Pre-pandemic I used to regularly post a more uptempo release on a Friday, admittedly more for others than myself, as by then I’d usually be in front of a screen, in a restaurant, or at best in a local bar on the weekend. But during the pandemic, dance music, along with most of what I’d ever known, stopped making sense. Despite the depressing return of business as usual - peak capitalism, global conflict, the Anthropocene, post-truth murkiness and rampant populism, I still rarely get the urge to promote life’s party soundtracks. Well until today.
Albinos - Bamboo Night (WRWTFWW)
Perhaps it was the back in the day vibes of Bamboo Night by Albinos that jerked me out of my laid back ways? Who can resist a trip down memory lane, and his limited cassette run LP from last year has been picked up by WRWTFWW and edited down for a vinyl and digital re-release. Good job too.
Like too much of today’s house music vinyl, it’s an unashamedly vintage affair, but when it’s done this well and using so many of my favourite sounds, vibes and tropes then I’ll give him a pass. I mean he’s even thrown in some old school downtempo cuts as an extra sweetener, which further diffuse any accidental excess energy from the unhurried deep house sounds. Whether you’re a house head or not, this will sound great whilst doing whatever you need to this weekend.
Nídia & Valentina - Estradas (Latency)
Those paying attention recently might recognise the name Valentina Magaletti as the percussionist extraordinaire from Holy Tongue, or any number of other projects that she’s a part of or assisted in. On this new release she unsurprisingly keeps her eyes firmly on the road, teaming up with a new co-pilot, the similarly horizon gazing Nídia - perhaps best known for her recordings on Lisbon’s Afrofuturistic outpost Discos Princípe, to set off and find the sweatiest, most unpretentious, poorly lit, eyes down disco in town.
They obviously hit it off in the studio as the energy is electric. Every beat, synth stab or vocal sample is surrounded by Magaletti’s live and alive polyrhythms that urge you to the dance floor, and elevate these tracks above a lot of the Afro-Diaspora’s screen glued producers, who’ve largely forgotten about the embarrassment of percussive riches from their motherland. I don’t know what your dance moves are like, but you’ll surely have learnt some new ones by the end of this.
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