The best new singles this week

Our guide to the best singles from this week’s hefty crop

SINGLE OF THE WEEK
Burial / Blackdown – Shock Power Of Love EP [Keysound Recordings]

For two artists so enshrouded in hype, it’s good to know Burial and Blackdown still have their finger on the pulse. Ever since ‘Sweetz’, speculation has been rife over the Burial’s interest in current affairs – the track materialised just after the Brexit vote, and recalled the sheer drunkenness of the UK’s decision, its Lil Ugly Mane-sampling refrain relentlessly chanting “get me fucked up”.

Meanwhile, Blackdown has carved himself a niche as one of the foremost heads in the sort-of-dark-garagey continuum, co-running Keysound and conducting some of the most important interviews in dance music history on his blog with the likes of Dizzee Rascal, Burial, Skepta, Mala, Loefah, Shackleton, and Hugo Massien.

It’s no surprise that this EP feels so darkly resonant to our nationally tuned-in hive consciousness. As pundits will insist, we are in a societal stupor. We are in desperate need need of the ‘Shock Power Of Love’. The EP’s name comes from the sample on the Burial track ‘Dark Gethsemane’, a swirling, soft speed garage track tinged with the mood of gospel. “We must shock this nation, with the power of love!”, it preaches, over and over again. It has the energy, the sheer potency to nationally defibrillate. Clear!

Blackdown’s tunes are contrastingly immediate, chilling in their cross-sections of dubstep, dark house, and videogame-soundtrack triumph. ‘This Journey VIP’ follows the original track released in 2020, sounding like its re-emergent cousin. Equally, Blackdown’s remix of Heatmap’s ‘Arklight’ is sunnier and less full-on than the original, transforming our heavy-set woes into techy wisps.

The closer, Burial’s ‘Space Cadet’ – not the first cosmically-themed Burial tune – is, put simply, beautiful. We woudn’t be surprised if we found out it was made in the same breath as ‘Deep Summer’ or ‘Young Death’; it has that sunny, dancing-round-the-fire energy, but Burial’s thematic whisperings (“space child”, “send me to the stars”) are more futuristic. We’ve been stuck in the disease ridden past – COVID-2019- for far too long. The ‘Shock Power of Love’ zaps us into the future, haunted as it may play back.
JIJ

Pessimist – All Hope Lost (Berceuse Heroique)
In the dark year of our lord 2021, there’s a conflict between what people think they need in their music, and what the moment calls for. Ravers in the northern hemisphere may be looking pleadingly to sunnier months with emotive piano house riffs and sweet disco sing-a-longs in their hearts, but the grim uncertainty of the here and now doesn’t necessarily reflect such unbridled joy. What’s called for, then, is a sound faithful to one of the UK’s core strengths – pessimism. There’s a reason sounds like industrial, grindcore and goth are rooted in these rotten isles.

Kristian Jabs has that UK pallor down to an absolutely T for terrifying. Calling himself Pessimist and pursuing the musical direction he has, everything feels very pointed. It’s important to note his sound has never fallen into the trap of monochrome moodiness – there’s visceral heat, grit and blood bristling around his steely constructions. Fractalised rust on the surface of the breaks, the tactile slick of oil seeping around the edge of the drones. His recent Atyeo 12” for Ilian Tape actually featured some artful, colourful swerves – a twinkling, Bukem-ready piano respite in ‘Ridge Racer Revolution’ springs to mind. But on this new memorandum for Berceuse Heroique, doom is back to the top of the agenda.

As All Hope Lost fires up, it feels like we might be in for a heavyweight strain of Pessimist’s pessimism. There’s a high-torque rave bite to ‘Empty Words’, which absolutely rolls with its death-rattle snares and monotone laser-bass. But it’s all a foil for the sludgy tempos the rest of the EP stalks at. ‘Dem Control’ maintains an insistent intensity with its rhythmic wheeze of fractured industry, but ‘We Did It’ pushes further out with a frankly mind-dicing dose of break edit wizardry. The slip n’ slide, forwards-backwards funk of the beat shows Jabs at his downtempo best. Still, it feels like ‘Nothing Positive’ is the flagship piece for the record, its mischievously neggy mantra subverted by a re-pitched vocal sidelined halfway up the frequency range to helium, all strapped to a monolithic illbient bomb blast. Forget the idealism, and get down with the real sound of the summer.
OW

Sun People – Transitions (Exit)
You can always count on Exit Records to present something fresh in the upper tempo ranges. Whether it’s label boss dBridge teasing out drum & bass experimentation or Steve Spacek creating his thoroughly unique hybrid sound as Blackpocket, Gantz tweaking dubstep standards or Dolenz offering something for the sofa, the label’s commitment to new approaches in D&B and beyond is eternally commendable. Simon Hafner has been skirting around various soundsystem styles for a long time, touching on labels like Immerse and Phuture Shock Musik as Simon/Off with a uniquely slanted take on dubstep. His Sun People alias has gathered more steam over the past five years, plying a sound which touches on various styles but boils down to something
unique and cohesive. On the Transitions EP, he’s come up with some of his best material to date.

There’s a twitchy energy inherent in much of the Sun People output, which comes in part from the generous dose of juke and footwork influence detectable in the skittering drums. It feels like footwork’s co-mingling amongst other musical styles has truly matured now, having broken through an awkward phase of cross-pollination where curious producers sought to meld it to other uptempo genres with sometimes slightly off-target results. Here, Hafner sounds totally at ease steering angular patterns through rapid fire terrain, riding tempos which can really show up any blemishes in the groove. On ‘All Creation’ there’s a sparse approach to melody, with occasional crime jazz chops adding that bluesy, noirish mood that places this firmly in Exit’s sphere of interest.

The deft drum programming goes up a notch on the astounding ‘Dark Days’, with cascading live kit hits dancing on top of the mono belch of the bass. But it’s ‘Transitions’ which feels like the track destined to do the most damage in the dance, thanks to the razor sharp insistence of the off-beat dub techno chord, chiselled and honed into a rhythmic dagger. With depth and subtlety to match its spring-loaded energy, Hafner has reached a high point of his career in terms of exposure and creativity, and Exit once again affirms its position as an impeccable arbiter of taste in the D&B field.
OW

Corps Of Discovery – Corps Of Discovery [Mixed Signals]
Seance Centre’s Mixed Signals sublabel continues in its mission to resurrect old dance EPs from the ether of under-appreciation. This time, they unearth a classic by husband-and-wife supergroup Corps of Discovery.

Consisting of Czara (Sarah Younger) and her then-husband Doctor Wize (Dennis Weise), this EP was conceived after the pair watched a documentary about the Lewis and Clark army expedition across the Pacific Northwest in the early 1800s, which mapped the newly acquired Northern United States territory. With the exploration’s codename being ‘Corps of Discovery’, and with Wize working as a psychologist in the late ‘90s, they aimed to emulate the mood of such a far-reaching, uncharted journey.

Joined by their friends Ra and Angel, Wize and Czara set off on that same journey, representing each angle of the trip with a different tune. The result is an unsuspecting yet infectious gem of an EP; the kind of music that creeps up on the listener, being far more sophisticated than it lets on to be on first listen. We start off with ‘Net Surfers’, an understated house cut with beautiful, DIY-style vocals and a cutely shifting-out-of-time acid riff. The follow-up, ‘Loving Java Scripts’, treads water into Weise’s native West Coast psychedelic breaks style. But on this track, the development is nuanced; electric piano and popcorn stabs shift against trembly leads and bubbly sound effects.

The EP really picks up steam on its latter half, revealing a psyche-sophistication so far not fully revealed. ‘Eye Opener’ is the ragga-jungle cut most suitable for a cross-desert drive-rave, the perfect segway out from early evening listening to BoC or KLF with your Louisiana-bound car friends. Then comes ‘The Yogi And The Fish’, which is an 8-minute ambient breaks tune. In all its tribal, yet blissfully unaware hardcore mood, it’s unlike anything we’ve heard before, and is most welcome as a triumphant conclusion to our road trip.
JIJ

Sweepsculp – Sweepsculp (Nous Klaer Audio)
side-statement. Anyone familiar with the creative process will understand the joy of short, burst-like inspirations, and their swift laying down from mind to recording. Perhaps it’ll differ completely from your usual output, but that doesn’t matter, as long as the project is slick and coherent. You’ll be golden.

With this new Sweepsculp EP – made as an alias of Thessa Torsing, aka. Upsammy – exactly the above has occurred. With the fast-rising producer already having made tsunamis with chirrupy but gut-punching dance releases on the likes of AD93 and Dekmantel, ‘Sweepsculp’ now follows neatly on from Torsing’s debut album ‘Zoom’.

While not sacrificing the watery, organic electronic feel of ‘Zoom’, this new EP heads in a very specific direction, dissecting the realm of acoustic music. All five tracks use only a live-recorded acoustic guitar played by Torsing herself – mangled to cheery oblivion – and electronic drums. The result is a hypertense burst of tactile vibrational energy, lissom strings, and supply swept sculptures. We know what we’re in for as soon as ‘Plaudable’ zips and bops across our eardrums. It sounds like the malleable architecture of a quasi-freshwater ecosystem, with the haptic fusion of slipperiness and earthy drums blurring the mood between guitar flicks and water droplets.

The whole EP is uptempo, rarely delving below 150bpm. ‘Cosmos Bi’ continues the pace, fleshing out a soggy, proggy microbiome from beneath a wet sonic rock. ‘Slucent Edge’ feels drier, like an amphibian sea slug emergent from said rock, all dried and stripped of its wetness, flapping its flippers in the shoreside sun. The remaining tracks ‘Facedden’ and ‘Inking’ sound like a two-track crossover between Pat Metheny and Proc Fiskal – on both tracks, blissful new age guitar sloshes outwards, as though released from vacuum sealage, while succulent drill hats push and pull.
JIJ

Kino Moderno – Into The Future EP (Saisei)
Saisei is a brand new label project manifested by the mind of Japanese selector, Junki Inoue. The London-based digger and DJ’s introduction to deep house and techno flavours came via the subaquatic flavours served by Cabaret Records frontmen Masda and So Inagawa at their quasi-mythical label nights in his Tokyo home town. Having relocated to the UK capital, Junki is now flourishing in the relative creative freedom of the city’s effervescent underground.

Saisei’s debut offering comes courtesy of Dat Planet and Wah Wah Fuzzmaster under their Kino-Moderno guise, fresh from last year’s eponymous EP release of lost album cuts on the mighty Rush Hour Recordings. Opening track ‘Into The Future’ gently bubbles and broods over a discrete electro rhythm, momentarily beefed up by a hefty kick drum before resuming its astral travelling via floating pads and intricate synth layers. The appropriately titled ‘Acid Waters’ is next, the 303 embossed groove weaving a hypnotic spell as it meanders through idiosyncratic realms. The live mix of ‘Eclipse’ is endowed with a deliciously loose feel, with rolling breaks serving as ballast for the meandering keys and intoxicating textures. The barometer needle shifts for the soothing aesthetics of closing track ‘Globe’, as pads gently glide over a mellow tempo and seductive whispered vocal.

PC

Alphonse – Beechwood DNA EP (Klasse Wrecks)
Hong Kong’s Klasse Wrecks welcome back regular contributor Alphonse with a delightfully varied EP of left-of-centre techno-ish jams. Alphonse Rozel is an altogether mysterious creator who’s released consistently charming records via the likes of Hypercolour, Resista, and (Emotional) Especial. Aside from the generally exquisite subterranean leaning sounds he produces, very little is easily garnered about the being behind the music, which, in fact, makes his work all the more endearing.

Label bosses Mr Ho and Luca Lozano have been in fine curative form of late, with a steady stream of compelling material making its way into the world from their stables in recent months. Opening track ‘Fanatic’ plays fast and loose with the tempo controls, with its flexible pace rising and diminishing over dusty rave breaks and grubby acid motifs. The frantic momentum of ‘Everstar’ powers along feverishly over looped vocal samples, murky 303, and hyperactive synth work, while the absorbing hypno-sludge of ‘Signify’ works its low-slung magic before lush chords dramatically pierce the evolving fog. Finally, ‘Beachwood’ weaves an intoxicating spell, with emotive pads harmonising with gated synths as gentle breaks maintain a lively gait, meandering delicately through misty landscapes and ethereal sonic domains.
PC

Jon Dixon – The New Tomorrow EP (Visions Inc)
Alex and Stephane Attias welcome producer and keyboard virtuoso Jon Dixon to their purist label fold with a soul-soothing selection of refined deep house cuts. Dixon earned his stripes performing under Marcus Belgrave with the Detroit Symphony Civic Jazz Orchestra before going on to join the Underground Resistance live band. The bulk of his productions have arrived via UR offshoot label 4EVR4WRD, and – following excursions on Planet E and NDTAL – he lands on Visions Inc in typically light-fingered and musically-rich style. ‘Tribute To Master Reese’ unfolds over crisp beats and sub-heavy bass before Dixon’s seemingly effortless keyboard mastery enlivens the groove.

Jazzy refrains rise and fall, allowing the stripped rhythm ample room to invigorate dance floors as rich pads and staccato synths permeate the empty space. ‘On The Lodge’ bursts out of the blocks with its lively tempo and mood-lifting horn stabs embodying a life-affirming sense of good-time feeling. Title track ‘The New Tomorrow’ sees the atmosphere switch to one of deep introspection. Dexterous Rhodes licks dance over a solid groove, while hypnotic chords pulse and deep bass notes drive the cut into subtly melancholic territory. Each track exudes an almost tangibly timeless quality – which is hardly surprising given Dixon’s supremely cultured jazz house pedigree.
PC

The Stools – Feelin’ Fine (Drunken Sailor)
Detroit-based trio The Stools display a range of influences including (in their own words) blues, punk, garage and astrological anomalies. We have Will Lorenz on guitar and vocals, Krystian Quint on bass/vocals and Charles Stahl on “drums/’n s**t”. New single Feelin’ Fine offers four tracks of compressed and compelling noise with a surprisingly sophisticated edge. Can’t Feel Good serves up 90 seconds of delightfully overwhelming sonic assault. Imagine Wire’s Pink Flag squashed down into a single cut are you won’t be far off. Half Track Mind rumbles and blows with a Motorhead vibe.

Expect walls of fuzzed-up guitar, rolling, expansive drums, cutting chord changes and sharp edges. Rockpile chugs like a greasy, sweating steam-train, pumping out clouds of joyous, anarchic swagger. Eyeball Crush marries wild, rockabilly energy and crashing beats to hand-clap percussion and anthemic punk voices. This is the sort of music which is easy to lay down but hard to nail. Thanks to obvious melodic chops, hypnotic compositions and a seriously frenetic engine, The Stools manage to rise above the crowd with this fine offering.
CW

LoveLeo – Tung Tied (feat Rico Nasty (GODMODE)
After having taken a little break, South London rapper and KP resident Blanco bounces back, recruiting heavy-hitter Central Cee on his first release of 2021. Ostensibly, this sizeable collaboration tells a standard getaway story; sirens can be heard wailing in the track’s intro – it’s time for the great escape. Sonically, the track commits to this theme as well with the sound of gunshots incorporated percussively. However, on more than one occasion each MC takes the time to assess what exactly they have felt like escaping from. Less explicitly, for example, Central Cee and Blanco riff on the notion of escaping from the trap and from a life on the streets.

With 808-laden drums and a delicate plucked melody, there is no doubt that this is a drill track through and through, providing an excellent canvas for the MCs to trade rapid and punchy verses over – something they do with seamless dynamism throughout the cut. Though it’s not exactly clear right now, it seems Blanco is teasing a new project which he’ll be releasing soon and whether or not there are more collaborations to come, he’s off to an amazing start.
JC

Blanco – ‘The Great Escape (feat Central Cee) (Polydor)
An industrial trap-pop hit for Gen Z. On their new single ‘TUNG TIED’, model, fashion designer and musician LoveLeo recruits the inimitable Rico Nasty, whose post-punk aesthetic and distinctive voice compliment the song’s aesthetic brilliantly. Frankly, you’ll either love or loathe the off-key, sarcastic, and buzz-wordy lyrics of LoveLeo. I, for one find them pretty intriguing – just as intriguing as the artist’s whole ensemble.

The disjointed and nonsense lyrics of ‘TUNG TIED’, for example, do a great job of getting across the notion of being tongue tied, that is being lost for words. But LoveLeo sardonically flips this at the song’s close too; where it initially seems to be directed outward at ‘those people’ who really have nothing to say, LoveLeo is the one doing it just ‘for the gram’ in the end. The production itself is also worth paying close attention to on ‘TUNG TIED’, particularly for its industrial and scarce feel, ramping up a sense of menace LoveLeo is able to build on the track. As for the accompanying and gorgeous music video, directed by Charlotte Rutherford, each shot is truly a feat of fashion engineering and LoveLeo wears every single breathtaking and gender non-conforming look with poise.
JC