Bubblegum Club

Tag: hyperdub

  • Mana – Creatures of The Night

    Seeing the Hyperdub logo on a new release is a sure fire guarantee of headphone ecstasy. Since 2004, the UK based label has been at the bleeding edge of electronic music, regularly releasing classic albums from Burial, Kode 9 and The Spaceape, DJ Rashad, Hype Williams and Laurel Halo.  Its early day were strongly associated with menacing  UK dubstep, but has grown to explore micro genres from Chicago footwork to Chinese inspired futurism.  But all its artists share a raison d’eitre for bass heavy, deeply emotive music, which looks to the future while engaging the soul.

    Joining this starry rooster is Italian producer Daniele Mana. Formerly active under the name Vaghe Stelle, he has just released the eight song EP Creature as Mana.  The EP comes with one of the most enticing press releases I’ve read all year, ‘’On Creature, over eight tracks, [Mana] ingests Shostakovitch, Drexciya, Darkthrone, Frank Ocean, and Paul Lansky, and refashions them into an almost operatic record — a rich melodrama of dark tension and excitable in-your-face synth melodies.’’ The seemingly incongruous references to the underground techno of Drexciya and Norwegian black metal legends Darkthrone actually makes sense, because Mana makes nocturnal music which shines brightest in the dark.

    The EP starts with the ghostly Fade, with distorted vocals overlaid over what sounds like pipe organs from a drowned cathedral. With a bang, it’s followed Crystalline, a deceptively minimal synthesiser driven piece which reveals hidden layers as it earworms into your brain. The beautiful Sei Nove could come straight from an Italian giallo, evoking mental images of protagonists being chased through gothic castles and dreadful secrets.

    Yet again, Hyperdub have exposed an exciting new talent. Like many of their releases its best enjoyed at the witching hour, watching neon reflect off the rain soaked streets.

    [bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=2568421524 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small]

  • Exploring Klein’s dramatic soundscapes

    Highly original and imaginative, Klein’s music can seem daunting at first but reveals an underlying familiarity in its curated chaos. “If you get through the first song of the EP you’ll like it because I was aware the first song of the record is so intense,” Klein laughs. A collage of reshaped samples, pitch shifted vocals, piano and synthesised drones, her songs are dramatic soundscapes.

    Born in London, Klein spent a few years in Lagos and Los Angeles as a child before returning home. Raised in a home surrounded by gospel music, her influences range from the Foo Fighters to Disney soundtracks. Introduced to music at 14 thanks to a keyboard given to her by her mother, she hadn’t considered pursuing a career in music. “It wasn’t a thing where I was like, okay I’m going to start making music and be serious about it. It was more like this is kinda fun and for ages it was just like really a hobby. For years I couldn’t really admit to myself that it’s what I liked to do. I never really thought of it as something that would be something that could be a thing. Literally maybe 5 months ago I was like okay, oh crap, I’ve been doing this full time for a year. And was like wait a minute. And got really freaked out. It’s been a slow process over the past few years. Of my kind of accidentally ending up in this world.”

    Coming out on Hyperdub, ‘Tommy’ is her first EP not to be self-released following the acclaimed ‘Only’ and ‘Lagata’. Inspired in part by the attitude of Tommie from Love & Hip Hop. “There were certain things I was unsure of doing, certain things I wasn’t sure of putting on the record and I was like nah Tommie would think this is sick. That you could be honest with yourself. I took that element and placed it in the record.” The record has a darker tone than her previous work and shows a progression in her production. Divided into acts like a Shakespearean production the EP explores Klein’s emotions. “It is a thing where with Tommy I allowed myself to be vulnerable. To really dig deep into how do I feel. Certain emotions. As well as elaborate and finding ways of exploring certain feelings or certain messages.”

    Taking inspiration from the music she loves and twisting it into her own interpretation, Klein has a unique sound palette that reminds you of something you’ve heard before yet sounds like nothing else. “I just like to play around with like mixing all of those familiar tones that I have and I grew up with and finding ways to present it a way that is nice to my ears. So it is a thing where I just tend to make stuff for myself in my own head and then hopefully in due time hopefully people will get it once they take their time with it.”