Blog Archives
Actress – Angels Pharmacy feat. Zsela
Taken from the album ‘Karma & Desire’, released 23 October on Ninja Tune: https://actress.lnk.to/karma-desireYo
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Actress – Walking Flames feat. Sampha
Taken from the album ‘Karma & Desire’, released 23 October on Ninja Tune: https://actress.lnk.to/karma-desireYo
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Actress – Dancing In The Smoke
ACTRESS RELEASES SECOND SINGLE ‘DANCING IN THE SMOKE’, FROM FORTHCOMING ALBUM “AZD” (OUT 14TH APRIL ON NINJA TUNE)
– Listen/Buy “Dancing In The Smoke” here / Pre-Order “AZD” here
– Watch the video for “X22RME” here
– Listen to Actress co-host the Benji B show on Radio 1 here
As usual, no one can describe Actress’s work better than he can himself. ‘Dancing In The Smoke’ is, he says, concerned with “that moment in the club, in the side room which is less habituated where the music is more diffused from the main club, smoked out and disorientating.” Already you get some sense of the piece, all angular rhythms, woozy synth pads and disembodied vocal refrains. “The DJ has locked on a groove,’ he continues, ‘and you’re there in your own space pulsing with the music. As the different spaces start to merge and turn with the effects of your prescription for the night, that alien cacophony of lasers and tone trip the buzz for a flight into that kind of euphoria that only spacing to the rhythm of the metropolis can bring.”
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ACTRESS – AZD LP
There are people who thought Actress, otherwise known as Darren Cunningham, to friends as DAZ, had retired. They were a bit premature. He’s ready instead to return with a new album, now on Ninja Tune and a new music system called “AZD” (pronounced “Azid”), a chrome reflected journey into a parallel world. And to prepare you for what lies ahead here’s the album’s lead track, ‘X22RME’ (pronounced “Extreme”) which elegantly plays between the lines of Oriental classic rave and Balinese warehouse Techno machined in a Rotherhithe lock up welding the grooves into a seamless cracked joint. Read an interview via Dazed now…
“I did fifty versions of the tune” Cunningham recalls. “Different parts were on tape, CD, different old computers and USB sticks, so it was quite intimidating to revisit and complete. The track was in the end built out of 3 hours of different passages”. The finished work is harsh and beautiful all at once, its incredible complexity never overwhelming its drive.
An artist who has always preferred to make music than to talk about it, in “AZD” he has achieved another remarkable landmark, one which is as resistant to interpretation as it is demanding of it. ‘X22RME’ is a key note example of the influence the Black artists James Hampton and Rammellzee had on the creation of the album – men who created art through “Sourcing castaway materials from their environment and reinterpreting them into absolute majesty given from the fourth dimension”.
As if the record itself isn’t enough, Cunningham is preparing a new show, to be debuted at Convergence, Village Underground on March 24th. Presented as AZD, Cunningham says it “will be a test frame for linking circuits using various forms of language — Midi globalised language, Lyrical language, Tikal Graffiti code and various other Synthesiser language — to create one intelligent musical instrument called AZD, if successful it will produce the first translucent, non-soluble communication sound pill synergised through impressionistic interpretations of technological equipment. This is the music vitamin of the Metropolis”.
The simplest you could say about “AZD” is that it’s art – the unique creation of a unique mind. There will be few more distinctive, brilliant or visionary suites of music released in 2017. Call him what you will, this is the year that Darren ‘Daz’ Cunningham – aka Actress, aka AZD – asserts more clearly than ever before his complete independence.
Watch the Dan Emmerson directed video now. “This quote from Darren was an inspiration, it’s also about the language of communication and interpretation: ‘translucent ambience coming from an incognito slightly on the edge but eternally fixed paradigm’.
Tracklist:
1. NIMBUS
2. UNTITLED 7
3. FANTASYNTH
4. BLUE WINDOW
5. CYN
6. X22RME
7. RUNNER
8. FALLING RIZLAS
9. DANCING IN THE SMOKE
10. FAURE IN CHROME
11. THERE’S AN ANGEL IN THE SHOWER
12. VISA
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Sporting Life – Court Vision feat. Evy Jane (Actress Remix)
After recently sharing the video for his new track “Court Vision”, featuring Vancouver singer-songwriter Evy Jane, Sporting Life is back today to share infamous UK producer Actress’ remix of the song. The release of Actress’ remix comes in conjunction with Slam Dunk Vol. II being available everywhere today via Letter Racer and R&S Records.
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Tricky – Sun Down feat. Tirzah (Actress Tes Remix)
The ‘Actress Tes Remix’ of Tricky’s ‘Sun Down‘ featuring Tirzah is now online. The new version is an eerie and off-kilter interpretation featuring rattling hi-hats and bells of doom that fans of the London based producer will relish.
‘Sun Down’, the latest single from Tricky’s recent Adrian Thaws album, is a dark, seductive tale featuring hotly tipped London singer Tirzah, who impressed with the Greco-Roman released quirky electronica of ‘No Romance’. Tirzah was introduced to Tricky by his daughter Mazy; “She called me and said dad will you work with Tirzah. That’s my daughter A&Ring me, which is cool as fuck.”
In case you missed it, watch the video for ‘Sun Down’ here.
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Video: Actress – Grey Over Blue
Just before 2013 came to a close, Actress unexpectedly dropped a new 12", "Grey Over Blue" b/w "Wee Bey." Now, the record’s gloomy a-side cut has received an accompanying video. Originally produced as part of last year’s St John’s Session multimedia performance alongside visual artists Eddie Peake and Nic Hamilton. The 12" is out now via the Londoner’s own Werkdiscs and Ninja Tune, and will soon be followed by the forthcoming Ghettoville LP when it’s released on January 27.
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