Bandcloud 361
Bumper Bandcamp Friday special including Shubzin, Feral Cities, Idee Du Femelle, Whettman Chelmets, agnes pe, tiro!, Saffronkeira + Siavash Amini, Hiro Kone, DT Dream, Robert Curgenven and more
It’s a Bandcamp Friday so I’m sorry but I didn’t even venture towards SoundCloud this week. I’ve had a relatively straightforward time this week, but I’ve spent a lot of it sanding (door frames, windowsills).
This is a vital collection that is brimming with life and excitement. Sharp club sounds, rattling percussion, throbbing bass. The closer, Siu Mata’s ‘In The Shadows’ seems to encapsulate this bright approach, but there’s a lot to enjoy across the 14 tracks. Proceeds go to Sisters Uncut in the UK, particularly in their fight against the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, and its projected effects on protests.
“A series of acoustic organisms delightfully reprogrammed.” This one really hits. Dark and ominous, imposing and melancholy, the sort of thing you imagine soundtracking Arrival (all praise to Jóhann Jóhannsson).
Domestica Records and Hivern Discs have come together to form Musica Maquina, a new label that is kicking off with a reissue of Sequences, originally released on tape in 1988. It’s not earth-shatteringly different to much other 80s new age synth sounds you might have heard, but it’s warm and inviting, pleasant and unusual, ominous and unsettling, with moods varying from track to track.
I love a gimmick. Well, not really. I actually hate gimmicks. But I love this! Whettman Chelmets has tackled some Meat Loaf tracks in a variety of styles, one of which includes Paulstretch (the sound effect that slows music down by, say, 1000%). ‘A Band of Angels Wrapped Up in My Heart’ is gorgeous, the kind of swooning, yearning music that makes you want to melt into a sunset. then ‘For Crying Out Loud’ features the artist’s own singing, his emotion palpable in all its digital sheen. Finally, ‘You Took the Words Like Atom Bombs’ is a cut-up experiment that I don’t think I could listen to in its entirety, but it’s an interesting approach nonetheless.
Speaking of gimmicks, this is a release populated by sheep noises. Some of them are raw, unprocessed, others are manipulated and interpolated into weird melodies and rhythms. Fuckin’ wild I say.
More traditionally club-friendly, South Africa’s tiro! offers his latest work. Across five tracks he shows his comfort with different vibes, from jazzy sounds to 80s pop and sumptuous house (even taking in an unexpected Bow Wow sample). Great work.
Saffronkeira + Siavash Amini - The Faded Orbit
Siavash Amini from Tehran and Saffronkeira from Sardinia come together for this searing release on Denovali. Recorded pre-pandemic, it builds on a relationship that began when Saffronkeira played in Tehran in 2016. Saffronkeira offered Amini a series of sketches and ideas, and the latter fashioned them into what we have here.
Hiro Kone - Silvercoat the throng
Not to be that guy, but I got a promo of this one in July, but didn’t listen straight away as it was out in September and surely I’d be able to listen before its release. Then last week I get this email telling me it’s out. Derp. Tempus fugit. Out of penance, I bought it. I don’t regret that as I’ve listened to it about five times since then (that’s a lot for me). It’s one of those releases where it’s hard to be objective, to pick it apart. I just know that I really, really like it.
Fluff, is it a bad thing? In reality, probably. Lint, dirt, dust bunnies. Conceptually, it’s lovely. The sounds here, particularly on ‘Endless ’19’, are gorgeous, like clouds of fluff floating on an otherwise clear day, even if there appears to be a bed of rainfall underneath these gorgeous wisps.
Robert Curgenven - Beyond Enclosures (3 album set)
In mid-Summer, I featured Robert Curgenven’s Tailte Cré-Umha (Bronze Lands), a rather striking work involving organs and soundsystems. He’s since released Beyond Enclosures, a collection of his three works Bardo, SPECTRES and Bronze Lands itself. You can download the works or buy a 3CD set, if you’re into that kind of thing. CDs are the new tapes.
Kind of weird but amusingly charming, this is a collection of short “dungeon synth” pieces, although they sound a little bit too frivolous and jaunty to match that term.
Canadian group Secret Witness offers this debut release, six tracks of classic-leaning yet modern dance music. It’s full of sultry, passionate vocals, dancing playfully over retro bass lines. Drum machines, synths, vox, what’s not to love.
MRS DINK & MR WRONG - ESOPHAGEAL SIDESHOW
If Secret Witness offer slinky and sexy house music, Mrs Dink & Mrs Wrong offer a darker, more sinister brand of clubby sounds. It’s a gnarly grind, angry in ways and definitely unsettling. Sounds can veer towards squidgy, offering a respite from terror, yet overall it’s a weird and baffling experience. ‘Mermaid In A Sweater’ is a highlight.
Bale Defoe - Unempathetic Figures
Proper, gorgeous house sounds. The kind of thing I’d have wanted to include in that Lobster Theremin mix I put together recently.
Group Zero - Everyone’s Already Come Apart
Out in a few weeks but worth a cop now if you like. Gorgeously woozy sounds outta Belfast.
April Larson - Heretical Wreckollections
Former Bandcloud guest mixer April Larson brings the magically titled Heretical Wreckollections to us on Not Yet Remembered Records, actually next week but you can try it out now. Its tracks are brilliantly named too, such as ‘Day 133 ~ A Splintered Wreck I've Come to Care For’, ‘Day 164 ~ The Creeping Unknown’ and ‘Day 150 ~ The Saints of the Wasted Life’ for example. The music is grimy noise, sludgy tones and foggy, muted experiences. She’s also got a split release on GRM /// TOTES FORMAT /// METSÄÄN today, which you can see here.
It’s ridiculous how prolific Thomas Ragsdale is? So many aliases, so many releases, such high quality. It’d make you jealous if he wasn’t such a gent. This pair of longform drones for See Blue Audio is a wonderful addition to his oeuvre.
Finally, sonic abrasions from South Korea, described as “looking into the mind of a horror writer”. It’s gnarly and angry, with dark, heavy beats lurching beneath putrid sounds and corrosive effects.
