Electro/Club Autumn 2020

We will dance again, we will sweat on the dancefloor again - this is a promise. There's no telling yet when it will be possible, but sooner or later that moment will come. Judging by the selection offered here, the producers and DJs themselves can't wait to return to their ideal dimension, to unleash their creativity in club from all over the world. From Australia to Japan, via New York and Mozambique, a roundup of the best EPs/12"s heard over the past three months, never more eager than now to be played in their rightful context. Until then, dance, dance, dance till you drop, in the comfort of your own living room!

 

 

Despite the closure of club and their New York nights, it's still been a busy year for AceMo and MoMa Ready, who alongside the album “A New Dawn” released last January have put out two EPs, of which this “EP3” is the most recent venture. Having already made a name for themselves with a recombinant approach to genres and attitudes, pairing basic house grooves with the most varied dimensions of club culture, with their latest project (almost a short album, given its running time of over half an hour) the pair continue along their intriguing path of hybridization, further refining the details of their curious research. In a combination that Resident Advisor had already been labelled “timeless and fresh”, the duo's aesthetic is by now perfectly honed, and it knows how to let nostalgic garage-rave phrasings coexist under the same roof in “Revolutionary” (with a great sense of progression) alongside the acid cadences of “Sun Through Rain” (barely accented by light techno veins), the footwork-like spirit of “Harp Machine” and the jungle passages of “Sky Trax”. Subtly unsettled yet dominated by an intricate flair for atmosphere, “EP3” is the most vital project released by AceMoMa in 2020: a sextet of bangers that's hard to resist.

 

 

Watery, hypnotic, deeply immersive: these may be overused adjectives, but listening to the debut EP by Blue Fiction, the Japanese duo formed by IORI (one of Japan's specialists in slower, more evocative ambient-techno) and TASOKO (who only emerged last year with a cassette release), it's hard to come away with a different first impression. Hazy, in its slow patterns dictated by hi-hats with an almost jazzy and the intense outlines of dub, “Salvation” immediately lays out the pair's suspended aesthetic, in an exquisite pursuit of slowness that closely recalls the immersive explorations of Voices From The Lake. A touch more acidic is “Rotation”, with its subterranean melodies and cavernous bass calls, but the tone retains a similarly overall relaxed feel, which “Deconstruction” pushes to its most extreme dreamlike possibilities, aided by the emergence of placid synth lines. Only “Extension” doubles the pace (never overdoing the bpm) and offers a more bustling, creaking alternative to the sound introduced in the previous tracks, without ever feeling excessive within the EP or losing its atmospheric qualities. The promise of something exciting here is anything but scarce.

 

 

What happens when one of the most brazen and entertaining rapper around teams up with a producer with relentless beats and irresistible grooves? Simple: one of the coolest hip-house projects of recent years gets made. In just 14 minutes, Cakes Da Killa, with a deep background in the scene ballroom but with a flow loose and caustic, and Proper Villains put together a sextet of tracks (though it would be more accurate to call it a quintet) that respects the hip-hop attitude of the former while packing an unstoppable energy, so contagious that you end up making Cakes Da Killa's rants and shade your own, aimed at whoever happens to be around. The curious appearance of Nomi Ruiz, in the sped-up garage of “ICU”, immediately catapults us onto the dancefloor (never mind that these days it's only an imaginary one) and into the eternal ritual of seduction, with the basslines of “In Da House” serving as a glittering backdrop to the supersonic dissing of the rapper. The more properly vogue dimension of “Don Dada” is a burst of energy that the constant shifts in delivery turn into a pastiche worthy of the best moments of Azealia Banks, before the title track heads in a Brazil direction and closes the EP with a wild pattern percussive track. Exciting is an understatement.

 

 

Already active for a while now with a solid release rate, Australian producer DJ Plead is a percussion wizard, and his arrival on the ever more praiseworthy Livity Sound with Peverelist only confirms his great talent. The whole world is his stage, and the ideas he's gathered from across the globe make his work among the most intriguing in the field, forging a connection between East and West, north and south that leaves no corner unexplored. Whether it's the mahraganat echoes of the title track opening track, paired with synth spirals that instantly betray Middle Eastern ties, or the ideas of dabke on the more dub-inflected "Rough Text", underscored by atmospheric touches that fit perfectly within the Livity Sound house style, the percussive drive of producer never loses tension, staying gripping from track to track, carving out entirely different niches each time. The mysterious dub hints of "Espresso" and the garage frameworks of "Ess" round off an electrifying listen, one that will hopefully serve as a springboard to greater (and well-deserved) acclaim.

 

 

It was somewhat expected that the vision of DJ Python, among the most curious and original in the rich electro landscape of recent years, would spill beyond his own output and draw in like-minded talents. Hence the rise of Worldwide Unlimited, the label through which to release the work of producer with a similar mindset and the same approach to syncretism. Hailing from Manchester, Henzo is the label's first proposed name, and from the opening bars he already stamps a clear mark on his expressive register. With two tracks duly accompanied by an mix alternative version, "Not Like This, Not Like You" is a project that clearly reveals the producer's multifaceted perspective, pairing his base dembow bass with varying rhythmic selections and stylistic outlooks each time, while always sticking to medium, narcotic tempos. Far more electric and jagged is the title track, which from the digital-dancehall of the Equiknoxx moves through more abstract, technoid territory in the second's variations. If the "sauna mix" of “For Your Consideration” captures quick vocal snippets within slow dub weaves and sweaty synthetic effusions, the “gym mix” completely overhauls its shape, flirting with garage elements and rarefied tech-house influences. Even in just twenty minutes, Henzo's universe (and by extension the label's own) seems to promise sparks.

 

 

Nandele Maguni is more than just a producer. He's a key figure in Mozambique, having helped innovate the country's electronic scene and assisted many young people looking to breaks into the industry. A true pioneer, in other words, with an idiosyncratic, futuristic approach to beatmaking, built on solid hip-hop foundations later reshaped with total freedom. Traditional chants set the pace of “Virose”, whose thick yet narcotic rhythmic pulse amplifies their spiritual power. “Module” is pure industrial emphasis, bristling synths and menacing visions cutting deep into the base pattern, constantly giving it new contours. “Kanhola” continues along the same lines, but here the beat takes on greater centrality, drawing the rest of the sonic palette and the vocal loops toward itself. And while “FF” almost stumbles into grime's own pathways, it's “Impact 61+” that finds points of contact with classic techno, making sure the sampled dialogue at the start works as an alienating introduction to the track before it evolves into a solitary bangers late-night piece. Curious, bold and enterprising, Nandele is sure to keep setting new milestones for the whole Mozambican electronic scene, and by extension for the entire Lusophone diaspora.

 

 

Not only “Guerrilla”, among the most powerful and singular electronic records of the year, 2020 also saw Nazar Simões expand his expressive research through a fair number of EPs, kicking off sustained experimentation that took into account the African diaspora and its incredibly rich sonic heritage. “Territorial”, with contributions from key figures in the field such as Citizen Boy, P.Adrix (now known as A.K.Adrix) and Slikback delivers the most interesting and cohesive work of the series, a project that starts from his unmistakable dark-kuduro and expands it in every direction, toward the batida of his Lisbon cousins or the gqom South African, keeping the wild, raw energy of the original inspiration fully intact. The result is nothing short of gripping, with the three original tracks and the three remix that preserve its reactive, impetuous character, bending and distorting it toward the most disparate stylistic tangents. Where “Clan” works with metallic, industrial patterns that immediately recall the tales of civil war from this year's album, Slikback's rework completely reworks its premises, if anything making it even more jagged, pure sandpaper laid over the gabber-adjacent phrasing of the pattern rhythmic. Similar operations lead “2 African Sickos” to be dressed in entirely new clothes: what remains identical is the driving spirit of the operation, cementing collaborations across vast distances and making Africa a far more global, all-encompassing concept than its geographic borders suggest. Unstoppable energy.

 

 

There's something bittersweet about this new EP from brothers Ed and Tom Russell, better known as Overmono. Already underway before the lockdown spring-like (its title track was played at the last live appearance live before the venues shut down), the new EP carries with it the difficulties of making music when club when venues aren't open and don't even have a hypothetical reopening date, when your entire environment lives on the edge of constant uncertainty. Even so, the duo has truly given us what we need, a nostalgic journey through Nineties breakbeat and techno, crafted with the care of those who have studied rave cultureinside and out, without falling into the postcard effect of someone who couldn't have lived through that era for reasons of age. With bouncing synths underscoring its progression and subtle melodic touches, the title track is pure ambient-techno immersion, a track as hallucinated as it is endowed with its own distinct atmospheric impact. Where in "Aero" the ghost of Aphex Twin looms (though transported into the diffracted present of Actress), "Clipper (Another 5 Years)" smoothly detaches its breaks paying tribute (in their own words) to the greatness of the recently departed Andrew Weatherall. In their own way, the brothers have crafted an exceptionally comforting EP.

 

 

What a rush this "Game Over" is! And what production skill this Sansibar has! While moving within decidedly classic territory (we're talking Nineties trance, dub and ambient techno), the Finn's propulsive touch and his sense of progression reveal a deep knowledge of the material and a genuine ability to recombine it, avoiding cliché and faded photocopying. Across the EP's four tracks, the adrenaline level stays consistently high, with no need for violent excess or electric shocks, but with the skill of someone who knows exactly how to pull the strings of the territory he's working in. Powerful structures move hand in hand with winding atmospheres, as sinuous as the vocal samples they carry, made an integral part of the sonic fabric. House echoes coexist peacefully with the most impactful ambient-techno touches (the brilliant title track), the most Porter Ricks-like dub takes on almost the hazy contours of trance ("S1 Type Beat"), before the latter actually finds room in the post-rave echoes of "Sissi". More obsessive and jittery, "Sunshine In Gommorah" is a pure celebration of Detroit and its myth, and even though its most recognizable reference doesn't dent the happiness of its structure one bit, it knows how to work the synths to craft melancholic melodies lost in space. Among the best moments in a year that this EP would gladly have sweated out in club. 

 

 

We've already covered on these pages "Shaytoon", Sepehr's dark and sensual debut album, as obsessive in its more industrial offshoots as it is capable of slipping on velvet gloves and offering icy coldwave embraces. It's with the same title chosen for the album ("little devil" in Persian) that the producer launches his label, aimed at exploring the duality inherent in his Iranian-American background, and thus at being able to test the limits of his sonic exploration without any obstacles. At the crossroads between the damp darkness of long play and earlier electro experiments, "Crown Jewel" is, as expected, an intense work, as suited to the club (the propulsive drive of the title track offering hypothetical links between Sandwell District and the spatiality of KamavoSian, "Night Is Young" moving even more briskly along the tracks of a suffocating nocturnal techno) as it is functional for pure listening (the sparse, Raime-style percussion of "Cloak Of Flames"). Menacing vocal samples, sound fragments fished out of time, escapes from an all-engulfing darkness: even without the album's runtime, this latest project loses none of its evocative power or command of pattern timbral, proving to be a dense and dynamic work. Sepehr's talent is clearly consolidated here.