Published on
June 21, 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.
Unwound
A Single History 1991 – 2001
(Numero Group)
Collecting Unwound’s singles and off-cuts over the first 10 years of the band’s existence, A Single History gives valuable insight into their creative evolution. From a 1991 demo tape, to Minutemen covers, to the experimental collage of “The Light at the End of the Tunnel is a Train”, this one ventures far and wide in blown-out guitar hooks and left turns. A 25th anniversary of the original that’s expanded to include work from their final LP Leaves Turn Inside You.–JH
Various Artists
Rock Rendez Vous: Música Moderna Portuguesa 1985-1986
(Dark Entries)
Dark Entries have lovingly preserved several forgotten gems from the past that would otherwise be lost in the musical void and this latest drop is a collection of some of the finest Portuguese music from 1985-86. Inspired by the Portuguese club Rock Rendezvous that opened its doors in the early 80s this jam packed record with classic indie from the era. Nine tracks have been carefully selected from the Musica Moderna compilations documenting some Post Punk classics from the heyday of the movement.–EH
Sticky Dub
Never Give Weapons to a Man Who Can’t Dance
(Eglo Records)
Alexander Nut’s ever-consistent Eglo Records returns with a stomping EP from rising Liverpudlian MC and Producer Sticky Dub. Bouncing broken beat with a dubby spin, Sticky Dub’s effortless charisma behind the mic announces him as one to watch. Sure to be a DJ staple on festival dancefloors this summer!–AVD
Demdike Star x Dolo Percussion
Dolo DS
(Demdike Star)
Demdike stare and Dolo aka Beautiful Swimmers and Future Times label boss create a transatlantic connection to last ages. The DDS series erupts again with the UK and US derivatives of Hardcore, Garage and House whilst infusing things with a touch of breakbeat which stems from the classic 90s broken beat movement. Truly a record to make some serious damage on the dancefloor for the foreseeable future.–EH
Kehlani
Crash
(Atlantic)
Kehlani returns with her fourth record and it’s her best to date. CRASH is the latest in a storm of blistering pop records (see: Charli XCX’s Brat) that’s built to soundtrack summer hedonism–this time of a more sensual variety. Filled with sexy R&B anthems, CRASH bubbles over with flirty frivolity. Precisely produced, CRASH turns seduction into an art.–KD
David Rosenboom
Future Travel
(Black Truffle)
Finding unique ways to merge music and technology, David Rosenboom’s work leading up to 1981’s Future Travel ranged from pianos played by alpha brainwaves to innovative synth design. Looking to the unique musical relationships that he created with his radical In the Beginnning series, Future Travel creates algorithmic music through acoustic instruments and an intuitive synthesizer that he designed with Don Buchla called the Touché. Alongside a manipulated vocal narrative from partner Jaqueline Humbert, the tracks here work with crystalline synth patterns that shift in and out of cacophony and musical symmetries. Dizzying and vast in its conceptual outlook, one for repeated listens.–JH
A.R. Kane
Sixty Nine
(Rocket Girl)
Rocket Girl reissue AR Kane’s lysergic, genre-bending masterwork, their 1988 debut, 69. An aural tapestry of underground London sounds in the late eighties, Sixty Nine is a remarkable fusion of dream-pop, jazz-funk and dub that has remained endlessly influential since its initial release.–AVD
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