First Floor #131 – Inflation, Travel Nightmares and the Struggle to "Get Back to Normal"
a.k.a. Post-pandemic difficulties call into question the feasibility of dance music's established business models.
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THE RISING COSTS OF DJ LIFE
It’s not often that electronic music discourse delves into macroeconomics—and that’s probably a good thing—but in 2022, dance music has run into a roadblock that’s fouling up businesses all around the world: inflation.
Just as the nightlife industry is beginning to get back on its feet, costs have skyrocketed, and that’s just one of the post-pandemic problems that artists and promoters alike are dealing with. Travel has become something of a nightmare, flight cancellations are rampant, venues / festivals are short-staffed and clubbers simply aren’t buying tickets in the same way that they used to.
Over the past decade, the dance music industry constructed its entire business model around certain practices and expectations—the availability of cheap, reliable flights chief among them—and now, that system is starting to buckle. Simply put, the old ways of doing business are more difficult and more expensive than they used to be, and it’s unclear if what’s happening is just a temporary blip, or sign that certain things have shifted for good.
What exactly is going on, and how is it affecting different sectors of the industry? And where does dance music go from here if it wants to stay viable? I put together some thoughts and observations on the matter in a long piece I published earlier this week, and it’s now available for everyone to read here.
ANOTHER THING I WROTE
Pitchfork enlisted me to review Mercury, the latest LP from The Range. As an album, it’s easily one of the best collections of electronic pop tunes I’ve heard in quite some time, but the unique way that it was made raises several complex (and not always flattering) issues about the modern-day music industry.
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.
Two Shell performed on the Boiler Room stage at the Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona last weekend, and now that the video has gone online, it’s pretty clear that the UK duo weren’t actually DJing. (Given the ridiculous outfits they were wearing—and the fact that Two Shell have never published an unaltered press photo—it’s not even clear that they themselves were actually the ones in the booth.) Were they trolling everyone? Just having a little fun? Both? It’s a mystery, but regardless of what they were up to, they’ve also just announced a new EP, Icons, that’s set to drop June 30 via their own Mainframe Audio label. Ahead of that, they’ve also shared one track from the record, “Dust.”
Courtesy is the subject of Mixmag’s latest cover story (written by Agathe Blume), and the Berlin-based Danish artist has also recorded an accompanying mix of “trance classics, ambient trance and [her] own music.” And for those who enjoyed her recent debut EP Night Journeys, she’s enlisted the likes of Jessy Lanza, KMRU, Schacke and DJ IBON to rework her material for the forthcoming Night Journeys Remixes, which will surface on August 26 through her Kulør label. IBON’s contribution can be heard in this new music video that Courtesy shared last week.
Speaking of trance, DJ Mag enlisted writer Arjan Rietveld—author of the book Hypnotised: A Journey Through Trance Music (1990-2005)—to put together a brief history of Balearic trance, a style that peaked during the late ’90s and early 2000s.
Jack J—who gave his first-ever interview to First Floor back in March—has now chatted with another journalist (Andy Beta) for a Bandcamp Daily feature that traces the evolution of both the Vancouver artist’s own work and that of the Mood Hut collective he co-founded.
Shed (a.k.a. René Pawlowitz) has gone by dozens of different aliases over the years, but his work as Head High (which he’s always released via his own Power House imprint) is unquestionably some of his best. In a new piece for Ransom Note, the German artist speaks to Alasdair King about the project, and shares some of the key influences that shaped the Power House sound.
Mike Paradinas is another man of many monikers. The Planet Mu founder has just released a new album, Magic Pony Ride, as µ-Ziq (his best-known alias), and to mark the occasion—along with the forthcoming 25th anniversary reissue of his Lunatic Harness LP—he spoke to The Quietus’ Miranda Remington for a new feature in which he highlights 10 tracks from his lengthy career.
JUST ANNOUNCED
A round-up of noteworthy new and upcoming releases that were announced during the past week.
Hessle Audio co-founder Pangaea has announced a new 12”, Fuzzy Logic / Still Flowing Water, that’s slated for a September 10 release. Ahead of that, both the original version and an edit of “Fuzzy Logic” have been made available here.
Kuedo—a cult hero of 2010’s bass music—will soon be releasing a new album, his first since 2016’s Slow Knife. The new LP is called Infinite Window and reportedly contains some songs that were written as much as 10 years ago, though the record was completed last year. Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder label will be issuing the full-length on July 29, but opening track “Sliding Through Our Fingers” has already been shared.
Synth explorer Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith has a new LP on the way for Ghostly International. Let’s Turn It into Sound will arrive on August 26, and is said to showcase a new vocal processing technique she developed specifically for the record. That’s on display in the album’s first single, “Is It Me or Is It You?,” which is available now, as is the song’s eye-catching video, for which Smith wore and performed with a special motion-capture suit.
TSHA—the London artist who was at the helm of the most recent fabric presents mix / compilation—has just announced the forthcoming release of her debut album, Capricorn Sun. Ninja Tune will be issuing the LP on October 7, but several tracks have already been shared here.
Longform Editions dropped its latest batch of releases this week, which includes extended compositions from Nailah Hunter, foodman, Sam Prekop and Megan Alice Clune.
NEW THIS WEEK
The following is a selection of my favorite tunes from releases 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 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
Kangding Ray “Twilight Seven” (ara)
Kangding Ray “Pearls & Lichens” (ara)
Kangding Ray “Antiblau” (ara)
Kangding Ray is often categorized as a techno artist, and while that description long ago failed to capture the totality of his sound, he’s more or less cast off the genre completely on his excellent new ULTRACHROMA album. The Berlin-based Frenchman describes the record as “a set of prismatic sonic crystals,” which squares with the music’s technicolor melodic palette, but as dazzling as its flashes of neon can be, the music is perhaps most adventurous on the rhythmic front, serving up hybrid drum patterns that wouldn’t be out of place on labels like Timedance or Ilian Tape.
“Twilight Seven” is probably the closest thing on the LP to a proper techno cut, but kick drums have little to do with its propulsive surge; Kangding Ray instead pushes his synths into overdrive, their steady thrum rocketing forward like a space shuttle during liftoff. “Pearls & Lichens” ditches percussion altogether, and while there’s a certain delicacy to its plinking tones, they steadily build toward a rewardingly intense crescendo, albeit not one that can match the dubstep-indebted brawn of the lively “Antiblau.” A drum-heavy track toward the end of the LP, it does contain a hint of menace, even as its soft-focus pads evoke a more relaxed atmosphere.
Salamanda “Melting Hazard” (Human Pitch)
Salamanda “Kiddo Caterpillar” (Human Pitch)
ashbalkum, the latest full-length from South Korean duo Salamanda, could double as a collection of new age lullabies. There’s a palatable sense of innocence to the music, its colorful sound palette, woodblock percussion and generally upbeat vibe sparking images of preschool playrooms and childhood sing-a-longs. To be clear, it’s not simple music—LP highlight “Melting Hazard” offsets its jaunty vibraphone melodies with perky vocal snippets and what sounds like a groaning, Arthur Russell-style cello—but there is a sense of lightness to it, a kind of welcoming playfulness that prevents even the album’s mellowest cuts from receding fully into the background. Though ashbalkum is technically an ambient record, there’s nothing meditative about “Kiddo Caterpillar,” a notably merry number whose pitter-pat drums and fantastical woodwind blasts make it sound like something that ought to be soundtracking a whimsical jungle adventure. Bright and full of life, it’s the sort of tune that’s sure to leave listeners wondering, “Why can’t all ambient music be this fun?”
The Range “Ricercar” (Domino)
The Range “Cantor” (Domino)
Why isn’t The Range absurdly famous? The guy—a Pennsylvania native named James Hinton who used to live in Brooklyn and is now based in Vermont—certainly has the tunes for it. Although his latest album Mercury is loosely rooted in dance music, it also has the same “this sounds a bit like six different genres but somehow they’ve all been melted together into a cohesive song” aesthetic that permeates so much of modern pop music—especially the stuff that does well in today’s streaming-heavy landscape. Hook-heavy songs like “Ricercar” and “Cantor”— the former a colorful R&B slapper, the latter a life-affirming slice of gospel-infused synth-pop—are genuine ear candy, and Mercury is stuffed with similarly delightful tunes.
And yet, The Range still remains fairly anonymous, probably because he himself largely stays in the background, expressing big emotions primarily via voices he’s sourced from YouTube and other streaming video sites. It’s a fascinating—and undeniably modern—technique, but it’s not one that’s necessarily compatible with modern-day stardom, in which artists, not their tracks, are expected to be larger than life. For those of us who aren’t on TikTok, Hinton’s low-profile persona is just fine, but it does seem unfortunate that it may prevent more people from hearing his work, because it’s real good.
BEST OF THE REST
Tornado Wallace “Sea Translation” (Basic Spirit)
The closing track on Australian producer Tornado Wallace’s new Dream Corner EP, “Sea Translation” channels the epic breakbeats of ’90s outfits like Future Sound of London, but it also slows them down, coating the experience in lush strings and spritely melodies. What results is dreamy, bucolic and sounds a bit like Melody A.M.-era Röyksopp, though it’s still got enough bounce to make earnest nature ravers close their eyes and lift their hands toward the sky.
Headbirds “Fly Away” (Rhythm Cult)
Although Headbirds is ostensibly a house producer, “Fly Away”—a standout cut from the Barcelona artist’s new Kulturhaus album—takes some serious cues from swooning ’80s synth-pop, its chiming melodies and throbbing bassline conjuring memories of groups like Japan and Pet Shop Boys. That said, the song’s ethereal vocal takes a different path, alluringly asking “Is it a crime?” in a way that is sure to make even the most unforgiving grump sweetly respond, “Of course not.”
rRoxymore “I Wanted More” (Aus)
Is this the most “pop” thing rRoxymore has ever released? Quite possibly. Never before would the French artist have drawn comparisons to acts like Disclosure or The Range, but after years of thrillingly blurring the lines between house, techno, bass music, ambient and other strains of electronic music, she’s surprisingly stripped things back on “I Want More.” The title track of her latest EP, it combines a ramshackle beat, marimba-esque melody and sweetly soulful vocal, landing on what’s ultimately an eminently hummable tune.
Kilig “SE Sounds” (Cross Country)
Continuing his quiet run as one of the UK’s most promising bass music talents, Kilig closes out his new All the Right Things EP with “SE Sounds,” an energetic roller with a flair for the dramatic. Old-school grime is an obvious touchpoint, and so are the 8-bit sounds of classic arcade games, but what really makes the song pop is its willingness to go big, as Kilig weaves darting strings, brawny horn swells and the wails of a mournful diva into something that feels capital-E emotional.
Michael J. Blood “SOLID STATE” (BLOOD)
Lack back yet decidedly funky, “SOLID STATE”—which appears on the new AS IS album—sounds like a collaboration between Actress and Rick Wilhite. At its core, the song is a relaxed house stomper, but in the hands of mysterious Mancunian entity Michael J. Blood, things get a little hazy, as he paints its loopy keys and workmanlike strut with a coat of soft static. It’s a weird one to be sure, but not so weird that it’ll fuck up the groove on a cooly swinging dancefloor.
Ece Era “Anything” (2MR)
With its pitch-shifted vocals and clacking drum hits, the (very) subtly galloping “Anything” has what feel like a few obvious nods to Burial—in fairness, so does half of electronic music these days—but it’s not a gloomy number. The opening cut on Ece Era’s debut EP War on Innocence, it may be slathered in reverb, but there’s some sweetness (and some softly glowing synths) beneath the murk, and the Turkish artist enticingly allows just enough of the song’s light to shine through.
Tammo Hesselink “Danaba” (Delsin)
It’s been a long time since the “dub” portion of dubstep was the genre’s main focus, and though “Danaba” doesn’t sound like a rehash of old Horsepower Productions tunes, its spacious construction and loping bass blooms do smack (pleasantly) of a bygone era. In rhythmic terms, the song is actually more of a bass-techno hybrid—the output of labels like Livity Sound comes to mind—but Dutch producer Tammo Hesselink infuses the track with a uniquely spooky flavor, its wafting melodies conjuring thoughts of wind ominously blowing through a haunted forest.
Infinity “Nucleus” (Mineral Cuts)
First released in 1994, Infinity’s Judgement EP has now been given new life by Kalahari Oyster Cult’s reissue-focused Mineral Cuts imprint, and the re-emergence of “Nucleus”—a song that impressively sits somewhere between electro and progressive house—is sure to delight not only Discogs diggers, but anyone who’s a fan of the tripped-out breakbeats being crafted in recent years by artists like Roza Terenzi. With its drum-circle percussion and quirky (albeit catchy) synth melody, it’s admittedly a little silly, but it’s also perfect for all the cosmic dreamers on the dancefloor.
downstairs J “1000 dumplings” (Air Texture)
With new tracks from Parris, Aurora Halal & DJ G, Huerco S., Bitter Babe & Nick León, rrao and a slew of other heavy hitters from electronic music’s “left of center” lane, there’s no shortage of talent on Air Texture VIII, a new ambient-leaning compilation curated by Anthony Naples and DJ Python. Yet downstairs J, an NYC producer whose Basement, Etc... LP was quietly one of 2021’s top albums, manages to stand out with the slinky trip-hop of “1000 dumplings,” a smokey tune that sounds like it’s seductively creeping through dark hallways at 4 a.m.
Forest Management “Tributary II” (Towhead)
Although Forest Management rarely lets more than a few months go by between releases, his music never feels rushed or incomplete. The Chicago ambient mainstay has a real knack for stripping his pensive compositions down to the bare essentials, leaving behind these faintly luminescent specters that gently waft through the night air. “Tributary II,” a highlight of his new Floor 9 album, feels particularly delicate, its softly plucked melodies fluttering in a way that prompts thoughts of Japanese zen gardens, hazy dream sequences and fantasy films from the 1980s.
Violet Mist “Cyberlove” (Subexotic)
Joseph Kindred—who makes music as Jozef K and Eternal Blood, and is also one half of Bluematter alongside fellow UK producer Thomas Ragsdale—is nothing if not versatile, and his Violet Mist moniker is an outlet for what he bills as “dystopian synthwave.” That’s usually an apt description, but on the slow-burning “Cyberlove,” which soothingly opens the new Cyberwave LP, existential worries are nowhere to be found. With its sampled birdsong and celestial drift, the song feels more like a trip to the spa.
Cooper Saver “Wash Away” (FourFour)
“Wash Away” is just one track on the new FFR Compilation #1—which also includes tunes from Eva Geist, Matías Aguayo, Benoit & Sergio and several other FourFour artists—but it does seem to indicate that former Angeleno Cooper Saver (who’s now based in Vancouver) has taken his music in a bold (and rather promising) new direction. Although the song retains his love of Balearic grooves, it folds in elements of ’90s shoegaze and dream pop, soaking the sturdy stomp of his drum machine in woozy synths and layer after layer of beautiful distortion.
Mark Barrott “Arcade Scene” (International Feel)
Ibiza means different things to different people, and while many of those things are objectively bad, Mark Barrott is one of a handful of artists working to keep the classic spirit of the White Island (as pioneered by folks like José Padilla) alive and kicking. Travelling Music is Barrott’s first EP in several years, and the gleaming “Arcade Scene” is the liveliest of its tunes, charting a synth-heavy course between Italo and house music while maintaining a laid-back vibe that’s more “Mediterranean sunset” than “midnight glamor.”
Smoke Point “Steam Machine” (Geographic North)
A collaboration between Sage Caswell and Peak Oil founder Brian Foote (a.k.a. Leech), Smoke Point makes music that would technically be filed in the ambient section, but there’s nothing sedate about the restless rhythms of “Steam Machine,” which appears on the duo’s promising self-titled debut LP. Part Entroducing and part footwork, there’s a definite funkiness to the song’s languid grooves, though its moody tones are better probably suited to a pensive, late-night smoke session than anything resembling a dance party.
That brings us to the end of today’s edition of First Floor. Thank you so much for reading the newsletter, and as always, I do hope that 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.)
Have a good week,
Shawn
Shawn Reynaldo is a freelance writer, editor, presenter and project manager. Find him on LinkedIn and Twitter, or you can just drop him an email to get in touch about projects, collaborations or potential work opportunities.