The best new singles this week
An altogether higher class of singles

SINGLE OF THE WEEEK
Tommy Rawson – Illusions (Bergerac)
Bergerac Records are no strangers to unleashing infectious and impeccably refined club weaponry into the world, and Adam ‘Tommy Rawson’ Cook’s latest contribution to the label’s output sounds suspiciously like a subaquatic classic in the making. Label boss Danny ‘Red Rack’em’ Berman has busied himself mentoring burgeoning producers during the pandemic, while finding time to unleash his ‘Overthinking 01’ EP last month. Here, he shows his A&R skills are as sharp as ever – pulling out all the stops to help bring this outstanding set of compositions into the world. A-side belter ‘Illusions’ very nearly didn’t see the light of day as an official release, and what a dreadful loss to dancers that would have been. The origins of the piece extend way back to 2008, when a demo version of the track burnt onto CDR emerged as an unofficial anthem of the chalet parties of the year’s instalment of Southport Soul Weekender.
Having then vanished into the digital ether, the track’s latent force was too irresistible to remain dormant, and by 2014 a humble mp3 of the demo had become a fixture of Red Rack’em’s DJ sets. Understandably keen to provide a loving home to the track, Berman reached out to actualise an accord, only for Cook to reveal that the project folder was lost – on a broken computer in his mum’s attic. At long last – and after plenty of beseeching from the Bergerac camp – Cook this year relocated the errant computer, and following some dextrous chipset reconstruction and a Zoom re-edit of the music, ‘Illusions’ was finally ushered into full, glorious life. Arriving like a Brit-funk-infused colossus, the soulful chords, full-bodied bass and almighty top-line combine over lively rhythmic elements to create some kind of heavenly disco amalgam. The rolling funk and flammed drumming of ‘Sound Crazy,’ and jazzy chords and broken rhythms of ‘Ads Mood’ form a worthy B-side to this exceptional EP, so there’s little doubt that this release is destined to cause some serious dance-related mayhem over the coming months – and likely far beyond.
PC

Bambounou x Bruce – Final Conference (Bambe)
Jeremy Guindo launched his Bambe record earlier this year to further develop the idea that his Bambounou project could head wherever he wants. There’s a certain thread the Parisian producer has been exploring in recent years which travelled a bit deeper than his earlier work on 50Weapons and YounGunz, ClekClekBoom and other such labels. After a few quiet years, he started to really toy with rhythm and minimalism on releases for Disk, AD93 and La Vibe, tapping into a polyrhythmic sensibility shared by the likes of Don’t DJ and Burnt Friedman, but also finding an affinity with the UK scene. No, we still don’t have a name for that scene, but Guindo’s appearance at Batu’s Timedance party in Bristol sums up the connection as accurately as anything, and so it’s not a great shock to find him teaming up with Timedance associate Bruce.
Even if there’s a certain logic to the collaboration, it’s also hard to know what to expect from these two artists working together. As Bruce, Larry McCarthy has done a fine job of swerving into bold and experiemntal pastures since the beginning, and on his last Bambe record Guindo nodded to pop nous as much as drum science. It’s no surprise then that the three tracks on Final Conference might not be what you expect. In fact, it’s actually a much clubbier record than I expected, albeit still a proudly unusual one.
‘Crash’ is the most obtuse of the tracks on the record, with the drums cutting through in precise, angular formations which sound like they must belong to Guindo. It’s a knotty, heads down track, but the fizzing sound design writhing around all over the place keep it tense and animated throughout. By the time the audacious wave-melting breakdown resets your head, a vitally weird club wrecker hath been wrought. In contrast, ‘Rai’ shimmers with a hint towards peak time. There’s a pronounced chord progression at work, and a steadfast 4/4 kick keeping everything marching forward around 135 bpm, but once again it’s really about the dazzling synth hooks on this track.
‘Final Conference’ probably lands the closest to where you might expect these two to end up, with a circular rhythm section winding patiently around a slow and steadily filling pool of high-definition, pitch-bending wonderment. The track’s standout sonic comes on as though the pair were reaching for something mind-blowing, and achieved it. That they pull off such extravagant sweeps in the midst of such elegantly crafted, patient techno-not-techno is no small feat.
OW

Kyle Hall – The Polychronic EP (Forget The Clock)
Cultured Detroit production maestro Kyle Hall is back on his Forget The Clock label with his second sparkling release of 2021 – a wonderfully rounded and soul-flecked EP of eminently smooth deep house gems. It’s difficult to chart precisely when Hall made the transition from ‘new hope’ to ‘leading light’, but it’s fair to say that by now his consistently inspired production output is more than worthy of affording him access to the motor city’s illustrious electronic producer pantheon. Now into its fourth release, Forget The Clock appears, for now at least, to represent the primary platform for Hall’s work, and up until this point, each and every instalment has maintained the highest of quality thresholds. The three-track EP opens with title track ‘The Polychronic’.
True to recent form, the music unfolds as an achingly soulful wave of harmonically rich machine funk. Solid drums cut through thick chords and buoyant bass, as tides of evocative pads and searing synth leads combine and intertwine to create a blissful aural tapestry. Next, ‘Str8 Rolling’ involves a similarly warm sound palette, with dreamy pads and secretive synth layers enveloping the meandering bass and shuffling drums, while funk-laced synth leads joyously permeate the powerfully evocative soundscape. Discretely reminiscent of 2015’s exceptional ‘Strut Garden’, this is Kyle Hall flexing in majestically unfettered flow. The rugged drums of closing track ‘Ghost Dog’ momentarily hint at a rougher ride than the one which transpires, as gorgeous e-piano chords and alluring bass notes quickly arrive to dispel any notion of turbulence. Again alive with luscious musicality, the meditative harmonics and carefree synth motifs radiate magnificently as the full-bodied kick, snappy snare and crisp hats add guts to the otherwise celestial textures. This is yet another absorbing collection from Hall, who once again displays a seemingly effortless ability to construct simultaneously discerning, heartfelt and floor-moving house grooves.
PC

Big Strick, Generation Next, ButterBandz – Trinity (7 Days Ent.)
In the steady buzz of the Detroit house and techno scene, the Strickland family are out there operating with a dependable commitment to the craft. Big Strick, aka Leonard Strickland, first appeared on Omar-S’ FXHE back in 2009 with 7 Days, a 12” which made a mark at the time and still sounds fresh to this day. Since then, Big Strick has been doing his thing on his own label, 7 Days Ent., releasing punchy club tracks with soul rubbed deep down into the synthesis. In a similar fashion to Omar-S, or indeed Marcellus Pittmann, he’s got the knack for making simple, machine-led arrangements soar. It wasn’t long after launching 7 Days he started bringing his son, Tre Strickland, into the fold as Generation Next.
7 Days Ent. has continued at an easy pace since 2011, minding its own business while adding to the fortitude of Detroit house and techno in general. Strickland and son don’t seem to be chasing premier league success – they’re not household names in the same way as many of their neighbours and peers, but perhaps that helps their sound retain a certain purity. This is music to be mixed, for DJs who like to work the mixer, and who can spot the real deal from an impostor record.
For a long time the label just carried music from Big Strick and Generation Next, but last year another family member came into the picture – Big Strick’s other son, ButterBandz. Now all three Stricklands are back for this no-nonsense EP, which gives you everything you want from a 7 Days record.
Big Strick is up first, serving up the crisp and buoyant ‘Balance’. The looped up piano has a distant, dreamy quality, squashed as it is to make sure there’s plenty of room for the drums and bass to knock. Generation Next’s ‘Somebody’s Watching’ has a slinkier quality to it, using a softer drum palette and laying out a deeper than deep pad for the track to lay down on. ButterBandz has his own identity to impart, striking a tone that sits comfortably between the Stricklands’ with a sharper bite on the drums but that same appreciation for immersive synth work to take the dance deeper. Club records come and go, and they serve a different purpose to an album, but the best ones stay in your bag for life, slot into the mix perfectly and impart a powerful vibe in a most understated of ways. This is one of those records.
OW

Rune Lindbaek – Norsk Tripping 4 (Norsk Tripping)
Norwegian production powerhouse Rune Linbaek presents the fourth episode of his wildly popular ‘Norsk Tripping’ series with a mind-boggling selection of carefully edited curios from his esoteric record vaults. An artist whose back-catalogue stretches back to the early ’90s, Lindbaek has recorded under innumerable aliases, was a member of infamous studio outfit Those Norwegians, and has worked alongside untouchable psychedelic professors Lindstrom and the Idjut Boys among many others. Steeped in the proud and enigmatic Norse disco lineage, it’s of little surprise that his music overflows with sonic mastery. Turning to the delightfully obscure source material of the ‘Norsk Tripping’ range, anyone who can successfully name the complete collection of original titles from which the edits are derived – of any one of the volumes, never mind the whole series – is surely deserving of some kind of digger’s trophy. Episode four follows the abstract path of those that came before it, featuring six weird and wonderful pearls from the little-known musical depths.
The freakish arpeggio bass of opening cut ‘Discobulet’ bursts with Euro disco charm, as cosmic synths and camp vocal chops charge over crisp Italo drums. ‘Gnesta’ enters spacey prog-disco territory, as inventive chord progressions meet rolling bass and all manner of synthesised sweeps while deviantly distorted vocals whisper and then screech sexually charged commands. ‘Haerverk’ goes all-out oddball as intergalactic layers glide over mechanical drums while the bewildering spoken word vocal penetrates the intoxicating sonic fog. The saucer-eyed distortion of ‘Fibre’ intoxicates as it strolls through jarring effects and sinister atmospherics, while the crackpot melodies and beguiling offbeat vibrancy of ‘Grishin’ are impossible to ignore. Finally, ‘Blodekjaerheia’ drifts into idiosyncratic Balearic solitude, as bewitching melodies, seductive vocal lines and blissful harmonic components coalesce to form a wondrous waking dream state. Imaginatively conceived and flawlessly manifested, these edits are well worthy of attention, soaring, as they do, high above the often tedious rehashes that flood the saturated field.
PC

The Ourtime label from Manchester operates with a certain air of techno anonymity which feels like it comes from the 90s school. It’s not a specific aesthetic they’re pushing – it’s just that whoever’s behind the music is quite content to let the sound speak for itself. Or at least, that’s how it comes across. What matters is that the music can more than stand up to the job – it’s genuinely outstanding and has been since 2002. Whoever D Ball is, they’re doing things on their own terms, slipping out the odd record between gaps ranging from one year to 13 years. Following label mate Stark’s drop last year, D Ball is back with some understated machine tinkerings which sum up exactly what Ourtime is all about.
Of course, we’re not short of 90s flavoured deep techno and electro these days, but that’s exactly why the good stuff counts when it manages to stand out from the crowd. ‘Be’ has an undeniable low-slung funk around the bottom end, but it also shimmers with noirish style up top, carrying a richly layered spectrum of sound without ever sounding cluttered. The melodic composition on ‘Saha’ is markedly intricate and accomplished, reaching far beyond simple programmed sequences and repetitive phrasing, while the more robotic ‘Change’ revels in incredibly textured sound design across the drums, myriad synth lines and beyond. Refreshingly laid back and honest in its approach, this latest D Ball release once again positions Ourtime as one of the best electro labels transmitting out of the UK.
OW

My Friend Dario – Cosmic Sailing remixes (Nunorthern Soul)
Last year’s ‘Cosmic Sailing’ EP from Catania-based My Friend Dario was a genuinely enthralling journey into cosmic-Balearic wonderment, containing six delightfully varied and musically ambitious tracks that helped cement his growing reputation as an artist to keep close tabs on. Having made waves thanks to releases on Hell Yeah! Recordings, Phat Phil Cooper gladly offered him a home for his expansive productions, and here he returns to NuNorthern Soul to continue his kaleidoscopic voyage with help from a freshly assembled crew of able-bodied remixers.
One of the standouts from the EP was ‘Neve Su Acireale’, and here, nu-disco goliath Hot Toddy breathes new life into the captivating track. Typically, his remix is immaculately formed, building vigorously around a deceptively simple hook and rising to a rush-inducing dance-floor crescendo. Next, Michigan-based beatsmith Blair French retouches ‘Malvasia’, retaining the blissful essence of the original as he transports the listener to a dreamy Ionian sunrise. White Island resident and true Balearic exponent Willie Graf works delicate magic on his gently bubbling and beautifully atmospheric rendition of ‘Fenice’, before psychedelic sunset technician James Bright continues his sparkling recent form with a breathtaking revision of ‘Storm’. Four admirably varied remixes that are a must for ocean-side disciples, with the Hot Toddy version ensuring the release finds its way into the boxes of the more club-minded Balearic aficionados.
PC

Breakbeat always manages to burrow itself away in a fundamental cognitive recess; we’ve all heard a break dancing away in the backs of our minds, like a restless mechanical drummer. The best of us can even attest to inventing jungle variations in our heads, silently raving at the boundless rhythmic novelty and excitement contained therein.
It’s rare that producers are able to recreate this sense of excitement. But with their latest EP, ‘Come In’, Tamoshi (a power-duo consisting of scene figureheads Burnski and Yosh) have done just that. In an era of voguish nostalgia causing most producers to fumble about making their breaks sound ‘analog’ and noisy, Tamoshi bring cleanliness to the style, creating a mood of meditative balance rather than hard-hitting, impossible-to-stomach breakscience.
The A tracks ‘Come In’ and ‘Check One’ are both carried by their beautiful basses, which rival Groove Chronicles’ ‘Stone Cold’ in their sheer depth: both are low, reesy, twilit hums. Amens filtrate in and out, while dub ambiences and vocal ghosts duck around corners. The B side adds fuel to the fire. ‘Five’ is our track of choice; if the As were wholly subaquatic beasts, then this track would be their amphibian descendant, with its ambiences sounding both emergent and wet. ‘Hold Tight’ concludes on a rolling breakstep note, as melodious dub bloops resound.
JIJ

Barker – Barker 002 (Ostgut Ton)
Germany’s Ostgust Ton offer up three tracks from label staple Sam Barker returns via the second instalment on his own sub label. ‘E7-E5’ bubbles away, full of all the energy and natural optimism of one of those Icelandic geysers in full flow, finding the sweet spot that lives somewhere between the mathematical complexities of Plaid or Kirk Digiorgio and the innocent simplicity of Orbital at their most celebratory.
‘Bent’ continually plunges and surfaces, pushed along nicely by fractured breakbeats, jazzy chords and high frequency squiggles, while closing track ‘Polytely’ is the most melancholic of then trio, a little more off kilter rhythm-wise but no less emotionally direct than its companions. Assured, confident and engaged in a way so much machine music forgets to be these days, this is the stuff.
BW

Al Wootton and Valentina Magaletti’s first Holy Tongue release snuck out last year – one of those records that snaps your head clean off on first listen. Wootton has been on a stellar run with his system-ready club tracks, while Magaletti’s list of accomplishments as a drummer and percussionist is fathoms deep even beyond her work in the incredible Tomaga. The duo were explicit about their influences on the first record – Adrian Sherwood’s On-U Sound and the overall fertile crossover between post-punk and dub that took place in the early 80s and beyond. They’re back on Wootton’s low-key Trule sister label, Amidah, for another round that suggests inspiration is flowing and this project could really go somewhere.
Given the project first emerged during lockdown, one can’t help but wonder when live Holy Tongue shows might come together. The music has such an in-the-room, through-the-desk quality it feels like an inevitability. What’s key here is the authenticity of what Wootton and Magaletti project, sounding very much like two musical voices in harmonious conversation and caked in the gravelly, earthen tones that defined bands like 23 Skidoo. It isn’t a simple case of post-punk by numbers though – there’s a propulsive insistence to ‘And Your Camp Will Be Sacred’ which seems mindful of an open-minded dancefloor where such a strain of moody dub would go off.
New addition to Holy Tongue Ben Vince weaves his sax with understated grace through the more discofied, Konk-nodding ‘Bracha’, but once he comes freewheeling into the strung out minimalism of ‘Breicha’, he and everyone else is at their loosest. If that track wasn’t all captured in the moment, then they’ve done a remarkable job of creating an improvisational energy. One can only hope this record continues to grow the project – surely everyone involved realises they’re onto something special.
OW

Lucy Duncombe – Brace (12th IIsle)
There’s an awful lot to admire throughout the luminous back catalogue of Glaswegian label 12th Isle, an imprint whose impeccable curation ability is bordering on the intimidating. The team have made a righteous habit of unearthing lesser-known and rising artists from the hidden reaches, each of whom are endowed with singular musical competence and uncompromisingly abstract artistic intention. For their latest release, they turn to performance, voice, and sound artist Lucy Duncombe – who arrives with her spellbinding ‘Brace’ EP. The 10” follows from Duncombe’s recent collaborative concept album ‘THE RAPTURE OF CELLULAR ACCRETION’, and sees her join forces with Kenneth Wilson and William Aikman to dramatic effect as she explores an early fascination with theatrical vocal transposition.
The cinematic beauty and otherworldly ambience of the title track ‘Brace’ enthrals as it wanders through nine-plus minutes of utterly immersive experimentation. Duncombe’s salient vocal performance is at once fragile and forceful as it levitates over affecting instrumentation, completely engaging as the powerful arrangement hauntingly evolves. On the reverse, ‘Mend’ fuses bittersweet melodies with jarring dissonance, as, once again, Duncombe’s indelible vocal drifts and mutates as it cuts through the disorienting instrumentation.
PC
This week’s reviewers: Patrizio Cavaliere. Jude Iago James,, Oli Warwick, Ben Willmott,