RIP. A weekly roundup of releases on Bandcamp and Soundcloud selected and delivered by Aidan
VJtheDJ (Pumpdabeat) - Pleasure Principle - Janet x VJ
This is a really nice stripped back remix of JJ’s ‘Pleasure Principle’ from Philadelphia’s VJ the DJ.
Kincaid & Zenzizenz (aka Viers) - Single Cell
Out today, this is a split release from Kincaid and Zenzizenz on Banoffee Pies Records. I don’t say this lightly, but it’s magical. Four tracks from two artists that span gorgeously rich sound art and muggy techno. It’s a trip.
I know this is almost like sharing a Now! compilation but seriously, I love it. I didn’t know you could tie together Sun Ra and vocal house and classic techno sounds and 90s ambient electronica and a brand new remix of ‘Hayling’ like this but by God Wooly’s done it. Hats off mate.
Manja Ristic - Searching for the Cohenian Crack
Deeply affective sound art meets field recording meets ambient meets….
Patrick Shiroishi - i shouldn't have to worry when my parents go outside
This title says it all. Following the shootings of in Atlanta that led to the death of eight people, including six Asian women, patrick shiroishi turned to music to express his feelings of sadness. He invited his sisters to speak about their feelings and their voices can be heard on these tracks. The opening track is called ‘never again is now’ and that’s a great reminder that when we talk about how we approach things “in future” that means starting right now. Not tomorrow, next week etc. Change your ways. Proceeds from this release will go to the victims via Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Atlanta.
Noémi Büchi appeared on my radar late last year with her Matière release. It was brilliantly expansive in its polyrhythmic approach. She recently dropped two releases on her Bandcamp, which are quite different in their sound. I quite like this one, Ephemer, which is four tracks of bright and bold electronics.
Andrea Passenger - 1990-2020: 30 Years Of Underground Resistance - Tribute Mix
Not much to say about this one; 200+ minutes of UR tracks from over the years.
Gorgeously weird indescribable sounds. Possibly an incredible opener in a nightmare club set, possibly weird music to kick off your morning run. Or afternoon run. When do people run? I don’t know. Or maybe it’s an intricate piece of music and sound design to be appreciated in isolation. Crazy thought.
I had a track or two from this release shared into my SoundCloud timeline and thought they sounded chunky and fun (funky?). One of the tracks is called ‘Diphthong’, and that caught my attention. Then I see they had a track premiered by Mixmag. Not that there’s anything wrong with that of course, but I thought hmm does it need me to promote it further? I compared the play counts on the other tracks on the release; while the Mixmag premiere is in the thousands, and the opener, premiered by Torture the Artist, was on 1,000 exactly last night, none of the other tracks have broken out of double figures in the past week. It makes me wonder, does a premiere benefit the artist in these times? I’d be interested. The release is tagged as tech house, and I’ll add on “the good kind” to that genre description. As I said, chunky, with an added levity, bouncy, mischievous and again, fun. This is a solid release.
Schloss Mirabell - Enter rewind
An utterly beguiling oddity from this Austrian artist.
Bantam Lions - Made Of Stardust
This is forthcoming on a new label called OoB and it’s really quite nice. The release is called ‘Views From My Room’, which is pretty poignant.
Lovely modular experiments from my namesake and fellow countryman oootini.
New Lighght just dropped. Coming on US label Doom Trip, who featured a track from this Cork producer on last year’s Doom Mix Vol. IV, it’s different to what you might expect. It’s rich in its approach, with layers of sound from melodies that are as playful as they are melancholy, unusual noises and echoed field recordings, all-round wide-eyed mischief you might say. That’s not to say there isn’t a serious approach, rather one that allows for any possibility and doesn’t turn its nose up at anything. They’re far from bangers, bro, but they are equally as gripping.