The best new singles this week
Top picks plucked from this week’s singles bunch
SINGLE OF THE WEEK
SP:MC – Love Hz / Glidepath (Declassified)
Not many MCs make the leap from the mic to the mixing desk and shake free of their prescribed role in the scene. It must been even harder to pull off such a move when MC is literally in your artist name, but here’s Stewart Procter, decades deep and something of a polymath within a variety of fields from MCing and production to visual design. The man known as SP:MC marked out his journey as a producer with a stellar run of 12”s on Tempa from ’08 to ’13, culminating in the Declassified double pack which now gives him the name for his self-steered label of solo productions.
Through that run of dubstep singles on Tempa, Procter displayed a sharp instinct for crisply rendered, minimalist club tracks that maximised on space without dulling the impact. It’s a spirit which carries through on this second Declassified drop, albeit in a UKG vein which feels more aligned to Horsepower Productions than Digital Mystikz. ‘Love Hz’ is the consummate stripped-down two-stepper, with a crystalline beat, the faintest snatches of chord and the required fragments of RnB vocal. You’d never call it mould shattering, but Procter delivers something so perfectly tempered, so clear-sighted and elegant, you can’t help but rate it.
‘Glidepath’ is the shadier of the two thanks to the subtle but pronounced effect of off-key suspense strings hovering in the background. Once again the path is linear, the finish gleaming, but there’s also plenty of artful noise worked into the bassline, which groans and moans in fluid motion underneath the deft drum work. Tracks like these might not set the dance alight in an obvious way, but they exude a build quality, a sophistication, which ups the level of any set they grace.
OW
Omar S ‘What’s Good For The Goose’ (FXHE)
Something magic happens when Detroit’s premiere house and techno producers veer into the territory of neo-soul, future jazz and funk. Captivating examples of four-to-the-floor departures have arrived in recent years from the like of Moodymann – whose achingly sleazy ‘Sinnerman’ bests the output of some of the r&b world’s most illustrious producers – Jay Daniel, John FM, and, of course, Alex ‘Omar S’ Smith. Magnificently illustrating the depth of his talent, the latter is no stranger to traversing stylistic boundaries – routinely striking audio gold in the process. His previous release saw him combine with Parliament/Funkadelic alumni Andre Foxxe and Amp Fiddler for a wildly enjoyable expedition into time travelling motor city funk.
Here, he extends his masterfully adept genre-hopping tendencies with an equally impressive release. The latest dalliance lands in the form of ‘What’s Good For The Goose’, a sublime and soul-flecked future classic forged alongside vocalist Supercoolwicked, who makes her vinyl debut on the release. Presented in compact 7” form, the A-side effortlessly blends breezy, sing-along vocals with seductive rhythms set across a tight, radio-friendly arrangement. Meanwhile, the B-side sees a subtly morphed ‘dub out’ mix, with Smith applying a fairly thick delay to the vocal, adding a wigged-out dreamlike quality to the cut. Despite the honeyed vocal and quasi-pop sensibilities, the music overflows with raw authenticity and bubbling swagger, with dusty drums, looped guitars and crunching sibilants combining to create a head-nodding street soul aesthetic. It’s a genuine joy to behold an artist of Smith’s calibre flexing with the freedom of expression that – along with his unquestionable ability to construct hard-hitting and affecting music – goes some way to defining his unique sound. It’s profoundly intriguing to hear what sonic morsels will be next to arrive from the fertile ground that exists in the Detroit maestro’s richly inventive imagination.
PC
Yves Tumor – The Asymptotical World (Warp)
In the midst of a new image change after their demonically-styled album ‘Heaven To A Tortured Mind’, Yves Tumor (Sean Bowie) is back with ‘The Asymptotical World’, the album’s spiritual successor. Whereas Bowie is known for their prior edgy experimentalism and difficult, noisy goth rock (any remix handled by the artist would be humorously styled as ‘Destroyed By Yves Tumor’), this new EP – perhaps signaling a completely new direction, and even a new project – largely forgoes any of that.
We’re met with a refreshing blend of emo, goth and shoegaze, all laid on thick by Bowie’s staunch, droning emo voice. Influences from Lush and A.R. Kane, all the way through to the recent electronic starings of George Clanton, are heard throughout this comparatively easy-going dream pop EP. With a slow, accessible bop – yet no less a part of Yves Tumor’s discography than any other of their records – the opener ‘Jackie’ is by far their best-received, having been not only treated to a next-gen remix by the inimitable breakcore artist Sewerslvt, but also a beautifully thunderous, gothic, black-and-blue music video by visual designers Actual Objects.
One track in, and we’re clear on Yves Tumor’s vision for this EP. Fittingly described as ‘contemporary stadium music’ by their label Warp, the selection becomes a little more esoteric beyond the pale of ‘Secrecy Is Incredibly Important…’, a song which recalls the playful goth stylings of Bauhaus or Killing Joke.
‘Tuck’ works in an electronic style more known to Bowie, blending the Naked’s voice with a paranoid, atonal noise backing, while ‘…And Loyalty…’ sings of punks, posers and primadonnas; all terms suitable for and reclaimable by Mx. Tumor. ‘Katrina’, the closer, is the best of the bunch; a gazers’ guitar crunch catalyses for the song’s theme, depression via amnesia. “What’s the point? Why bother?”, Bowie croons
JIJ
The mysterious shape and substance of Sa Pa is manifesting once more. Like an elusive, vapourous shroud, their catalogue to date feels ever so slightly out of reach even as it plays before your ears. In part betrothed to the reduced pockmarks of minimal, but equally in thrall to blown-out Berlin-school dub fantasies and the obtuse angles of Mego-ready experimental, the sound this aloof artist conjures up is stubbornly complex
and compelling. Previous albums Fuubutsushi and In A Landscape are their own knotted curiosities, but equally Sa Pa is the kind of artist whose EPs feel like albums themselves.
Vessel lands on Rosa, a new label from Melbourne, Australia, and provides a now expected degree of depth and subtlety within four conventionally sized pieces of modernist avant-techno. Part of the art of Sa Pa’s craft is in the folding of time, where a six-minute workout can feel like one of Villalobos’ extravagant half hour labyrinths. That’s certainly the case on ‘Cultural North’, which shivers with pronounced percussive thrust even as it courses above a dense bed of rhythmic texture. The beats, seemingly wrought from clangorous metal rods and thick-cut wood blocks, are unrelentingly cyclical, but so uniquely angled as to dissolve the expected grid-thinking of the average techno head.
‘Wet Weather Way’, which opens the EP, is the other cut which edges closer to conventional techno. In comparison to ‘Cultural North’ it’s a much subtler affair made up of minimal hiccups and the softest spectral impressions of Basic Channel. ‘New Music New Dance’ and ‘States Of Mind: The Farewells’ offer the counterpoint, where Sa Pa tips the balance to a noisier abstraction. The former revels in constantly collapsing funk made out of broken pylons and wire lassos splaying across the landscape, while the latter wades through a thick bog of static hiss and sub-frequency salutes. You can still hear the pulse of techno pushing out from underneath, as though trying to puncture the peat. It’s Sa Pa’s artful play, teasing these concrete structures in the face of such wanton deconstruction.
OW
Apiento – Things You Do For Love’ (World Building)
DJ, producer and Test Pressing main man Paul Byrne is an industry insider with his uniquely cultured fingers planted in all manner of delectable musical pastries. Known for crafting exemplary sets, periodically delivering finely-tuned compositions, heralding the arrival of cutting edge new releases via his much-loved blog, and historically serving as A&R for revered labels including International Feel, Junior Boy’s Own, and Guerilla Recordings – it’s safe to say the man best-known as Apiento is an active member of the musical underground. Having collaborated on numerous recording projects in varying capacities – notably alongside Alex Tepper as Apiento & Co, and Andrew Hale as Open Space – this release finds him on a relatively rare solo expedition.
‘Things You Do For Love’ originally surfaced as a 7” in 2019, winning an army of admirers and selling out rapidly – with copies selling for well over the list price on the second-hand market. Sensibly, the World Building team have now opted to re-issue the music, only this time the original appears alongside a pair of previously unheard remixes – one of which coming from none other than wigged-out dub lord, Mad Professor. The gorgeous original mix glides through mesmerising waves, with square wave bass and evocative pads evoking bleary-eyed visions of bygone sunrise raves, while the stripped ‘Heartbeat mix’ thins out the drums for a heavenly ambient room meditation. Mad Professor works his syncopated dub magic with his exquisite ‘Crazy dubclubbing’ mix, leaning heavily into his trusty delay box and adding trademark offbeat stabs to provide a future/retro ‘version’ feel. Finally, Apiento’s ‘Machine mix’ subtly revises the original, carving out a little more space in the mix while gently nudging the bottom end weight. The prized originals are in themselves eminently worthy of grabbing, and the marvellous Mad Professor mix is simply unmissable.
PC
Laurie Spiegel / Olof Dreijer ‘Melodies Record Club #002: Ben UFO Selects’ (Melodies International)
The ever-generous Melodies International label present the second in their ‘Melodies Record Club’ series, this time inviting subterranean dynamo Ben UFO to select a pair of rare gems from his vast and effervescent setlist. Label bosses Floating Points and Mafalda previously called upon Four Tet to assemble a pair of his trusted secret weapons, and the excellent results housed in the first edition are suitably matched here by Mr UFO’s delightfully esoteric picks. First up, Laurie Spiegel’s dazzling expedition into rhythm, ‘Drums’, is plucked from his 1980 album, ‘The Expanding Universe’. Minimal yet complex, the propulsive poly-rhythms stealthily evolve, creating an overwhelming sense of space as they majestically carve out the groove.
On the flip, The Knife’s Olof Dreijer is called into action with his joyously playful ‘Echoes From Mamor’. Here, endlessly undulating synths play out wondrous abstract melodies, dancing gloriously over energetic drums as they brilliantly fluctuate throughout the expansive arrangement. Neither of these memorable compositions has been pressed to vinyl before now, rendering this release especially alluring. On top of this, since each track has passed Ben UFO’s exacting club-ready refinement process, you can be absolutely sure they’ll do requisite damage on the dance floors.
PC
Oceanic ‘Total Comfort EP’ (Rush Hour)
Dutch/German producer J.M. Oberman resurfaces from the watery depths under his Oceanic guise, showing up in typically engaging style with the ‘Total Comfort EP’. The bulk of his modest but well-formed catalogue has arrived via Rotterdam-based label Nous’klaer, but here his music finds a loving home in the nurturing bosom of perennially on-point Amsterdam neighbours, Rush Hour. With a wonderfully hard to define sound that’s been subtly evolving with each release, Oceanic’s latest effort features four elegantly crafted tracks that ostensibly take their cue from various strands of cutting edge transatlantic techno. Simultaneously delicate and uncompromising, the stripped sonics are ripe with rhythmic complexity and fiercely atmospheric.
The driving stabs and sparse topography of the title track lay bare his creative intention, creating a powerful sense of poise as he weaves frantic strands into a near breathtaking stereo amalgam. The scattered drumming of ‘Q on 6’ introduces a breakbeat techno thread, charging through mysterious waves of pitch-black sonic alchemy. On the reverse, the pitched-up splendour of ‘Foam To’ is an exercise in rhythmic expression, as tabla drum hits cascade over acid stabs and resonant synth pops. Finally, ‘Connect in Rest’ soothes with the one hand and instils a sense of gentle paranoia with the other, as complex textures morph and build through an eerie midnight fog.
PC
FaltyDL – The Wrath (Studio Barnhaus)
For this humble reviewer, becoming a FaltyDL fan was a long, arduous process. Teenage cluelessness at Drew Lustmore’s production style was later replaced by a strong love, on discovery of the multidisciplinary music video for the gloriously detailed track ‘New Haven’. In short – as various internet dwellers would describe it – it clicked.
Anyone else resonating with FaltyDL in this manner will be equally taken by news of the artist’s second EP for Stockholm’s bass mainstay Studio Barnhus. In it, the artist “sandwiches” two sonic homages to Vangelis with three phat tracks likened to “deli meats procured from the finest bodegas of the land”. That might sound confusing, but it makes sense on hearing the actual music; the roaming, spongy bass of ‘Stereo Zaddy’ is perfectly sausage-like in its slapping, driving 4-bar phrases. They don’t call them bangers for nothing.
Our interest in this EP is piqued more so by the latter track ‘Night Regulators’, on which swirling, nocturnal synths – not unlike a Moog synth emulating the call of a common loon – are canopied by a dusk of smashing drums. ‘Roller’ follows, borrowing from the vocabulary of drum n’ bass but applying it to broken beat; the fallout from Lustmore’s Ninja Tune days are heard, as endlessly varied, broken drums are reeled off, recalling him and his labelmate Martyn’s former work. ‘Lust’ and ‘Wrath’ are fitting preludes and epilogues for night strolls in Neo-Tokyo, as FaltyDL asks the question “what is the difference between raging Lust and vengeful Wrath?”
JIJ
Jack Pattern – Kosmiche Kueche (Cosmic Pint Glass)
Jack Pattern returns to Cosmic Pint Glass with a powerfully psychedelic five-track mind trip. The ‘Kosmiche Kueche EP’ is his third appearance on the imprint, arriving with three original compositions and a set of alluring remixes from Dane Close and Wax Stag. The Norwich-based label have released a slow but sure stream of records since launching in 2015. With the majority of the catalogue presented alongside particularly eye-catching sleeve designs, it’s apparent the CPG curators approach the role of artistic purveyors to its full extent. Up until now, Toby Tobias, Ichisan, Daniel T, and Duke Slammer are among those to have graced the inventory, with sounds varying in tone from cosmically centred disco and horizontal leaning Balearica to wonderfully oddball techno. Here, ‘Paolo Santoz’ launches proceedings with stripped drums, brooding bass and growling acid, as screeching sweeps add tension to the heads-down groove.
Next, the jerking rhythms of ‘Ufundab Ich Bin Durch Lasst Mich Arzt’ provide the bed from where gloriously off-kilter synth lines play out their eccentric melodies. The nonchalant cosmic throb of the title track welcomes bouncing bass, mildly dissonant twirls and blood-curling vocal textures, before the Dane Close remix of ‘Paolo Santoz’ transposes the track into a wonky backroom chugger. Finally, Wax Stag serves a strange but beautiful rework of ‘Ufundab Ich Bin Durch Lasst Mich Arzt’, with celestial synths hovering over deep bass, evolving hooks and spaced-out drums.
PC
Gezan vs. Eye – Gzn Rmx (13th)
Japanese imports are a hot topic at Juno. We tend to clamour after these kinds of releases, bedazzled by the more relentless electronic styles endemic to Japanese music culture. This 12” EP of exclusive remixes by alt-rock veteran Yamantaka Eye sees him remix four flown-under cuts by underground staples Gezan: one of the more transgressive acts active on the Osaka and Tokyo underground music scenes today.
Eye is the vocalist and visual artist from the band Boredoms, and here, he repurposes tracks from Gezan’s last album, ‘狂 Klue’. Whereas ‘狂 Klue’ contained dark, impish psych and ritual dub – best emphasised by the tracks ‘赤曜日’ (‘Red Day’), ‘Extacy’ and the ear-crushing climax ‘東京’ (‘Tokyo’) – Eye’s reworkings are complete overhauls, operating in an attention-addling IDM and nerdcore palette. His gut-punching remix of ‘Extacy’ barely touches on any sound from the original, save for its gurgling vocals, of which Eye chooses only the most guttural moments to weave between the beats of this machine stew.
JIJ
This week’s reviewers: Patrizio Cavaliere, Oli Warwick, Jude Iago James