Record reviews (09/03/24)
Doc Sleep – Cloud Sight Fade [Dark Entries - vinyl and digital]
This LP from Doc Sleep arrives on SF institution Dark Entries with full cover art on the vinyl by the Portuguese artist Sonja Costa Brava (who was the designer for Welt Discos’ logo and first two releases). The tracks were mixed by another Portuguese artist, João Melo aka Mind Safari, and as this dream team might suggest the package is stunning in all respects.
Opener ‘Professor Eucalyptus’ establishes the territory: Detroit hats, electro stabs, watery squiggles bubbling up from time to time, the groove shifting from straight into broken and back again. ‘Lemon Zest’ can be one of two things depending on how you listen: if heard on the beat, it's a driving, funky stepper; if heard on the halfbeat, it turns into something more meditative, like a lost B12 b-side with added breaks (though, as always with a halfbeat, once you’ve lost it it’s gone).
The dense crunchiness that opens ‘Palm Reader’ already feels weighty, but when the kick drops 90 seconds in you realise that what you were hearing before was only surface texture. (This effect reminds me of what happens when I think the noise cancelling on my headphones is off, so I try and turn it on, but actually it was on, and I unintentionally turn it off.)
‘Echo Azure’ and ‘Water Sign’ practice a careful restraint before ‘Cloud Sight Fade’ lets loose in a flurry of splashily reversed and syncopated hats, pitchbent bass and filtered synths — a Detroit vibe again, and sounding so fresh. Then ‘Enchanted Static’, a listening piece in the vein of Doc Sleep’s remix of ‘Swim Domain’ on Third Place last year, sees us out on an ambiguous note.
I rarely listen to LPs these days but this one I bought on first listen.
Ali Akram – Undertones EP [DISCAT - vinyl and digital]
I found out about this release by Ali Akram on his own DISCAT label because it features a remix from Pittsburgh hero Ali Berger. Happily it turns out that not only is Ali B’s remix predictably great, but so are Ali A’s originals.
The lead track ‘C-Bounce’ is a serviceable Derek Carr-esque house track but it has a detail I can’t quite get on board with: one pad that plays through certain sections without modulating when I wish it would. Ali B squeezes this track into something more slippery and interesting with his remix, which recalls Savvas Ysatis in his prime but with a bit of extra flourish in the solos that trill over the back half.
(Sidenote: it feels like dubby dance music is primed for a bit of a comeback this year, which is something I’m highly sceptical about unless it’s the good stuff like this.)
Then there are two more originals from Ali A, ‘Undertones’ and ‘Primary Tactic’, both of which are winning grooves that, you’d have to say, have more than a little Ali B about them too.
Physical Therapy & Nick Léon – Genesis [Allergy Season - digital only]
Physical Therapy didn’t quite deliver on the promise he made a year ago to release 12 EPs in 12 months, but every EP he did put out in 2023 was a hit, especially my favourite, the Sugaring EP with Davis Galvin (in my Top tunes of 2023 here). And now he’s back with a bang in 2024 with ‘Genesis’, a killer collab with Nick Léon.
I can already tell I'm going to be playing this constantly this year, likely towards the end of my sets as part of the customary soft landing. Economical in terms of elements and duration (just under 4 minutes), the original nonetheless fizzes with detail. DJ Swisha turns in a sprightly house remix that I’m going to feel a bit guilty playing on -8, while PT himself provides a curious edit that merges Hard Groove with Dan Hartman and actually really makes it work.
Forthcoming:
BLEID - Aerosol EP [Eterna - digital only]
BLEID's much anticipated return to the dancefloor. The first track 'Rubber Band Land Calling' and the soundcloud clip of Bored Lord's remix sound very promising.
Kreggo - Swaying EP [Nous'klaer - vinyl and digital]
Kreggo clearly read my EOY thinkpiece on Matthew Dear because the first track on his new EP has an unmistakably False-esque vibe about it. The preview clips reveal the rest of the EP to contain a mix of broken beats and dubby (it's happening!) dreamscapes.
Love Letters - Transfer All/Conditions [.FREQLINK - digital only]
New Love Letters is always welcome, and here we have two subtly mutating extended jams (full previews here). The first is a floating techno workout — think UK c. 1993 — while the second lands somewhere between Dance Mania and Conemelt.