Dramatic is an understatement when describing Douran’s music as his latest single ‘Inertia’ puts on a whole production of sound waves within the span of just over three minutes. Released via Allo Floride Records, this single will feature on the young Parisian composer’s upcoming EP release Avalanche next Spring.
The producer shared his excitement about the release & additional nuggets of information about this latest release with his fans on socials, “The 1st single of my upcoming EP Avalanche will be out this Friday, with a remix by Joachim Pastor and a live session!”
Hopping between organic & ambient textures Douran creates a daring build-up of sound that feels like it was performed by a complete orchestra. The producer has also shared the stage with renowned electronica acts (such as Solumun and Tale Of Us). That being said, we can tell that this composer works like a loose cannon in the best sense. He takes risks and he is getting noticed in the process – it can only go up from here for this dynamic act.
Following on from the “Asleep Awake” single, Joel Wells is releasing the second in his series of multidisciplinary releases/works with interconnected artwork, typography, video and riso art prints. The new track is called “Gaslight” and is out.
“‘Gaslight’ is broadly about the idea of collective grief, shame, guilt, responsibility and forgiveness” says Wells. “It reflects on how we move forward in solidarity, in the wake of an atrocity that is particularly divisive.The song addresses ‘gaslighting’ and the danger of being consciously or unconsciously complicit in undermining the validity of someone else’s experience . “Gaslight” is not about one specific incident but Wells explains that “the song was written around the time of George Floyd‘s murder, and the cultural movement that followed was a catalyst for some of its themes.”
A musician equally inspired by techno, house and alt-disco as he is by alternative pop, Joel Wells’ music has previously been compared to Thom Yorke, John Martyn, LCD Soundsystem and Arthur Russell. “Gaslight” is inspired musically by one of Wells‘ favourite pieces of music, EcophonyRinne by the Japanese collective Geinoh Yamashirogumi – which was also the inspiration behind the soundtrack for Katsuhiro Otomo’s film version of Akira.
Influenced by the vocal harmonies and low frequency hums from that piece, Wells says he “created drones, layering vocals and sub-frequencies to underpin the track with an ominous choral melancholy.” By then pitch-shifting these at unusual intervals, Wells brings an otherworldliness to “Gaslight” something he says “felt right to accentuate the feeling of warped unease….the shock of witnessing a man’s murder online and the distressing strangeness of seeing it shared repeatedly on social media.”
As with previous single “Asleep Awake”, the artwork created by Joel Wells was designed to mirror a relationship between form/structure and abstracted amorphousness. “Sculpting letter forms from their inherent basic shapes and fundamental geometry,” explains the artist, “in an effort to create compositions that retain a simplicity and minimalism that blurs the line between text, abstract pattern and image.”
Of the accompanying video, Wells states:
“It was filmed predominantly on my phone at the British Museum. I distorted footage of Empirical statues and iconography in combination with blocky graphic shapes from my Critter & Guitari video synth to illustrate the censoring and editing of historical narratives.“
Kids Loves Surf are a collaborative project from Hastings. They were brought together by the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown and decided to make tunes while they had the time. They have been collaborating remotely from March 2020 onwards combining their love of all things dreampop.
The first single ‘OYO’ was championed by BBC Introducing South (they said ‘Dreamy sounds’) and the band have now followed that track up with the very excellent ‘Moment’. They have also picked up plays from Amazing Radio and have had coverage from a lot of blogs like Subba Cultcha and Come Her Floyd to name but a few.
Live is a problem for everyone at the moment but in an ideal world they will be out gigging in late 2021. A November tour is now in the planning stage as well as a follow up to the current single and more tunes should be with us very soon
Razor-sharp lyrics, paired with dazzling indie electronics Wolf Saga’s ‘Alice In Nowhere Land’ cuts one like a freshly sharpened knife. The single features on Wolf Saga’s self-titled album – a thought-provoking indie-pop gem to those that give it a chance.
Released during the pandemic, ‘Alice In Nowhere Land’ touches on social media as our key method of communication with loved ones, friends & family. Though social media has been a godsend in times like these, one can also get sucked into the negative aspects (such as internet trolls, body image and self-worth).‘Alice In Nowhere land’ dives into the false realities we often buy into on social media platforms like Instagram.
This single though quite chilling, encourages the listener to step outside & appreciate the life around them instead of making blinded comparisons. Wolf Saga commented on the importance of this single: “We see people’s “lives” curated through their social accounts, but it’s increasingly difficult to parse what’s real and what’s performed. I’m hopeful that we’re at the precipice of a shift in social media consumption, particularly as people around the world wake up, and demand authenticity in everything they engage in.”
