New Tunes | 29/9/19

It's rained pretty much all week (yes I am starting a post talking about the weather once again) which has been a not-so-delightful reminder that summer is over, festival season is done, the glory days have come to a close. I say that, but this winter is already looking to be exciting and fun, and maybe summer is just romanticised in my head to be better when in fact, it's fun season all year round. Speaking of fun, I actually wrote something that wasn't for this blog recently, if you haven't seen it on my social media already, for an online publication Pretend. It was a review of Aphex Twin's Printworks gig, which by the way absolutely blew my mind. The longer it's been the more I reckon it was up there as one of the best live acts I've seen, never experienced anything like it. You can check out the review here, or just keep reading for more nice words. This week, I want to do a list of new discoveries and tunes I like at the moment, I'm just in the mood to talk through what I'm hearing. Enjoy.

#1 - Love Tension - Alternative Version | Soichi Terada

I was led to this 2015 album, 'Sounds from the Far East' after listening to 'Do It Again' a lot . Many of the tracks go off, but I like this one particularly. Terada is apparently best known as the composer of the 'Ape Escape' video game series - very random, but not the first time that video game and club music have been connected in this blog. So, this track, the kick is satisfyingly blunt from the get go, and clashes quite interestingly with the soothing rhythm of the bongos. I love the little syncopated flute-synth motif, and the track as a whole certainly has a style that you could interpret as Japanese, but it isn't necessarily obvious or stereotypical in any way. It's smooth, relaxing, and reminds me of a car driving down a oceanside motorway as the sun sets, real cool.

#2  - First Casualty | Nathan Micay

Hypnotic. That is exactly how I'd describe this track, with the pedal note in a simple rhythm starting from the first second of the track and carrying on right through all seven minutes. It's accompanied by echoing bass patterns, delicate little staccato melodies over the top, and lots of other sound bites and motifs that really give it an almost ASMR feel. The sounds are so crisp, but still maintain a retro simplicity to them. I've read here that Nathan Micay, Canadian born producer now living in Berlin, has an anime obsession and had written a guide to classic anime soundtracks for the website, and in my opinion you can hear that influence in this song. It's very much electronic ambience, but piano passages enter the texture halfway through and ground it in reality to an extent. Also, love the sudden drop to silence and back to full volume again, like a sonic boomerang.

#3 - Parabola | Hammer

This is the title track from the Feel My Bicep classic's most recent EP, and it of course slaps. Upon re-listening I wasn't sure if it would quite make the cut, but the drop at 3:13 is delicious and now I remember why I'm obsessed. It's subtle enough to not get old quickly, and the tempo is steady enough that I can imagine wavey vibes in the club that glide you through the length of the track. It's very much intergalactic, with muted chords underlaying the sharp attacks on the angular melodies above. Overall, it's just never too much, and while it would definitely keep you on your feet on a dance floor, there's nothing too heavy about any part of it. Great stuff from Hammer.

#4 - Burn | Lava La Rue

As I mentioned, 'TLSL' was one of my favourite songs during my NY trip (still getting played every day), and we've now been rewarded with the whole album, which I love. I found it hard to choose a specific track at first, because it more works well as a whole to me, but this is the first one chronologically and stands strong. The lyrics are pretty heavy, and the soca rhythm underneath really drives home her flow. Coming from a woman of colour, the emphasis on having an educated opinion and standing up for what you deserve is solid, relevant and important. Her vocals are soothing and the production quite reminds me of Branko. Really strong release from the founder of NiNE8 Collective, so make sure you do check out the rest of the album as well.

#5 - Aletheia | O'Flynn

No, I'm not over this album yet. Yes, my favourite song from it keeps changing every week. O'Flynn is a genius, and I'm gutted I missed his album tour at Phonox on Friday, but was a bit outpriced once I got round to getting tickets. The way he uses the vocal sample in this immediately generates a sense of euphoria; the first time it comes in, the instrumental dies down to let you hear the purity in their voices, and as it repeats throughout it combines with the rest of the music seamlessly. It's so uplifting, and since he released 'Desmond's Empire' it has been clear that he is good at this kind of genre blend. The rhythms are brilliant, creative, and there's a beat in there that sounds remarkably like the opening of 'Evening Side'. I'm looking forward to hearing how DJ's mix this one into their sets, and for anything he releases in the future. 

That should do it for this week. Lots of new amazing stuff right now! As the sun sets earlier and earlier, I feel like the atmosphere on nights out somehow does too; you're safe in the dark from early on, and there's no danger of it getting light in the morning either. I'm going to see Bonobo's Outlier for the first time at Printworks in a couple of weeks, and the excitement is real for that one, so will probably talk about that when it comes round. Thank you for reading, and check out all the tracks! I'm wondering whether to start doing a small playlist of my recommendations like this and change it every time I post to make listening easier - I'll post a link if I decide to do that.

BICEP x PRINTWORKS 21/11/18

I've been complaining to all my friends about how sad I was that I didn't get tickets to Bicep at Printworks 'cause I thought they were too expensive at first and then when I realised I had to go it was too late. It's funny how if you complain about something enough, you annoy the universe so much that it just gives in. So, on the day of their first show, I found half price tickets, and of course, copped them. Shoutout to Will on Instagram.

I've seen Bicep DJ sets before and they've been very much enjoyable but nothing I've wanted to go crazy about - the thought of a live show was much more exciting to me. The album has a consistent sound and yet variation in mood enough to create highs and lows in the set. As I'll explain later, this definitely turned out to be the case. We arrived just in time to catch the beginning of the performance, and there was a general murmur of excitement running through the crowd. Which, by the way, was massive, and the way Printworks is laid out boxes you in under such a high ceiling that the crowd seems even more intense. 

They opened with 'Orca' - first song on the album, pretty straightforward choice. It was built up really effectively to bring us in and get us hyped for the show before dropping the bass heavy. Their 3-bicep logo was pulsating on the screens behind them and the ground was shaking. Truly captivating opening. I think 'Metro' came next - my memory is a little fuzzy here so can't say much - but 'Rain' was the next huge tune. I've mentioned it before in this blog and it is without a doubt one of my favourite tracks from the duo. The crowd mentality was superb, it was almost like the rails up the walls around us were shaking with the rhythm. The light show onstage during this was particularly impressive - as well as the general geometric patterns, flashes of light would fade in and across the screen; visually mesmerising, acoustically brilliant.

Suddenly, we move into the Bicep remix of Isaac Tichauer's 'Higher Level', and the cold blue-green tones onstage flash into a passion of red and orange. It's like heat has been turned up on the gig, and at the same time it's refreshing to move into a remix from pure album content. It's raw and blunt in its sound and approach, I feel like the intensity levels at this point in the show were at their highest. With this being the case, it was then an effective transition to move into 'Just', returning the lighting to crisp dark blues as the robotic synth melodies echo around the dark, old printing house. I really enjoyed this one as I think the acoustics of the venue worked so well with the music and the ease off on intensity was peng after the last track. 

Next came 'Opal', which was likely one of the most anticipated numbers. It delivered for sure, there's no way this banger couldn't slap. The rotating biceps came back on to the screen and everyone was singing along, how lovely. I thought that I would be wanting Four Tet's remix, being such a fanboy, but I actually really liked that they kept mainly to the original; it reminded me how great it is stand-alone anyway. They also took it down a heavy techno route towards the end which was GREAT, as gritty as you could ask for. 'Dahlia' featured with some pretty cool light shows on the back wall of the hall - again Printworks as a venue making the gig even greater. 'Aura' was another crowd pleaser that they smashed it with - what a tuuuuune. I've actually got to include footage of the drop here because it was so perfect - enjoy with my very own complimentary 'oi oiiii' lol:

So sick, no? I just find the melody of this track so hypnotising and with the lasers and deafening live bass it was insane. The next few tracks similarly carried the atmosphere high and maintained the overall effect the show had seamlessly. Musically, 'Vale' was probably the most enjoyable here, it has that sound that makes you drift up and away with the vibrations. It was fresh to have some lyrical emphasis as well. The music ultimately seemed to come to a finish and the stage went dark. You heard mumblings around you as people wondered if it had finished when the vocal sample of 'Glue' began to leak out from the speakers. Obviously, everyone loved it; this was the clear closing choice and a fantastic encore. The lighting was just beautiful, with an array of rainbow colour choices on the screens and with the lasers, there was a strong sense of goodbye in the track. It left me feeling satisfied with the show and got the biggest cheer out of the crowd at the end!

So, overall Bicep's live show was without a doubt enjoyable and some of the highlights really hit home for me. At the same time, I have to say that it didn't really surprise me. There weren't any track choices that caught me off guard and I think it was essentially a showcase of the album with a few other big tunes scattered in. I'm sure this was what most people were wanting, so it definitely kept us happy, and I definitely have a sense now that I've seen Bicep live, but I would have loved a moment where a mix of two songs left me mouth open. Maybe an obscure track choice or a big track from another artist. I just feel like that would have made it feel more performance-heavy, if that makes sense. With that said, I do think that the lighting and adaption to the venue were effortlessly well executed, 10/10 for that. Thank you for such a great show, Bicep, and can't wait until the next time!