In the latest installment of Rave New World, Aidan Hanratty delves into the very best electronic gigs, mixes, tracks and release of the week, featuring Luke Abbott, hold mc, Tamo Sumo (pictured) and more.
GIGS
Pender Street Steppers at Opium Rooms
Friday, May 29
Pender Street Steppers and the whole Mood Hut crew have conquered all before them lately, and with the tiniest hint of warmth in the air now is the perfect time to catch their buoyant brand of house music.
Underlying Form w/ Bruno Schmidt (hifi) at The Bunatee (Belfast)
Friday, May 29
We’ve already had extensive coverage of the AVA Festival, but tonight house and techno oddball Bruno Schmidt comes to Belfast with his own brand of twisted electronics for Underlying Form’s first night at The Bunatee at Queens.
Subject at Pogo – Tama Sumo at The Twisted Pepper
Saturday, May 30
The weekend is all about Forbidden Fruit and Life festival it seems, but there’s plenty of stuff happening away from festival land. A bit of Berghain comes to Dublin tomorrow, as Ostgut Ton’s Tama Sumo drops by. A 20-year veteran of Berlin clubbing, she’s been a resident at Berghain/Panoramabar since its inception. If that in itself isn’t a huge stamp of honour I don’t know what else I can add.
Subject – Surgeon at The Twisted Pepper
Sunday, May 31
It’s a Bank Holiday weekend in Dublin so there’s loads happening in clubland. Most excitingly, Surgeon brings his live modular set to town – again at The Twisted Pepper. Bodytonic sure know who to book.
MIXES/RELEASES
Lauren Flax Live DJ set At The Bunker
Recorded late last month, Lauren Flax of CREEP throws down an hour of jackin’ house music at The Bunker in New York. Not much to say about it really – just get down.
Luke Abbott – Music For A Flat Landscape: Original Soundtrack to ‘The Goob’
We love Luke Abbott. This new release is welcome, then. It’s a soundtrack piece to Norfolk-set The Goob, and without having seen the film I can’t comment on its filmic success. As an album, however, it’s a winner – another collection of lush, modular instrumentals that are languid and insistent in equal measure.
Huntleys + Palmers – EE 377
The latest in Rob Booth’s never less than stellar Electronic Explorations Opening with a moving expression of experience from Leo Herrera on the beauty and importance of dance (read more here), it drifts through Hype Williams into unreleased Petwo Evans on H+P and the really rather stunning ‘Beesan Rum’ from Gilb’r. A slow and sultry mix follows, featuring unearthly delights from the likes of Baba Stillz, and Matthew Dear. It peters off slightly in the last 20 minutes, but on the whole, definitely worth your time
Umfang – Umfang
New York’s Umfang is part of the inspirational Discwoman crew, and her first release on videogamemusic shows off her production skills. The tape is largely amelodic, focusing on rhythmic percussion. Iso is particularly haunting, while Comfort Zone, ironically, flirts with 12/8 techno.
TRACKS
Lumigraph – —
Lumigraph is not the most prolific of producers – or should I say his shared output isn’t as dense as that of some of his peers. This track is tagged #leonardodicaprio and is captioned by the lyrics of All Saints’ ‘Perfect Shores’. What the connection is I don’t know, but the track is a gem. It’s got the rugged flavour of his released work but it comes with hints of melody and more dynamic percussion. More trax plx Loomi-Loomz.
Lutto Lento – Whips
Do Where To Now? ever stop? This organ-led jam from Polish producer Lutto Lento is the lead track from WIID04, and comes just days after the release of Boogie Chillen/The Hills of Cypress from Beat Detectives Its ebullience is infectious, and hints at a collection of bouncy party gems.
uncertain – The Twin Serpents Of The Androgyne (Hod)
This is an odd one, I’ll admit. Not quite techno but certainly 4/4 and heavily electronic. Deeply immersed in murk, this incantation comes from uncertain, a Buffalo-based artist who delves into unsayable rituals to expose and illuminate the fragility of existence.
hold mc – do you remember it fondly?
hold mc is Liam O’Mahony, who runs Slumdiscs out of Washington. This jam is endlessly deep, so deep I nearly didn’t come up for air.
