First Floor #271 – Everybody's Problem Is Nobody's Problem
The growing struggles within independent music culture, plus a round-up of the latest electronic music news and a fresh bundle of new track recommendations.
Every time I mail out a newsletter, some people unsubscribe. Sometimes it’s three people. Sometimes it’s several dozen. At some point, I stopped paying close attention, because when you’re doing a newsletter—especially one like First Floor, which publishes multiple times a week and has been going for more than five years—readers are naturally going to come and go. The numbers go up and down from one day to the next, and as long as there’s not some sudden collapse, I try not to worry about it.
Paid subscriptions, however, are a little bit different, simply because they’re what make this whole thing (somewhat) feasible. And while I certainly don’t get mad when someone elects to bail out, it is interesting to see what triggers readers’ decisions when it comes to financially supporting First Floor (or not).
Earlier this week, I published an essay focused on the independent music ecosystem, specifically examining the gap between how much people say they think independent music culture is important and their willingness to back up that sentiment with actual cash. (Based on the recent flood of artists and organizations publicly asking for financial help, that gap appears to be growing by the day.) The current music journalism landscape was part of what I wrote about, but in all honesty, I didn’t intend for the piece to be some sort of sneaky fundraising ploy to guilt people into opting for a paid subscription to First Floor.
Nevertheless, some people did sign up for paid subscriptions. (Thank you for that.) But what was really striking was that almost the exact same number of people chose to cancel their paid subscriptions. It’s not a problem, but the timing sure was interesting. Who reads an article about how the independent music sphere is struggling and responds by cancelling their existing subscription to an independent publication? As a friend told me, it’s almost like they saw my essay and thought, “Allow me to illustrate your point.”
Again, none of this is a problem and I genuinely don’t mean to scold anyone. People are obviously free to subscribe and unsubscribe as they please, and all things being equal, First Floor is thankfully doing fine. (Not great, but fine.) At the same time, watching this little sequence of events unfold hasn’t made me feel any more confident about the current and future health of independent music culture, which of course is why I wrote the aforementioned essay in the first place.
If you’d like to read that essay, you’ll find it below—and yes, the paywall is currently down. Otherwise, today’s First Floor digest is a hearty round-up of what’s been happening in the world of electronic music during the past seven days. News items, new release announcements, suggested reading links … all the usual stuff is here, as is a fresh batch of new track recommendations. And speaking of recommendations, I’ve also lined up the adventurous Anastasia Kristensen to drop in with a special guest selection, so make sure to check that out.
There’s a lot to get through, so let’s dive in.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
Every week, 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 essay about the current state of the independent music sphere. With a growing number of established artists, organizations and venues now turning to the public and directly asking for financial support, the cracks in the system are really starting to show, and while it’s widely acknowledged that the situation isn’t looking good, it’s not clear that a sizable portion of the listening public is willing to spend their own money to help solve the problem.
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.
With james K slated to drop a highly anticipated new album in September, the press will likely be devoting quite a bit of attention to the genre-melding NYC artist during the next few months. Truants, however, has gotten into the action early, inviting her to do an interview and DJ mix for its long-running Truancy series. The piece, which was put together by Taylor Trostle, went live earlier this week, and it includes details about how the forthcoming LP came together, how james K’s music-making techniques have evolved over the years and much more.
Staying on the topic of upcoming full-lengths, rRoxymore’s Juggling Dualities is due to arrive next week, which is likely what prompted writer Sonia Chien to interview the French artist for Bandcamp Daily. The LP, which was originally conceived as a kind of new age record (but didn’t exactly end up that way), is the main focus of their conversation, but it also touches on rRoxymore’s move back to her hometown of Montpellier and her thoughts on the current state of DJ and club culture.
Bubbling house—a descendant of the Caribbean-indebted bubbling genre, which first took shape in The Netherlands during the ’80s and ’90s—had its heyday during the 2000s, primarily within Surinamese and Antillean diaspora communities. Yet the music—much of which wasn’t properly released back then—never quite broke into the wider dance music consciousness, and as many of its most innovative figures moved on to other sounds, the genre’s history risked being lost forever. A new Crack magazine feature by Charis McGowan works to reverse that trend, talking to many of the key bubbling house artists while highlighting the recent efforts of the Nyege Nyege Tapes label to dig up some of the genre’s most essential tunes and put them back into circulation.
Polygonia is the subject of Mixmag’s latest cover story, in which the German artist talks at length with journalist Christian Eede about her love of woodwinds and organic instruments, her efforts to escape the “deep techno” tag that dominated her early career and how her travels around the world have inspired her to dig deeper and make more of an effort to platform artists from outside of Europe and North America.
Founded in 1998 by Electric Indigo, female:pressure has spent decades advocating for better gender representation in electronic music. Though the volunteer-run network and organization has engaged in a number of different initiatives over the years—including the publication of the biannual FACTS report, which examines line-ups and provides quantifiable data about how they break down along gender lines—female:pressure is perhaps best known for its online database of female, AFAB, transgender, transfeminine, transmasculine, intersex [+gender optional], genderqueer, gender nonconforming, a-gender and non-binary artists and creatives. Unfortunately, that database—which now includes over 3150 members in 90 countries—has started to show its age a little bit, which is why female:pressure recently launched a crowdfunding campaign. Donations are being accepted now, and all money raised will go towards making the organization’s database and website more sustainable and user-friendly.
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.
In the past year alone, Florian T M Zeisig has released fantastic albums from his Spool and Angel R aliases, and now the German ambient / experimental artist has completed a new full-length for the STROOM label. Entitled A New Life, it’s specifically being described as “not an album,” It’s also said to be “not aesthetic, not ironic, not for consumption. Not intellectual—it is felt.” What does that mean? We’ll find out when the whole thing drops on August 5, but in the meantime, the record’s first three songs have already been shared here.
A collection of unreleased tunes from 2020 to 2024, Along the Harm is a new EP from Greek dub explorer Jay Glass Dubs. Exclusively released via Bandcamp earlier this week, it’s available in full now.
Billed as “a rock album made without any electric guitars,” All Systems Are Lying is the first new LP from Soulwax in seven years. Scheduled to surface on October 17, the album will be issued jointly by Because and the Belgian duo’s own DEEWEE imprint, and two tracks from the record can already be heard here.
ANASTASIA KRISTENSEN 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 Anastasia Kristensen, a Copenhagen-based artist who throughout her career has refused to be hemmed in by the conventions of genre. Having made quite a splash with the Ascetic EP, her 2019 debut on Warp offshoot Arcola, she’s since popped up on labels like Houndstooth and Turbo; the latter is home to her most recent release, last year’s Moments of Inertia. Kristensen also heads up an imprint of her own, absorb emit, and earlier this year completed a multi-year run of radio shows on NTS. Simply put, she’s got a lot on her plate, but in all of her ventures—which, it should be said, do include a busy touring schedule—she’s determined to champion what she describes as a “textured, experimental and playful” approach to dance music. That sensibility comes through with her selection here, which highlights one of her favorite vintage gems.
Adam Johnson “South of Mel” (Narita / Merck)
I want to give a shout out to mid-2000s, stripped-back music that never got played too much. Many record labels had specifically dancefloor-oriented offshoots during that era, and Miami-based Merck was no exception, launching Narita in 2004. The imprint’s first release was Adam Johnson’s Malk EP, but four of its five songs had previously appeared on Chigliak, his 2003 full-length for Merck. I first came across that LP five or six years ago, and while I do hear DJs and radio hosts occasionally playing other tracks from this little-known release, I think “South of Mel” has this particularly appealing tender and melancholic melody, along with some squelchy percussion that’s perfectly in line with the best IDM traditions.
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.
78 Degrees “The Only One” (Infrared)
A long-brewing collaboration between drum & bass veteran J Majik and his lifelong friend Cavallo, the 78 Degrees project started all the way back in 2010, initially as an outlet for the two to explore deep house and techno. Following a long period of dormancy, the two UK producers rekindled their working relationship a few years back, and eventually decided to plug some of their old ideas into a drum & bass framework. Listening to their spritely new two-tracker, Network / The Only One, that pivot appears to have been a wise call, and while both tunes capably tap into the dreamier corners of old-school rave, “The Only One” is the real standout. Swaddling its rolling breakbeats in warm, smudgy bass tones, the song has plenty of low-end fortitude, but it’s the glowing, trance-like synths and pitched vocal fragments that prove most enticing, perfectly walking the line between wistful melancholy and shimmering bliss.
Client_03 “Decommission Me (feat. Shinra)” (Self-released)
One of contemporary dance music’s top electro producers, Client_03 has impressively managed to spread their cybernetic gospel while also keeping their true identity a well-guarded secret. “Decommission Me,” a collaboration with UK artist Shinra, is taken from the newly issued Testbed_Assembly full-length, and with its neck-snapping rhythms, sci-fi sound palette and robotic vocal refrain, it embodies the Platonic ideal of electro itself. What makes the song truly stand out, however, is the way that its bouncy grooves have been fortified with a burly and distinctly British low-end wub, a choice which makes a pretty solid argument that Client_03’s chosen genre deserves a spot somewhere on the hardcore continuum.
DJ BeBeDeRa “I Will Beat the Top High” (Príncipe)
The new Clássico EP, a collection of tunes which date back as far as 2014, is primarily a showcase of DJ BeBeDeRa’s uniquely sensual take on the chaotically lurching rhythms of the tarraxo genre. Yet its most compelling offering is probably “I Will Beat the Top High,” on which the Portuguese producer tries his hand at something akin to a high-stepping strain of grown-and-sexy house music. (The flute samples alone practically scream “velvet lounge”—in a good way, of course.) That said, the song’s syncopated stride ensures that it will never be mistaken for a standard-issue house cut. If anything, its sashaying gait is closer to UK funky, and while “I Will Be the Top High” was actually written more than a decade ago, its plush sonics and confidently unhurried tempo wouldn’t be out of place in a modern-day amapiano set.
Lo.Sai “Vertigo Effect” (Danza Tribale)
For decades, Italian electronic artists have looked north for inspiration, buying into the idea that mimicking the styles and sounds of Northern Europe was the only path to recognition and validation. Lo.Sai, however, is part of a new crop of Italian music makers that have chosen to focus on the country’s more immediate surroundings, taking stock of how the place has been influenced by its neighbors on all sides of the Mediterranean. On the new Maitake - 舞茸 EP, he claims to draw from “flamenco, muezzin prayer and Central African everyday rhythms,” and the simmering standout “Vertigo Effect” leans heavily into the percussive sensibilities of the Middle East and North Africa. With its limber drum programming and evocative melodies, the song recalls the work of artists like DJ Plead and Toumba, but it unfolds at a deliciously chuggier pace.
RamonPang “Brand Blvd” (Tabula Rasa)
Funnily enough, I first came across the name RamonPang just last week, when a friend forwarded me a TikTok video he’d made that heavily referenced one of my old First Floor essays. Just a few days later, a Bandcamp announcement for the LA-based artist’s latest single landed in my inbox, and while I must admit that I was a little skeptical of anything made by an active TikToker (even one who apparently likes my writing), the timing alone felt like a good enough reason to at least give the track a proper listen. (It also helped that he’s the co-founder of the Tabula Rasa label, which memorably released the hit em-celebrating Thank You, Dream Girl. compilation last year.) Brightly colored and full of glittering, almost crystalline synths, the playfully percolating song—which is apparently a precursor to a forthcoming EP—definitely has some Alexi Perälä in its DNA, but it’s also reminiscent of the genre-blurring, dancefloor-adjacent stuff Four Tet was making back in the early to mid 2010s (i.e. his much-missed post-folktronica, pre-EDM era).
Sun People “Herbie’s Delay” (All Things)
Having previously contributed to labels like Exit, Candy Mountain, Defrostatica and Rua Sound, Austria-based footwork alchemist Sun People is now inaugurating his own All Things imprint with We Felt the Past, an EP of hybrid rhythms and bass-centric sounds. It’s not clear if the fleet-footed “Herbie’s Delay” takes its name from the legendary Herbie Hancock, but the track certainly has a jazzy element, layering soft, soulful chords and languid horns atop its rapid-fire drum hits. Although it’s not a jungle tune, it also brings to mind Adam F’s classic “Circles,” carving out a space for footwork that’s warm, meditative and perfect for those late nights when you’re home alone and quietly pondering the meaning of existence.
Patrick Holland “Days” (Verdicchio Music Publishing)
Another week, and another brilliant piece of music has come out of the Montreal studio run by Priori and Patrick Holland. “Days” highlights the latter’s new In Memory EP, and it’s a joyfully tweaked dancefloor cut. Somewhere between house and techno—but not really tech house—the song bops along with the gleeful abandon of a kid who’s hopped up on birthday cake, its exuberance further enhanced by Holland’s use of crunchy synths and some wonderfully sticky vocal fragments. It’s as though he’s made it his mission to prove that dance music can still be fun without being completely stupid, and as long as he keeps making tracks like “Days,” he’s got a very convincing argument.
Uun “Mezmer’s Secret” (Semantica)
Semantica has long been one of Spain’s most consistent techno labels, but with “Mezmer’s Secret”—the lush opener of the new Metamorphic Stratum EP—the Madrid outpost has unexpectedly ventured into a zone that many grizzled techno diehards would have once found unacceptable: prog. It’s possible that Motor City producer Uun might prefer a descriptor like “melodic techno,” yet the song’s flowing textures and trippy-but-not-quite-psychedelic vibe sound like something out of a ’90s forest rave, or maybe an old Dave Ralph mixtape. Is Detroit prog a thing? It is now, and it sounds pretty glorious.
Domenique Dumont “Visages visages” (Antinote)
First released in 1989, Desireless’ “Voyage Voyage” is one of the most iconic French synth-pop songs of all time. More than 35 years later, Domenique Dumont have subtly paid tribute to the track with “Visages visages,” a cut from the enigmatic duo’s new Deux Paradis album. It’s not a cover, and it’s actually a much cloudier tune than “Voyage Voyage,” but it exudes a similar sense of pomp and pageantry, bathing its seductive lyrics in elegant string passages and silken textures. Expertly crafted but never ostentatious, it’s the synth-pop equivalent of quiet luxury.
ex_libris “#26 (chapel)” (Self-released)
ex_libris “#32 (walrus)” (Self-released)
Absent for nearly a decade, post-dubstep cult hero Dave Huismans (a.k.a. 2562 a.k.a. A Made Up Sound) has suddenly returned to the fray with a new moniker and a new pair of 12-inches. And while the Dutch artist has offered no real clues about why he stepped away from the spotlight or what exactly his new endeavor is all about, the extended hiatus doesn’t appear to have dulled his talents—or his penchant for weaving together the outer fringes of house, techno and bass music.
“#26 (chapel)” highlights the first record, 001, and it’s a moody chugger. In truth, even “chug” might be too strong of a word to describe the track’s laid-back pace, but Huismans makes its relaxed plod feel downright hypnotic, surrounding his deliberate rhythms with soft chords, scratchy haze and what faintly sounds like insects chirping in an open field on a summer afternoon. Wrapping up 002, the enchanting “#32 (walrus)” goes even further afield; landing somewhere between The Beta Band, ’80s Ibiza and ’90s chillout rooms, the song cooly hops, bops and grooves through 11-plus minutes of jazzy drum breaks, ethereal new age-isms and free-floating psychedelia.
Jonny Nash “Holy Moment” (Melody As Truth)
It’s hard to imagine a world in which Jonny Nash isn’t primarily known as a guitarist—and to be clear, his playing is in typically fine form on his new Once Was Ours Forever album. Yet LP highlight “Holy Moment” finds the Netherlands-based Scotsman doing a rare bit of singing, and his voice is just as delicate and emotive as the notes he strums with his signature instrument. Aided by the understated cello of Tomo Katsurada, Nash does tread upon some of the same territory that slowcore outfits like Codeine staked out back in the ’90s, but there’s something soft, welcoming and even a bit Balearic about this stellar piece of songcraft. Although he certainly doesn’t need to sing to grab hold of listeners’ heartstrings—other standouts from the record, like “Bright Belief” and “The Way Things Looked,” are proof of that—“Holy Moment” is perhaps an indication that he should get on the mic a tad more often.
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.