ALBUMSREVIEWS
Hot Natured
Different Sides Of The Sun Warner Brothers/FFRR
8.0 Hot topic
GETTING hyped as the most significant underground invention since The Channel Tunnel, only to acquire more haters than Simon Cowell has had eggs thrown at him, inevitably makes Hot Natured — and this debut LP — as divisive as the thought of Luis Suarez at The Emirates. A good three years since ‘Ruckus’, Jamie Jones’ Hot Creations label has thawed much like the block of ice it is, going from the epitome of cool to a lukewarm mackerel left out in the sun too long within elitist club circles. But unlike a lot of dance artists tinkering with Top 40 success, JJ, Foss and co barely changed their sound, instead getting swallowed by the tide of
popularity as every shuffler and his dog bought into their slick, exotic “deep house” mantra.
Regardless of your stance, the seismic influence of the label cannot be questioned. Jamie Jones and his crew revolutionized dance music towards the tail-end of the ‘00s. Pushing back against the dull, colorless state of minimal to inject some soul back into tech house music, the Hot Creations staple set in motion the very chart renaissance we’re enjoying today. The culmination being ‘Different Sides Of The Sun’. Like Fingers Inc. and Ten City before them, Jamie and Lee’s Hot Natured — now with Ali Love and Luca C — are
redefining pop music within a live house context, selling out consecutive dates at Brixton Academy earlier this year, signed to a major label. Also featuring guest vocals from Kenny Glasgow, Anabel Englund and Roisin Murphy, the LP is enveloped around the group’s three main singles — ‘Reverse Skydiving’, ‘Benediction’ and ‘Forward Motion’. As expected, deeply slung basslines, crystalline synths and saccharine vocals dominate. Dirty funk with a squeaky clean finish, ‘Different Sides Of The Sun’ delivers all the twilight sunsets humanly possible within a single album. Without turning haters, it’ll no doubt turn new heads. Adam Saville
9.0
Machinedrum Vapor City Ninja Tune Mean Machine
North Carolina’s Travis Stewart may have been operating on the underground for over 10 years, but it’s only now that he’s reached tipping point. His brilliant, epochal ‘Room(s)’ for Planet Mu weighed the balance, as did the news he’d been making beats for loudmouth rapper Azealia Banks, so his new album for Ninja arrives with some expectation. ‘Vapor City’ delivers, big time. Like his other recent work, it works a distinctive blend of shredded, intricate jungle breaks and frenetic footwork/juke rhythms, but the devil is in the detail. ‘Gunshotta’ rides a gully ragga vocal into the kind of submerged hints of melancholy synth and urban disquiet that Burial excels at, while ‘Don’t 1 2 Lose U’ is all dark hardcore rave stabs, bristling with tension, riding a slow, head-snapping crunk beat. It’s the cascading, interwoven acoustic folk guitars and optimistic mega synths of ‘Center Your Love’, though, that really take the cake. Classic stuff. Ben Murphy
072
djmag.com
Factory Floor Factory Floor DFA Factory Phwwwoar
Factory Floor have been steadily evolving since their inception in 2005, with the back-bone to their sound and line-up coming together in 2009 as growing numbers of fans started pining for a debut album that’s only now come out. Their sound draws from post-punk, industrial music, and techno, but the sum of its parts is quite possibly one of the more powerful, danceable and trance-inducing forces in music today. Yes, they enjoy a cult-like status that we’ve been converted to as well, in no small part due to their incendiary live show, but the long- awaited LP is here, released on New York’s venerable DFA, and is simply glorious. Fans will recognise most tracks as they took, and still take, shape via countless warehouse parties. On the recording though, the noisy anarchy of their gigs is swapped out for something crisp, clean and focused as we’re given yet another snapshot of a band’s process that is never content to pause or rest. Zara Wladawsky
9.0
9.0
Bluredism Beautiful Ugly Collection Teng U.G.L.Y but with an alibi
After plenty of worthy house and techno 12”s, the Teng label run by Nick Woolfson (aka one half of Mock & Toof) braves its first foray into the long-player world. It’s a brave move given the esoteric nature of the LP served up by relative newbie Bluredism, aka Cardiff’s Bradley Albertides. Rather than a collection of playable tracks, ‘Beautiful Ugly Collection’ is an effortlessly experimental ride that adds up to a complete listening experience. Squealing and streaming machine ambience opens things up before sketchy broken bass à la Mount Kimbie takes over. Then you’re stopped in your tracks by the devastating poignancy of ‘If That’s It’, a classical piano piece that speaks direct to your heart and resonates for hours after. The rest of the album is characterized by the tension between synthesized sound, organic instrumentation and more alien FX and real world ambience: bleak and beguiling but always beautiful. Kristan J Caryl
Telonius Inter Face Gomma Telonius’ funk
After 15 years in various musical projects and 14 founding and co-running Gomma, it seems all but overdue that Jonas Imbery is releasing his debut solo album under his Telonius moniker. Much like his label, Imbery sidesteps the obvious and chooses to draw on elements of disco and funk alongside quirky vocal and instrumental arrangements. ‘Inter Face’ is billed as being house, but comes across as a pop album, albeit a leftfield one. It’s incredibly catchy, full of frivolous choruses and vocal hooks, and remains delightfully unashamed the whole way through. Dancefloors may still lap up some of the more club-oriented tracks towards the end of the LP, but these are productions destined for radio play with lots of live show possibility. We hope it won’t be another 15 years until Imbery releases a follow-up. Zara Wladawsky
8.0
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