Bandcloud 244

Every year on this day I think of that Why? song I first heard through a Boards of Canada remix. I saw them play at Primavera in 2008 and spent the whole set thinking Yoni Wolf looked like Richard Ayoade. To think I didn't get glasses for another nine months...

VA - Partials Vol. 2 (Frequency Domain)
This isn't out until June, BUT it's quite limited so if you want to get the physical edition (150 copies) you should order now. It's a new compilation from Frequency Domain, an excellent UK label of weird electronica. Like the label, this release covers ground from beautiful ambient of foggy and crystalline forms, modular wonder, pulsed entities, ghostly pop, with tracks from artists unknown (to me) and well known (like Jo Johnson and Anthony Child). It's a wonderful collection. Finally, it's also raising money for Eden Reforestation Projects, a project that aims to alleviate poverty and restore forests in places like Madagascar, Haiti, Nepal, Indonesia and Mozambique. Win-win-win.

Midwife - Like Author, Like Daughter
This is music for sweltering hot days with thick, heavy rain. Modern shoegaze. I'm a total dilettante where that genre is concerned, but basically, if it sounds at all like Grouper I'm there. This is like that. I love the artwork too (see above). Big thanks to Miles aka Lone Dancer for tweeting about it. 

dj haram - Mixed Berries
New haram! When was the last time she had solo work out? This comes a week after anexcellent mix for Dummy. Incidentally, none of these tracks feature in that mix. It's all scintillating percussion, perilously short but excellent all the same.

Ase Manual - Lumi
One track that did feature in haram's mix was 'Get A Lick' from Ase Manual. That comes from a recent release called 'Lumi'. It's an album that's as densely percussive as it is melodious, fast-paced and frenetic yet thoughtful and engaged. It is: "A SONIC SNAPSHOT OF LIFE AFTER DESECRATION... A 7 TRACK ALBUM EXPLORING THE THEMES OF DEPROGRAMMING, DEATH, DESTRUCTION AND BIRTH." 'Bitches Still Brewing' is ace, while Way of Earth Kid, featuring violinist Stephanie Yu marries worlds beautifully.

Hyaena Fierling - Bella Ciao
This one also straddles worlds. From dank and weird noise to monastic choral music, it's quite an experience across its seven minutes.

Darling & Lexi - Television Plant
This is too sweet. I was listening to this and thought "this is just scales?" and then read that it's a collaboration between Dutch producer Darling and his four-year-old daughter Lexi. That's Lexi running wild on the synths, going wherever her impulses take her. Then her dad edits them and adds the beats. Such joy! "This record was powered by Haribo." I can't wait to hear the rest of it. Furthermore, Lexi did art for 20 special edition copies. 

VA - ddr. Compilation 02
Dublin Digital Radio got some residents to submit tracks and we get the pleasure of hearing the results. From the earthy sounds of Natalia Beylis and Dowry to the gorgeous experiments of the Repeater collective (as well as crew member Odd Ned), heady house from Tr One and Fio Fah, a rattling club banger from Selky and a thrilling collaboration from Joni and The Cyclist. Proceeds go to Inner City Helping Homeless, a charity that offers outreach and advocacy to those affected by the housing crisis. 

Sophie Fishwick - Earth And Water
This label is a charity that seeks grass roots organisations working without government funding or support. They're offering a few tracks every week for a year in the hope of raising money for that goal. This particular track really jumped out at me, a lush vista with bells that sing and hang in the air while bird song lilts in the background. 

DJ RIDGELINE ♨️ MD 20814 - LIFE SUPPORT
This feels like a total pastiche but I'm into it. Lush, choppy house music. 

ORAMICS: Sabiwa
A thoroughly engaging mix from Chinabot artist Sabiwa. Noise, ambient, flipped vocal samples, deconstructed trance, the whole thing sounds like it's played backwards. Mad.

Milena Glowacka - Radiance 
This is a weird one. It's driving, minimalist (if not minimal) techno, yet the tracks are practically radio-friendly in their duration. Heavy plod, airy spaces, deep atmospheres, it's almost like something is missing. 'You Are Such A Disappointment' is turgid and horrifying by comparison with the preceding tracks, yet it's not even four minutes. It's certainly an intriguing listen, a refreshingly weird take on standard tropes.

slinky - Old Ways Exploratory Committee
Another weird take on genre, some of slinky's tracks seem to combine dub techno's tempo and fizz with the digital synths and melodies of grime, but the combination of the two avoids or ignores the intensity or beats associated with either. Some tracks are weird in their not quite ambient approach, almost as if the producer wants to get close to genre before doing a 180 and completely confounding your ears. I'm all for it, tbh.

No Swear - Bust yo' ass
This is young and dumb. It's a silly techno workout liberally sprinkled with Nate Dogg lines from 'Shake That', his 2005 collaboration with Eminem.