First Floor #226 – There's No Such Thing As an Unbiased Listener
First Floor #226 – There's No Such Thing As an Unbiased Listener
a.k.a. Scrutinizing my relationship with pop music, plus a round-up of the latest electronic music news and a fresh batch of new track recommendations.
This is a total coincidence, but I do find it amusing that in the same week I published an essay about pop music—an essay that specifically said “you’ll still need to look elsewhere for the latest Charli XCX discourse”—Resident Advisor has indicated that she’ll be the subject of the site’s next cover story.
Considering that Mixmag just ran its own Charli XCX feature and even the No Tags podcast has talked about her Brat album in several episodes, I suppose I’m in the minority, even within the confines of supposedly “underground” electronic music. (At this point, we really do need a better descriptor for this corner of the music sphere, don’t we?)
Anyways, no shade to anyone involved. Brat summer is a lot bigger than electronic music, and if journalists and publications want to go along for the ride, that’s their prerogative. I’m happy to stick to my own lane, however loosely defined that may be.
If you’d like to read that pop music essay I wrote—warning: it’s an admittedly navel-gazing, talk-about-myself effort—you can find it below. Otherwise, today’s First Floor digest is here to get you caught up on all things electronic music. News, new release announcements, links to interesting articles… if you’re a regular reader, you probably know the drill by now. And, of course, there are track recommendations too, all of them from releases that dropped during the past week. (Side note: it’s WILD how many releases are coming out this month. Summer used to be a slow time for the music industry, but I think that annual slowdown may now be a thing of the past.)
Oh yes, I almost forgot. Yu Su also makes an appearance in today’s newsletter, popping in with a special guest recommendation. You don’t want to miss that.
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 my relationship with pop music and what I actually mean when I (routinely) say that I don’t like it.
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.
Under Club doesn’t get as much international attention as its counterparts in Europe and North America, but the Buenos Aires nightspot is one of South America’s most important / influential electronic music venues, particularly for lovers of techno. Last Saturday night, however, the club was raided by the Anti-Drugs Division of the Buenos Aires police, who arrested several employees, shut down the venue and reportedly seized drugs, cash and documents. According to a report by online news outlet Infobae, the raid followed a months-long investigation into the February death of 21-year-old patron, who passed away after allegedly buying and taking adulterated ecstasy inside the club and then falling ill. In a separate Infobae story, the young woman’s father claimed that the club’s staff “put her out on the sidewalk instead of helping her and urgently calling an ambulance,” and unnamed police sources indicated that the club’s security personnel knowingly allowed dealers to enter the club and sell drugs.
For its part, Under Club has loudly struck back at the allegations on social media, with its most recent post alleging that the incident somehow involved corruption and that Infobae “lies and spreads disinformation.” In another post, the club stated that its arrested staff members had been released from jail—following 70 hours of detention—and also clarified that “all of our team is against the sale of substances inside and outside of our establishment.” It also claimed that all rumors about what happened are untrue, and that the club’s staff would “never abandon someone,” “especially in emergency situations.” Beyond that, the post said that the club does not wish to elaborate further at this time, but it did thank their team and everyone who’s lent their support in the wake of this incident.Last week I suggested that PlayStation was the biggest musical influence on UK producer Pizza Hotline, and according this new feature that Ben Hindle put together for DJ Mag, I wasn’t too far off base. As it turns out, the new Pizza Hotline album, Polygon Island, was specifically inspired by a level of the PlayStation game Ape Escape, the soundtrack for which was famously produced by Soichi Terada. The profile of course touches on more details of Pizza Hotline’s backstory, and also includes an exclusive DJ mix from him.
Experimental titan Phil Niblock passed away earlier this year at the age of 90, and left behind a massive catalog of music. For anyone who’s curious about his work but unsure where to start, journalist Matthew Blackwell has assembled a useful guide for Bandcamp Daily, laying out a bit of Niblock’s unique life story while also highlighting several of his most essential works.
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 recommend that you either inquire at your favorite local bookshop or try one of the online sales links that have been compiled here.
JUST ANNOUNCED
A round-up of noteworthy new and upcoming releases announced during the past week.
Mica Levi popped up on Hyperdub yesterday, dropping a new, 12-minute-long single called “slob air.” Aside from the fact that it was “made in collaboration with Izzy Moriarty Thompson, Joe Auborn and Jack Parton,” no other details have been shared, but the track—which sounds different from pretty much everything else the acclaimed composer has ever done—is out now, as is its official music video.
Following months of teasing fans with a couple of singles, Floating Points this week unveiled plans for a forthcoming full-length. Entitled Cascade, Much of the record was apparently made while the UK artist was spending time in the California desert, where he was simultaneously working on Mere Mortals, a score he created for a collaboration with the San Francisco ballet. Cascade, however, is focused on the dancefloor, and it’s due to arrive on September 13 via Ninja Tune. Ahead of that, several tracks from the record have been made available here, and he’s also published a video for new single “Key103,” which contains visuals from Tokyo-based artist Akiko Nakayama.
First Floor readers may remember Lia Kohl from the round-up of experimental cellists I published earlier this year, and now, the Chicago-based artist has put the finishing touches on a new album called Normal Sounds. Set for an August 30 release on the Moon Glyphs label, it’s described as being “built around field recordings of human-made, non-musical sounds: fridge drones, grocery store beeps, car horns.” LP track “Car Alarm, Turn Signal”—a collaboration with Ka Baird—has already been shared, along with the song’s pensive music video.
KMRU’s music is often hailed for its delicate nature and relative quiet, but the Kenyan artist will soon be releasing something far less orderly into the world: Natur, a long-form composition that’s said to use “dense clouds of static and intimidating, dissonant drones” to “[uncloak] the commotion hidden by the digital era’s ambiguous stillness.” The complete piece will be issued by the Touch label on July 26, but an extended excerpt is available now.
naemi’s recent Dust Devil album has been showered with critical praise, so of course the Berlin-based Kansan has quickly followed it up with something completely different. The two-track supercell (stripped back mix) / throughline, which surfaced last Friday, is essentially an indie rock effort, and was billed as “a slight taste of things to come.” Both of its songs are available now.
UK veteran MJ Cole has a new record out this week—sort of. Entitled ◢mj•cole.cole•cuts.(the.benito•situations)., it’s actually a collection of MJ Cole tunes that were heavily reworked by California-based producer Benito, who prefers to call his versions “resituations.” The source material actually came from MJ Cole’s Discord community, and though he didn’t have much to do with assembling the actual release, he did apparently provide his blessing for the EP to go forward. ◢mj•cole.cole•cuts.(the.benito•situations). is the first offering from sidehatch, a new offshoot of the Woodland Creatures label, and it’s available now as a free download on Nina.
Huntleys + Palmers founder Andrew Thomson spent much of the past two decades actively traveling and DJing around the globe, purposely heading to cities and regions on the fringe of the international circuit. Along the way, he befriended a diverse array of artists, and now he’s channeled those friendships into a new compilation called Early Doors. Though its 12 tracks—most of which were previously unreleased—feature contributions from an international cast that includes Hot Chip (remixed by Superpitcher), Ango, Oklo Gabon and others, Thomson himself is the primary connective tissue. The compilation will be released on September 12, but several tracks from the record have already been shared here.
YU SU 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 Yu Su, a Chinese artist who’s now living in London following a long stint in Vancouver. As a DJ and producer, she’s known for her embrace of leftfield sounds and low-key grooves—words like ambient, dub, new age and jazz can all be applied to her work—and she also serves up “warm meanderings” via her monthly NTS show. However, her talents don’t end there. Outside of music, Yu Su is a skilled chef—she documents many of her mouth-watering creations on Instagram—but today, she’s taken time to point First Floor readers toward a song she discovered on Searchlight Moonbeam, a “narrative compilation” from last year that was curated by fellow NTS hosts Time Is Away.
Soft Location “Let the Moon Get into It” (Efficient Space)
I’ve had way too many cries to this Soft Location song. To me, it feels like when a raindrop hits the surface of a lake, rings of waves are born and then slowly become part of the lake itself. Thank you Time Is Away and Efficient Space.
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.
Bodhi “Reformat” (Hotflush)
If Bicep are the reigning kings of big-room sad, then fellow UK duo Bodhi might be the new lords of “big-room mad.” While their sound isn’t overtly aggressive, their new Laurus Ascending EP is full of booming, rough-and-ready rhythms that borrow from breakbeat hardcore, electro and the wider bass continuum. Of the many quality heaters on the record, “Reformat” is the most immediate, likely because its sultry vocal clips and thumping drum patterns have been fortified with a healthy dose of wobble bass, adding a sort of free-floating menace to the proceedings.
Solomun “Can’t Stop” (Running Back)
Though he enjoys a god-like status in the Ibiza circuit, Solomun isn’t someone who gets mentioned often in First Floor—I’m guessing that many newsletter readers, if they recognize his name at all, know him as “that DJ from the New Yorker article”—but “Can’t Stop” is the kind of tune that would work on a dancefloor of any size. Running Back founder Gerd Janson—one of the few selectors who’s as comfortable on the White Isle as he is at Panorama Bar—has a long history of finding and releasing artists’ best material, and “Can’t Stop” is a blistering, Italo-flavored techno hybrid that somehow manages to nod toward early rave, Daft Punk and Beyoncé-style fabulousness in the course of its seven pulse-raising minutes.
Soulox & Soeneido “It Been” (Future Retro London)
At this point, just about everyone with even a passing interest in drum & bass has hailed Tim Reaper’s talents as a DJ and producer, but the London junglist also has an incredible curatorial ear, to the point where even the “average” releases on his Future Retro label are fully capable of wrecking shop. That being said, “It Been”—the lead track of Soulox & Soeneido’s new FR041 record—is much better than average. It’s a proper rumbler, albeit one that maintains its soulful undertones throughout, even after the Oakland duo take their foot off the break about two minutes in and let their drums run wild. Think of it as the rare tune that will appeal to both the heads-down crew and the guys throwing gun fingers.
Ariel Zetina “Tropical Depression (Del Hale Remix)” (Local Action)
Though her Cyclorama album dropped back in 2022, Ariel Zetina has spent the past few months following it up with a pair of new remix EPs. The second one, Cyclorama: Remixes 002, surfaced earlier this week, and most DJs will likely be tempted to head straight to the opening rework of “Have You Ever” by Mexican talent and Cómeme label manager Paurro. That’s by no means a bad choice, but it’s Chicago’s Del Hale that ultimately steals the show, transforming the sweaty “Tropical Depression” into a leaner, harder-hitting cut that, thanks to its percolating beat and dramatic synth crashes, sounds something like Green Velvet doing a ballroom track.
Doctor Jeep “Macumba” (TraTraTrax)
Continuing his steady ascent through the ranks of bass music, NYC’s Doctor Jeep has returned to TraTraTrax with the new Mecha EP, a record that leans hard into Brazilian funk and its manic energy. (It also includes an impressive slate of remixes from Ploy, Wata Igarashi and Peder Mannerfelt.) The standout “Macumba” captures the frenzied spirit of an all-night favela baile, but it does so in the context of a dubstep-techno hybrid, oscillating between half-time and peak time as its jagged synths and ever-present robot voice make the whole thing feel thrillingly dystopian.
Xylitol “Okko” (Planet Mu)
Planet Mu bills Xylitol’s new Anemones album as a “kindred spirit” of Nondi_’s acclaimed Flood City Trax LP. That’s not a bad comparison—both records feature relative outsiders playfully subverting the norms of high-intensity bass music—but on a purely sonic level, what Xylitol is doing perhaps has even more in common with the hyperactive work of label founder Mike Paradinas (a.k.a. µ-Ziq), and even that of Aphex Twin. Although Anemones does have some subdued moments, it’s at its best when the UK artist puts the pedal to the metal and lets the Amen breaks fly. The relentless “Okko” is an obvious highlight, and while its percussive onslaught is enough to scramble anyone’s innards, the song does retain a certain lightness, its blinkering, organ-like melody serving as a steady beacon among the mayhem.
Estudiantes “Let the Music into Your Mind” (Cold Blow)
Unless you’re a devoted record nerd, or someone who read Matt Anniss’ Join the Future: Bleep Techno and the Birth of British Bass Music, the name Tony Boninsegna probably won’t ring a bell. But during the late ’80s and early ’90s, the guy was responsible for a slew of wonderful dance records under more than a dozen aliases. Many of those records were captured on the Cold Blow label’s 2023 compilation, Notes from the Underground, and now the imprint has decided to shine a light on one specific Boninsegna moniker, Estudiantes. The Let the Music into Your Mind EP was first released in 1993, but more than three decades later, its title track is still an upbeat house gem. Low on polish and big on vibes, it’s a soulful, chime-filled tune that could easily be mistaken for a long-lost entry from the Nu Groove catalog.
Tech Support “Fly Away” (Permanent Vacation)
Visions, the latest EP from Tech Support, is heavily steeped in the sounds of the 1980s. That takes various forms across the record, but whether he’s crafting new agey chuggers or cutting a rug with a little bit of electro, the UK artist always seems to do it with silky sounds and a gauzy air of romance. Closing track “Fly Away” is especially seductive, its chiming keys, soft-focus textures and come-hither vocal snippets conjuring memories of the music you’d hear during melodramatic ’80s love scenes, or even in the commercials for 1-900-number phone sex lines that used to air in the middle of the night. It’s a little sleazy, yes, but Tech Support has smartly left enough mystery in the mix to prevent the song from sliding into the gutter.
HNNY “I’ll Come Your Way” (Self-released)
During the past few years, I’ve spent a fair bit of time talking about the rise of big-room sad, but I have just as much affinity for more humble tearjerkers like “I’ll Come Your Way,” which is better suited to a lonesome cry in the bedroom than emotively sobbing on the dancefloor. A high point of HNNY’s Light Shines Through—the Swedish producer’s first full-length in nearly a decade—it’s technically a pop-tinged breakbeat track, but its undulating strings are far too weepy for the club. Still, this isn’t a despondent effort; aside from being immensely catchy, the song radiates warmth, and while its sense of melancholy is palpable, it’s akin to the sadness one feels when they’re alone and missing those they love most in the world.
Antonina Nowacka “Transit” (Mondoj)
Talk of Antonina Nowacka’s music almost always focuses on her voice, and her pipes are in their usual operatic form on the new Sylphine Soporifera album. That alone makes the new age-leaning LP worth the price of admission, most notably on songs like “Time Vapour” and “Turning into Dolphins,” but what’s happening in conjunction with the Polish artist’s vocal acrobatics is just as compelling. “Transit,” in fact, is an entirely instrumental number, one whose chilly confines have been stocked with an enchanting procession of chimes and a whole lot of reverb. It’s only two-and-a-half-minutes long, but that proves to be more than enough time to get lost in Nowacka’s fantastical universe.
Ghost Dubs “Hot Wired” (Pressure)
When it comes to heavy bass, few co-signs are more valuable than that of Kevin Martin (a.k.a. The Bug), which makes Ghost Dubs’ Damaged a mandatory listen for anyone with a serious appreciation for subwoofers. Issued via Martin’s Pressure imprint—an outpost that over the years has mostly been focused on the UK producer’s own music—the LP delves into a sludgy strain of dub, slowing the tempo to a snail’s pace and immersing every tune in a bath of murky reverb. Even so, album standout “Hot Wired” trudges along with an almost regal sensibility, unfurling exotic horns as its low-end undercarriage slowly but surely becomes more ominous with each passing minute.
That brings us to the end of today’s First Floor digest. 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 great week,
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.