A recent release from, ‘EARLYDUB Records’, certainly proves that artists who utilize the sight and sounds of whatever time exists post-midnight, can produce music that stimulates the body, and that hypnotizes the mind.
Entitled, ‘(EDRV001) V/A Family Affairs Volume 1’, it is an amazing compilation of artists that collaborate in order to create some truly intense sounds, that must be played when the lights go down, to appreciate its quality.
Take track one, ‘Overlaps’ by Fernando Constantini and Alexander Kyosev. It’s liquefied and energized flow, not complicated but masterfully simplistic, provides, at the hands of magical, atmospheric undertones and a bass coated in a substance dripping with immense intimacy, a great way to reflect on a good night and want more. Loquace, ‘Strasse Boug’, comes with some a decayed and silenced robotic vocal, robotic and breathing with seductive innocence beneath a drum beat only the most primal and untainted of locations could create. Groovy, paced on wheels set to turn wherever the volume is turned up dial after dial the more people arrive; it is an enchanting and gorgeous tune not getting lost in the technological wires that constrain the darkness some songs need to be appreciated fully.
Son of Tiki, ‘Never Leave the Mothership’, is a stunning piece of penetrating musicality, a realm of darkly lit lights where less is always more constantly entrancing the listener in a daze of flashing lights and phenomenal vitality. It is a real treat when sounds such as this can combine the animalistic impulses that drive the to do things we know we shouldn’t, and the humanistic logics cast aside to do nothing except dance to a tune that waves, wanders and wobbles with power; with a prowl.
Yamen and EDA, ‘Feelit’ ends the EP. It is a pulsating and uplifting, a workout of the body and mind that obey every order of the voice coming from all directions on the floor. A commanding narrator’s voice overlaps the sounds of spirals and whispers, delicately announcing themselves beneath a science fiction collision course perfectly timed to soundtrack eyes closing, hearts beating, pulse racing. Maybe the voice of God if it came from some retro arcade games in a desolate space; and the words, ‘Feel It’, although trivial, are the gospels to live life by when music is played, everything is a go-go, and a moment is waiting.
This EP encapsulates the moods and memories perfectly. Its gentle foundations that fluctuate are never fixated in one genre, one dimension. Every bass line that breathes heavily into the ear, every nuance of noise or driving drum to hold heart in palm, isn’t too much to cope with when coma induced but still wide awake at the slick and cool results of musicians making music that welcomes, but never totally overwhelms.
Ryan Walker
Follow Ryan on Twitter @ryanlewiswalker
