Album Review: Total Folklore - Dan Friel

Total Folklore is the aural equivalent of licking wasp flavoured candyfloss and swigging it back with a broken glass blueberry slushy. Dan's basically playing it cutesy whilst also sticking a pen knife in your ear.

I summarised the way Friel's music made me feel back when he first put 'Valedictorian' out for your streaming pleasure last year. None of the intensity has dulled on this long-player. The resulting chaos is a cacophonous musical George's Marvellous Medicine of sounds pulled together to send you doolally.

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Total Folklore - Dan Friel

Friel's vision is an album inspired by urban life, triggered by long walks through the Brooklyn and the world of the commute. Tracks are punctuated with sounds Friel recorded on walks through the city, brief moments representing the pauses in city journeys - moments inside a pachinko parlor or watching kids play basketball.

Friel clearly associates the city with chaos and noise - his effects pedals and noisemakers make that clear. Total Folklore is like a psychedelic-love-letter to a city, and it's shaped by abrasive punk and written like saccharin chip tune. Starting with 'Ulysses' Total Folklore slowly grinds it's gears and rises up, constantly unfurling additional scale when you always think it can't go on. At almost 13-minutes long, scale is one thing 'Ulysses' can't be accused of lacking.

That opening track makes up almost a third of the album's length, so the album's structure itself feels like an additional attempt at confrontation. Dan Friel rushes to get through the rest of the material - only two of the remaining 11 tracks extend beyond three-minutes. It feels a little bit like the boy who has unwrapped one  Christmas present and just can't wait to tear them all open, too excited to slow down.

The ideas also loop back on themselves. 'Scavengers' is another take at the core melody of 'Valedictorian' but with more bass, for example. There are a series of rapid moments on this album - the grit and bubblegum of 'Thumper' and rising crescendo of 'Badlands' - but each feels like a the result of some heavily distorted Chinese-whisper of the last.

If there is one thing besides noise that Total Folklore communicates it is rapid and uncontrollable excitement, overstimulated and over-amplified. In today's world of cynicism and reservation that's a little bit refreshing. It might give you a nosebleed but one thing Total Folklore doesn't do is leave you without an impression.

Total Folklore is out on 18 February through Thrill Jockey, available to pre-order from Amazon.co.uk on CD and LP [affiliate links]. Stream and download the track 'Thumper' below:

EP Review: Driving Me Wild - Kahwe

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Driving Me Wild EP - Kahwe

Driving Me Wild has moments that recalls the feeling when you walk into a club, building from snatches of noise and a quiet bass track. The big house piano that rides in late on into the first minute of 'Anything' captures that sense of rounding the corner and meeting the dance floor. Those keys drop, the room is in reckless abandon and everything changes.

Kahwe is 20 year-old Joe Cowie but this release would probably have you believe he has significantly more years in his record box than he does. Cowie's production work is based primarily around garage and 90s house but he manages to bring those two genres together without the spirit of either conflicting with the other, and at its best, the EP captures the very feeling of clubbing.

'Driving Me Wild' is a deep, a tightly focused house track with elements of soul in the vocal. The slick electronic bass seemingly bends round corners, creating a surprisingly melodic feel that provides a bedrock for the warm pads Kahwe throws at this track.

Despite a few retro touches the music on this EP comes off feeling surprisingly modern - the skittering beats and rap samples on 'Anything' adapted to suit the empty-pipe echoing bass noise. It's both respectful of the past and unafraid to experiment.

Final track 'Yew' is much more laid back. Whilst it retains a relatively uptempo rhythm the fuzzy sounds and blissful break create a very different atmosphere to round the EP off.

Driving Me Wild is released through Anjunadeep on 11 February, available to buy from Beatport here. Preview the EP below:

EP Review: Sensoramic - Laura Jones

Believe it or not Sensoramic is Laura Jones debut solo EP release. It says a lot about the impact of her work that I struggle so much to get my head around that fact, but she has actually only featured on other artists releases, split releases and compilation EPs. She has had several notable tracks since her 2011 break but none quite matches 'Love In Me' in terms of appeal and acclaim, having held the number spot on Beatport for several weeks.

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Sensoramic - Laura Jones

The influence of the artists Jones has collaborated with and the labels involve (both Visionquest, whom this release is from, and Jones' other regular label Crosstown Rebels) is fairly clear. Sensoramic is more minimal in approach. Where 'Love In Me' relied on a nod to 90s Euro-house for it's appeal this release is much more unashamedly contemporary.

The maturity works. Opening with 'Let Me In', Laura creates a moody, distant track full of hushed desperation. A deep bass shuffles beneath the track whilst cool xylophone-esque chimes play out an accompany to widescreen synths. The EP also includes a dub version of 'Let Me In' built around that bass line and layered cuts of Jones' vocal, creating something a little deeper for the dance floor.

Next track 'Loose Myself' is claustrophobic, elastic bass effects and rigid drum patterns creating a dark atmosphere that Jones is unafraid to keep maintain at a slow and precise pace. The track gradually builds to a bouncy bass line that does nothing to lighten the mood, delivering an epic and introspective conclusion.

Final track 'Every Thought' continues the introspective theme, creating a melodic collage of delayed synths, gradually decaying keys and plenty of filters and effects.

The EP is at its finest when opened up to the loose chime playing and contrasting depth of 'Let Me In' but the whole release grows the producer's sound convincingly.

Sensoramic is released through Visionquest on 4 February.

Single Review: Re-Set - Alex Barck

Re-Set is the first solo outing for Jazzanova founder Alex Barck, marking the first in a series of three vinyl only singles set to precede his début solo album Reunion.

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Re-Set - Alex Barck

Surprisingly Barck abandons the leftfield indie-jazz stylings of Jazzanova here and goes for something much more electronic and arguably more streamlined. The original mix is built around clean synth-lines and a bubbling bass track. Bristol-based vocalist Pete Josef provides an uplifting soulful vocal and gives the track a wonderfully embracing and elegant feel. It's like Junior Boys on masses of MDMA basically.

Berlin house and techno newcomer Hannes Fischer provides the remix. He applies a deft touch, stripping back the synth and subtly changing the tone. This alternative version is just as cool as the original but plays to a slightly more minimal audience, long chords and a simple drum set keep things going whilst the vocal keeps plenty of space. The release closes out with a warm instrumental of the original.

If Alex can keep the quality this high Reunion will certainly be an album to look out for.

Re-Set is out tomorrow through Reunion, available to order on 12" from Amazon.co.uk [affiliate link]. Stream the original version of 'Re-Set' below:

EP Review: Rosalind EP - Leon Vynehall

The Rosalind EP represents Leon Vynehall's sophomore release for label Well Rounded Housing Project and his third overall, with second release Gold Language coming out on Man Make Music following the his debut release, Mauve, last year.

This EP consists of two upbeat tracks followed by the title track, which closes the release out in a more laid back fashion. Vynehall focuses on a techie, robotic vision of house music. Opening track 'Untitled 017’ contains plenty of layered vocal snippets and an elastic bass, which combine with the treble-heavy percussion to give things an open, live-feeling sound.

Vynehall calls to mind early Layo & Bushwacka! and Emperor Machine in his distorted but sincere take on house. 'Title #7' throws in hi-hats-aplenty and rolling bongos to forge an atmospheric banking for a slowed-down and stretched-out classic house piano refrain.

Finally 'Rosalind' closes things with a suitably dreamy, soulful looped sample. The thick, looping melodies and sharp drum beat sound like Chill-wave produced by a Hip-Hop producer. It's a doe-eyed love letter that brings a relaxed but touching close to the EP.

The Rosalind EP is released on 5 February though Well Rounded Housing Project, preview below via Soundcloud: