memory box
winding roads ft. Lina Filipovich, Low End Activist ++
nostalgic forever. I read a quote somewhere: "one who thinks too much does not exist." I scoffed at myself, particularly amused, as if it all made sense. I live in my brain, and the area outside its perimeters is not necessarily my forte. it's been quite nice in here, though. I've cleaned it up over the years so it functions within the parameters of what one might imagine as slightly liveable. one might even call it healthy, stable, and strong—if I'm lucky. I might describe it as a little cracked, held together piece by piece with a 3-euro tape I picked up from the local supermarket. the scotch magic does its trick—leaving no fixtures visible unless observed from a very close distance. the crevices need routine cleaning now and then. other than that, we're doing pretty okay.
anyways, how are you doing?
halfway into the "new year," time is absolutely cheeky-as-hell zipping by. here i’ve mentioned two recent electronic releases that has been on my repeat for a bit (apart from everything else i’ve listed this year), also two more mixes with tunes, tunes, tunes, to get the body going:
album hits
Music For An Imaginary Dancefloor Lina Filipovich on Blank Mind (2024)
Charcoal skies descend silk tapestries of glazing textures, and the mind roams freely in its wishful red-carpet-lined corridors.
Lina Filipovich’s silky textural soundscapes on this record have me thoroughly wooed. the taste of which my veins would like a bit too much if shot right into. in a sense, the listening exercise advances theatrically in the ways of a looming background score to an opening of a Lynch-like pensive and stirring act. Filipovich exhorts a humanised machine’s fragments of thought—at the hem, unpredictable rhythms of teasing techno are co-written with analog synthesisers, sporadically rendering psychological thrill and turmoil. I wrote the PR + a review for this album, and the physical version of this record sits happily on my desk, courtesy of Sam Purcell from the label Blank Mind for sending this my way. I had to top up the writing once again here cause I cannot seem to have enough of it.
+
Airdrop Low End Activist on Peak Oil (2024)
Pure manic freakshow, all mutating cyber-bleeps wrung out over agonised writhing blares and cheeky strands of breakbeat flirt with silence.
a palpable sense of fear and excitement grips the skin, hair-raising on the back of the neck, electric shock-waves, filthy undercurrents of UK rave blow the fuse, and the sirens pop off, smoking out rooms, fellow ravers infiltrating slowly like red ants to sugar. thanks to Sneaker Social Club head Jamie Russell, street name Low End Activist‘s delicious piece of aggressively scraped dub, dungeon noise, long-tease, hyper touch-sensitive of a tape. masterwork productions on Jamie’s end—one that is seriously hot. I particularly love the emptiness, the lack of drum kicks, the void in which the sound settles, leaving space, making that body writhe and crave for more. sick one start-to-finish.
notable mixes
CIAIC invites Hassan Abou Alam, Radio Flouka (2024)
piping hot and ice cold, creeps into every single braincell.
pure fire from Egypt’s Hassan Abou Alam. his hard-hitting electronics twist your gut. I reviewed his last release on YUKU and am bound to write again since he just announced another six-track hit on Nerve Collect this morning. He is the sound of the hottest night in a club.
+
Italorator w/ Marsman, Operator Radio (2024)
soul-swinging, hip-swerving, late night Italo disco hours.
i’ve been following Pinkman label chief Marsman’s show residency ‘Italorator’ on Rotterdam’s Operator Radio for a while and it hits the spot every single time. slick selections from all over the space creates an irresistible dancefloor allure.
dive in, enjoy the summer, have a dance. speak soon xx