Category Archives: Switched On

Switched On – Cocoon Compilation S (Cocoon)

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Various Artists: Compilation S (Cocoon)

reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Each year Cocoon release an additional ‘letter’ in their compilation series, which has incredibly reached its 20th instalment. Once again it is house music with a sound blend of experience and promise, presented in unmixed form. A dozen tracks with both eyes on the dancefloor.

What’s the music like?

As always with this series, consistency is the key, with quality intersections between house and techno – and a few big names delivering the goods.

Talaboman (John Talabot and Axel Boman) present one of the big draws in Big Room Anthemic Groovy Pounding Trance Dub Bomb. Music that delivers exactly what it promises! There is a superb track from Emmanuel Satie, Planet XXX offering a strong breakdown, while Mark Broom offers a lively, retrospective track with Jaded, its bell effects standing out. Edward’s End Days has a metallic edge, as does the more acidic Tering from Egbert, which brings a heady rush, but the one that burns brightest is Keep Changing Basslines from Dino Lenny. This is a brilliant collision of mood swings with the tag line ‘stay on the dancefloor’ the most memorable hook of the twelve.

Does it all work?

Yes, and in their 20th year it offers further proof of why Cocoon are at the top of their particular game. Sven Väth’s label has strength in depth, and a high quality threshold. Business as usual, in effect!

Is it recommended?

Yes – fans will know exactly what is in store here, a dozen tracks that push all the right dancefloor buttons. No need to hesitate for the converted or the new arrival.

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Switched On – John Beltran: Hallo Androiden (Delsin Records)

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John Beltran Hallo Androiden (Delsin Records)

reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

John Beltran is a mainstay of Detroit techno, and continues a productive period of his career with his first new music for the Delsin label in three years. It is his second album of 2019, complementing a return for his Placid Angles alias which we heard in March – and which marked his fiftieth birthday.

What’s the music like?

Beltran is a reliable source of high quality ambient techno, and if that all sounds a bit routine and grey – like the record cover – it isn’t meant to. What that statement really says is that he very rarely puts a foot wrong, as is the case here.

Hallo Androiden, in keeping with its friendly title, has a warm and welcoming tone, but balances its softer harmonies and melodies with solid beats. Beltran often knits his tracks together with a network of loops, busying themselves over broken beats that bring focus to the softer, fuzzier centre.

The rolling beats of Perfect In Every Way illustrate how well this approach works, and how heavier drum tracks can complement the loops really well. On the other side It’s Because Of Her is a really lovely bit of soft ambience that gradually flowers, while Beautiful Robots a stately progression

Like all the softer tracks on Hallo Androiden, The Coming Home is delicate but has depth too, and its intricate construction means repeated listening is always repaid with Beltran’s work.

Does it all work?

Yes, and it complements the more retro dance approach of his Placid Angles work beautifully. Hallo Androiden is an ideal soundtrack to either end of the day, with or without headphones.

Is it recommended?

Yes, with every bit as much enthusiasm as Beltran’s work to date. Who said robots don’t have feelings?!

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Switched On – Loscil: Equivalents (Kranky)

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Loscil Equivalents (Kranky)

reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Scott Morgan’s twelfth album as Loscil is inspired by Equivalents, a collection of black and white cloud photographs by Alfred Stieglitz from the early 20th century. Given that he lives in Vancouver, with its panoramic sky views towards the eastern Pacific, Morgan had constant reminders while writing his concentrated musical responses to eight of the pictures.

What’s the music like?

The imagery fits Loscil’s music perfectly, Morgan often creating music that works as an audible representation of a weather system.

Once again time and space are suspended in this music, which seems to be incredibly simple when placed in the middle background, but which on closer inspection reveals intricate lines when up close, rather like those cloud systems. The eight equivalents, slightly confusing in their placements out of conventional order on the album, unfold with slow gravity. Like their clouds they are weighed down, almost to floor level, but their layers combine to make constructions of rarefied beauty.

Equivalents 1 & 3 (picture above) make a good pair with which to start, both brooding in minor keys but in the second piece oscillating softly between two pitches above a long, held note. If you close your eyes and concentrate at this point natural phenomena come into view (they did for me at least!) and there is a palpable, windswept energy despite the complete lack of percussion.

The central Equivalent 5 (above) is the most memorable and remarkable, with the closest thing to a melody you will find on this album. A four-note motif, drawn over around 10 seconds, enjoys a stately progression through the clouds, like a plane on an onward journey as the mass of water swells around it.

In response Equivalent 2 (above) has that rare breed of stillness Loscil can conjure up, floating weightlessly above the solid masses. Again though this has a slow moving, four note movement, audible in the bass part.

Finally Equivalent 4 (above) inhabits a similar timeless space to Holst’s final planet Neptune, with a rich added chord bolstered by fuzzy outlines that gradually fade from view.

Does it all work?

Yes, with the greatest intensity. Some of the best ambient music is pleasant and relaxing to listen to but carries with it a concentrated feeling. Loscil achieves that balance once again on Equivalents, placing his listener in the very photograph providing him with inspiration. On headphones that notion becomes a very intense but also private experience.

Is it recommended?

Absolutely. A Loscil album that is ideal for new listeners but which will wholly satisfy his devoted fans. If you haven’t joined them already you are strongly advised to do so!

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Switched On – Blood Orange: Angel’s Pulse mixtape (Domino)

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Blood Orange Angel’s Pulse mixtape (Domino)

reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Ahead of his first foray into classical waters with Third Coast Percussion, Devonte Hynes – the man behind Blood Orange – releases a companion piece to last year’s Negro Swan album. It is a habit the producer has developed, making a set of ‘offcuts’ available to friends in the wake of a bigger release, but given that in his own words ‘I’m older now though, and life is unpredictable and terrifying’, he has made it available to the wider public.

What’s the music like?

Cool and compact, but emotional too. Hynes has always possessed the knack of expressing himself keenly through music that does not have to be loud or brash, and the level of Angel’s Pulse even drops to a murmur at times. In doing so it draws the listener in, through songs that never outstay their welcome. Of the 14 tracks here, only two are over three minutes in length.

Musically the mood is consistent with Negro Swan but has more room in its texture – which takes it closer to the 2016 album Freetown Sound. Cool soul and funk mix freely, with the odd hint of West Coast rock. Textures are dreamy but lyrics are on point.

Taking individual tracks, the sonorous speaking voice on Berlin comes from Ian Isiah, with Porches also contributing – as with Freetown Sound, the guests easily accommodated into the album. BennY RevivaL contributes an urgent rap on Seven Hours Pt.1, while Birmingham brings a flourish from vocalist Kelsey Lu. Meanwhile Toro y Moi brings a sense of yearning to Dark & Handsome, at which point the album behaves like a radio station, switching with background fuzz to Benzo, which evokes Hynes’ home city of New York through a soft, nocturnal sax. Baby Florence (Figure) crackles with a sudden momentum from its samba-like beat.

Some of the songs on Angel’s Pulse feel half finished, but the mixing effect links them seamlessly. If anything their shorter form makes it easier for the listener to get to their essence.

Does it all work?

Yes. While not as concentrated a listen as the Freetown Sound and Negro Swan albums, Angel’s Pulse does still hang together beautifully. There is perhaps room for the songs to have been further developed, but if anything this heightens their immediacy.

Is it recommended?

Yes – followers of Hynes and Blood Orange will lap it up, while looking forward with great intrigue to the Third Coast Percussion collaboration Fields, due for release on the Cedille label on October 11.

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Switched On – Special Request: Vortex & Bedroom Tapes (Houndstooth)

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What’s the story?

Paul Woolford, the man behind Special Request, is releasing just the four new albums this year. In his description they were ‘made in his underpants’, and represent a clear wish to make instinctive music that gets to the listener as quickly as possible. This no frills approach is all about making incisive dance music that cuts to the quick, losing none of its energy to post-production.

What’s the music like?

Woolford gets a thrilling blend of old and new in his music, and the refreshing lack of studio gloss keeps the music strong and vital. There is something here for house heads, drum and bass and techno lovers alike, for he has a very unique approach to beat making. Nothing is conventional, yet his rate for hitting the sweet spot is unerring.

The key element of his approach is a love for the use of riffs and sounds harking back to the late 1980s, with electronic dance music still in its infancy and full of thrills and spills

Vortex has the quicker cut and thrust of the two albums. Memory Lake cuts to the quick, getting its raw shots of adrenalin through a killer beat and hook. Ardkore Dolphin takes the same rhythmic cell and presents it in different, thrilling ways. Vortex 150 then typifies Woolford’s approach, with beats that strain at the leash and a primal intensity that reflects the need to dance while capturing the thrill of early hardcore discoveries. Fett is even quicker – 175 beats per minute to be precise – before a flurry of synths and rapid fire drums for A Gargantuan Melting Face Floating Effortlessly Through The Stratosphere. The brilliant title itself pays homage to The Orb, but the rhythms are about three times the speed!

The lo-fi Bedroom Tapes is a bit slower but has a wider sound perspective, impressing with its expansive structures. Panaflex Sunrise is an opening beauty, a singular loop channeling the spirit of early Aphex Twin releases with its softer beat. Despite not grabbing the listener by the scruff of the neck like he does on Vortex, Woolford still finds a fiercely singular voice. Xenopsin is the biggest track – nearly 12 minutes – but arguably the best too, spacing out time as the riffs turn over, backed by a solid four to the floor beat. Phosphorescence is also very fine, a beautifully hazy construction of techno that delivers power but has a softer heart.

Does it work?

Wholeheartedly. These are albums three and four under the Special Request moniker, and as with the first two Woolford packs an original punch in his music that can be breathtaking. In it he finds raw, untempered sounds, wiry melodies and beats that can’t take you anywhere else but the dancefloor.

There is something for everyone here, from the mottled sunrise moments of Bedroom Tapes to the out and out thrills of the Vortex faster tracks.

Are they recommended?

Both albums are unreservedly recommended – and with Offworld next up at the end of September, part three beckons for what will surely be a clean sweep of Special Request winners.

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