Bandcloud 268

It's been a big week! The October mix went out, this one from Production Unit. DJ Mag posted a large piece on Bandcamp, how it benefits artists, labels and fans. I spoke to Kieran Devlin about how Bandcloud came into being and what I see are the positives inherent in the platform. Many thanks to him and to DJ Mag for the opportunity.

ORLANDO - Worldwide
A brilliant edit here from Orlando, taking just the "worldwide" sample from Groove Armada's 'Superstylin''. It's a study in tension, suggesting at lift-off with bass throbs and drum fills, never quite launching but keeping you waiting all the same.

VA - Or​.​VA1 (Orphan. Records)
Yesterday was World Mental Health Day. To mark it, Orphan. Records put together a compilation filled with a host of interesting sounds. Artists like Orphan.'s Joey G ii and Reckonwrong as well as Ciel, Nathan Micay, Tuff Sherm, Maral and more contributed to this release that's raising money for US charity Child Mind. It's a seriously good comp, with excellent tracks from those mentioned, but the real standouts for me are from Luis and Ehua, both new names for me. See also Klein Zage.

ambientkitty - a sunday morning meditation
Have you heard of ambientkitty? A tweet did the rounds of a cat standing on an Ableton Push controller, each movement making delicious sounds. The cat's human said: "it’s an ableton push with a serum patch i programmed running thru a guitar amp with reverb n a long delay set to e minor so u could smash ur face against it n it would sound pretty..." So if face-smashing would sound good, imagine the sounds of a kitty's gentle steps.

ose - With & Without
I meant to write about this ages ago, but couldn't find the right words. I featured ose a few months back when she made a superb mix for her own ghunghru series. In that mix the San Francisco artist reached back to her Hindustani vocal training and composed a mix inspired by and built around the human voice. With this album (it's only four tracks but it's a full 40 minutes) she takes the ragas, or modes, of Indian classical music and uses her voice, her modular synth and her Digitakt to offer them new possibilities. In her own words, it's "a strange twisted 21st century interpretation of an ancient artistic practice". So for listeners like me these tracks offer familiar sounds — synths and whatnot — used in a framework that's totally unknown. The opening track, 'I feel incomplete without sound', is gorgeous and flowing, not entirely dissimilar to the sound of Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith. 'Drown out the noise with your silence' fizzes with techno intensity, while ose's vocals drift and float above, recalling (hear me out) Thom Yorke on Radiohead's 'In Limbo'. The track grows and grows, opening up and shining brightly in every direction. 'Just like a dragonfly' is similarly electronic, the push and pull of abstraction meeting a solid pulse giving the track a powerful energy. Finally, 'Is it love?' returns to the title track's open-ended nature, spiralling in every direction and leaving the title's question unanswered as a single voice fades into nothingness.

[ MONRHEA ] - _97_AD_
This is a super track, minimal in its use of elements but still powerful. Lots of gurgling bass, deft shakes, splodgy synth sounds and tough cowbell hits.

Áskell - Space Is The Place EP
The drums on the title track here bring to mind a release from the House of Dad album by András a few years back. They don't sound particularly particular, I'm sure other people have used those hits in other tracks, but that's the connection I'm drawing. It's a wooozy, wistful track that perfectly matches the crisp and impactful percussion. 'Dimono' is a dreamy, arpeggiated track that moves like a skyride, while 'Uwah', made with Ómar E., is a deeper, techier number. 'Straum', finally, builds off steadily intensifying drums into a synthy washy finale.

Yak - Zip
This one kicks off with some mid-century shuffling drums, recalling 'Bug In A Bassbin', only slower. Then it starts to get seriously wonky. It's a surprise to me as the other stuff I've heard from Yak has been pretty frenetic. The Termina EP for R&S certainly featured live percussion but to my ears it was brasher and bolshier, while this is more... I don't want to say subtle, but it definitely feels more restrained. Big stuff either way. Another track, 'Gerudo', popped up after I wrote this and it's similarly jazzy, while sounding more sorrowful and emotive.

Severino Pfifferling - Musik für Spülmaschine und Synthesizer
This is something that could very easily fail. I mean let's start with the title. Music for dishwasher and synthesizer. The cover features the artist sitting in a tux next to his dishwasher, a keyboard in his hands. The label name has been written à la Deutsche Grammophon. I mean come on. I won't quote the blurb at length but there's stuff about "an augmented dark cycle of insecure longing for cleanliness and convenience". Despite my fears, I must report that it's amazing. It is literally him playing synths over the reverbed sound of a recorded dishwasher cycle, but the sounds are transformed. The clanks of glassware and crockery, the drip of the water, they're given a strange sort of power almost like a dark folk tale or creepy horror adventure. It's something else.

Lindstrøm - On A Clear Day I Can See You Forever
There are approximately a million, bajillion ambient synth projects out there. Many of them from amateur hobbyists, many from lauded artists with celebrated discographies and PR teams in different countries and jurisdictions. Why does one succeed while another might languish in obscurity? That's not hard to answer. So why am I telling you about this new Lindstrøm album? Because it's really, really good. Where You Go I Go Too is one of my favourite albums, but it's only every now and then that I connect with what he does. This album though. Like other things mentioned this week, its melodies float and swim through the sky. The title track is soaringly beautiful, ripping your heart out and letting it drop down gently into your hands. 'Really Deep Snow' pulses steadily, going from a darkly minor movement into a Kosmische-sounding rasping keyboard solo. 'Swing Low Sweet LFO' (great title) recalls the shiniest moments of Blade Runner, while closer 'As If No One Is Here' dies a sombre death, its muted chords collapsing like the last embers of a fire in the dead of night.

Waajeed - Let Your Love
Waajeed has been putting out some great stuff lately. It's also just been announced that he's mixing the latest edition of the Detroit Love series. Before that drops, however, we have a four-track release on Deviation to enjoy. As is often the case, the title track isn't even my favourite, but it's a jam nonetheless. Jazz-influenced house with an unshakeable groove and a vocal line that's incessant without being annoying, it's pretty much perfect. Just wait until you hear the other tracks!

aircode - Dislocated
This is a few months old, and the label has put out two releases since, but I really like this one. It's from London-based Swedish artist aircode and it's muffled, dank and dark, reminiscent of Levantis in its merging of club sounds and Vantablack depths. That is until things get proper clubby on the final track, swirling into cavernous raves like something out of The Matrix. Also, our postcodes are called Eircodes. lol? Nah? Okay.