The best new singles this week
Our roundup of the hottest 45 action
SINGLE OF THE WEEK
Bukkha – Into The Void (System Music)
V.I.V.E.K’s System Music label remains one of the steadfast totems of dubstep, true to the sound without ever sounding tired or hackneyed. The clue is in the title, offering up plates with true soundsystem immersion in mind. Louisiana-born, Spain-based Bukkha is a reliable practitioner in that regard, having graced the likes of ZamZam Sounds and 45Seven in recent times amongst many others, and his approach speaks to the global language that dub has become over time.
This is a full-bodied EP, including two vocal cuts with some gold-standard contributors. First up comes ‘Into The Void’, a heavy-lidded exercise in dubwise minimalism from the Rhythm & Sound school with an elegant, refined riddim pulsing away behind a loose, poignant reflection from Dandelion on the mic. You might have caught Dandelion on some excellent link ups with L.V. back in the day, or perhaps with Bush Chemists – his appearances are scattered, but his mellow flow melts into the aqueous chord vibrations in mesmerising fashion.
On the flip we’re treated to another knockout guest spot from Roger Robinson, one of our greatest living dub poets with the power to devastate with the sweetest song or fire us up with a scathing invective. On ‘Never Leave Your Love’ we’re treated to the tender, Lovers Rock croon which made King Midas Sound so arresting, framed by Bukkha’s crisp, fathoms-deep wells of technoid dub production.
Around those mighty vocal versions, Bukkha builds out the same overcast mood with the steady-marching ‘Solitaire’ and blown out ‘Raindance’, two contrasting workouts with distinct energies, but wholly committed to dub as it exists in the modern era. From techno and dubstep influences right back to the foundations, it’s an amalgamated sound which remains true in its intention, and that’s apparent from the first throb of bass to the last spiralling reverb tail.
OW
Bernadino Femminielli – O Signe Des Temps (Before I Die)
Any musician taking it upon themselves to cover a Prince classic had best bring their A-game. Happily for fans of the Purple One and the greater record-buying community, Paris-based artist Bernadino Femminielli does exactly that on this splendid cover of ‘Sign ‘O’ The Times’. The music appears via the eminently promising Before I Die imprint, following some classy releases from Tungusku and J Walk. Released in 1987 as a single and on the album of the same name, Prince’s spellbinding original spells out an unfettered commentary on the social problems of the day and still sounds just as searingly relevant in 2023. Composed on a Fairlight digital synth and pitched over the kind of sparse, electronic bed that proved so potent for many of his finest moments, the soul-drenched vocal and funk guitar licks are unquestionably an example of Prince at his brilliant best.
Covering the track, Femminieli stays true to the aesthetic of the original, the most glaring difference is the husky French whispers with which he replaces the vocal lead. Aside from some instrument changes, the melodies and rhythms remain more or less in place, and the Canadian artist successfully brings something seductive and novel to the equation. The inclusion of Antitone founder IUKE’s dub instrumental version adds to the allure, stripping the vocal to allow the hypnotic instrumentation to take centre stage, before Manchester edit specialists Talking Drums knock it out of the park with their discreetly wiggy remix. Here, sinister bass notes roll over chugging drums as imaginative overdubs glide across the sparse panorama, the wispy vocal somehow sounding even more erotically charged than on the A-side as it finds its way directly into the ear drums. All versions are top-notch, and while the original Prince version is nigh on impossible to top, ‘O Signs Des Temps’ is nonetheless an especially desirable record.
PC
The Utopia Strong / DBH – Gatekeeper (Golden Lion Sounds)
Sometime in the mid 2010s, tucked in and above an out-of-the-way West Yorkshire pub known as the Golden Lion – which was located somewhere between the thriving Northern metropolises Manchester and Leeds – a small scene of dub and experimental music lovers coalesced. In 2020, a virulent pestilence swept the globe, which led the treasured tavern to close. As a result, the label’s founders, Matthanee Nilavongse and Richard Walker, filled the ensuing void by chasing their longtime desire to start pressing records of the many originals made by their friends and relatives whom had frequented the pub either as DJs or producers. Golden Lion Sounds was born.
Sure, a good founding myth is always a solid bet when it comes to selling your music, as it is for the birth of nations – but we’re not so easy to please. Thankfully, the music of Golden Lion Sounds over the past three years (a whopping number of releases, given the short time that has passed) has been second to none. Theirs span all corners of psych-dub, ambient and soundsystem audiophilia – a fitting selection of sounds given the name of the imprint.
Two new tracks from the Todmorden titans now come flying out their kept gates, hailing from The Utopia Strong and DBH. The former artist’s A-sider ‘Gatekeeper’ is a would-be Weatherall-worthy, cosmic disco softener – fusing layers of arp, beat and tambourine together into a slow build. But the bulk of the intrigue for us comes from DBH’s ‘Jumbled Whole’ on the B, a self-transcendental new age piece made by a mysterious local composer, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist. Worthy waves of natural noise, flute, and echoic guitar dance like a bewitched tapestry against a bedrock of synth drones. If this ‘Whole’ is ‘Jumbled’, then it’s an ecstatic bohemian clutter, not a mess.
JIJ
Dubamine – Cool & Relax (Dub-Stuy)
The loss of George ‘Nazamba’ Scott is a heavy one for the worldwide dub community. Of the many voices to cut through on a soundsystem in recent years, it’s no exaggeration to say no one could quite match the sheer weight and presence of his mighty tone. Outside of Jamaica, many listeners first picked up on his monolithic, granite-hewn delivery through his link up with The Bug on ‘Vex’, a fearsome tune in which even The Bug’s scathing production was dominated by the sheer force of Nazamba’s flow.
There are still some projects Nazamba had completed which are making their way to the surface now, and here’s one of them. Dubamine is a Bay Area- based producer with a fair wedge of work behind him, most of which has appeared on this NYC label Dub-Stuy. He and Nazamba conjure a powerful kind of meditation on ‘Cool & Relax’ – the idea of such a voice commanding tranquility to all in earshot seems ironic, but for all his gravelly baritones, there is a resounding calm about Nazamba’s instruction which feels more persuasive than a softly-spoken new age suggestion. In these frantic times, we need someone to tell us firmly to chill out, it would seem.
Dubamine matches this approach with his production, building a steadfast riddim with subs so weighty they punch through whatever the size of your system. It’s patient and coolheaded, but it’s far from horizontal. Rather, it’s something for the dance to connect with and carry onwards – a powerful, positive message from a voice the likes of which we’ll never hear again.
‘Nature’s Dub’ on the B side offers up something solid for the dance – a proper soundsystem workout with all the parts in place. You know the approach if you follow modern day dub, but all that matters is how it lands on a sizeable stack. The drop has an understated poise about it which points to Dubamine’s affinity for truly dubwise music – his dedication to the sound positively radiates out of every inch of the production.
OW
Various – Ciao Italia: Generazioni Underground Bonus Cinque (Rebirth)
Shield’s long-running Rebirth label strike gold once more with the fifth iteration of their ‘Ciao Italia’ series, successfully mining the bountiful Italo depths on ‘Generazioni Underground Bonus Cinque’. The previous instalments each featured plenty to savour, and the bonus editions take the curatorial exploits further through space and time as they successfully join the stylistic dots between generations of Italian electronic producers. Featuring unpublished contemporary productions alongside some of the ‘90s classics that inspired them, the six-track EP is every bit as engaging as the albums it follows. First up, 1995 released ‘Oasi’ from Oneric & Vortex sets the tone in immaculate style, with bubbling acid licks meandering through evocative pads and sturdy house drums, striking the balance between dance floor flex and dreamy sunrise abandon.
Next, the aberrant synth textures of GNMR’s ‘Dynamic’ veer into grubbier topography, the stripped production making the most of grainy machine drums and growling bass as the undulating synth motif bubbles and broils. Another modern production, ‘Barragan’ from Populous sees atmospheric synth melodies entwined over chugged-up drums across a gorgeously introspective arrangement. Nimbly teleporting back into the hedonism of the ‘90s, G-Connection’s hallucinatory ‘Free your Spirit’ features thick synth harmonies layered over simmering drums, with whispered vocals adding to the mystique as the groove unfolds. Extending the retrospective jaunt to the rave’s halcyon days is ‘LaLaLa’ from Snare Dreams, with its mind-altering synth waves lapping at transcendent shores while unobtrusive drums keep the tempo. Finally, completing a riveting set is ‘Try To’ from TiEs, where delicate synth melodies amble over thick drums as wobbly pads fill the air with an inescapably psychedelic fog. Only the merest production nuances give away the three-decade gap between the productions displayed here, with the lovingly crafted tribute tracks standing up proudly next to the innovative originals.
PC
Lårry – How Was That For You (Bruk)
It’s not that easy to get a clear fix on the artist known as Lårry. You might have previously spotted them on labels like BleeD, Awkwardly Social and Super Hexagon, but the goalposts seem to shift with each release in a fit of experimental club goodies that bend to the whim of the creator with disregard to stylistic consistency. Of course they’re not the only one doing such things, and they cut a figure of the hyper-immersed producer tunnelling through their own experiments with obsessive focus. The releases are simply the results which have been picked up along the way, and luckily they’re all resoundingly successful.
This new one for Bruk has plenty of firepower in its arsenal – just listen to the sub bass wobble and spitting breaks of ‘Angela’s Knife’ – but in many instances those peaks come well after an extended period of dread-filled ambient sound design. It’s schooled in the palpable unease of a breakdown in pitch-black drum & bass, but time-stretched to explore the artefacts from such energetic lulls in greater detail. These aren’t club tracks made to keep up a steady flow, but rather weapons to be deployed when you want to cause some nail-biting disruption in the night.
OW
NNAMDI – Are You Happy (Sooper)
NNAMDI is one of many alter-egos of one Nnamdi Ogbonnaya, a multi-talented, many-faced god of Chicago experimental music who’s been tinkering with math, avant-pop and experimental rap since 2009. Nnamdi is an admirably rare breed of artist, as he’s been unabashedly open about the evolution of his style – which emerged from humorously blase, “welcome to my world” style experimental mixtapes, before morphing into the stark, polished, emo-hyperpop-garage beauty we consider today, ‘Are You Happy?’.
The recently self-launched Sooper records houses this opus. Its five tracks move between weighty future garage, autotuned emo, and hyperactive pop immediacy, and were produced during a “genuinely bleak period” while holed up with fellow Chicago artist Lynyn, Nnamdi’s bandmate in the experimental jazz band Monobody. The euphoric glitz of each track is evidently a way for Nnamdi and Lynyn to lift each other out of depression, as the opener ‘Barely A Reason For Smile’ titularly acknowledges the feeling while also denying the thematic indulgence of it. The trend continues throughout, as on the deeply cinematic future-drill-footwork ‘Glass Casket’ – where Nnamdi pines after thoughts of becoming a traveller, astral or terrestrial – and the flourishy, Flume-y future bass cut ‘Backseat’. Fantasies about movement, driving, and engine propulsion are central to this never-settler; perhaps this was just the kind of fantasy necessary to escape post-pandemic hell.
JIJ
Jex Opolis – Bad Timin Volume 3 (Bad Timin)
Canadian producer and proper musician Jex Opolis pops up with the third instalment of his ‘Bad Timin’ series, continuing his retrospective dance adventures with a quartet of immaculately carved cuts. An errant sibling to his Good Timin imprint, Bad Timin was launched to provide a home for Mr Opolis’ more raved-up production, and sure enough, the bulk of EP number three is aimed squarely at propelling strobe-lit floors.
The record begins with the pounding positivity of ‘Know Yourself’, with thumping drums powering acidic waves across an ocean of misty pads as grainy synth chords embellish the groove. Pitched somewhere between happy house and early trance, the music does a marvellous job transporting doe-eyed ex-ravers back to their prime and is equally likely to strike a chord with younger generations of revellers. Even more cheerful, the optimistic organs and gated synths of ‘Best Ever’ send the feel-good factor into overdrive, before ‘100 % Electronic’ veers into prog-leaning territory with its agile acid waves, piecing rhythms and spoken word vocals. Finally, it’s all-out main room euphoria on ‘Instant Motion’, where shimmering synths cascade over pumping bass and dextrous melodies as uptempo drums drive the rhythm.
PC
Steve Silk Hurley – All I Need ft. Sara Garvey (Hard Times)
If you see a new release from Steve Silk Hurley it would be criminal to pass it over. The Chicago-born-and-bred house music pioneer rose to the top of the underground in the mid-1980s, clocking up four top-10 dance singles in the SS at a time when America’s mainstream wasn’t ready to open arms to one of the jewels in its homespun genre crown. He has gone on to represent the classic house community for decades, picking up four Grammy Award nominations, and cementing himself as a household name internationally.
The eagle eyed will spot he’s not the only veteran involved here, either. Even if you’re not from northern England, Hard Times should resonate. The Yorkshire party, and subsequent label, is among the most treasured cultural legacies in dance music from this corner of the world, hosting a who’s who of soulful, groove-driven and funk-infused DJs during its celebrated tenure in the 1990s, winding down the following decade as promoter Steve Raine swapped out dancing at sunrise for farming sheep at, err, sunrise.
All I Need is a fitting introduction to both the artist, and the imprint-club night behind the release. It’s unpretentious, chunky, licked with subtle sun-kissed flavours, and unashamedly brandishes a wealth of house music totems: string stabs, piano loops, sultry vocals. Suffice to say, it’s probably not going to challenge anyone, but nor would it send them running in searching for something less typical. Simply put, it’s textbook stuff and very good quality at that. Throw in strong remixes like the pared back chug and slap Eddie Leader’s interpretation and Alex Arnout’s sharp, punchy electro-tech outing, and you’ve got a surefire success story. That’s before we even mention the heightened emotions of Terry Farley and Kevin Swain’s version — a growling slow burner that smacks of epic 6AM moments.
MH
This week’s reviewers: Patrizio Cavaliere, Jude Iago James, Oliver Warwick, Martin Hewitt.