ISSUE #32
HEART ATTACK/VAULTS
By BRONSON
From world-renowned electronic duo Odesza and up-and-coming DJ Golden Features comes a new project with nothing to prove and a ton of potential. BRONSON is a musical vacation for three producers at the top of their game, and in the short time they’ve been in the public spotlight they’ve released two tracks and promised a full album later in May. HEART ATTACK hits somewhere between trance and deep house, featuring ethereal female vocals that are pitch shifted down for the hook and a thumping, syncopated bassline that surges underneath angelic layers of vocal ambience, sounding like the best of Above and Beyond with a touch of Dirtybird weight to drive it through. VAULTS enters with a seamless transition and wraps itself once more in floating, reverberating vocal layers, but quickly reveals itself to be something else entirely. Degraded synth stabs crawl upwards like fingers of lightning over blown out breakbeats and massive sub-bass, glitching percussion and Bladerunner-esque synth flares entering for an extremely tasty bridge before falling over the edge of a sonic waterfall and hanging in the air for a beautiful interlude. VAULTS is definitely my favorite of the two, but both have me very excited to see what this new project has in store.
You probably know Odesza already, but check out Golden Features here and keep an eye on BRONSON here.
Goodbye Blue
By BADBADNOTGOOD and Jonah Yano
Jazz-trio-gone-wild BADBADNOTGOOD have penned another collaboration with singer/songwriter Jonah Yano as part of an ethereal double release. Goodbye Blue is a departure from the rest of BBNG’s discography in its lack of percussion, instead focusing on delicate harp arpeggios, Yano’s feathery vocals and a mournful oboe solo that has just come in from the rain. Yano opens the track in murmured French, Tu es le blue de ma vie (you are the blue of my life) before mumbling Did I say that right? and continuing in English. This is a love song in the past-tense, the singer having left “Blue”, his lover, and only now acknowledging his mistakes.
I think you have to bluff to say some things
To eat alone with your winning grin.
The second track on this double release is a return to BBNG normalcy (read: greatness), featuring galloping drum fills and deep blue Rhodes progressions over the same foggy oboe, although in Glide it has found several mates to harmonize with. These two tracks are wonderful additions to any introspective quarantine afternoon and welcome news from our favorite modern jazz trio. Stay up on BBNG here and Jonah Yano here. Listen to their previous collaboration Nervous here.
Terraphage
By Ovid’s Withering
Seven long years after the explosive arrival of Scryers of the Ibis, a breakout LP that sought to combine the crushing polyrhythms of djent with the orchestral grandeur of symphonic black metal, metal pioneers Ovid’s Withering have released their second and final album, over 4 years in the making, Terrapahge. Founding guitarist and composer Aaron Rodriguez destroyed this band after multiple solicitations of his band member’s girlfriends for explicit photos, and former vocalist JJ “Shiv” Polacheck publicly disavowed Rodriguez on Facebook, but it seems that 2 former members have recruited vocalist Cael Foster to complete the partially composed album and release it to fans who have been rabid for a follow-up to what I would call one of the best metal albums of the decade. Terraphage doesn’t feature quite the same level of production Scryers benefited from, possibly due to a lack of resources from Rodriguez and his rich parents, but the things I love so dearly about the first album are present here as well: huge, juicy riffs over malevolent orchestral movements, frantic, spidery synths and somber piano passages over crisp, machine-gun like drum patterns. The vocals drip with almost the same level of grotesque ire that Shiv brought to the group, an incredible testament to Foster’s ability, and the lyrics are just as grand and full of malediction. Despite Ovid’s troubling past and the undeniable philosophical problems with supporting a predator like Rodriguez, Terraphage is just as undeniably a musical triumph the likes of which the metal world rarely sees. This is confirmed to be the last release from Ovid, but you can follow former-member’s other projects here, here, here and here.
Outland
by Ital Tek
If you haven't heard of Ital Tek before, you can thank us later. The British electronic artist has released his sixth album, Outland, and it's the perfect soundtrack for the current bleak state of the world. This 43-minute album takes you on a fly-by through gray, brutal cityscapes. Their canopies speckled with pulsating lights of all colors diffused by mist and moonlight amongst the night sky. Open Heart, for example, begins with staccato synths (whose melody is not unlike a cyberpunk version of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata) with deep, penetrating bass lines piloting you through the rainforest of skyscrapers. Fog condensing on the windshield. And out of somewhere, a thunder claps, and lightning strikes as the drop (about 3:20 into the track) illuminates the world as far as your eyes can see. It sets you up for the rest of the album's flight route: the pounding bass of Deadhead; the ethereal timbers and tones of Reverie; the dark cloud of Bladed Terrain looming over the rest of the album until its turn is up to pummel you into submission until the only thing you can do is dance. We implore you to check out the album start to finish, and give yourself to the music. Check out Outland and the rest of Ital Tek’s music on Bandcamp here.
Tautology I
by El Ten Eleven
The loop-centric Southern California-based duo, El Ten Eleven, is back with part one of their three-part Tautology album series. From their Spotify bio, Tautology is "a representation of life from teenage years, through middle-age, until the end of life." Tautology I thus takes the shape of heavy metal and math-rock inspired riffs, licks, and melodies. It's music onto which you were meant to unleash any lingering angst and frustration from your teenage years. Continuing their loop-centricity to create walls of intricate details, it continues to both impress and baffle me that this music is coming from just two people. If you need to project any quarantine-induced stress into proper head-banging, this is the album for you. Tautology I is out now with parts II and III out by September 2020. Check out El Ten Eleven’s bandcamp here!
Jam
by Darkstar
Electronic duo, Darkstar, delivers another single from their upcoming album , Civic Jams, later this year. Jam, is... well, a jam! Its smooth bass lines, dreamy synth melodies, and dissonant vocals are combined to make you undulate your body in ways that make random passers-by look through your window and think: if only I could ignore social distancing for three minutes and thirty seconds.
But alas.
Following the release of their single, Wolf earlier this Spring, Civic Jams is shaping up to be a quintessential album to throw on during sunset as your hot Summer’s day transcends into a warm Summer’s night. The best feeling in the world.
Civic Jams is out June 18th, via Warp and you can pre-order it now.
