Do The Right Thing

Some more new electronic music for your enjoyment, from Mighty Force, from Paisley Dark and from Duncan Gray. I sometimes feel that writing about instrumental, electronic music leads to a certain amount of repetitive description, words like chug, synth, bass, cosmic, dark, dub and acidic re- arranged in various permutations. Needless to say, they don't always do the music justice. 

J- Lower (Jeff Lowes) records for Mighty Force. His latest album, Quanta, came out two weeks ago, an eleven track tour de force built on warm, soft drum pads, thick bass and light, ascending melody lines. Opening track Hive sets the scene, a track that builds into something that soars and lifts. The eight minute wonder Astral Awakenings has the same warm synth and drum sounds, a gently prodding rhythm and insistent melodies. You can play the whole thing from start to finish or drop in on any of the eleven tracks and find something to warm the heart and stimulate the mind. Get Quanta at Bandcamp. 

At Paisley Dark the latest EP comes via label boss John Paynter and co- producer Ben Lewis' A Space Age Freak Out complete with a full line up of remixes- Airsine, Cosmikuro, Hogt I Tak, Ben Hunt, Isis Moray, Keith Forrester, Plastic GRN, The Machine Soul and Viper Patrol are all present and correct. 

The original track is Song Of Siraba, a six minute dark disco outing that thumps along, high grade acidic chug. Airsine strips it down and slows it down, a slow burning acid churn. Cosmikuro follows suit, faint hint of ghostly backing vocals and increasingly chunky bassline coming to the fore. Keith Forrester speeds it up, strobe light, high tempo. Viper Patrol go metallic chug, lasers and widescreen sci fi. Isis Moray turn up the distortion and overload the limiters. Find those remixes and the others, all eleven versions, at Paisley Dark's Bandcamp. 

After Mighty Force in Exeter and Paisley Dark in Leeds we head to Slough where Duncan Gray is firmly back in the driving seat and releasing monthly tracks from his stockpile of recordings. In December he gave us Microfreaking, a seven minute throbber with synth and bass battling it out. January saw the release of Somebody Is Missing, a bassline and melodica heads down, slo mo, four four tribute to the departed, with a bass that never lets up- wonderful dubbed out disco. Right at the end of January Duncan dropped Do The Wrong Thing, a leftfield, off kilter delight that nods to Bowie and Iggy in West Berlin, Andrew Weatherall's Scrutton Street bunker and the never- ending thud of the four four kick drum. The wrong thing is most definitely the right thing. 

Friday Dub Disco Party

Earlier this year Matt Gunn released an EP titled Nowhere, three tracks long and led by the long drifting dubby electronics/ guitars of Something Ain't Wrong If Something Ain't Right- a track that sounded a little like early Verve produced by Adrian Sherwood. Matt's finishing the year with a new EP, four tracks brought together as Electric Dub Cuts. Big Static has a digital reggae bounce, long slow synth chords and the kind of space and feel of The Orb. Wicker Dub is credited to Gordon and Gunn, a seven minute odyssey with chopped up voices from TV adverts, an oompty sounding kick drum, the kind of bassline that gets a nervous system response and synths that prickle the skin and make the hairs on the nape of your neck stand up. 

The third track- Someone Else's Dream (Matt Gunn Dub Mix) by Electric Wood- is a woozy, bluesy, late night howl with a thumping dub rhythm. Electric Dub Cuts concludes with Dub Electric- eight minutes long and the sort of dubbed out indie dance that used to take up all of side B of a 12" single, the results of a guitar band sent spinning into the cosmos by a talented remixer. Lovely stuff. Get all four over at Matt Gunn's Bandcamp treasure trove. 

Out on Duncan Gray's Tici Taci today is the latest EP from Uj Pa Gaz, four tracks out of Tirana, Albania. It's an Adriatic delight, the blissed out feel of Balearica crossed with the chuggy Tici Taci sound and something else, the Tirana magic ingredient. Outerdubelic is expansive and led by a wonderful guitar topline over twinkling synths and chunky drums. Simple Brain is cut from similar cloth, optimistic and forward thinking psychedelic dance music, long synth chords and bursts of acidic squiggle. 

Dissimilar Function is a slo mo treat, a heady, dancing under the stars kind of track, an acid undertow with a two note refrain that splatters itself across the mix, grin inducing, ecstatic stuff. ALFOS via Albania. Shok cuts the tempos again and shuffles in, a voice buried somewhere in the, keys and synths, maybe a guitar, chuggy drums, sunsets... wonderful. Get it at Tici Taci. 

Edit: due to an admin error the release of Outerdubelic is delayed by a few weeks. There are some clips of each track at Soundcloud.

In Leeds Paisley Dark continues to put out high quality releases. The latest comes from Viper Patrol, a wonky acid/ dark disco track called Dancing Voices. The original comes with two remixes, one by  Cosmikuro and one by A Space Age Freak Out. Cosmikuro heads for the darker edges of the dancefloor, shimmering shards of guitar and funky clipped riffs lighting the way. A Space Age Freak Out freaks out, a psyche dub extravaganza. 

The second track is Def Charge- more dark disco with a trippy edge. The remixes of this one come from Ian Vale and Airsine. Ian Vale's is bass heavy and percussive. Airsine's is propulsive and insistent, punctuated by rippling synths and shouts. The whole package is at Bandcamp. 

A Italia

By the time this post is published I shall be in the air, flying to Italy for a week's holiday. The three of us are landing in Napoli later this morning, two days and nights there and then five on a hillside overlooking Maiori and the Amalfi coast. At some point we are going to Pompeii and Herculaneum. At several points we will be enjoying pizza, local produce (wine, tomatoes, lemon pastries) and the odd Negroni. As a result there will be no posts here for a week but don't worry, I'm filling today's post with a load of music for you to enjoy and explore while I'm away.

A week ago Daniel Avery announced the release of a new album in October, Tremor (out on Hallowe'en, the same night he plays New Century Hall in Manchester). In advance of Tremor Daniel gave us Rapture In Blue, a single with Cecile Believe on vocals and guitars from Andy Bell (whose music with Ride, GLOK and solo has been featured here regularly and who is currently treading the boards with Oasis). Rapture In Blue took a few plays to really get under my skin but now it's firmly there. It's a change of direction compared to what came before- slow mo 4AD goth/ techno pop. 

Also out last week is a new track from the reformed Factory Floor, Tell Me. Tough edged and propulsive, with thumping beats and acid synths, Tell Me is very much after dark music, with New Order's  Stephen Morris adding his expertise to the drum programming. Nic Void's vocal is at the intersection between human and robotic. At Bandcamp there's a short and extended version available . 

Rich Thair and Ali Friend's Number is a post- punk/ disco party outfit, the Red Snapper pair having the freedom to do something outside their main band. Back in 2019 they released an album called Binary. A few days ago they put the first single from a forthcoming album out, the funked up Le Boucle Nouveau. The drums are absolutely on it and the rhythm is irresistible. There are pianos and synth squiggles and a choral vocal. There's a Duncan Grey remix forthcoming and then an album- Pollinate- is due to follow on Ramrock Records. 

Two weeks ago Paisley Dark released an EP by Jay- Son, Tales Of Freedom, an original mix and five remixes- dark cosmic disco with laser beams firing and a gliding bassline. The remixes come from Ian Vale, Hogt I Tak, Viper Patrol, Keith Forrester and this one from Cosmikuro which throbs and thumps deliciously. The whole EP is here. 

Over at Mighty Force there is more acid techno out now courtesy of Byron Carignan and an album called Symmetrical Universe. The ten tracks burst with energy and acid techno, synths overloaded and basslines wiggling, and all manner of interstellar and galactic references in the track titles, tracks such as Nebula Groove, Astral Acid and Spacewave Symphony. Mighty Force don't ever put a foot wrong and this is yet another release that I'll be coming back to in months to come- get it here. 

Finally, something Italian to sign off with. In 2017 a compilation called Welcome To Paradise (Italian Dream House 89- 93) followed by second and third volumes a year later. The albums are chock full of the deep, rich, euphoric, sunrise/ sunset sound of Italo house, Italian producers and DJs making full use of the new technology that was arriving in the late 80s. This one is as good as any, a 1989 12" single by Morenas. Ciao!

Somnambulism

Shimmering Lights

The 12th of December is possibly leaving it late for delivering old school style acid house/ wonky techno monsters into the world but this is a time for gifts and giving and Paisley Dark are offering a brand new EP of the finest quality today- its not free, you'll have to pay for it, but its worth every penny. Ben Hunt's Shimmering Lights is deliberately nodding its head   towards classic, early 90s Underworld. The monstrous wobbling 303 bass and synapse bothering synths are one thing- the vocal sample, 'I see patterns in everything/ Everything everything', is another. Cowgirl here we come. It really kicks up and off after the midpoint, everything coming together...

Shimmering Lights comes with six remixes courtesy of Mindbender, Cosmikuro, Ben himself with label boss John Paynter, Rude Audio, Keith Forrester, and Airsine. Mindbender hits the settings marked 'sci trance'. Ben and John's Space Age Freak Out twists the original even more and adds a synth whistle. Keith Forrester strips things down for an acid techno ride. Airsine cuts the tempo for early set chug. 

The Cosmikuro remix really stood out for me, a beautifully handled trip from the a Leeds based electronic psychedelicist, found sounds taking the Shimmering Lights out into the forest, the 'everything everything' sample at the centre along with that bassline and a big old kick drum prodding onwards. Lysergic delights. The other one that I've been clicking replay on is from South London's Rude Audio remix. Rude Audio take us on a dubwise excursion in their remixes, but here Mark goes for early 90s dancefloor adverting, bringing the thump of acid house early and aiming for the lasers, the dry ice and the strobe. Rude Audio four four dub techno with timbales and 303 mayhem. Get the Shimmering Lights EP here.

Leeds to Sao Paulo is a journey of 5, 978 miles according to the internet. In Sao Paulo lives Pandit Pam Pam, a Brazilian musician/ producer who has lit up 2024 with an album, singles and remixes (by Jezebell). Earlier this week Pandit Pam Pam released his now annual Christmas single- fear not, this is no novelty Christmas song but some lovely, chilled, slightly woozy electronica. Equipe Exploratoria Papai Natal III is blissed out, southern hemisphere Four Tet and will do very nicely for winding down on a Friday night. 

Shelter Me

Leeds based label Paisley Dark is releasing a compilation album today- Shelter Me- aimed at raising funds for Shelter. Label boss John Paynter has set the target of £5000, money that will be used to help the homeless and those who live in bad housing. Anyone who has been in any of the country's towns and cities during the last ten years will have witnessed the rise in homelessness. More hidden is the number of people, families and individuals, who end up in poor quality housing, homes ridden with damp and overcrowding, poor facilities and landlords who take the cash and do little more. If that sounds like a description of Victorian Britain, then maybe it's appropriate. 

The album has twenty tracks, all donated free of charge, and built around the A Love From Outer Space network of artists and sounds of the travelling chug disco of Mr Weatherall and Mr Johnston (bravely being shouldered solo by Sean now). The list of artists takes in current Bagging Area edit favourites Jezebell, repeat Bagging Area postees such as Duncan Gray, Richard Sen, Shunt Voltage, Matt Gunn, Bedford Falls Players, Man2.0 (formerly Manpower) and many more besides. You can buy the album digitally at Bandcamp. Album opener Beschutze Mich by Steady State (translation- Protect Me) is dark, sleek, cosmic disco, the perfect gateway to the album. 

Also present is Leeds DJ/ producer Cosmikuro with a track called Pan In The Flash. Earlier this year Cosmikuro put out a track called Gum (as part of a charity release called Collective Consciousness, raising money for Mind, Trees For Cities and Women's Aid). Gum is a delight, a dubby, tranced out chug through the cosmos, pulsing synths and bassline. This track was also recently part of Jesse Fahnestock's Higher Ground 10:40 mix which is where I first encountered it and which I wrote about here at the end of last month.