Midweek Beats + Pieces vol.21
Things to read and listen to + some odds and ends
Kia ora all. I don’t really have that much to say right now, mostly because I’m in the reeds on some bigger work projects, which really suck the oxygen out of my ability to fit in freelancing, short writing or any real outside reflection. Anyway, like last week, this week’s photos were taken on Ilford Delta 3200 film with a Nikon F60 camera, before being scanned and developed by Splendid.
WHAT I’VE BEEN READING:
‘What chance did I have against Pete Tong?’ Morgan Khan, the unsung hero who made the UK dance, by Michael Hann: The founder of the influential Street Sounds compilation label of the 1980s introduced underground hip-hop and house to schools, suburbs and small towns across Europe. So why haven’t you heard of him? [read here]
Dweller Festival Is Forging the Future of Black Electronic Music: The New York fest’s founder talks to Philip Sherburne about setting music history straight, fighting against tokenism, and the power of Black joy. [read here]
LIFE-CHANGING ENCOUNTERS: MEETINGS WITH THE GQOM KING, DJ LAG: Shiba Melissa Mazaza speaks to South African pioneer DJ Lag about his debut album 'Meeting With The King' and a series of encounters that shaped his path in music and life. [read here]
Born from CDs and WhatsApp Threads, South African Amapiano Takes the Global Stage: Resident Advisor speak with producers and partygoers from Johannesburg, Accra, London and Nairobi for snapshots of the world's most vital emerging dance scene. [read here]
Saba is ready to return to the light: After excavating his own trauma on recent albums Care For Me and Few Good Things (out 4th February), the Chicago-based rapper is starting to look up. Nicolas-Tyrell Scott on Saba for GQ. [read here]
Bossa Nova Civic Club, Rising from the Ashes: Kiana Mickles speaks with the DJs, promoters and staff that shaped the beloved New York club before a fire forced the venue to close its doors in January. [read here]
WHAT I’VE BEEN LISTENING TO:
Canciónes Intactas is a compilation album of career highlights from the early Venezuelan synthesist and ambient-electronic composer Miguel Noya. Assembled by Brighton’s Phantom Limb label, the collection covers a range of material recorded between 1980 and 1989. For those who don’t know the history, Noya wrote his music against a challenging, perhaps crushing social and political backdrop, finding peace, calm and collection in blissful ambient-environmental synth tropicalia.
In 1985, Venezuelan singer-songwriter, synthesist and art-pop star Vinicio Adames recorded Al Comienzo Del Camino, a self-produced and self-financed masterpiece, originally only released in his home country. Reissued thirty-six years on by Berlin’s TrueClass Records, Al Comienzo Del Camino is a wonderland for lovers of machine funk, rich synthesiser melodics and languid synth-pop affectations. The frame Adames worked within across this album is equal parts local and international, making for a record that tapped into the global trends of the day, while maintaining a singular Venezuelan voice. It’s a lot of fun.
My entry point into this five-song compilation EP was the inclusion of a Boxfresh new cut from Aotearoa’s very own MOKOTRON, a producer who reimagines Detroit electro and techno through a distinctively Māori lens. ‘Reach Into Darkness’ finds him in signature form, and in a similar way, the other four tracks on this collection do their own thing, finding common ground between influence/inspiration and identity/location. Bring it all on!
ODDS + ENDS
Here’s a rare 16 min documentary on Alice Coltrane, originally filmed in 1970.
claire rousey’s new album everything perfect is already here will be out on April 22nd via Shelter Press.
The Wheke Fortress crowdfunding campaign is currently sitting on 92%. Check it out.
FIN.