RIP. A weekly roundup of releases on Bandcamp and Soundcloud selected and delivered by Aidan
Bandcloud 285
I don't even know how to open this. I've seen plenty of loss this week. Some has affected me (see below), most hasn't. There's not much we can do but keep on twirling.
Spirit & Form > Remixed
Slightly new-agey in spots, this release on JJ Funhouse sees a bunch of talented folk tackle the Spirit & Form album from a few months back. You may recognise names like H.Takahashi, Les Halles and Yves De Mey, but the whole thing is worth a listen.
HE VALENCIA - revving the engine
Everyone's favourite Twitter anti-hero HE VALENCIA dropped this short mix full of slamming, percussive techno. Twenty minutes of power.
Kuthi Jin - Bee Extinction
Three lengthy tracks "probing the boundaries and overlappings between cold and implosive surgical sound design and post-apocalyptic extreme acousmatic aural ambiences". I won't even try to say it better. Lots of weird and splodgy noise.
Northworks - Northworks EP
This is some really silky dubby techno. Not dubby like, down in the forest in winter, more like hazy smoke but still with some fancy footwork. It's from 2010 but it's been remastered and bolstered with an extra track. Atmospheric and warm.
Jennifer Loveless - DSC
What to say. This release from Canadian-born, Melbourne-based artist and DJ Jennifer Loveless, consists of one large piece split into three tracks for digi. This is the closing segment and it's dreamy and wondrous, with spoken word about visions and ideas. It's as if the girl from 'Little Fluffy Clouds' went on an existential monologue.
Luis Miehlich - Currents
Lovely lovely stuff, this, from German artist Luis Miehlich. Gentle guitar, wistful scenes. Gorgeous music for contemplation and staring into nature.
CS + Kreme - Snoopy
Last week I said "time is a bozo" without offering any context. I don't apologise for that (it's actually a well known trait of mine) but since it's now on Bandcamp, I can tell you that it's the title of a track on the new CS + Kreme album. The album is good. You go do the rest of the work.
NSMA-MIX-002 || Piksel
A mix that's both abstract and percussive, contemplative and immersive. Noise and beats. Weirdo sounds that I can't identify, bits of Joy O and object blue, it's heavy.
Leaaves - Moon King
So good I had it on my list twice. Leaaves often makes blissful ambient, but on this one he gets really floaty and melodic, with glistening arpeggios evoking memories of that Sargasso Sea mix of Salt Tank's 'Eugina', for one thing. He's done a lot in recent years but this may be my favourite of his to date.
M. Quake - Fall In Love With Yourself
Thank you Jack Murphy for this tip. A beguiling 7" released on Valentine's Day, it's a trippy number that blends hiss, found sound, awkward melodies, a fascinating conversation and an insistent beat. The B-Side is the "instrumental".
Alex (assassin of sound) - Catalpa Bignonioides (storm Ciara)
The sound of a tree during a storm. "I have attempted to paint a picture of both the plant feeling and existing in the weather i then added the actual sounds going on outside the plant. I hope this gives a deeper picture."
Andrew Weatherall Live at Waxwerks Part 1
You may have seen the news that Andrew Weatherall passed away this week. DJ, producer, storyteller, elder statesman, no fucks giver, he was legendary, in every sense. Someone who stayed relevant (though I hate that word) and energised for decades, he never lost his sense of childlike wonder at the simple joy of sharing music with people. There's a great line in this interview with Chris Jones about that very notion:
"When I was 11 or 12 years old I’d buy records and invite friends round to play them. I was never going to have the thrill of hearing them for the first time again, but I could live vicariously, looking into people’s eyes as they were listening to them."
This mix featured in the second ever Bandcloud, and I'm sharing it again out of love. I was going to republish something that featured last week, a mix he posted on the Rotters Golf Club name (side note: isn't that a great name? Forever the outsider), but you can just read about it here instead. RIP big man.