Record Reviews (02/08/22)
Semi-regular capsule reviews of the new music I’m listening to and playing out right now. Listen in the players and click through to buy the music and support the artists.
The You Create, We Destroy EP on Dolly was one of my favourites of last year - as I wrote about here - and ES-Q’s forays into bleepy spacey techno now continue on his own label PXU, though this time it sounds like the reference needle has been shifted maybe a couple of years later. That means that the raw Detroit funk of a track like ‘Wake The Crew’ comes with a helping of shimmering trancey synths on top, while the sweetly melancholic acid ballad of ‘Space Port Passion’ has bonus new age whale noises and vocal samples. (Being fair, this is something we got a flavour of on the last EP with ‘Scenic Route’ and its FSOL bird calls.)
This could be an enhancement or a distraction depending on your taste. Personally I find them a bit of a distraction, so my favourite track is, unsurprisingly, the A1 ‘X-Feels’, where the only adornment is an ‘uhh-uhh’ moan that’s not too distant from the always-welcome OG sex noises on ‘Break 4 Love’. Regardless, the Sheffield is strong with this one and there’s a satisfying musical weight to the tracks that’s missing from a lot of similar stuff at the moment.
Herbert - Fantasy (Herbert’s Greenery Dub) [Accidental]
Herbert’s album Musca was released last year as the latest instalment in his ‘domestic’ series, more than two decades after Around The House (1998) and Bodily Functions (2001). While it was exciting to hear him return to this sound after so many years in the big band woods, the album was nevertheless an unabashedly song- and vocal-centric exercise, lacking any big club hit along the lines of ‘Never Give Up’. (OK it’s a push to call ‘Never Give Up’ a big club hit, but this is Herbert we’re talking about.)
Lucky then that he’s back with an extended dub of ‘Fantasy’, which turns this sparkling album highlight into an 8-minute chug of the likes we’ve been missing since his turn-of-the-century heyday (exhibits A, B and C, and on and on). As he did on the album, he brings the classic formula up to date with unmistakable flourishes from the world of contemporary pop: some PC music processed vocals and his own very Herbert-like take on a rushy mid-track drop.
Cathy Hobi - (re)start: The First Mini-Mixtape [Self-released]
Cathy Hobi is a UKG producer from the Philippines whose principal influences make for a heady mixture: Barbra Streisand, Puerto Rican singer Angela Bofill and today’s pop stars, all pushed through a DIY-Todd Edwards machine. I played her debut tune ‘You Better Make Love To Me’ at around 10am in Pickle Factory this New Year’s Day and it duly went off, so I’ve been following her output ever since.
On the edits side her formula is consistent and for the most part works, though - like Todd Edwards - it can be easy for the tunes to blend into one another. On her latest EP (re)start, ‘Starting Over Again’ is another Bofill cut-up that, in this instance, leans into a really soulful and happily un-cut-up “here we go again/time to begin” refrain. ‘Shut Up (You Ugly)’ marries Ariana Grande’s sweetly severe ‘Shut Up’ vocal with a four second clip of Doja Cat shouting “shut up, you ugly”, in the process creating a breezy summery garage hit. For someone my age this all feels bewilderingly young but it also really works and will surely raise some smiles with the right crowd.
For me the most interesting thing about this EP and her other recent releases are Hobi’s original songs. She’s writing her own lyrics and matching them to striking backing tracks that succeed on their own merits, that is, without any Edwards-like signifiers. ‘Making Love’ is a pacy autobiographical freestyle, half-sung and half-rapped, with Hobi repping Minecraft, No Doubt and, of course, her favourite divas. ‘Dreaming Of Meat’, meanwhile, is the EP’s curveball highlight and a tune I am going to insist on playing at every upcoming opportunity. “I’m just dreaming of meat/It’s something that I wanna eat”, Hobi deadpans over a track that matches the ‘American Dream’ bell riff to a swaggering Anthill Mob groove. It’s addictive and unique.