First Floor #143 – Too Much Good Stuff (Part 2)
a.k.a. A ton of new electronic music dropped during the past two weeks. These tracks are my favorites of the bunch.
BACK AT IT
As you may remember, I took a little break from First Floor last week, and then ran into a little mishap with an interview I’d lined up for this week. (To make up for it, I’ve temporarily unlocked several recent pieces from the newsletter archives, and I’m also currently offering a 20% discount on all paid subscriptions. The deal only lasts a few more days, so act fast and click the button below if you’d like to get full access to First Floor on the cheap.)
In an effort to get back on track, I’ve been playing catch-up over the past several days, but it hasn’t been easy, especially when the music industry’s annual post-summer, pre-Holidays marketing / promotion / release-as-much-music-as-possible blitz has already kicked into overdrive. An honestly absurd amount of new music came out during the past two weeks, and on top of that, dozens (hundreds?) of artists and labels have filled up the newswire with announcements about their upcoming releases. In short, things are really busy in electronic music at the moment, and there’s simply too much stuff going on for me to cram it all into a single newsletter.
That’s why today’s First Floor is a special double edition. Part one was solely focused on electronic music news and new release announcements, while this second part contains an extra-large dose of new track recommendations.
There’s a lot of ground to cover, so let’s get started.
NEW THIS WEEK
The following is a selection of my favorite tunes from releases that came out during the past two weeks 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
Rhyw “Honey Badger” (Voam)
Rhyw “Sharknado” (Voam)
Pariah “Squishy Windows” (Fever AM)
Glances “Sleuth” (Fever AM)
Every once in a while, an artist will have a “moment” in their career. It can be triggered by anything: a big tune, a new album, a quality run of releases or even a viral moment on social media. And while I generally try to avoid getting into the prediction business, it does feel like Welsh / Greek producer Rhyw, who runs the Fever AM label alongside Mor Elian, is on the precipice of something bigger.
The success of “Honey Badger,” the title track of his new EP for Pariah and Blawan’s Voam label, certainly has a lot to do with that. Easily one of the year’s biggest tunes, it’s a borderline cartoonish rollercoaster, one full of false starts, over-the-top percussive build-ups and a series of roar-inducing payoffs. Techno is very rarely this fun, and though “Honey Badger” does sound a bit like classic Plastikman, it also has some undeniable “hyperactive toddler” energy. (Imagine that Richie Hawtin had written “Spastik” after spending an afternoon gorging on Haribo and Pop Rocks, and you’re in “Honey Badger” territory.)
“Sharknado”—another bright spot on an EP that’s full of them—is no less manic, though the track leans away from goofy exuberance and instead follows a darker path. A dizzying, low-end-heavy rumbler that sits somewhere between DMZ and Modeselektor, it’s hard to think of many tunes that sound quite like it, even within the overcrowded murk of the larger bass music universe.
Fever AM has been skillfully navigating that universe for the past five years, and is celebrating that milestone with It's Not a Bug, It's a Feature, a talent-rich compilation that includes new tracks from Peder Mannerfelt, Xen Chron, Ayesha, Gacha Bakradze and the label founders themselves. The highlights are numerous, but Pariah’s “Squishy Windows” is a joyfully odd standout, its slinky technoid rhythms somehow referencing dubstep, techno, IDM and seemingly the past 25 years of UK electronic music—all within the span of a single track. Bristol producer Glances is one of the newer names on the compilation, but “Sleuth” doesn’t sound like the work of a rookie, pairing bassy hoovers with glassy chimes and building toward a critical mass of digital mayhem. If Rhyw and Mor Elian continue to unearth tunes like this one, then Fever AM’s next five years ought to be even more rewarding than the first.
Deepchord “Transit Systems” (Soma)
Deepchord “CloudSat” (Soma)
Even the most ardent fans of dub techno would likely admit that the genre can sometimes be a real snoozefest, but when it comes to an artist like Deepchord, even his sleepiest moments are often things of beauty. Functional Designs is the Detroit producer’s latest full-length, and much of the album gracefully hovers in a quasi-somnambulant zone, its underwater kicks pulsing beneath dimly lit clouds of reverb and scratchy tape hiss. With its ethereal hum, “Transit Systems” sounds more like something off Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works Vol. 2 than a modern-day techno banger, its billowing textures and fuzzy, late-night glow lending the track—and its gentle percussive clatter—a sense of genuine elegance. “CloudSat,” another LP standout, ups the energy level slightly (largely by employing a beat that sounds a bit less subterranean), but it’s still a hypnotic journey, one bathed in soft distortion and populated with wispy synths that drift and dissipate like cigarette smoke in the night air.
Shadow Child “P&O” (Time Is Now)
Eusebeia “Love + Light” (Livity Sound)
Pseudopolis “Haze Runner” (Redstone Press)
Much has been written about the revival of jungle and drum & bass during the past few years, but what hasn’t been emphasized is just how much of that revival evokes the spaced-out sounds that artists like Photek were making during the 1990s. If “sounds like ’90s Photek” was a genre, then all three of these tracks would fit the bill.
To be clear, that’s not a bad thing. For all its bashy fun, jungle is capable of more than clubbing people over the head, and “P&O,” which appears on Shadow Child’s new Empire EP, brilliantly adds some washy melodies and tinkling pianos to its airy rumble. “Love + Light”—a high point of Eusebeia’s new Cosmos EP—is also full of percussive acrobatics, yet they primarily underpin the track’s lilting, quasi-devotional vocal choirs, resulting in something that’s more Pure Moods than Pure Dudes. Pseudopolis offers a touch more aggression, even bringing a little ragga flavor to the table on “Haze Runner”—which appears on the Scottish producer’s new High for Life EP—but even with its fervent drums and tough basslines, the song’s soaring synths and new agey sonics ultimately guide the music into a space that works the mind and body alike.
BEST OF THE REST
Euroshima “Matando Sueños” (Dark Entries)
If Siouxsie Sioux had sung in Spanish and fronted a band that sounded like a cross between The Psychedelic Furs and The Cure’s earlier, more post-punky material, she might have created something like “Matando Sueños.” The lead track from Argentinian outfit Euroshima’s 1987 Gala, the song—along with the rest of the LP—has just been reissued on Dark Entries, breathing new life into the music’s glittery goth glamour.
Coffintexts x Jonny from Space “Muy Sexi” (observe participate)
It would have been easy for a track called “Muy Sexi” to go horribly wrong, but Miami duo Coffintexts and Jonny from Space smartly play it cool, layering the former’s confidently disaffected vocals atop a bubbling cauldron of hazy, unpolished synths and a steadily churning beat. Steeped in the art of seduction, this hypnotic tune won’t bang people over the head, but it will lure them into its clutches.
DJ Scriby “Siyangqongqoza” (Hakuna Kulala)
The rise of amapiano has undoubtedly stolen some of the attention that was being showered on gqom just a few years ago (at least amongst listeners north of the equator), but Hakuna Kulala’s new The Gqom Trilogy series—which spotlights the work of South African producers DJ Skothan, DJ MaRiiO and DJ Scriby—makes clear that the bass-heavy genre is alive and very well. With 26 tracks across three EPs, there are plenty of jams to choose from, but DJ Scriby’s swaggering “Siyangqongqoza” is an obvious highlight, its high-stepping rhythm and joyful whistles unburdened by the song’s sheets of thick low-end.
Mathias Delplanque “Seuil 3” (Ici d’ailleurs)
Composer and sound artist Mathias Delplanque has dipped his toes into a number of different projects and sounds (many of them dubby and / or atmospheric in nature) over the past two decades, but “Seuil 3”—a highlight of his new Ô Seuil album—feels like a true standout, perhaps because it bares a certain similarity to Mezzanine-era Massive Attack, and the song “Inertia Creeps” in particular. Although it’s not a carbon copy, or even a straight-up trip-hop track, Delplanque does employ the same sort of serpentine basslines and slowly thundering drums, which combine with the song’s Middle Eastern elements to create something that sounds both sinister and sultry.
memotone “Lorry Driver” (Accidental Meetings)
Taken from memotone’s new Clever Dog LP, “Lorry Driver” finds the Bristol experimental mainstay infusing his spaced-out electronics with a little post-punk shuffle. More specifically, he takes a relatively simple guitar riff—one that could have been pilfered from a Sonic Youth track or even something by The xx—and bathes it in both distortion and digital crunch, ultimately landing in a zone that sounds (in a good way) like a lo-fi, bedroom recreation of an old Wire demo.
Dame Area “Tempio Senza Luce” (B.F.E / Màgia Roja)
A blistering slice of synth-punk-pop, “Tempio Senza Luce” isn’t worlds away from what Barcelona minimal wavers Dame Area have been cooking up in recent years, but the song—a high point of the duo’s new Toda La Mentira Sobre Dame Area LP—is powered by an especially sticky synth riff, one that conjures any number of ’80s (and ’80s-indebted) pop bands, but also delivers its endorphin rush with a streetwise sneer and some haunted house-style spookiness.
Coco Bryce “Want U (Breaka Remix)” (ec2a)
Pitched-up R&B vocals are a staple of pretty much all dance music, and they feature prominently in Coco Bryce’s “Want U,” but Breaka’s turbocharged remix of the track—which appears on the flipside of the same 12”—takes things a step further. The UK producer has essentially pitched up every single element of the original song, to a point where the vocals sound more or less “normal,” soulfully resonating amongst a joyous blur of manic organ stabs and fleet-flooted percussion.
Otik “Dreamers” (Solar Body)
Though the generic “bass music” descriptor is often thrown his way, Otik isn’t someone whose production lends itself to easy categorization. The UK artist’s new Extrasense EP won’t change that, but its closing track “Dreamers” just might be the most brazenly fun thing he’s ever released. Bordering on techno, packed with twinkling melodies, and featuring a carefree array of chipmunk-style vocal clips, the track largely leaves the hardcore continuum behind, instead venturing—gleefully—into the dreamiest corners of the rave.
A+A “North Star” (AD 93)
Avalon Emerson and Anunaku certainly aren’t the first artists to dabble in trance during the past few years, but “North Star”—which appears on 060, their debut EP as a collaborative duo—should be held up as an example of how to tastefully (and effectively) engage with the genre. (Quick reminder: Emerson and I do work together on Buy Music Club, so feel free to take that into account when I talk about her music.) This isn’t some polite prog tune; it’s as big and bright as a vintage Tiësto cut, but it skillfully keeps the cheese in check, even as it offers up billowing waves of floaty dancefloor joy.
Danny Goliger “FYT” (Fantastic Voyage After Dark)
Despite being a Los Angeles native, Danny Goliger appears to be very well versed in the art of UK garage on his new FYT EP. The irrepressibly bouncy record is steeped in skittering syncopations and R&B-flavored vocal clips, but that blend is especially effective on the record’s effervescent title track, which makes clear that “FYT” is short for “feel your touch” and also adds a bit of lovesick longing to the mix.
Dawn to Dawn “Stereo” (SSURROUNDSS)
Fresh off her dazzling Ideas of Space album from earlier this year, Montreal synth-pop artist Tess Roby has returned with another full-length, this time alongside her bandmates in Dawn to Dawn. More grounded than her solo output, much of the trio’s Postcards from the Sun to the Moon pleasantly recalls the quietly anthemic, moody-yet-dreamy traditions of the ’80s bands who famously populated the soundtracks of John Hughes films, but “Stereo” is a uniquely wistful highlight, its pastel tones seemingly designed to answer the question, “If cotton candy was sad, what would it sound like?”
Emeralds “Magic” (Ghostly International)
Nearly a decade after Emeralds called it quits, is it fair to say that the Cleveland experimental / neo-kosmische trio was one of the best bands ever? Quite possibly. There’s certainly no questioning the group’s lingering influence, which makes Ghostly’s new reissue of 2008’s Solar Bridge—an effort described as “the first Emeralds album to receive any kind of proper distribution” and “the first attempt to archivally preserve their fluid craft”—a very welcome development. Diehard fans will likely be drawn to the previously unreleased “Photosphere,” but LP opener “Magic” remains the clear highlight, its immersive psychedelic sprawl of slowly bubbling synths and heavily processed guitars sounding like a fantastical transmission from a far-off galaxy.
That’s all for today’s newsletter. If you missed part one, please go back and check it out. Otherwise, thank you so much for reading First Floor, 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.)
Until next time,
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.