The best new singles this week
The creme de la creme of singles
SINGLE OF THE WEEK
Session Victim – The Intangibles (Delusions Of Grandeur)
Deep-digging house duo Session Victim make an oh-so-welcome return to Delusions Of Grandeur with yet another inspired selection of organically-charmed grooves. The pairing of Hauke Freer and Matthias Reiling have shown no signs of slowing after the best part of 15 years in the game, a productive production period that’s seen them turn out scores of floor-focused titles for some of the movement’s best-loved labels.
After some serious moves on Toy Tonics and Rhythm Section International, the German artists are back in the loving embrace of the Delusions Of Grandeur home from where many of their most memorable moments have arrived. True to form, the music served brims with the infectious blend of sample-rich beds and agile overdubs that has come to epitomise their hyper-alluring sound palette. A-side cut ‘Motivation’ features affecting vocals from Ras Stimulant spelling out a portent message for our times, while label boss Jimpster pitches in with some hypnotic keyboard flourishes. The music builds over crisp drums, as atmospheric pads and dubbed-out delays glide across the open-air panorama.
Over on the other side, “Dromedary Twist” maintains the lively tempo while veering into gently dreamier territory, with thick bass driving evocative harmonics over a sturdy rhythm. Jimpster once again laces the tracks, while cascading organ solos and freeform horn licks add colour to the evolving orchestration. With the dancefloor thirst suitably sated, the pair aim for the backroom/beach with the closing number, ‘Green Run’. Here, hazy instrumentation is gorgeously woven over rolling drum breaks, the lazy tempo and soul-searing musicality delicately primed for head-nodding introspection as celestial strings and heartfelt melodies neatly entwine. Immaculately produced and bubbling with soulful intention, this varied EP is yet more effortlessly endearing work from the Session Victim camp.
PC
Bella Boo – Looney Talks (Studio Barnhus)
The European producer-industrial complex has been head over heels for Bella Boo (Gabriella Borbély) in recent years, thanks to her playful style of music-making, plus her various sets across the continent in titanic institutions such as Panorama Bar and Phonox. Studio Barnhus has been her main releasing port of call for over five years now – perhaps most significantly for her debut album ‘Once Upon A Passion’, on which nine originals laid claim to Boo’s layered, organic house sound, reminiscent of Maurice Fulton or Peggy Gou.
As per standard dance music artist practice: if it was the album that showed off Boo’s individual talents, then it’s her EPs that represent her more egoless ability to sate a contemporary dancefloor. Still, these EPs also bring a flavour tangy enough for even the least easy-to-please types, like us. Her latest EP ‘Looney Talks’ is a glitching foray into deep house. It’s one of a rare few new releases in the genre to recatapult it into the limelight, owing to its gross misrepresentation in some circles as tacky or lowbrow. Evidently, Boo has no time for such sweepingly classist generalizations. On ‘Looney’, she nominally reclaims ideas of madness, working in machine-gun drum cut-ups and wacky phased-out rave stabs into dembow, a charmingly surreal mix. She plays on our associations, knowing that we connote phasers and glitches with ideas of the “crazy”.
A fascination with regional rhythms makes itself increasingly clear, as track two ‘Dancehall’ ups the stakes and sense of tension. Hardly sounding like deep house as much as it does a slowed-down halftime number using sixteenth notes, the track builds to a stuttery trance at around the three-minute mark, with Boo’s stretched angel-vocals recalling the recent edit work of Ssaliva or Skyfragrance but worked into a township tech sound, with literal bell-and-whistle accouterments to boot. The gobby ‘Girls’ is the rawest cut, with its dubbed-out lasershots in the breakdown and amapiano style FM bass hits. ‘Get Away’, finally, rounds off the hat-trick with a cheekily minimal piano house number.
JIJ
Brian Kage – 909 Nights (Michigander)
While it’s probably fair to say Brian Kage isn’t among the very best-known of Detroit’s electronic musical exports, the consistently effective music he’s crafted over the past two decades has certainly won him plenty of in-the-know admirers. With scores of releases under his belt with Planet E, FXHE, Beretta Music, and We Play House, not to mention collaborations with and remixes for the likes of Omar S, John FM, Luke Hess and more, his chops are unquestionably refined and roundly appreciated by those at the core of the movement.
His latest offering is the ninth instalment on the Michigander label he set up in 2016 as an outlet for his own productions and joint projects. As with much of his output, floor-focused propulsion is very much the order of the day on the ‘909 Nights’ EP, with three robust tracks that are each built with hardened jacking in mind. First up, Kage resumes his fruitful studio explorations with French producer, Taho, serving arguably the standout in the form of the EP’s title track.
Feelgood piano chords and emotive strings soar over thumping drums before the club-ready arrangement evolves into an acid-baked belter, with jazzed-up synth solos making way for distorted 303 as the music takes a deviant turn. Next, ‘Cosmic Warehouse Vibes’ is an altogether trackier affair, with pulsing chords undulating across a stripped panorama while precise drums power the rhythm. Metallic and nocturnally-charged, it’s easy to understand where the ‘warehouse’ section of the title manifests, the track destined to echo over strobe-lit floors. Finally, the even more descriptively titled ‘JAX’ certainly lives up to its billing, with rolling toms and searing ride cymbals powering through cavernous space as piercing handclaps and spoken word vocals add to the urgency.
PC
Beneath The Massacre – Maree Noire (Prosthetic)
Hardcore indebted Canadian technical death metal beasts Beneath The Massacre have retained a vital place in the world of complex extremity since the release of their debut full-length Mechanics Of Dysfunction in 2007. Fitting on touring bills (as well as sonically) between the rising tide of deathcore acts such as Job For A Cowboy and As Blood Runs Black, and more faithful death metal outfits like Necrophagist and Decapitated, led to the band being embraced by listeners on both sides of the deathcentric trenches.
Resuming full activity after a near decade’s worth of radio silence in 2020 with the malevolent return to form Fearmonger, has re-established the group as a constantly reliable and endlessly impressive contributor to the scene, no doubt inspiring their label home Prosthetic Records to repress their 2010 EP Marée Noire, which the members have previously cited as their best output.
Originally arriving in the middle of a four-year gap between 2008’s fan favourite Dystopia and 2012’s more grandiose Incongruous, the five cuts that make up this 13-minute assault of virtuosic chaos amplify every trick of tech-death dexterity. From the fluid sweep picking that weaves around ‘Black Tide’ to the overwhelming wall of blast beats and interlocking grooves that make the less than two-minute ‘Designed To Strangle’ feel like its accosting you for a lifetime, the Marée Noire EP is a tremendously intense yet succinct display of why Beneath The Massacre are still held in such high regard and why their return from a non-announced unofficial hiatus almost three years ago is still a cause for celebration in the most depraved of circles.
ZB
Relative newcomers Canopy Records make it five from five with their latest release, showing some inspired digging acumen as they revitalise Alafia’s 1984 burner, ‘Assanssan’. Originally released on 7” via Carrere Records, the track is perhaps the most memorable number to have arrived via Alafia’s small but well-formed catalogue. A studio project operating in mid-eighties Paris, the band was comprised of players from Benin, Cameroon and the French Antilles and was produced by Philip ‘Han Mandounou’ Nikwé.
Lovingly remastered and presented on 12” for the first time, the music overflows with atmosphere, the call and response vocals, high life energy and synth-led orchestration beautifully blended over electronic drums and effervescent percussion. The B-side from the original, ‘Assiove’ is also included, charting similar territory and close to being as effective as the title track, as lively horns and good time vocals interplay over sparkling guitar rhythms.
Adding a modern rub, Medellin-based don Bosq offers a typically respectful rework, nudging the arrangement and gently sculpting the sonics with his rhythmically-enhanced remix. Vintage copies of Assanssan might not quite be in the holy grail category, but the music is genuinely riveting, and Bosq’s version coupled with the tidy remaster make this an exceedingly worthy slab of wax.
PC
Iron & Wine – Lori (Black Cricket Recording Co.)
We can trust an artist as “indie” as Iron & Wine (real name Sam Beam) to make something unique out of 2020’s COVID lockdowns. While most artists of a similarly reclusive demeanour retreated into their studios to explore music for healing or isolation-relief, Beam got specific with it, preferring instead to obsess over the work of contemporary country singer Lori McKenna.
The result is an eight-track covers album of some of McKenna’s songs, ‘Lori’, condensed to four tracks on this 12”. Backed by Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart of the indie-pop band Finom (f.k.a. Ohmme), a slew of hypnotizingly lo-fi covers of the formerly clean and slickly-made ‘That’s How You Know’, ‘Halfway Home’, That’s How You Know’ and ‘Shake’, are found therein. Beam adds colossally warm, cruddy space to McKenna’s originally roomy song structures, perhaps adding a sense of haunting loss to something otherwise usually seen as pristine or untouched.
‘Lori’ is interesting since McKenna isn’t particularly a critical darling, and her music has yet to gestate into something “classic”. In fact, she’s an artist hardly interested at all in “highbrow” indie aesthetics. The cover for her album ‘Lorraine’ recalls a Cath Kidston picture frame, not gritty contemporary cross-country post-ironic imagery ala Sun Kil Moon or of course, Iron & Wine. Perhaps the choice suggests independent thought from Beam, showing that his interests come from a much purer place than many of the culture-vulturistic motivations behind most covers out there.
JIJ
Scowl – Psychic Dance Routine (Flatspot)
Forming in 2019, Santa Cruz based hardcore upstarts Scowl have been garnering major hype in the four brief years since their inception. Signing to the ever expansive roster of Flatspot Records to release their blistering debut album How Flowers Grow in 2021, and sharing the stage with a myriad of other modern essential acts such as Sunami, Zulu, Jesus Piece and Show Me The Body to name but a small handful, their creative momentum has smashed through any preconceived ceiling on their latest EP Psychic Dance Routine.
Working with acclaimed producer Will Yip (Title Fight, Citizen, Turnstile, Tigers Jaw) at his increasingly iconic Studio 4 in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, has served as both a rebirth of sorts as well as a goal for the band who all cite many of Yip’s production credits as integral influences.
While their previous full-length was a predominantly chaotic affair bolstered by frontwoman Kat Moss’ siren-like shrieks, the single ‘Seeds To Sow’ exuded a much more melodic bent, channelling riot grrl outfits such as X-Ray Spex or The Breeders.
Across these five new tracks, those same melodious tendencies that previously resided on the periphery of their sonic make up now take centre stage. ‘Opening Night’ is a retro-punk stomper oozing sensual swagger before it’s frenetic final moments, while ‘Shot Down’ restores the sassy mayhem of their earlier work. The standout title-track marks the biggest departure from any hardcore formula, drawing on several alternative grunge-tinged 90’s acts such as L7, Hole and The Distillers.
With Kat Moss earnestly confessing her love of pop music and her evident ability as a charismatic vocalist with much more range than her feral bark might initially indicate, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to see Scowl branching out and diversifying their sound in such brazen fashion. What is surprising is just how naturally they’ve managed to bridge the gap between hardcore and hook-laden anthems, resulting in a tight snappy display of where their artistic intentions lay for the promising future ahead.
ZB
DJ Psychiatre – Enter The Chillzone (Pont Neuf)
DJ Psychiatre makes his Pont Neuf Records debut here, serving five well-crafted cuts on the ‘Welcome To The Chillzone’ EP. The French producer has been steadily making waves on the deep house underground since his work first started appearing in around 2017. With releases on Shall Not Fade, Blaq Numbers and Lost Palms already under his belt, the fine form continues with this gorgeously immersive selection.
As the title suggests, a hefty portion of the music is firmly rooted in the woozier end of the electronic spectrum, with head-nodding rhythms and seductive sonic textures formed with backrooms and living rooms in mind. Having said that rousing moments arrive, too, nowhere more so than on the opening track, ‘Simple As Fast’.
Here, shuffling drums power honeyed harmonies over deep bass as filtered strings swoop beneath dancing synth melodies as acidic waves bubble up from the depths. Elsewhere, discreetly psychedelic textures intertwine over broken drums on ‘Don’t F*** With My Groove’, while the soul-soothing strings of ‘Rhythm Is Key’ prove intoxicating as they drift over languid beats.
The retro-leaning trip hop vibrations of ‘A Little Treat’ echo simpler times, before closing track ‘Deep Water’ blends morphing synth bass, simmering acid and sumptuous pads over tight breaks before life-affirming chords rise in to elevate the saucer-eyed mood.
PC
Henry Wencelas Thenard – Miaou Miaou (Atangana France)
Guadaloupean record label Atangana might just be one of the few operations out there making sure contemporary takes on the regional musics important to them are seen and heard. We’re grateful for the efforts of label owners Deni Shain and Mister Francky.
Now they reissue two works by the esteemed zouk musician Henry Wencelas Thenard, refreshing our knowledge of how the genre has evolved in recent years and into the present day. Thenard is one of many “lost” musicians to have been granted a revivalist backstory and spate of new releases in recent times. Beginning his career in the late 1970s while coming of age in the Antillean Caribbean isles, he was naturally introduced to various styles of Afro-Caribbean music over the years, and found himself instrumental in the emergence of zouk, a uniquely uptempo dance sound characterised by its fast horn sections and rhythms.
Around 1978, he got involved with and became the bandleader of the five-piece zouk group Laser, from which these two tracks originate. ‘Miaou Miaou’ mixes synths with the originally organic-acoustic zouk sound, while the mewls of a cat hammer home the track’s distinctive slink. Meanwhile, another 70s album cut ‘Chauffe Bon’ shows off Laser’s incredible live synth bass playing and watery padwork; it’s as if a cocktail party were being held on a spaceship disguised as a tiny tropical island.
JIJ
Bad Blood – The Bad Kind Decides (Flatspot)
The Bad Kind Decides marks the debut release from newly founded Buffalo, New York hardcore supergroup Bad Blood, featuring members of Exhibition, They Live, Violent Way, and fronted by Terror vocalist and general underground genre hero Scott Vogel.
With a mission statement to deliver “no nonsense hardcore with a punch and a pulse”, these five bruising cuts amount to 12 minutes of retro style hardcore that does its utmost to shy away from any metallic leanings, citing seminal 80’s outfits such as Warzone and Brotherhood as integral influences.
From the opening swell of ‘716 Bust/Bad Blood’ that careens into pummelling breakneck heft, the group deliver a barrage of no frills, unpretentious aggression that effortlessly toes the line between motivating positivity and utter disdain.
Recorded and produced by Jay Zubricky at GCR Studios, the collective effort to compress, condense and embellish the chunky riffage and throttling rhythms in order to align the sonic aesthetic with their old school inspirations results in The Bad Kind Decides sounding like a genuine underground relic dusted off for modern appreciation, with ‘Apology Denied’ serving as the essential standout, surely destined to stomp heads and dictate mass swells of stage dives in a live setting.
With a promising debut EP exuding all members seasoned veteran status and understanding of hardcore, anticipation for a full-length is already bubbling at an alarming rate, and no doubt Bad Blood will deliver in due course.
ZB
This week’s reviewers: Patrizio Cavaliere, Jude Iago James, Zach Buggy.