Published on
April 15, 2022
Category
Features
Sun-drenched house, syrupy rebajada, steamy techno, and more.
This week’s rundown is by VF’s Gabriela Helfet, alongside Alice Whittington, Emily Hill, James Hammond, and Annabelle Van Dort.
Various Artists
Saturno 2000 – La Rebajada de Los Sonideros 1962-1983
(Analog Africa)
With the innovations of Latin American sound system culture still thriving in the present moment – look to the Colombian Guarapo movement, for example, Saturno 2000 explores the innovations of Mexican sonideros and the rebajada sound from the ’60s-’80s. With rebajada’s origin sometime between Marco Antonio Cedillo’s pitched-down turntable design, and a semi-fortuitous, short circuit that permanently slowed down Gabriel Dueñez’ turntable, the results produced a considerable appetite for slower cumbia parties featuring carefully selected tracks from across Latin America. This summary takes in the scope of 1962-1983, with DJ Lengua providing a perfect selection of deep cumbia cuts that are all the more hypnotic for their slower grooves and accentuated details. – JH
Jas Kayser
JAS 5IVE
(Jazz re:freshed)
Drummer/composer Jas Keyser unveils her debut long player in Jazz Re:freshed’s iconic 5ive series –following artists including Nubya Garcia, Ashley Henry, and Kaidi Tatham here. “Step into your mind and you will see, those places you can go, open your heart and let kindness flow…” She’s no stranger to good company though: the young Berklee graduate has also performed with artists including Shabaka Hutchings, Lenny Kravitz, and Jorja Smith. Jas’ 5ive furthers the sounds from her first EP, as Jas joins her own dots between meditative jazz and uplifting Afrobeat, amidst spoken word and vocal hooks. – GH
Nikki Nair / Nala
The World Is Always Ending
(Dirtybird)
Ooft. Coming at you like a bass tornado – bass-nado? Not the fish kind though, this is not a comedy disaster movie – prepare to hold on to your hats, and other loose items of clothing, when listening to A-side track ‘Escape’. Drenched by a tsunami of a bass-line – ok maybe this analogy is going somewhere… – it’s interspersed with d’n’b percussion, electro arpeggiator, distorted rebellious vocals, and at one point even cowbells – aggressively whacked, mind you. The B-side seems relaxed by comparison, despite the title ‘The World Is Always Ending’. In actuality, it is a big beat, breaks-infused anthem reminiscent of early Chemical Brothers, with Nikki Nair’s melodic musings perfectly complementing the chirping topline synth. Maybe get yourself some life insurance first before listening. – AW
Axel Boman
LUZ / Quest for fire
(Studio Barnhus)
Purveyor of sun-drenched, house-hued sonics, Axel Boman returns to his Studio Barnhus imprint with a new double album called LUZ/Quest For Fire. Bringing glittering, dance-floor ready riffs, and trippy syrup electronics throughout, on a double LP that was designed to create an expanded musical universe beyond its aural contents. To help Boman further this cause, across the album’s 18-tracks, he enlists familiar faces including: Off The Meds’ Kamohelo, Baba Stiltz, Bella Boo, Man Tear, Miljon, and Kristian Harborg, alongside designer Robin Ekemark, and art director/writer Erik Lavesson. – GH
4E
Ask Isadora
(Fit Sound)
Fit Siegel’s illustrious Fit Sound imprint revives a wicked downtempo acidic stepper from 4E the alias of Can Oral. ‘Ask Isadora’ consists of two archival heaters, with a B-side featuring two previously unreleased numbers, which been lovingly edited by Fit Siegel. The A-side was previously released in 1996 on Home Entertainment’s Blue Note album, and sees Can’s take on a new ‘futuristic’ hybrid electro sound, recorded from his kitchen floor studio during his time living in New York’s East Village. The four tracks are gorgeous glitchy percussion with that distinctly clean
’90s techno sound, perfectly created for steaming up the dance floor. – EH
Kristine Leschper
The Opening, Or Closing Of A Door
(Anti- Records)
If the title is anything to go by, The Opening, Or Closing Of A Door is an album that intends to strap you into an emotional rollercoaster and have you re-evaluating life’s purpose… in a good way. Imagine ethereal vocals over dreamy post-punk, folk and synth-pop – relatively slow-paced in tempo, yet full of giddy twists and turns – like the Sesame Street pinball number count. After you’ve stumbled off the ride, you’ll feel like you’ve spent the whole night blissfully slow dancing with your date at an ’80s prom. – AW
Baby Blue
End of Sleep
(Planet Euphorique)
Berlin-based imprint Planet Euphorique, run by DJ and producer D Tiffany, presents an album born from the chaos of the pandemic by Canadian producer Baby Blue. End of Sleep is a deeply personal body of work; across seven tracks she explores the contrasts of light and dark which occasionally work together in complex harmony. Standout track, ‘My Way’, is a thundering, energetic anthem with an embolism of noise and distortion that breaks free into a moment of hope. It exemplifies the reflective state of an artist – the constant conversations and various thematic explorations, and the calls to the celestial being. – EH
IgG Band
Ultra/Sound
(Kalita Records)
Without a doubt the finest disco album to emerge from a medical school, The IgG’s Band’s Ultra/Sound receives its first ever reissue on Kalita Records. Formed by a group of students studying at Nashville’s Meharry Medical College, The IgG band’s infectious blend of P-funk-esque riffs and soulful grooves should work as a remedy to any kind of blues. Ultra/Sound marks another obscure gem that has been lovingly unearthed by the wonderful folks at Kalita, as well as a record that will hopefully be a dance floor staple this summer. – AVD
Mazen Kerbaj
Sampler / Sampled
(Morphine Records)
Sampler/Sampled presents an archive of Mazen Kerbaj’s prepared trumpet improvisations, alongside its sampled and reworked progeny. Vividly exploding the trumpet’s timbral possibilities, Kerbaj explores the instrument as an improvisational tool and an expanded sound object, connecting the trumpet’s frame to various bric-a-brac and extended techniques. 318 different recordings put Kerbaj’s adventurous approach to good use on Sampler, and from there Sampled invites a host of collaborators to reimagine this idiosyncratic collection of sounds into new forms. A head spinning journey into the sonic possibilities of prepared trumpet and collaboration. – JH
Tony Bizarro
‘Que Se Faz Da Vida’
(Vampisoul)
Vampisoul continues its immaculate run of Brazilian reissues with their release of Tony Bizarro’s Que Se Faz Da Vida – an essential piece of ’70s Brazilian funk, repressed for the first time. On the titular track, ‘Que Se Faz Da Vida’, Bizarro’s emotive vibrato evokes the powerful baritone of Tim Maia. As Bizarro laments his lifetime of mistakes, the sorrow in his voice is hauntingly accentuated by angelic backing harmonies, which
sound like they’re straight out of a Trio Ternura record. – AVD
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