100 words music reviews
Bass has sifted the pockets of its sub-genres for decades, perpetually in search of a fresh direction. But like a recent graduate with strict, expectant parents, the genre often falls back on a sturdy, lucrative route. Eschewing even a whiff of ‘Youtube Football Compilation Music,’ ‘SCREAMER’ plugs spirited pop melodies and a scorched, glitchy coating […]
quinn’s big successes have always been focusing on her components philosophically; on ‘quinn,’ the production has caught up. Despite the record’s consistent, lo-ist of lo-fi sheen, it belongs in a list alongside music from anarchist, diverse oddballs including Dean Blunt and 100gecs. The completeness of ‘quinn’ in the face of its manifold genres is more […]
The late DJ Rashad was a pioneer in the old-fashioned sense of the word. He treated tracks like shuffling explorations—tests even. The goal was always to induce dance, but the creative garnishes atop ‘Double Cup’ are what make it a classic of the footwork genre. Speaking through samples is an effective way to communicate: Rashad […]
‘Icons’ has entertainment spewing from its pores. Each track is unchained, so that it trespasses over to the other senses: one can almost see the clubby spectacle and touch the metallic industrialism. Two Shell are wild enough to exercise their alien vision using human tools: the pads are wailed on and the elements of distortion […]
The finances for ‘Classifieds’ are explained by its front cover, which is plastered with real advertisements. Like similar disco-electronic musicians of the time (think Arthur Russell) there’s an off-kilter structure to Rypma’s beats that could only have been produced by an artist whose vision has yet to be corrupted and obscured. The interludes are suffused […]
Wordcolour holds an uncanny artistic ability to suspend order and blur familiar sounds. 2020’s ‘Juno Way’ EP was a carefully produced record about people in structural liminality, uncertain of relationships or situations. ‘TTWBATG’ transfers this superficial tumult onto a more natural canvas, where both human nature and non-human life forms are heard as fundamentally wandering, […]
I first heard this record through cheap earphones on a walk in London—the noise from the city tore a hole in my cans and emptied itself in. Soon after the barking dogs and scraping bins fell into the slipstream of ‘Like Weather,’ they started to swim in it. Each unintentional sonic burst from outdoors sounded […]
The early years of one of Britain’s most important electronic music labels marked a sonic shift from the tectonic bass of dubstep. Kode9 and his connectors emphasised wiry glitches, massacring samples and testing sounds in a way that upended what electronic music could be. It no longer necessarily orbited around dance or a summit of […]
Thirteen years after work on Afrodelic’s solo debut began, it arrives. The Lithuanian-born Victor Diawara offers a diverse collection dedicated to his Malian father—celebrated poet and scholar, Gaoussou. His touching salute takes the form of immaculate production that swims through crisp guitar-playing and inspired writing. Afrodelic’s rhythmic personality is a testament to and cherishing of […]
100 words music reviews 