Marie Davidson – The Psychologist
“Workaholic Paranoid Bitch” is a great appellation for Marie Davidson. When this song makes an appearance towards the end of Working Class Woman, she’s tired as all hell. Davidson, who is also one half of the darkwave duo Essaie Pas, has spent nearly six years of her career as a solo artist, using her work as a platform to critique what happens inside of clubs and their surroundings. She excels at putting people in their place: Her 2016 album Adieux au Dancefloor (“Farewell to the Dancefloor”) took down drug-addled fans and techno scensters who were too cool to care. The record was a brutal exposé with a title that felt like both a threat and an inside joke. To listen to Davidson’s music is to be unsure whether or not you’re supposed to laugh or be genuinely frightened for your life.
Read the rest of this article at Pitchfork
Vök – Night and Day
Usually, Gabe Gurnsey is fifty percent of acclaimed techno outfit Factory Floor which is mostly known for its pumping and eclectic way of designing efficient dance music. It’s probably no surprise that Gurnsey would sooner or later get interested in exploring different structures. His forthcoming solo debut Physical does exactly that as he’s heading for more traditional songwriting territory. Gurnsey remains in electronic territory though. His debut single Ultra Clear Sound is a sharp piece of 80s-infected synthpop but it’s more than just a simple ‘retro’ affair as it definitely feels like a 2018 record. The one and only Erol Alkan produced the album, so you can be sure to expect high quality dance sounds when the LP Physical hits the stores on August 3.
Read the rest of this article at Clash
OURI – ESCAPE
Montreal producer, multi-instrumentalist, and DJ Ouri shares the first single from her entrancing new EP We share our blood, coming next month on Ghostly International in the States & Make It Rain Records in Canada. You may be familiar with Ouri’s work from her stellar collaborations with young Montreal luminaries Forever, Mind Bath, Munya, et al., or from last year’s beautifully lush Superficial, but haunting new late-night anthem “Escape” finds the artist’s intoxicating production swirling around her own voice for the first time, to stunning/soothing effect. Ouri tells us about her process for the new record, every aspect of which she created on her own:
“As I continue to create music, I want the whole experience to be even more raw. No one else is included for this one; from writing to mastering, the process is direct from me to the listener.
I don’t know if it’s motivated by a weird obsession or a true bond but it is shaped into a naive and empowering mantra about endless connections.”
Read the rest of this article at Gorilla vs Bear
Oscar Key Sung
Fools- ft. Ah Mer ah su & HTML Flowers
A haunting house track about letting your inhibitions go, “Fools,” artfully illustrates that moment when you peak at the function — when love takes over and your rising star nears climax. This unexpected house crossover is a far cry from the usual repertoire of any of these three artists which is why we’re like, shook.
Ah Mer Ah Su had this to say about the collaboration:
“Oscar and I met at SXSW in March 2017 and we became internet friends, then randomly this summer we both happened to be on European tours and based ourselves out of Berlin. We ended up being flatmates completely randomly and we connected on music and life and mutual friends and decided to make a fun little song. He is an angel and I cherish him dearly.”
Oscar Key Sung, Ah Mer Ah Su and Grant Gronewold aka HTML Flowers aren’t the likeliest of collaborators for a number of reasons. Ah Mer Ah Su is a soulful folkie from Oakland who’s dreams originally rounded off in theatre, while Aussie’s Oscar and Grant, initially hated eachother when they met in high school.
From opposite corners of this #FlatEarth, their happenstance encounter in Berlin brought us this bop, perfectly fit for your New Year’s Eve.
Oscar Key Sung on collaborating with Ah Mer Ah Su and how the track came to be, “I think she is amazing and early on we talked about collaborating. The track started with us doing some singing to a pretty basic instrumental I had made, she did a lot of different layered parts which were really beautiful (that did not make it on the finished track).
Cut to Los Angeles, I was working in a studio in Silverlake (secretly I was sleeping on the couch too and bathing at the public toilets by echo park lake). I remember I made the instrumental whilst not really paying any attention to what I was doing because I was watching Naruto the anime while I made it.
Read the rest of this article at Into
Joey Purp – Elastic
We’re about to witness the glorious return of the Chicago rap livewire Joey Purp, a product of the same SaveMoney crew that’s also given us so many truly great rappers. Purp’s last album was 2016’s extremely promising iiiDrops, and he’ll be back this Friday with the much-anticipated QUARTERTHING.
We’ve posted the early track “Bag Talk,” and now Purp has also shared “Elastic,” a song clearly inspired by the warm, burbling thump of classic Chicago house music. On the track, Purp raps with effortless ease over a choppy but melodic beat that includes, among other things, a classic Billy Squire sample.
Purp has also shared the album’s tracklist, which includes appearances from the RZA, the GZA, Ravyn Lenae, and Queen Key, as well as production from Knox Fortune, Thelonious Martin, and Smoko Ono.
Read the rest of this article at Stereogum