Record Roundup: 2024 Electronic In Focus
Just a slice of this year's pioneering releases featuring synthesis of all sorts
There has been a rich seam of releases in these pioneering synthetic realms so this is a mere slice of what’s caught my ears so far. Four of them are available on Bandcamp only, but you can set the controls for the rest by clicking PLAY here or below.
I-R - Detroit Densha Seikatsu This long-awaited (at least by me) debut full-length from the collaborative project of composers and producers Francis Cuthbert and Daniel Rhode delivers an almost full-body experience when played at the appropriate volume, preferably from the expertly mastered CD. These two understand sound thoroughly and deploy heavy beats and complex distortions with the mastery of architects. DDS takes you on an imaginary commute through a transit system that combines what exists in Japan and what all Detroit denizens, including Cuthbert and Rhode, dream of. The packaging reflects this brilliantly; unfold the sleeve and it becomes a speculative map of the subway system the great Michigan city deserves. Although dark, harsh, and overwhelming at times, optimism suffuses the album, a quality we discussed when I interviewed Francis and Daniel on my podcast. Arrival at the terminus - which includes the relatively breezy Flail, composed by Brendan Randell-Myers, and Michigan Ave., featuring violinist Todd Reynolds - will confirm that getting there was more than half the fun.
kuuma - Koniwa This latest release from Francis Cuthbert’s solo project is sheer heaven, a constantly unfurling tapestry of looping cells and swooping lines that feel like an enveloping forest of sound. Some strategies remind me of Popol Vuh, Florian Fricke’s legendary Krautrock band, which provided soundtrack materials for several Werner Herzog films. But the Kuuma-verse holds none of the doom and darkness of Popol Vuh, only love and light. Let it shine on you.
Blackmoonchild - The Pisces Tape There are uneasy touches throughout this EP from the Detroit DJ and producer, typically in the bass undercurrents. You’ll be dancing and disoriented - and never more so than during the unhinged cover of Britney Spears’ Toxic.
Derek Michael - Tunnels With rhythms that slyly nod at Kraftwerk classics and the whole history of Detroit Techno - occasionally swerving into Autechre territory - and leavened by plenty of space around the burbling, funky, and jewel-toned synths, Micheal’s expansive album is a trip of a different kind. While his inspiration was the memory of childhood trips through the Detroit-Windsor tunnel, Michael invites us in with witty titles like Moving Violation, Cruise Control, and No U-Turn. Seatbelts fastened?
NEW CORRODED - Pass Lightly The debut of the duo of Guy Brewer and Daniel Lea, this expert collection of synths, synthetic percussion, and field recordings is deliciously single-minded. Dark and sleek, it moves like a maglev train through the night. Get on board.
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - Challengers Luca Guadagnino’s sexy tennis flick is a total blast - and Reznor and Ross gave us the precision-tooled soundtrack to match. My first thought as soon as the pulsing title track began was, “Who knew they could have this much FUN?” And being who they are, every beat drop and layer of synth is beyond immaculate. Guaranteed inclusion on workout mixes across the land!
Kristina Warren - The Bandwidth To Care Warren constructs deeply involving tracks using sources that might be considered non-musical (an air purifier, a broken cassette player), displaying Cageian flexibility about what constitutes music. If you feel baffled after one listen, play it again and all will make sense. The fact that her previous release was a concertina recording based on Frank Ferko’s 1992 choral setting of the 15th-century poem Adam Lay Ybounden gives you some idea of the broad interests of this fascinating artist. [BANDCAMP ONLY]
Stefan Meier - PP-06: Nervous Systems The “PP” stands for Party Perfect, a wonderfully eccentric “computer music” label. This typically adventurous release features Canadian composer and installation artist Meier, whose ability to create a narrative out of noise consistently intrigues throughout this 21-minute piece. What story will it tell you? [BANDCAMP ONLY]
Technical Reserve - PP-07: Cheap Heat Two computers (Hunter Brown and Dominic Coles) and one cello (TJ Borden, also of Switch Ensemble) plus some deeply twisted ideas about what to do with them comprise this witty, often surprising album of quick hits. [BANDCAMP ONLY]
Dau - Gilly’s Wood There’s a sense of a warm embrace from Neu, the track that opens this album by Phil Self, with its hymnal quality and his reed organ surrounded by an electronic cloud and the ambiance of the hawthorn wood in which it was recorded. Other songs traffic in starlit drama and calm acceptance, rounding out a remarkable collection.
Jeff Greinke - Oceanic Sometimes I’m late to the table…but not usually 40 years and 24 albums late! Nonetheless, I now have a clue about Greinke, whose compositional skill is only exceeded by his sonic mastery. The two combine into deeply immersive soundscapes that use some of the techniques of ambient music while somehow propelling you through the travelogue Greinke is conjuring, one of “large bodies of water…big clouds, steady rain, the jet stream, and far-off frozen places with massive drifting icebergs."
Jonathan Sielaff - Coral City When I included Golden Retriever’s Seer on my list of the 100 Best Albums Of The 2010s, I described it as “Bass clarinet, modular synth - and the entire goddamned universe.” Then I bemoaned the fact that nothing the duo of Sielaff and Matt Carlson had done since moved me as much. Until now - solo Sielaff hits the sweet spot on this rich collection, which blends bass clarinet, electronics, guitar, and field recordings into questing panoramas of sound.
Michael A. Muller - Mirror Music Known as a guitarist and composer with Austin minimalists Balmorhea, Muller turns to keyboards and an array of collaborators on this solo collection. Jonathan Sielaff is here along with other great players like cellist Clarice Jensen and guitarist Douglas McCombs (Tortoise). Meditative simplicity combines with intensely detailed passages for an exemplary mind movie.
Bloooom - Dew Life If self-care is one of your concerns (and if not, why not?), dial up this sublime collaboration, which includes two familiar names, guitarist Carlos Ferreira and synthesist Chuck Soo-Hoo (aka Ki Oni), and two less so, Devin Blair and Luke Elliott. In this five-track EP, the quartet generates improvisations that strike a perfect balance between synthetic and analog elements, with Ferreira’s atmospheric guitar prominently featured. If titles such as Droplets, Fog Water, and Condensation Nuclei call out to you, be assured there is no false advertising here. [BANDCAMP ONLY]
Arushi Jain - Delight The title of this second album by Jain, a composer, vocalist, engineer, and modular synthesis, is almost modest compared with how wonderful the sparkling, soaring, and captivating sounds make you feel. The nine gorgeous tracks were inspired by the Raga Bageshri, a centuries-old motif from Indian classical music meant to express the feeling of falling in love, realizing you’ve fallen in love, or waiting to reunite with a lover. Jain has captured these swoon-worthy emotions perfectly with the direct yearning expressed by her voice and the constantly evolving swirl of the synths. The result is an utter triumph that sounds completely effortless.
Pet Wife - Foam Set The strongest collection yet from this queer trans duo features sculptural sounds, finely honed songs, and that harder-to-define quality: a world view. The lyrics to A Real One, a catchy and canny representation of their “electro sulk” genre tag, could serve as their manifesto:
And if you get free
No one can touch you
No one can steal you
Don’t let them in
But there’s loads of variety on Foam Set, from that song’s pneumatic propulsion to realms spacier (Moonlight) and more aggressive (Out In The Wild). While the tight interiority of the sonics and the melodies, which sometimes sound like notes to self, may be protective, ultimately Pet Wife lets us in. Foam Set will touch you.
Perdurabo - Magnetar This first solo album by David Arneodo, who’s been part of Italian alt-rockers Marlene Kuntz since the 90s, marshalls powerful percussion and epic keyboards for a series of anthems that glitter with nuance. Three songs feature the vocals and lyrics of Roman Rappak in his Miro Shot guise, his signature sound of wounded strength a balm to those of us who were fans of Breton back in the 2010s.
Elsa Hewitt - Chaos Emeralds Hewitt is a can’t-miss artist for me, with regular appearances on my Top 25 since 2017. Her eighth album is no exception, presenting her hazy, hypnotic songs at their most well-defined yet. Chaos Emeralds was drafted during 2020’s lockdown and further sculpted in the ensuing years, yet rather than feeling overworked, the album flows easily. One clue to Hewitt’s methods may lie in the lyrics to Heartful Complex:
Finding the strength and the space to expand
As suddenly, painfully, I understand
Thundering, raining
The songs sing themselves
They comfort the souls
With the textures of the heart
Ancient is their art
Anchored by overlapping keyboard loops and decorated by an array of sharp and satisfying little sounds, each track acts as a facet of the whole glorious gem of a record. Chaos Emeralds is the perfect place to start involving yourself in the magical world of Elsa Hewitt. And if you are new to her music, I almost envy you the journey through her past albums.
Many of these releases have been featured on my podcast and you can find more goodies of this sort in this playlist.
From the archives:
A Song For Friday: Elsa Hewitt
A Song For Friday: Claire Rousay
A Song For Friday: Sugar Vendil
Best Of 2023: Electronic