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.
– Haldan/Boody
Utterly effective genreless club tool from Norwegian Dr. Sepi. One part Sister Nancy, a pinch of ragga, a little carioca, a bunch of rave, and a lot of thump. All dancefloor.
DJs, grab the mp3 for free below, but be sure to check the rest of Dr. Sepi’s catalog on bandcamp too.
Dr. Sepi – “She’s a Killer” (mp3)
More shimmering midtempo electronica from London-based Mattr (real name Matthew Clugston) who I covered about a year back. At the time, I postulated that Clugston’s prolific output in the years previous must have been a result of all the extra time afforded by lockdown. I need to admit now that assumption was almost certainly wrong. In the year since wrote that, Clugston has had no fewer than seven solo releases, and a handful of remixes (including an lovely official remix for Max Cooper) — the fella is just extremely productive. And the quality of the music is all really high.
These two just came out on Clugston’s own imprint, Loft & Sound. Grab them on bandcamp, or stream them wherever.
Mattr — “Gaija” (sc)
Mattr — “Eno” (sc)
My cables are falling apart
I don’t know why
I didn’t do anything wrong
I’ve written about Amy Godsey before–she’s an LA-based artist exploring a largely instrumental sort of gently tactile semi-ambient synth music. Where her newest record, Ananta (which I wrote about previously) attempts to reflect the freedom of nature in its chaos and complexity, her 2020 album Regions of Resonance is more concrete and cerebral. This is likely indicative of Godsey’s divergent circumstances at the times the albums were written. Ananta emerged while Godsey traversed the American wilderness in the aftermath of the death of her best friend. Regions of Resonance, on the other hand, is the work of someone toiling to survive in New York. My home town is glamorous and beautiful, no doubt, but it also has a way of forcing people into their heads and asking them to sharpen themselves to a fine point.
The results are no less effective. Indeed, some listeners will connect more with songs as tightly and carefully wound as “Geenie in a Bootle” or “Eustatheia”—or as metallic and cement-like as the album’s title track—than they would the more loosely emotive and meandering fare of Ananta. I can’t help but picture Godsey writing some of these songs in her head as she sits on a crowded train commuting home later than she should have had to.
None of this is to say that the album is morose or sullen. New York is a grind, but it’s also full of possibility. Godsey’s exasperated vocal lamentations on “A Cable Called Blue” encapsulate this tension well. Sure, New Yorkers may be trapped in internal struggle, and may feel like the City is unfairly casting its weight on them alone, but they’re often equally able to fall in love with each of its tiny unclaimed corners and feel like the whole town belongs only to them. For all it takes from us, the City inspires us to energize. The two-track sequence of distorted siren calls on “Honey” quickly leading into the electricity and determination of “Reverie” reflects this tension elegantly.
Godsey evidently understood the city she spent eight years in, and I imagine that like many who leave it (myself included) she probably misses it a lot of the time. After stretching to meet its vibration, it becomes hard to ever feel quite as virile or fierce once you’ve left. But the evolution between Godsey’s two records also serves as evidence that New Yorkers (including long-term transplants like Godsey) may well better enjoy the opportunity to loosen their belts outside of the pressure cooker. And that relaxed enjoyment can also be the catalyst for greater openness and more honest self-expression.
Amy Godsey – “Geenie in a Bootle” (bc)
Amy Godsey – “A Cable Called Blue”
Amy Godsey – “Eustatheia”
Amy Godsey – “Regions of Resonance”
More genre-bending club destruction from Ottawan So Durand, who I’ve written about a couple of times previously. Hot on the heels of his inclusion on ec2a’s coveted second USB drop (already sold out sadly), “Blue-Tek” just dropped on So Durand’s bandcamp and for streaming. But grab it while you can — you never know how long this sort of ephemera will last.
So Durand – “Blue-Tek”
French juke meets rave on “Hedopolis” — a perfectly effective stabby DJ tool from Flex Blur and the fine folks at Moveltraxx. Grab this and the rest of Flex Blur’s Vitesse EP on bandcamp for use in a set, or stream it wherever.
Also check another from Flex Blur — this time some immaculately choppy house. While not at footwork tempos, the perseverance of those chopped organ patterns can only be a product of twice-fold Windy City reverence. This one’s out for free on January 4th on Serbian label Nu Kulture, as part of IV, the fourth in their free compilation series.
Flex Blur – “Hedopolis” (sc)
Flex Blur – “2T3M” (sc)
Proper mechanical electro shuffle from Mancunian Demetae (real name Robert Woodward). “Calculate” is as icy as the city that birthed electro (Detroit averages -3.5C in January), and just as robotic (you know, robots make cars now). From Demetae’s latest Space-time Sleaze EP, out a couple of weeks ago.
Grab Demetae’s 3-tracker on bandcamp on Sound du Jour. Or stream it all over.
Demetae – “Calculate” (bc)
More elemental barreling electronica from San Diego’s Graffick (aka Blaine Counter), who I wrote about a couple of months ago. Counter seems to have a real handle on the sound he’s pursuing as an artist, which is eniviable. It also means that if you like this, I suggest you keep an ear out for more from him in the future.
No bandcamp for this, unfortunately, so seek this out on streamers instead.
Graffick – “Momentary” (sc)
Corporeal experimental pop from Spain’s yung pope. Bodies let us down sometimes, but gosh are they ever just infinite inspiration.
Grab these on yung pope’s bandcamp. Or stream them at the usual places.
yung pope – “MPTA” ft. Menend (yung pope mix) (bc)
yung pope – “Parpageo” ft. Diphda (bc)
Viscount is a project by a man named Eric, based in Boise, Idaho. This is music most simply categorized as ambient music, but it’s not for the background. This is stuff most concerned with how palette and structure can tell an actual story; how modern music can exist in the context of myth.
Do you recall the ‘dungeon synth’ micro genre that emerged in the 90s from Kosmische and Black Metal? Well while I wasn’t paying attention, the genre quietly flourished, and Eric seems to have been part of some of that over the past decade or so. Eric is half of Brutus Greenshield, whose records you ought to check out too. Their work is probably more easily identifiable as dungeon synth than Viscount’s solo material, but neither is by any means the kind of harpsichord-driven medieval cosplay that some 90s metal kids might remember when they hear that term.
Viscount’s 2022 LP, Divine Points, is less overt in its stylistic references than the Brutus Greenshield material. There’s a subtle vein of pre-baroque dungeony-type aesthetic that gets revealed at times throughout the record, but largely this is not kitsch music whatsoever. To the extent those references do appear (and I’m not knocking them when they do), they feel like a sincere expression of Eric’s personal sensibilities.
Viscount is a project that succeeds in crafting something sincerely escapist. I don’t throw around the term cinematic lightly, especially when I’m writing about ambient or ambient-adjacent music, but Divine Points really scratches the same itch for me that a good film would.
Divine Points is available for whatever you’d like to pay on bandcamp, so no excuse not to go grab it there. Apparently new music is due in the spring.
Viscount – “Cirrus” (bc)
Viscount – “I Saw How the Planets Gathered” (bc)