Weekly roundup: what we’ve had on repeat
Image by Kai Whiston, Iglooghost & Daniel Mutton
From a striking extraterrestrial concept album to an unexpectedly lusty industrial techno turn by one of pop’s foremost figures, these are the releases that caught our attention this week. In no particular order:
FISHER- Just Feels Tight
FISHER has become synonymous with the sort of propulsive tech house beats that are just straight up dirty. Who could resist the taught progression and grinding bass of Losing It? His first release of the year comes hotly anticipated, following a wave of success that included a Grammy nod. Just Feels Tight is a satisfyingly raunchy continuation of the Australian producer and DJ’s beat driven modus operandi. Just Feels Tight pounds with heavy percussion and a signature FISHER bass line, shifting into overdrive with ripping synths and kinetic phasers. It’s the sort of obnoxious tech-house cut that would make any dance floor explode, recalling the impish naughtiness of 2000’s bangers like Satisfaction. The track is released with it’s own tongue-in-cheek Benassi-esque music video, featuring a frisky Fisher teaching a manic aerobics class to a room of swimwear-clad models. The single is released by Catch & Release Records. Download it here.
Mount Kimbie – Black Stone
In commemoration of the fourth anniversary of their critically lauded album Love What Survives, English electronic duo Mount Kimbie have shared two new tracks from the album’s cutting room floor. Black Stone is defined by kinetic rhythms that follow the motorik aesthetics of Love What Survives. A steady, chugging groove provides a sense of forward motion, providing a dynamic backdrop for the track’s twinkling xylophone synth arpeggios. Like the krautrock rhythms of Love What Survives tracks such as You Look Certain (I’m Not So Sure), Black Stone is electronic music that sounds deftly organic and full of life. The Peter Eason Daniels directed music video embraces the track’s everyday life tonality, with a gonzo documentary style collage depicting and echoing the urban blur of a late night/early morning bus commute. Black Stone and it’s B-side Blue Liquid is released by Warp Records. Purchase it here.
Kai Whiston – Drayan! (EP)
Drayan!, the latest mixtape from multidisciplinary sound artist Kai Whiston, is a stunningly realised sci-fi concept record that follows Whiston’s enigmatic extraterrestrial spirit guide, Drayan as the 3037 year old entity visits Earth to locate his father. According to Whiston, Drayan is from an alien civilisation called X’ziphursch VII, and “the barycenter of his own gravitationally bound system of many objects and planets.” The lofty concept is astutely translated by Whiston into beguiling pieces of deconstructed club music, disrupted works of sound design that construct both the aesthetic identity and ephemeral soul of the Drayan character. The title track is a spacious galaxial trip-hop cut that recalls the stylish melancholy of Massive Attack. From the twisting, distorted martian vocals of Acid Richter to the acoustic guitar balladry of Betty, Drayan! is a conceptually succinct masterpiece. It’s a captivating exercise in sonic world building by way of abstract narrative, and a mesmerising work of inter-dimensional futurism. Drayan! is released by MCMXCV. Download it here.
Pablo Nouvelle & Kinnship – KILO
This is not the first collaboration between Swiss producer Pablo Nouvelle and multi-instrumentalist Kinnship. The release of Nouvelle’s eponymous debut garnered him critical recognition, and Kinnship’s evocative, melodic soundscapes has seen global support from radio and tastemakers, including BBC Radio1. The most recent meeting of these two minds results in KILO, an ethereal and emotive track that serves as the first single from the pair’s upcoming collaborative album, Stones & Geysers. Opening with enchanting woodwind chords, KILO unfolds into a slow-burning, meditative soundscape. Kinnship’s gentle vocals float above layers of Nouvelle’s production; waves of shimmering, oscillating synths and smooth, otherworldly beats. Capturing an optimistic and introspective tonality, KILO is a gorgeously atmospheric offering that ebbs with a preternatural sense of voluptuary fluidity. KILO is released via Believe, listen below.
Billie Eilish – Oxytocin
When Billie Eilish unveiled the golden hour aesthetic of her sophomore effort Happier Than Ever, no one really expected gritty industrial techno a-la Nine Inch Nails to find its way onto the tracklist. While most of Happier Than Ever sees Eilish experimenting with a jazzier laidback lounge-singer sound, Oxytocin evolves the sinister industrial electronica that established her as one of pop music’s most transgressive new voices. By virtue of this, Oxytocin stands out as one of Happier Than Ever’s strongest moments. The track is an aggressive and deliciously smutty exploration into kinky sexual desire. Opening with breathless, kinetic percussion, Eilish defiantly confesses “I like to do things God doesn’t approve of” in her signature, medicated timbre. Oxytocin soon erupts into a throbbing and distorted take on minimal techno, with menacing buzzsaw synths and one of Eilish’s most dynamic vocal performances to date. Her guttural, half-moaned screams accent the carnivorous lustiness of the track, and defines it as one of the most intriguing songs in her catalogue. It’s an unexpected but welcome club banger, vehemently marking the arrival of Eilish’s dominatrix side with the sort of poppified grungy underground electronica that she does best. Stream the lyric video below.
Follow our roundup playlist, ‘What We Have on Repeat’ on Spotify to hear and save our weekly selections:
Note that Mount Kimbie’s Black Stone is not available on Spotfiy, so we’ve added their similar track You Look Certain (I’m Not So Sure) to our playlist
