Bandcloud 304

Actress put out a new album and it's on Bandcamp. I won't link it though. You go find it. I was supposed to see him in Glasgow a few years back but he didn't show for some reason. I was thinking about that yesterday, as well as the time he shared a bill with Girl Unit in Dublin. I didn't go, but I couldn't remember why, so I checked the internet and it turns out I was playing a gig myself that night. I found my setlist that night and, while I know tastes change and develop over time and all that, well I wasn't up on Actress yet...

entrd_ - Voix Céleste III
I wrote a big blurb about this early in the week and then my laptop crashed, making the sort of insane noise you dream about but never manage to record. I lost that blurb. In short, I compared the early sections of this release to the gurgling electricity that pervaded the 2017 season of Twin Peaks. My good friend Cormac from DDR separately described the release as Dean Hurley meets Kali Malone, and that sums it up. The latter half of this release is a series of mournful, plaintive organ pieces, music that fills the heart with joyous sorrow and unquenchable yearning.

Saints child - So What
Rolling thunderous SoundCloud techno. It comes from larger set of recent tracks but this is the highlight for me. 

Harae Nagoshi - lp01​-​l
Soft ambient, strange noise. Intriguing. Comforting. Discomfiting. I don't usually use packshots here but this one seemed worthy. I like the grout. 

FILMISHMISH | Radio alHara x AS AA S
A whole set of mixes from Radio alHara. The station, which operates from Ramallah and Bethlehem in the West Bank and Amman in Jordan, recently ran a 72-hour broadcast protesting the Israeli annexation of the West Bank. This set features some of the shows, from artists like Mykki Blanco, SARRA WILD, Ben UFO and Kampire. You can also read an interview with the station co-founders here. 

VA - __________ (Steep Gloss)
Miguel A. Garcia & Frans de Waard - Interior Sounding
Steep Gloss is a cool label. Operating out of Wigan, UK, they do tapes and free downloads. One tape had no download (a requirement of working with the artist Culver) but I can assure you that it is excellent; really glorious sludge. The first of these releases is a compilation featuring music from 10 artists, made entirely from blank tapes. Naturally, it drifts towards atonal blurred noises. It's as abstract or as empty as you feel it to be. The second tape is a collaboration between two artists who exchanged sound, apparently culled from magnetic coil recordings made of household objects. Buzz.

krzyzis - exclusive pest
The opening track here is entitled 'ain't no grey skies at night'. Buddy, come to Ireland. The artist tweeted this with the following description: "40 minutes of tones to help you chill in these non-chill times." Says it all really. 

B.G.S. - Techno For Women / Bisexual Techno
I got a special dispensation to listen to this one; it's great. Lumpy, jerky, modulated freaky funk. Almost like some 2013 LIES but not derivative; it's both fresh and rotten.

Electric Sheets Over Them - Broken Key
This is so sick. Just abstract noise, a lil bit of modulated, warbling melody and then more noise. I've been listening to a lot of this lately. I wrote a blog post some months back about how straight-up noise is incredibly comforting and soothing to me, and it's needed now more than ever.

Gemma Dunleavy - Up De Flats
This is a great EP from Dublin artist Gemma Dunleavy. It's heavily influenced by UK garage. grime and US r&b, but the lyrics, instrumentation and overall vibe are decidedly Dublin. It also features the sound of the community in Dublin's Sheriff St and North Wall, which adds even more colour and heart to this excellent release. 

Tim Burgess & Peter Gordon - Temperature High (Benjamin Freeney Versions)
This set of remixes comes from Irish artist in Berlin Benjamin Freeney. Three dubs — Cold Light, Interlude and Warm Blood — it feels more like a suite than a set of tracks. It's slightly dour, chilling and unsettling. I haven't listened to the original track so I'm going on instinct but it feels like Freeney has taken simple choice elements and built new ideas around them (the best kind of approach I believe). 

hm505 - Analog Scriptures
Hakim Murphy with a full-length on his own Machining Dreams label. Crash bang doof bleep, it runs through all these sounds with a distinctly soulful Chicago feel. 

Caldwell/Tester - Live Times 2​.​2
This is a really nice release from an Indiana-based label called Medium Sound.

P2P - H015 | UNZIPPED
I was listening to this while finishing a book called Boy Parts by Eliza Clark. It's intense and this glitchy noisy trip was the perfect accompaniment. 

God Knows - We Move the Needle ft. BONY & MuRli (Prod. by SertOne)
This is .... spectacular. God Knows is about to release Who's Asking Pt II on Fly High Society and this is the first taste. My god. Just raw. God Knows and his fellow Rusangano Family member MuRli are truly gifted writers and rappers, with brilliant lyrics and mesmerising vocal performances. Shouts too to BONY, a Cork rapper about whom I can't find much online bar some battle videos from 2012 and 2011. Anyway. Hats off to SertOne for the beat too.

VA - Victim Of The System (Twin System)
Finally, it wouldn't really do not to feature some sort of charitable endeavour would it? This hefty comp features artists like Otik (in rare ambient mode), Howes, Mosca, Altered Natives and Morwell among many others, with tracks alternately grimey, sultry, bassy and ravey. Money goes to Brixton Soup Kitchen.