Bandcloud 397
Seafoam, Luster, Jana Rush, Lazy Flow, Ambient Babestation Meltdown & JBS, PTP, Edge Network, Difficult Art And Music, Blangi, Instruments of Happiness, Gallery S, Botex Spykidelic and Gloved Hands
It’s bleedin’ July. What. My son’s just finished his second year of schooling. WHAT.
Seafoam - Swing Set EP (DC-07 / Jewel Series)
Last week in my blurb about the Powder mix I mentioned an old track from Seafoam. It completely slipped my mind that Seafoam has just put out a 12” for US label/party Deep Club. Smudgy and sultry tracks that shuffle and bounce, with lovely floating synth sounds. There’s also a remix from Snad. The release is marked at $69 but you can buy each track individually for $2. Wink wink etc.
Luster is a six-person group and this collection of gently unnerving folk dirges is a brilliant accompaniment to late summer nights and thick, muggy weather,
Just something silly, a thunderous juke rework of Yello’s ‘Oh Yeah’. Not the first time I’ve included an update of this track, but probably the last.
Quincy Jones - IronsHAde (Kill Bill - Lazy Flow vogue edit)
While Jana Rush’s track was just posted this week, this one is a few years old. It’s a timeless retread, however, putting Quincy Jones’s iconic siren/horns blast firmly into a vogue milieu.
Ambient Babestation Meltdown & JBS - Who Goes There
This pair should be familiar to long-time readers, with JBS appearing under the JEM guise and ABM popping up on a few occasions over the past few years. This collaboration has been long in the works, and finally sees the light of day today. It’s a chunky and exciting mix of jagged sci-fi sounds, with cues from a variety of cinematic inspirations. Fear is the mind killer, I’d buy that for a dollar, trust is a tough thing to come by these days. Recognise any of these lines? They appear in one way or another at different points throughout this release, over a sharp and expansive bank of sound. I’d never seen RoboCop until this week, but I watched it in honour of this release. What a thrill! Totally OTT but filled with invention, even if the stop motion used at points is horrifically dated. I digress. The physical release came on tape with a mix on the B-side from ABM, but it’s already sold out. I’ve been informed, however, that there should be copies in places like Belfast, Bristol and London.
This track is also not at all new. It features during a club scene in Robocop and I thought it sounded pretty sweet, and it’s on Bandcamp, so here you go.
VA - Intersections Vol. 1 (Edge Network)
This is new, but is indebted to the past. Four tracks that lean on pop songs, the sampled material includes the Spice Girls, Sean Paul, Carly Rae Jepsen and Janet Jackson. The first one may be my favourite, Halffish’s ‘Superstar’ (Acid Spice Mix). It peppers elements ‘Who Do You Think You Are’ over a jaunty, springy house track. It’s neat!
VA - Even Shit Sunsets Look Pretty in Retrospect (Difficult Art And Music)
Difficult Art and Music marks a year of existence with a delightfully named compilation. It features 18 tracks from DAAM releases and it’s free. A wonderful introduction to a label that lives up to its name.
This is from a set of 2018 demos, but it seems like a properly accomplished track. It’s lovely and techy and groovy, reminiscent of Dennis DeSantis and Austin Cesear.
Instruments of Happiness - Slow, Quiet Music in Search of Electric Happiness
Speaking of things living up to their name… I got this ages ago and completely forgot about it. It’s a kind of suite that was conceptualised and performed by Instruments of Happiness, aka Tim Brady. He invited four composers to write a 14-minute piece for four guitars, with each performer spaced far apart on stage. Louise Campbell’s ‘Sideways’ is a beautiful and haunting piece of experimentation that could easily be a house alarm, yet somehow provides quiet ease. Rose Bolton’s ‘Nine kinds of Joy’ is lilting and lovely, swaying like a boat floating on the waters of the release’s artwork. ‘Traps, taboos, tradition’ by Andrew Noseworthy is as complex and rich as its evocative title, which speaks to the contradictions of our histories. Finally, Andrew Staniland’s ‘Notre-Dame is burning’ is more specifically melancholic, with a deep snarl sitting alongside some soaring melodies. Take an hour to sit with this one.
Gallery S - HOA020: No Future For Cowardice
The artwork and the blurb for this alone caught me in my tracks.
In the future there will be no room for fear, doubt, or disbelief. A force is coming. They are the makers of all. They are not what they seem. They are coming, and nothing can stop them once they arrive.
The music is excellent too, touching on and combining elements of house and techno as well as other forms of “dance” music in ways that defy stagnation. There are blissfully airy moments, proper dance floor melters, each laden with elements that may seem incongruous but are stitched together seamlessly and with great care and intention. While the energy is high throughout, it seems to build to a rather intense climax, ending with uptempo rhythms that are both frenetic and carefully restrained.
Botex Spykidelic - Botex Spykidelic
UK label Woodford Halse has moved sideways with a new label entitled Preston Capes (Tapes). The first two releases are out today, with 01 coming from The Incidental Crack, a kind of experimental noise supergroup. 02 is a self-titled release from Botex Spykidelic, a duo of Oslo-based musicians. It’s genuinely indescribable and uncategorisable, a wonderful mélange of sounds that range from noisy gloop to expansive wonder. Something to enjoy in times of confusion and listlessness.
Gloved Hands - Empty Terminal LP
The music on this album seems as smudged and impressionistic as its artwork. The title, too, speaks to a kind of unknowable, liminal space. Scuzzy and delicate, it’s a strange floating sensation of an album that probably works best on hot and hazy days.