First Floor #153 – Last Call
a.k.a. Some final thoughts on the past year, plus a round-up of electronic music news and one last batch of new track recommendations.
PUTTING 2022 TO BED
Hello everyone, and welcome to the final First Floor of the year. After today, the newsletter will begin its annual holiday hiatus, with the normal publishing schedule resuming on Tuesday, January 10.
During the past few weeks, I’ve spent a fair bit of time looking back at the last 12 months, and summed up many of my thoughts about what was good, what was bad and what was just plain weird in the following pieces:
“The Year of Empty Calories,” a reflection on dance music’s post-pandemic return, what that return sounded like and why so much blatantly commercial pop music was involved.
Do go back and read those if you missed them the first time around, but more importantly, I also wanted to give a heartfelt thank you to everyone who’s read, supported or otherwise spread the word about First Floor this year. When I started this newsletter more than three years ago, I really had no idea where it would go, but First Floor is now at a point where it’s essentially my primary “job,” and not just in terms of how much time I put into it. Admittedly it’s not making me rich—far from it—but being able to pare back my other freelance work has been incredibly freeing, and has only been possible because of the ongoing (and growing) support of the First Floor audience. I know that paying for this thing isn’t feasible for everyone, but the fact that so many of you have signed up for paid subscriptions—even if it’s just for a month or two—really means a lot, and has been instrumental to keeping the newsletter going.
In terms of content, the past year of First Floor included a lot of stuff that was a real joy to put together, especially the interviews with artists like Huerco S., Jack J, Malibu, Nguzunguzu, Nick León, The Soft Pink Truth, Bambounou, Persher and Moin. (I also had a lot of fun talking shop with fellow music scribe Philip Sherburne.) Many of these folks don’t talk to the press all that often, and the fact that they were willing to chat with me (usually at length) not only makes me feel good, but hopefully says something about what kind of editorial space First Floor has become.
Of course, that space also includes a whole lot of my own thoughts, musings and analysis, and during the past year I wrote about so many topics, from the problematic nature of the WAV file format and tracklist bloat in the digital era to techno’s declining cool factor and the idea that contemporary dance music should perhaps be seen as a kind of folk art. It’s been fun (most of the time), and after two-plus years in which COVID confined most electronic music conversations to the realm of the theoretical, one of the best parts of 2022 has been looking at (and talking about) things that are actually happening in the real world.
Thanks so much for giving me the room to do that, and know that more is on the way in 2023. In the meantime though, please do feel free to spend the next few weeks perusing the First Floor archives and catching up on things you might have missed. Although many of the pieces I mentioned above are behind the paywall, there’s still a ton of free content available, including every single Thursday mailout from the past year.
And if you’re feeling charitable, or would just like to help me keep this place up and running, please do consider signing up for a paid subscription, or even gifting one to someone you think might appreciate it. Remember that paid subscribers have unlimited access to the complete First Floor archive, receive long-form content (e.g. interviews, essays, articles, etc.) before everyone else and never, ever run into a paywall. That alone is worth the cost, which, by the way, is about as much as a cup of coffee.
As an added incentive, I’m offering a special 20% discount on all First Floor subscriptions from now through the end of the year. With this deal, you get the newsletter for less than €1 per week, and annual subscribers get an even better rate.
Anyways, that’s my sales pitch. (Thanks for indulging me, especially if you’re already a paid subscriber.) Read on to find the rest of today’s newsletter, a “normal” edition of First Floor that has all the news, release announcements and track recommendations you’ve come to expect.
After all, even though 2022 is almost over, electronic music never really stops. Let’s see what’s been going on.
REAL QUICK
A round-up of the last week’s most interesting electronic music news, plus links to interviews, mixes, articles and other things I think are worth sharing.
In a move that will surely delight digital diggers everywhere, Seattle artist nohup has unveiled Bandcamp Tempo Adjust, a new Google Chrome extension that allows users to virtually pitch up (or pitch down) tracks that they’re listening to on Bandcamp. The extension, which is totally free, can be found here.
Earlier this week, news broke that Manuel Göttsching had passed away, apparently “peacefully” and “surrounded by his family.” The German guitarist and Ash Ra Tempel co-founder was a pioneering figure in 1970s krautrock and electronic music, but his most influential work was undoubtedly 1984’s E2-E4, which inadvertently (albeit deeply) influenced not only the ambient realm, but also early house and techno. In the wake of his death, numerous tributes to Göttsching have appeared online, but this remembrance that Brian Coney put together for The Guardian nicely sums up his legacy.
The world also lost Angelo Badalamenti this week. The veteran composer and longtime David Lynch collaborator—who famously wrote the scores for Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive and many other projects—“died Sunday of natural causes surrounded by family.”
With the music industry winding down for the year and most media outlets cranking out Best of 2022 lists, more substantive editorial is in short supply at the moment, but late last week Resident Advisor did publish a new The Art of Production feature with Steffi. It’s written by April Clare Welsh, who headed out to the Dutch producer’s home in the Portuguese countryside and dug into her music-making process.
The second season of Finn and Local Action’s Mixtape Club series has officially come to a close with a new DJ mix from Al Wootton. Entitled Asklepion Dance, it’s billed as a “dark and cavernous” session, one that’s heavy on “sludgy leftfield techno” and should make for “pitch-perfect winter listening.”
With artificial intelligence technology currently growing by leaps and bounds—and every day taking up a larger portion of the cultural discourse—Attack Mag enlisted writer Adam Douglas to put together a two-part feature looking at the intersection between AI and music. Though it’s labeled a “deep dive,” it’s more of an thoughtful overview, providing details without getting overly technical or bogged down in jargon. More importantly, it directly examines just how worried musicians should be about the prospect of AI technology replacing them in the years to come.
As reported by Resident Advisor, music journalist Matt Anniss will soon be publishing an updated and expanded version of his 2019 book Join the Future, which chronicled the development of bleep techno and bass music in the UK during the ’80s and ’90s. Due to arrive in January, the new edition is said to include “more interviews, sharpened analysis, a new chapter and an updated recommended-listening list,” and also takes more direct aim at what Anniss sees as the incorrect / incomplete narratives which have long dominated stories of dance music’s arrival and explosion in the UK.
JUST ANNOUNCED
A round-up of noteworthy new and upcoming releases announced during the past week.
This morning Kassem Mosse announced the impending release of a new album, workshop 32. As the title implies, it will be coming out on the Workshop label, and though it won’t arrive until on February 3, the reclusive German artist has already published a short “megamix” that previews tracks from the LP.
In recent months Deradoorian and Kate NV have been teasing the arrival of their new group Decisive Pink, and yesterday the duo shared the project’s debut single. “Haffmilch Holiday” is available now via Fire Records, and took shape during an extended stay in Cologne, where the two spent their days experimenting with modular synths and “bouncing verses off each other.”
DJ Sotofett dropped a new single yesterday. The 11-minute “Two Tab Acid House” is available now as a name-your-price download on his Bandcamp page, and is also being offered alongside the much shorter “Two Tab Tool.”
Following up on his Peace LP from earlier in the year, UK funky torchbearer Roska has now released Peace (Extras), which includes instrumental versions of six tracks from the original album. It’s available now through his own Roska Kicks & Snares imprint.
Russian artists Kedr Livanskiy and Flaty have collaborated before, but now the two have officially formed a new group called Kosaya Gora (translation: Oblique Mountain) that’s said to focus on “guitar-based indie/alternative, with echoes of ’90s grunge and haunting dream pop.” An album is forthcoming in 2023—exact details have not yet been revealed—but in the meantime the pair have shared their debut single “Te Slova,” which is out now on the 2MR label.
LCY has completed a new EP. Entitled /Y\, the record is built upon “themes around protection, conformity and safety in relation to societal binaries,” and will be released via the London artist’s own SZNS7N imprint on January 18. Ahead of that, two tracks from the EP are already available here.
Berlin club night and DJ crew Herrensauna has released a new compilation, Herrensauna Vol. 2. Out now on vinyl, it’s also slated to surface on December 21 via Bandcamp, and features original contributions from artists like Slikback and Zvrra, along with remixes from DJ Stingray 313 and Verraco. More details (and some preview clips) can be found here.
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 if you prefer to listen to them all in one place.
THE BIG THREE
Dylan Henner “Everyone I’ve Ever Loved Lives Here Together” (AD 93)
Dylan Henner “Today I Learned What Makes Bugs Sick and How to Tie My Shoelaces” (AD 93)
Dylan Henner “With Her First Ever Steps She Walked to Me and She Was So Happy” (AD 93)
Documenting a complete human life cycle within the span of a single album is a formidable challenge, but it’s what ambient artist Dylan Henner set out to do with his latest full-length, You Always Will Be. Inspired by the death of his four grandparents and birth of his daughter—all of which happened in a short period of time—he’s created a remarkably optimistic record, one whose stated references to nostalgia and longing are overshadowed by the warmth and brightness of the music on offer.
The album’s long track titles obviously help the listener to keep track of the narrative, but the weightless glide and wide-eyed vision of “Everyone I’ve Ever Loved Lives Here” can only be experienced with a proper listen. “Today I Learned What Makes Bugs Sick and How to Tie My Shoelaces” is more grounded, but its bucolic vibraphones—which bring to mind the work of people like Midori Takada—convey a sense of childlike whimsy, an emotion that’s echoed in the playful woodwinds of “With Her First Ever Steps She Walked to Me and She Was So Happy.” Things do get more pensive in the LP’s back half, but even in the album’s darkest moments, Henner’s message seems clear: life is beautiful, wondrous and very much worth living.
Karen Vogt “cloud thirty-six” (Self-released)
Back in 2020, Kargen Vogt spent a sizable chunk of lockdown doing Little Pink Fluffy Clouds, a weekly radio show in which she would improvise live with pedals, loopers, effects and her own layered vocals. Two years later, the Paris-based musician has now spent the past several months releasing the best bits of those improvisations via Bandcamp, and has just brought the series to a close with the fourth and final installment, Little Pink Fluffy Clouds D. “cloud thirty-six” is a standout from that release, and perfectly encapsulates the spellbinding imperfection of the project, its ethereal drift and persistent hum creating an inviting atmosphere that Vogt fills with her own vulnerability.
Lamin Fofana “Rehearsal of Truth” (Peak Oil)
Lamin Fofana “Here Lies Universality” (Avian)
After spending much of 2022 issuing a powerful trio of ambient albums, Lamin Fofana has capped off the year with two even better releases: the Unsettling Scores LP for Peak Oil, and the Here Lies Universality EP for Avian. Though the ambient genre often tends to focus on notions of comfort and calm, Fofana instead fills his compositions with turmoil, dread and struggle; it’s not that his music is oppressively dark, but there’s also nothing cute about a song like “Rehearsal of Truth,” which coats its ghostly warbles and ominous whispers in persistently crackling static. A similar sense of loss and disconnection colors “Here Lies Universality,” and while it does allow a bit more light to shine through the haze, those flickers of hope are ultimately fleeting, as the song’s closing moments return to what sounds like a haunted path.
BEST OF THE REST
Kornél Kovács “Follow You (Alex Kassian Ambient Mix)” (Studio Barnhus)
When the original “Follow You” dropped back in August, it immediately became the most overtly pop song in Kornél Kovács’ catalog. That said, while the garage-inflected tune, which featured the breathy, R&B-style vocals of Aluna, had a certain bouncy charm, a pair of new remixes from Berlin-based Kyoto native Alex Kassian suggest that maybe Kovács didn’t go far enough. On this “Ambient Mix,” the drums disappear almost entirely, allowing Aluna’s polished pipes to take flight atop some floaty, brightly colored synths and small flecks of piano. What results borders on Spotifycore, but good luck getting its hook out of your head anytime soon.
M. Geddes Gengras “Slow Zoom on Red Pickup Driving Across Oklahoma” (Blorpus Editions)
Who likes the movie Twister? M. Geddes Gengras does. In fact, the veteran modular synthesist likes the 1996 film so much that he recently created nearly two hours of music for a reimagined score that last week aired online as part of the final Smhoakstock festival last week. That was a one-time-only event, but for those who missed it, he’s now released Twister (2), a pared-down—but still 75-minute long—sampling of that work. Created with a relatively minimal set-up, the music never feels overcrowded, and opening track “Slow Zoom on a Red Pickup Driving Across Oklahoma” is a properly immersive journey, one in which gorgeous synths stretch out across the horizon as a low-key rhythm cooly bubbles underneath.
ATŌMI “Oracles” (Lady Blunt)
Pardon my tardiness here, as ATŌMI’s Little Floating Oracles album was released back in October, but the majestic “Oracles” warrants a late mention in the newsletter. Built around an angelic—and almost operatic—vocal, the track charts an openly cinematic course, and the Berlin-based artist fleshes out the composition with lush strings, quavering synth drones and just enough reverb to add some drama to the proceedings. This one would sound as good in a cathedral as it would on the big screen.
SSIEGE “Virgo Oscura” (Knekelhuis)
The Knekelhuis label ends 2022 on a high note with the ambient-leaning ...it wasn't really me compilation, and while the inclusion of artists like Salamanda, Tammo Hesselink and Lara Sarkissian will likely attract the most eyeballs, it’s “Virgo Oscura,” the modest closing number from SSIEGE, that leaves the most lasting impression. The relatively bares-bones track consists of little more than some warm pads and a procession of almost Reichian melodic tones, but that simplicity is alluring all the same; the track feels calm without being sedate, and playful without being silly.
Kendal “Come to Me (Club Mix)” (Dischi Autunno)
Does dance music need another neon-streaked, neo-Italo club anthem? Probably not, especially when labels like Running Back have so thoroughly covered that ground in recent years. That being said, “Come to Me,” the latest single from Kendal, is absolutely glorious. The French producer, who also heads up the Ritmo Fatale label and is one half of Infravision alongside Pablo Bozzi, leans fully into Moroder-style glamor, the song’s sultry whispers and cheesy (in a great way) piano bits joining forces with Kendal’s glittering melodies to form an undeniably euphoric dancefloor romp.
Boylan “High Lite (Sinjin Hawke Remix)” (Moveltraxx)
First released more than a decade ago, Sinjin Hawke’s high-drama rework of Boylan’s “High Life” still sounds triumphant, and completely steals the show on the new archival Traxxology Volume II compilation. (Considering that the record also features heavy-hitting club artists like Kush Jones, DJ Earl, DJ Manny, Funkystepz and DJ Tameil, that’s no easy task.) Even at 10 years of age, the track towers over most contemporary bass tunes, employing falsetto vocals from what sounds like a children’s choir, swaggering (albeit synthesized) horn blasts, fluttering harp melodies and feverish drums that run circles around the dancefloor. It’s big, bold and very, very good.
Notte Infinita “Air Tight” (Oscilla Sound)
Bass music has always been a nebulous term, and over the years it’s become so wide-ranging that it’s now often applied to productions whose low-end dynamics aren’t even all that prominent, let alone interesting. That’s not a problem with “Air Tight,” the hard-hitting opening track from Notte Infinita’s new Atmosphera EP. A relatively stripped-down composition, the dubwise song is all about bassweight, its slowly percolating (and reverb-drenched) rhythms conjuring images of a massive speaker stack that’s been built with a “shiatsu massage” setting. This one will definitely rumble your innards, but getting your guts scrambled rarely feels this satisfying.
That’s all for today’s edition of the newsletter. 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.)
Have a great rest of the year,
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.