ISSUE #6
No Dimmer - CharlesTheFirst
Charles Elias Ingalls fuses atmospheric bass and hip-hop flexes with serpentine grace on his new LP - No Dimmer is a sleek alien vessel with surprising horsepower artfully disguised beneath iridescent aerodynamics.
CharlesTheFirst continues to forage the horizon of bass music over the course of his latest 6 tracks, equal parts undulating sub bass and breathy, tranquil atmospheres. This bundle of work has been in process for a long time - we got our first taste at 2am in the Late Night Tent at Summer Meltdown 2019 - and Ingalls has invested a lot of time and emotion into this release.
"Feels amazing to finally let go of this music and give it to the world. I could write forever about each one of these songs and what they mean to me, but I’ll just say that I hold them very close to my heart.”
The most striking things about No Dimmer aren’t striking at first - they are the dynamic movements from one ecosystem to another, transpositions so smooth and so complete at the same time that you feel you’ve just walked from one room to another and arrived on another world.
Room to Breathe, the first single let loose into the wild, opens with the sound of wind through branches and a rippling, reverberating rhode that drips serenity. This peaceful, wide open space suddenly contracts, but just so that our peripheries are focused into a pearlescent repeating baseline and affected vocal and percussion chops. The feeling is very much the same, but fall foliage has molted into a colorful hide of smooth scale. The new beast wends its way through the wild with increasing vigor until we’re greeted by the real drop - an inhalation cut through by droning, whirring bass that snaps and sparks, tugging on your ear like the tractor beam of a suddenly visible spacecraft. The whole change is over within 30 seconds, and we’re left somewhere familiar but new, a reiteration in new flesh.
This mastery of tempo, texture and transportation is evident throughout the following 30 minutes, and we’re delighted at how re-listenable this album feels. Ove 4 features reverberating hip-hop bars over ethereal vox and gently humming bass that dives through tunnels and soars over arches. The title track, No Dimmer, adds a bit more serration while remaining ethereal and playful, and Ingalls showcases a thoughtful organization of breakbeats and breakdowns to take full advantage of the song’s momentum. Chynna’s melting autotune harkens to Travis Scott, but a Travis Scott only half-here, half-elsewhere.
CharlesTheFirst has been on the rise for some time now, but No Dimmer marks a new height of cohesion and innovation in a scene that desperately needs fresh air. We’re most impressed with the subtleties on this album, the flex of bass muscle gently laid beneath melodic and atmospheric elements that make the pulse of energy subliminal, within you before you even know you’re moving.
Charles visits San Francisco on November 14th and Portland on December 16th.
Image courtesy of This Song Is Sick
We can’t wait to hear what the young producer has in store for us next. Check out No Dimmer - you deserve it.
♥ Zach
Wild - Tourist
Holy fuck! Today will go down in history as a legendary New Music Friday. We have been blessed with new LPs from so many of our favorites including Battles’ Juice B Crypts, Jacques Greene’s Dawn Chorus, Floating Point’s Crush, and an honorary mention of Teebs’ Black Dove EP. It’s going to be a great weekend.
But what I really want to gush about (and truly can’t recommend enough) is the release of Tourist’s second album this year and third LP in his undoubtedly impressive discography. Wild is a beautiful collection of emotive music that sends shivers down your spine as if compelling you to get up and move your body. Queue it up now!
Wild represents the evolution of Tourist as an electronic musician. When you take a listen to his debut LP, U (2016) and compare it to Wild (or even Everyday which released earlier this year), you’d think you were listening to two completely different artists. The UK-based William Phillips entered our musical vernacular as an artist you listen to while raging with your friends and dancing it out while on your preferred substance of choice. And while we have a deep admiration for U, Tourist has gone from college house party music to a more matured dynamic sound that is equal parts thought-provoking and booty-shaking.
For the past few months leading up to today’s release, Tourist had released 4 singles out of the 10-track album, so naturally, we worried that we were being spoiled and hearing too much of the new album. But, damn. There isn’t one track on this album that we do not love.
Tourist hits Portland on December 16th and San Francisco on December 20th.
Image courtesy of NPR
Take a listen, thank me later, and don’t forget to check out the albums mentioned above! Have a fab weekend!
♥ Mando
