Brent Faiyaz – “PRICE OF FAME”
I revived an old music blog from the early 2000s?
Maybe it’s been a foolish endeavor, and maybe I’m the only one who misses the blog ol’ days, but I’ve been giving it a shot. I’ve been working on restoring some of the old content, though much of it was lost. I’ve slowly been rebuilding the old remix sunday archives, and even posting the occasional new edition. And I’ve been writing again.
You can find all the label’s releases here, on bandcamp, or most anywhere you listen to music these days. I’ve still got copies of some of the old vinyl releases, and I recently released the first in a set of charitable cassette compilations to raise awareness about the continued [mis]use of broken windows policing methods.
Plus, I put together a playlists section with a handful of spotify lists that hopefully start to capture a [slightly] updated version of the moods we used to peddle. Give those a listen and a ❤ if you would be so kind. If you want to get in touch, just give me a holler. Oh, and if you prefer to just start playing all the music on this page before reading any further, go ahead and click ▶︎
– Haldan/Boody
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Visual Velcro 15
Jacopo Vana – “Hold It” Thodén – “This Codified Drift” -
Remix Sunday 161
If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament.
– (attributed to) Florynce KennedyRemix Sunday 161 Zipped Up. (131mb zip)
Opus III – “It’s A Fine Day” (Burt Fox Remix)
Tripletrain – “Try To Believe” (DJ Bark Lee Mix)
Belanova – “Rosa Pastel” (LAO Bootleg)
FKA twigs – “holy terrain” (Kai Whiston 3AM Fix)
Lamont & Grim Sickers – “Shots” (Doctor Jeep 160 Edit)
Mark Snow – “X Files Theme” (DJ Flawlez Remix)
DJ Zinc – “Super Sharp Shooter” (Zinc’s Short Sharp Edit)
DJ Kool – “Let Me Clear My Throat” (Magic Flowers 2021 Remix)
Drake & Beyoncé – “Can I” (Royal-T Bootleg)
Brent Faiyaz – “Fuck The World” (Huna Edit)
Jeremih & Shlohmo – “Bo Peep (Do U Right)” (Rare Mp3s Edit)
Nirvana – “Something In The Way” (Kiavi Remake)
image/ Ismael Herrero
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Mailbox: Cando – Sting in the Tail
Cando is a Bristol-based production duo composed of Chad Leotaud and Owen Roberts. Roberts comes from the world of commercial pop and dance, working as a songwriter for the likes of BTS; Leotaud was raised in part in Trinidad, with a background in dancehall and early 2000s DMZ-era dubstep. The track these two sent over recently, “Sting in the Tail”, is the b-side from their most recent two-tracker, and crosses percussive dancehall stylings with touches of both that first-wave dubstep sound and some mainstream sheen. I’ve also included an older track, “Bleak Dub”, from 2019, which sits more firmly in Deep Medi territory, and burns nice and slow. Ones to watch.
Both tracks are available for streaming, or on the duo’s bandcamp.
Cando – “Sting in the Tail” (sc)
Cando – “Bleak Dub” (bc)
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Mailbox: Lyrah – Sorry CVS
in response to the healthcare system feeling so criminal, my mom joked that we should just start stealing things. we went to cvs later that day, and I may or may not have stolen a pack of peanut m&ms for her.
“Sorry CVS” was written by Lyrah and her brother, shortly after his diagnosis with stage 4 cancer. It’s a song about a criminal and unjust healthcare system devoid of humanity, replaced instead with insensate cynicism. If a system like this bills itself as compassionate, but happily denies care to those unable to pay, what form of twisted ethics should ever protect that system from theft? Besides, CVS is the kind of place that’s just begging to be stolen from. Sending love to everyone out there unable to get adequate or appropriate care, and all of those forced to navigate a labyrinthine Medicaid system.
Lyrah – “Sorry CVS” (sc)
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Monolithic – Tailspin
More blissed out breakbeat house from Monolithic and Queens-based label Mechanical, both of whom I covered a little while back. Monolithic describes the song as the sound of those times when you’re forced to act calm in the face of a situation that’s getting out of control. No doubt this is cool, calm, and collected stuff — just as fit for a late 90s roll as it would be for today at the beach.
The single is out now for streaming, or on bandcamp.
Monolithic – “Tailspin” (bc)
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Mailbox: Digital Artifact – A Quantum Entanglement of the Mind
I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about the divisions of the autonomic nervous system, particularly the parasympathetic and enteric, and the ways in which the branches of the trigeminal nerve may be affected by changes in the rate and consistency of peristalsis. Could it be that the chronic migraines I’ve experienced since I was a teenager might be affected by finding a way to change the pace of peristalsis and/or attaining better conscious control over general parasympathetic function? No easy answers to questions like these.
Digital Artifact is an artist who clearly spends time trying to feel out the answers to difficult questions. Not only because he’s a computer engineering student, an experience which I can only imagine bears with it a fair share of challenges, but also through his music, which is distinctly explorative. Most of his music is iterative–as in, it’s made by applying the same set of rules a number of different times, and recording the outcome. That’s a heady endeavor, no doubt, but all of it manages to maintain touch with an emotional nerve. These are explorations worth following along with.
I’ve selected a couple of songs for you here, but he’s got a wealth of material available to stream on his soundcloud and spotify profiles, so I really recommend going there, hitting shuffle, and letting the material take you where it may.
Digital Artifact – “A Quantum Entanglement of the Mind” (Iteration One)
Digital Artifact – “A Hollow Blue Cube In The Sand” (Iteration Two)
Digital Artifact – “An Involuntary Hallucination” (Iteration One)
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Moderat – DOOM HYPE
I rinsed Moderat‘s 2009 self titled album to death. I was traveling constantly at the time, and it just fit perfectly in my head and headphones. The songwriting on that record always felt a bit dominated by Modeselektor, but just with the sort of careful percussive refinement of an Apparat track. I wasn’t mad at that at the time, but it never felt quite like the act had it’=s own distinct sound.
The trio’s recently released new record, MORE D4TA, on the other hand feels like something else entirely. It’s not a Modeselektor record, it’s not an Apparat record. Sure, plenty of the typical technique of all three producers remain (thankfully), but the songwriting is a departure, and the influences feel broader. Case in point, the sound palette of the song I’ve included below seems less 2010s Berlin, and more 1980s Manchester.
Moderat – “DOOM HYPE” (sc)
MORE D4TA is out now for streaming or on bandcamp.
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Tano – Clockworx
Two perfectly forward cuts of leftfield bass from Brooklyn-based Tano, from his recently released five tracker on his own In Armatura imprint.
Did you know that a clock works in much the same way that a synthesizer does? It depends on an energy source controlling an oscillator that marks intervals. In the case of a synth, those intervals become the relationship between notes on a scale; in a clock, the intervals are equal temporal units–seconds. I recently learned this, and it feels appropriate to share in the context of this record, since “Clockworx” is my pick of the bunch. Pure and distinct grime references in that lead line, carefully refined breakbeats, it feels like a timeless and timely record (I’m full of bad puns, get at me). Also check “Step Into Vesuvio” — a tight bit of percussive broken beat techno. But really, the whole EP is extremely strong, and should not be slept on.
In Armatura 003 is out now for streaming or on bandcamp.
Tano – “Clockworx” (bc)
Tano – “Step Into Vesuvio” (sc)
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Thodén – This Codified Drift
It was then, floating in the passivity of induced consumption, in which it became clear that this functional mechanism of time was but a codified drift. With our particular indifference to an imposed rationality, all semblance of alterity had been lost
Music–especially electronic music–is usually a feeling exercise. It’s for dancing, for crying, for running.
Most artists just want their art to make you feel something. I’ve always subscribed to the idea that the worst reaction art can evoke is indifference. As much as I hope my own music gives people good feelings, I’d ultimately much rather a song I write elicit a strong negative reaction like disgust rather than boredom or indifference. But some of my favorite music is also thinking music. Music can have tremendous activating effect on the occipital lobe and frontal cortex — it can conjure not just emotion, but also give us visions, trigger complex thought and academic inspiration.
Thodén (real name Kris Rehfeld) is a Danish artist whose music has that desired substantial emotional effect, but is also full of visual stimulus. This may be by design– Rehfeld’s debut album, This Codified Drift was written during the first lockdown, at at time when we all had more time for thinking, and maybe a little less room or willingness to feel.
The album doesn’t hit you over the head with meaning. It’s bursting with imagery, but it’s all cloaked — it’s left to the listener to decide what this music means. Listening to a song like “Hyperreal”, I find myself fantasizing about the patterns of wasps nests and the organization of anthills. “Gush” feels like the frustration of new lust; when you’re feeling intense magnetism, but trying to play it cool. “Signal on Baikal” is a swamp boat right after you turn off the airdrive fan and let it coast towards the mouth of a cave. All eight songs on the album are full of these kinds of feelings and imagery. But they all mean what you make of them, so go make them mean something.
This Codified Drift is out now for streaming or on bandcamp, via French label Electroménager.
Thodén – “Hyperreal” (bc)
Thodén – “Gush” (bc)
Thodén – “Signal On Baikal” (bc)
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Mailbox: RamonPang – Hold Me Under
Twinkly brooding bass music from LA-based RamonPang. Consistent with the main lyric, the tension in this feels like being held underwater for a few seconds too long — just long enough for fight or flight to start setting in — until finally that tuned sub bass comes in with a great sigh of relief.
Out now for streaming or on bandcamp.
RamonPang – “Hold Me Under” (sc)
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Mailbox: Full Monty – Aztec
Full-bodied and progressive, this track from Dutch producer Full Monty bridges some of the gaps between dembow-tech and trance. It’s Nokia ringtones on holiday in Tenochtitlan. Solid stuff.
Out now as part of Bleeps, Beats & Bass 3 celebrating 15 years of Dutch label Basserk. Stream it or grab the compilation on bandcamp.
Full Monty – “Aztec” (sc)
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Mailbox: Baalti – Aame
Baalti is San Francisco-based duo Mihir Chauhan and Jaiveer Singh. They recently sent me a couple of songs from their 2021 self-titled record, and it’s perfect music for beginning the summer. Chauhan and Singh describe Baalti as an expression of their love of sample-based music, and a forum for recontextualizing the sounds they grew up hearing as kids. It does just that. Reimagining old Bengali disco and Gujarati funk records as straightforward organic house music, Baalti does well not to over-process these precious samples — if the ingredients are great, why mess with them too much?
“Aame” turns Gujarati funk into effective modern house; “Kolkata ’78” flips a classic Rupa Biswas record into shuffling percussive disco-house. The whole EP is worth checking out, and will work as well on a dancefloor as it will soundtracking your next summer cookout. Available now for streaming, or on bandcamp.
Baalti – “Aame” (sc)
Baalti – “Kolkata ’78” (sc)
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Visual Velcro 14
Shygirl – “Firefly” (sc)
Sebastian Müller – “Manor Farm / Finding Life” 
Sagans – “Coherence” -
A Path Untold – Spiritus
A Path Untold, real name Daniel Merrill, is an artist from a city in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas.
Merrill’s music fits well within the artistic the legacy of those mountains — like the work of their greatest champion, Ansel Adams, this is monochromatic, stark, and naturally beautiful stuff, with just a touch of melodrama. Stylistically, there’s some commonality with Scandinavia’s distinct branch of broken beat dub techno, but it’s got a bit of the spirit of manifest destiny that makes it much more American. There’s gold in them hills, and this is made of it.
Both songs are from A Path Untold’s latest long player, Sourcery, which is out now for streaming and on bandcamp. The whole album is gorgeous.
A Path Untold – “Spiritus” (sc)
A Path Untold – “Heart Matters” (sc)
