First Floor #266 – Exploring Parallel Worlds
a.k.a. An interview with novelist Aria Aber, plus a round-up of the latest electronic music news and a fresh slate of new track recommendations.
If you follow the newsletter on Instagram, you might have seen this already, but just yesterday it was announced that I’ll be heading to Berlin’s Home Again festival this weekend for another edition of First Floor Live. More details are here, but I’ll be hosting an in-depth conversation with Shed (a.k.a. Head High a.k.a. a few dozen other monikers), who’s long been one of techno’s most revered shapeshifters. Among other things, we’ll be talking about his celebrated career, his multifaceted catalog and his unusually large collection of aliases, but I’m particularly keen to hear his thoughts on Berlin itself, as he’s someone who’s had a front-row seat as the city has undergone a radical transformation during the past few decades.
As it happens, Berlin was also a major focus of my interview with writer Aria Aber, which was published earlier this week. Most discussions about the German capital, at least among dance music types, tend to focus on DJs, clubs and partying, and while all of those things do feature prominently in Aber’s acclaimed debut novel, Good Girl, her book goes well beyond the dancefloor, touching on the absurdities of the expat circuit while also highlighting the parallel (and in many ways invisible) existence of the city’s sizable immigrant population. As the child of Afghan refugees and someone who was born and raised in Germany herself, Aber had plenty of relevant experiences to draw upon—including several years spent as a devoted club kid—and we talked at length about how those experiences shaped both her own worldview and the narrative of her book.
You’ll find that interview below—and yes, the paywall is currently down—and if you’ll keep on going, you’ll also find a thorough rundown of what’s been happening in the world of electronic music during the past week. News items, new release announcements, suggested reading links … they’re all there, as is a fresh batch of track recommendations, which I’ve painstakingly selected after combing through the relentless firehose of new releases that dropped during the past seven days. And if my personal picks aren’t quite enough to quench your musical thirst, I’ve also tapped composer and sound artist Hara Alonso to stop by 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 interview with writer and poet Aria Aber, whose debut novel Good Girl moves between two very distinct worlds: the Berlin club scene of the early 2010s, and the city’s (largely marginalized) immigrant community. As someone who was intimately familiar with both of those worlds, Aber had a lot to say about their internal dynamics, and how they’ve profoundly influenced her life and work.
FIRST FLOOR ON DUBLAB BCN
Last week I headed over to the dublab BCN studio for the latest episode of First Floor’s monthly radio show, and that broadcast has now been archived online with a full tracklist. Give it a listen and you’ll hear new tunes from Peverelist, Anthony Naples, Concepción Huerta, Dubbel Dutch, JakoJako, Jump Source, Xylitol and more.
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.
In a move that undoubtedly left many people—or at least me—wondering, “Why didn’t they do this YEARS ago?,” Bandcamp last week unveiled a beta version of Bandcamp Playlists. Unlike the playlists that have been made ubiquitous by the streaming giants, Bandcamp Playlists are “built on ownership,” in the sense that they can only be populated with music that the creators of said playlists actually own. Moreover, once those playlists are circulating in the world, users who come across them will only be able to listen to individual tracks a limited number of times before being prompted to purchase the song. Will this new foray upend the streaming smorgasbord that characterizes much of today’s online listening landscape? Probably not, but for Bandcamp diehards and those advocating for a more just streaming ecosystem, it’s a step in the right direction, and a positive development from a company that’s historically been rather slow to improve the user experience of its platform.
Speaking of Bandcamp, the site’s editorial arm, Bandcamp Daily, this week published a profile of Club Romantico, the Manchester-based label founded by Florentino. Written by Joseph Francis, the piece details the label’s origins and highlights key releases from its catalog and discusses, but it also spotlights how Club Romantico seeks to not just showcase Latin-inflected rhythms, but establish a permanent place for them alongside the North American and European sounds that tend to dominate most dancefloors.
Established in 2006, Rupture has long been one of the most respected jungle and drum & bass nights in the world, yet the folks behind the party (and its label offshoot, RuptureLDN) arguably don’t get the attention they deserve. One of those people, Mantra, is the subject of a new Beatportal feature by Alice Austin, who documents the London artist’s beginnings and how she’s steadily found her own musical voice while building Rupture into a drum & bass juggernaut.
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.
Hessle Audio co-founder Pangaea popped up with a surprise new single last week. Picking up where his brightly colored 2023 album Changing Channels left off, “Manía”—which features the Spanish-language vocals of Madrid-based artist Jazz Alonso—is a peppy, pop-inflected affair, and both the song and its accompanying animated video are available now.
After years of steadfastly self-releasing almost all of his wildly inventive solo work, Kenyan producer Slikback has spent 2025 cozying up with some of bass music’s most vaunted labels. Having already released the Data EP via the newly relaunched Tempa imprint in January, he’s now linked up with Planet Mu for an upcoming full-length. Drawing from dubstep, gqom, techno and more, Attrition won’t be released until July 11, but LP cut “Taped” has already been shared.
Patricia Wolf has a new album on the way. Initially conceived as a score for a documentary film about ravens in Iceland, Hrafnamynd will also bring the Portland-based ambient artist (and avid bird lover) back to the Balmat label, which released her much-loved See-Through LP back in 2022. The new full-length is due to surface on July 11, but opening song “Early Memories” is available now.
With 2022’s ¡Ay! having brought Lucrecia Dalt a new level of notoriety, the Colombian avant-pop artist is now poised to level up even further with her forthcoming A Danger to Ourselves full-length. Billed as “a fearless reflection on the unfiltered complexities of human connection,” the record features numerous guest contributions from artists like David Sylvian (who co-produced the album with Dalt), Juana Molina, Alex Lazaro and Camille Mandoki. RVNG Intl. will be issuing the complete LP on September 5, but first single “divina” and its visually striking music video have already been shared.
Marcel Dettmann last released an album in 2022, and while the newly unveiled Running Back Mastermix: Marcel Dettmann - Edits & Cuts won’t technically change that, it shouldn’t be mistaken for a standard DJ mix. Consisting of tunes that have pretty much all been tweaked or reworked in some way by the Berlin techno icon, the release is set to arrive on June 27. In the meantime though, Dettmann’s edit of Severed Heads “We Have Come to Bless the House” is out now.
Experimental / ambient artist John Also Bennett has completed a new full-length. Though the Athens-based Ohioan tends to do a lot of collaborating—most frequently with partner Christina Vantzou—the upcoming Στον Ελαιώνα / Ston Elaióna is a solo effort, one that the Shelter Press label describes as an “electroacoustic excursion for bass flute and Yamaha DX7ii.” Before the full album lands on July 25, closing number “Easter Daydream” has already been shared.
HARA ALONSO 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 Hara Alonso, a Spanish pianist, composer and sound artist who makes her home in Stockholm. Despite her classical training, she’s spent the bulk of her career pushing the limits of sound and composition, crafting everything from free jazz to what’s been called “power ambient” while constantly innovating new ways to intermingle the organic and the electronic. Listing the myriad of projects she’s been involved in over the years could take up a full edition of the newsletter on its own, but her catalog does notably include outings on labels like Keroxen, Eotrax and Superpang. The latter last year issued towards the melancholy of a future, a collaborative album with Mexican drone / experimental artist Concepción Huerta that the two recorded at Stockholm’s famed Elektronmusikstudion EMS. More recently though, Alonso dropped touch•me•not, a new solo LP inspired by our skin and the way it interacts with the world around us. What her next release will be like is anyone’s guess, but her selection below showcases her undiminished passion for the avant-garde.
Ameel Brecht “The Locked Room” (Blickwinkel)
There is something mysterious about this music. Ghostly and veiled, it’s as if it comes from a different time. The simplicity of the solo instrument and the repetition of the material creates a diffused memory of an old sea, or maybe a dried tree that’s been rocked by the wind. At the end of the song, keys come in and offer an awakening—not to reality, but to another dream.
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.
Claudio PRC “Kāla” (Delsin)
Those hoping that Claudio PRC would fill his latest full-length with more of the moody deep techno that he’s known for won’t be disappointed. The newly issued Self Surrender has plenty of heady dancefloor excursions, and the late-night cruiser “Subversive” is particularly good. Yet the Berlin-based Italian also has a couple of excellent new tricks up his sleeve, including the wubby album highlight “Kāla,” which is closer to Bristol trip-hop and the low-key dubstep of Horsepower Productions than anything that ever came out of Detroit. Slathered in smoky haze and bolstered by slow-burning horns, the song conjures visions of desert landscapes and warm night air.
rest symbol “skin” (FO)
As the inaugural release from FO—a new imprint headed up by longtime kranky affiliate Brian Foote, who also co-founded the excellent Peak Oil and False Aralia labels—the self-titled album from London trio rest symbol arrives with a certain level of expectation, at least among ambient weirdos and those devoted to the gospel of Boomkat. The record itself deals in a soulful strain of trip-hop, and leans heavily on the arresting vocals of Moreiya, whose bassy register comfortably fits into a lineage that includes frequent Tricky collaborator Martina-Topley Bird, Lamb frontwoman Lou Rhodes and countless jazz divas of old. On LP standout “skin,” her pipes are interwoven with warbling strings, crackling static, tumbling beats and, eventually, a potent sense of emotional release, as rest symbol slowly crawl out from the ill-lit corners they tend to inhabit and briefly revel in the light.
Alex Kassian x Spooky “Orange Coloured Liquid (Placid Angles Remix)” (Test Pressing)
First released in 1993, “Orange Coloured Liquid” is a lush slice of ambient prog, and it’s been given new life by a new release / reissue headed up by Alex Kassian. And while the record includes two different reworks by the Berlin-based producer, along with a newly polished version of the gleaming original, it’s this remix by Placid Angles (a.k.a. John Beltran) that steals the spotlight. The Michigan veteran is one of those artists who could feasibly rework a recording of someone reading the dictionary into a deeply spellbinding tune, and his take on “Orange Coloured Liquid” is a tinkling gem, one that swaddles its psychedelic undertones in pillow-soft pads as Beltran’s campfire beats saunter toward some unseen horizon. Simply put, it’s a stunner; an understated stunner, perhaps, but one that’s as appropriate for the chillout room as it is for a lazy afternoon of watching clouds drift across the sky.
Margaux Gazur “Madake” (smallville)
Elegant and almost dainty, “Madake” is an exquisitely chilled house tune, and a highlight of Blurred Memories, the latest full-length from Margaux Gazur. True to its title, the album was largely created nearly a decade ago, while the French-Vietnamese artist was living in Hanoi and reconnecting with her roots. Listen close enough, and you might hear everything from sound recordings of traditional weapons (e.g. swords, chains, bamboo sticks) to gongs that Gazur grabbed from her father’s martial arts practice, but they’ve been woven rather seamlessly into what ultimately sounds like a microhouse template. Imagine Isolée jamming at a mountain spa on a chilly spring morning—a jaunty little number like “Madake” could easily be the end result.
claire rousay & Gretchen Korsmo “nothing to dread” (mappa)
Though they’re bonded by a shared love of emo and time spent living and Texas, it seems that claire rousay and Gretchen Korsmo were largely unfazed by the norms of both genre and geography while making their new quilted lament LP. Defined by drifting textures, assorted found sounds and a handsomely abstracted variant of pop, the album calmly scuttles, scampers and glides along as its creators occasionally reference the singer-songwriter canon. With its lingering tones, the standout “nothing to dread” actually verges on drone, but the song’s quietly sung vocals lend an irresistible bit of poignance to the proceedings, making clear that two sensitive humans are at the heart of this formless daydream.
Romance “We’ll Always Have Paris” (Ecstatic)
The music of Romance—an anonymous undertaking that’s incredibly managed to retain its shroud of mystery across five years and a dozen releases—has always had a cinematic bent. (Considering that the project has used both Celine Dion and old soap operas as source material, perhaps the word “melodramatic” would be even more appropriate.) On the new Love Is Colder Than Death full-length, the filmic vibe is specifically tuned to Hollywood’s classic noir era, transporting listeners to a bizarro version of 1940s jazz lounge where all of the piano melodies and smoky divas have pitched down and rendered into a sort of sultry goo. LP highlight “We’ll Always Have Paris” actually eschews vocals altogether, but its dreamily warbling flute—which almost sounds like something from an old Irish ballad—will thaw even the most frozen of hearts.
emptyset “Penumbra” (Thrill Jockey)
Does anyone provide a more reliably visceral listening experience than emptyset? Nearly two decades into their career, the UK duo have more than established their bona fides, to the point that their new Dissever album is effectively a masterclass in bone-crushing, gut-rumbling sound design. On paper, that may sound like a recipe for chaos, but what’s perhaps most impressive about empyset is their tightly controlled approach. Yes, the bass is heavy, and yes, every serrated synth is diamond-sharp, but every detail is exactly where it should be, and the duo never opt for an overwhelming audio assault when a laser-guided precision strike can do the job. Part industrial meat grinder, part black hole, the standout “Penumbra” makes for a legitimately harrowing listen, but it’s a testament to emptyset’s skills that they can make the prospect of being torn to shreds sound this thrilling.
ERP “Telenovela” (Alien Communications)
Client_03 “TranSonicDelta” (Alien Communications)
Electronic music genres fall in and out of the hype cycle all the time, but somehow electro always seems to feel fresh, despite its undeniably retro orientation. Featuring contributions from artists like DMX Krew, Plant43, Carl Finlow and Reptant, the new Astral Projections compilation runs the electro gamut, offering up sci-fi slappers, crunchy strutters, cosmic drifters and all points in between. Yet it’s ERP who best embodies the Astral Projections title, as the glowing strings and fluttering tones of his “Telenovela” are perfect for trip into the stratosphere—or the subconscious. Client_03’s harder-hitting “TranSonicDelta,” on the other hand, is more of a high-stepping groover, and prompts questions like, “What would it sound like if Afrika Bambaataa had come out of the Florida breaks scene instead of 1970s NYC?”
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.