Day: 4 August 2022

This month in London, Warp Records visual collaborator Weirdcore has an intense immersive work on exhibition – epilepsy warning here before the video, for sure.* And let’s catch up with more great Weirdcore action, while we’re at it.

With trippy RGB lights pulsing and inverting acid-tinged neon and color extremes, “the sounds zigzag” and you’re taken into another world – all with a soundtrack by Aphex Twin:

It’s all part of Future Shock, a collab between FACT Magazine and London’s 180 Studios, situated at 180 the Strand.

Here are their words on the exhibition:

Weirdcore is a visual artist whose work has been inextricably linked with electronic music since he began experimenting with Max/MSP in the ’90s, drawing inspiration from the early rave scene to create lysergic visual collages. In 2004, he began to work frequently with Warp Records and its artists, which led to a long-running collaboration with Aphex Twin that continues to this day.

Weirdcore’s latest work is Subconscious, an immersive experience currently installed at Fact and 180 Studios’ new exhibition Future Shock that creates the sense of stepping inside one of his creations. Its three distinct rooms are designed to evoke the feeling of going deep within the inner mind, where high-resolution prints are brought to life with RBG lights and a sparse soundtrack provided by Aphex Twin.

In this film, Weirdcore talks about the evolution of Subconscious, and how its strange visual effect has its roots in his early video work and classic rave videos. “A lot of it is inspired by infinity GIFs that I used to do, like stuff I did for M.I.A. where just by inverting the colours you can have this sense of things coming towards you to infinity,” he says.

Subconscious is showing now at Future Shock, at 180 the Strand, London until 28 August, 2022.

Exhibition details – sad I’m not up to London in time to catch this one, so someone go enjoy in person!

https://www.180thestrand.com/future-shock

And the official Weirdcore site:

http://weirdcore.tv/

Let’s go wild and catch up with some of Weirdcore’s fabulous work, as they’ve been in on a collaboration with some of my favorite artists here.

Epilepsy warning on all of these, effectively.

This collab was fire, with Alejandra Ghersi up with Weirdcore live (and one of the rare times I’d be excited to share something with “live from Ibiza” in the title on CDM):

Weirdcore is one of the rare artists whose visuals can keep up with the wonderful Gooooose – here for SVBKVLT in Shanghai (article):

Or another production favorite lately, the intense-as-always Slikback from Kenya (I want to see this in a less-compressed format):

Here’s an older one for Peach, but looks just as fresh, vintage 2017 or not:

And more ARCA with lots of rainbow colors on Instagram.

Always watching this ons. Got more visuals? Send them our way. Create Digital Motion, forever.

*Actually, much as I love stroboscopic effects – seriously, they even weirdly calm me down – one recent discussion was, it’d be great to do an epilepsy-friendly visual project. That could be a great collaboration / event series, if anyone’s game.

Authentically Plastic has announced their debut album, ‘RAW SPACE’, which arrives in October via Nyege Nyege’s Hakuna Kulala label. Check out the LP’s first single, ‘Sakata’, a juddering industrial techno slammer, below.

According to the press release accompanying the announcement, the album combines raw, industrial-leaning techno and Motor City Afro-futurism with the brightness of East African dance music, as “an example of the power that can be reclaimed when you let go of depth, letting sounds rub together carnally and spawn something fresh and unexpected”.

The release’s accompanying text continues: “Their musical process is to start with chaos, then attempt to mold those fleshy structures into polyrhythmic mutations, pulling influence from East Africa’s innovative musical landscape and augmenting it with an exploratory sense of surrealism.”

The DJ, producer, visual artist, and performer has established themself as an essential figure on the underground dance scene in Kampala, Uganda through their performances and as a resident of queer collective party ANTI-MASS, which brings together “a diverse gathering of people of wildly different genders, sexual orientations and backgrounds to move and sweat together – all within a city infamous for its conservatism and increasingly draconian legislation”.

Earlier this year, ANTI-MASS and Suzi Analogue’s Never Normal Records collaborated on the ‘Gukuba’ compilation, to which Authentically Plastic contributed. 

‘RAW SPACE’ will be released on 16th September. Pre-order it here. 

As The Maghreban, Ayman Rostom crafts club-geared tracks that draw from multiple UK dance genres, while also tapping into astral jazz and the SWANA musical heritage of his Egyptian and Saudi parents. While previous records for Black Acre, Versatile and R&S have been exploratory, Rostom’s second album ‘Connection’, on his own Zoot label, feels like his most expansive statement so far. Second track ‘Got Your Number’ is a fine example of his alchemical melding of styles, with its tapping breakbeat rhythm, doomy post-punk bass, sweeping Arabian synth strings and the wicked raps of Nah Eeto. 

On ‘Waiting’, featuring Omar, Rostom conjures the otherworldly nature of early Chicago house, while on the head-swimming majesty of ‘Black Seed Oil’, strummed acoustic guitar meets the evocative sax of Idris Rahman. It’s innovative and irresistible.

‘Connection’ is out now. Buy it here. 

In his Selections, The Maghreban spotlights dark, punchy techno, febrile drums and classic post-punk edits. Dive in below. 

Actress and Mount Kimbie’s Kai Campos have unveiled a new collaborative track, ‘AZD Surf’, which is out now on Ninja Tune. 

The pair are no strangers to collaboration, having shared a back-to-back tour in 2018 and performing together on NTS Radio as part of a Mount Kimbie takeover the previous year. This latest joint effort combines elements typical of both their production styles, marrying distorted electronic sounds with hypnotic melodies.

The release marks the first new release from Actress since his 2020 album, ‘Karma & Desire’, which garnered widespread critical acclaim. Between then and now, his music has featured in a four part film from acclaimed director Steve McQueen and artist-photographer-DJ Mahaneela, he’s soundtracked the Grey Interiors exhibition with Actual Objects, and remixed acclaimed artists like The Cinematic Orchestra, Tirzah, and Soccer Mommy.

Recent Mount Kimbie work includes the ‘Black Stone/Blue Liquid’, which landed on Warp Records in 2021. Last month, Campos’ partner in the project, Dom Maker, contributed a new version of ‘Palaces’ to a Flume remix package. 

Soundcloud has announced lay-offs that will affect ‘up to 20%’ of its workforce, according to an internal memo obtained by Billboard.

SoundCloud CEO Michael Weissman reportedly sent out a staff email announcing the cuts on Wednesday (3rd August). “We will be making reductions to our global team that will impact up to 20% of our company,” he wrote. “Making changes that affect people is incredibly hard. But it is one that is necessary given the challenging economic climate and financial market headwinds.”

He continued: “Today’s change positions SoundCloud for the long run and puts us on a path to sustained profitability. We have already begun to make prudent financial decisions across the company and that now extends to a reduction to our team.”

US and UK employees potentially affected by the layoffs “will be notified over the next few days,” according to Weissman’s memo. SoundCloud is also planning to host an all-hands meeting this week “to discuss these changes in more detail.”old an all-hands meeting later this week.

The news follows the announcement of SoundCloud’s new fan-powered royalties system, which was launched in March 2021. Warner Music Group recently became the first major label to adopt the new payout system.

SBTRKT has released a new track, ‘Ghost (feat. Leilah). It’s the third single to arrive from the artist since his return after a six year hiatus in June. Check it out below.

Following June’s ‘Bodmin Moor‘ and ‘Miss The Days’, chapter three in the saga is a pared-back track centred on Leilah’s guest vocal.

“‘Ghost’ is about how noisy the world feels, the fatigue it creates and as a result, shutting down and wanting to dissociate whilst withholding your state of mind,” said SBTRKT. “We started this song when I met artist and now friend Saya Gray around three years ago. This was one of the ideas that came from us linking up… Shortly after, I met Leilah who’s also a very good friend now. We had been writing a lot together over the pandemic and co-wrote the remaining lyrics.” 

Bristol record store Idle Hands has announced it will shut at its current Stokes Croft address, with a crowdfunder launched to alleviate the costs of being closed, and to go toward helping it set up in a new, more central, location.

Founder and DJ Chris Farrell went public with the plan on social media, stating: “Since Omicron hit just before Christmas the shop has struggled, with less people popping in and Brexit making EU trade pretty much unworkable for a business this small. These are tricky times, but I do believe Idle Hands still has a future.”

He continued: “When I decided not to renew our lease I had hoped to make a smooth transition to a new location — although there have been options I’ve been pursuing, the retail rental market is also in a bit of a state and that hasn’t been possible,” he added. “We love our customers and appreciate every single bit of support we’ve received over the years, whether that’s buying records, supporting our nights or sharing our posts on social media… but right now without the cash needed to make it through that transition we may be forced to close permanently.”

DJ Mag has partnered with KPN for Loud & Proud, a live broadcast showcase from Amsterdam Canal Pride. 

Taking place this Saturday 6th August, KPN & DJ Mag’s specially-designed canal boat will join the annual procession through Amsterdam’s famous waterways in support and celebration of LGBTQIA+ communities around the world. 

Under the message of Nothing Can Mute Pride, the Loud & Proud line-up has been curated to showcase queer artists from countries which are hostile towards Pride celebrations. According to Equaldex.com, there are 69 countries where LGBTQIA+ people and communities are criminally persecuted and 22 where LGBTQ+ issues are censored. In total there are 79 countries where Pride is illegal or too dangerous to celebrate.

Polish DJ and producer AVTOMAT will be joined on board by pioneering Jordanian-born Shamsa and Kenyan-Tanzanian ICHE, who was included in DJ Mag’s Artists to Watch in 2022.

The event will be broadcast live on DJ Mag’s YouTube channel on Saturday 6th August from 13:40 CEST.