Hello from London, where things are getting rather cold, but not as cold as they were in Oslo. Thankfully, over the last week, I’ve had plenty of warm times including a catch-up with Apiento and Piers at an Italian restaurant with a rather cheeky owner, and the opportunity to see Beverly Glenn-Copeland and Kelman Duran play some very mercurial shows. I’ve also had plenty of new heaters in my inbox, a bunch of which have come by way of the excellent 100% Silk label, of course hailing from Los Angeles, where they have two seasons: summer and award season. I’ve included short notes on four of them below, new music from Akasha System, Cammi, Force Placement and LA Vampires Does Cologne.
AKASHA SYSTEM / ECHO EARTH
Here’s some seismic, eco-technological electronica from Pacific Northwest producer Hunter P. Thompson aka Akasha System. Recorded during autumn 2018 in Thompson’s Portland home studio (lit by lava lamps, no less), Echo Earth‘s eight songs follow the rhythms of nature, rising and falling as seasons and trees change (from lush foliage to falling orange leaves). Expect X-Files-esque melodies, rattling rhythms and misty synthscapes with a high likelihood of fog and holographic magic. This is club music, but the club isn’t a nightclub, it’s probably an uninhabited valley shaded by trees and overcast skies. We party differently here.
Pre-order (here)
CAMMI / LOOK AT THE WORLD
I’m not sure if Look At The World is an album or a homemade spaceship built out of broken-down MPCs, borrowed synthesisers, old tape machines and the odd stand-up comedy record. Either way, Owosso/Lansing, Michigander’s Cameron Weede aka Cammi has come through with something special here. Drawing on formative years spent jamming improv trombone with some free-jazz beatniks, a love hair with classic house and equally classic cheap hardware, it’s an exploratory-yet-cohesive style showcase with a level of range that stretches out to the edge of the cosmos. Man/machine music for the TapeNoiseDumpsterDubLongformLuxuryHouseDepartmentStoreBoogie set.
Purchase (here)
FORCE REPLACEMENT / VIBE REPAIR
If you need to repair the vibes, LA's Jason James aka Force Placement latest track pack certainly delivers on its name. You're inside a basement space somewhere in the industrial zone downtown, the smoke machine is running on overdrive, and the speakers keep distorting on the kick. Is this a dream, or are these my memories of one of those after midnight dancing sessions where you keep almost falling asleep on your feet, but common sense be dammed, you're gonna keep skanking or two-stepping to the beat until dawn. Maybe at some point, you drift off in the ambient room. With shades of sleekly crafted, jazz, funk and hip-hop informed retrofuturistic house and techno filling the space around you, tomorrow is always another day.
LA VAMPIRES DOES COLOGNE / 10 OUTTA 10
Okay, here we fucking go, Los Angeles escape artist LA Vampires, who you may remember from the days of journalist terms like glo-fi, chillwave and hypnagogic pop returns with her first record since 2012, and what a return it is. Created in collaboration with Cologne (Danny Scott Lane and Vasilios Manoudakis), 10 Outta 10 is a sweaty, sensual rendition of synth-pop, post-punk, new wave and soft-focus boogie, retooled as emotional cyberpunk pop, and hearing LA Vampires back in her groove is a thing of joy. Love in the time of holograms, no more, no less. Please enjoy.
Purchase (here)
