First Floor #168 – Those Numbers Look Bad
a.k.a. The seemingly precarious state of music crypto's most exclusive social club, plus a round-up of the week's electronic music news and a fresh batch of new track recommendations.
I’ve almost finished the book. That’s exciting (at least for me).
In the meantime though, I did carve out a little time this week to revisit Friends with Benefits, a decentralized (i.e. crypto-based) music-and-arts-oriented community that was once widely touted as a potentially world-changing '“digital Soho House.” More details are below, but I’ll just say that after looking at the organization’s current finances and goings on, things at FWB… well, they don’t look great.
Elsewhere, today’s newsletter features a special guest appearance by Jonny from Space (a.k.a. one of Miami dance music’s MVPs), along with all the usual First Floor stuff: news, links, music recommendations… you know the drill.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
Every Tuesday, First Floor publishes a long-form piece that’s exclusively made available to paid newsletter subscribers only. The latest one takes a fresh look at high-profile crypto community Friends with Benefits, diving into its (publicly available) finances and membership votes and finding what looks like a lot of instability, not to mention a number of questionable strategic decisions both past and present. Considering the attention showered on FWB when crypto hype was running high, not to mention the organization’s own utopian messaging, it sure looks like things have gone awry.
DUBLAB BCN NEEDS HELP
dublab bcn, the Barcelona branch of longtime radio outlet dublab, is currently in the middle of a fundraiser, and as the campaign is nearing its end, the station is still well short of what it needs. Although Barcelona has a reputation as a hub for music and culture—a reputation artificially bolstered by its festivals—these kinds of community- and volunteer-oriented creative projects are actually both relatively rare and visibly under-resourced. dublab bcn is the home of my monthly First Floor radio show, and if these fundraising targets aren’t met, it’s unclear at what level the station will be able to continue operating, so please give a little something if you can. (As an added bonus, some very cool thank-you gifts are available.)
ANOTHER THING I DID
A couple of weeks ago, I was a guest on CONVO, a bimonthly podcast hosted by Songcamp’s Mark Redito. The episode was called “The Evolving Landscape of Music Culture,” and our lengthy conversation covered “the current state of music journalism, intergenerational tensions, the future of underground music, algorithmic curation and the impact of emerging technologies on art and music.” (We actually covered even more than that—a fuller description is here.) The video version is available now on YouTube, while the audio can be found on all major podcast platforms.
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.
Pitchfork writer / editor Philip Sherburne, who’s often cited as one of electronic music’s best journalists—and who was also interviewed in First Floor last year—launched a newsletter of his own this week. It’s called Futurism Restated, and will focus on recommending new releases that he isn’t able to write about elsewhere.
The 2022 opening of Frankfurt’s Museum of Modern Electronic Music touched off an international debate about the origins of techno, which prompted the New Yorker to take a closer look. Written by T. M. Brown, the resulting feature unwinds the genre’s complex history while traveling to both Frankfurt and Detroit, in the latter visiting the Exhibit 3000 museum and hearing the perspectives of Underground Resistance’s John Collins and Mike Banks.
Apparently Luke Jenner, best known as the lead singer of dance-punk outfit The Rapture, is now working as a life coach. In a new Billboard interview with Katie Bain, he explains how he wound up in that line of work, and also reflects on how getting sober strained his relationship with his former bandmates.
Even as someone who’s not particularly interested in TikTok itself, I was very interested to see that The Baffler commissioned David Turner—author of the excellent Penny Fractions newsletter—to put together an article laying out the platform’s shaky underlying business model and explaining why its current cultural ubiquity is not a guarantee of future success.
The latest edition of DJ Mag’s label-focused The Sound of series puts a spotlight on UK imprint Wisdom Teeth. In a conversation with writer Eoin Murray, co-founders Facta and K-LONE discuss their outpost’s origins and evolution, and the two also have contributed an exclusive mix consisting solely of Widsom Teeth tunes.
Fresh off the released of his new Crystal Vision LP, Nathan Fake has taken part in The Ransom Notes’ Track by Track feature series, breaking down the album by providing a little behind-the-scenes knowledge about each song on the record.
Before Fuse—the first Everything but the Girl album in 24 years—drops tomorrow, Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt have been interviewed by Mixmag’s Isaac Muk about the new LP and what prompted their return to the project.
Looking back, UK dubplate culture was largely the byproduct of a very particular moment in the history of both music and technology, and a new DJ Mag feature by Joe Roberts revisits that moment, talking to artists for whom the cutting of acetates was central to their practice, and also looks at how the culture still lives on today.
JUST ANNOUNCED
A round-up of noteworthy new and upcoming releases announced during the past week.
Caterina Barbieri has a new LP ready to drop. Myuthafoo was written at the same time as 2019’s Ecstatic Computation—the Italian synthesist refers to the two as sister albums—and it will be released on June 16 via her own light-years imprint. Ahead of that, she’s shared one track, “Math of You,” and she’s also the subject of an in-depth new Mixmag feature by writer Chal Ravens.
Is bloghouse making a comeback? Maybe so, because this week Crookers ended a lengthy hiatus with a new record on Chloé Robinson’s Pretty Weird label. The cheekily titled I Hope This EP Finds You Well is out now, and includes both a guest vocal from Mr. Oizo and a remix by Nikki Nair + DJ ADHD.
Following up on last year’s Around the Sun Pt. 1 album, Mr. Fingers (a.k.a. house icon Larry Heard) has a sequel on the way. The genre-hopping Around the Sun Pt. 2 is due to arrive on May 29 via his own Alleviated imprint, and preview clips of its 10 tracks can be heard here.
Blawan has completed a new EP for XL Recordings. Dismantled into Juice is said to take the Berlin-based British artist even further away from the techno genre, and will be released on May 17. In the meantime, opening track “Toast” has been made available.
Perko, who’s been doing a rather amazing job curating the FELT label, will soon be returning to the Numbers imprint with a new EP of his own. Prang / Sisu is slated to arrive on May 12, and both of its tracks are collaborations. “Sisu” features the vocals of Cucina Povera, while “Prang”—which has already been shared—was made alongside Huerco S. during a joint residency in Iceland.
Norwegian saxophonist and experimental artist Bendik Giske—who will make another appearance later in today’s newsletter—has lined up another full-length with the Smalltown Supersound label. The self-titled LP, which is scheduled for a June 9 release, was produced by Beatrice Dillon, and album cut “Rush” is available now.
If the caffeinated bounce of lead track “Workahul” is any indication, the freshly announced Minor Science EP is going to be a whole lot ravier than the UK producer’s 2020 debut album Second Language. Entitled 064, the record will be issued on May 5 by the AD 93 imprint.
3024 label boss Martyn has apparently been playing with modular synths, and used them to make “Humble Yourself to the Art Form,” a new track from his Gabe & Jude alias. It’s available now on Bandcamp. (Full disclosure: Martyn also wrote the foreword to my upcoming book.)
a.s.o. is a collaboration between Berlin-based Australians Tornado Wallace and Alias Error, and after dropping a pair of singles earlier this year, the two have completed an album rooted in the idea of “emotionally complex, trip-hop torch songs for club freaks.” The self-titled LP will drop on June 2 through Low Lying Records, but several tracks from the record can already be heard here.
JONNY FROM SPACE 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 Jonny from Space, a DJ, producer, promoter and beloved man about Miami. The city’s dance music scene has received a lot of attention during the past year or so, and Jonny has quietly been one of the key figures making that happen, elevating a new crop of young talent while actively broadening local nightlife offerings beyond EDM and tech house. A talented artist in his own right, he’s appeared on Danny Daze’s Omnidisc label, and has also collaborated with both Daze and fellow Miami artist Coffintexts. Given his busy schedule, we’re lucky that he found a few minutes to share this vintage Japanese gem.
Yoshio Ojima “Days-Man” (FGW)
I love and have been deeply inspired by Japanese electronic and ambient music from the ’80s for some time now and have always been amazed by their achievements in a time when a major shift in music technology was happening. Yoshio Ojima was one of the geniuses at the forefront, and was also responsible for helping start the careers of other music pioneers that I love like Ryoji Ikeda and Hiroshi Yoshimura. One of Ojima’s most monumental works was his 1988 album Music for Spiral, an iconic body of work in the ambient world, but for the sake of this pick, there is one track that stands out from his 1983 album Club. Yoshio really experiments and takes risks with “Days-Man,” a proto-techno gem that still feels like it’s from the future even after 40 years. The tripped-out groove and melody just keeps taking you higher and higher through its five-minute span, and then the song suddenly (but gently) brings you back down to your feet. It’s a masterpiece and something that was ahead of its time. Maybe it still is.
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
Chantal Michelle “Celestia (feat. Brian Allen Simon)” (Somewhere Between Tapes)
Chantal Michelle “Broken to Echoes” (Somewhere Between Tapes)
Are those field recordings of actual waves, or crinkling sheets of static? Listening to “Celestia,” it’s honestly difficult to know the answer, but the track—a clear high point of Chantal Michelle’s fantastic new Broken to Echoes release—is spellbinding all the same. The song’s opening moments offer a dreamy mélange of softly struck melodies and oddly elegant distortion, but once saxophonist Brian Allen Simon (a.k.a. Anenon) enters the fray, the haze quickly clears, his brassy explorations evoking images of grand coastal expanses beneath a moonlit night sky. “Broken to Echoes,” on the other hand, is completely untethered to the earth, a suite of devotional drones, sparkling melodies and ethereal vocal remnants that floats off into the clouds before it suddenly disappears altogether.
The Creative Technology Consortium “Down the Hall - What We Make Happen” (Dark Entries)
The Creative Technology Consortium “Sympathetic Ear” (Dark Entries)
Lots of musicians cite film and television as an influence, but The Creative Technology Consortium—a collaboration between Chicago veterans Traxx, Andrew Bisenius and Jason Letkiewicz—zeroes in specifically on the celluloid soundtracks of the ’80s and ’90s, their synth-heavy creations sure to ring familiar to anyone who ever spent a weekend watching sleazy thrillers and ham-fisted action flicks on VHS. The project’s debut album, Panoramic Coloursound, is a sprawling, 25-track monster (it also happens to be the Dark Entries label’s 300th release), and while its krautrock concoctions and boogie-funk re-enactments slither into innumerable corners of (largely forgotten) movie history, the psychedelic lethargy of “Down the Hall - What We Make Happen” proves to be particularly memorable, the melodic drift of its splotchy synths complemented by what sounds like a leisurely bongo rhythm. The “Sympathetic Ear,” another standout, brings a bit more grit and grime into the mix, its hypnotic palette ultimately sitting somewhere between Kraftwerk and a freaky no wave record.
Violeta Vicci “Ombra” (Fabrique)
Violeta Vicci “Diavolezza” (Fabrique)
Inspired by the Swiss alpine valley where Violeta Vicci spent her childhood summers, Cavaglia is a truly majestic album, one whose melodies shine like the sun glinting off the crystal-clear waters of a mountain lake. Heightening the drama of it all are two elements: Vicci’s stirring violin, and the soaring vocal choirs she’s assembled using layers of her own voice. The latter looms especially large on “Ombra,” on which her vocals ascend to celestial heights—and at times recall the background howls of Kanye West’s “Wolves”—while down on the ground, a series of bells gently chime, prompting thoughts of farm animals moseying across a verdant pasture. “Diavolezza,” on the other hand, is where the violin is really put to work, and though the song retains a kind of regal sensibility, Vicci’s occasionally frenzied playing brings a much-needed hint of chaos to what’s otherwise a rather stately affair.
BEST OF THE REST
Purelink “Not That Deep” (NAFF)
There’s no shortage of ambient music in the world, but Purelink continue to carve out their own uniquely swirly corner of the genre on the new To / Deep EP. The record includes “Maintain the Bliss,” a simmering, soft-focus gem the Chicago trio first dropped in 2021, and while that still sounds incredible, the euphorically zoned-out “Not That Deep” might be even better, its static-kissed churn weightlessly tumbling through the cosmos.
Bendik Giske “Adjust (Total Freedom Remix)” (Smalltown Supersound)
Although this tune isn’t technically new—it was first released in 2018 as part of Bendik Giske’s Adjust EP—it is newly reissued, appearing on Smalltown Supersound’s mammoth Remix Anthology Vol. 1-4 2002-2022. The 40-track collection has plenty of star power, but Total Freedom, despite being a truly phenomenal DJ, is someone whose name has only appeared on a handful of productions over the years, and here he transforms “Adjust” into a stormy maelstrom, combining literal rain sounds with a bubbling tumult of fuzzy textures, synth loops and disembodied vocal snippets, ultimately sounding a bit like Actress—only weirder (in a great way).
patten “Forgot Me” (555-5555)
In recent months we’ve all been bombarded with messages touting the revolutionary potential of artificial intelligence, but when it comes to music, most applications of the technology—at least so far—have turned out some pretty corny results. Mirage FM, the latest album from patten, bucks that trend. Perhaps it’s because the UK experimenter didn’t allow the machines to take over completely, instead using a text-to-audio AI tool to generate literally hours of samples, which he then whittled down, chopped up and refashioned into a kind of not-quite-human mixtape. Its various tunes all act as miniature funhouse mirrors, reflecting back warped fragments of pop history, and the glimmering “Forgot Me” might be the best of the bunch, its breathy shuffle transporting listeners to an uncanny valley of ’90s R&B slow jams. (For more details, also check out patten’s appearance on the latest episode of Mat Dryhurst and Holly Herndon’s Interdependence podcast.)
Karen Vogt “Corvette” (Waxing Crescent)
Concept albums can be difficult to pull off, and Le Mans—a record that consists of nothing but Karen Vogt’s voice and manipulated recordings of the famed 24-hour French automobile race—could have easily wound up sounding like a long-form gimmick. To Vogt’s credit, it very much does not, as the Paris-based Australian has artfully tamed the zooming flurry of passing vehicles; LP standout “Corvette” does retain a bit of race-day tension, but its angelic (and feverishly panning) vocal melodies take the proceedings to a more ethereal place.
Penelope Trappes “Voices That Will Not Be Drowned” (Nite Hive)
Consisting of nothing but “her voice, an upright piano and an old German reel-to-reel tape deck,” Heavenly Spheres is a showcase for avant-goth Penelope Trappes at her most bare, and the lack of adornment suits her. Like many of the songs on the album, “Voices That Will Not Be Drowned” creaks and crackles, its persistent haze of static sounding like a stiff outdoor wind as Trappes lets her mischievous vocal utterances drift into the darkest corners of the room. Working in combination with the track’s stark piano chords, they make for a properly spooky affair.
DJ Trystero “Ashlar” (Incienso)
Having previously dropped a couple of EPs on The Trilogy Tapes and a mixtape for uber-hip clothing label Cav Empt, Japan’s DY Trystero—who also heads up the City-2 St. Giga label—definitely falls into the “your favorite DJ’s favorite DJ” category, and his debut full-length Castillo is an exceedingly smooth ride. It’s nominally house music, albeit in the absolute chillest sense of the word, and LP opener “Ashlar” kicks things off with gloopy Balearic chords and the easygoing confidence of an old surf dog.
MoMA Ready “Space Traxx” (Self-released)
A meditation on the life cycle of love and romance—and more specifically, how it plays out in a place like New York—Faith in Us is the latest album from MoMA Ready. Stripped down without sounding raw and polished without sounding slick, the record charts a more openly vulnerable course than much of the HAUS of ALTR founder’s past work, and the heavy use of his own talk-singing—much of it directly addressing a romantic partner—gives the music a notably human touch, echoing Larry Heard, Aaron-Carl and other Midwestern deep house greats. That said, LP standout “Space Traxx” still bumps, and the song’s sci-fi synths add to its sensual allure.
DALO “GUM” (Tresor)
After years of playing together as INIT, DALO and Benedikt Frey are dedicating 2023 to the pursuit of their respective solo projects. GUM is the former’s first official offering of the year (not to mention her Tresor debut), and the record’s title track is a taut techno ripper, its insistent pulse bolstered by serpentine acid lines, ghostly groans, haunting clips of DALO’s own voice and a percussive attack that seems to grow more intense with each passing moment.
Quartz “Notice the Reverse” (Metalheadz)
“Notice the Reverse” is not a mellow tune. It’s Godzilla riding an Amen break, a stadium-sized slice of drum & bass that appears ready—and willing—to level whatever lies in its path. Yet even with all that muscle, the track—a standout on Quartz’s new Blacklist EP—is not without groove. Beneath the marauding basslines and industrial clatter lies a sashaying sense of funk, subtly swinging its hips as it brings down the wrecking ball.
That bring us to the end of today’s 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 one,
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.