Week One.
So here we are - I have a crisp £10 ready to spend on a record, cd or mp3. Just one mind. Every week from here on in its just one purchase a week in a bid to not only save my wallet but appreciate music a bit more as well as hopefully highlighting some new and interesting acts, producers and labels. So here we go...this is what most took my eye in one of the quietest weeks for music releases of the year....
Spatial - Infra001 EP (Infrasonics) 12"
Here's the blurb from the Piccadilly Records website: With a debut EP boasting two journeys into rumbling, echoing, haunted dancehall minimalism, each known by a five-figure code number rather than a name, low frequency newcomer Spatial is one of a growing band of post-Burial producers whose attention to evocative detail in their music is as great as their reluctance to self-promote. In some hands this anti-stance could be massaged into an attention-diverting image in itself, but Spatial makes a compelling case for the virtues of less versus more and may well have produced one of 2009's most essential dubstep releases, right at the start of the year. Joe Muggs' review in The Wire tells it like this: '[2008's] clearest trend in dubstep is 'future garage', a technologically-enhanced re-imagining of the sound's 2-step origins by Martyn, 2562, Ramadanman & co. On his debut productions, Londoner Spatial could have risked simply reworking this new formula: the microhouse clicks, Basic Channel washes and clean subs are certainly present and correct. However his understanding of original UK garage's clipped shuffle, snappy woodblock hits and compressed emotion goes way beyond pastiche, and the incorporation of older rave elements like "80723"'s Detroit strings and riffs and "80207"'s contrast between cushioning alto vocal samples and sharp stabs creates a distinctive sound world. Most of all, though, it's the expert manipulation of space to give a sense of buoyancy, of loosened gravity, that make stepping inside these four tracks so inviting."
A limited edition 12" of 500 copies? Mentions of fusing dubstep with Detroit? I'm certainly interested. And it's got a cool sleeve.
You can listen to streams of the tracks here:
Let's see what else there is...
Fever Ray - If I Had A Heart (Rabid) Digital onlyThe first solo release from Karin Dreijer Andersson who sings with THE KNIFE sounds like the opening credits to a new David Lynch production. In fact if this was on the Inland Empire soundtrack it wouldn't surprise me (it's not stupid).
The debut album is out on March 23rd. Hopefully it'll be on vinyl.
If this was on a 7" or 12" it would be an instant purchase. Unfortunately there is something very depressing about just buying an mp3.
There is also the new Animal Collective album out this week which has been receiving lots of hype and chatter as it sounds alot more focused and like the Panda Bear album which came out. From the soundclips it just sounds too a bit too summery for the current arctic conditions here in London.
My other option would be to pick up the Nite Jewel album I've been meaning to buy for the past few weeks. I bought her cd directly from her a while ago and she has released a 12" on Italians Do It Better but this is the LP on Gloriette. 10 tracks of downtempo female vocalled (one l or two?) electronics taking in Kate Bush amongst other influences.
Hmmmmm. Not sure what to do. A bit of futuristic detroit inspired dubstep, the nite jewel LP or an mp3 from the singer from one of my favourite bands of the past few years....I'll have a nap and see what I feel like later on I think. Maybe something else will just pop and solve this quandry for me.
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