Published on
September 13, 2024
Category
Features
Essential weekend listening.
This week’s rundown is by VF’s Kelly Doherty and contributors Annabelle Van Dort, Emily Hill and James Hammond.
Mica Levi
Slob Air
(Hyperdub)
Mica Levi debuts on Hyperdub with this transportive single, which has been stepped up to 17 minutes for a vinyl version. With a pair of chords for strings and the same looped drumbeat running throughout, Slob Air sets up a disarmingly simple formula that then bounds into a woozy timeslip as the pitch of the strings shifts and the euphoric quality builds. Given the acclaim of Levi’s film scores, this one comes as a welcome reminder of the breadth of their craft and ongoing ability to create work that dodges expectation and stakes out its own ground.
– JH
Floating Points
Cascade
(Ninja Tune)
Sam Shepard aka Floating Points returns to the dancefloor on his latest record Cascade. Following Promises, his extraordinary 2021 collaborative album with the late Pharoah Sanders and the London Symphony Orchestra, Shepard expands the slowly morphing, modular techno that he’s built his name upon. Aptly titled, the release is packed with cascading synthesisers that rise and breathe naturally and rewardingly. It’s danceable yet measured – creating euphoria in the subtle developments of shifting melodies and lines. Many have imitated and adapted Floating Points’ emotive electronic, but the precision and attention to detail on Cascade proves he’s a master of his craft. – KD
LSDXOXO
Dogma
(Because Music)
LSDXOXO returns after four years with his debut album DOGMA, released via his own newly founded imprint F.A.G.. Shifting his approach to production whilst sustaining his trademark futuristic approach to music making, he unites pop music with a dash of electroclash and drum ‘n’ bass nostalgia whilst expanding his palette with piano, guitar and deeply personal musical confessions. – EH
Nídia & Valentina
Estradas
(Latency)
Multi-instrumentalist composer and Gear Talk alumnus Valentina Magaletti teams up with Afro-Portuguese producer and DJ Nídia on Estradas, a percussive, thoughtful affair. Alternating between scarcity and intensity, Estradas is a meeting of minds as Magaletti’s ever-experimental drumming meets Nídia’s bright synth work in a playoff between the organic and synthetic. Like an enthralling jam session, Estradas repeatedly builds and changes direction, showcasing the magic of well-matched collaboration. An intriguing and thrilling record that’s unlike anything else released this year. – KD
Martyn
Vancouver (Verraco & Rhyw Remixes)
(3024 Music)
Head honcho of 3024, Martyn steps forward with two wicked new remixes of his 2008 dubstep roller “Vancouver”. This special 12″ features fresh takes from his Berlin-based label mate and Fever AM co-head Rhyw, who goes a little bit darker on the B side with a syncopated SKG mix that has a locked groove feeling in its progression. The A side is reshaped by Colombia-based producer and DJ Verraco whose flip is dubby and futuristic with the right amount of progressive bass. – EH
Etran de L’Aïr
100% Sahara Guitar
(Sahel Sounds)
Tuareg Guitar heroes Etran de L’Aïr deliver on the promises of their third album’s title, 100% Sahara Guitar, bringing fearsome licks and hypnagogic riffs that blaze like the Sahel heat. Coming from Agadez, Niger, the capital of Tuareg guitar, Etran de L’Aïr honed their craft as Agadez’s longest-running wedding band— a fact reiterated by the abundance of joy and energy that overflows from their music, designed to keep people moving until the early hours. – AVD
Mermaid Chunky
slif slaf slof
(DFA Records)
Stroud-raised duo Mermaid Chunky land with a technicolour bang for their debut on James Murphy’s DFA Records. Slif slaf slof is laden with ecstatic and experimental approaches to conceptions of dance music, from the dizzying recorder-led Celtic layerings of opener “céilí” to the vivid character portrait that is “chaperone”— with Moina Moin inhabiting the narrative of a divorced audiobook author atop banging electro clash beats made for the club. Riotous and undeniably idiosyncratic, Mermaid Chunky have crafted one of 2024’s most daringly original album of the year. – AVD
Laetitia Sonami / Éliane Radigue
A Song For Two Mothers / OCCAM IX
(Black Truffle)
In composition, and the creation of custom instruments and controllers such as the ‘lady’s glove’, Laetitia Sonami has been an innovator since the 1970s but has been reluctant to set work to record. In that light, we have an exception here as she brings forth two works made for her “spring spyre” instrument that’s depicted on the cover. An instrument that includes elaborate Max MSP patches and machine learning as part of its make-up, the raw sound of the springs is not the intention as spring manipulations are channelled into digital matrices. “A Song For Two Mothers” presents Sonami’s initial work for the instrument, whereas “OCCAM IX” was written by Sonami’s former mentor Eliane Radigue and steps closer to the longform sounds that Radigue pioneered. – JH
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