More hotness from the Blood Orange LP, this time in the form of the video for the closing track, one of the album's highlights.
Review coming soon but this is too gorgeous not to share.
Video: Time Will Tell - Blood Orange
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Stream: Cupid Deluxe - Blood Orange
Very excited for this… You can currently stream Dev Hynes' forthcoming Blood Orange album in full on YouTube. Check it out.
Video / Single Review: Us - Movement
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This new sophomore release from Sydney's Movement has been out for a few weeks now but I've only just had time to really digest it and it's deserving of a listen.
Us is a deep and sexy tangle of 90s R&B and rough rumbling bass dance music. Movement wear their hearts on their sleeves and this is a record that gives a voice to the inner thoughts of one half of a couple on the brink of… well, something. A confidence exudes as the vocals define the inevitability of reciprocated feelings and yet there is a nervous anxiousness - "And I could take you right now", the falsetto male vocals assert one moment, shortly before questioning "Did I push it too much". As a result the track bristles with a sort of confidence undermined by a very real sounding uncertainty and a sense of gender politics, the hollow and ambient sound only adding to the sense of mis-firing connections.
Us also includes two remixes. San Francisco's Giraffage lays down a sea of complex synth stabs, bass and glossy funk keys that opens the track up to create something a little more sensual. Kowton provides the concluding mix, moving in the other direction, offering up an intense bass-heavy version threaded with steel drums and urban intensity.
Us is out now through Modular, available to purchase on MP3 from Amazon.co.uk [affiliate link]. Check out the video on YouTube above or listen to the EP in full through Spotify:
Album Review: Dust Red Skies - Dust Red Skies
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Dust Red Skies is the new self-titled album and collaboration from San Francisco based John Brian Kirby, who I've previously featured on BlackPlastic.co.uk in his Nonagon guise.
Yet this is a very different album to Days Away, The Nonagon album that I last heard from Kirby. Where that was an album that felt enjoyably lost in the left-field this is a more polished affair, not that Days Away lacked finesse. For starters, this is a partnership - so Kirby is joined by a vocalist in the form of Vibrasol's Angie Donkin, whose vocals grant this album a more human feel with a tangible emotional core. Donkin's vocals feel very much like the centre to these tracks - they are full and soar over some of these tracks to create a sparse feeling sound where the music creates auditorium's for her to sing in.
Which isn't to undermine the music itself. Kirby's productions glisten with little details - the subtle strumming of a guitar or crunchy rhythms that then at times endure the full-frontal assault of massive wobbly bass lines. But there is an undeniable accessibility to this music - it feels like in their collaboration Kirby and Donkin have tempered each other, and often the result is positive, as on the sparkling melodies and vocal harmonies of "Shadowless".
The sound Kirby is going for feels like dusty desert evenings of the near-future - there is almost a country feel to the songwriting itself and it feels like that is where the album's title comes from. It is reminiscent of Hybrid's more melodic vocal moments.
The only downside of this is that it feels a little like some of Kirby's rough edges have been worn down in the creation of this album. The production still impresses in it's technical ability, but it may not have quite the same verve when it is bound to supporting vocals so much of the time.
Dust Red Skies helps to demonstrate Kirby's enduring and varied talents if nothing else, and is well worth a listen. You can stream and purchase it on Bandcamp.
EP Review: Giving It All - Bondax
Bondax have been bothering the more popular and accessible end of house music for a year or so now - this new release follows up on Gold, and manages to take their sound to the next level.
"Giving It All" arrives as popular dance music seems to be heading firmly back into the disco sound that led to the dreaded 'Funky House' sound popular just over ten years ago. Thankfully Bondax are somewhat better than Phats & Smalls. This is a polished house track complete with infectious piano riffs, sunny and soulful female vocals and just a dash of Balearic ambience... But it's undoubtedly aimed at the charts as much as the dancefloor, with the sheen almost tangible, yet it's so catchy it is hard not to at least admire the brassiness.
The release comes with three mixes. The FKJ Remix is cut-up with a laid back funky approach that contrasts to the original and is a bit less overtly commercial. The Friend Within Remix pushes the piano up in the mix and layers a thick, dubby sound over everything else - it has a harder, garage-influenced sound than anything else here.
Joe Goddard predictably delivers the star remix here, his version instantly notable for its comparative subtlety. Stripping the track back to the vocal and a simple cosmic bass line this is much closer to a picturesque sunset then a meander through grimey bars and clubs full of coloured shots and stag-dos. The vocals are free of effects, giving them a much more honest feel, and a organic feeling percussion that still retains a mechanical junkyard edge adds some movement.
Giving It All is out now on Relentless, available from Amazon.co.uk on MP3 [affiliate link]. Watch the video below: