Download: Gabrielle - Call Super

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Gabrielle (or Gabriel as it later became know on re-release) is regarded as a classic piece of house. With heavy but loose bass and lots of reverb it eventually became a bit of a poster child for UK Garage, despite originated from the US.

Here Call Super takes disperate elements from the original to make a entirely new cut-up chillwave epic. It feels like early days of summer, encapsulating a deep sense of yearning that ran through the original and, as the press release rightly points out, makes the whole thing feel way more Ballearic.

Call Super is Berlin based Joseph Richmond-Seaton and this follows the Staircase EP from earlier this year. Check out his Tumblr for more. Call Super resides on London label Five Easy Pieces.

You can stream and download Gabrielle by Call Super on the Soundcloud player below:

Call Super - Gabrielle by Five Easy Pieces 

BP x

Album Review: On the Water - Future Islands

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Last year's Future Islands album was a pleasant surprise - an early highlight from a new band unknown to me up until that point. On the Water is Future Islands' third album and it pretty much plays its cards just right.

As a band I'm surprised that Future Islands haven't had more success. Their blend of shoe-gazing fuzzy indie and 80s synths is undeniably very 'now'. And whilst singer Samuel T. Herring's vocals are deliberately abrasive this isn't an inaccessible band. Perhaps this fact hasn't escaped their notice either, as On the Water definitely feels like a play for the mainstream, as demonstrated by first single 'Balance', which recalls the Cure's ability to combine melody with angst.

Whilst On the Water's Future Islands have a rounder sound they start off by almost sinking. Compared to In Evening Air's kick start of 'Walking Through That Door' the opening title track here falls a little flat. It is all noise but with little to say and far too slow to not be saying anything at all. In comparison the duet of 'The Great Fire', with Wye Oak's Jenn Wasner, shows this is a band capable of applying softness amidst a raw aggression.

It is the latter portion of the album that really wins me over however. 'Where I Found You' is gorgeous synth pop with what could almost be a heartbeat for a rhythm. Appropriate for a song that wears its heart on its sleeve so proudly. 'Give Us the Wind' is even greater - a song that starts softly, as if to trick the listener this isn't a race, before breaking into soaring vocals that feel like the aural equivalent of a heavy foot on the accelerator as you fly into the corner.

When On the Water comes together it has some moments that outshine the best bits on Future Islands' last album. It may not have the impact I felt upon hearing In Morning Air, but that is probably just because I knew more of what to expect. Future Islands continue far more than much bigger bands.

BP x

On the Water is out tomorrow on Thrill Jockey, available from Amazon.co.uk on CD and LP [affiliate links].

Steve

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This is a music blog. Forgive me whilst I pay brief tribute to the man that was Steve Jobs.

There are not many strangers whose deaths touch me in the way that Jobs' has. It is a perculier feeling, like that felt as a teenager when your favourite musician died or band split up.

People tend to say that you are either an Apple person or a Windows person. With Jobs' passing this feels like a bizarre sentiment. We are just people and these are just products. But the thing that sticks with me is that Jobs approached design with a view that only the best is good enough. Sure, you may not be able to take it apart, upgrade it or use Flash on it (God forbid). But everything you can do on it will (almost) always just work. And it will be easy and intuitive to use. That approach has a lot of appeal - over the years so many people that used to berate my love of Apple products have become almost as fanatical about them as I.

Steve didn't see design as beautification, although his products were and are beautiful. He saw design as being concerned with how you use something, not how it looked, whilst relying on timeless clean lines (and Jonny Ive) for visuals.

Steve was a rock star. He may have made a lot of money and helped a lot of CEOs, but he also did a lot to piss a lot of people off. Good enough was never good enough and it was this mentality that saw Steve tear apart and revolutionise the music, mobile and now arguably personal computer markets. And, most importantly, give people a better experience as a result.

Thanks Steve.

BP 

Image source: Wired.

And yes, I wrote this on my iPad.