RIP. A weekly roundup of releases on Bandcamp and Soundcloud selected and delivered by Aidan
Bandcloud 273
I like to write a blurb here. Sometimes it's pithy, sometimes serious. I think this format works best when I get straight to the music. I saw the above tweet the other day and thought, yeah Max, you're right!!!! So I won't bore you any further. If you do want to read my optional dance music essay arguments, I'm actually at capacity right now...
Romance Relic - Snow Leopard Watercolor
This is so dramatic. It opens with clanking sound effects, deliciously rendered field recordings, and moves into a lengthy patch of evocative synth swathes. It's like a big ol' trance track minus the arpeggiated melodies and thumping kikcs. There's a track with rather epic darkness compounded by deep thoughts on identity spoken by a young woman. Not unlike Blade Runner to be perfectly honest. It's vast.
Demonic Downshift - Shawn: bhawns
This is quite a varied release, moving between strange squawking sounds, abstract electronics and really blissful, glacial ambience. There is one track I'm not into at all, but it's followed by a 10-minute piece of such beauty that I can easily forgive that misstep.
Phantom Network - ODrex Works Vol.1
An album of fizzling, dreamy dub techno for you. Deep, swirling undulations that shift and vary from moment to moment. It comes on what continues to be a solid label, consistently putting music of a consistently high quality.
Mala_hy - Gothic Climax With Sexy Thick Bss
This is a short one, with melodies that recall 90s rnb at a UK garage tempo. Somehow it's both slick and unpolished at the same time. Really nice either way,
Laughing Ears - Shame
Laughing Ears from Shanghai here offers up a four-track release that's like grime meets ambient meets rave meets sound art. Not quite like the whole weightless sound, it's more fuzzy than that. I don't even know if grime is the right word. It's certainly dark and incredibly synthetic, like the best grime, but the tempo is higher, without reaching either dubstep or jungle territory. It's definitely heady and percussive.
Huerco S. @ FLUFF Berlin 16.11.2019
Two hours of Hwerky DJing in Berlin. Starts off quite deep and vibey, then gets pretty raucous, with wild percussion and ravey sounds.
KS Podcast 16: Hedon The Cat
As I was listening to this I thought it had some real BoC vibes. Then Hedon went and played Reach For The Dead, the single that preceded 2013's Tomorrow's Harvest. It's a beautiful mix that covers a lot of ground.
DJ Küsse - In Nettuno (Skin Dip Mix)
DJ Küsse made one of my favourite tracks this year with 'Gone ('99 Mix)' and this one, on the second Sensible Seelen compilation, is just as playful and enjoyable. It's got a really lovely syncopated synth melody alongside some weird vocal samples and chords, and underneath you can hear what must be the drums from 'Don't You Want Me'.
C Powers and DJ Gear: The Diversified Portfolio
I shared a Sorry Records release last week and I'm happily sharing another one today. You might say... I'm not even sorry. The opening track is reminiscent of 90s house, its chopped and looped vocals over bouncy percussion feeling like something Deep Dish might have played way back, only with a crunchy and distorted edge adding a modern sensibility. The other tracks combine playful sounds with a very serious commentary on modern capitalism. Oh and BAM, Cee Pee dropped a weed-soaked mix just the other day.
Rose Bonica Dreamy Techno Mixtape for KALTBLUT Magazine
Cape Town's Rose Bonica dropped a nice mix of "dreamy techno" for KALTBLUT. It's largely populated by her own stuff, which is hazy and woozy with a rich percussive edge, and she also makes room for the likes of Altered Natives, Jumping Back Slash and SEXXUS, whose 'Down On All Fours (At Close Range)', on Bonica's Wet Dreams label, featured in my recent mix for SESH FM.
Van Appears - 12 Remixes of Fence, Ysgol Dinas Brân by Cahn Ingold Prelog
What to say here. Twelve remixes that are all murky, muffled, squelchy and strange. Not club stuff but music to explore caves by.
VAK22 | Monotronique / Quiet Evenings - Organ Music / Distance (Excerpts)
Absolutely gorgeous music from Grant and Rachel Evans aka Quiet Evenings and Roman Kurhan aka Monotronique. It comes on VAAGNER, a label that has previously released music from the likes of Ekin Fil and the ever-industrious øjeRum.
GETME! Guest Mix 124 : Nikki Nair
To the casual observer (ie me) Nikki Nair appeared to come out of nowhere this year. I first heard of him through Scuffed Recordings, then all of a sudden he put out a release on Gobstopper, before appearing on Argot's American Dance Music compilation. He has stuff on his SoundCloud going back several years, however, so my bad for being late to the party. This particular mix really is a party, starting off with silly voices from Stuart Price but focusing generally on new music from the vibrant American scene. C Powers features with a track from the above release, as does Jubilee, with a track from her recent smash album. Think crisp and punchy electro and techno as well as life-affirming Príncipe (is that a genre yet?).
madamdata - 3f requiem
To finish, a searingly beautiful piece of art from madamdata. It was released to mark Transgender Day of Remembrance, which took place on Wednesday. It's an annual observance that honours the memory of the transgender people whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence. '3f requiem' is built around high-pitched feedback that is modulated and phased across some 11 minutes.