Tuesday, May 31, 2022
Monday, May 30, 2022
Rebuild EP - Ballet Mechanique (EPMmusic)
Title: Rebuild EP
Artist: Ballet Mechanique
Label: EPMmusic
Cat Number: EPM98
Genre: Techno
1: Rebuild
2: Echo Catcher
3: Share The Feeling
4: Big Hearts
Bit late with this one, but don’t know how it slipped under my radar as Ballet Mechanique have been in my sights for a while now thanks to their recent reissues on Delsin. This is new stuff though, the first for a long time, and it’s good to hear that it doesn’t stray from the melodic, Detroit and IDM inspired stuff that came out on Eevolute when such things where still finding their feet. The title track is a sweeping piece of space-age grandiosity that would embellish any imaginative set. This is an ambience that infuses the entire package, with varying degrees of intensity. ‘Share The Feeling’ keeps up a similar momentum, while both ‘Echo Catcher’ and ‘Big Hearts’ use break beats as melodic undulation, easing off the gas as they do. The tracks are 50% optimistic energy with the other 50% more introspective. Which is nice.
Sunday, May 29, 2022
Saturday, May 28, 2022
Friday, May 27, 2022
Thursday, May 26, 2022
Basic Instinct - Session Victim (Rhythm International)
Title: Basic Instinct
Artist: Session Victim
Label: Rhythm International
Cat Number: RS053
Genre: Deep House
1: Trying To Make It Home
2: In And Out
3: Orbits Of Dust
4: AM Continental
5: SFC (Hommage Mix)
“Jazz house? Nice . . .” I hear you say. You’ve also got to have the moves though. The descent into abstraction and self-indulgence has to be kept at bay or we’re dealing with something else entirely. There’s none of that here though, because this release delivers on wide screen, big sound system panoramic storytelling ambience. Each track has pace, precision and versatility. ‘Trying To Make It Home’ has vocals concisely used, and is probably the “peak track” here However, the instrumentation dominates, as it does on every other tune herein. Atmosphere is the watchword, with the compositions never overstretching themselves, but building patiently until an explosion or crescendo doesn’t come; they’ve been happening all along due to the thoughtful insertion of evocative riffs, undulating embellishment and melodic shift. These tracks all stand out on their own and should also be liberally used to bulk up the mix. They’ll make anything sound better.
Wednesday, May 25, 2022
One Four Five Lemma - Nicki Nair (Island F)
Title: One Four Five/Lemma
Artist: Nicki Nair
Label: Island F
Cat Number: ISLANDF1
Genre: Tracky Minimalism
01: One Four Five
02: Lemma
03: XXX
My first impressions are that these tunes are the aural equivalent of the proverbial deconstructed dessert. Disparate elements are cohesively deployed within a minimalist soundscape that is so spacial that there’s nowhere to hide. The beats are let loose and attack with the force of a tightly coiled spring. There are various tempos on show here, but the omnipresent one feels like a shade of highly strung electro that dovetails effortlessly with house. Revolving around the taut percussion, we have vocal stabs/samples which function as instrumental punctuation, marking time in the margins as well as catalysing beats. There’s an awful lot going on here, distilled into a fine polyrhythmic essence, which is nice.
Tuesday, May 24, 2022
Monday, May 23, 2022
Thursday, May 19, 2022
Pneuma - Mugwump (Subfield/K7!)
Title: Pneuma
Artist: Mugwump
Label: Subfield/K7!
Cat Number: SF020
Genre: Dark Chug
1: A Priori
2: Bewilder Me (Extended)
3: Breakout (Extended)
4: Kaleidescopin (Extended)
5: Cleverest (Extended)
6: Informer Headlock
7: I Don’t Understand You (Instrumental)
8: Man Walks Off Earth (Extended)
9: Locomotive (Extended)
10: Mugwump vs Ceeys Brueder
11: Bewilder Me (Extended Instrudub)
12: Breakout (Extended Instrudub)
13: Cleverest (Extended Instrudub)
One thing that listening to this album from start to finish has taught me is that I can listen to a deadpan vocal delivery over and over without getting fed up. Those vocals, coming courtesy of Mugwump, serve to crystallise an ambience of omnipresent sleaze. The only track that Swingout Sister became known for, ‘Breakout’, sees action as a single form this collection and, in the process, is transformed from a summery, optimistic anthem to a dark, dank, heads down stomp into the dark realms of uncertainty and doom. And that’s what’s irresistible about this whole album. Insistent melancholia and its associated gravitas is lifted from the void in order to facilitate dancing and losing onseself to the moment. The vocals do take a sideways step occasionally, as on ‘Cleverest’; and don’t feature at all on the fastest paced track here, ‘Informer Headlock’, and the one track which you could imagine being played as the sun comes up, ‘Mugwump vs Ceeys Brueder’. They are at their remorseless best, however, on tracks like ‘ Kaleidescopin’ which for me distils the essence of this work down to a concentrated sound bomb. It’s no surprise at all that the late Mr Weatherall used to play Mugwump’s tracks all the time, and they continue to get exposure at the club nights he was heavily involved with like ‘A Love From Out Of Space’. When the sonic stars align, as they also do on ‘A Priori’ and ‘Bewilder Me’ the chug is strong, shapes will be thrown and discs will be slipped. And that’s really all that matters.
