If there’s two men on this isle more readily equipped than Antoin Lindsay and Aidan Hanratty to tastefully distill the towering pantheon of electronic music as it manifests itself at this precise moment of time, in this particular corner of the world, we haven’t met them. Nor do we wish to. Here’s this week’s Rave New World. Don’t chew glowsticks.
GIGS
Twitch Presents: Paul Woolford and Midland at Mandela Hall, Belfast
Saturday, March 14
Two heavyweights of house and techno make their way to Twitch this Saturday for a pretty unmissable back-to-back session. Paul Woolford has played Twitch a few times before and made a habit of setting the place off. He’ll be joined by his pal Midland. AL
Beat BBQ present: Roy Davis Jr, Egyptian Lover and Jamie Jupiter at Aether & Echo, Belfast
Monday, March 16
An absolute stormer of a lineup for your pre-St Patrick’s Day partying at Aether & Echo. Not really much to say other than Strictly Rhythm legend Roy Davis Jr. and techno’s Prince Egyptian Lover are playing in Belfast and you’d be a total fool to miss it. AL
Pogo: Dimensions 2015 Launch Party with Bicep & More || Welcome Pres. MssingNo at The Twisted Pepper
Saturday, March 14
This is an odd one. Bicep are purveyors of bouncy, uplifting house and disco. MssingNo makes heart-rending grime and garage. As a friend said on Twitter, however: “Yea man reece basslines euphoric synthy breakdowns and detached vox.” True indeed. AH
Archetype presents: Nina Kraviz at District 8
Monday, March 16
It’s St Patrick’s Day so the whole country will be out on Monday and Tuesday night (possibly Sunday too, but anyway). Nina Kraviz (pictured) has just released her DJ-KiCKs entry, hot on the heels of starting her трип label (that’s Trip, in case you were wondering). She’s pretty much at the top of her game – as she has been for some years now, let’s be honest. So what better night to appreciate her talents? AH
TRACKS
Galcher Lustwerk – Parlay [Lustwerk Music]
After Galcher Lustwerk dropped one of the unmitigated success stories of the decade so far in 100% Galcher a few years ago, the ‘forthcoming’ material we were promised from it never really surfaced. That is until now, as Galcher has just announced he’s releasing two EPs in tandem. We’ve been given access to full versions of tracks we heard bits of in the mix, and Parlay is one of the first tracks on there. Lush vocal house music that manages to capture feelings of ennui and sexiness in the same, its pretty impeccable. AL
Person of Interest – What You Think You Want [L.I.E.S.]
If you were to believe some people, L.I.E.S. dropped off as a label somewhere in the last 18 months. Those people would be wrong. Well, maybe half wrong, as the massive hype they got toned down a bit they also happened to release a few weaker EPs. This Person of Interest trak suggest this won’t be the case for the label’s 57th(!) official release. Straight up unhinged dark techno business this time round from PoI on this, it’s a belter. AL
Violet, A.M.O.R., Nightwave, Nancy Whang, Mamacita, Coco Solid – Transition (Underground Resistance cover)
Banger alert. To celebrate IWD last week, a bunch of internationally located electronic artists got together to record a cover of Underground Resistance’s Transition. Produced by Violet (PT/UK), it features vocals by A.M.O.R. (PT), Coco Solid (NZ), Mamacita (Chile), Nancy Whang (NY) and Nightwave (Glasgow) in English, Portuguese, Spanish and Maori. Quite a range there. AH
Eugene Ward – Place (Large Group)
Eugene Ward (aka Dro Careu and Tuff Sherm) is a hugely talented Australian producer who’s flirted successfully with a host of genres since first appearing on The Trilogy Tapes in 2010. This release on Where To Now?, the label’s first LP, is made up tracks taken from a series of performance collaborations with choreographer Patric Kuo, which took place in Sydney last year. This track is brimming with nervous energy, thrilling percussion and stark string-like melodies colliding with chilling effect. AH
RELEASES + MIXES
Victoria Kim – Astral Plane mix
Blurring the lines between ballroom, grime, R&B and k-pop, this is a pretty spectacular mix by Syndey-via-Seoul duo Victoria Kim. You’ll find tracks from Rich Gang, Mykki Blanco, Sudamin and the Gage x Kevin Jz Prodigy track I covered on this a while back as well as VK’s own productions. Prepare to lose it to this. AL
TCF – NLeZ7tnzzjTXBsMtD1OO0xPEZ0MmnSKsGZA/yHfSV1gfK H+//xR9oW+uUJO4i3N0lRghdsuEoRSOKjJMZApfoA== [Ekster]
A snappily-named record from the technology-obsessed TCF which supposedly is based around the history of the tea trade (the record also comes with free tea). Apparently he produced the tracks by “…selecting sounds from the algorithmic output and organizing them”. I’d be lying if I said this made any sense to a mere mortal like me but it sounds great nonetheless. AL
Stream here.
Kara-Lis Coverdale – Summer Cool Mix 009
Kara-Lis Coverdale is a Canadian composer and performer who’s got an album out due soon on Sacred Phrases – two tracks are already on the label’s SoundCloud (https://soundcloud.com/sacredphrases). This mix isn’t a dance mix per se, but it’s in the same spirit of electronics as the likes of Vangelis, Jarre, or contemporaries like CFCF or Oneohtrix Point Never. There’s a really bizarre cut-up take on ‘Kiss From A Rose’ stuffed in there, which only adds to the intrigue. AH
evitceles – vous (EP)
evitceles is a pretty unknown quantity, discovered during a late-night Bandcamp scour. The Bulgarian has just dropped this two-track release (he calls it an EP but it’s really not an EP), its dank techno matched beautifully by some truly evocative titles. ‘elanchol’ suggests a certain pain caused by the lack of a particular fundamental, sampled ad libs given terrifying meaning by their new surroundings. ‘oublier’, of course, is the French to forget. Dank. AH
