Friday Triplet

A bumper post for Friday, several new and recent releases all worthy of your attention, all in the electronic music area- they say dance music is ephemeral by nature but much of it sticks around long after other things have faded away.

First, the first new music from Dirt Bogarde in a year, since the release of his debut album in October 2024. Pihkal is a single track inspired by Alexander T. Shulgin's 1995 book Pihkal- a chemical love story'. Shulgin and his wife Ann conducted in depth research into the use of psychedelic drugs and their effects on the human mind. He's also credited with introducing MDMA to psychologists in the 1970s as a therapeutic tool. Dirt takes the book as a starting point and builds an autumnal classic from it, a siren driven, thumping and electrifying piece of modern acid house- there are echoes of A Guy Called Gerald, Detroit techno, Orbital, 808 State and early 90s rave inside its five minutes but it also sounds utterly contemporary. 

One word review- banger! 

Buy/ listen/ enjoy at Bandcamp.

Over at Tici Taci Duncan Gray has been rebooting the machines and clearing the shelves. Two weeks ago he released Niemand, a seven minute foray into mirror ball chug, with rattling percussion, steel pan drums, a burst of descending bass and a range of synths and guitars that pull Niemand into some sweet spot where chug, psychedelia and dub meet, hug and frug. 

One word review- expansive!

Buy/ listen/ enjoy at Bandcamp. 

Down on the Kent coast things are happening with Michael Son Of Michael who has released the third of three EPs, the final installment in the Margate trilogy- Drifting Inland. The EP is inspired by those who have moved to the resort looking for the seaside dream and then... drifted inland. Four tracks: Cowbell Concerto is lively, rippling synths, four four beats, and some lovely synapse busting toplines; Sonido del Sureste is darker, inching away from the brighter lights, a little acidic and very insistent; Del Boy is a drive by track, gliding down coastal roads, drums and bass pushing on- there's a chopped up and FX vocal that chatters away on top; and New Signs Of Life judders in and then evolves into a gorgeous slice of Scandi- disco/ cosmische. 

One word review- Kentish kosmsiche! (I know, that's two words. I couldn't get Kentrock or Kentmische to work). 

Buy/ listen/ enjoy at Bandcamp. 

Babylonian Beaches

Something to take the edge off November and add some warmth to your week via Denmark and South London. Babylonian Beaches is a track by Michael son Of Michael, a Dane, and is remixed here by Rude Audio, based somewhere in the Crystal Palace area. Very nice gently throbbing, cosmic Scandi- disco. Find it at Soundcloud here. 

Michael son Of Michael's album Going Coastal, just out and including the original mix of Babylonian Beaches, is here. Behind the cool, laid back, downtempo, Scandi- ambient electronica is a commentary on 'the improbability of alien lifeforms being technologically inferior to us, dreams of travelling to the Red Planet, the handling of Brexit by the Tories and the Labour Party, life by the beach, the imposter syndrome and the virtues of humans dancing robotically / robots doing their best to dance like humans.'  So plenty there to counter the view that electronic music isn't about anything. 

Rude Audio's back catalogue, dubby, Balearic chug with Arabic sounds and influences can be found at Bandcamp and is worth investing in. This track, Repeat Offender is a sweet and shiny way to spend six minutes, repeating descending synth parts and some New Order- esque melodies. 

This dub of Rumble On Arab Street by Valtow is also top notch, light and shade with little vocal snatches coming out of mix.