Es Buzz

As promised here's the second of my reviews for Buzz Magazine this month (after yesterday's Maribou State post) and it's one of my fave albums of the year so far.

ES
Less of Everything (Upset The Rhythm)
*****

Brutal and direct, Es’s debut album is a gothy synth-punk triumph. It ticks every box. Maria Cecilia Tedemalm’s vocals are stark and detached like Kim Gordon’s, spouting absurdist lyrics that still kick. Katy Cotterell’s bass explodes like shrapnel, forcing the melody under your skin. Flora Watters’ synth is set to ice blast, covering the album with a gothic sheen. Tamsin M. Leach’s drums are relentless. Less of Everything is short, sharp, and stripped, minimalist yet raging. It’s good. Es are good.



Less of Everything by Es comes out on Friday 3rd April 2020. They are/were due to play Cardiff Psych & Noise Fest 2020 on Friday 22nd May, so we'll see.

Related post: Urgh!

Maribou Buzz

Not one but two reviews for Buzz Magazine this month. I'll post the Es review tomorrow but for now, it's Maribou State.

MARIBOU STATE
Fabric presents… (Fabric Records)
***
While the world falls apart around us, there’s a certain comfort that venerable London club Fabric is still chucking out mix albums. Rebooted in 2019 as Fabric presents, Maribou State is number 205. And it’s the classic DJ mix journey, starting all sultry and slow before getting harder and faster towards the end (much like making love to a beautiful woman). We take in dusty disco and house shufflers, going global in the mid-section with Kiki Gyan’s Ghanian funk and the German 80s electro of Supersempffts. Rinse and repeat.

Fabric Presents Maribou State came out on Friday 27 March 2020.

Related post: Locked Down (post from 2011 on Four Tet's FabricLive 59 but with a spooky title) 

8 in 1 Again

Here we go again! Been a minute, so here are a few things I've been enjoying recently in no particular order.

Discwoman 87 x Fauzia

As featured on Resident Advisor's Mix of the Day (my new go-to for work music), Fauzia drops a short, sharp and fun 40 minutes for Discwoman.

Deux - Game And Performance

Ah, remember minimal wave? Only 10 more years till nu-cold wave.

Special Request - Elysian Fields

Still really enjoying Zero Fucks. Still free so no excuses, even if you only have a passing interest in drum 'n' bass. 

Real Estate - Paper Cup

Missed out on the latest Real Estate album in last month's Buzz reviews (picked up Islet instead). Sounds like they're still doing their chillwave/Aztec Camera thing. Good for them.

Throbbing Gristle - United (Two Lone Swordsmen Remix - Vocal Version)

RIP Andrew Weatherall. RIP Genesis P-Orridge. 

Octo Octa - Bodies Meld Together

Simple, effective house rumbler from one of the new Radio 1 Residency DJs.

GFOTY & Spinee - Huge Spinee

As featured on Oli XL's new NTS show. Get it down yerr.

Four Tet - Mama Teaches Sankrit

Only had a quick dive into Four Tet's new album Sixteen Oceans, but the closer, Mama Teaches Sankrit stood out straight away. Pretty, shimmering, yearning electronic music.

Related post: 8 in 1

Original Image: The original uploader was Tomruen at English Wikipedia. / CC BY-SA

More Melin Melyn Plz

Islet on a Saturday night in Clwb? It had to be done. And despite the technical issues, they were top top. No surprises there.

What was a surprise was the opening support. Melin Melyn were also top top, sounding a bit Gorky's, a bit Divine Comedy, and a bit Hooded Fang. They even covered Rip It Up And Start Again by Orange Juice. Lovely stuff.

I enjoyed it so much, I splashed out on a T and chatted with the singer. Melin Melyn formed in May, they're playing Green Man and an album is planned. #Journalism.

For now though, there's a self-titled EP on SoundCloud...



Related post: Islet Buzz 

Game On with Teki & Nick's Mixtape Quest Adventure

Oh man, what a week. Coronavirus and British Pie Week? Insania.

Been powering through it though with “TEKI AND NICK’S MIXTAPE QUEST ADVENTURE” (テキとニックのUミクステップクイエスト大冒険). It's yer man, the King of Blends, Teki Latex doing his thing but it's all old school game music.



As they have it on its dedicated site:

"[...] a unique blend of golden era age video game soundtracks, hip hop acapellas and bass heavy dance music, with mixtape exclusives from some of underground music’s finest."

Free to download, with loads of tidy artwork too (including a dog-eared manual), there are no excuses to not jump on this banger.

Two things though. They're tiny trust me. There's plenty of stone-cold classic gaming OSTs here (Sonic, Streets of Rage, and obvs Dire Dire Docks) but there's two I would've loved to have been included:

• Robocop Title Theme for the Gameboy AKA the greatest gaming music of all time
• Guile's Theme - it goes with everything after all (though Ken's music is better - don't @ me)

Maybe for a second edition?

Related post: Salty Boyz

Radio 1 Residency: Spring 2020 Update

Where does the time go? Feels like no time since I was writing about the last Radio 1 Residency shuffle. Anyway, they smashed it, those heads at 1FM (as the idents in the repeat of Andrew Weatherall's (RIP) 1993 Essential Mix had it).

I literally punched the air when I saw this:

Can you believe this? I’m one of the new residents of @BBCR1 ! 1st show Sunday right after @Grimezsz . Blends, exclusives, funny stories, all the usual stuff you love from Uncle Teki now on the BBC. May the powers of Dr Who, Benny Hill & Sherlock Holmes be with me. #R1Residency pic.twitter.com/E0DX2idDbs

— Teki Latex (@TekiLatex) February 28, 2020

The King of Blends on regular rotation? Caribou too? Saoirse and Special Request hanging round as well? Yes, mate.

The first two new shows went out last weekend. Teki Latex threw it down (and timed it with his new mixtape, more of which in another post). Meanwhile, Grimes went full Grimes and did a show of sc-fi music suitable for babies. Obvs. She did play this rumbler though:

(That's Time by Pachanga Boys in case it gets copyright struck down the line.)

Ins and Outs of Radio 1 Residency Spring/Summer 2020

Ins

• Grimes
• Caribou
• Eris Drew + Octo Octa
• Teki Latex

Outs

• Charlotte de Witte
• HAAi
• Jayda G
• Nastia

Remainers

• Denis Sulta
• Sherelle
• Saoirse
• Paul Woolford AKA Special Request

Related post: Radio 1 Residency Goes On and On

Image Credit: The original uploader was W.C. at German Wikipedia. / CC BY-SA