First Floor #260 – Which Tier Will You Pick?
The balkanization of an already divided music internet, plus a round-up of the latest electronic music news and a fresh crop of new track recommendations.
As of this moment, I’m officially on vacation. Although I’ve lived in Barcelona for nearly a decade now, I’ve only now managed to finally follow the lead of practically everyone else in Spain and schedule myself some time off during Semana Santa.
First Floor won’t be gone long though. The newsletter will resume its normal publishing schedule on April 22, and in the meantime, I’ve made sure to leave you with plenty of reading material. First up is a loooooong article I published earlier this week about the fracturing of the music internet, and how the online structure that’s emerging—which includes something I’ve called “the slop tier”—threatens to leave us more divided and less informed than we already are, even as the the volume of content on offer continues to exponentially increase.
You’ll find that piece below—and yes, the paywall on it is temporarily down—but there’s plenty more to discover in today’s First Floor digest. If you’re looking to get caught up on what’s been happening in the world of electronic music, there are news items, new release announcements and some suggested reading links. On the music front, I’ve also pored over all of the records that dropped during the past seven days—and there were a whole lot of them—and have assembled a fresh batch of track recommendations. And if that’s not quite enough, or you simply want to hear from someone who isn’t me, I’ve also enlisted UK modular synthesist Loula Yorke to pop in with a special guest recommendation.
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 article examining the changing state of the music internet. With algorithms and AI gaining strength and brands actively implanting themselves in the culture, the online music experience is already taking odd new shapes, and that’s prompted those in search of something more substantial to retreat into walled gardens and more thoughtfully curated corners of the web. How will that affect the discourse? And is any of this sustainable? This essay takes a stab at answering those questions.
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.
Having recently announced their upcoming Faith album, ambient techno trio Purelink are on the cover of the latest issue of Crack magazine. The accompanying feature, written by Nina Posner, explores the group’s early days in Chicago, the impact of their move to New York City and how they’ve dealt with the unexpected deluge of critics and fans loving their “chill-ass music.”
After years of ducking the press, the once-elusive Sully has suddenly become quite the chatterbox. Less than two weeks after he talked about his influences with Nina, the UK junglist popped up on Resident Advisor, having granted an even more elaborate (and fairly process-focused) interview to Martin Clark (a.k.a. Blackdown) for the site’s The Art of Production series.
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.
After peppering some of the nerdier corners of the music world with a series of unsolicited 7-inches earlier this month, Stereolab has now stopped the teasing and unveiled the details of a forthcoming full-length. Instant Holograms on Metal Film is the beloved group’s first album in 15 years, and it’s due to surface on May 23 via Warp. In the meantime, first single “Aerial Troubles” has already been shared, along with its accompanying music video.
Continuing her seemingly unstoppable upward trajectory, SHERELLE this week surprised the dance music world by releasing her long-awaited debut album. Entitled With a Vengeance and available now via the Method 808 label, the record is described as a “rally cry for the 160 scene” and includes a collaboration with fellow UK artist George Riley.
Returning to the Planet Mu imprint for the first time in a decade, FaltyDL has completed a new LP, one that he not only largely wrote while visiting family last summer in Catalonia, but also focuses on what the Brooklyn-based producer describes as “fast, bright, sugar-rush sounds. 185 to 200 BPM.” Neurotica is scheduled for a June 13 release, though album cut “Don’t Go” has already been shared.
Following a smattering of live shows in recent months, TraTraTrax co-founder Nyksan officially unveiled a new alias earlier this week. Billed as a project that “dissolves the boundaries between synthesis and field recordings,” Colombian Drone Mafia has a debut release on the way, Memoria, that the London-based, Bogotá-born artist created in collaboration with Mexican violinist Gibrana Cervantes. (Keen-eyed readers may remember that Cervantes is also part of the group Amor Muere alongside Mabe Fratti, Concepción Huerta and Camille Mandoki.) The new record is set to arrive via TraTraTrax offshoot AMBIE—TÓN on May 2, but the song “Desolación”—which features the vocals of Alliyah Enyo—is available now.
Speaking of Latin American talents, Matías Aguayo has linked up with the Rekids label for his latest single, “El Internet.” Slated to drop on April 18, the song hasn’t been shared online yet, but preview clips of the forthcoming vinyl can be heard here, while more details about the release can be found here.
A collaboration between Priori and Patrick Holland, the Jump Source project has quietly been releasing music for nearly six years now, and the Montreal duo’s latest self-released offering, JS06, will land on April 29. The record includes collaborations with Sabola, Frankie Teardrop and Martyn Bootyspoon, and the latter features on opening track “On,” which was made available earlier this week.
Keeping track of Florian T M Zeisig and his various endeavors is no easy task. Aside from the music he releases under his own name, the German ambient / experimental artist last year debuted a new alias, Angel R, and is also one half of the duos NUG, OCA and Unt. As it turns out, that wasn’t quite enough for Zeisig, as he’s set to debut yet another moniker, Spool, with a new release that’s coming out on April 18 via Somewhere Press. The full details are still under wraps, but the label has been dropping teasers on its Instagram in recent weeks, and just yesterday published a video for the song “Oneandhalf” on YouTube.
Tess Roby, who also fronts dreamy Montreal synth-pop trio Dawn to Dawn, has today unveiled a new collaborative project, Deep Breath, in which she’s joined by Hugo Bernier. The duo’s low-key debut, Inhale / Exhale, is available now via Roby’s SSURROUNDSS imprint.
LOULA YORKE 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 Loula Yorke, a UK-based composer, sound artist and modular synthesist. Though she debuted with the YSMYSMYSM album back in 2019, she’s become increasingly prolific over the years, and in 2024 alone dropped the hypnotically looping Volta album on Truxalis, completed a long-form ambient excursion called speak, thou vast and venerable head for quiet details and issued a new vinyl version of her A Man On a Galloping Horse Wouldn’t See It LP via Castles in Space.
Yorke didn’t stop there, either, as she also launched a monthly mixtape series documenting her ever-evolving creative process. (As it happens, the Bandcamp listening party for April’s mixtape is happening today at 8 p.m. GMT—RSVP here.) With the series’ first anniversary coming up next month, she’ll be marking the occasion by releasing The Book of Commonplace, an hour-long sound piece that pulls together and reworks some of the best bits she’s offered up during the past 12 months. The official details—including the exact release date—are still TBD, but Yorke took a quick break from finalizing the project to stop by First Floor and recommend a spellbinding tune that surfaced just a few weeks ago.
Brìghde Chaimbeul “Bog an Lochan” (Glitterbeat)
I’m captivated by the fire and energy of Scottish smallpiper Brìghde Chaimbeul, and “Bog an Lochlan” is the lead single from her upcoming Sunwise album. With its trance-like repetition of sequences, and the sharp attacks created from the interplay of her breath and fingers, the song’s layers gradually build up with delay to form these sublime kaleidoscopic textures, all anchored to Earth by the sheer gravity of that searing drone tone. This is ancient dancefloor magic.
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.
Jacy “Move Your Body” (smallville)
Built atop an irresistible—and quintessentially ’80s-sounding—synth-funk bassline, “Move Your Body” opens a neon-streaked portal to the past. The opening track on Italian producer Jacy’s new One Kiss EP, it also employs the same sort of washy melodic stabs that powered Art of Noise’s iconic “Moments in Love,” and its plethora of canned flute sounds wouldn’t have been out of place on an old Deep Forest record—or even the Karate Kid 2 soundtrack. The nostalgia levels are quite high here, but “Move Your Body” never feels like a rote genre exercise; on the contrary, it’s a joy, and that likely stems from Jacy’s clear love for the sounds and styles he’s referencing.
Torvvo “Substratum” (The Bunker New York)
Speaking of the 1980s, there’s a subtle synth-pop current running through “Substratum,” the title track of the latest EP from Berlin-based artist Torvvo. Although the song is undeniably a techno cut, its taut rhythm is more of a foundational element than a driving force, ceding the spotlight to a brightly lit array of percolating synth tones. What results is far closer to Jean-Michel Jarre than Erasure, but with its steady pulse and subtly psychedelic bent, “Substratum” should prove satisfying to ravers of any generation—even the ones who weren’t yet born when the ’80s were actually happening.
DJ Plant Texture “WTT (Dub Mix)” (Tresor)
A highlight of DJ Plant Texture’s new Life EP, “WTT (Dub Mix)” revolves around a heavily distorted vocal loop, one that sounds like a bit-crushed rendition of an ancient pagan ritual. Add in the Italian producer’s jumbled, furiously smacking drum patterns, and the song becomes downright menacing, as though its creator is intent on summoning some sort of primordial rave demon onto the dancefloor. Could this tune inadvertently lead some unsuspecting clubbers down a rather terrifying path? Possibly, but for anyone who doesn’t mind a little bit of the occult in their raving diet, “WTT (Dub Mix)” will be more like an invigorating fever dream.
Ploy “When in Room” (Dekmantel)
“I’m just shit at writing melodies,” said Ploy in a First Floor interview last month. That’s why drums have always been the focal point of the UK artist’s productions, and on It's Later Than You Think, his debut for the Dekmantel label, the percussion sounds are positively gargantuan. But in contrast to older Ploy releases, in which his drums were structured around dizzying drops and head-spinning sound design, this new record puts them to use in service of a booming house groove. Bass music diehards might be left a little puzzled—though Ploy had already taken a step in this direction on last year’s excellent They Don't Love It Like We Do EP—but regardless of one’s specific genre preferences, there’s no denying the potency of opening track “When in Room.” It’s a big, clattering roller, and while its tribal-tech aesthetic recalls ’90s- and Y2K-era heavy hitters like Murk and H-Foundation, the song does have a smidge of UK energy, its subtly crazed sound design and siren-like blasts bringing to mind the early work of Basement Jaxx.
Barker “Fluid Mechanics” (Smalltown Supersound)
If you’re looking for more of the trance-adjacent, no-kick-drum techno that populated Barker’s acclaimed 2019 album, Utility, then head straight to “Reframing,” the lush, intricately detailed first single from the Berlin-based producer’s new full-length, Stochastic Drift. It’s an excellent tune, but it’s ultimately something of an outlier on the new record, which—as he explained in a First Floor interview back in February—effectively documents more than five years of evolution and experiments. “Fluid Mechanics,” which comes toward the end of what’s ultimately a rather varied LP, is another standout. A downtempo, not-quite-ambient number with a jazzy streak, the track defies easy classification, but listening to its moody chords and patient drum strikes—all of them bathed in soft static, softer pads and some sumptuous (albeit subtle) reverb—any concerns one might have about the proper genre tag will likely melt away pretty quickly.
Penelope Trappes “Red Dove” (One Little Independent)
Dark magic has always been an element of Penelope Trappes’ solo work, but where past releases—including last year’s Hommelen, a collection of brooding halldorophone experiments that, full disclosure, came out on my wife’s Paralaxe Editions label—often communicated via mood and tone, the new A Requiem LP filters her witchcraft into a more focused strain of songwriting. It’s not a pop record—the music is far too somber for that—but it’s unmistakably human, with Trappes putting both her pained howls and steely whispers front and center. The UK-based Australian has described the album as a sanctuary she built to “explore familial chaos and history,” and though its gothy atmospheres and funereal beauty recall the lush darkness of classic 4AD, one also gets the sense that Trappes is traveling back much further, exercising personal demons while reconnecting with forces that predate the historical record. On “Red Dove”—which is perhaps the LP’s most striking selection, and also has a satisfyingly freaky video—she actively blurs the line between myth and reality, its combination of alluringly cooed vocals and swirling synth melodies casting a spell on whoever happens to be in earshot.
Hüma Utku “Ayaz'a” (Editions Mego)
Like many experimental composers, Hüma Utku is essentially a sonic explorer, but on her new album Dracones—which takes its name from a Latin phrase, "Hic sunt dracones" (Here be dragons), that used to appear on uncharted areas of medieval maps—her wanderlust takes a notably personal turn, examining the process of becoming a mother. Casting aside traditional depictions in which motherhood is portrayed as saintly and serene, the Istanbul-born, Berlin-based artist presents a more complex picture, embracing industrial dread as she fills the LP with gnarled sonics, waves of crackling static and a recurring sound of a heart monitor. As albums go, Dracones can be pretty harrowing—that said, so can spending time with screaming infants—and to Utku’s credit, there’s more than tension and chaos on offer. The slow-burning highlight “Ayaz’a” actually closes out the LP on a beautiful—and borderline triumphant—note, its brawny drone, bent string passages and wailing vocals collectively drifting off towards the heavens.
HxH “BEACH” (OFNOT)
“BEACH” is a spiritual palette cleanser. The lead track on STARK PHENOMENA, the debut album from New York outfit HxH, it’s a graceful and deeply immersive listen—and not just because it runs for nearly 17 minutes. Invitingly warm and effortlessly chilled, “BEACH” doesn’t bounce, bop or bang; it drifts, patiently blurring the lines between the organic and the electronic as HxH’s gentle Balearic undulations cozily intermingle with an elegantly warbling trumpet and a persistent haze of silken static. It’s no wonder that the duo put a photo of a moonlit pool on the record’s cover, as “BEACH” exudes a sense of quiet luxury, sumptuously gliding along at a pace only the enlightened—or the fabulously wealthy—can afford to maintain for more than a minute or two.
perila “Barefeeter” (A Sunken Mall)
Recorded over the course of several years, perila’s new The Air Outside Feels Crazy Right Now is something of an odds-and-ends collection, but the Berlin-based ambient artist—who’s always been incredibly prolific—has a real knack for infusing even her most off-the-cuff experiments with a tangible depth of emotion. (A quick disclosure: She’s previously released music on my wife’s label, Paralaxe Editions.) Like most of the record, “Barefeeter” is a bare-bones, lo-fi affair, one in which tape hum and a series of tactile creaks, crackles and groans are just as prominent as perila’s wobbly piano noodling and her heavenly, reverb-drenched vocal loops. Somewhere between a field recording and a lullaby, “Barefeeter” is delicate, to say the least—the whole thing sounds like it could be blown apart by a stiff breeze—but it captures a tender moment in time, one that’s worth experiencing before it evaporates into the ether.
Carrier “Light Candles, to Mark the Way” (Self-released)
The best thing about Carrier is the degree to which the project exists in a soundworld that’s not just unique, but nearly impossible to describe with any sort of exactitude. That hasn’t stopped people—including music journalists, who are supposed to be good at this sort of thing—from repeatedly trying to pin the music down during the past two years. Ambient, drone, dub techno are all frequently mentioned, and given the Belgium-based artist’s previous life as Shifted, there have been plenty of (mostly strained) attempts to draw connections to the techno zone as well. Just this week, writer Philip Sherburne added a new element into the pot, identifying a drum & bass undercurrent in the new Tender Spirits EP, and while he certainly wasn’t wrong to do so, it’s highly unlikely that anyone will ever be pulling out their gun fingers when the record comes on. The music is far too vaporous for that, and its weightless charms are especially apparent on opening track “Light Candles, to Mark the Way,” a slow-brewing number that bathes its twitchy drum patterns in a deliciously gauzy fog. It may not be clear where Carrier is headed, or even if he has a particular destination in mind, but for those willing to drop their questions and simply let him lead the way, the path he’s charting continues to be riveting.
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.