First Floor #258 – That Was Unexpected
Processing some surprise pushback, plus an interview with Ploy, a round-up of the latest electronic music news and a fresh slate of new track recommendations.
I’m being attacked online.
And no, I’m not talking about the fact that some weirdo apparently not only made a Discogs page for me, but also felt the need to include my marriage status (and link to my wife) in the bio section. I’ve recently seen similar marriage-related info on other Discogs pages, and all I can say is … that’s kind of weird, no?
Anyways, the attacks I’m speaking of are coming from a completely unexpected source: fans of the group Disco Biscuits.
For those unfamiliar, Disco Biscuits are an electronic jam band who’ve been around since the mid ’90s and refer to their music as “trance fusion.” Over the years, they’ve become a staple in certain corners of the US festival circuit—they also have their own annual festival, Camp Bisco—and while their various exploits have largely been ignored by the music press and tastemaker types, it’s fair to say that they have a large and very loyal fanbase.
I’m not sure exactly how it happened, but that fanbase seems to have come across my recent First Floor essay, “Bands Might Be the Future of Electronic Music,” and it seems that they do not like it! In fairness, my previous use of the word “attack” was probably an overstatement, but during the past week or so, a number of Disco Biscuits have made their annoyance clear, reposting the story with comments like—and I’m paraphrasing here—“Duh” and “Someone’s late to the party.” And, to be honest, I get it. My essay talked about electronic musicians gravitating back towards bands and experimenting with improvisation-based live performance (a.k.a. jams), and in the world of Disco Biscuits, those things have already been happening—at scale—for decades. If I was a fan of the group, I might be peeved too.
More than anything though, these critiques are a much-needed reminder that even within electronic music—which, in comparison to many other genres, is relatively small and insulated—there are a multitude of different universes, many of which are barely even aware of one another. That essay I wrote wasn’t meant for the Disco Biscuits ecosystem, just like it wasn’t really meant for the EDM circuit or the Ibiza / Tulum economy. But in the context of a largely borderless internet, there’s no telling where a single piece of content might wind up. The consequences of that can sometimes be quite bad, particularly when they’re based upon a fundamental misunderstanding of the content in question, but I got off lucky this time. Watching mild critiques roll in from Disco Biscuits diehards—most of whom, it should be said, have been very polite—has actually been pretty entertaining, and has prompted many laughs in recent days.
Speaking of laughs, there were plenty of them during my recent interview with Ploy, which was published earlier this week. The paywall on that interview has now been taken down, and if you’re at all curious what prompted his recent forays into proper house music—including the dreaded tech house—then I suggest you scroll down and find a link to the article below. Otherwise, today’s First Floor digest has all of the usual info to help you get caught up on the world of electronic music. News items, new release announcements, suggested reading links … they’re all there, as is an extra-large batch of track recommendations, all of them plucked from the avalanche of new releases that dropped during the past week. There’s also a special guest recommendation from UK techno icon Surgeon, whose tastes are admittedly far more trusted than my own.
Let’s get started.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
Every Tuesday, First Floor publishes a long-form piece that’s initially made available to paid subscribers only. But if you’re not part of the paid tier, now’s your chance to see what you missed! The latest piece is now (temporarily) open to everyone, and it’s an interview with Ploy. Widely recognized as one of bass music’s most consistently inventive talents, he’s recently—and unexpectedly—turned his attention to house music, and this conversation is the first time he’s explained what’s driving that decision.
FIRST FLOOR ON DUBLAB BCN
Last week I headed into the dublab BCN studios for the latest edition of my monthly First Floor radio show, and the episode—which includes new music by upsammy, Bruce, WOST & Entrañas, Tim Hecker, Scratchclart and many others—has since been archived here.
REAL QUICK
A round-up of the most interesting electronic music news from the past week, plus links to interviews, articles and other things I think are worth sharing.
Apple Music this week took a big step into the world of DJing, launching a new integration called DJ with Apple Music. Designed to work in conjunction with rekordbox, Serato and other types of DJ performance software, it allows Apple Music subscribers to build and mix sets directly from the platform’s catalog of 100 million songs. In other words, it’s designed to more easily bring streaming directly into the DJ booth, and though a statement by Stephen Campbell, Apple Music’s Global Head of Dance, Electronic & DJ Mixes, stressed that the service is “committed to supporting DJs,” it made no mention of how this will affect producers (i.e. the people actually making the music that DJs are playing). In fairness, Apple isn’t alone in making this push, and more investigation is definitely warranted, but at first glance, this looks like something that will help to depress (and potentially eliminate) the need for DJs to actually buy music, putting further economic stress on musicians who are already struggling to make ends meet.
What is phonk? Even among dedicated fans of electronic music, most people under 30 likely have no idea, despite the fact that the genre routinely racks up hundreds of millions of plays on various streaming platforms. In his latest Rabbit Holed column for Pitchfork, Kieran Press-Reynolds details the genre’s history, its roots in Memphis rap sounds and how its mutation during the past decade has not only taken the music far away from those roots, but into a bizarrely lifeless (albeit highly profitable) zone.
With her new album A Requiem slated to arrive early next month, Penelope Trappes granted an interview to Philip Sherburne for his Futurism Restated newsletter. The UK-based Australian talks about her upbringing, her many musical evolutions over the years, how themes of grief and healing influenced the making of the new LP and much more.
M.I.A.’s Arular LP was a genuine cultural phenomenon when it dropped back in 2005, and with the album officially turning 20 last week, writer Skye Butchard put the record back under the microscope in a thoughtful new essay for The Quietus. Though the artist’s embrace of right-wing conspiracy theories in recent years has undoubtedly soured much of the listening public on her work, Butchard applies an empathetic lens to M.I.A. and her legacy, observing how deeply her career arc reflects our changing relationship with the internet during the past two decades and the digital overload of modern times.
Hiroshi Yoshimura passed away in 2003, but the late Japanese ambient artist is undoubtedly having a moment right now. The recent reissue of his posthumous Flora album undoubtedly has something to do with that—the record has been greeted with a myriad of fawning reviews—but a new feature by Eric Ducker for The New York Times digs deeper into the phenomenon, laying out some of Yoshimura’s backstory and tracing the growing enthusiasm for his work that’s developed in the years since his death.
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.
Anthony Naples has a new album on the way. The Incienso label co-founder hasn’t yet provided much in the way of context or backstory, but the LP—his sixth—is called Scanners, and will be released on May 2. In the meantime, the record’s title track has already been made available.
It’s up for debate whether the current dub techno and ambient techno “revival” is a real-world phenomenon or simply something that journalists and certain tastemakers have decided to talk up in recent months, but now that Purelink have unveiled the details of their forthcoming sophomore full-length, the hype around hazy, low-slung sounds is almost certain to intensify. That’s not the fault of the trio, which formed in Chicago but is now based in New York. The forthcoming Faith will be their second go-round with the always on-point Peak Oil label, and ahead of the record’s June 6 release, two tracks (“Kite Scene” and a collaboration with Loraine James called “Rookie”) have already been shared here.
Continuing her recently launched Perpetual Motion Machine singles series, Avalon Emerson dropped a new track yesterday. “Treat Mode” is described as an original “that’s been living in [her] USB,” and it’s out now via the Dead Oceans imprint. (Full disclosure: Emerson and I work together on the Buy Music Club platform.)
Following a string of singles on which she dipped her toes into more pop-oriented waters, Shanti Celeste has now applied that formula to an upcoming album. Romance is said to place the Chilean-born, UK-based artist’s vocals “front and center for the first time,” and though the LP is due to arrive on May 16 through the Method 808 label, the song “Thinking About You” is available now.
During the past seven years, Batu has released music exclusively via his own Timedance and A Long Strange Dream imprints, but his next EP, Question Mark, is being issued by Lethal Press, a new boutique offshoot of the Istanbul-based Oath label. Billed as “a definitive statement on his deepening understanding of the mechanics of club music,” the new record will drop on April 25, but the song “Clump” has already been shared.
Carrier (a.k.a. Guy Brewer, who for many years went by the name Shifted) has been responsible for some of electronic music’s most thrillingly unclassifiable offerings during the past few years, and he’s just released a new record called Tender Spirits. It’s currently available only as a limited-edition 12” via Boomkat, though a wider release has been scheduled for April 4.
Less than a month removed from the unveiling of her new pop.soil label, experimental artist Lyra Pramuk has shared her plans to release a new album. Entitled Hymnal and described as a “book of worship songs,” it’s due to surface on June 13, but opening track “Rewild” is available now.
SURGEON 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 Surgeon, who’s not only one of UK techno’s most vaunted figures, but has also crafted a wide variety of ambient, avant-garde and psychedelic excursions under his birth name, Anthony Child. As powerful as those excursions often are, it’s on the dancefloor where Surgeon has had the biggest impact, as the industrial-tinged productions he’s been dropping since the mid ’90s have shaped multiple generations of techno artists. (His work with Regis in the British Murder Boys project has also been massively influential, and that’s just one of his many collaborative endeavors.) A longtime member of the extended Tresor family, Surgeon will soon be returning to the vaunted Berlin label with a new album, Shell-Wave, but ahead of its arrival on May 2, he’s taken a few moments to share one of his favorite recent finds.
Daniel Bachman “Stretching spirit” (Self-released)
I first came across Daniel’s music when Chris Madak (a.k.a. Bee Mask) put the album Almanac Behind in his favourite releases of 2022 list and have followed his work ever since. His music is a really effective connection of traditional Appalachian folk styles with very modern computer manipulation techniques. It’s something I’d never heard before, and I find the effect powerfully lysergic. Picking just one track from his latest record, Moving Through Light, is difficult, as it really works best as a full album listen. I love the emotional journey it takes you on, from overwhelming dissonance to really beautiful moments.
LISTEN UP
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.
Carré & Addison Groove “Shapes in Real Life” (Fast at Work)
Standing out in the overcrowded bass music sphere is no easy task, but over the past few years, upstart Los Angeles crew Fast at Work has firmly planted their flag in the hardcore continuum. What began as a series of parties blossomed into a label with 2024’s Soft Fascination EP from co-founder Carré, and on “Shapes in Real Life”—a highlight of the new Hover Capsule compilation EP, which also includes tunes from artists like Baalti and Introspekt—she’s embarked on an intergenerational collaboration with Bristol bass mainstay Addison Groove. A nod to old-school dubstep, the skulking tune is both patient and built around some satisfyingly wobbly basslines, but its underlying rhythms are skippy and electric, providing just a touch of the manic energy that modern dancefloors seem to crave.
Ayesha “Blunt Force” (Self-released)
Banger alert!!! In what appears to be a bizarre twist of fate, Ayesha wound up dropping “Blunt Force” as a standalone single yesterday, which also happened to be the one-year anniversary of the hit-and-run accident that upended her life, put her in the hospital and left her dealing with a traumatic brain injury. The low end-loving, Brooklyn-based artist detailed her slow-but-steady recovery from that injury in a First Floor interview last year, but if this tune—which represents the first original material she’s released since 2023’s acclaimed Rhythm Is Memory LP—is any indication, her ability to craft speaking-rattling belters is fully up and running. Ayesha describes it as a “freaky hardware exploration,” but “Blunt Force” is a manic romp, one powered by distorted, squawking synths that recall the more unhinged entries in the Mr. Oizo catalog. In more contemporary terms, the track also sits comfortably alongside the playfully exuberant work of producers like Rhyw and Verraco, and solidifies Ayesha’s standing as one of bass music’s most tantalizing talents.
Jay Duncan “Quantum” (TRULE)
Though she has only a handful of releases to her name, Jay Duncan during the past seven years has amassed an impressive little catalog, popping up on labels like Intergraded, Banoffee Pies and Phantasy Sound. Her contribution to the latter, a 2021 collaboration with saxophonist Ben Vince called In Limbo, was a wildly slept-on record that combined taut rhythms and brassy skronk in a rather invigorating fashion. Duncan’s latest record, Infinite Mass, has a similarly dubby orientation—or at least a similar affinity for dusky reverb—and “Quantum” is one of its standout offerings, a sludgy, techno-adjacent creation with wiggly, sputtering basslines. At times, it oddly (and surely inadvertently) feels like a moody, time-stretched reimagining of Julio Bashmore’s 2011 anthem “Battle for Middle You.”
Entrañas “Corviche” (TraTraTrax)
The promo blurb for the new Yapa EP refers to Entrañas as the TraTraTrax crew’s “protégé,” and listening to opening track “Corviche,” it’s clear that the Ecuadorian producer has been cribbing a few notes from label co-founder Verraco. It’s a smart move, as the song’s buzzing synths and galloping Latin rhythms exude an infectiously riotous energy, their impact bolstered by Entrañas commitment to high-definition sound design. Elsewhere on the record, remixes from the likes of upsammy, 1morning and Fireground are all solid, as is the brawny, reggaeton-indebted groove of Entrañas original “Remolino,” but for those in need of an immediate shot of rave-ready adrenaline, the high-stepping “Corviche” is guaranteed to get the job done.
Storm on Earth “Earth” (Self-released)
At this stage in his career, the last thing that René Pawlowitz—who’s best known as Shed, but has also released music under more than a dozen other names—needs is another alias. Yet the German veteran has never been one to follow convention, and after years of repeatedly rolling out new monikers, he probably figures, “Why stop now?” Storm on Earth is his latest identity, and based upon the contents of the project’s self-titled, four-track debut EP, its primary focus appears to be pulsing, stripped-down and relatively straightforward techno. “Straightforward,” however, shouldn’t be confused with “boring”; Pawlowitz knows how to bang it out with the best of them, and the standout “Earth” pairs his pounding drum attack with the elegant chords of what sounds like a church organ.
Dean Grenier “Stars Apart” (Handworks)
After a lengthy stint in Berlin, Dean Grenier moved back to his native California a few years back, and on his latest effort, Stars Apart, it appears that some West Coast sunshine has found its way into his music. Like many producers, Grenier has gone through several musical evolutions over the years, but while most of his past efforts revolved around the hardcore continuum (with some occasional techno influences creeping in as well), “Stars Apart” is a lush slice of progressive house that owes a lot more to John Digweed than John B. The record also includes a beatless “Sky Version” of the track, which fully revels in the blurred beauty of its radiant, soft-focus melodies, but the steady pulse of the original adds a tangible sense of forward momentum—and packs enough of a punch to make the song feel like a luxurious trip through the clouds.
Kassian “Sunset Park” (!K7)
Over the past few years, Kassian have appeared countless times here in the newsletter, not just because they made great tunes, but because those tunes also struck a deft balance between big-room dynamics and the UK duo’s penchant for tasteful, melodically rich dance music. Channels is the London outfit’s debut full-length, and while some artists might be inclined to fill their first album with cocksure attempts at crossover success, Kassian have gone the other way, digging deeper and leaning into a more organic sound palette. In other words, subtlety and soulfulness have been placed higher in the mix, and Kassian don’t shy away from the occasional dusty groove; what results is a record that still largely revolves around house music, but also works as a laid-back listen. “Sunset Park” is one of the LP’s highlights, and though its shuffling rhythm provides the requisite (and slightly garage-coded) sense of bounce, it’s the song’s warbling textures, plinky keys and rich cello that make the track truly alluring.
Actress “We walk together” (Modern Obscure)
Arriving on Barcelona’s Modern Obscure Music label with relatively little fanfare and even less explanation as to what the record is all about, Tranzkript 1 is a mysterious new entry into the Actress catalog. But considering that the London artist already has more than two decades of releases under his belt—and, more importantly, has never gone to great lengths to spell out exactly what his music is all about—it’s fair to say that enjoying his latest effort doesn’t require additional context. The EP features scratchy R&B deconstructions (“Baby U Lar”) and piano-flecked meditations (“Kjj_”), but its most compelling number is “We walk together,” a 10-plus-minute trek that combines sci-fi sonics with the casually funky, low-key house groove.
Strategy “A Distant Destination” (Constellation Tatsu)
A shapeshifting artist whose output dates back to the early 2000s, Strategy has never been shy about changing up his approach, but in recent years, the Portland veteran has mostly stuck to the dubbier end of the spectrum. His latest album, A Cooler World, is largely an exercise in cosmic drift, one primarily driven by his experiments with a hand-me-down sampling keyboard from 1989. It’s an ambient record, yes, and a relatively minimal one at that, but its gloopy haze prevents the music from ever feeling like anodyne wallpaper. The hypnotic standout “A Distant Destination” recalls the work of Rhythm & Sound, its shimmering tones gracefully echoing across what feels like a glacial expanse.
Golem Mecanique “Teorema” (Ideologic Organ)
A tribute to Pier Paolo Pasolini—an Italian director and intellectual who was brutally tortured and murdered by unknown assailants in 1975—Golem Mecanique’s Siamo tutti in pericolo is an undeniably dark album. (The eerie title, taken from an interview Pasolini gave shortly before his death, translates to “we are all in danger.”) Yet the French artist finds real beauty in the music’s haunted environs, most notably on “Teorema,” which features little more than a sinister drone and Golem Mecanique’s stirring, borderline angelic voice. That voice may be tinged in sorrow, but it provides a gripping flicker of light in what’s otherwise a rather stark composition.
Loradeniz “Cloud Sofa” (Music from Memory)
Following previous appearances on labels like Nous’klaer and Artificial Dance, Loradeniz has now landed on Music from Memory with her debut album, SUN SHONE. A nominally ambient record that occasionally dabbles in classic IDM, its strongest moments are the ones in which the Istanbul-born, Amsterdam-based artist is at her most vulnerable. On LP highlight “Cloud Sofa,” she lets her guard down completely, stripping the music down to little more than some delicate piano and her own softly cooing voice. Billed by the label as a “a healing lullaby for lost love,” it’s a elegantly raw track, and one that feels unmistakably human, even as Loradeniz floats in some synths and subtly ratchets up the drama in the song’s latter half.
Saapato “Ways to Be Remembered (feat. Kallie Lampel)” (Constellation Tatsu)
True to its title, Saapato’s Decomposition: Fox on a Highway was inspired by a slowly disintegrating animal carcass the New York-based artist repeatedly spotted while driving a particular route for his work. That may sound grim, but nature has always played a prominent role in his music, and this new album—which features an incredible cast of collaborators that includes Laraaji, KMRU, Green-House, Nailah Hunter, Patricia Wolf and many, many other ambient / experimental standouts—is less of a meditation on death and more of an exploration of the cyclical nature of life. “Ways to Be Remembered” was made with the help of Kallie Lampel, and it’s a gorgeously zen suite of plinking synths, soft pads, fuzzy statics, whistling winds and babbling water sounds. As with nature itself, there’s a lot going on, but Saapato and Lampel channel that frenzy of activity into a quietly magnificent tune.
Annie A “The Air Moving” (A Colourful Storm)
Even with its sizable personnel, the Annie A project—a one-off collaboration between Time Is Away, Félicia Atkinson, Maxine Funke and Christina Petrie—has produced a rather delicate album, one whose trembling textures and softly uttered lyrics could seemingly be blown away by a stiff breeze. Atkinson—whose solo work already exists in a similarly tender, lo-fi-meets-high-art zone—is arguably the record’s fulcrum, and is credited with writing much of the LP’s contents. Her talents shine especially bright on “Chaque Plante, Chaque Personne,” but on “The Air Moving,” it’s Petrie’s unfussy spoken word that takes center stage, elevating the song’s chilly, static-kissed tones and hushed chords into a compelling strain of candlelit avant-pop.
Hara Alonso “Covered in Noise” (FUU)
touch•me•not is a decidedly tactile record, one on which Stockholm-based Spanish composer Hara Alonso ruminates on the “corporeal relationship” between our skin and our surroundings. On “Covered in Noise,” those surroundings appear to be aquatic in nature, as the song’s sterling piano melodies, wandering synth tones and whispered vocals—the latter come courtesy of Ellen Söderhult, one of several guest contributors to the album—are repeatedly accented by the soothing sounds of splashing water. What results occasionally conjures thoughts of old new age cassettes, or could perhaps soundtrack a tasteful documentary about endangered wetlands, but what speaks loudest is the song’s innate sense of serenity, which should prove capable of calming even the most frayed of nerves.
Sky Bow “Palace Guard Helps You Out” (Valcrond Video)
Continuing a wildly prolific streak that began late last year, New Jersey eccentric Torn Hawk last week dropped a new EP, Hero Slush, which is credited to his Sky Bow alias. In contrast to what writer Chris Zaldua recently described as the “super sick mutant downtempo for the freak squad” of Hawk’s recent Flip to Raw EP, this new record deals primarily in guitar fuzz, its epic swirls borrowing heavily from the shoegaze and dream pop canon. There’s some Jesus and Mary Chain in there, and maybe some David Lynch too, but a song like “Palace Guard Helps You Out” offers much more than a grab-bag of influences, as its warm, subtly cinematic dirge has been infused with a palpable sense of confident calm.
Eduardo Briganty “Paisajes Negros” (Keroxen)
Although the Canary Islands are known more as a vacation destination than a vibrant music hub, the Keroxen label—an outgrowth of a Tenerife-based festival that’s been running since 2009—is determined to shine a light on the region’s local talent. “Paisajes Negros” is one of two Eduardo Briganty tunes that appear on the new Radar Keroxen Vol. 5 compilation, and it’s a patient beast, one whose slow-brewing churn of growling distortion and serrated textures gradually builds into what sounds like an extinction-level event. The drama is high, and so is the potential for terrifying anyone who happens to be in earshot, but Briganty’s work compares favorably with the jagged walls of sound routinely offered up by folks like Tim Hecker, Ben Frost and Stephen O'Malley.
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.)
Until next time,
Shawn
Shawn Reynaldo is a freelance writer, editor, presenter and project manager. Find him on LinkedIn and Instagram—and make sure to follow First Floor on Instagram as well—or you can just drop Shawn an email to get in touch about projects, collaborations or potential work opportunities.