,” the title track from the latest 12” by Liquid Earth (a.k.a. Los Angeles producer Urulu), takes a more restrained approach, but its mastery of ’90s dynamics is no less impressive. Powered by a skippy beat and tweaky psychedelic melodies (and accentuated by some wonderfully weird vocal clips), it sounds like the sort of track you might have heard at full-moon forest rave once upon a time.
Ross from Friends “The Daisy” (Brainfeeder)
Ross from Friends “Spatter/Splatter” (Brainfeeder)
Despite the ongoing ridiculousness of his chosen moniker, Ross from Friends has repeatedly proven his songwriting and production chops in recent years, an effort that the UK artist has continued on his latest LP, Tread. Much like fellow lo-fi house survivor DJ Seinfeld, he’s at his best when he injects a pop sensibility into his tunes, and lead track “The Daisy” is a tender-hearted bit of UK garage-flavored melancholy. “Spatter/Splatter” takes a quirkier route, looping a children’s vocal choir atop the song’s dewey synths and boom-bap rhythm before it breaks into a bit of chaotic IDM, but in the end, it’s just as effective at tugging your heartstrings.
vhvl “ahi” (RVNG Intl.)
vhvl “sseee” (RVNG Intl.)
With this week’s First Floor interview digging into Holy Other’s time away from music, perhaps it’s appropriate that NYC artist vhvl brought her own extended hiatus to an end yesterday, dropping a surprise new beat tape called hem/sew. “ahi” starts the release on a notably warm and quasi-Balearic note, although its vision of the Mediterranean has been (charmingly) degraded by ever-present layers of fuzz and the music’s subtle digital crunch. A comparable lo-fi warble emanates from “sseee,” but the track’s loping rhythm—a busted beat that’s somewhere between hip-hop and slow-motion house music—makes it an alluringly seasick listen.
That’s all for today’s newsletter. As always, thank you so much for reading First Floor, and I do hope you enjoyed the tunes. (Don’t forget, you can find them all on this handy Buy Music Club list, and if you like them, please buy them.)
Until next time,
Shawn
Shawn Reynaldo is a freelance writer, editor, presenter and project manager. Find him on LinkedIn or drop him an email to get in touch about projects, collaborations or potential work opportunities.