Electro/Club Summer 2020

While the crisis caused by the COVID pandemic has undoubtedly had an impact, with consequences we've all clearly seen, on every dimension of our lives, it's evident that the live music sector has been among the hardest hit. For a scene like clubbing, which finds its true potential expressed in the live dimension, the effect has been if anything even more devastating, effectively wiping out entirely the natural habitat of music that thrives and amplifies itself in communal settings, revealing its full communicative power. It's only natural that these past few months, even more so than releases of other kinds, have seen a sharp downsizing in club/electronic output, to the point that putting together a selection of titles proved far harder than expected. For this very reason, the ten titles presented here turn out to be more closely tied than ever to an idea of clubbing that pushes past the physical limits of the dancefloor and inhabits the dancefloors of the mind, offering itself up to listening with the same energy. While we wait for better times, when it will finally be possible to sweat again on floors across half the world, dance, dance, dance till you drop, comfortably at home!

Anz – Loos In Twos (NRG) (Hessle Audio)

 

The one thing you can always expect from Anz is that every new release will come as an absolute surprise, both in the quality of its content and in the crossovers it brings to the table. Sitting at the busy crossroads where jungle, techno, electro and much else converge, the Manchester producer's approach thrives on erasing the differences between these styles and finding common ground, playing on a sense of confluence and interpenetration that turns familiar starting points into something entirely new. Her debut for Hessle Audio, "Loos In Twos (NRG)" perfectly spells out the premise behind Anz's research: an excellent dosage of nostalgia and contemporaneity, which the almost grimey opening of the title track lets explode into razor-sharp stabs and breakbeat modulations. While "Gary Mission" dilutes the frenzy through greater subtraction (while still preserving the acid character of the first track), a truly top-tier cut like "Stepper" knows how to exploit heavily chopped vocal samples to build something between the most sinuous gqom and certain hardcore variations of UK funky. Hitting replay is really just a matter of time. 

 

 

What Azu Tiwaline has offered to Peverelist's Livity Sound is a precious spell, the kind whose effect lingers over time, leaving a strong impression behind. Standing at the crossroads of traditional Berber music, narcotic dub patterns and the most hazy, distant techno, the Tunisian producer (already responsible for two albums earlier this year) conceives a dry, mysterious sound in which the percussive traces of Amazigh culture spread across the vastness of the desert, attempting to decipher its codes. Voices scattered on the wind combine with the fascinating nuances of a rhythmic outline that loses itself in immensity (the closing "Tessiture"), while ice and fire become one in the artist's skilled hands, which know how to tune such contrast into a play of rhythmic chiaroscuro ("Terremer"). And when the tone becomes more disoriented and suggestive (the discreet dub openings of "Magnetic Service"), it doesn't take much for the arcane to reveal its timeless power once again (the synesthetic manipulations of "Tight Wind"). In a total identification between subject and its sonic translation, Tiwaline's music is a direct expression of the Sahara and its boundless spaces. 

 

 

DJ JM's beats hit hard, really hard. So if you're after melodic nuances, singalong hooks and velvet-lined arrangements, this really isn't the record for you. Welcome instead all those who want to lose themselves inside tracks where rhythm is the only thing that matters: pounding, hypnotic, pervasive, the expressive core of the Lithuanian producer's latest EP rests on the hunt for the perfect banger, the kind that fills the floor and sets the crowd off. No complications, no gimmicks: while the DJ's vocabulary is anything but monolithic (moving from the bass phrasing of "Breaked" to the acid touches of "Pacemaker", a full nod to the golden age of rave culture), the tracks rest on simple elements deployed with real taste, minimal variations that emphasize — not without a pinch of dirt and nastiness — the narcotic edge of the rhythm palette. Between tribal cadences (the title track), full-on hard-techno beatdowns ("OCDrum"), and bizarre psychedelic openings ("Scard"), the producer's code hits the target with absolute precision, without shying away from the occasional well-placed slap. Nasty, but attractive, indeed.

 

 

The beats are truly powerful on Djoser's latest EP, so much so that they almost end up overshadowing the finer details hidden within the folds of the four tracks. Continuing along the lines of an imposing hard-drum sound with other-worldly shades ("Alumen" heads toward the psychedelic IDM of Lakker), the Washington producer hits extremely hard, even though the bpm never gets too excessive, letting the sound itself show off its real strength. Even slower, almost riding an insistent dub groove, "Kidulum" explores a more atmospheric, relaxed side, while still showing it can bare its claws when it comes to working the bass. Far more hallucinated, with its possessed synthetic manipulations, is the title track, built on an irregular rhythmic ostinato with a subtle industrial touch; "Goose" applies further manipulations to the highs, while still maintaining the same vigorous framework of volumes and timbres. If hard-drum wanted to experiment, here it's clearly been given the room to do so: a substantial comeback for Djoser, marking a solid step forward.

 

 

Co-founder of femme couture, a series of parties dedicated to celebrating and promoting the work of women and non-binary DJs (later evolved into a label of the same name), Elkka is pure talent, skilled at pulling house music's strings and distilling its purest essence into bangers with an unmistakably anthemic touch. With a title that says it all, "I. Miss. Raving." drops you straight into the middle of the dancefloor: it doesn't matter that it's imagined, the feeling is real — the sweat and energy it exudes, with its sinuous bass and bright vocal samples, carry you into a moment of pure euphoria, oozing a passion for the dancefloor that the producer clearly possesses in spades. "Bleep+" starts off with a more electro framework, but it doesn't take long for the track to undergo a clear transformation, heading toward a cut that synthesizes acid echoes, bleep-techno motifs (fittingly enough) and micro-melodic references into a curious, catchy blend. The nostalgia for events like these keeps growing, but tracks like this soften the weight of it a little. 

 

 

From her fruitful work as a mixer to production (this year alone she's already released three EPs under her own name), there's one common thread running through Fauzia Habib's discography: a deep knowledge of club culture, and a curious approach to genres, exploited with particular care for their evocative potential and for the unexpected combinations that emerge from them. The two tracks that make up "Fragments" immediately highlight the London artist's distinctive approach, one that sparks contrasts between the most disparate sources, uncovering new syntheses and powerful melodic surges. Over soft, dreamy textures, "Insurrection" sets up hardcore patterns and cavernous Dubstep-style basslines, in what feels like a contemporary take on future-garage. Far more composite (and at the same time more melodic) is "Berceuse", in which jungle takes absolute center stage in the rhythm section, accelerating and splintering halfway through the track, without ever abandoning the delicate atmospheric pads that complement the track's vision, giving it a fresh, relaxed touch. Thanks to the trio of EPs delivered in 2020, FAUZIA's career as a producer already seems to be off to the best possible start.

 

 

Among the names that have kept the profile of American house music high, Galcher Lustwerk's is one of the most important: all thanks to a vision of extraordinary coherence and a meticulous approach to textures, transitions and beats, one that has turned his mixes into genuine cornerstones of 2010s deep house. A continuation and completion of "Information", which saw the refined producer land on the shores of Ghostly International, "Proof" is a work that cements that vision and amplifies its emotional weight, leaning into an intimacy and abandon unusual within the musician's rich output. Compared to its "bigger" companion, this EP is decidedly more geared toward clubbing and the floor, yet it still retains the expansive nature of the album, in the way its thick rhythmic propulsion and enveloping synth pads support a narrative dimension more refined than ever before. The frustration of being a Black producer and living through disadvantage and racism within a genre with Black roots becomes the lyrical core of reflections that Lustwerk tackles with brilliant rap ease, injecting new dynamism into tracks that show an artist in splendid form (the more propulsive, vigorous rework of "Another Story", in which he doesn't hesitate to state that "I'm in New York and I'm black/I can make beats, I can rap", makes that abundantly clear). In its most introspective moment (when not downright bitter, as the parting words entrusted to the smooth "Leave" attest), Galcher Lustwerk writes another powerful chapter in his thrilling house epic. 

 

 

Raised in the UK but with clear Ghanaian roots, Brendan Hagan Opoku Ware draws on his bicultural identity to develop a sound that owes as much to the rich heritage of his homeland as it does to the developments of British dance and club culture. UK-made funky and garage merge with the timbral and polyrhythmic research of Ghanaian music, giving rise to combinations of a varied nature, at once sophisticated (the layered production of "On Sight", which leans toward the more evocative side of the producer's aesthetic research) and more direct and streamlined, in an excellent club exercise (the acid structures of "Ultra", whose percussive pattern is just barely sprinkled with Caribbean aromas). Opening the EP, "Waves" connects Hagan's present to his more recent past (spent in Accra recording traditional percussionists) in a softer-shaped track that carefully delves into the ancestral legacy of his origins. One to definitely keep an eye on.

 

 

We've already learned to appreciate Jun Kamoda, one of the most nimble and agile fantasists of Japanese house. His colorful disco-funk progressions, combined with a use of loops that recalls the finest moments of French touch, have flavored some of the most enticing pages of dance music in recent years, and gathered a tight-knit group of like minds to keep the flame of inspiration alive. The pairing presented on "Escape The Night" is another exciting sample that highlights both the producer's technical mastery (the art of sampling clearly holds no secrets for someone with a past as a hip-hop musician) and the sheer fun radiating from his compositions. With vocal references drawing as much from the new city-pop resurgence as from funk, the two tracks once again celebrate a love for grooves that are propulsive and calibrated down to the smallest detail, where the liveliness of the melodic elements shines through with total ease. Between killer basslines, driving beats and disarming progressions, once again, boredom is simply impossible.

 

 

Dwayne Parris-Robinson's discography already boasts several fine moments (a couple of suggestions? "2 Vultures" and "Puro Rosaceaes", among the producer's many EPs), but "Polychrome Swim" is undoubtedly a standout episode for the Londoner, who keeps finding new paths to update and deepen his intricate dub vocabulary. By making sure his tracks have all the breathing room they need, the three cuts share an underlying relaxed quality that the production treatment amplifies and enhances, giving them just the right coordinates to hold on to their own specific personality. No question about it, mission accomplished: from the deep-reggaeton-zone suspensions of "Yurei", where the singular dembow vision of DJ Python lingers in the air, to the synthetic drift in the vein of future-garage on "Harajuku Girls", ending on the hypnotic channels of "Aqua Surge", whose breakcore modulations recall the mastery of early Peverelist, every moment on the EP is a small essay in versatility and possibility, playing with the foundations of dub to build new worlds. Enchanting.