Satie Listens to 2016

[Satie]

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隠しは安全ではありません EP...ts For Men

Genre: Downtempo
Sounds Like: slowed down indie and indie-friendly electronic music, vaporwave adjacent
First Listen: January 8, 2016
Current Rating: 5/10
Yearly Ranking: N/A

January 8, 2016
This release, which is the length of an album, calls itself an EP, and is in actuality a collection of remixes and one original composition, came to my attention this morning on RYM. Seeing it was a free Bandcamp release, I thought I might as well check it out. What we've got here is an artist who apparently has largely made vaporwave for the last couple of years (if you weren't convinced, this is a DMT Records release). I have a personal rule to not indulge these kinds of things except under extreme circumstances, but I was promised atmospheric drum & bass, so I took a chance. Though there's basically none of that here, I'm glad I took the chance.

Don't get me wrong; there are definitely vaporwave-isms here, from the remix style of "slow down the song!" that serves as the foundational layer for most of these tracks to the presence on one or two tracks of "those" vocals - the ones that sound like really wack, unpleasant chopped & screwed vocals because they're usually just morphed into extended ghostly wailing. But on the whole, the source material makes the veering into complete creative dearth impossible, and instead, we are treated to largely pleasant and occasionally enticing remixes of songs that generally wouldn't have caught my interest. The weakest tracks here are probably the needlessly protracted FKA twigs and Crystal Castles reworkings, and it's probably telling that the re-working of what I believe was originally not a very electronics-heavy song, the Folk Implosion one, is the best one here. The original contribution that closes out the set is a bit better paced and shows a decent talent that might talk me into his other fare if it's also lighter on the vaporwave elements. There's not much development, and the groove that's established isn't novel enough to sustain a nearly nine-minute song, but just like any half-decent vaporwave artist, Haircuts for Men definitely knows how to generate at least a passable atmosphere. Definitely good for a laidback sesh, but not really rewarding for active listening on the whole. 5/10

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[Satie]

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I'm Still Playing by Zebra Zebra

Genre: Experimental
Sounds Like: chance operations triggered by an excited two-year-old
First Listen: January 9, 2016
Current Rating: 6/10
Yearly Ranking: N/A

January 9, 2016
With a few minutes to spare in my afternoon today between packing and some familial obligations before I fly back to New Orleans tomorrow morning, I decided to check out this curio. It's another Bandcamp release, free to stream here. Two-year-old Laura Thornton was put in a recording space constructed by her father around their house full of musical equipment, microphones of various kinds, and objects to manipulate that could trigger synth arpeggios. I thought it would sound at the very least interesting, and the clips on the Bandcamp page of her recording were completely adorable.

I'm fairly impressed! For all the clout put in a sense of childlike exploration and creativity glorified by a variety of artists to my liking, I tend to experience art actually made by children quite infrequently. Obviously, there's a debate to be had about what exactly Laura's claim to creation is given her father's contributions of the synth arpeggios and positioning of contact mics, two vital factors in the project's listenability, but it is very clearly her creativity that contributes to the fascinating opaqueness of the release as well as the playfulness that kept me interested. On the whole, the sounds and their working together, as well as the random loops of mouth sounds and such give this a distinctly avant-garde aura to it, and it's quite gripping and varied, actually. There's even some interesting builds and releases across the two longer tracks, and the role of looping algorithms vs. Laura's own interest in repeating sounds is sort of unclear, but I tend towards thinking it's the latter given just how messy a lot of the release is. I could see this really clicking with me later on.

A curio worth your time if you're into chance operations and two-year-olds using similar techniques and even, at times, sound effects, to those used by Robert Ashley. 6/10

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Babyfather - Meditation

Genre: Alternative R&B
Sounds Like: Dean Blunt's work for the past few years, warm and fuzzies
First Listen: January 12, 2016
Current Rating: 6/10
Yearly Ranking: N/A (ineligible)

January 12, 2016
This is the sort of release that I'll occasionally put here - something ineligible but that stands on its own as a release, and isn't (to my knowledge) a pre-album single release or something of that kind. Meditation is a single from Dean Blunt project Babyfather, which he established later last year with a mini-LP of the same name credited to his birth name. Here, Arca is credited with production. I haven't heard Babyfather because my dive into Dean Blunt's works back in November was quite disappointing. He has some interesting collage releases and a good ear for atmosphere but some bizarre perhaps conceptual baggage that he brings to this R&B stuff he's been working on that makes it a bit off-putting. Maybe that makes me some other side of the PC Music hater coin or something, asserting conceptual artistry where my ears fail to catch the hooks or something. At whatever rate, I've grown wary of Dean Blunt from some bad experiences, but I haven't written in this in a few days and felt that this might be a good thing to check out, especially with Arca helping out.

The result is pleasant, at the very least. The whole song leaves me a bit cold. It's very technically well-produced, and I could see its repetitive string section loop with either generated or intentionally left-in vinyl hiss lulling a lot of people into a place of comfort, especially on the b-side instrumental version of the song, but I have a hard time admiring it at any closer distance. Dean Blunt's vocals are decent and half again as charming as any of the stuff I checked out over Thanksgiving, but, and maybe this is just the Hyperdub logo sitting around, but I am reminded of Burial here. What I mean by that is that I can hear the technical proficiency, even mastery in its own way, at work, and I can vibe with the song on a more basic level for long enough, and it never quite loses my ear, but I never feel rewarded for my patience and attentiveness. Sure, half the battle of making repetitive music, which electronic dance music is on the whole basically by definition, is hooking the listener and seducing them into trance instead of slumber, but that battle usually yields some kind of spoils. The vocal side is better than the instrumental side, because at least there are two hooks to be brought into, and I did really like the vocal hook actually, but there isn't much to write home about on this release. Maybe it'll grow in time, but for now, I remain unimpressed by Blunt's R&B schtick and am waiting to be convinced by a new release that his name deserves to be next to Arca's on a major release. 6/10

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FADER Mix by SCRAAATCH

Genre: Electronic
Sounds Like: Lotic, the NON Records roster, 2015 leftfield retrospective
First Listen: January 12, 2016
Current Rating: 8/10
Yearly Ranking: 2
*Favorite First Listen - January*

January 20, 2016 - *Update*
This has proven to be a real earworm, and with the benefit of familiarity and anticipating the turns as they come, I've found that my earlier criticisms about the transitions were definitely overstated, if not unfounded for most of the mix. I also have started to have a deeper appreciation for the cuts here I didn't recognize prior, and I've had too much consistent fun and exhilaration from the mix for the past few days to not bump the score a bit. 8/10

January 14, 2016
SCRAAATCH is the Philadelphia duo of E. Jane and chukwumaa, two artists who work in multiple media as individuals. E. Jane is also called E_SCRAAATCH in her solo compositions for SCRAAATCH sets and releases and has released music in a similar vein both independently and through the massive global network/collective/label NON as Mhysa. I'm not as familiar with chukwumaa's solo work unless it's under an alias I don't recognize. One of the purposes of the SCRAAATCH project is to release some of the energy the two artists have, and it's evident when comparing the SCRAAATCH mixes and live sets to comparable material released by E. Jane as Mhysa, for example, that there's definitely a more eclectic, spontaneous feeling to the SCRAAATCH mixes. I've been familiar with SCRAAATCH since the end of last year, and this is the third mix I've heard from them. I've always found the appeal of these mixes to be in the somewhat surprising decisions made, but I've also found them largely unfocused and good rather than honed and exemplary like Mhysa's solo material.

For FADER, SCRAAATCH continue the trend they've established so far of hyping up their friends and Internet cohorts' best work side-by-side with dance floor and Soundcloud mainstays. This mix, like their others, has the occasional odd gem to serve as a novel transition (the most surprising and effective being the Las Vegas crooners Eydie Gorme and Steve Lawrence doing a rendition of "Black Hole Sun"), and all the material is thrown into a sea of heavy atmospherics and standardized largely through inserted motifs (here, a Whitney Houston interview that opens the set and police sirens, mainly) rather than top-down reworkings of the material and judicious additions of original content. The result is a generally agreeable and sometimes supremely effective addition to the growing canon of highly political creations of spaces alternative to and outside of communication with the wider criticism-curation-reaction dialogue that forces the listener to come to it on somewhat alien terms. Discussions of the combination of low art bordering on kitsch with spoken word passages demonstrating the duo's affinity for and deep knowledge of the avant-garde art world become passe in a world of continuously re-arranged symbols and sounds. These creations are even more fascinating in the wider context of their commissioning coming from large cultural institutions such as MoMA and FADER itself.

This mix in particular also might serve as a good primer for those unfamiliar with the state of the leftfield as we enter 2016, and highlight tracks from Chino Amobi, Angel-Ho, Arca, Rabit, and Elysia Crampton are as good as any to introduce neophytes. A general feel for the aesthetics of this rhizomatic resistance bleeds through in several places, perhaps most notably in the drowning out of New Impressionz' calls for acceptance from a lover in police sirens and the immediately stark context the listener finds themselves in. I'm sure a few more listens will shed more light on this loose narrative and how it's woven into the rest of the mix, but this is definitely a striking passage.

On the whole, I have to say that as much as I really like SCRAAATCH's work, they always come up just short for me. Maybe it's that I've head the most interesting material here and there is not a lot of novelty to layering a couple more elements on top of them. I also am not as impressed with SCRAAATCH's mixing work in general on a technical level, and I think their transitions, if smooth, don't always entirely make sense or happen in the best spot. These are all nitpicks that keep this from being my first strong, strong recommendation of the new year, but I still resoundingly recommend this for anyone interested in getting into this kind of music or veterans who are excited to hear a few very choice moments and new ideas in this world. Just maybe save it for after you hear Mhysa's sets and singles. 7/10

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NTS NATO Radio Mix by Chino Amobi

Genre: Sound Collage
Sounds Like: more rough around the edges mashup stuff, proto(ish)-NON
First Listen: January 14, 2016
Current Rating: 6/10
Yearly Ranking: N/A

January 21, 2016
Realized I completely forgot to write this one up. Chino Amobi had an NTS Radio set about a week ago that I checked out, and he made a somewhat interesting stylistic choice of showcasing what seem to all be older loosies from Soundcloud. I had heard and loved "White Maetal" before and maybe one or two others with less frequency, but I was interested to hear some older stuff. Granted, we're talking older in Internet years, so like 2014 at the earliest. Chino Amobi is probably my current favorite producer/sound artist/whatever you wanna label him and put out some amazing work on NON towards the end of last year. He currently worked under the moniker of Diamond Black Hearted Boy, putting together tracks like the Blasting Voice highlight "Nigerian Hair" and mixtapes like Father, Protect Me. I say this all as a brief intro as well as to say that he's been making music for quite some time, so this early Chino Amobi work isn't really the sound of someone just getting their bearings in music making.

Despite that previous experience, it seems like the back-to-the-drawing-board approach that Amobi took at the beginning of this new phase possibly set back some of the complexity of the work or something. There's just something not quite there with most of the tracks here on their own, whether the ambiance is just a bit too thin or the mixing isn't right on. The tracks also don't fit a theme very well, so they don't flow into one another with much excellence. As a showcase of a period of the Chino Amobi project, it's historically interesting and will give you higher quality rips than using an mp3 converter on his whole Soundcloud page, but I'm more excited for some actually new material. 6/10

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[Satie]

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Purple Reign by Future

Genre: Trap Rap
Sounds Like: what it says on the tin - another purped out mixtape from Future
First Listen: January 18, 2016
Current Rating: 4/10
Yearly Ranking: N/A

January 25, 2016
I wasn't initially gonna write this one up because I don't feel like I'm really the target of Future's music, but I'm hardly the target for a lot of stuff I listen to, and I gave this another spin last night to try to get something more out of it after seeing Tiny Mix Tapes laud it so highly. If you don't know, this is the latest mixtape from Future, certified Best in the Game by various sources (the kinds of sources who are so over Drake and Kanye, basically). He's had a pretty remarkable string of albums and mixtapes since 2014's Honest that have apparently changed his sound quite drastically to go in the darker direction that a lot of the mid-2010s' biggest rappers are going, with a sound and lyrical content more based on the caustic, nihilistic, claustrophobic reactions these young (generally) men go through in pursuit of fame, money, and drugs (or, more accurately, the fallout from the success of those pursuits). That reduces and lumps these projects by such diverse talents perhaps a bit too much, but it's sort of the conduit through which I got interested in this music as someone who has started to get into this more melodic but troubled post-808s rap world in the past couple of years.

Future's sound specifically relies on abstracted flows and lyrics over a kind of high production value ultimate extension of the angst and excess of southern hip hop since DJ Screw. Lyrics are almost obtuse in their straightforwardness (e.g. the much-maligned or much-praised, but universally guffawed "Gucci flip flops" line from last years breakout DS2), and Future's voice makes him sound chopped and screwed by default. Despite ticking a lot of boxes that would lead me to think he was my next favorite rapper, DS2 failed to impress me very much last year. I've planned on giving his other work an honest chance for awhile now, especially after hearing and enjoying a single of his from before his current sound took off, but I hadn't gotten around to it by the time this came out, so forgive me that I'm coming at this with a death of context.

Purple Reign seems to extend a lot of the ideas that I heard bits of on DS2, and it looks to already be winning over fans of that album and Future's recent work quite readily, which probably explains my distaste. It's not that there's anything particularly wrong with the mixtape, but for whatever reason, the darkness comes off as monotonous to me, the atmospheres not as rich as the aforementioned DJ Screw's masterful tapes. I'm sure there's a sense of humor to all this somewhere, but it's not readily apparent, and while I would never call Future overly serious or self-important, I don't think I'd be lying to say that his work is remarkably impenetrable for a rap artist, especially one this popular. I'm hoping to revisit this and the rest of his work at some point this year, but this month has seen a wealth of releases in worlds a bit closer to my own tastes, so that'll have to be saved for a bit later. After hearing this, make that much later. 4/10

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[Satie]

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San Benito by Moro

Genre: Latin Electronic, "Ramba"
Sounds Like: re-assertion of identity through rhythm
First Listen: January 25, 2016
Current Rating: 7/10
Yearly Ranking: 4

January 25, 2016
The first NON release of 2016 is a real doozy from newcomer Moro, who has been previously featured on a couple of Chino Amobi mixes, including his uncredited work putting together the NON vs NAAFI mix. On the bandcamp page for the EP, Moro summarizes the history of demographic shifts due to colonialism in their native Argentina in brief, specifically focusing on the importation and then displacement of African groups whose labor was exploited to build the country before their bodies were seen as disposable and subjected to war to assist in the blanqueamiento (literally, "whitening;" what Moro refers to as White Country) policies of colonial governance that saw an emphasis placed on making Argentina a more ethnically European country and further displacing and killing natives and racial minorities such as Africans. Moro emphasizes the deep history African culture has in helping shape Argentina's cultural institutions and puts tango, arguably the main cultural export of the South American country, front and center as another example of European influence winning out over and obscuring African influence. In their work, Moro seeks to re-assert the African rhythmic tradition that made tango possible. They call the idiom through which they work a new genre, labeled ramba.

The focus on re-assertion of identity in the face of colonial pressure comes through not just in this musicological revitalization but also in the "violence" now expected in the works that come out of the NON label/collective. Gunshots, snarling dogs, clanging metal, military marches, and helicopter sounds from overhead move the listener through a bewildering and apocalyptic twenty-or-so-minute runtime before coming to a head on set closer "San Benito Status... Killed in Action," which drifts off slowly into a repetitive and mournful/hopeful organ line that eventually gives way to the ebb and flow of the ocean much as it appears the city on the album cover is. This notion of the end time, new beginnings, and the baptism (in blood?) of a new, liberated, autonomous society permeates several NON works and helps to create the sense in white listeners like me and Adam Harper the notion of a displacement of white supremacy. While Moro explicitly acknowledges this angle, it is important to keep in mind what chukwumaa of SCRAAATCH said in response to the music coming out of labels like this being framed this way that that is one part, possibly even a peripheral part, of the project to the creators, and these assertions are much more autonomous and productive than they are reactive.

In any case, San Benito stands out as remarkably inspired, fascinating, and musically excellent. I was engaged from front to back and look forward to what else Moro can come out with. I've taken a strong interest in the last couple of years in Latin electronic music, and this is no disappointment. The re-emergence of heavy, foregrounded rhythm in this music and the diminishing of melodic lines might be jarring to some, but I see it as a very fruitful and necessary direction for the music to take from an admittedly outside perspective. The year(s) of NON continue(s). 7/10

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R&D by Rabit & Dedekind Cut

Genre: Industrial
Sounds Like: another Rabit demo reel
First Listen: January 25, 2016
Current Rating: 6/10
Yearly Ranking: N/A

January 25, 2016
Rabit's first release of the new year is a collaboration with Dedekind Cut, the emerging trap moniker for a producer formerly known as Lee Bannon who had ties to Major Laser and that crowd for a time. I'm not super up to date with Bannon. Rabit, on the other hand, I've been following for some time now. He's the head of the excellent Halcyon Veil label, and while his own releases have been somewhat lacking save his fantastic collaborative mix with Chino Amobi last year and the stray single or remix here or there, he's remained a consistently interesting artist. For one, he's a white grime producer working out of Houston. Besides that, his sound is actually quite novel at times. He does lots of experimenting with sound collage techniques and has a friendly and sometimes collaborative relationship at most and sonic similarity at least to a lot of the leftfield electronic that's been in the limelight for the past year.

This EP is quite interesting. The first track is a slow-burning bit of industrial atmosphere that works quite well, if never to truly elevated effect. The second track is quite a bit different - a bouncy synth line like a resonant rubber ball bouncing down a metal track in the distance in a great vacuum serves as the centerpiece. The third one, a quick club beat layered under lots of static distortion and a plethora of sound effects before settling into a heavier beat about two thirds in, is another departure. The fourth builds on the sort of masked club sound of the third track and is a bit more vocal heavy, if they're heavily distorted and largely unintelligible. The songs here all have a high production value, but they seem a bit incoherent and almost like demo reels for some sounds and techniques Rabit is looking to engage with on other projects. This has been one of my main gripes with him - he tends to have really, really good ideas that come in fits and starts, and the actual structure of his compositions is a bit lacking for it. R&D is a consistent and mildly enjoyable experiment, but a failed one all the same. 6/10

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