Loving this emotive lead track from the EP of the same name, Ancient Light. Check out the full EP when it drops on 16 June.
Stream: Ancient Light - AllmanBrown
in stream
EP Review: Scream - Distorted Beauty feat. Danique
Scream is the new release from Distorted Beauty, a collaboration between Los Angeles' Andy Slate and Alexander Koning, based in Berlin. The duo have release through Global Underground in the past so it is unsurprising that Scream itself is a deep tech-house record.
The original is minimal, delicate and deep track with nervous vocals from Danique that contrast with the robotic motion of rolling sub-bass, slow pads and extended chord sequences. It is a reserved record, moody and stark.
Three remixes of Scream are included on the EP. The Mario Aureo Remix is a little more peaky, taught bumpy drum beats and reverb creating a track a little more upbeat but just as atmospheric. The Kid Culture Dark Dub is much darker with a focus on carving out a tight techno-orientated groove.
The fantastic Gabriel Anada delivers the star mix however. The vocals from the original are put front and centre even higher in the mix. Long pans are kept in whilst Ananda adds some warmer, almost funky touches that introduce more humanity into the track. The result is something that feels all the more heartbreaking, highlighting the anguish in Danique's brilliant vocals.
Original track Butterflies rounds off the release and it is a bouncy techie track with lots of crackle and life in the background giving it a timeless feel.
Scream is out on 28 May through [Percep-tion] Records.
Titeknots
EP Review: Bad Guys Won / Hummingbirds - Titeknots
There's a lush Classic vibe to this latest double A-side single from London house producer Titeknots, the third in quick succession coming out in Tru Thoughts. It also reminds me of the kind of sound Swag were pushing back in the early noughties, but it still sounds just as fresh today.
Expect heads-down house music with plenty of jazzy flourishes, in other words. Up first, Bad Guys Won is a swirling flurry of keys and looped live bass, together with sharp drums and cut-up vocals.
Hummingbirds is even fresher in my opinion. Taughtly wound bass creates a looping sensation throughout the track, set against shuffling rhythms that give the track a real basement jazz vibe. Quality.
Bad Guys Won / Hummingbirds is out now through Tru Thoughts. Stream all of the Tru Thoughts Titeknots singles on Soundcloud below. You can purchase the single on MP3 through Amazon.co.uk [affiliate link].
Stream: Flashbacks - Next To Paradise
in stream
Lovely bouncy electronic house music with a London twist.
The Emperor Machine
Album Review: Like A Machine - The Emperor Machine
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Andy Meecham's new album as The Emperor Machine follows a slew of slinky singles featuring his new vocal partner and it mostly delivers on the promise of those releases that led us up to this point.
Meecham has specifically highlighted his love of the album format, paying tribute to the fact that albums enable you to get 'weirder' in a way shorter forms of music do not... That combined with that new (still curiously unnamed) vocalist gives Like A Machine a left-field analogue component that certainly benefits his sound.
Opening with the evil bass-heavy sounds of Theme From Magical Ring, Like A Machine initially sounds like a bad-ass sci-fi funk exploitation flick. It screams out for someone to create a version with some rhymes dropped on it - the thick and sinister and slow melodies the sickest hip-hop track you never heard.
Theme From Magical Ring is quickly followed by a stripped back, more raw and punk influenced version of the title track and lead single. It is another similarly aggressive and foreboding piece, full of the sensuality it always had but back here with added vitriol. At three-and-a-half-minutes it will leave you wanting, but perhaps that is a statement in itself.
The first six-minutes of Like A Machine are almost certainly its best, but that says more about how electric they feel than it does of the rest of the album. Current single RMI Is All I Want introduces a disco swagger that re-occurs a couple of times through the album, particularly on the Todd Terje featuring So.Ma.So - expect plenty of analogue synth and bass lines that make your backside bounce. Both are playful yet grimey.
Free from the constraints of the single format The Emperor Machine concept benefits in exactly the increased expansiveness Meecham has alluded to. That rework of the title track would never lead a single, and there are moments of psychedelic weirdness - as on the slow and cosmic Sonique. Varied and assertive, Like A Machine is a weird, but enjoyable, trip.
Like A Machine is out on May 19 through Southern Fried. Pre-order from Amazon.co.uk on CD and MP3 [affiliate links]. Preview RMI Is All I Want on Soundcloud below: