First Floor #105 – A Peek Behind the Curtain
a.k.a. An in-depth conversation with some of Bandcamp's leaders, plus a full round-up of the week in electronic music (and yes, some crypto stuff too).
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.
After last week’s crypto overload, I’m honestly hesitant to dive back into those waters so soon, but I forgot to include this excellent article in last week’s newsletter. Written by Emilie Friedlander for Vice, it takes a hard look at Mirror, a crypto-based independent publishing program that’s quickly gained momentum in recent months.
Speaking of Mirror, that’s where Water & Music founder Cherie Hu announced the upcoming launch of $STREAM, “a new tokenized research framework for the music industry.” That sentence may seem like gibberish to some people, but the important takeaway is that Hu is taking her influential newsletter and online community down the crypto rabbit hole, setting up a DAO (decentralized autonomous community) that will primarily be focused on research.
Friends with Benefits, the exclusive crypto music community that First Floor profiled last week, was apparently hit with a wave of bot attacks, causing “several members [to] have their wallet drained.” The community’s editorial arm also published a piece from investor Kinjal Shah called “Building an Inclusive World of Crypto,” which contains the following particularly telling line: “As more and more communities effectively become wealth-gated, it’s hard to imagine the problem going away anytime soon.”
One last piece of crypto music news, and then I swear I’ll move on. A few days ago, a successful NFT marketplace called Hic et Nunc was suddenly shut down. On traditional Web2 platforms, this sort of thing has happened countless times, often resulting in the deletion of huge amounts of data and leaving the users of said platforms without much recourse. (To use a modern parallel, imagine what would happen if someone at SoundCloud, without warning, suddenly decided to shut the site down.)
Due to the nature of Web3, however, users of Hic et Nunc were able to quickly “fork” the site, essentially creating a new working clone of the original marketplace, which they now intend to turn into a DAO. The whole incident is described in greater detail by Bas Grasmayer in this piece that first appeared in the MUSIC x newsletter, and it’s an encouraging example of what might be possible as the internet migrates to Web3.
Heading back to the world of electronic music, Jacques Greene has put together a special mix that he calls a “companion” to ANTH01, the recently released anthology collection of his earliest releases. The session weaves together tracks from the LP, along with a few additional remixes, bootlegs and previously unreleased goodies.
Providing a fascinating bit of music history, Miles Bowe’s latest article for Bandcamp Daily tells the story of “the first electronic pop record ever made”: The Fascinating World of Electronic Music, a 1963 compilation of early electronic works by Dutch composers Tom Dissevelt and Kid Baltan.
KMRU is the subject of a new Ableton mini-documentary called Spaces, which dives into his creative process and relationship with field recordings. Ableton also published a companion interview with the Kenyan ambient artist, and the piece includes a link to download a pack of field recordings he collected in Nairobi, Lamu, Lunkulu, Montreal, Paris and Berlin.
Scuffed Recordings is at the forefront of a new generation of UK club sounds, and the young label has been profiled in the latest edition of DJ Mag’s The Sound of series. Included is an exclusive mix from label founders Wager and Ian DPM.
It’s unclear if a full-blown UK funky revival is actually underway, but the genre has certainly re-entered the “discourse” in recent months, which is likely why Beatportal has enlisted Will Gulseven (a.k.a. Scuffed Recordings co-founder Wager) to put together a feature exploring the music’s history and enduring legacy. Along the way, he talks to artists like Roska, Supa D, KG, Peverelist and Jamz Supernova.
Last month, Hyperdub launched a new publishing arm called Flatlines Press, which kicked off with Ø, a book chronicling the London club night of the same name. The publication was assembled by Kode9 and Shannen SP, who’ve now explained the project in much greater detail in this interview with Charlie Bird for The Quietus.
Genre-hopping UK artist Luke Sanger, whose gorgeous Languid Gongue album recently inaugurated the new Balmat label (which is jointly headed up by journalist Philip Sherburne and Lapsus boss Albert Salinas), was interviewed by Oli Warwick for a largely production-focused article that’s been published on the Ableton blog.
The Numbers label has partnered with UK organization Youth Music to create a new work-study program for “young people aged 18-25 interested in entering the music industries.” More details are here, but four slots are available, and those selected will receive a stipend of £3,000 per person; additional budget is also available to develop and deliver a collaborative project. Applicants, who must be based in Glasgow or able to commute there, can find the official application online, and must submit it no later than November 28.
SOME QUESTIONS FOR BANDCAMP
PLEASE NOTE: This piece was originally published yesterday and made available to paid subscribers, but the paywall has now 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.
Everybody loves Bandcamp. At least it seems that way, especially during the past year or so as the company has been widely celebrated as the “anti-Spotify.” Thanks to its efforts to put real money directly into artists’ pockets during the darkest days of the pandemic, Bandcamp has obtained a veritable white-knight status, significantly elevating both its profile and its profits in the process. It’s now arguably the preeminent online platform for buying independent music, and continues to be seen as one of the few outlets putting up a fight against (or at least providing a viable alternative to) the exploitative streaming economy.
At the same time, the company’s increased prominence brings added scrutiny—or at least it should. Although the industry, including the music press, has spent plenty of time fawning over Bandcamp during the past two years, it seems that few media outlets have dared to ask tough (or even tough-ish) questions of the company’s leadership, even as its impact on independent music has grown.
How does the company feel about the popularity of Bandcamp Fridays potentially crowding out the small independent artists that the initiative was originally designed to help? Why is the platform’s in-house vinyl-pressing service so comparatively expensive? Is Bandcamp harming real-world record stores? Is the company’s editorial wing inherently biased? Why isn’t some of Bandcamp’s increased revenue showing up in improvements to its website’s clunky interface?
Before now, Bandcamp’s thoughts on these matters has largely been a mystery, and while I’m not the first person to wonder about these issues, as far as I can tell, I am the first person to get members of the company to address them on the record. Over the course of wide-ranging conversations with both Aly Gillani, the company’s Label & Artist Representative for Europe and the UK, and J. Edward Keyes, the platform’s Editorial Director, I dug deep into what’s happening at Bandcamp, and gleaned some insights about both what lies ahead and what motivates the folks working there.
To read the complete interview, please click here.
JUST ANNOUNCED
A round-up of noteworthy new and upcoming releases that were announced during the past week.
Early next year, Huerco S. will be releasing a new full-length, the long-awaited follow-up to his landmark For Those of You Who Have Never (And Also Those Who Have) LP. The new record, Plonk, is due to arrive on February 14 through the Incienso label, and is said to not strictly be an ambient record, instead reflecting “the mournful sodium glow of cities at night.” A first taste of the album, “Plonk IV,” has already been made available. (A video for the track can also be seen at the same link.)
Joy Orbison released a surprise new single last week. Entitled “red velve7” and issued via XL, the song is just one part of what the UK producer describes as “quite a lot of unreleased music.”
Laila Sakini has unveiled a new alias, Princess Diana of Wales, and will be releasing a self-titled album from the project on November 29 through the A Colourful Storm label. Three tracks from the LP can already be heard here, and she’s also put together an exclusive mix for the Wire, who interviewed the London-based Australian artist about the inspirations behind her new moniker.
Fort Romeau has released plenty of new music in recent years, but the UK artist last did a full-length album in 2015. However, that streak will soon come to an end, as he’s slated to drop a new LP, Beings of Light, on February 11 via Ghostly International. Two tracks from the album have already been shared here, and the record was apparently inspired by Power of Grace, a 1984 photograph by Dalí protégé Steven Arnold.
SKY H1 has only a few releases to her name, but it’s fair to say that the Brussels-based producer’s long-awaited debut album, Azure, is a highly anticipated affair. Dedicated to her mother, it’s set for a December 3 arrival on the AD 93 label, but one track, “Elysian Heights,” has already been shared.
Topping off their excellent 2021, Wisdom Teeth co-founders K-LONE and Facta will be wrapping up the year with a pair of EPs—one from each artist. Both K-LONE’s Zissou and Facta’s In Bloom are due to arrive on December 3, but the two UK artists have both already shared a track (“Deluxe” from the former, “C Sequence” from the latter) to whet fans’ appetites.
ADULT. has a new album on the way. Becoming Undone, the Detroit synth-punk duo’s ninth official full-length, will be released on February 25 by Dais Records, but one LP track, “Fools (We Are…),” has already been made available.
Mutant Beat Dance, the collaborative trio of Traxx, Steve Summers and Beau Wanzer, has put the finishing touches on a new full-length (the group’s second), with an eye towards releasing it in February on Traxx’s Nation imprint. Previews of the triple-vinyl LP can be heard on this Instagram post that first announced the upcoming album.
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.
Olivia Block “Axiolite” (Room40)
Hello. “Axiolite” is the first track on Innocent Passage in the Territorial Sea, a new album (it’s out on Friday) that Olivia Block made during lockdown. Using a broken Mellotron and a vintage Korg, she recorded whilst on psychedelic mushrooms, creating what she describes as a soundtrack to the surrealistic science-fiction story that is the pandemic. Enjoy these hypnotic, droning harmonies.
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 they 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 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
Hoavi “Arpdx” (Balmat)
Hoavi “3301” (Balmat)
It was only a few weeks ago that Hoavi, thanks to his excellent Invariant album on Peak Oil, grabbed top billing here in the ‘New This Week’ section of newsletter, and now the largely unknown Russian producer—who seems to quietly be making a late run for “producer of the year” honors—has landed here again with tracks from another full-length, the more ambient-oriented Music for Six Rooms. Ambient, however, doesn’t always mean relaxing, and “Arpdx” is full of tension, its ringing, psychedelic synths fluttering back and forth with an urgency that’s almost uncomfortable, but also rather hypnotic. Those seeking a proper comedown, however, will find more solace in the dubby drift of “3301,” a song whose soft keys and tiny synth tendrils quickly bloom (and just as quickly disappear) atop a sumptuously languid drone.
Batu “Inner Space” (Timedance)
How many artists have tried to sound like Batu during the past few years? The number is too high to count, but even as endless soundalikes continue to come out of the woodwork, the Timedance founder has kept his cool, calmly running his label—which continues to be one of the top outposts in bass music—and releasing just a record or two a year. With his new I Own Your Energy EP, however, the Bristol producer once again proves why he sits at the top of the heap, coming particularly correct with “Inner Space,” a tune whose battering percussion ought to slap some sense into all the pretenders out there. Yet the track is more than just a drum workout; full of dramatic chords and punctuated by tweaky flare-ups and passages of cinematic sprawl, there’s real depth to the production, which makes clear that a proper club banger can do so much more than simply rattle a bassbin.
Less-O “Clan D” (TEMƎT)
Less-O “Behind Closed Doors” (TEMƎT)
Nobody likes nepotism—or at least nobody will admit to liking it—which is why the news that Simo Cell had signed up his younger brother Less-O for the latest TEMƎT release was probably greeted with an eye roll or two. (The news that young Frenchman had only picked up production within the past couple of years didn’t help matters either.) Listening to the Shenanigans EP, however, it quickly becomes obvious that a talent for off-kilter club rhythms runs in the family.
Simo Cell’s recent YES.DJ dabbled in a variety of club sounds, but Less-O appears to be more rooted in hip-hop, as the swaggering “Clan D” takes clear cues from trap and Southern hip-hop. It’s also weird; although the song serves up thick waves of bass, it also folds in whirring, almost alien synths that pleasantly recall Fis-T’s “Night Hunter,” lending the proceedings an almost disorienting feel. A similar wooziness colors “Behind Closed Doors,” a relentlessly (but not annoyingly) chirping number with glittering melodies, stuttering vocals and what feels like the unsteady march of a drunken robot. All in all, it’s an impressive debut for Less-O, who likely won’t be waiting long before other labels (that aren’t run by his big brother) come calling.
BEST OF THE REST
Helm “Tower” (Dais)
Attempting to extrapolate meaning from electronic music song titles is often a fruitless endeavor, but regardless of exactly where the name “Tower” came from, it perfectly fits the gargantuan nature of this track. UK experimenter (and longtime PAN affiliate) Helm describes it as “perhaps the most dramatic piece of music I’ve ever made,” and when it comes on, your gaze will automatically (and involuntarily) begin to drift skyward. Maybe that’s why it had to be the closing number on the new Axis LP—there’s just no way to follow this song’s thick, tension-filled drones, rumbling bursts of distortion and imposingly celestial sensibility.
MSC “Home 2 God” (First Terrace)
MSC “Tek” (First Terrace)
Imagine if Lightning Bolt had grown up listening to religious music, built their own soundsystem and suddenly started making unhinged jungle records. They might come up with something like “Home 2 God,” a gloriously unpolished highlight off What You Say of Power, the new album from MSC. A duo consisting of twin brothers Zac and Isaac Jones, the fuzz-loving group frequently swings between chaos and bliss, but LP closer “Tek” finds a compelling middle ground, reveling in the basement as its ethereal static gives way to (and eventually shares space with) a fevered assault of distorted drums.
L.F.T. “Smell of Metal” (Mannequin)
Hailing from Hamburg, L.F.T. (who’s also a resident at the city’s famed Golden Pudel Club) charts a lively course through corroded synthwave on his new Salz album, with LP opener “Smell of Metal”—a charmingly grotty number powered by lo-fi drum-machine beats and hauntingly glamorous synths—landing somewhere between Cabaret Voltaire and electroclash-era Miss Kittin.
Versalife “Cone of Silence” (Delsin)
A standout track on the new Shape Shifter 2 EP, “Cone of Silence” is an elegant piece of (relatively) laid-back electro. Crafted by Rotterdam veteran Versalife (a.k.a. Conforce), the spacey song has a familiar sci-fi wiggle, but if this track is truly headed to the cosmos, its chilled pads and relaxed sense of cool seem to indicate that the ship will be piloted by supermodels and movie stars.
Plant43 “Sublunar Tides” (Plant43)
Another bit of space-age electro, this time from UK stalwart Plant43. “Sublunar Tides” is the title track of his latest LP, and it’s got some definite pep in its step, its bubbling rhythms capably channelling the ghosts of Drexciya, albeit in a way that feels more like cruising through plush clouds than diving into the depths of the ocean. Alternately wondrous and wistful, it’s a gorgeous tune from one of electro’s top producers.
Greeen Linez “Hand to Hand” (Diskotopia)
Greeen Linez “Across the Heartland” (Diskotopia)
Clocking in at nearly 90 minutes, the 20-track Secrets of Dawn album is a bit of a monster. That said, it contains some real gems, including “Hand to Hand,” which sounds like Ryuichi Sakamoto and Todd Terje performing together inside a luxury spa. Given that one member of the Greeen Linez duo (Diskotopia co-founder Matt Lyne) has lived in Tokyo for more than 15 years, it’s no surprise that the influence of Japan looms over the record, and “Across the Heartland” definitely takes cues from the country’s wonderfully serene ambient tradition, but the quietly simmering (and subtly cinematic) song also echoes Risky Business-era Tangerine Dream.
Blawan “Blika” (XL)
Despite his increasingly techno orientation over the years, Blawan has never veered too far from the muck, and on the new Woke Up Right Handed EP—an effort where the UK producer nearly abandons straightforward techno altogether—he gleefully bathes in the darkness. The distorted vocal clips of “Blika” recall the terror of prior Blawan classics like “Why They Hide Their Bodies Under My Garage,” but unlike that track, this new creation isn’t a dancefloor steamroller; murky and ominous, it borders on industrial and post-punk, its gnarled rhythms content to wallow in the underworld.
Andrew Whitwell “Shadow Dancer” (Western Lore)
Shadow Rhythms is a new series of compilation EPs from the always excellent Western Lore label, and its first volume is highlighted by “Shadow Dancer,” a clear throwback to the soulfully rumbling spirit of ’90s jungle. Admittedly, this kind of revivalism has been pervasive in recent years, but UK artist Andrew Whitwell stands out from the crowd by easing off the throttle a bit and leaving room for the track to breathe, its emotive diva vocal and warm pads providing a moving counterpoint to the song’s vigorously rumbling rhythms.
Glaskin “Fine Silver” (Yael Trip)
Glaskin “Galan” (Yael Trip)
Given the genre’s generally tracky nature, techno doesn’t often lend itself to quality full-lengths, but Munich duo Glaskin manage keep things very interesting on Klaftertief, their debut LP. The record never feels overly linear, and “Fine Silver” fortifies its confidently clattering rhythms with gooey, dubstep-style bass and brawny synths that sound more like baritone brass than something that came out of a Juno. “Galan” is another standout, offering a bouncy sort of hybridized electro-techno that, yes, bears traces of Drexciya. There’s a definite “zooming around on a jet ski” vibe at work, but Glaskin have wisely relocated the setting to a smoking, post-apocalyptic wasteland.
Jake Muir “Spectre’s Bonfire” (Ilian Tape)
A lot of energy has been spent resuscitating assorted ’90s genres over the past few years, but illbient—a New York-based sound that Ilian Tape capably describes as “a high-minded psychedelic cousin of the UK's trip-hop”—has largely been left alone. Enter Jake Muir; his new Mana album heavily samples illbient, but songs like “Spectre’s Bonfire” aren’t filled with the genre’s usual dusty beats. Instead, the Berlin-based American has warped and twisted his source material, crafting brooding, immersive soundscapes that border on gurgling ambient, but are ultimately too spooky (and too fantastical) to be classified as such.
That’s all for this week’s edition of the 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.