Three For Friday

Some new dance/ electronic music for Friday, from a variety of sources. First up is the latest release from Leeds based label Paisley Dark, an EP by Airsine- the title track Like Fire and a trio of remixes. Like Fire is a low slung, dark corners chugger, pulsing with the stuff of lost nights and speaker systems. Rolling bassline, distorted voices, acidic toplines to mess with the synapses....

The remixes come from Mindbender, The Machine Soul and label boss John Paynter with Ben Lewis doing their Space Age Freak Out thing- stripped back and hypnotic, going nicely weird around the edges.  The EP is available at Bandcamp. 

Secondly, here comes the latest from Raxon whose track Your Fault was one of late 2024's peakiest peaks. Based in Barcelona but originally from Egypt, Raxon's newest release came out on Cologne's Kompakt in February, two tracks released as Speicher 134. Acid Call is in your face, high energy thumping acid. The flipside, Don't Cry Pluto, is slightly subtler but comes from a similar place and is no less nutty- kick drum and synth madness that is very persuasive. Available digitally and on 12" here. 

Thirdly/ finally Manchester's Sprechen label have just released an EP by Hull maestro Steve Cobby,  a man who over the course of a long musical career has left few musical stones unturned. His four track EP on Sprechen, UNO+, is unabashed house music and kicks off with No Rope Will Bind Those Who Refuse To Submit, a straight ahead, four four banger with percussion, synth whooshes, chopped up Afro vocals and all manner of seductive noises.

After that This House jacks and jerks, with stuttering vocals, rave breakdowns and massive bass. I Need A Fix slows things down slightly, a classic late 80s house tempo and synth chords- then the 303 kicks in and we're off again. On the last track Koreo Mr Cobby strips things down to drum track and single synth part, some bleeps and bloops and the deepest bassline. Fine work from Hull's hardest working shed based musician. Buy or listen here. 

Sleepwalker

Jesse Fahnestock's 10:40 keeps up the high hit rate with Sleepwalker, a gently psychedelic, pulsing piece of music, slipping into a sweet spot where the trippier late 80s indie groups, Motorik rhythms and blissed out electronics overlap. Guitars are by UFO Club's Ben Lewis and beamed in vocals are from The Weather Band's David Rosenheim. The arrival of the throbbing, wobbly synthline at sixteen seconds and then a second a little later raises the pulse rate and then the guitars dapple their way in, like bright sunshine through thick tree cover, all light and shade. Lovely stuff. Six minutes long and it could go on longer without outstaying its welcome. 

I used to sleepwalk a lot when I was a kid. On one occasion I ended up fully asleep but wedged in behind a wardrobe (I vaguely remember dreaming about being in a tunnel) and having to be rescued by my dad. Another time I got fully dressed in the early hours and was about to go out to do my paper round several hours too early and still fast asleep. Disconcerting. Thankfully I grew out out of it although talking in my sleep continued into adulthood. I noticed recently my wife has begun sleep swearing, occasionally muttering 'for fuck's sake' as she rolls over or switches sides. Make of that what you will. 

The two other 10:40 songs on the EP are both worthy of your attention too. Neighbours (Dub) isn't a cover of the Australian soap theme tune, more's the pity, but a slinky instrumental and there's a very laid back Spacemen 3 edit, Let Me Down Gently- which does exactly that. Buy it at Bandcamp, a pay what you want deal.