Weekly roundup: what we have on repeat
From queer protest art to the meeting of two techno giants, these are the releases that caught our attention this week. In no particular order, here’s what we have on repeat:
Faithless – Everybody, Everybody
After the release of last year’s All Blessed, it was clear that Sister Bliss and Rollo Armstrong were back to stake their claim as dance floor royalty. On the cusp of releasing an updated version of the album, their latest single Everybody, Everybody continues their newfound delve into contemporary house sounds by way of old school style. Formulated for the perfect peak-time groove, Everybody, Everybody features grime leaning rapped verses to intensify the energy, leaning the track toward a juke and jacking house aesthetic. Simmering with propulsive progressions and percussive crashes, Everybody, Everybody is a full party packaged into a track that celebrates Faithless’s roots while locating them entirely in the present moment.
Avtomat – Doolska
Doolska is as much a political statement as it is a three track collection of kinetic, seething club deconstructions. Created in protest of Poland’s discriminatory views on the LGBTQ+ community and released on queer focussed label 51-53, Doolska is an intriguing body of work that takes its cue from the rubbery synths of post-SOPHIE dance music and the kitschy schlock of Polish cultural motifs. It pulls also from further spaces of outsider forms, Doomny Polonez for instance borrows the patterns of gqom and the rhythms of kuduro. The result is dramatic and a touch campy, but so full of intention that it very much feels like a valiant and glorious call to arms. Download it here.
Space 92 & POPOF – Insomnia
The meeting of two techno legends results in an EP designed for spaces bigger than the dance floor. With massive beats and roaring synth squabbles Insomnia is a collaboration that takes the best parts of both its makers and amplifies them ten-fold. The title track features a relentless sledgehammer beat along which dark-psy leaning pads rise and fall. Space 92’s Kerosene is an easy standout. Featuring layers of undulating bass and vocal samples, the track leans toward the progressive side of the spectrum and builds to a blisteringly filthy climax. Insomnia is released via FORM music. Download it here.
Little Boots – Silver Balloons
Victoria Christina Hesketh returns in all her synthpop glory with the new single, Silver Balloons. An icon on the UK dance scene, Little Boots has been crafting dancefloor hits since 2008 and has been a mainstay on the party circuit from Ibiza to Fashion Week. Inspired by the idea of cancelled parties and vacant dance floors due to lockdown, the track takes all that pent up energy and channels it into a simmering electro-disco groove. Like its namesake, it’s shimmery and effervescent; buoyant disco pop at its giddy best and an achingly chic way to restart the party. Silver Balloons is released on Little Boots’s own On Repeat Records. Download it here.
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