Published on
February 16, 2024
Category
Features
Essential weekend listening.
This week’s rundown is by VF’s Kelly Doherty, and contributors Annabelle Van Dort, Emily Hill and James Hammond.
Kali Malone
All Life Long
(Ideologic Organ)
Kali Malone’s fascination with drone, tuning and the undulation of wind instruments takes another bold step forward with the interrelated tracks of All Life Long. Having temporarily stepped aside from the organ for 2022’s excellent Living Torch, Malone returns to the instrument with gusto, placing it alongside a brass quintet and a choir as the three discrete elements that compositions shift between. Repeating harmonic themes across these three facets, All Life Long’s time slips and refrains build up a sense of sombre immersion.–JH
Adriaan de Roover
Other Rooms
(Dauw)
On his quietly contemplative second album, Other Rooms, Belgian experimental musician and composer Adriaan De Roover looks inward, shaping flowing electro-acoustic melodies that speak to a yearning central to the human condition. Initially recorded for a performance with Fennesz at the Église Notre-Dame de Laeken in 2020, De Roover revised Other Rooms into its final form in 2023. Other Rooms is filled with delicate ambient soundscapes that lilt vaporously into the sonic mist, at times dissolving into glitching feedback (“L’air Perdu”) but also finding sonic resolution through harmony (“Dank U”)—forging a striking sonic narrative of connection and disconnection.–AVD
Fred Frith
Guitar Solos/ Fifty
(Week-end Records)
Refusing to meet the guitar with its conventions, 1974’s Guitar Solos found Fred Frith putting the pickups at the wrong end of his guitar’s neck, before boundlessly setting off into the timbral possibilities of the instrument with an idiosyncratic array of extended techniques. A trailblazing record at the time, here it’s given a reissue with a twist–an accompanying LP of new material recorded on the same guitar. With no dulling of Frith’s talent, this one presents his distinct tapping techniques, harmonics, and electrical interventions in an arc of sound that spans half a century.–JH
Serpentwithfeet
GRIP
(Secretly Canadian)
Brooklyn artist serpentwithfeet returns with his third album, GRIP. An ode to Black queer nightlife, GRIP is both sensual and vulnerable as Serpentwithfeet the lust and power of fleeting touches on the dancefloor. Intriguing and poetic modern R&B filled with yearning and desire.–KD
The Future Sound Of Now
By any Other Name
(WeMe Records)
WeMe Records is a somewhat of an elusive label releasing some of the grittiest techno and electro bordering releases in the last 20 years. The Belgium-based outfit now welcomes ‘The Future Sound of London’ with By any Other Name, a stellar new compilation of previously unreleased sounds from the duo under various aliases. The unreleased tracks recorded in the early ’90s are a range of versatile club bangers, although some exist more on an ambient tip. There’s a deep sense of nostalgia throughout with that pumping hardcore-esque edge that brings joy to any dancefloor.–EH
Traces
No One (Can Tell I)
(ZamZam Sounds)
South London duo Traces land with a highly anticipated 7” on ZamZam sounds and it’s a room-shaking double-sider, sure to get the dancefloor skanking. On “No One”, Traces’ bass-centric sound reverberates with the spirit of soundsystem culture past and present: ragga-vocal samples ride atop bubbling dubstep beats, dub-sirens cut through the reverb-laden haze. On the flip, “Can Tell I” is an incendiary 140 stormer, brimming with bad man swagger and propulsive rhythms. Released as a vinyl-only limited press of 700, so don’t sleep on it!–AVD
Liquid DnB-like Ambient Grime 2
Liquid DnB-like Ambient Grime 2
(Sneaker Social Club)
From throwing parties in Berlin through to releasing some of the best contemporary bass music, Sneaker Social Club are full of surprises and heavy hitters. The latest record on the imprint comes from the legendary producer Liquid DnB-like Ambient Grime 2, the new alias from the esteemed Luke J Murray (1-800 Roadman DSP, NONEXISTENT, among many others). The self-titled project pages homage to Murray’s musical heritage inspired by the drum and bass records purchased while developing his sense of musical style, touching on the corners of genres. This is an innovative release and an exciting new project for the talented music maker.–EH
