RIP. A weekly roundup of releases on Bandcamp and Soundcloud selected and delivered by Aidan
Hello and welcome to a new year of Bandcloud. Next Thursday marks seven years since I sent the first mail. I’ve been using Mailchimp since very early on and I’ve decided to switch to Substack for a few reasons. Maybe I’m naive, but one of the things I love about sharing music on Twitter, which is how Bandcloud first came into being, is the sense of community. I share one thing, someone says I like that, have you heard this? And so on. So Substack offers the possibility of comments underneath each mail, or post if you will. I’ve also got the ability to embed links with this platform, which means you don’t have to click on to the artist’s page at all, keeping everything in one neat window. The links will still be there for the diligent among you, of course.
I had a fairly uneasy Christmas break. My son required two COVID tests (both negative, thankfully) and we were basically confined to our home throughout. I appreciate that our scenario was already the case for many people even without tests, so I won’t go on about it, but it was tough, especially for the kids, who couldn’t see their grandparents. We seem to have returned to the position we were in back in March 2020, with both kids at home. It is what it is, I keep saying. Will it always be like this? I’m not even going to pretend that I have any answers. All I have is music. Oh and if you missed any of the interviews that made up by year-end coverage, see here.
VA - Roots, Space, Vision Vol. 1 (Free Download) (Rec Room)
This is a bold opening statement, a free compilation from Rec Room, the collective made up of Kepler, DJ Uta and Sarah Farina and LUZ1E. It’s heavily US-leaning, despite the collective’s Berlin location. Vibrant, clubby music that’s routed in vogue and Baltimore traditions, as well as more straightforward 4/4 leanings, it’s got a bunch of super tracks most notably from N9oc, DJ Delish, Cajoux and Mark Flash.
Medulasa - Nu Year Nu Metal Mixtape
Medulasa is a UK artist who has found some notoriety online for their campaign to get James Blake to cover Duality, a track from Slipknot’s 2004 album Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses). Trolling aside, they make some wickedly weird music. Case in point, this Nu Year Nu Metal Mixtape. Now I’m not particularly familiar with the genre beyond some dabbling in Korn/Limp Bizkit/Papa Roach in my teens, so I approached this with trepidation, but it’s a lot of fun. There’s rage, there’s pain, there’s catharsis. It’s a truly beguiling mixture of nu metal vocals from well known figures of the genre over what seem like bespoke beats, alongside samples from Coolio, Bjork, the Baha Men, the Prodigy and Babylon Zoo. ‘Duality’ even features here, and hey, I can’t lie. I would love to hear Blake sing it.
This is a roundup of Chicago artist Oui Ennui’s work in 2020. A chronological insight into his artistic process. It runs from sample-laden soul and hip-hop to chunky house and driving techno. There are modular melodies, synth nightmares, lilting guitar over experimental sonics, an ode to black girls (sampling Freestyle Fellowship’ ‘Shammy's’) — Oui Ennui has incredible range and this is a perfect intro.
Years aren't real, so obviously things aren't going to miraculously change tomorrow, but at least, and hopefully, we can try to reset internally to the best of our abilities and keep our eyes on the prize.
Moving Still presents - Escaflowne 02.01.21
The first thing I’ll say is how jealous I am that Moving Still got Escaflowne on DDR. This mix is sick, with a bundle of utterly joyous house music from different eras. There are tracks that sound brand new but come from decades ago, as well as others with a totally 90s vibe that came out in the past five years. Big fun.
London Pirate Radio Adverts 1984-1993, Vol. 1 by Death Is Not The End
This is an incredible curio. The title says it all really.
The Person - Tide Life (GBR031)
What kind of artist name is “The Person”?! I ask you. Melbourne artist Minna Wight makes “sugary synthwave” and this is supposed to be a kind of airy balm to *gestures* all of this. It’s twee and kooky, kind of like that Nonlocal Forecast album from last year but much lighter. There’s a track in here that honestly sounds like a mixup of the Postman Pat theme with Toploader’s ‘Dancing In The Moonlight’. I think your reaction to that sentence will determine whether or not this is for you.
DLC Soundsystem - Sound of Slivers
Absolute madness from Hardworking Families, going by DLC Soundsystem here. He’s taken elements from LCD’s 2007 album Sound of Silver and chopped and looped it to bits. Not exactly fun listening but fascinating, certainly. ‘(I Just Want To See) All My Friends At Once’. Yeah, same.
Sandra Boss - LUFT - Live concert from Organ Sound Art Festival 2020
MIDI-controlled pipe organ!!! This live set is pretty incredible.
Gavin Prior - Pieces Of Pianos
Irish artist Gavin Prior released this album of strange piano music last month, initially as an appeal to send toys to children in Direct Provision, the notorious Irish system of accommodation for those seeking asylum in this country. You can read about that here. Since Christmas has come and gone, he is now using the album to raise money for MASI, the Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland, which is working to bring an end to Direct Provision.
NOISE MIXES: An Introduction to Zambian Rock 1972-1977
Mixed by George Comodino, this is a fascinating slice of Zambian rock from the 70s. I’d be lying if I said I knew anything about 70s rock in general, let alone Zambian rock from that time, but this sounds cool. It sounds like some deliriously psychedelic stuff, and brings to mind that David Holmes compilation Come Get It I Got It (which, if you don’t know already, you can hear on YouTube).
That opening track, ‘It Was Never Not Winter’, what a title! It was snowing yesterday, it’s been continuously dark at 8am this week, so it feels pretty apt for me.
Aloïs Yang - MLMC Live At Punctum
This year we’re not listening to ambient. This is some beautiful sound art, a performance built from the sound of ice and water. MLMC stands for Micro Loop Macro Cycle: “The focal point of this project is to present how a tiny event — a drop of water, or a sound of cracking and melting ice — in a given cycle system, creates feedback loops that eventually can be seen as the whole.” Then during the concert, rather than manipulating the sound already recorded: “Yang placed his attention on listening to the space react to its own voices, following and sculpting the perception of the flow of time in relation to the spatial dimension and positioning.” Honestly I don’t fully understand how it works but it sounds awesome.
More not-ambient ambient. This is a lovely arpeggiated number, with shimmering melodies bouncing against each other across different octaves.
Dreamy, hazy club vibes from two Caribbean-originating French artists.
I hope you like this new approach. All feedback welcome, by return of mail or in comments. Whichever suits!
This week I shared the first in a beginning of posts that will make up my “Top 500 albums” on Patreon. You can subscribe here. I’m going to pick five new subscribers at random and send them an album — an actual record — I think they’ll be into.