8 Tracks: Between The Buttons With Arp

 
Music

NY-based artist Alexis Georgopoulos (aka Arp) – who's previously released on a wide variety of labels including RVNG, Smalltown Supersound and Emotional Rescue – returns this Friday with his fourth LP! Blurring the lines between acoustic and electronic, between his experimental impulses and his pop sensibilities, the new double-album ZEBRA hovers between balearic, jazz, post-minimalism and other similarly cosmic styles.

For his 8 Tracks playlist, Arp has put together a selection of music that begs the question, "Just what the £#¡€ IS this?!" "Ambient Jazz?!"  "Elevator Boogie"? "New Age send up?” Music that's the equivalent of a square peg in a round hole. Neither here nor there, but definitely OUT there. Get stuck in below…


ZEBRA is out 22nd June via Mexican Summer, pre-order it here.

Albert Alan Owen - Right Place, Right Time

Pure “Elevator Schmaltz? A “Synth Funk” masterpiece? You decide. S/O to Basso aka Growing Bin – who’s turned into a true force of all things fretless and beyond.

  • Albert Alan Owen - Right Place, Right Time

    Pure “Elevator Schmaltz? A “Synth Funk” masterpiece? You decide. S/O to Basso aka Growing Bin – who’s turned into a true force of all things fretless and beyond.

  • Marlui Miranda With Uakti - Tchori Tchori

    “Rainforest minimalism?” “Brazilian Cosmic?” Your guess is as as good as mine mate. But wow, just an incredible tune. The vocal pulse that comes in around 90 seconds begs the question: did Steve Reich originate this technique or did he lift it? Miranda has an ethnomusicological pedigree so she may have some idea.

  • D. W. Art - Mate

    Just so good. It’s like some stoned Mallorcans heard Depeche Mode through their neighbor’s window and channeled it into a ritual dance. Truly Balearic.

  • Cybe - Om Swastiastu

    With some irony, the German group Can titled a few of their own tracks “Ethnic Forgeries”. Inadvertently, they may have suggested an entire aesthetic to this Flying Dutchman. Flying on what we can’t be sure, but it’s likely hallucinogenic.

  • Kraan - Young King's Song

    “Proto-Bedroom pop?” “Phased out hypnogogia?” This is neither the prog nor the “kraut jazz” business more typical of this German band, but oddly it does predicts Connan Mockasin and Ariel Pink by a good 30-something years.

  • Pete Brandt's Method - What You Are

    This one’s gotten a good deal of attention over the past year or so but it perfectly exemplifies this question. The vocal seems to suggest post-punk. But… double bass? Jazz-y organ chords through a wah? Bongos?

  • Ernest Hood - Saturday Morning Doze

    New Age jazz, you say? A lysergic trip through East Village streets guided by none other than Mister Rogers? Sounds about right. Soon to be reissued if the rumours are true.

  • Mountain Tune - Triad

    A good example as any of what might be called AMBIENT JAZZ. A cover of David Crosby’s ode to group… entanglements.