First Floor #80 – Excavating '90s Electronica with CFCF
a.k.a. An interview with the Montreal producer about his nostalgic new album.
Hello there. I’m Shawn Reynaldo, and welcome to First Floor, a weekly electronic music digest that includes news, my favorite new tracks and some of my thoughts on the issues affecting the larger scene / industry that surrounds the music. This is the free edition of the newsletter; access to all First Floor content (including the complete archive) requires a paid subscription. If you haven’t done so already, please consider signing up for a subscription (paid or unpaid) by clicking the button below. Alternately, you can also make a one-time donation here.
ON MY MIND
It was almost 25 years ago that the “electronica” boom briefly crashed into the American cultural mainstream, making household names out of artists like The Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, Daft Punk, The Chemical Brothers, Moby and a handful others.
Those acts undoubtedly changed a lot of people’s lives, but the movement that spawned them—which might be more accurately characterized as a music industry marketing scheme—hasn’t aged particularly well. When we now talk about the historic erasure of house and techno’s Black originators, or the stubborn (albeit blatantly false) notion that dance music was a European creation which subsequently “broke” in America, those things can be traced back—at least in part—to the lingering effects of late-’90s electronica.
A lot of faulty narratives still need to be cleaned up, and in many corners of the electronic music world, an effort is encouragingly being made to repair the historical record. By now, I’d hope that anyone who’s been paying at least some attention knows that the ’90s electronica explosion wasn’t the byproduct of an organic cultural movement; depending on your level of cynicism, it could even be seen as a manufactured drive to capitalize on a growing subculture and sell dance music to “alternative” (i.e. mostly white) consumers. For folks who’d spent most of the ’90s listening to acts like Nirvana, Green Day and The Beastie Boys, the electronica boom was a signal that they could safely expand their horizons and try raving on for size—or at least the fantasy version of raving presented in teen TV dramas and ridiculous films like Go.
Perhaps that’s an overly harsh assessment of the era, and I certainly don’t mean to imply that electronica was somehow special in its lack of authenticity. The music industry has spent decades co-opting various genres and subcultures, and the practice was particularly noticeable during the ’90s and 2000s, when grunge, punk, ska, swing, goth, emo, indie rock and numerous other styles were all subject to semi-hostile (and often fleeting) corporate takeovers. Rave was just another name on the list, and the mainstream hype around the newly rebranded “electronica” largely flamed out after a few years, at least within North America. (The music did, however, lay the groundwork for the even more wildly ahistorical—not to mention grotesquely profitable—EDM boom that followed approximately a decade later.)
In retrospect, electronica is both easy to mock and deserving of criticism, but should it be written off entirely? As artificial as the music now seems—and to be fair, plenty of people also called out its inauthenticity at the time—there’s no denying that artists like Daft Punk and The Prodigy (as flawed as they might have been) forever altered the pop landscape, and opened countless listeners’ ears to the sonic possibilities that existed beyond the confines of guitar music.
One of those people was CFCF (a.k.a. Mike Silver), a Montreal producer who was literally in grade school when electronica came along. Last month, he released a new album called Memoryland—you may remember that I reviewed it for Pitchfork—in which he actively revisits the electronica era, referencing big beat, trance, 2-step, IDM, jungle and even alternative rock along the way. The LP is dripping in nostalgia, but it doesn’t necessarily feel like a tribute; when I listened to Memoryland, it felt like an honest engagement with a flawed (and arguably invented) genre, one which acknowledged both the ridiculousness of the music and the outsized impact it had on CFCF (and millions of other young listeners).
What does it mean when your biggest influences, the sounds that literally shaped your musical worldview, were (at least somewhat) artificial? That question seemed to be at the heart of Memoryland, and I wanted to know what sort of answer (if any) Silver had come up with. Last week, we got a call and went deep on electronica (and the late ’90s in general), but also dug into his new album, unpacking both what inspired the record and how it came together—both musically and visually—over what turned out to be a lengthy gestation period.
That interview—which has been edited for length and clarity—can be found here, and whether or not you actually lived through the electronica era, I think you’ll find that a lot of interesting ground was covered.
(PLEASE NOTE: the link to the interview will be open to all for the next 48 hours, but after that, it will be available to paid subscribers only.)
ANOTHER THING I WROTE
Rare, Forever is the latest LP from Leon Vynehall, and unlike the previous full-length efforts from this UK artist, it’s not rooted in an overarching concept or grand narrative. As it turns out, he didn’t need one, and I explained why in my review of the album for Pitchfork.
REAL QUICK
A round-up of of the last week’s most interesting electronic music news, plus links to mixes, articles and other things I think are worth sharing.
AP Life, the new label from Night Slugs co-founder Bok Bok, is off to an excellent start, and the London producer was interviewed about both of his imprints by James Keith for Complex UK. (On a related note, Kid D, who helmed the most recent AP Life release, dropped a new album called Substance yesterday on his own 2 Easy label.)
Kareem Ali has made a lot of appearances in the newsletter over the past year, and now the Arizona-based artist is the subject of Resident Advisor’s latest Breaking Through feature, chatting with Matt McDermott about his past and the unusual experience of blowing up during the middle of a pandemic.
There’s been no shortage of KMRU coverage in recent months, but the Kenyan ambient artist went particularly deep into his past (and his present) in this feature that Philip Sherburne put together for Pitchfork.
At the end of March, a test concert with 5000 (masked) people took place in Barcelona, with everyone in attendance having to take (and pass) an antigen test on the day of the event or present negative results of a test done within the eight hours prior to the show. Last week, researchers from the Germans Trias i Pujol Hospital—who directed the experiment—revealed that after monitoring those concertgoers for two weeks, only six people tested positive for COVID-19, a rate nearly half that of people within the same age range in Barcelona’s general population.
Similar test events took place in the Netherlands back in March, and just last weekend, the UK rolled out their own series of test events in Liverpool, including a 5000-person mini-festival and two club nights (with 3000 people each). The latter featured DJs like The Blessed Madonna, Fatboy Slim, Jayda G and several others, including Sven Väth, whose inclusion on the lineup raised eyebrows (at least on social media) following the German veteran’s continued touring throughout the pandemic.
Deviating from his usual format, Todd Burns published a special edition of his Music Journalism Insider newsletter yesterday, asking a selection of writers to speculate about what music journalism might look like in the year 2221. The answers range from hilarious to utterly depressing, sometimes within the space of a single paragraph.
Oli Freke, author of the new book Synthesizer Evolution: From Analogue to Digital (and Back), assembled a list of the 10 most influential synths of all time for Mixmag.
Another interesting Mixmag piece was done by Michael Lawson, who put together an oral history of NTS Radio. Although it’s not exactly comprehensive, it does feature many of the most important figures from the station’s long run, including founder Femi Adeyemi, morning show host Charlie Bones and several others.
JUST ANNOUNCED
A round-up of noteworthy new and upcoming releases that were announced during the past week.
Flying Lotus played a key role in developing Yasuke, a new anime series that premiered last week on Netflix, and the LA producer has also teamed up with Warp Records to release the original music he created for the show’s soundtrack.
The vast majority of Burial’s output has come via Hyperdub, but he does occasionally step out with other imprints. Back in 2015, he dropped the “Temple Sleeper” single on Keysound, and now he’s returned to the label with a new split EP. Shock Power of Love includes two tracks each from Burial and Keysound co-founder Blackdown, and the whole EP can be found here.
Experimental artist Ulla—who’s also released music as Ulla Straus and frequently collaborates with Perila—has a new album on the way. Entitled Limitless Frame, it’s slated to arrive on May 10 via the Motion Ward label, and preview clips of the record can be heard here.
Harpist Mary Lattimore self-released a surprise new single last week. “Flowers on Flowers” is available here.
Fans of long-form compositions should mark June 25 on their calendars, as Important Records will be issuing The Harmonic Series II, a triple-LP compilation that includes pieces from Kali Malone, Caterina Barbieri, Tashi Wada and others. No music has been shared yet, but more details about the release are located here.
As VC-118A, Samuel van Dijk has spent years refining his combination of electro and techno rhythms, but on the Dutch producer’s forthcoming new LP, Spiritual Machines, he’s apparently retooled and expanded his sound. The album is scheduled to appear on June 14 via Delsin, and one of its tracks, “Aurora,” is already available to stream.
Over the past few years, club producer TSVI has mostly been developing his craft under the name Anunaku, but the London-based Italian will soon return to the former moniker on a new EP. Sogno will be released on June 11 through his Nervous Horizon label, but in the meantime, lead track “Modulatrum” can be heard here.
Fresh off the release of her A Softer Focus album, synth experimenter Claire Rousay has lined up two new EPs, both of which are scheduled to arrive this Friday. The first, Twin Bed, is a four-song solo effort—the title track is streaming here—and the second, Now Am Found, is a collaboration with Los Angeles jazz musician Patrick Shiroishi. (That EP’s closing number, “Brushed Too Hard,” is also available to stream.)
MY WIFE HAS BETTER TASTE THAN I DO
My wife Dania is a wonderful person, but she has little regard for my taste in electronic music. Head of the Paralaxe Editions label, she often describes the music I like with words like “cheesy,” “simple,” “predictable,” “boring” and, worst of all (in her mind), “happy.” In contrast, I think she has a fantastic ear, and I’m constantly amazed by the obscure gems she unearths, both from record bins and the dark corners of the internet. Given that, I’ve asked Dania to share some of her finds with the First Floor audience. Each week, she highlights something that she’s currently digging, and adds some of her thoughts as to why it’s worth our attention.
Ditterich Von Euler-Donnersperg “Bis Man Die Schwalbe Greift” (V I S)
Hello. Klein : ROT is another great release by one of my favourite labels out of Hamburg, V I S. It was done by Uli Rehberg (a.k.a. Ditterich Von Euler-Donnersperg), a legendary and somewhat enigmatic figure in the Hamburg scene. He ran the Unterm Durchschnitt punk record store from 1981 to 2003, a place that apparently was famous for its Christmas and NYE record-burning parties, when unsold pieces of vinyl were tossed into the flames. ( I read that on the oldpunks.de blog, so I can't attest to its veracity.) Rehberg also heads up the Walter Ulbricht Schallfolien label, which has been active since the ’80s, releasing music from artists like Throbbing Gristle, Werkbund, SPK and Asmus Tietchens.
This particular track has so many layers—you can really feel the minutiae of each sound. It's apt that he’s chosen a photo of an insect for the cover of the album, because this song makes me feel like I've been shrunken and now all the organic sounds of the forest floor have been amplified and distorted. Those who know, know. Enjoy.
Follow Dania on Twitter, or check out her monthly radio show on dublab.es.
NEW THIS WEEK: THE BIG THREE
The following are some of my favorite tracks from three releases that came out during the past week or so. (Click on the track titles to hear each song individually.) An extended list of recommendations is available to paid subscribers only.
THE BIG THREE
Rochelle Jordan “Love You Good” (Young Art)
The term drum & bass often prompts thoughts of furious percussion and face-melting bass assaults, but this song echoes a much different corner of the genre—the sultry pop crossover. “Love You Good” is the lead track on Rochelle Jordan’s new Play with the Changes LP—an album produced by KLSH, Machinedrum, and Jimmy Edgar—and though it does feature a lively breakbeat and enough low end to rattle a subwoofer or two, its silky keys and warm grooves are more R&B lullaby than tearout anthem. Adding to that vibe is Jordan’s voice, which take center stage while cooling out the proceedings and breathily flowing atop the song’s bounding rhythms. In an era of endlessly processed vocals, there’s a tangible realness to this UK-born, Toronto-raised and LA-based singer, whose pipes echo both modern artists like Kelela and legendary divas like Aaliyah and even Mariah Carey. “Love You Good” could work at a rave, yes, but maybe it’s more impressive that something like this could also come on at the grocery store without freaking anybody out.
Leon Vynehall “An Exhale” (Ninja Tune)
If you read my Pitchfork review of Leon Vynehall’s new Rare, Forever LP, then you already know that I think it’s a special record. Although the conceptual grandeur of his past work (especially 2018’s Nothing Is Still) definitely got journalists talking and boosted his artistic stature, there’s something refreshing about the new album, even during its darkest and most angst-ridden moments. Vynehall has been at this for a decade now, and Rare, Forever is a document of untethered exploration, one that follows his instincts down various stylistic rabbit holes and somehow still comes across as a coherent piece of art. Few artists have the talent—let alone the command of that talent—to simply let their creativity take the lead, and that sense of freedom is particularly strong on “An Exhale,” a high-flying tune that doesn’t even have a kick drum, but still manages to grandly soar amongst the clouds.
Unknown Me “Aroma Oxygen” (Not Not Fun)
Unknown Me “Open the Sense” (Not Not Fun)
On their new album Bishintai (a title which roughly translates to “beauty, mind, body”), Japanese outfit Unknown Me have put together a collection of what their label calls “cosmic wellness transmissions,” and while that kind of verbiage might require some readers to suppress their gag reflex, the music itself is lush and transportive. Even better, it’s delivered in reasonably sized packages; “Aroma Oxygen” isn’t an expansive vision quest, it’s a brightly beaming new age cut that runs about four and a half minutes long—and that’s one of the lengthiest cuts on the record. Unknown Me have a real knack for making their songs sound light and playful, infusing tracks like “Open the Sense”—a sparkling number that sounds Suzanne Ciani cracking open a portal to the early ’80s—with a psychedelic sense of joy.
Once again, additional track recommendations are available to paid subscribers. This week’s selections include new music from artists like rRoxymore, Truncate, James Ruskin, LTO and more, along with tracks from labels like Full Pupp, Livity Sound, Live at Robert Johnson, LuckyMe and Metalheadz.
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Once again, we’ve come to the end of another newsletter. I know say I this every week, but thank you so much for reading and supporting First Floor, and I do hope 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 or drop him an email to get in touch about projects, collaborations or potential work opportunities.