Midweek Beats + Pieces vol.8

Nintendo Gameboy Pocket Camera, Test Pressing, Things To Listen To, etc

It might be the middle of the winter in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa (Wellington, New Zealand) but today felt like summer. After some heavy rain, I woke up to sunshine and enough warmth to feel like heading to the outdoor pool in Thorndon. After my swim, I hopped in the open-air spa pool and had one of those moments where life feels really great - hot water, sun on my face, and a brisk chill to the wind. It was pretty special. Anyway, enough about me having a lovely time, let's get into this newsletter. I shot this issue's photographs over the weekend in Ōtautahi, Aotearoa (Christchurch, New Zealand) on 35mm Portra 800 film with a Nikon F60 camera. Enjoy.

WHAT I’VE BEEN DOING:

Remember those Nintendo Gameboy Pocket Camera photographs I’ve been taking? The Ōtautahi-based visual artist and designer Sole has been lazer-etching a few of them into pieces of wood for me. His process brings a whole new twist to what I’m doing. You can see a few examples over on my instagram here. This week a private collector in Auckland contacted me and commissioned a few pieces. So yeah - more details soon.

I wrote a few (literally just a few) words about the German producer Cass.’ lush and lovely new album for Growing Bin Records for Test Pressing. You can read more about Ambient Music For A Young Girl here. I also wrote a few words (a few more) about Dublin producer t-woc’s awesome new album for Strangelove Music. More details on Pantangle here.

Nothing new to report on the radio or mixshow front. That said - and I think this is worth noting - if you’ve got a radio show or mixshow and you’d like me to record a guest mix or the like for it, don’t be shy. You can get at me here or via one of the social media channels.

WHAT I’VE BEEN LISTENING TO:

LIPS, I Don’t Know Why I Do Anything (Self-Released)

Steph Brown, Fen Ikner and friends LIPS project recently delivered a new album, I Don’t Know Why I Do Anything. As with past efforts from the LIPS catalogue, it’s a suite of sleek, grandiose and emotive synth-pop and post-punk. Eleven mechanized bangers with a warm human heart and a telling level of lyrical detail. Worlds within worlds, lives within lives.

Masumi Hara, 4 X A Dream (800 Line)

This is a 2020 reissue of Japanese multimedia artist Masumi Hara’s 1984 sophomore album, 4 X A Dream. Steel drums, drum machine funk, windswept acid folk and euphoric new wave neuromantics dovetail together into a very very Balearic set of songs. 800 Line have described it as like a “fish on the moon” and they’re not wrong. This is very special (I know, I know) and really deserves a lot of attention and care from your ears, cheers!

deepState, MMXXI (Sunreturn)

With her deepState project Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckand) based songwriter and producer Jessica Morgan dials up the 90s euro dance vibes. Smashing them against the signature sounds of downbeat/trip-hop (a lil street soul actually), ambient dub and old-school electro (with a touch of DJ Screw’s syrupy chopped and screwed sound), her MMXXI album is a tidy seven-song offering. Morgan moves around styles and vibes with ease, which makes MMXXI unfold like a daydream.

WHAT I’VE BEEN READING:

Nyshka Chandran, on Arushi Jain’s Under The Lilac Sky (Resident Advisor)

Throughout its six tracks, Under the Lilac Sky eases us into this intuitive disposition whilst simultaneously preparing us for the night's darkness. This mental journey fits in with the unbridled potential of evening time—a period of reflection for the day that's just passed and joyous excitement for what's to come.

Complex and lovely synth compositions inspired by Hindustani classical music and made for moments of self-actualization. Nyshka Chandran breaks down Arushi Jain’s latest one for Resident Advisor, read here.

Hassan Wargui’s Universal Banjo, by Phil E. Bloomfield (Bandcamp Daily)

The modern banjo arrived in Morocco in the ‘50s, when the country was still occupied by the French after World War II. Political scientist Hisham Aidi suggests in his book Rebel Music: Race, Empire and the New Muslim Youth Culture that American GIs stationed in Morocco traded banjos for cigarettes with the local population. In the 1970s, the banjo-wielding Nass El Ghiwane shot to fame (they’re still probably the most popular group in Morocco), bringing together Moroccan and Western music with revolutionary social commentary.

Hassan Wargui’s music has a startling universality to it. “Hassan wants people to hear his music. He wants to broaden his audience.” Phil E. Bloomfield on the banjo player and poet Hassan Wargui. Read more here.

Spice Rack: South Asian electronic music's response to Covid-19, Dhruva Balram (DJ MAG)

Over the last year, tourists flocked to India and the wealthier classes flew around the country watching DJs and artists, including Sven Väth and Charlotte de Witte, perform in clubs, mini-festivals and beaches. It has also been disheartening to hear of wealthy MCs, DJs, musicians and artists reportedly hoarding oxygen cylinders and to witness them uploading surreal Instagram stories from private estates and swimming pools far from the horrors unfolding in lower socio-economic areas of the country. The insidious behaviours which have gripped the scene for so long have unfortunately stuck. Lots of DJs — South Asian and foreign alike — have remained silent as hundreds of thousands have burnt in cemeteries across the country. For so many, this moment may seem temporary, like a hurdle they have to overcome before their next trip overseas. For many in the scene, allyship has become a performance.

In the second instalment of Spice Rack, a new bi-monthly column on underground music from South Asia and its diaspora, Dhruva Balram highlights music released during, and in some cases in response to, the pandemic, as well as initiatives set up in support of Covid-19 relief efforts across the subcontinent. Read more here.

‘Meditation and copulation’: how 90s dance act Enigma propelled a new age revolution, Ana Leorne (The Guardian)

Faithful to their name, Enigma created a space for the mysterious and the forbidden to prosper, eventually securing a game-changing reputation within dance music while at the same time reinventing the new-age genre. The mastermind behind the band was Michael Cretu, a Romanian-German musician whose credits included playing keyboards on Boney M’s Rivers of Babylon, co-producing Mike Oldfield’s Islands and crafting instant hits such as Maria Magdalena for his then wife, the German synthpop star Sandra.

Led by Romanian-German producer Michael Cretu, Enigma ushered in a mysterious new dance genre, one Gregorian chant at a time. Ana Leorne breaks it down. Read here.

BONUS:

The UNIIQU3, Thai Chi Rosé, Charly Gynn Remix of Bianca Oblivion’s ‘Bubble Pon Di Bed’ ft. XL Mad is a vibe. Check it out here.

My guy Dylan Biscuit recorded a mix of jams from Aotearoa (New Zealand) for Hotel Paris Radio. Listen here.

Afrotek, the lead single from Scratchclart’s forthcoming Hyperdub EP of the same name is out now. Listen/pre-order here.

FIN.