May has more than made up for a disappointing April. There’s been some fantastic dance action and it’s making me itch for a night out. But there’s some noise rock in here, for the dance averse. This month I’ve decided to add Spotify links as that’s how most people get their music these days. Please don’t take it as any kind of endorsement of their shitty business practices. Also, my youtube links don’t seem to work on mobile for some reason, so this should give people an alternative.
Just to mix things up I’m starting with my song of the month.
Party Dozen
Macca the Mutt ft Nick Cave (Noise rock)
I know nothing about Party Down and I’m not sure I care who they are, I just want to keep this song on repeat. It’s just filthy noise rock, with skronking saxophone all over it. Now, normally as soon as a sax turns up, I’m out, but not here. The dissonance really works with the distorted vocals and towards the end of the song the sax slips to an even filthier tone and becomes pure slease…. And then Nick Cave arrives.
This is a song worth damaging your hearing for, it’s as scuzzy as it is fun.
Earth Trax
The Sensual World (Techno)
The Sensual World is a strange title for this album as there isn’t really anything that sensual about it. Maybe it’s my preconceptions coming in here but this is techno that carefully maneuvers between an intense, brooding feeling and some dance floor fillers, neither of which seems to suit those more intimate moments to me.
Maybe I’m doing something wrong with my life.
Putting all that aside, Sensual World is a masterclass in how to build a techno album, something that is much more difficult to do than people give it credit for. The sequencing is perfect, with the tracks keeping the listener engaged over a full hour of music. I keep going on about bangers and there’s some crackers on here, Dream Pop, is a big room classic to be, Nowhere lulus you into a false sense of security as it wraps you in bass but it picks up the paces as it goes, becoming perfect for blissed out dancing. Pearl is a woozy monster, but these are dropped in with care and don’t over power the warm bass fuzz on offer here. Thinking about it, maybe that’s what the title is about after all.
Just Mustard
Heart Under (Shoegaze, Noise Rock)
My home town of Dundalk doesn’t have a lot of cred on the indie scene (apart from maybe the drummer from the Redneck Manifesto) so it’s amazing to see Just Mustard do so well for themselves. It’s even more impressive because this isn’t the easiest music to listen to. Sitting somewhere on the edge of noise rock and shoegaze this can be a challenging sound but somehow Just Mustard have managed to build a space for themselves to flourish.
The production is much warmer than their debut, while the sound is still cavernous. There’s more nuance to it this time around, more control. There’s very little in the way of traditional song structure here, no verse, chorus, verse. The guitars are used more for texture with the bass and drums holding the songs together. It makes for an unusual album but it really makes Just Mustard stand out from the crowd.
The band have been called a shoegaze but that doesn’t do justice to the scope of this album. It has some beautiful sections but the dissonance the band revel in is nothing like My Bloody Valentine. This sounds like Dream Pop gone bad, that sweet sound, twisted into something far darker and more threatening. Katie Ball’s mostly emotionless vocal gives you nothing to hold onto, nothing that might guide you out of the darkness that the band so effortlessly conjure.
This isn’t a comforting album, but it is a stunning one and well worth the effort to know it.
Sublime Sounds
That Love Affair (Electronica)
Sublime Sound produces luch dance music, somewhere between the chill and warmth of post-dubstep and the more melodic side of acts like Max Cooper and Alex Banks. Short vocal samples are wrapped in warm bass and accented with bright keys. This walks a fine line between cheese and beauty but it never crosses that line.
5 AM is the only place with Sublime Sounds’ Indian background comes into play with a vocal sample but it makes a nice change in texture on the ep.
This is his second ep and the first to be released outside of India. It’s an incredible introduction to this side of the world.
Aquiarian
Mutations II (DnB, Hardcore, Techno, Jazz)
Subtlety is not anything you should expect from Aquiarian here. This EP is not going to hold your hand and check if you’re ok. He’s here to bang this ep out and nothing is going to get in his way.
Delicious Intent, the opening track makes this very clear. The stomping kicks that assault you from the opening seconds are all you have to brace yourself for the filthy bass that comes crashing down on you. This is Hardcore and just as you get the feel for that, the track pivots into breakneck dnb. There’s rave synths, thudding kicks and the kind of pace that only the truly munted should enjoy but this madness just puts a massive grin on my face.
A Familiar Place is absolutely driving techno for a good half of it’s run time before it drops into free jazz. This jazz madness is then cut up and beaten into shape until it becomes techno again. Aquarian doesn’t like sitting still, and it can be a little disorientating on first listen but once you know the twists and turns it’s a joy ride you’ll keep going back to.
This EP is totally out of my comfort zone but for some reason I love it.
Long Island Sound
Lost Connection (Electronica)
The Dublin duo’s debut album is a little more chilled than I was expecting, but that doesn’t mean the quality isn’t there. This is an album of warm electronica, for balmy evenings. It’s beautifully produced with an incredibly warm bass that just carries the listener along. But that’s not to say there aren’t any bangers on here. Fragments reminds me a lot of Bicep and live, it’s going to tear up dancefloors. Power is another floor filler but the general mood is a relaxed vibe.
This is a perfect album to change gears to on a sunny evening as you start thinking about going out.
Vanquished
M. Bison (Techno)
There is literally nothing even close to subtle about this release. This is thunderous 90’s techno, where each is track topped and tailed with Street Fighter II samples, for no reason other than it’s cool.
It’s a sugar rush of just breakneck dance music made for people with no interest in plodding BPM’s or taking a breather. There are house piano breaks, acid squelch, Vanquished is not shy about using every trick in the book, this is pure maximalism at its best.
It may not be very clever but it is tons of fun. The ep isn’t on streaming but it is Pay What You Can on Bandcamp.
https://monnomblack.bandcamp.com/album/m-bison-ep
The ways of exile 