Category Archives: music
Video: Ultraflex – Never Forget My Baby
Made up of Norway’s Farao & Icelandic musician Special-K, Ultraflex are set to release their debut album ‘Visions of Ultraflex’ on Oct 30th. Today they are sharing new single & video “Never Forget My Baby“.
“Never Forget My Baby” is a lush yet punchy club banger; the effortlessness with which the girl’s voices blend together in the chorus and the sentimental, verging on saccharine lyrics atop a disco beat gives the track its delicate edge. If you take Cher’s and Janet Jackson’s DNA and mix it together, you’ll get “Never Forget My Baby“.
Speaking about the track, the band said “Yvonne Winona is admiring herself in the mirror, listening to her go to ‘putting on lotion’ song ’Never Forget My Baby’. She is her own gaze. All of a sudden Ultraflex appears on her bed.”
Egopusher – Blue Moon
On Beyond, their sophomore full-length, Egopusher prove that they are Kubricklevel masters of modelling the future (im)possible. In terms of the implied poetry of paintings set in motion, the warm, saturated colors, the depth and detail of the sonic image and the ease with which elements of classicism are combined with retro-sci-fi aesthetics–this material brings to mind a 70mm print of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Not to mention, thematically these songs also address space travel, its psycho-spiritual side-effects and the perpetual negotiation with the arcane mediated via our technological advancements.
“When we started working on this record we told ourselves that anything is possible and nothing is off-limits.”—Alessandro Giannelli
Beyond was produced by David Hofmann and recorded in what the band refers to as “28 magical days”, between Engelberg, Switzerland and Berlin, Germany. The songs were sketched out over a period of two years, in small gaps between the band’s demanding tour schedule. Like with their previous material, they started as improvisations, but this time the fellas only kept short sequences, which they call “distillates” ie. magical moments, and used them to create new songs in the studio, from ground up.
“It might sound weird, but it’s as if we grew from a duo to a proper band, and finally found our signature sound. In the past our individual instruments were more in focus, but now they are just there to serve the song.”—Tobias Preisig
Stylistically, this music still falls under the group’s established brand of soundtrack meets club, except that the clubby elements got rougher, darker and punchier, while the classical-contemporary inflections more complex and eclectic.
Oddly enough, the result is a more cohesive and defined sound. The song structures are full of unexpected turns and the arrangements multiplex–evoking futuristic, alien architectural objects or the advanced visual technologies of psychedelics. Let’s just say that Beyond just might be “the ultimate trip”* 2.0.
“When I listen back to these songs, it makes me think of a soundtrack to a
sci-fi film that would be directed by Sofia Coppola.”—Alessandro Giannelli
Egopusher are drummer/producer Alessandro Giannelli and violinist Tobias Preisig. Their music is a visually loaded amalgam (think synaesthesia) of classic and advanced electronica and contemporary-neo-classical. It’s the type of music that begs for wide-screen movies to be shot to.
Video: ford. – The Color of Nothing
“The Color of Nothing” the title track off the upcoming sophomore record from ford. Pre-order the vinyl / pre-save the record ▶ http://foreignf.am/tcon
Video: Ryan Hemsworth – Here I Stand feat. Ms. John Soda
Taken from ‘Pout EP’, released Aug 28 on Friends Of / Jagjaguwar.
Video: Scintii – Times New Roman
Houndstooth announce their newest signing, Shanghai-based Taiwanese singer-producer Scintii, with her first single for the label, “Times New Roman“. Its melancholic 21st century nu-trip hop sound was developed with guest producer Danny L Harle (PC Music, Charli XCX).
“Times New Roman” is Scintii’s first release since her second EP, Aerial/Paperbags, on SVBKVLT in 2018, and marks a step up from the wistfulness of her previous EPs to a tougher, deeper sound. The video for “Times New Roman” was directed by Kynan Puru Watt who has previously worked with Arca and is online now.
“Times New Roman is one of the main languages used in graphic design,” Scintii explains, “and this song is about finding that language for myself as an artist.”
Scintii makes music that is neither obviously for the club nor is it synth-pop, instead forging a cyber-sleek and moody late-night electronica. “I don’t really think about genre,” she says, “I think about what I’m trying to communicate – an atmosphere, or an emotion”
The track was co-written with PC Music producer and musician, Danny L Harle on a trip to London in summer of 2019, after Harle invited her to his studio to record some sessions. “The main melody came to me while wandering round a shopping mall,” she says, “but I wasn’t sure what to do with it. Then I had the session with Danny and it just worked with the beat he was making. It really started to become about me feeling sure of myself as a musician and producer, going in a new direction and really being able to maximise my own voice.”
With such instantly recognisable vocals, and a sound that is rooted in neither London nor Shanghai, “Times New Roman” marks Scintii out as one to watch.
Video: Kraków Loves Adana – Young Again
Machinedrum – Star feat. Mono/Poly & Tanerélle
Taken from the album ‘A View of U’, released 9 October on Ninja Tune: https://machinedrum.lnk.to/avouYo
