Hip-hop blended with a touch of bossa nova, a twist of funk and a couple drops of electro swing. Minimatic is out of France, and he manages to mix up these genres like a well-done Blue Hawaiian. Bravo!
Electronica
[Music] BlankFor.ms – Side A Feelings
Judging by the tags listed on this rather charming EP, I would have thought that this music is meant for the dance floor. It is, actually. It’s just the sort of thing you would want to listen to after a night of pounding noise and stomping around in your best shoes. With this release, BlankFor.ms lets you lilt gently into a relaxed phase, ending your evening on an exalted note. There is a cracked, crunchy beauty to this album. I look forward to exploring the band further.
[Music] Various Artists – Serein: A Compilation (FREE)
[Music] Rainbow Chan – Long Vacation
Rainbow Chan released what has to be one of the most freakishly charming releases I’ve heard in a while. Think of someone as innovative as Björk, but far more experimental. From her Bandcamp website:
Rainbow’s latest EP Long Vacation singlehandedly places her among the most innovative composers and musicians on the scene right now. More Dirty Projectors than J-Pop, Chan isn’t afraid to mix textures and sounds that lie far outside mainstream familiarity—weirdly warped bells, floating, dissonant flutes and her own voice mixed and mashed into its own mosaic of shattered parts.
[Music] DjClick – DjClick & The Alaev Family
I can’t say I know much about DjClick, who is an electro DJ and remixer based out of Paris. I know even less about the Alaev Family, who are traditional musicians from Tajikistan. The pairing of these two, however, leaves a spectacular impression. Deep, ancient grooves are updated, not quite for the dance floor, but for powerful listening.
[Music] Various Artists – VI Miracle
We live in an age where a small label from Belarus can pull in musicians from Brooklyn to Siberia. Ezhevika Records has a massive and talented catalog to pull from, and their latest comp showcases some amazing trip-hop musicians.
[Music] Mo’ Horizons – Rhythm Is A Dancer
Yes, that Rhythm Is A Dancer, made famous by the German dance group Snap! A damn good song given a cumbia feel by Mo’ Horizons, this pairing works just fine to these ears, and gives the dance classic a fresh twist.
[Music] Scanner – Lost At Sea
Musically, Scanner remains in a class by himself. The broad paintbrush of ‘experimental music’ almost covers the scope of his work, yet he could easily fit in electronic music, IDM and most anything else he wants to. This release is a touching tribute to fishermen from East Neuk who perished at sea. From Scanner’s Bandcamp site:
This unique work was created for the Big Project as part of the East Neuk Festival in Fife Scotland in summer 2018. I joined forces with pupils of Waid Academy in Anstruther to create a memorial in sound for men of the East Neuk fishing industry lost at sea. The work draws on the stories of the men out at sea, field recordings and interviews to evoke the men and their lives.
The work was premiered at Waid Academy on 28 June as a live performance but an alternative version was installed at the Scottish Fisheries Museum.
No physical memorial to these men currently exists – something that retired local fisherman, Ronnie Hughes, is campaigning for. You can hear his stories throughout the work. His mission to secure a monument in Pittenweem inspires this piece for which ENF has partnered the Scottish Fisheries Museum and Waid Academy. Listen and immerse yourself in the stories and sounds of the fishing industry.
I was delighted that on 13 May 2019 the Scottish Awards for New Music 2019 awarded Lost at Sea for Community/Education project of the year.
Sound: Scanner
Voice: Ronnie Hughes
Waid Academy students:
Jay Alsafar
Josie Bell
Mirren Bell
Ben Black
Jude Bright
Hunter Demetrius
Daniel Hesk
Ryan McIntosh
Ian McKie
Kirstin Spence
Kai Young
[Music] Dead Janitor – Medusa | [ / ] no. 45
Slovakia is producing all sorts of fine music. Dead Janitor is a fine case in point. From their Bandcamp page:
Dead Janitor is the alter-ego for Slovak electronic technician Braňo Findrik. Over the past decade, he has steadily produced a series of digital releases leading to his debut Medusa LP for Urbsounds. With an arsenal of pixelated breakbeats and stuttering samples, Dead Janitor presents an adventurous form of polymetric electronica, echoing the complex IDM explorations of the pioneering work of Aphex Twin and Autechre.
Medusa is an apt title for the album that hybridizes digital and analogue technologies into a labyrinthine architecture of sound that prioritizes rhythm over melody. The title was inspired by the beloved camp of Clash Of The Titans but also alludes to the hostility that have become normalized in contemporary politics and culture. Here, Dead Janitor turns samples upside down, subjects the internal clocks to breakneck multiplication and division, atomsmashes electronic sound into it granular parts, and otherwise sets up rhythm to be in conflict with itself.
Tracks such as “Mandatory” that cycle through its 8-bit density of Gameboy bleeps and the title track with its aggressive industrial clamor provide a number of complicated listening experiences that reveal hidden patterns and rhythmic undercurrents over repeated listens.
With its emphasis on displacement and dislocation, Medusa makes for a thrilling if idiosyncratic album in the lineage of Evol, Mark Fell, Russell Haswell, and late-period Autechre.
[Music] Gorbach – Dope Shuffle
Gorbach are a band out of Minsk who specialize in trip-hop music, something their mother label, Ezhevika Records, specializes in. It’s so cool to see such a magnificent label popping out of Belarus.
A Miscellany Of Tasteful Music 