First Floor #209 – Trapped in a Game We Didn't Ask to Play
a.k.a. The impact of the internet and social media on culture, plus a round-up of the latest electronic music news and a fresh batch of new track recommendations.
Whenever I publish something here in the newsletter, I usually get at least a few responses, but after my latest essay—which, in truth, was essentially a response to another essay I read—went live on Tuesday, I received an unexpectedly large number of texts and emails, many of them from people who hardly ever comment on my work. I’m guessing that the universality of subject matter (i.e. the internet, social media and how they’re making people crazy) had something to do with it, as online platforms have become so ubiquitous and seemingly inescapable that pretty much everyone is feeling their impact.
That essay is below—and is temporarily paywall-free—but of course today’s First Floor digest has all the usual electronic music goodies too. Read on to find an assortment of news items, links to interesting articles and new release announcements, plus my latest batch of track recommendations, all taken from music that surfaced during the past week. I’ve also received a little bit of help on the recommendation front, as Arushi Jain, the self-described “modular princess” has stopped by to share one of her personal favorites.
Let’s get started.
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, which is now (temporarily) open to everyone, is an essay examining how the internet, and social media in particular, have completely reshaped electronic music culture, installing an increasingly dominant system of communication that makes nuanced discussion all but impossible while incentivizing some of our ugliest impulses.
ANOTHER THING I’M DOING
This Sunday, March 17, I’ll be having a live online chat with writer Tamara Palmer as part of her Music Book Club conversation series. As you might expect, we’ll be talking about my book, First Floor Vol. 1: Reflections on Electronic Music Culture, along with my work as a music journalist and what I’ve done here in the newsletter during the past few years. It all gets started at 12pm PT / 3pm ET / 8pm CET, and you can join us at the following Zoom link.
In the meantime, Tamara has put together a little First Floor tribute mix, which she assembled using only songs from the last few editions of my annual year-end favorites lists.
REAL QUICK
A round-up of the last week’s most interesting electronic music news, plus links to interviews, articles and other things I think are worth sharing.
Devoted to live music—not concert reviews, but the actual business and culture of contemporary live music experiences—We Outside is a new column that Pranav Trewn is doing for Passion of the Weiss, and it started with a bang this week, arguing that 2024’s slumping festival economy is the “canary in the coal mine for music curiosity.” It covers a lot of ground (e.g. how streaming has homogenized listeners’ tastes; the decline of mass-appeal, multi-day festivals; the rise of genre-specific and largely nostalgia-driven single-day festivals) and paints a pretty grim picture about not only the modern-day live music industry, but the state of contemporary music fandom.
On a much brighter note, this week an international network of festivals, clubs and promoters—including Dekmantel, Bassiani, Basement, WOMB and others—announced the launch of Support the Sound, a new initiative that’s designed to more fairly distribute the income generated by music events. Conceived in partnership with Aslice, the intent is to directly encourage DJs to share a portion of their earnings with the artists whose music they play in their sets. In 2024, the project will largely be focused on education, with participating promoters educating DJs and their agents about the benefits of Aslice and why this sort of revenue sharing is necessary at this time. Once 2025 rolls around, all DJs who perform at Support the Sound venues / events will be asked to share their playlists (and presumably a portion of their fees). If DJs at that time choose not to participate, the organization says, “our values might not align, which may affect future bookings and collaborations.”
One of the most baffling things in contemporary electronic music journalism is that even as both the industry and listeners have increasingly looked beyond Europe and North America for new sounds, publications almost never seem to hire writers and editors from Latin America, Africa, Asia, etc. to report on the music that’s happening in their own backyard. That’s why the Unsound festival deserves some major kudos for enlisting Brazilian journalist GG Albuquerque to pen “A Brief Overview of Brazilian Funk” for its Unsound Dispatch newsletter. A follow-up to a talk he gave at last year’s festival in Kraków, the article was actually published in January—my thanks to Philip Sherburne for highlighting it in the latest edition of his Futurism Restated newsletter—and though it’s more of a primer than a proper deep dive, it’s absolutely something that should be happening a lot more often.
What is neo-breakcore? Did breakcore ever really stop? That debate is probably best left to angry dudes on Reddit, but in a new article for Nina, writer Leah Mandel provides a brief history of the genre before highlighting some of its most promising new participants. As she explains, regardless of whether breakcore is “back” or never went away, there’s a definitely a new generation of weirdos making ear-splitting rave sounds.
French touch is one of those dance music terms that gets thrown around all the time, despite the fact that a concrete definition of exactly what it is (and isn’t) often proves elusive. Writer Ben Cardew—who helpfully lived in Paris in 1997 and 1998, when French touch was at its height—does his best to provide a little clarity in his latest Line Noise newsletter, putting a particular focus on Sacrebleu, the 1996 debut album from Dimitri from Paris.
The closing of Amsterdam nightclub De School earlier this year was a legitimate “big deal” in the dance music world—or at least a sizable corner of it—so it was a real surprise when it was announced this week that a new club, Tilla Tec, would soon be opening in the exact same building. The team behind Tilla Tec, which includes Lola Edo and Samuel King of popular queer bar Pamela, intends to focus its programming on queer and POC talent, and told the Het Parool newspaper that they have secured a one-year lease. At present, they’re in the process of renovating the building, which they plan to use in a completely different way than De School, and they plan to open the venue on April 12. (Side note: The same Het Parool article also revealed that the building’s owners did offer the De School team a chance to extend their lease, but they declined and elected to go ahead with their closing, which had been planned well in advance.)
Hyperdub is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, and though the London label, which is headed up by Kode9, has always operated independently, it was reported by Music Week this past Tuesday that a new partnership had been formed with the Beggars Group, home to imprints like 4AD, XL, Matador and True Panther. This deal, which may help explain Burial’s recent 12” on XL, is focused on publishing, and will see Beggars “take over administration of Hyperdub’s existing catalogue, as well as working on new signings.”
OBLIGATORY BOOK MENTION
My first book is out now. It’s called First Floor Vol. 1: Reflections on Electronic Music Culture, and you can order it from my publisher Velocity Press. However, if you’re outside of the UK, I’d actually recommend either inquiring at your favorite local bookshop or trying one of the online sales links I’ve compiled here.
JUST ANNOUNCED
A round-up of noteworthy new and upcoming releases announced during the past week.
Right after last week’s First Floor digest was mailed out, Physical Therapy and Nick León unveiled a collaborative record called Genesis on the former’s Allergy Season imprint. Available now, it includes remixes from DJ SWISHA, SEL.6 and Peter Pressure (one of the many aliases the fun-loving Physical Therapy has donned over the years).
Fresh off her Goodbye, Hotel Arkada album that surfaced late last year, harpist Mary Lattimore has completed another full-length, Rain on the Road, that she made in collaboration with composer and accordion player Walt McClements. It’s scheduled to arrive on May 10 via the Thrill Jockey label, but LP cut “Nest of Earrings” is available now.
Returning to his L.B. Dub Corp alias for the first time in several years, veteran producer Luke Slater—who also makes music as Planetary Assault Systems, and has used several other monikers during the course of his career—will soon be releasing an LP on the Dekmantel label. Entitled Saturn to Home, it’s due to surface on May 10, but first single “You Got Me,” which features a vocal turn from the legendary Robert Owens, has already been shared.
Soichi Terada is one of Japan’s most celebrated house producers, but during the ’90s and 2000s he famously scored music for video games, including the celebrated Ape Escape series. That music, much of it heavily influenced by jungle and drum & bass, helped seed an entire generation of ravers around the globe, and now the Rush Hour label has collected a number of Terada’s Ape Escape productions on a new record, Apes in the Net. It’s available now.
Between her Broken to Echoes album and the follow-up 66 Rue L EP, ambient / experimental artist Chantal Michelle had an excellent 2023, and now she’s prepped a new release, the cryptically titled ℎ− 2− ℎ− − 2 ℎ−. Originally created as a multi-channel installation, the work also features Joanna Mattrey on viola and Lea Bertucci on alto saxophone, and it’s slated to arrive on April 12 via the Dinzu Artefacts imprint. Ahead of that, the track “the gradual destruction or dimunition of something” has already been shared.
Following a long string of quality EPs, Otik released his long-awaited debut full-length, Cosmosis, on the 3024 label last year, and now he’s quickly returned to the imprint with a new record. The Cloud Runner EP is said to be “loosely based on the musical interpretations of the London-based producer’s favorite movies,” and though it’s scheduled for an April 5 release, the track “Theta” is available now.
Keeping things in the realm of UK bass music, the Livity Sound label’s next release will be an EP from DJ Polo. The Bristol-based producer is largely known as something of a torchbearer for the UK funky sound, but this new record, If the Glove Fits, apparently branches out, “taking influence from gqom, techno and Afrobeats.” It will be available in full on March 29, but opening number “Bloodhound” has already been shared.
ARUSHI JAIN HAS BETTER TASTE THAN I DO
First Floor is effectively a one-person operation, but every edition of the Thursday digest 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. Today’s recommendation comes from Arushi Jain, a New York-based artist whose acclaimed 2021 debut album, Under the Lilac Sky, successfully connected the dots between Indian classical music and modular synthesis. Her upcoming Delight LP, which is due to arrive later this month via Leaving Records, builds upon that palette, bringing additional instrumentation—and more of Jain’s voice—into the mix, but here the Indian-born artist shares something that reminds her of the time she spent living in San Francisco.
Gi Gi “Delft” (INDEX:Records)
“Delft” is taken from a 2022 album called Lamella Pressed. Listening to Gi Gi reminds me of how I felt taking cold plunges in the waters of Northern California. My time in the Bay Area was precious; not only was Under the Lilac Sky born there, but the place also taught me patience. It was there that I learned how to search the sky for glimmer, and that warmth is carried on the inside, inextinguishable by the even coldest wind or sea of fog. Outside the fleeting three months of summer, windy San Francisco always stayed cool, regardless of how toasty the afternoon sun felt just moments prior. Thirsty, I would often sit by the light-drenched window at the adored Cafe Revolution in the Mission on a weekday at noon. One book, two paying customers and a jazz trio was my preferred ratio, and the icy beer in my hand mirrored my plunges into the sea—chilled on the outside, toasty once I started swimming and so refreshing and crisp, just like Gi Gi. :)
NEW THIS WEEK
The following is a selection of my favorite tunes from releases that came out during the past week or so. 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.
AAAA “Maquinas de Humo” (Self-released)
The hype around so-called “Latin club” is still burning white hot, and like most trends of this nature, the majority of the attention has been focused on new artists, or at least the ones that are “new” to tastemakers in Europe and North America. Perhaps that’s why AAAA has been largely left out of the conversation. The Mexican producer has been active for more than a decade, and his past output—which includes a number of collaborations with fellow acid specialist Tin Man in their joint DOVS project—has appeared on established (and non-Latin-coded) labels like Omnidisc, Acid Test and Acid Avengers. (Yes, the guy likes acid.) And while it’s true that his music rarely deals in dembow and reggaeton rhythms, that’s no reason to overlook his work, which has always been excellent. Groove Workouts is his latest release, and though he says it’s a collection of tracks “para el dance floor,” the helium-voiced “Maquinas de Humos” is more like a blissed-out slice of digital trip-hop. The dominant mood is one of euphoria, but those expectingly a frictionless ride should be advised that AAAA has peppered the track with intermittent outbursts of rowdy Amen breaks.
Doc Sleep “Professor Eucalyptus” (Dark Entries)
Doc Sleep “Cloud Sight Fade” (Dark Entries)
After her impromptu excursion into ambient(ish) territory resulted in Birds (in my mind anyway), one of the best (and most egregiously slept-on) electronic albums of 2023, Doc Sleep has quickly returned with a new full-length, Cloud Sight Fade. Billed as something of a return to the dancefloor, the new record certainly features more direct nods to house and techno than its predecessor, but it’s still a rather dreamy affair, most notably on LP opener “Professor Eucalyptus.” A deeply chilled cut, its bloopy synths are ideal for a relaxed afternoon of cloudgazing, but the song’s percolating hi-hats ensure that things never feel truly snoozy. Even livelier is the album’s excellent title track, which pairs its wiggly pastel melodies with a perky house beat. Perfect for a late-night crowd, it’s proof that Doc Sleep’s talents shine just as bright at 4 a.m. as they do at 4 p.m.
Jasmine Wood “IV” (AD 93)
Piano Reverb is the first album Jasmine Wood has ever released under her own name, and its title is meant to be instructive. Working on an antique grand piano at St. Finian's Church in Dublin (the city where she currently resides), she decided to record just the reverb that followed each note. The resulting audio fragments became the building blocks of the LP, and what immediately stands out is how many of those fragments barely sound like a piano at all. More than anything, Piano Reverb is a drone record, one whose warbling tones exude a palpable sense of tenderness. That said, album highlight “IV” balances that tenderness with a muscular brawn, its growling expanse—which has been adorned with church bells, snippets of conversation and a melancholy a tin whistle—sounding like the epic guitar wanderings of Stephen O’Malley.
NEW CORRODED “Gushing” (VAST HABITAT)
Throughout the 2010s, Shifted was one of techno’s most consistent (and consistently interesting) artists, but ever since Guy Brewer set that moniker—and, to a certain degree, that genre—aside, he’s been making some of the most adventurous music of his career. Following multiple solo outings as Carrier and an additional tape of “technoid alchemy” as Tradecraft, the Belgium-based producer has now unveiled NEW CORRODED, a collaborative endeavor with LA artist Daniel Lea (a.k.a. CURA MACHINES). Pass Lightly is the project’s debut album, and it deals in a chuggy strain of industrial-tinged techno, albeit one that prioritizes visceral sound design over classic EBM worship. The whole LP is strong, but “Gushing” stands out, its hypnotic churn barely containing the track’s brute force.
Debba “Just Wanna” (Kaizen)
“Just Wanna” is the title track of an EP that dropped last Friday, but it honestly sounds like something a young Joy Orbison might have made back in 2009. Back when people were still regularly using terms like “future garage” and “post-dubstep,” tunes like this were everywhere—and they were great! So yes, nostalgia is part of the appeal here, but who else is making this sort of hooky, R&B-inflected, bass-infused, garage-adjacent music right now? Hardly anyone, so it’s hard to blame UK producer Debba for taking up residence in a zone that his peers have all but abandoned. It’s fertile ground he’s occupying, and the delightful “Just Wanna”—along with pretty much the whole EP it’s taken from—is something you can happily listen to on repeat.
MPU101 “doepfARP” (Ilian Tape)
Skee Mask may be Ilian Tape’s Most Valuable Player, but his labelmate MPU101 (who also occasionally operates under the name MPU420) increasingly looks like the fast-rising youngster who’ll soon be awarded with his first massive contract. (My apologies to anyone reading this who doesn’t follow sports. I assure you that analogy made sense, and basically just asserted that MPU101 is someone who you probably don’t know yet, but should probably keep your eye on.) MPU104 is his fourth album-length release in four years—it’s not clear if any of them are officially considered to be albums—and while its 11 tracks all offer a sort of woozy, sci-fi-infused ambient, “doepfARP” is the record’s most striking selection. Presumably something the Bavaria-based producer created using Doepfer and ARP synth modules, it’s built around an elegant (albeit unfussy) melody, one that’s been dusted in a soft layer of static. Pensive but never narcotic, it emits a real sense of warmth, and is perfect for those moments when you want to relax, close your eyes and let your imagination run wild for a little while.
Florian T M Zeisig “Lapis” (STROOM)
Space Night is a daily, late-night / early-morning German television program that pairs footage of outer space with chillout music. Having debuted in 1994, it’s still on the air today, and during the late ’90s, it was a staple of young Florian T M Zeisig’s viewing diet. As he explained in a recent interview with Zen Sounds, he accidentally stumbled upon the show a few years back, and then began producing music while watching old Space Night episodes on mute. His new Planet Inc album is the end result, and its lush textures brilliantly capture the infinite glide one would feel while floating through the cosmos. Unburdened by gravity, or even heavy percussion, his compositions exude a sort of celestial grace, and the shimmering “Lapis” is the most captivating of the bunch, its heavy-lidded beat ticking along beneath a mysteriously glowing fog.
Nexcyia “Vanity Mirror” (Pensaments Sònics)
We really need a name for all the ambient and ambient-adjacent music being produced by labels like 3XL and West Mineral Ltd. Post-ambient? Ambient-not-ambient? Something more descriptive, like digital drift? I don’t have the answer, but whatever this stuff is called, Nexciya’s new Endless Path of Memory slides perfectly into that particular soundworld. Arriving on Pensaments Sònics, an offshoot of John Talabot’s Hivern Discs imprint, the release never stays in one place too long, offering moody soundscapes one minute and distortion-laced IDM the next. The work of someone like Actress comes to mind, though Nexcyia seems less interested in playing with house and techno tropes. He’s at his best on the vaporous “Vanity Mirror,” a beatless number that almost seems like a haunted slice of new age, its twisted (albeit lovely) melodies ringing out and then quickly evaporating into thin air.
Billy Bultheel “Decreation” (PAN)
Though he has a long history of collaborating with artists like Anne Imhof, experimental composer Billy Bultheel is stepping out on his own for the first time with the Two Cycles album. Split into two halves, the LP opens with the Snow Cycle, showcasing his electro-acoustic and compositional work, while the closing Game Cycle contains his more overtly electronic productions. That’s where “Decreation” is located, and it’s a serrated beast of a track, a slow-motion stalker that wraps each one of its punishing percussive strikes in a thicket of gnashing static. Friendly it is not, but Bultheel seems far more interested in nightmares than sweet dreams, and what’s most impressive is his ability to chart a course through the darkness without resorting to cartoonish cliché.
Purelink “Loon E” (Wisdom Teeth)
Cousin “tooth 4 tooth” (Wisdom Teeth)
K-LONE “Water Palace” (Wisdom Teeth)
Maya Q “Starbust” (Wisdom Teeth)
I’m not sure that I’ve ever featured four separate tracks from a single release here in First Floor, but the new Club Moss compilation is a truly special collection of tunes. Featuring contributions from Leif, RAMZi, Ehua, Facta, Yushh, Airhead and slew of other artists—most of them from the more ethereal end of the bass music spectrum—the record has been showered with rave reviews during the past week, and not just because of its all-star roster. In contrast to most label compilations, the songs here don’t feel like throwaway loosies that were merely collecting (metaphorical) dust on their creators’ hard drives. There’s a unifying thread here, as Wisdom Teeth provided participants with a basic guideline—technically speaking, it was a tempo range of 150 to 170 bpm—and each producer approached the task in their own unique way.
Surveying the album’s 14 tracks, there are numerous flavors of techno, drum & bass, footwork and more, but the four listed above—which also happen to be the first four tracks on the record—represent one of the strongest opening volleys in recent memory. Dubby darlings Purelink serve up something akin to a deconstructed slice of jungle on the pillowy “Loon E,” and though Cousin covers similar ground on “tooth 4 tooth,” the Australian producer does ever so slightly turn up both the drums and the reverb. The steppy “Water Palace” is highlighted by K-LONE’s gleaming melodies, and Maya Q’s “Starburst” provides the compilation’s first proper dancefloor moment, its R&B-tinged groove sounding something like a long-lost Kelela track—one with a bubbly drum & bass beat.
And with that, we’ve arrived at 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.)
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.