Audio Love 30.10.15

 
Music

Chaos in the CBD – Constraints of Time Travel EP (Church)

Chaos in the CBD (Beans and Louis) are brothers who hail from New Zealand originally but they’ve left the land of the Kiwi far behind and are now well and truly part of the exceedingly fertile scene bubbling up in southeast London. I first picked up on them via a white label they did with Parisian imprint Clek Clek Boom but since then they’ve gone on to drop an excellent 12” on Rhythm Section and now are just set to drop another EP, this time with local label Church, the local go-to for exceptionally good house music.

We open up the EP with the title track and it’s a real beauty. The warm, pulsating synth lines give this track a nice sense of expectancy. Over on the flip we have the effortless funk of 'Phantom Melodies' which has a beautifully nonchalant bass line and some polite piano chords. One to play to the parents. To round things off we have a low-key bongo workout with “Similar Stories”. This is a great ep and these guys are definitely ones to watch. I’m predicting big things.

Coming soon – pre-order here.

Greg Beato – When Monkeys Attack (Apron)

I watched that new(ish) Planet of the Apes film recently and it was actually quite good. Now while the simians in the film are apes not monkeys (monkeys are much cheekier but less capable of using automatic weapons) I think there are definitely parallels in concept that can be drawn here. Apron is one of those labels you ignore at your peril. Their releases are always on point and this current EP that’s dropping next week courtesy of Greg Beato is an absolute corker.

We open up with the 'When Monkeys Attack' which is frantic and rough but with energy by the bucket load. Which I imagine would be the same adjectives I’d use if I was actually trying to describe a monkey attack if it wasn’t too serious and was actually quite fun/well meaning. Over on the flip we have 'El Deniro Falla' which is the pick of the (banana) bunch for me. It’s a thumper, with its crunchy 909esque drums but it has such lovely bounce I could bob up and down to it all day. There’s a lovely blend of weirdness and groove. Finally we have the grumpy 808 jam of 'Sadatai' which is about as funky as a bad mood is going to get. Great EP from a great producer on a great label. Great.

Out soon – preorder here.

JMS Khosah & Brassfoot – NCA001 (NCA)

A new tape label has just surfaced and their first offering is off the scale. The 50 minute excursion comes courtesy of the London artist Brassfoot and the Tokyo based JMS Khosah and it’s impressive how much sonic territory is covered whilst remaining coherent and still making sense. We have jacking electro, Detroit synth workouts, sleazy slow jams, ambient noise essays, the works. The vibe is very low-fi but the sound is still strong. I think too much badly produced music these days hides behind a low-fi aesthetic and this is a lesson in how to do it properly. This is quality and I’m looking forward to hearing more from NCA in the future.  

Grab one from Phonica – I think they have them in Sounds of the Universe also. Check Virgin Megastores and HMV but I doubt you’ll get lucky.