RIP. A weekly roundup of releases on Bandcamp and Soundcloud selected and delivered by Aidan
Bandcloud 219
Bumper edition just because. It's one of those weeks where I'm feeling guilty because I can't include everything. Follow the Twitter for even more music.
hence therefore - Strata (previews)
I usually don't share previews but these vignettes blend into each other so beautifully that it works as is. The full thing is out next month. It's an album composed "during a period of peak anxiety and insomniac disorientation", with results both haunting and lilting.
Fia Fiell - All In The Same Room
Should have included this ages ago but didn't and I don't even know why. This is a really nice but also quite unsettling release from Melbourne artist Fia Fiell. I don't know much about her except that she contributed a great track to a Butter Sessions compilation last year and that a Google search brings up a pic of her wearing a Gang Gang Dance tee. This tape is muffled, scorched, languid and tense.
VA - Unknown Sources & Disbelief (Hidden Valley Logging Company)
I love it when Bandcamp tags include things like "moody electronic". Says it all really. This is a multi-platform release of weird noisy music from some artists I've never heard of that covers everything from filmic organ music to creepy collage and sound art. Artwork by cool internet friendo Fallon Does.
SIMARA - Music for Isolation #5
"constructed after sampling my youtube usage for an hour" — what more can I say?! It's really powerful creepy weird horror 80s music shoved together with little regard for form or structure or, I duno, classical music theory but it's genius in spite of/because of all that. A nice experiment with thrilling results.
Slikback - Lasakaneku
Shouts to Dom* for this one. It's a set of tracks from Kenyan producer Slikback, though I've only heard the one here. It's powerfully percussive, sparse and dense at just the right moments, textures and timbres expanding as beats rumble and roll, with messed-up vocal samples coughing out simple rhythmic patterns. *He mastered the release and sent it my way.
øjeRum - Selected Organ Works
This is magnificent. Mournful and sad like other releases here (and many before), it's an album of organ works, recorded by the artist between 2014 and 2017. It's really lovely and made for an interesting soundtrack to one of those 4pm kick-offs this week.
FAUXE - I K H L A S
Singapore artist FAUXE spent eight months in Malaysia and came away with a new understanding of the relationship between those two nations. He dug into a bunch of old traditional Malaysian Tamil and Hawaiian Malay music and spliced up tinny samples with warm and vibrant hip-hop beats. It's a great release incorporating styles old and new, as he recounts himself: "This album incorporates a lot of modern hip-hop elements, but also incorporates a lot of dance music vibes I was experiencing, hanging out with the crew from SaturdaySelects whose music output features more dance/remix/halftime incorporated grooves.""
DISCWOMAN 48 x BEARCAT
Utterly riotous party music from Bearcat here for the latest DW mix. Aaliyah over cavernous techno, Lil Pump over Ha samples, David Morales mixed with... something? It's rough. Happy Pride, American fam. Dance with pride.
Clara! - Reggaetoneras 3 Intro (Feat. DJ Coquelin)
I saw Chal tweet about this and checked it out when it popped up in my feed without realising it's just an intro. I want more! It reminds me of mixes from 2006 and working outdoors in Chicago while every single car went by blaring thunderingly loud reggaeton. I'd love to buy this and bump in the whip but our car doesn't have a tape deck (or even a CD player!). I guess I could use a walkman and the aux cord... PS I bought this before sending the mail.
Seahawks & Laraaji - Rest In Peace (Yamaneko's Memento Mori Version)
This slipped by didn't it? It's only bloody Yamaneko remixing bloody Laraaji, in collaboration with psych-benders Seahawks. Can't let it go by unnoticed any longer. As beautiful as you'd imagine. I haven't heard the original and I'm not pushed because this is lovely enough for me. Maybe someday I'll investigate the source material but for now I'll bask in the sunlight of this elegiac wonder.