The best new singles this week

The singles you need to know about right now

SINGLE OP THE WEEK

Jean-Luc Ponty/Opolopo – In The Fast Lane (Vive La Musique)

Maverick jazz violinist, composer and multi-instrumentalist Jean-Luc Ponty is an artist whose contribution to contemporary dance music isn’t as widely understood as it deserves to be. Though his music has routinely found its way into the sets of the more adventurous selectors out there – with the likes of Theo Parrish, Floating Points, and Gilles Peterson known proponents of his work – his influence on Detroit techno and its founding fathers remains shrouded in secrecy.

Anyone willing to put in the work will dig up clues, and the fact that Ponty’s records were often transmitted via the airwaves on The Electrifying Mojo’s Midnight Funk Association broadcast provides a tantalising indication of the audience his music must surely have reached. The Bellville Three of Juan Atkins, Derrick May, and Kevin Saunderson were avid listeners of the Detroit-based show, and the three are widely acknowledged to have pioneered the techno sound to which modern dance music owes such a profound debt. The second wave of Detroit’s machine funk pioneers have discreetly paid their dues too, with Underground Resistance and DJ Rolando among those to have overtly tipped the cap to Ponty’s Music. Regardless of any written or verbal evidence one can glean, the music majestically speaks for itself.

Compelled by his fascinating story and sensational music, Vive La Musique’s Aroop Roy went above and beyond to shine new light on a stone-cold classic from Ponty’s extensive archives – 1989 released album track, ‘In The Fast Lane’. The Music is utterly breathtaking. Remastered and presented as a single for the first time, the immaculately woven music mesmerises as it unfurls, with Ponty’s mind-blowing violin solo dazzles as it soars, simultaneously erratic and masterfully controlled. Emotionally-charged synth chords dance over unfettered bass, meandering with glorious abandon as the intoxicating rhythm plays out a trance-inducing beat.

This is a masterpiece if ever there was one, and it would take a brave artist to contemplate covering such an incredible composition. Acutely aware of this, the label turned to one of the deftest production minds operating in today’s electronic music realms, and jazz schooled studio maestro Opolopo steps up with an elegantly formed and suitably contemporary rendition. The essence of the original remains intact, with the tracks key motifs given freedom to roam over crisp, floor-focused beats and club-shaking bass – respectfully re-framing the music for an all-new audience who will surely be inspired to dig deeper into Ponty’s magnificently thick back catalogue as a result.

PC

Kerrie – Inner Space Pt.2  (Dark Machine Funk)

It’s two in two for Manchester-based techno heavyweight Kerrie. A permanent fixture at the city’s rightly lauded Eastern Bloc Records — the oldest independent dance music specialist in town — she launched her Dark Machine Funk label earlier this year, and now follows up the inaugural release with a second episode that will only help clarify what her productions (and acclaimed live sets) are all about.

Inner Space Pt.2 brings four tracks for the heads, and ‘energy’ is a pretty important word to remember in all this. Opening on the metallic clangs and sci-fi whizzes of ‘No Limitation’, the package begins in fifth gear and scarcely even considers bringing it down from thereon in. ‘Social Climber’ arguably taking things up another notch, its reverberating bassline and weighty sledgehammer drums gradually revealing a wide band of synth that eventually grows to dominate the entire arrangement, elements of acid and trance subtly audible in the later stages of the track.

Elsewhere, the vibe does switch towards more broken, electro business, although this does nothing to reduce the resolutely 4AM intensity of what’s here. ‘Pavlovian Response’ sends tracking percussion and choppy, gritty rhythmic loops spiralling around a relatively stripped drum section, making for a real atmosphere builder crying out to have something propellant dropped on top. Finally, ‘Inner Space’ embraces psychedelic tendencies, loops and waves of sound quickly boring a path directly to the centre of your mind, and quite possibly your soul, the result being a tune that’s deceptively funky while also sci-fi and machine based. Proof, if it were needed, that this might be the most appropriately titled imprint to launch this year, this is also evidence that the northern powerhouse is currently home to some of the UK’s best producers working at the tougher ends of dance music.

MH

Marcel Vogel / Tim Jules – If You Don’t Love (Shall Not Fade)

Perennially reliable UK imprint Shall Not Fade have been in sparkling form of late, and here they present a characteristically alluring five-track EP from talented German artist, Marcel Vogel. The Shall Not Fade team celebrate their sixth birthday this year, and must surely be regarded among the most industrious players on the house underground right now. Having furnished the record-buying public with overwhelmingly enjoyable music from the likes of Rick Wade, Byron The Aquarius, Laurence Guy, Felipe Gordon, LK, Adriyano, Hanna, and many more, they’ve packed an awful lot in since they arrived in 2015. Lumberjack in hell Marcel Vogel, meanwhile, is someone whose underground credentials are beyond reproach. When he’s not felling trees on the wrong side of the river Styx, he’s either curating ultra-refined music for his labels or strapped in behind the console composing equally immersive sonics of his own.

‘If You Don’t Love Me’ marks his Shall Not Fade debut, and it’s of little surprise that the music – produced alongside occasional wingman Tim Jules – is really rather impressive. The title track features Alexandre Arslan’s sultry vocal whispering over funk-flecked bass and driving chord stabs as freaky synths permeate the seductive steam. Joining the dots between deep house and simmering neo-soul, ‘This Is When I Leave’ sees Khadija’s spellbinding vocal pouring over a sparse backdrop of hypnotic rhythm, gentle chords and deeply rooted bass. The energy levels are raised for the stirring groove of ‘Why Don’t You Leave Me’, with lively organ solos and loose handclaps endowing the track with a twisted gospel feel as they skip across the brooding bass below. Deep, musical, and very slightly grubby, the track also appears in a useful instrumental version, while ‘Like A Fish In The Water’ appears as an extended reprise, unfolding over a seemingly identical rhythm track as keyboard solos, ad-lib vocal scats and walking bass are unleashed for maximum freeform flow.

PC

300 Jay Glass Dubs – Jungle Shuffle (The Wormhole):

‘Laurisilva’ – Laura Agnusdei’s experimental jazz album released two years ago this week – was and still is a strong example of environmental music. Case in point: the album’s name (besides drawing on the artist’s own) came from the scientific word for a kind of subtropical forest: laurophyll, aka. laurel forest. Ecologists identify laurel forests by broad-leaved trees in a high humidity. And while no end of artists nowadays think of their music ‘biomusically’, perhaps not many tracks could stack up against Agnusdei’s lead album track ‘Jungle Shuffle’, which blends wind, sax, clarinet and weird stereo woodblocks to create a delightfully boggy and broad-leaved jungle scene. 

Dub, likewise, is one of the foremost styles of electronic music to convey boskiness. Dub often themes itself after the jungly; with themes of roots, earthquakes, thunderous storms, and stereotypically jungle-dwelling animals like lions making common appearances. It makes absolute sense that nu-school stepper Jay Glass Dubs should step up to the plate and rework (but not fell) Agnusdei’s readily grown sonic tropic. 

With two variations on his rework of ‘Jungle Shuffle’ – an original mix and a beatless version – debuting here, this thorough rethinking strips back the original’s free-psych plonks into a more hypnotic whirl. Taking myriad sonic cues from Jon Hassell to Jon T. Gast, the drums on the track are present, but still don’t dominate the low end. Instead, they occupy a lo-fi, highpassed aeration, and let the natural bass of the sax drone filter through the trees instead. The beatless version occupies space ambient territory, as though our local laurel has stretched up superflorally to high heaven, especially after the 6 minute mark.

Via 3 different screen-printed colour copies – purple, orange, and green, with 100 copies of each – each record has its own ‘slogan’ selected by the artists, depending on the colour. Each are stark and defiant statements from notable literary critics – for example, “to define is to kill, to suggest is to create” – suggesting a strong conceptual backing to these reworkings.

JIJ

Element feat. Nazamba – Freedom (Riddim Chango)

In the rich pool of talented MCs from Jamaica, certain voices cut through with such power it sounds as though the system might shut down. When Nazamba first appeared atop a The Bug riddim on ‘Vex’ in 2018, there was no doubt this was someone serious. His gravelly, sub-baritone growl was the perfect tool to express his titular vexations, and one of Kevin Martin’s incendiary beats was an obvious pairing for the message he was imparting. Since then Nazamba has released an album on Dubquake, a single on ZamZam and now lands on burgeoning London-Tokyo label Riddim Chango, backed by a production from Hiroshi Takakura as Element.

Nazamba takes up the A-side with ‘Freedom’, and once again his rough-cut voice fills the space with potency and vigour. The lyrical theme kicks back against oppression, slavery and incarceration, and the might of Nazamba’s flow suggests bad times for his enemies as he leads them into “the cocoa leaf and bush, watch them a walk inna the ambush.” More than just a monotone threat, Nazamba can play with his intonation and drop subtly light-hearted inflections, teasing the light and shade in his delivery as he narrates his escape from his captors and ultimate revenge. Takakura plays it cool and deadly behind the performance, using eerie pads and a marching sub line to create a devastating cut which will throw a shroud over the dance and sink everyone into its militant expression of resistance.

With such a forceful A-side, the flip was always going to feel a little sidelined. Takakura serves up a two-part riddim called ‘Xpander’ which is more than capable of cutting it in a proper soundsystem style, leaning back on a half-step for the warm-up hours. It might not have the shock and awe of ‘Freedom’, but there’s a common thread of spooked-out pads which tie the two sides together and give Takakura his unique slant on modern dubwise production.

OW

Various Artists – Unique Technologies (Fast Castle)

Hailing from a shed somewhere on the outskirts of Berlin, or so they say, the Fast Castle crew progress from radio sessions to a VA 12” with a surefooted approach to hybridised techno. It seems as though the artists involved in this collective endeavour haven’t put anything else out prior to this record, but their game is well and truly up and running across these five tracks. It’s a wholly modernist sound which embraces plenty of different stylistic touchstones, but there’s a general tendency towards fractured rhythms and weighty sub bass that might well align it with labels like Livity Sound, Ansia or the earlier drops on Wisdom Teeth.

If anything that latter reference is a particularly useful one because there’s an air of delicacy about these productions which chimes with Facta and K-Lone’s approach, where soundsystem weight doesn’t have to equate with bludgeoning sounds by default. Even if Gentle Soul’s ‘Cabo Horn’ has a certain grit, it still moves with dexterity as its tumbling drums arrive in a mellow bath of pad tones. Cube Mod’s ‘Sling’ moves at a snappy pace and revels in a fulsome bass drop, but the drum sounds are finely chiselled and there’s no cluttering overtones anywhere in the mix.

The sound veers towards footwork on the fast and fractured ‘Hoobsen’, as Stepman Cord chops up drum machine hits and funk licks, while Sniels has fun with a wonky stab and a half step groove, but even here there’s an airiness about the production which stops things getting too sludgy. It’s perhaps tricky to pinpoint a particular direction forming out of such a release, but there’s more than enough fresh approaches to the club music dynamic to raise interest for the next round from the Fast Castle crew, whenever they next step out of their shed.  

OW

Sara Loreni – ‘Neve A Maggio ft Mushrooms Project & Deep88 remixes’ (Archeo Recordings)

Italian label Archeo are back in action with some nicely varied remixes of Sara Loreni’s enchanting song, ‘Neve A Maggio’. Parma-based singer and songwriter Loreni’s released her synth-pop version in 2020, and here the always charming Mushrooms Project are joined by Deep88 to provide four subterranean reworks. Translated as ‘snow in May’, the song alludes to the confusing and unexpected times through which the world is currently living, and Loreni’s bittersweet vocals offer ample inspiration for the chosen remixers to work their respective magic here. Fellow Parma residents Marco Lentano and Girogio Giri unite under their Mushrooms Project banner with three distinct interpretations.

The duo’s work is always immaculately formed, and here they open proceedings with their ‘Disco Maxi Single’ version, where throbbing synth bass and atmospheric waves are joined by crisp machine drums for a pulsating club workout. Their ‘Balearic’ mix finds them in familiar territory as they join Leo Almunia to compose a blissful soundtrack to immersive ocean-side reflections. As the name suggests, their ‘Rave’ version is designed for dubbed out dancefloors, with bass-heavy rhythm and wigged-out effects periodically lifted by dreamy chords and distantly gliding vocals. Finally, Alessandro ‘Deep88’ Pasini arrives with his authentic dream house version, with emotive pads caressing Loreni’s reverb-soaked vocals over a chugging four/four rhythm.

PC

Compa – Mind Control (Deep Medi Musik)

The Deep Medi quest into dubstep continues with this formidable drop from Manchester’s Compa. Since 2012 he’s been shelling the dance on a relentless run of labels, starting off with Boka, collaborating with Ipman and eventually linking up with the likes of ZamZam and Terrorhythm while starting his own CPA label. Throughout this time he’s kept a strong link with Mala’s label, which says plenty about the grade of gear he’s serving, and this latest release is a fine reminder of where the interesting action is within modern day dubstep.

Compa manages a balance between needlepoint sound design and a rough-hewn finish which lands with deadly precision. ‘Emergence’ is especially artful in its microscopic layers of texture and slippery bass movements, but the grainy finish gives everything a tactile, earthy quality that feels refreshing against the slick and polished hi-def arms race so many producers seem to be running. This is still soundsystem-ready dubstep through and through, and the tracks are structured as such, but there’s an industrial slant to Compa’s style which feels especially engaging. Take ‘Stronghold’ as a fine case in point, sounding like a spectral inversion of most genre-faithful dubstep transmitting from beyond the grave. It’s not here to make friends and have a nice time – that much is clear.

OW

Autumns – DSS Dubplate (Touch Sensitive)

Following his post-punk-via-dub revivalist album ‘Dyslexia Sound System’ out last march, Christian Donaghey has come through with three more, system-ready cuts. Made around the time of the album, ‘DSS Dubplate’ does exactly what it says on the tin, eschewing the distorted vocal-centrism of tracks like ‘Spirit Details’ for three tracks that emphasise the harder edges of the diasporic sound pioneered by mainstays like On-U Sound and Adrian Sherwood.

Conjuring sepia-toned mental images of Ari Up nipping in and out of Notting Hill garden parties, the three tracks here are maximalised unto utter slappage. ‘Annoying Fucker’ sets the precedent for the EP, opening with a brusque 303 fart – the ensuing dub beat is just as saturated and unforgiving. ‘Eating On The Ground’ certainly conjures curb-lucking thoughts, sharing the guitar wails and modulated delay times of its predecessor, except this time working in a 4×4 proto-techno territory. And finally, ‘Never Lasted’ touches base on the march album’s routine dancehall sensibilities, channelling a voguing, explosive beat via gunshot and riffing basses, like a bastardized Pink Industry instrumental. Limited to just 200 copies, you can be sure this one won’t stay for long on the shelves – especially given its captivating clarinet squawks, clockable by only the least scrupulous of listeners!

JIJ

Paula Tape – Astroturismo (Rhythm Section)

This might well be the first you’ve heard of Paula Tape’s productions, given her sole previous release slipped out low-key in 2018 on Sounds of Beaubien Quest. The Santiago-born, Milan-based artist has been plenty busy as a DJ and label co-steer with Tempo Dischi, showcasing a deep and broad taste in music of all shapes and shades through a tangle of radio shows and mixes. You can detect that diggers sensibility coming through on her debut appearance for Rhythm Section, as the language of a thousand niche cuts get distilled into four playful and infectious club tracks with flair for days.

90s motifs come thick and fast on these tracks – Tape’s tools are classic synths and iconic drum machines, and she doesn’t try to mask that. You’ll hear the eternally satisfying funk of rompler-style slap bass, brassy DX7 patches and the carnival clatter of the 707, 626 and all the other textbook rhythm boxes. The jaded might start rolling their eyes, but you just need to hear these tracks to understand why Tape is noteworthy – what matters is how she arranges these sounds, and they roll out with a relaxed but joyous flavour which quite simply sounds fresh. There’s no greater test of an artist’s compositional chops than giving them massively over-mined sounds to work with, and Tape transcends every trapdoor to deliver something meaningful, classy and catchy. The familiarity in these tracks becomes a boon rather than a hindrance, inviting you into Tape’s vibe and making the surroundings seem incredibly comfortable.

OW

Spektralsound – Big Up (City Road)

As the Idle Hands label continues to explore a panoply of electronic dance music with a dubby sensibility, the City Road sublabel fires up to focus squarely on the dance. That said, the first release still features plenty of that hazy Bristolian flavour you might very reasonably expect from one of the city’s core musical tenets, so head into this Spektralsound 12” expecting blistering ragers, although of course anything’s possible at this stage.

Spektralsound are a duo who made their first appearance via Keysound with the Safe Haven EP, which says plenty about their skills in the field of bassweight UK club music. Both versions of ‘Big Up’ roll with all the right moves – tasteful 808 sub bass, snaking 2-step rhythms playing off shuffling breaks – but it’s the atmospherics which make both sides stand out. On the A side it’s deep diving chords which come flexing through the mist, while the VIP switches keys and revels in wandering melodies which blur out into a pad-like ambience.

OW

This week’s reviewers: Martin Hewitt, Jude Iago James, Oli Warwick, Patrizio Cavaliere.