Record Reviews (26/09/23)
Ebeats - Twilight Expanse EP [Cartulis]
The story behind this record is told in loving detail by both the label and the artist on the carefully designed insert that comes inside the sleeve. Briefly: Unai Trotti heard a friend play the A1 at an afterparty off an unidentified (and not-on-the-internet) record. The friend gave Unai the record as a gift. A series of fortunate events then led to a clip of Unai playing it out being sent to the original artist, who was amused to hear his tune being played on 33 instead of 45. The track now duly identified, Unai and Ebeats agreed to re-release the record pressed at the wrong (or, let’s say, ‘new’) speed.
On 33, ‘Twilight Expanse’ is a delicate — not to say fey — piece of broken beat, all jerky jungly percussion and big bass under stoned, bucolic pads. Nothing quite fits, which means everything fits. Radioactive Man’s remix turns it into a fun bit of electro funk, revelling in the squelch but nonetheless keeping things buoyant.
System Olympia - Mi Dimentico [Self-released]
You just know if I was still doing Flamingo this would be a show opener. Everything from the music to the lyrics to the artwork screams “that scene in A Single Man”:
Da lontano io ti guardo
Sei nervoso e stai fumando
Mi ricordo sempre quando
Mi abbracciavi con lo sguardo
System Olympia hits it out of the park again.
Mitch Von Arx - Stereograms EP [CoOp Presents]
Last year some time I saw Mitch do his sick live show, where he plays most (all?) of the parts of his tracks on the fly, so I was keen to hear this release. It doesn’t disappoint. I played two of the tunes on the beach at Dimensions: ‘Wipeout’ is the certified banger (also making an appearance in CoOp Presents boss IG Culture’s fab RA podcast), its beat and wobbly bass relentlessly pulling the rug from under your feet while the pads and vox up top remind you it’s just a bit of fun; and ‘Get Out Here’, an instant mood-setter, charged with a tension that it’s the (good) DJ’s job to release.
Various Artists - Blissful Dancefloor Hooliganism [Gut Level]
Self-appointed Queer Hedonists of the North, Gut Level, have put out a compilation to raise funds for their new space in Sheffield and it’s brimming with goodness, from ebullient Ceephax-style chiptune house (Dankle) to sassy 2-step (billy2chips) to dusty sample-based hip hop (Jhelisa) to Cowley-esque sleaze (Cheap Thrill) to the feel-good hit of the (late) summer, starman Jorg Kuning’s wonky cover of ‘Love At First Sight’. And that’s just in the first half.
The proggier/donkier stuff in the middle section (this comp has a pleasing arc to it) is less my bag but then we get a kind of Silent Alarm Remixed outtake (takenbymarshall), a dense but bouncy cosmic house jam (DJ Subaru) and a closing hit of dream pop (Infant), since, in Gut Level’s words, “real dancefloor hooligans are soft and tender and aren’t afraid to shed a couple tears at the afters!”
Buy the comp, then check Gut Level’s website for information about their project and new space, become a member or help them out by buying some sick merch. Personally I can’t wait to see the new spot!
FFriend - Center EP [Rawax Digital]
Crafty loopy housey techno in the vein of Steve O’Sullivan or EBE, it’s the little melodic details that really make this special: the solo that sounds like a bird warbling over the latter half of the title track; the slightly detuned stars twinkling in the background of ‘Chagal’; the deep-as-fuck dream house acid bassline brought into an electro framework on ‘Favourite Cave’; and, finally, the weirdly squashed motif running through the middle of ‘Flares’, which ends up being the glue that holds everything else together.