First Floor #229 – Staying Inside
First Floor #229 – Staying Inside
a.k.a. A round-up of the latest electronic music news and a fresh batch of new track recommendations.
Greetings from sweaty Barcelona, where the humidity is stifling and the current heatwave isn’t expected to break anytime soon. (Yes, I’m still talking about the weather.) Between the heat and the annual crush of tourists—August, bizarrely, is when the most foreign visitors come to town each year—I’ve barely left the house during the past few days. I have, however, been keeping a close eye on all things electronic music, which also seems completely uninterested in taking any sort of summer break.
That’s why today’s First Floor digest feels especially robust. Below you’ll find news items, a ton of new release announcements, links to some interesting articles and, of course, a whole lot of new electronic music. All of my track recommendations come from releases that dropped during the past week, and if you’re looking for input from someone who isn’t me, I’ve also recruited experimental Mexican artist Concepción Huerta to share a special guest recommendation of her own.
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 a piece that was first published in 2022, and focuses on the WAV file format. More specifically, it focuses on the format’s shortcomings, and argues that its status as an industry standard ought to be reconsidered.
ANOTHER THING I’M DOING
On September 29, I will be in Paris for Paris Electronic Week, where I’ve been invited to lead a workshop called “How to create your music newsletter?” I suppose the title is fairly self-explanatory, but the idea is that I’ll be sharing tips and knowledge I’ve picked up during the nearly five years I’ve been publishing First Floor. More details about the workshop, and the entire conference program, can be found here.
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.
Regardless of how you feel about the latest wave of hype around Brazilian funk sounds, there’s no denying that DJ Ramon Sucesso, one of that scene’s most talked-about young talents, is both wildly innovative and an amazing technical performer. Recognizing that fact, Resident Advisor made him the subject of their latest The Art of DJing feature. which includes an interview with journalist Felipe Maia and, most importantly, several videos of Sucesso demonstrating his craft, which will surely leave even veteran DJs scratching their heads and asking, “How in the hell is he doing that?”
Martyn is best known as a DJ, producer and label boss, but the 3024 founder is increasingly demonstrating his chops as a writer. Admittedly, that includes the fact the he kindly wrote the forward for my own book, but he also authors the Four Things newsletter and this week showed up on Nina. Rooted heavily in his own experiences, his article examines how changes in the music economy have impacted the traditional label-artist relationship, and also makes some suggestions about how everyone involved could benefit from adjustments to their business practices.
Farsight has established himself as one of San Francisco’s most promising bass music talents during the past few years, and this week he’s at the helm of Mixmag’s weekly mix / interview series, The Mix. Aside from delivering an exclusive DJ session, he also speaks to journalist Tibor Heskett about his musical beginnings, the current state of the Bay Area scene and how Latin music and culture have affected his work.
During the past 15 years, few things in electronic music have been more maligned than wobble bass. Although the distinctive sound has been experiencing something of a comeback lately, Resident Advisor decided to revisit where it originally came from, zeroing in on Coki’s 2007 track “Spongebob” for the site’s latest Rewind review. Written by Emeka Okonkwo, the piece traces the evolution of wobble over the years, and also includes extensive input from Coki himself, who explains the sound’s exact origins and reflects on its outsized role in the history of dubstep.
Emeka Okonkwo also landed in DJ Mag this week, profiling London artist Raji Rags for the latest installment of the Recognise mix / interview series. The mix consists of nothing but Rags’ own productions, and the interview dives deep into his past, tracing his many hustles through the music world and also soliciting his thoughts on South Asian representation, which have evolved significantly over the years.
A few weeks back, First Floor shared news about a police raid of Under Club, a techno venue in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Yesterday some additional details surfaced in an investigative story by Resident Advisor’s Carlos Hawthorn, who spoke with several people who were at the club on the night of the raid. His reporting also unearthed allegations by the club that the Buenos Aires police asked for a bribe before proceeding with the arrests of four people. This situation will continue to evolve in the weeks and months ahead, but Under Club remains closed for now.
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.
Nosaj Thing & Jacques Greene dropped a surprise new single this morning. Entitled “RB3,” the song is said to be the product of “cross country sessions, endless versions and road testing. Laptop linking, rev matching.” It’s out now via LuckyMe.
Another surprise offering appeared today on Warp, which released a new single from Rustie called “Thornzz.” The Scottish producer, who’d taken an extended break from music before unexpectedly reappearing with “Black Ice Mudra” back in June, hasn’t shared much in the way of details, but “Thornzz” is available now.
Does the world need a fresh rework of M|A|R|R|S’ 1987 dance-pop classic “Pump Up the Volume”? Caribou seems to think so, as he’s sampled the track extensively on “Volume,” a new single he released via City Slang earlier this week.
When Dubbel Dutch was recently interviewed here in the newsletter, he spoke about his plans to (tenatively) re-enter the public arena after several years away from the music world. Last Friday, he followed through on that plan by releasing “Passiflora,” which the Hawaii-based producer says is the first single from a forthcoming EP called Cosmic Tone Poems. The EP’s release date hasn’t been shared yet, but “Passiflora” is available now through his newly established Rare Earth Tones imprint.
Nick León unveiled a new collaborative track, “Bikini,” on which the South Floridian producer teamed up with hotly tipped R&B talent Erika de Casier. Released as a standalone single via TraTraTrax, the song is out now.
It was only a few weeks ago that Yu Su popped into the newsletter with a special guest recommendation, and now the London-based Chinese artist has reappeared on the First Floor radar, this time with a new single for Music from Memory called “Avanera.” It’s available now.
Back in 2019, Maral released Mahur Club, a striking collection of beat constructions that sampled heavily from her collection of Iranian folk, pop and classical music. To mark that record’s five-year anniversary, the LA-based artist decided to excavate her archives and put together Edits 2014 - 2019, a sprawling compilation of club-inspired (but often still quite weird) edits that both represent some of her first forays into production and also laid the groundwork for what would come to be known as her “folk club” sound. Edits 2014 - 2019 is available now as a name-your-price download on Bandcamp.
UK producer and 1985 label boss Alix Perez has a new album on the way. Entanglements, which will be coming out via his own imprint, is slated to arrive on September 20, and though Perez is known for his tendency to hop between dubstep, jungle and the many bass-oriented points in between, the new LP is said to be devoted to soulful drum & bass. LP cut “Elastic Soul” has already been shared.
Dub techno icon Monolake has completed a new full-length, Studio, which he’ll be releasing on his own label, Imbalance Computer Music. Though it’s designed to be both “meditative” and “one long journey,” the German veteran has shared a single track, “Global Transport,” which can be heard now ahead of the full LP’s arrival on September 6.
Fresh off his collaborative EP with Om Unit for Local Action, James Bangura has revealed plans for a new solo outing on the Numbers label. Drawing directly from the energy of his local music community in Washington DC, the upcoming EP is called The Heights, and it includes an appearance by rapper NAPPYNAPPA of Model Home. That won’t be available until the full record drops on September 6, but opening cut “The District” has already been shared.
YUKU is arguably one of the busiest labels in all of bass music, which makes keeping up with its flurry of releases a genuine challenge. Acknowledging that reality, the imprint has assembled a new retrospective compilation, YUKU: 4th Birthdizzle Compapoodle, which is also meant to celebrate the Prague-based outlet’s four years of existence. The 25-track collection, which contains music from Prayer, Lakker, Hassan Abou Alam, Fiesta Soundsystem, Griffit Vigo, TRAKA, Cocktail Party Effect and many, many others, is available as a name-your-price download, but only through the end of August, so move fast if you want to grab these tunes.
CONCEPCIÓN HUERTA 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 Concepción Huerta. An experimental Mexican musician who some may recognize as a member of the group Amor Muere (which also includes Mabe Fratti, Camille Mandoki and Gibrana Cervantes), Huerta is also an accomplished visual and sound artist in her own right, having lent her spacious drones and crackling tape manipulations to more than two dozen releases, both solo and collaborative. Many of those can be found on her Bandcamp page, which is well worth exploring, but in the meantime, she’s taken some time to share something from one of her Amor Muere bandmates.
Gibrana Cervantes “Moving Through Our Waters” (Mexican Rarities)
This one is by Mexican violinist Gibrana Cervantes, and it’s part of her album ¿Cómo Pasamos la Eternidad? What I hear in this track is a living instrument, as if the violin takes a breath of air before diving into its journey in the middle of the ocean. Through the melodies of the violin and the loops, the song’s atmospheres are created, immersing us in all its internal movements.
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.
Jonnine “Sea Stuff” (Modern Love)
HTRK noticeably stripped down their sound on 2021’s brilliant Rhinestones LP, but that effort sounds positively hi-fi compared to Southside Girl, the latest solo album from frontwoman Jonnine Standish. Reflecting back of childhood memories of a summer spent by the sea, the record—which is essentially a low-key singer-songwriter effort—is virtually without adornment, save for the persistent room noise and background sounds that populate its bare-bones compositions. As such, the songs on Southside Girl do have something of a demo-ish feel, though it ultimately enhances their charm; there’s certainly no need for studio polish on the standout “Sea Stuff,” on which Standish’s emotive purr is accompanied by little more than a low-key bassline and some skeletal percussion.
james K “Blinkmoth (July Mix)” (AD 93)
Though the trip-hop revival has been in full swing for a while now, most contemporary artists have taken the genre into a decidedly smudgy zone, opting for hazy gradients and ethereal textures over intelligible lyrics and defined song structures. That’s not necessarily a bad thing—a whole lot of that smudgy stuff has been championed right here in the newsletter—but it does make “Blinkmoth (July Mix),” a new standalone single from james K, something of a surprise. The New York artist has always had a lovely voice, but here she’s singing actual words, and placing them into something close to proper verses and choruses. And while ’90s Bristol might be the most obvious reference point, the song’s pop tendencies (and relative smoothness) also recall the coffeehouse-core of artists like Dido. Does that mean we’ll soon be hearing james K’s music getting sampled by rap superstars or used in teen TV dramas? Stranger things have happened.
Mia Koden “Up (Run That)” (Self-released)
If you’d asked me last week if I would be interested in a 2024 rework of Enur feat. Natasja’s “Calabria 2007”—a horn-filled global smash that even your grandmother has likely heard at one point or another—my answer would have been a defiant “no.” Mia Koden, however, has skillfully changed my mind. The London-based artist has rather quickly established herself as a “check out every track she makes” talent—last year’s Decode EP for Ilian Tape was particularly strong—and here, she completely transforms the source material. “Up (Run That)” is technically an edit, which is likely why she’s offered it up as a name-your-price-download (with all proceeds going to charities focused on Sudan and South Sudan), but there’s no trace of cheese in its bassy minimalism and shuffling, dubstep-adjacent groove.
ESP “Voices” (YEAR0001)
Not much is known about ESP. A proverbial “enigmatic duo,” the project apparently first came together in Massachusetts back in 2020, but its two members—Donovan William Lally (a.k.a. Ultra Pure Whip) and Zephyr Maliki (a.k.a. Zephyr)—are now based in NYC. Although they tend to keep a low profile, they have done a few guest mixes—including one for Malibu’s United in Flames show on NTS—and have also performed at Evian Christ’s Trance Party, but it was their song “North,” which opened last year’s RIFT Two compilation, that first caught my attention. “Voices” is the most recent of two standalone singles they’ve released this month, and it’s a delightful, synth-driven gem, its neon pulse sounding both like a slowed-down take on bloghouse and something you might hear in an old episode of Miami Vice. Yet it’s the song’s twinkling, Christmas-in-July chimes that prove most enchanting, their delicate, wide-eyed procession borrowing from Burial’s brighter material and also bringing to mind any number of children’s holiday films.
Throwing Snow “Rasp” (Houndstooth)
It was during the height of post-dubstep that UK artist Throwing Snow first appeared on the scene, and now, five solo albums and more than 15 years later, one thing is certain: any piece of music with his name on it is going to be impeccably produced. His latest full-length, Isthmus, once again showcases his stadium-ready sound design, but it does so with a welcome sense of looseness, casually moving up and down the hardcore continuum without ever feeling too tightly wedded to the grid. Of all the record’s sonic forays, “Rasp” is easily the most fearsome, its blippy synths and dramatic, Middle Eastern-flavored strings fortified by big, stompy drums and even bigger waves of high-flying wobble bass. When someone puts this on at the club, are you supposed to smile? Or should you instead put on your most menacing screwface? Honestly, either one will work, which is why this tune is so good.
Stef Mendesidis “Aquaton” (Klockworks)
Techno might be one of modern electronic music’s foundational pillars, but it also has a tendency to be somewhat lifeless and formulaic. It’s not easy carve out an original space in a genre that’s now more than 40 years old, but Stef Mendesidis doesn’t seem to have that problem. Although the Russian-born, Greek-raised artist (who’s now based in the Netherlands) slots into the canon of what might be called “Berghain techno,” there’s nothing plodding or greyscale about the tunes on Decima, his long-awaited debut album. Born out of his many live shows—and his commitment to a one-take recording technique—the songs crackle with electricity, and rather than bashing listeners over the head with an endless procession of weighty kicks, Mendesidis chooses to lure them in with propulsive grooves. And on LP highlight “Aquaton,” he takes things a step further, offsetting the track’s barreling underbelly with a floaty, almost contemplative melody. Though it’s still far too lively to be called deep techno, it’s suitable for a bit of deep thinking, even if that thinking probably needs to take place on the dancefloor.
oma totem “the trick” (Kalahari Oyster Cult)
Barcelona producer and Hivern Discs affiliate oma totem has only released a handful of tunes so far, but last year’s Exercicis Ritmics—his official debut EP—demonstrated a talent for trippy, not-quite-dubstep-but-definitely-bass-oriented rhythms. That talent once again shines through on new EP the trick, but this time around, he’s noticeably upped the energy level, dialing down some of the psychedelia while leaning hard into a more driving, prog-informed sound. The sparkly bounce of “choreos” is certainly enticing, and is arguably the most overtly melodic thing oma totem has ever released, but the record’s more muscular title track is the one most DJs will surely reach for, its rippling synths and hints of wobble staking out a middle ground between Sasha & Digweed and FWD>>.
Expugnantis “Grind” (enmossed)
Though Expugnantis makes his home in Columbia, South Carolina, his new album Return to Madadeni is rooted in blurry memories of childhood trips to South Africa, where his father was born and raised. That helps explain the record’s persistent haze and humid atmosphere, but irrespective of the backstory, Expugnantis seems rather comfortable in the sludgy soundworld he’s created. Those intent on applying a genre tag might describe his music as dub techno, but he’s clearly far more interested in the first half of that term, dousing his trundling rhythms in so much reverb that they seem to be sitting at the bottom of a nearby lake. Even so, haunted LP standout “Grind” remains deeply hypnotic, its percussive clatter buffeted by a cloud of waterlogged vocal fragments, leaving listeners to wonder if they too will be captured by the mysteries of the deep.
Yann Novak “Super Coherent Light (feat. G. Brenner)” (Room40)
A follow-up to last year’s The Voice of Theseus album, Yann Novak’s similarly titled The Voices of Theseus contains remixes by the likes of Madeleine Cocolas, Lawrence English, FAX and Bana Haffar. However, its most compelling material is something simpler: new versions of four songs from the original album, which this time around have been done in collaboration with vocalist G. Brenner. Like Novak, Brenner is based in Los Angeles, and his voice has a devotional, almost ritualistic quality, which transforms the cinematic ambient of “Super Coherent Light” into something resembling an ancient folk lament. There are no discernible words, just a profound sense of sadness and a feeling of complete emotional honesty. That does make for a pretty weighty listen, but it also elevates Novak’s work to stirring new heights.
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.