First Floor #165 – Apparently People Still Like Books
a.k.a. A big announcement, plus a round-up of the week's electronic music news and a fresh batch of new track recommendations.
I’m not sure how or why, but it’s been kind of a slow week for electronic music. As such, today’s newsletter has a few less links and track recommendations than usual, but there’s still plenty in here to keep you busy for at least the next day or two.
Otherwise, this edition of First Floor features a guest appearance by Doc Sleep, along with a reiteration of my own VERY SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT that you might have seen earlier this week.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
I HAVE A BOOK COMING OUT
Many of you likely caught this news earlier in the week, but it’s worth repeating: I’ll soon be releasing a book called First Floor Volume 1: Reflections on Electronic Music Culture. As the title implies, it’s an outgrowth of the newsletter, and will include many of the essays I’ve written during the past few years, along with exclusive new material and a foreword from Martyn.
The initial response has honestly been incredible, and I want to give a huge thanks to everyone who’s reached out with a note of congratulations / encouragement during the past few days. The book’s official release date is July 7, but anyone who pre-orders it from Velocity Press will receive their copy earlier. (As an added bonus, First Floor subscribers can get a 10% discount if they enter the code FF10 at checkout.) Some book launch events are also in the works, so stay tuned for that.
In the meantime, however, anyone who’s interested in more information about the book and what inspired its contents should check out this introductory / explanatory text that I published on Tuesday:
*REMEMBER: All First Floor subscribers can get 10% off by entering the code FF10 at checkout.
SOME OTHER THINGS I DID / AM DOING
Yesterday the latest episode of First Floor radio aired on dublab BCN, and included new music from artists like Skee Mask, DJ Babatr, Wanderwelle, Mikkel Rev, Andrea, Doc Sleep, LR Groove, Joanne Robertson and others. If you missed it, the archived show (and the complete tracklist) can be found here.
French festival Nuits Sonores will be celebrating its 20th anniversary this May in Lyon, and I’ve been invited to participate in Nuits Sonores Lab, the multi-day conference portion of the event that includes meetings, panels, workshops, listening sessions and more. More specifically, I’ll be moderating a talk on Friday, May 19 called “Impacts(s) and Future of Independent Music Journalism,” the details of which have been posted here.
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 the year or so since pandemic restrictions were removed and dance music got “back to normal,” journalistic discussion of the genre has often taken on a gloomy tone, lamenting that things aren’t the same as they were before. Yet not everyone is espousing a pessimistic view; writing for Mixmag, Vivian Host and Bianca Oblivion (who aside from their individual exploits, also put on a party called Warp Mode) have put together a refreshing and incredibly comprehensive scene report on the Los Angeles rave underground. Brimming with optimism, the piece excitedly documents how a new—and notably diverse—generation of SoCal party people have not only found their way into nightlife, but are rebuilding the culture in their own image.
Earlier this year, Dutch artists Identified Patient and Gamma Intel launched a new label together called Nerve Collect—both men have already contributed a solo EP to the young imprint—and now they’ve interviewed one another in a new feature for Ransom Note, tracing back their long history (the two have known each other since they were kids) and discussing their current musical endeavors.
Pretty much any conversation with Physical Therapy is bound to be enjoyable—which is a big part of why the NYC artist was interviewed here in the newsletter back in 2021—and alongside the exclusive mix he recently delivered for the latest edition of Mixmag’s In Session series, there’s a chat with writer Megan Townsend in which the Nowadays resident talks about his passion for UK sounds, his love of musical rabbit holes and more.
The Smalltown Supersound imprint is getting ready to celebrate the first 20 years of its existence with a sprawling remix anthology that’s due out next month, but before it arrives, writer Daniel Dylan Wray has assembled an introductory guide to the influential Norwegian outpost for Bandcamp Daily, highlighting label-defining releases from artists like Lindstrøm, Prins Thomas, rRoxymore, DJ Harvey and others.
As mentioned earlier, dublab BCN is home to the First Floor radio show, and this week the online station has launched a new crowdfunding campaign to help with operating expenses and ensure its continued survival. Although Barcelona has a reputation as a music / arts hub, these kinds of volunteer-oriented creative communities and spaces are actually exceedingly rare here, so if you’ve ever listened (or would just like to support), then please consider making a donation. (Added bonus: there are all sorts of thank-you gifts available for those that do.)
JUST ANNOUNCED
A round-up of noteworthy new and upcoming releases announced during the past week.
Is minimal techno making a comeback? It doesn’t yet seem that way, but that didn’t stop Ela Minus and DJ Python from enlisting the legendary Ricardo Villalobos to remix two tracks from last year’s ♡ EP. Both reworks—including a nearly 41-minute-long remix of “Abril Lluvias Mil” are available now via the Smugglers Way label.
Maral, who contributed an excellent guest recommendation to First Floor back in January, self-released a new single earlier this week called “wondering dub.” (Side note: the LA-based artist also appears in the latest edition of DJ Mag’s Fresh Kicks series, for which she put together an exclusive mix and was interviewed by journalist Eoin Murray.)
Elijah, the Butterz co-founder who was interviewed here in the newsletter back when his celebrated Yellow Squares project was still in its infancy, announced this week that he’d recently teamed up with Jammz to convert ideas from his distinctive posts into a full-fledged grime album. Entitled Make the Ting and featuring beats from producers like Royal-T and DJ Q, it’s due to arrive on June 30 via his Make the Ting imprint, but first single “Close the App” is already available.
Jessy Lanza dropped a new single called “Don’t Leave Me” on Hyperdub yesterday. Written following the Canadian artist’s move to LA, it seems to indicate that she’s heading in a more overtly pop-oriented direction, and the song’s release was accompanied by a similarly playful music video.
Octave One have a new album on the way. Never on Sunday is the veteran Detroit duo’s first full-length in five years, and contains not only new material, but remixes from artists like Orbital and Skream, amongst others. It’s scheduled for an April 28 release via the brothers’ own 430 West label, but first single “Tiers (Level A)” has already been shared.
Laurent Garnier has completed a new full-length, 33 Tours Et Puis S'en Vont, which the iconic French artist describes as his “most dancefloor-focused yet.” He also announced that following the album’s release—which is slated for May 25 through his COD 3QR label—that he’ll be taking a step back from the heavy touring that has long been a staple of his decades-long career. Before any of that happens, however, Garnier has already shared LP opener “Tales from the Real World,” which features the vocals of late Suicide co-founder Alan Vega.
Shed has always been a man of many aliases, but the German producer has apparently added another one, DD3, to his resume with a new release on his label The Final Experiment. The two-track effort, Fences / ATCX, is available now.
Aasthma, the collaborative endeavor of Peder Mannerfelt and Pär Grindvik, unexpectedly dropped a new release this week, Fragments 02, which contains what the Swedish pair describes as “an ode to Berlin street clubbing” called “Fragments.”
Throughout 2023, UK garage trio TQD (a.k.a. Royal-T, DJ Q and Flava D) has been doing something called TQD Tuesdays, dropping a new single on the last Tuesday of every month. Their latest installment, “nice and close,” arrived earlier this week.
DOC SLEEP HAS BETTER TASTE THAN I DO
First Floor is effectively a one-person operation, but every edition of the newsletter cedes a small portion of the spotlight to an artist, writer or other figure from the music world, inviting them to recommend a piece of music. This week’s installment comes from Doc Sleep, the Berlin-based American artist and Jacktone label co-founder who recently released her debut full-length, Birds (in my mind anyway). A beautiful record that’s easily one of 2023’s best electronic albums to date, it’s also a surprisingly ambient-leaning effort from someone who’s prior efforts have largely been focused on the dancefloor. That newly broadened sound palette is also reflected in her selection here, which dials in on a piece of music from Tár, a film that has embedded itself in Doc Sleep’s brain during the past few weeks.
Hildur Guðnadóttir “For Petra (Vocal Version)” (Deutsche Grammophon)
It’s entirely possible that people are fatigued by discussions around Tár, but the movie just opened on March 2 here in Germany, so impressions of the film and music are still fresh for me. Like the film itself, there are many layers to both Hildur Guðnadóttir’s approach to the project and the final soundtrack. For instance, she introduced “tempo-mapping” to the actors; Cate Blanchett (Lydia Tár in the film) wore an earpiece that played Guðnadóttir’s music at 120 bpm so her internal rhythms, movements and walking cadence would be at the same tempo. For the score, Guðnadóttir wanted to place the viewer in Lydia Tár’s distressed headspace, again exploring this idea of the internal and subconscious. In interviews, Guðnadóttir has even referred to the score as an “invisible layer” or “ghost in the room.”
To help achieve this on a technical level, the sound designers / engineers set her score very low in the mix so it blends into the ambient noise of the locations you see on the screen. Basically, as a viewer, you feel her score more than you actually hear it. As we watch Lydia Tár lose control of her mind and career, the score intensifies the feeling of unease and dread and also mirrors the otherworldly elements and events we see on the screen, indicating that things may not be what they seem. Throughout the film, Lydia Tár is struggling to write an original composition called “For Petra,” and the short melody line you hear her play over and over comes from the finished piece written by Guðnadóttir. Lydia Tár never finishes the piece in the film, so we only hear the final version on Deutsche Grammophon’s TÁR (Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture) release. This vocal version of “For Petra” I’ve selected is also included on the album, and is the first version of the song that Guðnadóttir wrote immediately after reading the script. Brilliant, heady work!
NEW THIS WEEK
The following is a selection of my favorite tunes from releases that came out during the past week or so. ‘The Big Three’ 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. 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
Circular Square “3-HT-(xon)” (Crux Axul)
Crux Axul’s Crux series only started last July, but all three of its offerings to date have been essential listening. The latest is 3-HT-(xon), a bass-heavy club dispatch from Brussels-based Frenchman Circular Square, and the record’s title track is particularly potent, somehow managing to sound hard as nails despite its heavy reliance on a canned flute melody. The song’s sludgy bassline—which brings to mind the extraterrestrial sonics of tech-step giants like Ed Rush & Optical—has a lot to do with that, its bellowing waffle ominously looming atop Circular Square’s jaunty drum patterns and flittering flutes. One of those tunes that simultaneously feels both fast and slow, “3-HT-(xon)” doesn’t neatly fit into any single genre category—except possibly the ever-nebulous “bass music”—but if deployed correctly, it’s more than capable of doing some real damage.
SELVEDGE “CALLING THE STORM” (Self-released)
How is it that Kansas of all places has become such a hotbed for ambient / experimental talent? Artists like Huerco S., Exael, Pontiac Streator and Mister Water Wet all have ties to the place—as do folks like Beta Librae and Umfang, whose more dancefloor-focused creations still aren’t very traditional—and perhaps the time has come to add SELVEDGE to that list of notables. A former comedian whose production efforts can be traced back to his days cutting up music clips to play on a podcast he was co-hosting, he’s spent the past several years turning out a steady stream of noisy, drama-infused electronic soundscapes. CAPACITY is his latest album, and it reaches a turbulent high point on “CALLING THE STORM,” a slow-burning cut on which SELVEDGE’s opening volley of serenely warbling melodies gradually gives way to jagged streaks of distortion. The song’s serrated swirl is sharp enough to cut glass, yet even when the music is at its harshest, there’s real beauty in its static-strewn ascent.
Damian’s Ghost “Voices” (Astrophonica)
Growing up in the US, I never really got to hear jungle on commercial radio, and while I know the genre was never fully mainstream in its native UK, the fact that the occasional crossover tune would get played in regular rotation on the BBC and other massive stations was a source of massive envy for me during the late ’90s and early 2000s. Maybe that’s why I still have a lingering fondness for jungle and drum & bass records with anything resembling a pop sensibility, something that After Life, the new Damian’s Ghost EP, has in spades.
With its lush pads and wistful piano, “Voices” does nod towards the more atmospheric end of the genre, but the track is far too lively to be categorized as a heads-down moper. Its drums alone are bursting with energy, and though the song’s thrumming bassline and recurring (not to mention catchy) vocal refrain (“I hear these voices in my head”) add some soulful depth to the proceedings, they too have the spirit of an unruly kid who’s just barely holding it together before they’re let outside for playtime. “Voices” maintains that tricky balance throughout its five-and-half-minute runtime, and the interplay between its polished cool and rambunctious romp is a big part of what makes it so good.
BEST OF THE REST
Soreab “Dust Eater” (Avian)
“Dust Eater,” a slinky, genre-melding standout from Soreab’s new Sensitivity 6.0 EP, is one of those tunes that’s bound leave people asking, “What is this?” (In a good way.) The track, which Avian describes as “somewhere between autonomic drum & bass and dub techno,” definitely has a dark and moody vibe, but with its elastically throbbing basslines and restless rhythms, it also feels like the London producer tossed a pinch of dancehall into the pot. “Wot do u call it?” When something sounds this good, who cares?
Reedale Rise “Littoral Zone” (Delsin)
The Delsin label bills Sesuvium, the latest EP from Reedale Rise, as a showcase of the Liverpool producer’s “emotionally inquisitive electro.” That’s not a bad description, but opening cut “Littoral Zone” cruises into a dreamy—and more overtly tripped-out—space, its bubbling, IDM-adjacent rhythms combining with the song’s pastel hues and new age zen to form something that Aphex Twin might have dreamed up if he’d been asked to contribute to a Pure Moods compilation back in the ’90s.
Upwellings “Lark Dub (Bluetrain Special Edition Dub)” (Greyscale)
Dance music can sometimes feel like a production arms race, with beatmakers everywhere constantly innovating new sounds and new ways of blowing listeners’ minds. There’s something thrilling about that, but at the same time, not every tune needs to reinvent the wheel. This “Special Edition Dub” of Upwellings’ “Lark Dub” is a functional, no-frills track, and its cozy, reverb-glazed groove is as comfortable as an old pair of jeans, but thanks to Bluetrain (a.k.a. dub-techno veteran Steve O’Sullivan)—who’s injected the song with a subtly funky, house-indebted strut—there’s nothing snoozy about it.
marine eyes “Pink Moment” (Stereoscenic)
When LA ambient artist marine eyes’ idyll album first dropped in 2021, I completely missed it. However, luckily for me (and anyone else who didn’t catch the record the first time around), it’s now been freshly reissued in a newly expanded edition that includes an entire album’s worth of additional material, including b-sides, remixes and alternate takes. That stuff is absolutely worth exploring, but it’s the idyll originals that still sound best—especially “Pink Moment,” a patient piece of songcraft on which marine eyes’ dulcet vocal tones take flight atop softly strummed guitar and a bed of pillow-soft drones.
Jonquera “Champ de Cotons-tiges” (Berceuse Heroique)
The ’80s new age vibes are strong on “Champ de Cotons-tiges,” a delightfully tinny highlight of Jonquera’s new Primitive Sounds of Intermittence LP. Built around a procession of sparkling chimes—Is that a xylophone? A marimba? It ultimately doesn’t matter, because the whole song is fantastically artificial—“Champ de Cotons-tiges” maintains an unhurried pace, but thanks to its occasional outbursts of squealing synths and barely-there flute melodies, the track exudes a real sense of vibrance, transcending the zoned-out ashram-core that often defines this kind of music.
That’s all for 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.)
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.