The best new singles this week
The singles leading the pack
SINGLE OF THE WEEK
Minor Science returns for the unnamed 64th release on the esteemed AD 93 label. The musician (real name Angus Finlayson) has done much to prove that production intrigues alone can spark real fan rapace; aside from his more ‘listeny’ album Second Language, he’s also got a particular remix of a Special Request track under his belt, which has racked up millions on YouTube and Spotify, and prior releases like ‘Volumes’ also proved his rhythmic dexterity and preference for precision production. Perhaps it’s some combo of this, as well as his former profession as a music reviewer like us, which has earned him a reputation as an extremely technical artist.
This is an EP that is said to represent the artist’s experience of a contemporary world “consumed by work”, inspired by “several years of hard work and hustle”. Perhaps knowingly of how hustle culture is a problematic symptom, rather than a desirable effect, of contemporary capitalism – which, of course, affects the music world as much as anything else – 064 eschews much of Minor Science’s former ‘sound design fetishism’ for an emphasis on emotion and ecstasy, preferring a mood of escape. These tracks sound like nods to old-school UK hardcore ala. Kniteforce, but nevertheless reject its hacky old cliches (rave stabs, cheesy samples, oversaturated piano riffs), instead replacing them with what we don’t hesitate to call ‘future rave’ sounds. ‘Workahol’ keeps the breaks, but ups the stakes with alarmist mid-passed basses and dynamic lasershots, as a passionate arsenal of soul-food vocal samples intone in a call-and-response fashion. It’s the kind of track that abandons just enough chinstrokery to free up room for play, while keeping things layered and energized enough to keep the emphasis on floors, not home listening setups.
‘Casheine’, meanwhile, sounds like a play on “cash-in”, and continues the charge to even greater effect, splicing up some dastardly hybrid of booty bass, jump-up drum & bass and bassline (everything bassy), but working in a higher average tempo than at least two of those styles. It sounds kind of like what a malicious audio-AI would output if it were fed the prompt: “T2’s ‘Heartbroken’ meets a circular saw in a dark alleyway”. Clearly, Finlayson is trying his hand at the more “raw emotive” end of the dance spectrum – although it wouldn’t count as his music without an overarching dash of glitzy future-sanity, as ever.
JIJ
Talaboman – Bosco Bosco (The Night Land)
More nocturnal moves from the Talaboman project here, with the talented duo taking another deep dive into tripped-out realms via the ‘Bosco Bosco’ EP. If there were such a thing as subterranean supergroups, Talaboman would surely be in with a shout of being positioned under the banner. John Talabot and Axel Boman have provided plenty of memorable solo moments across their storied production careers, so it’s hardly surprising that the work they concoct under their cleverly named joint project is routinely excellent.
Their ‘The Night Land’ album on R&S Records was something to savour, and its title is shared with the imprint the pair seemingly favour for ongoing releases, with a previous appearance on Boman’s Studio Barnhus their only other label outing to date. ‘Bosco Bosco’ is one of a pair of singles released on the same day, and with more due to arrive in the very near future, it appears very much as though the project is building up a formidable head of steam.
The title track arrives in two versions, first up, the ‘Bag Of Bones’ mix. Kaleidoscopic and expansive, the hypnotic groove steadily rolls as psychedelic sweeps and undulating drones hover over crunchy rhythms, melodic lines revealing themselves as the saucer-eyed arrangement unfolds. On the reverse, the ‘Drums For Life’ version is an altogether tubbier affair, with icy chords and piercing melodies echoing over a sparse panorama as mid-tempo drums power the heads down groove. Both cuts are immaculately produced, and — while both are unquestionably pitched at the more introspective phases of the dance — each is suited to subtly different moods. Deep, altered and wildly atmospheric, the Talaboman journey continues.
PC
Los Hermanos – Another Day (Mother Tongue)
Gerald Mitchell’s Los Hermanos project has evolved over the years, and the Another Day 12” in particular broke a hiatus of some seven years when it first landed in 2020. Well, two years later it’s getting a repress and it’s back in the weekly release listings, and a record this special deserves shine whenever it’s in reach.
If Los Hermanos started out as a techno-rooted concern with DJ Rolando in the creative mix, it’s since turned towards a softer, jazz-informed approach which lends itself to the patter of deep house. ‘Another Day’ speaks its truth from the very first gossamer touches of Rhodes and soul diva vocal sample, and the full track kicks off soon after. The beat hits a sweet spot, tough without coming on too heavy and with plenty of nuance to the groove – what else would you expect from Detroit royalty? Around these foundations there’s space for delicate guitar flexing, occasional bursts of celestial synth, and not much more. It’s all that’s needed for the perfect, soul-reviving house music to move the masses on a truly deep, emotional level.
As if that knockout track wasn’t enough, ‘Binary Funk Influence’ offers something very different and equally jaw-dropping. Taking the modal patterns of jazzy keys and interweaving them with similarly modal analogue synth arpeggios, the track is already rocketing before the drum machine jack kicks in. It’s hi-tech jazz like you never heard it before, taking an edgy approach where the distortion on the Rhodes becomes a perfect partner to the snarl of the filter sweeps on the synths. Much like its housier counterpart, it’s the kind of track to make a party kick into another gear.
Proving Los Hermanos is more than a house or techno act, ‘The Billy Love Experience’ (with the titular singer right there on the track) leans on nothing but blissful keys as a vessel for truly impassioned vocal layering. It’s painfully beautiful and subtly surreal, and holds its own against the more forthright tracks to justify an extensive eight minute run time – much more than just a token B2 beatless track.
OW
Andres – Hot Pot 003 Andres Edits (Hot Pot)
Detroit maestro Andres shows his mischievous side here, serving up a pair of tried and tested edits that have been features of his hometown sets and are now destined to do requisite damage across grateful dancefloors. Slum Village alumnus, Mahogani Music regular and all-round studio badman, Andres has won plenty of admirers with his authentic, varied, and engaging releases across decades of studio activity.
Beyond any shadow of a doubt, he’s been responsible for musical moments that were defined as classics as soon as they arrived and are sure to maintain that status as they continue to be discovered by future generations. While best known for these and other subaquatic deep house burners, the Hot Pot debut label is a home for edits, with this instalment featuring a pair of cheeky licks that are likely to score crossover points thanks to the familiar source material as much as the effortless production flex.
First up, ‘Flipwood Mac’ reworks the Mac’s classic ‘Dreams’ over dusty house beats, with agile overdubs adding to the evocative atmosphere. Next, Anita Baker’s ‘Rapture’ is treated to some serious beat business, with leviathan snares and shuffling grooves adding energy to the ballad.
PC
The Other Side Of Devastation – The Purge Of Tomorrow (Modern Obscure Music)
At this point in time, firing up a new project from Sam Shackleton feels like buying a ticket to an olde worlde carnival set somewhere in the distant future. There’s an ancient, sinister mysticism which has always lingered around his work – a sense of arcane ritual outside traditional systems of control, but it remains such novel work it’s hard to shrug the feeling of being flung forwards in time. It seems like time is on his mind for this EP of two long-form pieces, given the distorted vocal samples which open up A side track ‘Time Moving’.
Future past is very much bedded into the sonic, but where he might previously have used the kinesis of club music as a potent conductor for temporal shifts, now Shackleton leans even more explicitly on compositional complexity at a cannily slow pace. The lack of linearity in the music feeds into the experience, passing through series’ of micro-suites with the help of Kathy Alberici’s ascendant string work.
There are discernible crescendos in the rising and falling notes, but the glacial undertow of the track keeps a firm grip on the reins, denying any obvious peaks or troughs. It feels as though ‘Time Moving’ has been created as an immersive world to be explored, rewarding the curious listener with hidden mysteries as the flora flexes and contorts.
‘Waves’ has its own tale to tell, similarly gliding from one landscape to the next without the need for resolution. There are familiar hallmarks of Shackleton’s sound detectable in certain tones, plucks or chimes, but it’s new to hear them rendered at such a patient pace. It’s reductive to call it ambient – there’s far too much movement for this to be an accurate tag – but there is something magical about the tenderness of the piece, taking Shackleton’s well-established propensity for transcendent music and offering a less frantic outcome.
OW
Ego Neco – You & I? (remastered) (Turin Dancefloor Express)
The early 1980s was a fertile time for a particularly futuristic brand of Italo disco. Helmed by the likes of DJ crews like Hot Mix 5 and artists like Omar Santana – and centred in American cities like New York and Chicago where Italian-Americans held a strong cultural sway – this version of Italo enjoyed a nascent, fluid sonic blend with the oncoming tide of electro, and encouraged a culture of many dub mixes and B-side intrigues.
First released in 1984, Ego Neco’s ‘You & I’ is a shining example. Despite its incredible, rich and electrified production, the artist (ahem, studio supergroup) is (are) a relative unknown in the world of Italo, and came through on the nigh-equally obscure Babalu label. The song is as sophisticated as it is technical as it is raw. Conjuring images of passionate love affairs under the covers of generative fabrics in space lounges, it gets at some unnamed elite chic, bolstered and upgraded by a rigid, but wonky, cyborg aesthetic. “Upside down, it’s in the moment”, sings the unfortunately uncredited vocalist, as gobby analog FMs and gated double-claps resound.
We also now hear a stonking remix from longtime dance eclectic I-Robots, which, rather incredibly (if we’re correct in assuming this) “reconstructs” the entire instrumental track from scratch, or at least from the bare elements of the original.
JIJ
Memotone – Memotone EP (Sahko)
William Yates’ presence as Memotone is increasing exponentially, as we’re still digesting the jazzy wonderment of his Clever Dog LP for Accidental Meetings and the excellent Wind In The Walls 10” on Termina. Now the Bristol-based multi-instrumentalist is delivering an EP to Finnish experimental totem Sahko, and it feels like another dimension of his sound opening up.
Sahko, for all its extremities, is also a jazz-friendly label, and makes a cosy home for the meandering pleasantry of ‘Measure For Measure’, a track which opens this self-titled EP in a humid fug of chord drifts which sounds like a strung-out lounge response to Eno and Hassell’s own Possible Musics. In contrast to those smoky pleasantries, ‘Moving Shadows’ is a discordant beauty in miniature which captures some of Hassell’s distinctive brass overtones without making a direct move to ape his idiosyncratic style.
Yates’ approach is unique enough of its own accord, finding a creative seam between experimentation and harmonic balance which leads to continuously satisfying, adventurous music. From ‘Niigghht’s smouldering piano groove to the snaking outer rim dub of ‘Blackcap Crossing’, a turn around each corner of this EP reveals more abundant wonders than most people could dream of packing into a whole album.
OW
Basic Bastard / Orlando Voorn ‘Drama’ (Sudd Wax)
You’d struggle to find a producer more prolific than Orlando Voorn. The furious pace at which he delivers his music renders it necessary for him to operate under all manner of pseudonyms, and his latest work appears under one of our favourites. Basic Bastard. Tongue in cheek, perhaps, but that doesn’t detract from the quality of the tracks on show. This is honest-to-goodness house music with a techno soul, a sound signature that, in varying shades, Voorn has consistently revelled in throughout his long and bountiful career. A side cut ‘Drama’ brims with swagger, with pulsing synths, spritely keys and deviant sweeps blended over tough machine drums.
Next, the Orlando Voorn remix of the same track is a touch more soul-infused, with gorgeous synth motifs meandering over sensual pads and no-nonsense rhythms. The three-track EP ends with ‘Survival’, where jazzy keys dance over mysterious pads as mischievous synth lines simmer in the distance. Modulating pads add to the allure, while thumping beats add an almighty thrust to the music. First-class four/four flavours, but that should come as little surprise from the one they call Voorn (or, indeed, Basic Bastard).
PC
Quaid – Rez 18 (Eighteen) (KMA-60 Rezpektiva)
Not to be confused with the contemporary Quaid releasing high-quality electro on Apron et al, Quaid as reissued here was a one-off alias for Ben Naylor. The record he put out in 1998 is a diggers delight, incredibly scarce and bursting with the hallmarks of the era. As the continued appreciation of all things 90s continues apace in modern club music, this release has a lot to offer.
‘Cascade’ is on the lightest possible side of breakbeat, but rather than heading straight to the atmospheric climes of Bukem et al, Naylor took his melodic cues from ambient techno and wove it in amongst the neatly clipped breaks. The end result is wigged out and bordering on trance in a similar fashion to The Higher Intelligence Agency, and it’s not hard to imagine this slotting in very smoothly with the likes of D. Tiffany and her similarly spirited compatriots in trance-y breaks.
‘Fusbares’ tips a little closer to that Good Looking era, keeping the beats uncluttered and leaning on a warm, rounded bassline which feels more indebted to jazz funk than dub. The pads are the star of the show here, unfurling in that classic 90s fashion which simply hits differently when it comes from back in t’ day.
OW
Don’t DJ – Pre-Album Sampler (Berceuse Heroique)
It’s been a relatively quiet couple of years for Florian Meyer, at least in terms of releases. After his Don’t DJ collaboration with NWAQ for Meakusma in 2020, there’s been a pregnant pause interrupted only by a supremely low key cassette EP for Cav Empt. It seems something has been brewing in that time, as this pointedly titled release for Berceuse Heroique would suggest. Hopefully another Don’t DJ album is on the way, as the German artist excels in a long-form release around which to weave his circular, head-ensuring rhythms, but in the mean time it’s also welcome to focus on one extended piece.
Don’t expect a major deviation from established approaches on ‘Lemon Garlic’, but you can at least set yourself up for the best version of that Don’t DJ sound. Around the insistent loom of the drums with their thick, treacle-like overtones there’s a teeming ecosystem of sound. Flutes flutter in and out of the mix and the small chirrups of animal-like chatter dart around the mix. The fluctuations are subtle but significant, moving you through the extended 14-minute run time without feeling a sense of stasis at any point. It’s truly meditative music, but never defaulting to the easy tricks of monotony and minimalism.
In a surely inspired pairing, Wah Wah Wino’s Morgan Buckley is invited up to the remix plate for side two, and he creates a clangorous, bouncing version which plots a steady course upwards, underpinned by flirtatious instrumentation with a joyous peak around the mid-section. Carrying the ritualistic undertones of Meyer’s original and flipping into something more outward facing and communal, it helps round the record out as essential listening for anyone who values spiritually-charged music of no fixed denomination.
OW
This week’s reviewers: Oli Warwick, Jude Iago James, Patrizio Calaviere