Max Cooper Live Show | 25/2/20

Happy Pancake day! The best celebration for creeping up on you and still being just as satisfying as you get older. Lemon and sugar is obviously the one and only top tier combination; I've been seeing lots of chat on social media about 'ham and cheese'... flop. No comment. For everyone else except people who spend their pancake day eating that, I have some music bits to talk about. I had my first Printworks of the year on Friday, featuring a live show from the one and only Max Cooper, something I hadn't yet had the opportunity of seeing and was by far the highlight of the night.

I have to admit I missed the first five minutes (bad queues) but the press halls were the busiest I'd seen them for the time we'd gotten in there for. As I got in, the opening from 'Seething' was reverberating across the masses of people. The thing to note about Max Cooper is that many of his tracks are accompanied by innovative, authentic and fascinating visuals, working with a myriad of directors to achieve visual representation of his art. The parity between sound and image was apparent from the beginning, and as the ambience settled the crowd, these brain-like images pulsated and contorted on the screen, shifting in hue, size, angle. It was eerie, and as the song descended into more aggressive waters, we then shifted into a section of industrial techno. The visuals switched to black and white and stayed that way, starting off with polygons and vectors and then depicting some sort of machine, with cogs and pipes and displays.

It was certainly commanding, but it crossed my mind at that point that it certainly wasn't anything groundbreaking for what I'd seen on that screen. As that thought came to me, there was a sudden silence and blackout. The great thing with live sets is these moments are more standard, and can be used to punctuate the statements being made in the music. Your anticipation builds with every second of nothingness that passes, until it began to break with the scuttling percussion that opens 'Order From Chaos'. It being one of my favourites, I started to get overexcited and cheer, but was immediately struck into silence as without warning an explosion of bright, garish colour beamed out from the screen. A gasp in unison indicated the thousands around me felt the same, and as the dense texture drops back to solo percussion again (as at 3:20 on the track) it really began to get interesting. What starts as a collection of misshapen circles collects together into a cell, fusing together with others and forming larger clusters, ever-expanding and transforming endlessly until a dense wall of neon light stands tall in front of us, and then the process begins again. Tiny jellyfish float across the screen, plant-like structures, all centring on a clear theme of life as the track frantically chatters along, symbolising the title in the pandemonium that forms life. 

Another silence, and then the message is relayed again. 'Perpetual Motion' marks acknowledgment of 'Yearning for the Infinite', his new album from last year which I'd really, really recommend listening to. I nearly made a blog post solely inspired by 'Repetition' but never got round to it. The music video from Nick Cobby plays in its entirety, giving us a bird's eye view of human life around various circular structures. It's continuous; life goes on and one, just as the cycles of cells we've just witnessed, and the repeating loops of his music. Even the teeming press halls we stood in, bursting on all sides with people, is so very symbolic of the constant movement of people, of society, of life. The moment was uplifting, dazzling, and of course was seen off by the heavier beats for the rest of the set, keeping the roots of dance entertainment strong. 

Floating Points provided a stellar set afterwards, surpassing Koze's headline quite substantially. He was leaping around behind the decks like a nutter, bringing out real disco and house anthems one after another, and slipping inbetween these and a more synthesised sound fluidly. It was loud more than anything, the drops were fat and the lights were swinging around in all directions, almost making it feel like an afterparty to Max Cooper's show. On that note, I also wanted to mention the event I went to after Printworks, providing polar opposite vibes. Studio 9294 is like the hidden away backyard of Hackney Wick in comparison and DJ Bus Replacement Service played to no more than sixty of us. Wearing her Kim Jong-Un stage costume, the intimacy was fused with utter weirdness. Simple, sometimes disturbing, visuals were projects from a single source onto the back wall, and it may not have had a single percent of the production value of Printworks, but as you'd expect the creativity filled the gaps. Seamless and clever transitions would make you forget you just moved from minimal to smooth jazz after a few seconds, and there was a huge emphasis on hard dance. It was unusual, but considering the basic resources available, the skill and out-of-the-box thinking was captivatingly impressive.

Albums have begun to drop left right and centre, so I just want to mention a couple. Grimes dropped 'Miss Anthropocene', which honestly doesn't feature that much new music as the majority of it had been released as singles, but it's still been nice to listen to it altogether. The album has sombre undertones seeded within her 'ethereal' sound, as she calls it, and the out-of-world extravagance contains some very human emotions. 'Delete, Forever' is the pinnacle of this; a heartfelt lament accompanied by acoustic guitar no less. She's said it was a tribute to 'losing friends to the opioid crisis and the self-hatred that arises when the grieving process mimics the behaviours that cost your friends their lives', really bringing out the pathos in the lyrics. King Krule's album 'Man Alive!' has made up the majority of my listening in the last week, holding in perfect parity the uncontrollable grit of rage and the feeling of reclining in your favourite chair. I've been seeing 'Stoned Again' getting the majority of praise, but while the emotion is at its rawest there, 'Energy Fleets' and 'Comet Face' are the most musically interesting for me (shoutout Peckham Rye in the latter!). The album art is peng, and the visual animations are fittingly unsettling.

Okay, gonna have to stop there because I'm going on a bit. I'm thinking to do an in-depth album review properly instead soon for a change, got something in mind. Here's a playlist update for you, featuring some of the work highlighted above. Have a great rest of the week! xx

Outlier Printworks | Wild | Dawn Chorus | Crush | 22/10/19

Hey everyone, how've you been? It's been a while since I've posted on here, I've felt like I've been neglecting this blog but I have been writing other things. I just did an interview with my friend Jude for Pretend Online which you can read here; never really done one before and really enjoyed it, so hopefully it's something I can do on here in the future! This blog is much more somewhere I can just say what I want without fitting any criteria or catering to a certain audience, so I do value the creative freedom. I tried to post last week, but was up in the Scottish Highlands for work; I'll use some images from that trip here as it was scenic and wholesome. I brought the frost and mist back down with me by the looks of things this morning, but I'm not complaining really, I'm kind of ready for winter. Anyway, let's talk about the last couple of weeks as a few things have happened that I have a lot to say about!

First off, the Saturday before last marked Bonobo's Outlier debut at Printworks, and my last weekend living in Surrey Quays - went out with a bang. I mean, as ever, Printworks was phenomenal, and the line up, particularly Leon Vynehall, Omar S, Auntie Flo and the man himself, banged hard. I don't want to go too much into detail with the supports, but in the press halls there was an even distribution of house and techno and classic club sound that counteracted Bonobo's hopping between ambience and anthem. Vynehall dropped 'Coorabell' by Floating Points getting me very excited, I mean the song itself sounds like Printworks to me to be honest. That being said, the biggest surprise came from Auntie Flo being by far the best support for me, in the (much, much) smaller dark room at the back. The African polyrhythms and chants that echoed around the four walls were undeniably ecstatic, the energy was kept up constantly and even though it was boiling in there I was finding it really difficult to leave. It's certainly nice to hear songs you know a lot in a set, but I knew one track out of what I heard ('Siku' by Nicola Cruz), and was still consistently entertained. Absolutely loved it, need to see him again ASAP, and it would have stolen the show for me if it wasn't for what was to come...

Bonobo was very clearly the main draw of the event by the sheer mass of people that filled the main room before he began. I feel like he gets a lot of slack for being marginally too commercial or safe with his sound, but I would always defend him on that. For me, there's still as much excitement in pleasant and peng sounds as there is in experimentalism, and while he does have a few redundant tracks there's plenty that I've never got tired of. As it was a DJ set, I anticipated a couple of his songs being played, so by opening with 'Bambro Koyo Ganda', 'Linked', 'Flicker' and 'Cirrus' in a row, I was satisfied, the crowd was satisfied, the Lord Above was satisfied. Those stunning chord progressions and pitter-patter drum beats are wonderful live, and 'Linked' in particular, with the extended acid melody transformation over the drop, was a bombshell I'm so glad I didn't miss. 

As the set continued, he's a big fan of classic house bangers with piano chords etc.; maybe in a different setting I'd be more skeptical but the grandeur of Printworks suited it - big and bold bodes well. In fact, nothing had the room more elated than O'Flynn's 'Sunspear' making an appearance. Guys. It was pure joy in that hall. I was going out for air and heard the little intro coming in, dove back into the crowd just in time for the silence to drop before that huge trumpet fanfare blasted out of the speakers. I could tell a lot of people around me didn't know the track but were absolutely loving it, so it was certainly one for everyone. The lighting was unreal also, with the whole rig descending to just above the crowd at points, more colours and beams than you can count, and at one point the entire screen behind the booth was lit up with this deep, powerful red that just sunk into everything it touched. Bonobo made more nods to his Fabric album with 'Jacquot' by Poté, and towards the end there was this surprise appearance by Skrillex for a quick b2b which seemed really random at first. However, 'Midnight Hour' has been one of my favourite recent drops, and so when it came on it was like the whole thing was especially for me (lol). All in all, a great six or so hours of music, and as ever it was over too soon!

Moving on from live to recordings, three big albums dropped last Friday, from Floating Points, Tourist and Jacques Greene. They're all really strong, but to quickly discuss in that order, Floating Points has provided us with forty four minutes of genius. It ranges from classical music with 'Falaise' to heavy drum and bass with 'Bias', because of which I find it impossible to ignore Aphex Twin influences. That being said, it's certainly and completely his own style, and I haven't heard anything like it before. It's fantastic, although perhaps slightly too academic in its complexity for easy listening. Tourist's release takes the other end of the scale, and pretty much every song on it indulges your ear with euphoric melodies and harmonies. The title track 'Wild' harks back to ODESZA, and 'Kin' for me is the standout, with a catchy male vocal sample and numerous silences effectively punctuating the five minutes. Jacques Greene's album takes the cake for eclecticism, with a variety of moods and sounds throughout. There's a lot of interesting sampling, for instance in 'Do It Without You' and 'For Love', and the lyrical style and voice in 'Night Service' gives me references to that classic queer house sound which has been so influential. Oh, and the album art is so lovely. It's got that emotive strength of Rothko's paintings and I would kill for a poster of it! Or the vinyl, whatever.

That's all for this week, just to add, I have decided to do a playlist to upkeep what I've discussed / songs I'm particularly drawn to, and I'll update it with each post to keep it fresh, please follow it here! I think it'll be a nice way to continually keep you involved in what I'm excited about. I have another post coming out for Pretend next week for a really, really exciting gig I went to on Saturday. Keep an eye out on Instagram etc. for it, and have a lovely week. xx

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.

Music And Sleep | Late Night Tales | AMP Printworks | Tourist | 5/4/19

Helloooooo! God, it feels like it's been absolutely ages. I've been wanting to write every day but omgjustsobusyyouguysitshardbeingme, aka I have failed to make the time. But now I'm here, making the time, so there. Everything I want to talk about today happened in the space of last week, it had been in the calendar for a long time, and so I'm super excited for this one. I've got an album release, a gig and my birthday 🎉 to cover, all very important, deep, meaningful stuff you know.

So, I'm a huge fan of the Late Night Tales series of compilation albums on Spotify. I wish I could say I've listened to all of them, but out of what I've heard Bonobo's is my favourite and it's been a cool way to see into an artist's brain a bit. They give an eclectic interpretation of music to listen to in the calm of night time and Floating Points aka Sam Shepherd released his instalment last Friday. It's a mixture of jazz, ambient, soul, folk and more from the archives of his collections, and I'm not gonna lie, it's fantastic. None of these songs are the kind of thing I would easily find through my own means of discovering new music, it feels like receiving insight from an expert. I've listened a couple times through but would have to listen a lot more before I could give a proper breakdown on each of the tracks. That being said, opening with 'Untitled, Live in Portland' sets up this hollow yet luminous atmosphere, as if we're creeping into the cave in the woods that is this record, submerging ourselves in the gloom of the music. It's sombre, but not necessarily sad. The shower of rain brings us into the free flowing 60's sound of The Rationals' 'Glowin'' and you really settle into it. 

The jazz and folk moments in the next few tracks feel so natural, and 'Blood of an American' sounds like it's sung so personally, as if you're sitting on the top of a hill with the singer, watching the sun over the fields before you. I absolutely love 'Sea Fluorescent', it undulates and sinks the chills right through your mind, it only came out this year but has a maturity to the sound that would make you think its older. For the spoken word, 'Ah! Why, Because the Dazzling Sun' is wonderfully emotive, and the themes and imagery of the sun draws together the album for me, as that's a recurring image I get from each track; the still, mellow and golden sunlight casting its rays through the melodies.

The whole thing has made me think about how music and sleep interact in a really interesting way. Sometimes if I can't sleep I'll listen to music with earphones, which I know you're not supposed to really do, but it does create an intriguing effect. I feel like it's almost therapeutic, because as you fall asleep and you're thoughts become more abstract, so does the way you respond to the music you're hearing. You associate different tones in the music with the random thoughts that pass through your mind, and sometimes the complexity and chaotic order of it all can help you see from a new perspective and come to realisations in yourself. It works the other way too, in that the way your mind is working allows you to hear the music different, as if its pulsing through your actual mind rather than your ears. Anyway, the record is beautiful, I'm really satisfied with Floating Points' take on the Late Night Tales theme, so gonna be my April vinyl purchase!

On the note of vinyls, boy did I get SPOILED for my birthday. I got 'Morning / Evening' and 'Only Human' by Four Tet, Tourist's most recent album (which we'll get to later), but most incredibly, the 'Moth/Wolf Cub' EP by Burial and Four Tet... unreal. Can't believe I actually own it! It's been so exciting to put a new record on every morning when I eat my cereal, listen to the pulsing synths under the crackling of the stylus and feeling as extra as I can at 8am. The gifts were great, and I have never felt more grateful for my friends, especially for how PENG Friday night was. Annie Mac curated Printworks for the evening, featuring DJ Koze, George Fitzgerald, DJ Seinfeld among others. Honestly, one of the best nights I've been to this year, if not ever. Dramatic? Probably, but I'm standing by it. 

I don't wanna go on about it again but Printworks never fails to impress me as a venue in London. It genuinely feels like an isolated location that you are in and around, like you're part of the community taking part in the event, which is exhilarating. It's so well run, I never feel like I'm waiting long for a drink or the toilet, or getting from room to room even when it is a particularly packed moment. I am able to have my own personal space whenever I need it but the atmosphere of the crowd is still present. Musically, phenomenal. Each set I experienced was pleasantly different to the next. We started with George Fitzgerald's eclectic mix, which moved between genres seamlessly and we found ourselves in heavy techno one moment to heavily world influenced tracks the next superimposed with captivating electronic melodic lines. DJ Seinfeld presented his own niche very well as I expected but it was nonetheless enjoyable. He played his remix of Burns by George and as they were playing back to back it was nice here. The ever-so-slight solemnity his lofi house brings to me is actually really nice to experience in a club setting.

Nothing compared even slightly to DJ Koze's set, though. What a KING. It was just fantastic, pure party vibes, I couldn't fault it if I tried. The main thing that will stick in my head for a very long time is his use of huge extended versions of songs which somehow keep the crowd going again and again and again. 'Pick Up' went on for almost fifteen minutes but every single time they launched the volume of the Printworks sound-system back up to max again the crowd absolutely loved it, it was pure euphoria and the moment was so special. But he managed to do it again, with his mix of 'Operator' the joy in the air was tangible. It's such a classic disco, celebratory feeling and being surrounded by all my best friends on my birthday it just felt so right.  It's so simple, but the use of volume was actually so effective. If you ever get a chance to see him, seriously go, it's worth it even for a pricey event. Annie Mac then rounded off the night, and while I wouldn't say it was as stylistically exciting as what came before, I really have to give it to her that she knows how to read and please a crowd. It was perfect that she came last, because at that point you do just want to get gassed on the hype of the drops and get as much dancing as you can get in before the end of the night. When the music stopped and she took a few photos the cheering went on for ages, such good vibes in there. I featured on one of the pictures Printworks put up which made me crease. So, yeah, pretty good birthday I guess.

I also got to see Tourist live in concert the day before! Lucky me. There wasn't as much anticipation and hype for this, but I still really enjoyed it. The feel good sound he has to his music is very fun to hear live. And opening with 'Emily' in the first song or two got me excited to hear his new music so soon after it has been released, and I really think that song is stunning. Watching him onstage is interesting, cause he's really feeling the music and you can see him committed to the ups and downs of the mood he's building in the room. Use of lights was effective but not too much, which I think is a very important part of the gig. 'Apollo', 'We Stayed Up All Night' and 'Too Late' were all sick, classic build up of texture and heavy bass drops, but nothing compared to the encore of 'Run'. It was just soooo peng, and when it got to its climax it was really one of those moments when you are even aware of your surroundings because you're so lost in the music. Also, in a small monologue at the end he shouted out The Nest in Dalston as the first club he performed at ever, which was across the road from where we are. Just a personal hype here, cause it's one of the first clubs me and my friend Rosie got into at uni when we started going out. It's quite cool to hear someone you admire and are inspired by their art have a personal connection to the same place you have in life and makes you realise how lucky you are to share London with so many other amazing people.

Anyway, I felt like I had a lot to get through but didn't want to drag on on each thing so hopefully that was a good summary. If you haven't, check out Floating Points' Late Night Tales, and his other stuff as well. I really appreciate the long-form style he uses and how he builds up the mesmerising patterns of his music steadily and consistently. Just as a few random songs to listen to that I've heard recently, because I love doing this lol, check out 'Ketones', 'Las rosas en el limite del noventa y ocho', and oh, the new Peggy Gou 'Starry Night'. I really like it, gets me excited for summer. I think she's very effectively established a sound she represents, and while it's always peng regardless, when you're in just the right mood it bangs. Have a great weekend, listen to something you wouldn't normally xx

Printworks Beat Horizon | Some New Music | 24/1/19

Gooooooooooooooooooooooood morning everyone! How are the tunes treating you this week? Are you craving more mellow beats or looking to go crazy? I like a balance of both, usually I reckon I'd say I lean more towards the more ambient side but this last week has been h y p e to say the least. On the weekend I went to Printworks for the 'Beat Horizon' day festival and I. Am. Still. Gassed. I haven't been to anything like this in what seems like forever and it was sensationally refreshing. 

As I'm sure you know if you've seen any promotion for it, the line-up was insane, and while the bits and bobs of everybody I caught were consistently exciting, I was mainly there for DJ Marky and Calibre. Drum and bass at its finest, I will happily say, with the two representing the two sides of the genre - almost like light and dark. So, Marky came first and the press hall was literally heaving with people jumping up and down, going further and further back like that herd coming down the slope in the Lion King. I know I've said it before, but Printworks just blows my mind as a venue, it's this huge, mechanical maze, like the laboratory you try to escape from in Portal... it was a bit cold, though. 

But not in the crowd. DJ Marky has the ability to make you feel like you're on a beach even as you look around the dark, old warehouse - it's fast-paced, euphonic, the drops are mad, you just want to dance the whole time. Tune after tune was coming through, I really enjoyed hearing 'Roll The Dice' out for the first time - Shy FX brilliant as ever, Stamina MC reminding me of Marky as we'll see later, and Lily Allen's silky-smooth vocals sound so peng over the gritty 172 BPM drums. Sooo buff man, and it wasn't long before we got Marky's remix of Fatboy Slim's 'Praise You' - mate. MATE. I can't tell you how gassed I was for all of this set, but this song really hit hard. The feel-good lyrics still hold their place, but the wobbling bass and DnB beat give it some darker inflections that stops the twenty-year-old track from being just a throwback. He also picked up the decks at one point to do his signature move, scratching the turntable upside down, which is more jokes but does add to the set.

The hype just kept growing as we approach the end of the set though. By this point, we'd made it to the front of the crowd and the speakers were right in my ears. Your whole body is just pulsating with the rhythm, the DJ and MC are right there, you look back on the Lion King herd and you just realise the real power of music. I actually found myself on the Printworks instagram story at the front at this point which was a nice lil' bonus. They stop the music before the last track and MC GQ gives us a little reminder that it's only about 6 o'clock in the evening by this point (lol), and he can go get himself a kebab on the way home - relatable without being cringe. Anyway, this gave them time to build up the excitement for the last track of the set, and what could have been better than 'LK'. Summer VIBES. Everyone forgot the freezing cold outside, what an utterly wholesome moment. Perfect way to end the set, for an hour and a half I hadn't been bored for a second. I've seen Marky once before but this set really showed me what he's capable of.

Calibre provided a totally different experience. This was in the Dark Room which was absolutely pack out, took about five minutes to get into, was sweaty af but as a result held onto real rave atmosphere. It's weird to think how big the whole venue was and hundreds of people were packed in the tiniest area. Calibre's set centred around more sparse tracks, moving away from the crowd pleasers but it provided a continuous atmosphere. The interplay of the percussive rhythms and angular basslines was good-weird, and I did begin to lose awareness of how sardined we were in there from getting distracted by the complexities of his DJing. The mixing was intelligent I guess I'd say, and so it was enjoyable to analyse more than gas over. All in all, Printworks was worth every penny, just wish I had heard 'Yellow Shoes', don't know if I just missed it or it didn't play.

A lot of music stuff happened this week too. James Blake's new album 'Assume Form' came out - thoughts? I like it, it hasn't blown me away but I don't deny it's good. It manages to keep his authentic sound and vocal style up and you of course know it's him, some of the chord progressions are dazzling - 'Lullaby For My Insomniac' comes to mind - but I wasn't crazy about every single song. Highlights were 'Into The Red' and 'Don't Miss It' for me, and I thought 'Tell Them' was unexpected but works for him brilliantly. It's subtly different, the trap beat isn't too much, and the melody of the hook is hypnotising.

However, the real new release that has stolen the show for me is Bonobo's 'Ibrik'. It's part of the upcoming album compilation he's making for Fabric, which is being celebrated with a 4-hour DJ set at the club itself in February. It's got everything you need from a Bonobo track, it's chilled out and upbeat simultaneously, and the main melody that recurs throughout is made up of just four notes but it gets in your head as if it's addictive. 5:50 is a solid length for a track of this style in my opinion, and the drop at 3:57 is beauuuuuutiful. With earphones on I have to listen at least two or three times. Check it out if you haven't already; I also really like the album art and fabric released this little 30-second clip with it that's wavey too.

That's all for this week - I have tickets to an Odesza concert today which I'm VERY hyped for so I will try and write up my thoughts on it in the next week or so. Hope you enjoyed xxx

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!