Bandcloud 204

This week has been wild! I've seen more snow this week than I have in my life (not including two trips to the Alps of course). Been stranded at home the past few days. Not listening to much music so it's a weird selection.

VA - Welcome To Lotus Land : Remastered
Shout out to Bwana for this tip. It's a remastered collection of tracks made in the 90s in Vancouver. Beautifully crisp electro-laden techno, fizzing with energy and ideas, dubby beats, acid rumblings, it's a super collection that I'm glad to find two decades late.

Acid Camp Vol. 75 - Father of Two
Banger of a mix from Cleveland-based Father of Two. Had you forgotten how good Batu's 'Murmur' was? I certainly had. The mix careens along breathlessly and then at the hour mark gets deep, then opens up with the Beatrice Dillon remix of Ploy's 'Footprints In Solid Rock' before going dark and squelchy, then climaxing with a joyous tread through UKG flavours.

Stavrogin - Collectors
Actually came across this one browsing Boomkat — how backward! It's a kind of gated, choppy techno, seriously deep and overflowing with melancholy. 'Sixty Acres' is a tempest of a track, never approaching beats but perfect for opening or rerouting a set. The title track flutters and growls, rumbling forward with pulses and darkened voices. 'Are These Actual Miles' incorporates frenzied percussion beneath its sorrowful yet mechanical growls, and Ichinen "interpret" that with pitch-black dubbiness and steady groove.

Underground Heroes 050 - Alala.One
The 50th edition in the Underground Heroes series comes from Denver's Alala.One. It's a tribute and requiem for her brother, who died by suicide in 2016. It starts off with a crackle of vinyl and drifting notes, and one could be forgiven for expecting a mix of deeply beautiful ambient sounds. Instead, within a quarter of an hour the mix goes industrial, all juddering mechanical techno. Noise abounds from across the eras, with an early Plastikman track slotting between tracks from 2014 and 17. A kind of stomping catharsis.

burnet207 - Burnet Forever Mix
burnet207 put out a release on Jacktone a few years back and has one due soon again. It's wild, spacey techno and electro with hints of raucous 80s guitar filtered through video games and digital worlds. This mix was performed for Wax n Cats last year and features unreleased jams as well as collaborations with Dreamlogicc, Jon Coe and Giselle Lopez. There are some tracks from the Jacktone tape in there and it's all like a kind of goofy, more playful Drexciya. If that's not sacrilege.

VA - Live at Human Resources (Touch)
A series of live performances from a gig that took place last week in LA. The occasion was the launch of Yann Novak’s second album for Touch, and he performed with and alongside a bunch of other artists. They all came together for a tribute to Jóhann Jóhannsson, who passed away last month. I'm especially taken with Jake Muir's performance, which mixes rainfall, crickets and other vague found sounds with beautiful synth melodies and swells. Other (no less excellent) performances feature drone, noise, spoken word and sequenced strings.

8ULENTINA - EUCALYPTUS
8ULENTINA comes correct on this debut EP for Club Chai. You think one track is going to be a trap beat, only for invigorating jungle breaks to infiltrate the space between those bass drums. It's jarring in the best possible way. Other tracks are built around thrilling, rattling percussion, flute melodies, clanging noise and more traditional sounds, all coming together marvellously. Heavy with a light touch.

Cara Stacey & Camilo Ángeles - Silbato Azteca
This is a lovely way to end the week. It's the first track (well, it's the final track on the release) from a collaborative album on Kit Records. Experimentalist Cara Stacey meets Peruvian flautist Camilo Ángeles for a delightfully weird and fascinatining release. This track features whistle blasts, birdsong, scraping rustles, otherworldly sonics and, of course, melodies from Ángeles. It's beautiful and charming, and I can't wait to hear the rest of the album.