Record Reviews (18/03/25)
C Powers - ‘I Will Not Live In A Fascist State’ [Sorry Records]
This track (and the EP it belongs to) instantly call to mind the artist-activist collective Ultra-Red, who from the late 90s onwards conducted a series of self-styled ‘Militant Sound Investigations’ on issues such as HIV/AIDS, needle exchange programmes, public housing, anti-racism and so on in the US. The project I’m familiar with — thanks to the 12” they put out in 2002 getting played by Ricardo Villalobos over the years — is A16/A17, composed entirely from field recordings of protests against IMF and World Bank meetings being held in Washington DC on April 16 and April 17, 2000.
In their report on the demonstrations, Ultra-Red observed:
One of the most intriguing strategies witnessed by Ultra-red was how instructions and important information was communicated across large crowds through the use of chanting and repetition. While persons along the front lines of police-controlled barricades negotiated their actions amongst themselves and with the police, these messages would then be repeated by the entire assembly so that no decision was made in secret or without the possibility of giving space for discussion.
In the absence of electronic amplification systems, protesters deployed acoustic strategies that transformed the human assembly itself and the spatial acoustics of the city into an enormous amplification system. But unlike the authoritarian voice of the loudspeaker or megaphone, this form of amplification permitted dissent and dialog.
On ‘A16’, once the opening helicopter has faded you are left with a resonant call-and-response echoing across the stereo field, the demonstrators’ voices conveyed person-to-person under the hollow beat, their words fractured by digital processing. You can tell it’s a protest of some kind, but the issue at stake isn’t obvious. The point is that people were out there making a hell of a noise.
C Powers, whose work I first heard on her brilliant Sheer Sky EP for Fixed Rhythms, makes sonic works she calls ‘injections’ designed for direct action, e.g. to be played from mobile sound systems at demonstrations. From the get go ‘I Will Not Live In A Fascist State’ is less ambiguous than ‘A16’, its message clear in both the title and the chant that repeats relentlessly from 15 seconds in until the track closes. The use of call-and-response in the layered voices multiplies the slogan until it feels like all different aspects of yourself are willing the words into being — a powerful, occasionally overwhelming effect.
Underneath the voices, C Powers’ customary cut-up breaks and bass lend the track a slightly hectic yet accessible vibe, its bouncy exuberance at times transforming the tone of the vocals from genuine outrage into a kind of playground chant. For me, this both ironises the words — making them sound like a stubborn child tightening their fists and yelling in anger — and, in the next breath, drives them home once again. After all, despite what the powers that be tell us, it’s not at all childish to reject, noisily, the precipitous slide into fascism we’re all living through.
Of course, the background and meaning to ‘A16’ must have been lost on the dancers in fabric room 1 or wherever Ricky V has played it over the years. The same may turn out to be true for ‘I Will Not Live In A Fascist State’ unless ravers stop for a minute and consider the words. I’m doubtful we can expect the dancefloor to be a site of political change, and I note that the excellent text accompanying the release is careful to make no such claims for the EP in the first place.
What can we hope for, then, from our music? For C Powers, the text tells us that this EP operates as both historical documentation of the actions she recorded and a kind of therapy for both herself and others, to heal and renew ready for the next actions. For Dirar Kalash (write-up here), music is a means of inscribing a Palestinian identity that will outlive a genocide — a compelling statement of resistance, though this may seem like small consolation when your country and its people are still being pulverised. For DJ Voices (write-up here), a DJ set can be a form of engagement with “horrible truths”, acting as a rehearsal for more material political work. Perhaps for the rest of us sitting comfortably at home, these communications may also spark new connections — cerebral and social — that lead to more concerted political action. Or perhaps we will continue simply to watch.
Jorg Kuning - Elvers Pass EP [Wisdom Teeth]
One thing about Jorg Kuning’s early records was their general sense of reserve. Sure the tunes were bubbly, even irreverent, but they were also pretty spindly, stripped down to a rhythmic spinal column supporting melodic articulations that were more textural than tuneful. Take ‘Tunnels’ with its occasional pitchbent space noises or the fastidious flourishes on ‘Spirals’ — hummable ditties these were not.
Then came 2022’s ‘Chosta-del-Sol’ on Wisdom Teeth, with a bassline and pads that actually harmonised, followed by 2023’s BH007 and ‘Klarneto’, which is when everything changed. Even naming the instrument in the song title was a statement. After three minutes of surprisingly tuneful groove Jorg brings in the his Interdimensional Klarinet™ for an extended solo, conjuring mental images of medieval fayres, whimsical dances around the maypole, throwing vegetable scraps at the local thief in the stocks etc etc. Creatively speaking (though not being a producer myself, note), I think you can see how this progression came about: if you’ve dedicated a lot of time to coaxing whipsmart grooves out of an ever-shifting modular system, one accessible way of introducing a touch of expressionistic flair to the formula is to noodle out a solo over the top. And Jorg clearly has a very good ear for a noodle.
A bit of organ action on ‘Quirl’ aside, the rest of both BH007 and Chosta-del-Sol remained melodically sparse. As does the meat of Jorg’s latest EP on Wisdom Teeth, Elvers Pass: ‘Skudde’ is a croaky four-to-the-floor banger in the Akufen vein, but leaner and meaner for today’s feral queers; ‘Synthetic Squashies’, ‘Teen Frogue’ and ‘Ainsliens’ provide the breaks and acid; and although ‘Squidward’s Viola’ does treat us to a sawing solo on the titular instrument, its circular motif builds more tension than it releases.
But then there’s the lead track, ‘Mercedes’, an ecstatic early 90s UK anthem that evokes ‘Halcyon And On And On‘ and ‘New Age Of Faith’, both L.B. Bad’s original and The Sabres Of Paradise’s re-version as ‘Smokebelch II’. (I wrote about those records here, including a Q&A with Norwegian DJ and producer Øyvind Morken.) Right from the off, the vocals, bassline and lead lines set up a new level of harmonic counterpoint. Then, three and a half minutes in (clearly Jorg’s preferred duration of foreplay, at least on record), he brings in the synth strings for a huge, keening solo, later interrupted by keys, piccolo and the customary water drops. This is pure amphibian ebullience, an explosion of delight all over the garden pond.
If I have a reservation about the EP it’s that it’s difficult to balance a track as striking as ‘Mercedes’ with the drier material. Touches like the computerised voices on ‘Synthetic Squashies’ and the jazzy chords, chromatic scales and acid improvisations on ‘Ainsliens’ show Jorg bringing more diverse, even cinematic moods into his more stripped-back tracks. I think one challenge for future releases will be to maintain the tension between minimalism and expressiveness, and finding a way keep the formula fresh. I can hear him paying attention to exactly that on this EP already, which bodes well for the future. In the meantime, the feral queers, myself included, have another happy handful (legful?) of froggy fantasies here for getting t’fuck down.
Schuttle - BH008 EP [Bakk Heia]
Snail trail trance, brackish breaks and one tune so bucolic you can smell the cow pats (‘Kitchen Sync’), Schuttle continues the fantastic work of 2023’s BH006. Dare I say I even prefer this to Jörg’s EP up above…
Huey Mnemonic - Cutting Room Floor EP [Bandcamp]
Sneaking in at the end of last year, the latest EP from Huey Mnemonic is another collection of intensely playable bangers, from the laidback breaks of ‘Bliss FM’ to the Stinsonian electro of ‘Midnight Star’, the take-no-prisoners acid drum track ‘Jack It Up’ and the turbulent techno on ‘Deepstate Paranoia’. Every track is a hit.
Hélder Russo - ‘Whipitt’ [Percebes]
My favourite tune off a stunning new LP from Portuguese artist Hélder Russo, ‘Whipitt’ somehow manages to be a ‘The Jackin’ Zone’-style slammer, a ‘Watching You Vouge’-style broken deep house dream AND a torch song with vocals from The Dazz Band’s ‘Let It Whip’, all in just over five minutes. I’ll be playing this one for the foreseeable.