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Music

Reptaliens – Do You Know?

“Inspired by sci-fi art, cult mentality and deep connections, creating low fidelity chameleon dreamscapes somewhere between abstract expressionism and surrealism both sonically and visually” isn’t a sentence I thought I’d be writing today (or more accurately lazily copying and pasting from the bio section of Reptaliens’ Bandcamp page), but listening to Do You Know? I know exactly where they’re coming from. This is from their new EP Wrestling which has a similar dreamy, DIY vibe as Kai Hugo’s I’m Cindy project which I also really like: all crunchy, lo-fi drums and nostalgic, shimmering pads.

https://reptaliens.bandcamp.com/

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Christian Löffler – Pastoral

I’ve been a big fan of Christian Löffler’s particular strain of electronic music for some time now, especially his 2012 debut A Forest and 2016’s excellent Mare, both of which are considered, completely absorbing bodies of work, mostly consisting of melodic and atmospheric house music that sounds like it’s been teased up from the earth rather than constructed on anything as rigidly mechanical as a synthesiser. For his latest single, Pastoral, he’s done away with the 4/4 structure – and in fact any kind of beats – entirely, instead focussing on the lush interplay of slowly rising strings and muffled piano.

EDIT: On digging a little deeper into this, I just discovered that it’s a reworking of Beethoven, which makes it the second Beethoven cover I’ve covered in a week, but as part of a completely different project. Has Beethoven just come out of copyright? Seems unlikely. Anywhere, here are a few words from the man himself (Christian, not Ludwig):

“Deutsche Grammophon invited me to listen to a number of historic recordings of Beethoven, shellac discs from the 20s. I have reworked four of the composer’s tracks for an upcoming EP called Parallels (Beethoven) and you can listen to the first single ‘Pastoral’ now.”

https://www.christian-loeffler.net/

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Sal Dulu – Alien Boy 96

Alien Boy 96 is the first single to be released from Irish producer Sal Dulu’s forthcoming LP, which will be landing early next year. If you want a pretty lazy comparison, it’s a little reminiscent of The Avalanches, both in its cut-and-paste approach to the production and in the yearning, melancholic atmosphere conjured by the tapestry of samples and beats. In the press release for the single, Dulu says it’s “probably not the most representative in terms of what the album is about”, which from where I’m sitting would be a bit of a shame, as it’s really, really good.

https://soundcloud.com/user-727004974

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Music

Shadi G – Goddess pt. 1

Shadi G is a classically trained Swedish songwriter, producer and singer who’s latest single Goddess pt. 1 sits somewhere between contemporary r&b and electro pop. The production is simple but extremely effective, with muted drums and hushed snares providing the perfect bed for her wonderful vocals, which remind me of NAO at times and Empress Of at others.

https://www.shadi-g.com/

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Kelly Moran – Helix III

Kelly Moran and Prurient recently announced a split LP Chain Reaction At Dusk, with Helix III one of three tracks than Moran has contributed to the project. As with a lot of her previous work it sits somewhere between traditional classical composition and electronic experimentation, with whirling polyrhythms and glassy chimes creating a gently disorienting atmosphere. Be sure to check out the full release when it lands on Prurient’s Hospital Productions 04 December.

https://kellymoran.bandcamp.com

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Music

Oneohtrix Point Never – No Nightmares

Considering the kind of completely unclassifiable music Oneohtrix Point Never usually crafts, a schmaltzy, vocoder-infused ballad – with The Weeknd no less – isn’t necessarily something you’d expect to find on his latest album. But then hasn’t this just been a year of the unexpected? No Nightmares is warm and wonderfully reassuring, and crackles with just enough weirdness to ensure you don’t think you’ve stumbled into the final moments of 80s school disco. And if you’re really not into it, you only need take a step in either direction on the album to be confused and slightly unsettled again.

https://www.pointnever.com/

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Music

Ty Dolla $ign – Time Will Tell

There aren’t many artists who could pull together album features from Kid Cudi, Post Malone, Kanye West, Anderson .Paak, Thundercat, Nicki Minaj, Kehlani, Future, Young Thug, etc, etc – but Ty Dolla $ign is a Big Dog Indeed and ha$ done ju$t that. Honestly I haven’t enjoyed a rap album this much since Saint Jhn’s Ghetto Lenny’s Love Songs (and I really, really enjoyed that), and even though it conforms to the now omnipresent rap trend of clocking in at over an hour and includes more tracks than seems reasonable, it never overstays its welcome, and actually just gets better and better. Time Will Tell is one of the few tracks with no features, but without doubt one of the strongest, with Ty rolling effortlessly over a subdued, hypnotic beat.

https://www.dollasignworld.com

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Ela Minus – dominique

There’s a lot to enjoy on Ela Minus’s debut album acts of rebellion, which moves from the expansive experimental electronica of its opener through moody synth-pop and glassy ambient, all within its first few tracks. And then you get to dominique, which is a towering presence at around the album’s midpoint; one of those ‘woah’ moments that makes you double check what you’re listening to, knowing before it’s even finished that’s it’s going to be on hard repeat for quite some time to come.

https://elaminus.com

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Music

Call Super – Pleasure For Pleasure

This is taken from Call Super’s excellent new album Every Mouth Teeth Missing. I’ve always found Call Super’s music vaguely intimidating, for reasons I’m not entirely clear about, but whatever the reasons might be this is the first album I’ve got properly stuck into and I’m very glad I did. Pleasure For Pleasure is like two different tracks hammered together: the glitchy, video game-evoking bounce of the main rhythm section and the glassy pads that are occasionally permitted to break through more and more frequently until it all gels together into a satisfying mess of phased drums and white noise.

https://callsuper.bandcamp.com

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Music

This is (Not) Beethoven – Adagietto (Matthew Herbert Mediterranean Dub)

The second joint production by pianist Sebastian Knauer and the composer Arash Safaian, This Is (Not) Beethoven is an album made up of variations on themes from Ludwig van Beethoven, aiming to modernise the work of the classical musician to mark the 250th anniversary of his birth. More recently, the project was opened up to a number of remixers, among them Matthew Herbert, who provided this epic reworking of Adagietto. Patient, haunting and completely transfixing, it’s an incredible reimagining, and goes to show you really can remix anyone and anything, as long as you do it properly.

http://matthewherbert.com