Crack Issue 61

Kehlani

TRIGENIC FLEX C R A F T E D

I N N O V A T I O N

C L A R K S . C O . U K

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Barcelona 16.17.18 June

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Highlights Exhibitions Betty Woodman: Theatre of the Domestic 3 Feb 2016 – 10 Apr 2016 Lower & Upper Galleries

Art into Society – Society into Art 19 Jan 2016 – 6 Mar 2016 ICA Fox Reading Room

Dennis Morris: PiL – First Issue to Metal Box 23 Mar 2016 – 15 May 2016 ICA Fox Reading Room

Film

Events Artist’s Talk: Betty Woodman Wed 3 Feb, 6.30pm

Topsafe Event Wed 17 Feb 2016, 6pm

Artist Betty Woodman is in conversation with curator Vincenzo de Bellis on the occasion of her exhibition Betty Woodman: Theatre of the Domestic (2015).

Some of Topsafe’s favourite directors including Frank Lebon, Bafic, Raf and Tegen, Rollo Jackson, Bolade Banjo and Jacob “JERKCURB” Read will be showing a selection of their work followed by a Q+A.

ICA Associate Poet Kayo Chingonyi presents Poetry and Sound Fri 5 Feb, 6.30pm

Friday Salon: Art into Society – Society into Art Fri 12 Feb, 2pm

A series of performances featuring Anthony Joseph, David J The Vocal Pugilist and Holly Pester.

STOP PLAY RECORD Launch Event Sun 7 Feb, 1pm

This event coincides with the launch of STOP PLAY RECORD 2016-17. Each year through an open application STOP PLAY RECORD supports the planning and production of 24 short films with young people aged 16–24 based in London.

Panel Discussion: Medium-specific: Ceramics in Contemporary Art Tue 16 Feb, 6.30pm Masterclass and Panel Discussion: Performance Management Fri 19 Feb, from 11:15am Workshop and Panel Discussion: Fiktion: New Writing Group Wed 24 Feb, from 2pm Culture Now: Myvillages & Company Drinks Fri 26 Feb, 1pm Institute of Contemporary Arts The Mall London SW1Y 5AH 020 7930 3647, www.ica.org.uk

Gilles Peterson presents: Havana Club Rumba Sessions: La Clave 30 Jan – 28 Feb 2016

Insight into rumba’s continued significance in Cuba, where a carefully-preserved past sits side-by-side with innovation.

The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 5 Feb – 11 Feb 2016

An exciting collection of films exploring how Japanese filmmakers have been observing and capturing people’s lives, and how people across the ages persevere, negotiate and reconcile with the environment and situation they live in.

Members’ Screening: Being John Malkovich Sun 21 Feb, 12pm

A special preview of this self-mocking fantasy about celebrity and the life of an actor marks the feature film debut of Spike Jonze. Starring John Malkovich, John Cusack, Cameron Diaz and Catherine Keener.

The ICA is a registered charity no. 236848

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Contents Features 22

KEHLANI Kehlani Parrish transfixed the industry and a legion of kindred spirits with the unwavering stare of her frank, soaring RnB. She shrugs off her unbolstered determination with Duncan Harrison

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CHRISTOPHER SHANNON Breaking away from British menswear's legacy of fine tailoring, Shannon is part of a wave of designers bending the rules of the industry. Jake Hall investigates his radical approach and the progressive spirit of the tracksuit

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DILLY DALLY The ascendant Toronto four-piece survey the exponential possibilities of being a touring band with Tom Watson

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GOLDEN TEACHER Born out of Glasgow's fertile DIY scene, Golden Teacher produce some of the most thrilling, guttural dancefloor fuel around – although they'd never admit to it. Katie Hawthorne hears the genesis of their happy accident

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ISLAM CHIPSY & EEK Keyboardist Islam Chipsy and his frenetic drummers EEK are champions of Cairo's euphoric Electro Chaabi scene. Adam Quarshie meets the band to talk about the movement's origins, its importance, and the crazy file distribution that brought it into fruition

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IVARS GRAVLEJS Latvian artist and all-round troublemaker Ivars Gravlejs talks to Augustin Macellari about institutional boredom, secretly doctoring press photos and the subversive potential of vulgarity

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WILLIAM BASINSKI In 2001, when The Twin Towers fell, William Basinski’s Disintegration Loops became an iconic rallying point for post-9/11 grief. The charismatic composer tells Francis Blagburn about a new, Bowie-dedicated piece and his forthcoming unveiling of Shadow of Time

Kehlani shot exclusively for Crack by Alex de Mora London: December 2015

Regulars 17

EDITORIAL The stars look very different today

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TURNING POINTS: GOLDIE A retrospective discussion with one of drum 'n' bass' greatest legends

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AESTHETIC: GAIKA Following his visceral debut mixtape, the South London vanguard appears in our powerful shoot, discussing representations of black artistry with Akash Chohan

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DIGRESSIONS Baines’ World, Brigid Deacon's corner, the Crossword and Valentine's advice from Denzil Schniffermann

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20 QUESTIONS: LA SERA Imagine being pranked by Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill and Toby Maguire on April Fool's Day. This happened to La Sera's Katy Goodman

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PERSPECTIVE: ELIJAH The respected grime curator reports on the scene he explored in Japan

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6th

13th

20th

27th

ROOM 01

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Resident Advisor

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Apollonia: Dan Ghenacia Dyed Soundorom Shonky Robin Ordell

ROOM 02

ROOM 02

Terry Francis Skudge (live) Daniel Avery October

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Craig Richards Bicep Paranoid London (live) Felix Dickinson

ROOM 02

Houndstooth 3rd Anniversary Dave Clarke Call Super Marquis Hawkes Second Storey (live)

fabric Feb 2016

Terry Francis Kobosil (live) Shifted Answer Code Request B2B Kobosil

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fabric 86: Eats Everything Album Launch Eats Everything Green Velvet Craig Richards

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www.fabriclondon.com

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Craig Richards Rødhåd Vrilski: Vril + Voiski (live) Objekt

ROOM 02

Function Zenker Brothers Headless Horseman (live) Sandrien

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Issue 61

Executive Editors Thomas Frost tom@crackmagazine.net Jake Applebee jake@crackmagazine.net Editor Davy Reed Marketing / Events Manager Luke Sutton luke@crackmagazine.net Deputy Editor Anna Tehabsim

Online Editor Billy Black Junior Online Editor Sammy Jones Editorial Assistant Duncan Harrison Creative Director Jake Applebee Art Direction & Design Alfie Allen Graphic Design Yasseen Faik Marketing / Events Assistant Lucy Harding Staff Writer Tom Watson Film Editor Tim Oxley Smith Art Editor Augustin Macellari Intern Steve Mallon Fashion Elliot Kennedy, Luci Ellis, Theresa Davies Words Josh Baines, Denzil Schnifferman, Francis Blagburn, Adam Quarshie, Katie Hawthorne, Robert Bates, Gunseli Yalcinkaya, Adam Corner, Aine Devaney, Tim Wilson, Joe Goggins, James F. Thompson, Angus Harrison, Thomas Howells, Jack Bolter, Rob McCallum, Elijah Photography Alex de Mora, Tine Bek, Stephanie Elizabeth Third, Nate Walton, Mike Massaro, James Gould, Elliot Kennedy Illustration Brigid Deacon Advertising To enquire about advertising and to request a media pack: advertising@crackmagazine.net CRACK is published by Crack Industries Ltd © All rights reserved.

All material in Crack magazine may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of Crack Industries Ltd. Crack Magazine and its contributors cannot accept any liability for reader discontent arising from the editorial features. Crack Magazine reserves the right to accept or reject any article or material supplied for publication or to edit this material prior to publishing. Crack magazine cannot be held responsible for loss or damage to supplied materials. The opinions expressed or recommendations given in the magazine are the views of the individual author and do not necessarily represent the views of Crack Industries Ltd. We accept no liability for any misprints or mistakes and no responsibility can be taken for the contents of these pages.

DAVID BOWIE Modern Love DAVID BOWIE Young Americans DAVID BOWIE As The World Falls Down DAVID BOWIE Sound and Vision DAVID BOWIE Little China Girl DAVID BOWIE Memory of a Free Festival DAVID BOWIE Waiting for the Man DAVID BOWIE Width of a Circle DAVID BOWIE Black Country Rock DAVID BOWIE Song for Bob Dylan

At the time of writing, it’s been around a month since the music world was shook, and it’s still trembling.

The circumstances are, of course, immensely sad. But, in my lifetime at least, no pop culture event has brought people together quite like the global tribute to David Bowie.

There’s all the famous names: Iggy Pop, Erykah Badu, Kendrick Lamar, Yoko Ono, Kanye West and Bradford Cox are just a few of the many freespirited geniuses who’ve publicly acknowledged Bowie as one of the greatest to ever do it. But the most touching revelation is the extent to which Bowie’s music has woven itself into the fabric of society at large: from the teenage art student to the grey-haired news reporter, it seems like everyone’s felt compelled to make a gesture of respect.

In terms of recent media coverage and discussion of Bowie’s career, no stone has been left unturned (The Guardian even published an interview with the guy who played the piano offscreen for Bowie’s cameo in Extras which, like many fleeting first person accounts, is actually very moving), and maybe at some point we’ll a reach a stage where the stream of obituaries begins to slow down.

But regardless of whether or not the rumours of posthumous releases are true, there’s really no need to worry about the longevity of David Bowie’s legacy. With his radical vision and artistic innovation, Bowie changed popular culture forever, and the paths of self-expression he opened for future generations will always be there. So, to paraphrase the late legend himself, I don’t know where we’re going from here, but I promise it won’t be boring.

Davy Reed, Editor

DAVID BOWIE Holy Holy DAVID BOWIE Lady Grinning Soul DAVID BOWIE Panic in Detroit Live Philadelphia 1974 DAVID BOWIE Stay DAVID BOWIE Always Crashing in the Same Car DAVID BOWIE Secret Life of Arabia DAVID BOWIE Cactus DAVID BOWIE Young Americans DAVID BOWIE Heroes DAVID BOWIE Ashes to Ashes DAVID BOWIE Lazarus DAVID BOWIE Rock 'n' Roll Suicide DAVID BOWIE Cat People (Putting Out Fire) DAVID BOWIE Love Is Lost (Hello Steve Reich Mix By James Murphy) DAVID BOWIE Rebel Rebel DAVID BOWIE Starman DAVID BOWIE Warszawa DAVID BOWIE Blue Jean DAVID BOWIE Blackstar

Issue 61 | crackmagazine.net

Respect Kenneth Searle Volker Green Fallon MacWilliams Amber Rose Alan Rickman Glenn Frey David Robert Jones Sherbz Lemmy

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Recommended

O ur g uid e t o w ha t 's g o ing o n in y o ur cit y

DJ NOBU Phonox 12 February

RØDHÅD fabric 27 February

REWIRE FESTIVAL Battles, Ben UFO, Mica Levi Various Venues, The Hague 1-3 April From €26.50

DENZEL CURRY Electrowerkz 18 February Truth be told, Denzel Curry has exceeded our expectations. The Florida rapper started out as a member of Spaceghostpurrp’s group Raider Klan, which was fun while it lasted, but the collective’s limited aesthetic – a homage to the more gothic elements of 90s Memphis rap – didn’t exactly promise longevity. But after leaving the group, Curry has flourished creatively, releasing the solid Nostalgic 64 album (which spawned the online hit Threatz) and last year’s hard-hitting, psychedelic “double EP” 32 Zel / Planet Shrooms.

Think alternative hip-hop is just a bunch of grumpy old dudes with backpacks? Let Denzel change your mind.

DJ SPRINKLES Oval Space 5 February

ONEMAN Patterns Brighton 27 February

The Hague has a rich musical history. Between its squat party circuit and the West Coast sound of mutated electro, techno and disco, the city has spawned some of the Netherland’s most revered musical exports. Taking place across various locations in the Dutch city, including an old power plant and a Lutheran church, Rewire hosts a selection of special performances for its fifth edition. Mica Levi will present her acclaimed Under The Skin soundtrack alongside German ensemble Stargaze, while Xiu Xiu recreate the immortal beauty of the music from Twin Peaks, alongside the world premiere of a live collaboration between James Holden and Maalem Houssam Guinia. Also performing are experimental rock stalwarts Animal Collective, Dean Blunt’s new Babyfather project, Indiana footwork maven Jlin and Fade To Mind’s most formidable, Total Freedom. Reflecting the city’s focus on musical innovation and carefully curated parties, this looks well worth the trip.

ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER Heaven 24 February

ROMAN FLÜGEL Oval Space 20 February Oval Space are taking you on a journey from Chicago to Berlin via Frankfurt as part of their Oval Space Music series this month, presenting three killer DJs, each a kingpin of their respective scene.

Heading up the bill is Roman Flügel, the Playhouse boss and Dial mainstay who makes house music that can flit between streamlined crystalline clarity and troubled abstraction in seconds. Also playing is The Black Madonna, the ascendant former Smart Bar booker whose ebullient presence behind the decks continues to build respect from the dance music community. nd_baumecker brings a taste of Berghain to round out a night of uncompromising vision.

LE1F XOYO 11 February BLOC Thom Yorke, Nina Kraviz, Omar-S Butlins Resort, Bognor Regis 11-13 March Prices Vary Last year saw Bloc return to the holiday camp format, and we loved it. With some of the most credible acts in electronic music performing across Butlins’ carpeted venues and thousands of punters taking residence in the village-like network of chalets, there was a brilliantly anarchic, community atmosphere throughout the weekend. This year’s line-up is also ridiculous, with the likes of Jeff Mills, Holly Herndon, Tama Sumo, Shanti Celeste, Four Tet and Rødhåd on the bill, while we’ll proudly host artists such as Objekt, Helena Hauff, Powell on the Crack stage. Oh, and six time snooker world champion Steve Davis will be there playing techno. Steve Davis. Six time snooker world champion. Playing techno.

You need to come to this.

MILD HIGH CLUB Shacklewell Arms 11 February CR ACK PRESENTS: WILLIAM BASINSKI Union Chapel 23 February £15

JLIN Corsica Studios 10 February

LNZNDRF Oslo 19 February

For this concert, avant-garde composer William Basinski will premiere his new work Shadow In Time at London’s beautiful Union Chapel venue, and we couldn’t be happier to be involved. With a career that spans decades, Basinski is perhaps most famously known for his poignant masterpiece The Disintegration Loops – a collection of gradually decaying tape-loops he completed in 2001 on 11 September and listened back to as he watched the Twin Towers literally crumble from a Brooklyn rooftop. While we’re currently waiting for more details of Shadow In Time to emerge, last year’s pieces Cascade and The Deluge stuck to an ongoing theme: the emotionally resonant effects of melody and repetition.

19 GIEGLING Village Underground 6 February

ACTRESS WITH THE LONDON CONTEMPOR ARY ORCHESTR A The Barbican Hall 10 February

MOLLY NILSSON Moth Club 8 February Molly Nilsson’s emotive synth-pop feels, more than anything, like an exercise in restraint. Her instrumentation is economical, her vocal delivery is deadpan, and her lyrics are wry and measured. It’s surprising then, how much personality and atmosphere her songs carry.

Frequently confessional, but never overcooked, her music feels ten times bigger than the sum of its parts, especially when you see her perform live (which you should totally do).

HINDS KOKO, London 18 February

NZCA LINES The Pickle Factory 16 February

JULIA HOLTER Oval Space 15 February

HORIZON FESTIVAL Levon Vincent, Flowdan, Gerd Janson Bansko, Bulgaria 12 - 17 March £127 Billing itself as Europe’s greatest ski party, Horizon’s seven-day takeover of the snowy peaks of Bansko in southwestern Bulgaria returns for 2016.

With a diverse line-up of house, techno, bass, garage and Craig Charles, spending six nights at this ice-cold wonderland would be a wise move indeed. Our picks of the bill include Jane Fitz, Jon Rust, Gerd Janson and the never disappointing Elijah & Skilliam – world-class selectors to soundtrack your slope-action. Maybe refrain from using the phrase ‘slopeaction’ if you’re there.

If you don’t like smiling, singing, or dancing, a Hinds show probably isn’t for you – the Madrilenian fourpiece have something about them that inspires all three. While both sunny, beer-soaked afternoons and balmy, lovelorn, bedroombound evenings are brought to mind by their scrappy, lo-fi debut LP, Leave Me Alone, it’s party time all the way when it comes to their live sound. Think beers, wines and good times and you’re already halfway there.

GALCHER LUST WERK Dance Tunnel 6 February

ULTIMATE PAINTING The Dome Tuffnel Park 25 February

ANDERSON .PA AK XOYO 25 February

EMPRESS OF Moth Club 23 February

CAR SE AT HE ADREST Dalston Victoria 23 February GIRL BAND Village Underground 29 February Girl Band’s live outings are pretty much universally understood to be incredible and their 2015 album Holding Hands With Jamie had critics swooning across the board. At the end of last year they cancelled all of their tour dates due to health issues but the Dublin noise rockers are back on fine form and they’re bringing their patented mulch of screech, clamour and chainsaw bass to venues across the UK. Don’t forget your earplugs!

MASSIVE AT TACK Brixton Academy 3/4/5 February

Of all the debut albums that came out last year and caused a splash, the first full-length from NYC based Honduras-via-USA singer Lorely Rodriguez showcased some real staying power. Donned with the all-too-broad ‘avant-RnB’ tag, Rodriguez’s album Me introduced us to an artist truly doing things in her own way. Constructing melodies that could flourish in pop’s fast lane but delivering them with a healthy dose of homemade DIY tinniness to create something unlike anything else we heard. Rodriguez engineered every last phrase of the LP herself, giving the songs a cohesion and authenticity that few can achieve. With a string of live dates plotted, to see Empress Of in 2016 would be to see an artist in the height of her powers.

BET T Y WOODMAN: THE ATRE OF THE DOMESTIC ICA 3 February - 10 April £1 Day Membership Enduringly influential post-World War II ceramic artist, Betty Woodman, introduces her first UK solo presentation to the ICA. Her colourful, fluid pattern painting combined with her three-dimensional works have inspired and delighted artists since her artistic beginnings in 1950, and her uniquely ambitious approach to the materials she pairs in her practise have marked her out as a pioneer in her sphere – lacquer paint on earthenware is a staple, and a slip glaze, often used on ancient ceramics, is another Woodman hallmark to look out for.

SECTION BOYZ Village Underground 24 February

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New Music

ALL AN KINGDOM

GR ANNY Granny are a Brooklyn-based, lo-fi ‘couch-punk’ trio who sing about super relatable things like attempting to call your crush multiple times without coming off as creepy, being drunk and weird, and the regret that comes with sleeping with someone you probably shouldn’t have.

Leslie Hong’s part-bratty, partconfessional vocals jam together with her scuzzed-out guitar lines, Jenny Moffett’s melodic bass and Mattie Siegel’s loose drums to form perfect pop songs on dating and dudes and offer up a girl’s eye view on New York nightlife. Their first release, the innocuouslynamed EGG EP, is wall-to-wall hits, and though the tunes deal in very millennial messes, the record has a heart of gold that will warm you right through.

O Text Me 1 Muncie Girls / Slutever

: https://soundcloud.com/ grannygranny

EDWARD PENFOLD

OLIVER HEIM Dutch songwriter Olivier Heim has been around for a little while; first as a member of Très.b. and later as a solo artist playing breezy acoustic folk pop under the stage name Anthony Chorale. Now, recording under his birth name, Heim has marked out a fresh start with recent debut LP A Different Life - a striking collection of songs based around shimmering textures, subtly off-kilter synths and smooth falsetto vocals. His focused aesthetic extends beyond his music though, and the videos for tracks Far Apart and Ocean invite us into his world of pastel shades, dappled sunlight, and nautical, 70’s-esque antics- we’re sold.

There’s something in the water in Bristol at the moment. An ever-widening circle of friends, focused mainly around two local labels, are collaborating on projects that can’t be easily defined or categorised. Edward Penfold embodies the scene, playing all manner of instruments in four different bands and still finding the time to record and release his debut solo album, Caulkhead.

During the recording, Edward worked alongside his own band Taos Humm, members of Factotum, Velcro Hooks and EBU as well as local violinist Caelia Luniss – a frequent collaborator with Oliver Wilde – to realise his own vision of acid-tinged folk pop.

Caulkhead is an album underpinned by a glowing warmth. “A lot of the album was recorded to a single track cassette player,” Edward explains. “It sounded good so I saw no reason not to use it.” He maintains a thoughtful, earnest attitude towards making music, and it shows in his decidedly nostalgic songwriting.

“At the time of recording I was listening to The Paperhead and Connan Mockasin,” he says, nodding to those 60s influences as well, ”The Beatles, Syd Barrett and The Kinks are in there too.” Ed’s vision combines a knowing obsession with reconstructing the past, a talent for lo-fi production and a strong focus on melody. With the track Up Down receiving support from 6 Music recently, Edward laughs off the idea that he’s about to blow up, claiming that hearing his songs on the radio is “Like electric caterpillars in my stomach struggling to turn into butterflies” with more than a hint of self-deprecating hyperbole. He may not have a Big Plan in mind, but with a single track recording device, some gifted friends and a dog-eared collection of records, it sounds like Edward Penfold is happy enough.

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O Up Down 1 Syd Barrett / Vincent Gallo soundcloud.com/edwardpenfold

You might not know Allan Kingdom’s name yet, but you’ve heard his voice. Having sung the hook to Kanye West’s single All Day (and flown to London last minute to dodge flamethrowers for the infamous BRITS performance) after a few years in the underground, the Minnesotabased artist recently dropped his Northern Lights mixtape on his 22nd birthday to considerable fanfare.

Executively produced by Kanye West and Kid Cudi’s former managers, Northern Lights has a sunny, experimental sound palette, and Kingdom can be heard wearing his heart on his sleeve with tales of relationships and struggles for success with a vocal style that’s reminiscent of Chance The Rapper’s elastic croak. There seems to be a good deal of industry power behind Allan Kingdom, so expect to see a lot more of him in 2016.

O Outta Pocket ft. Gloss Gang 1 Overdoz / Chance The Rapper : @ALLANKNGDM

ALDOUS R .H Manchester-based songsmith Aldous R.H’s most versatile instrument might be his voice.

Floating between peaks of heliuminfused strangeness, deadpan intonations and a sleepy, broken drawl, it provides the perfect lead to his otherworldly music.

Best defined as psychedelic pop, Aldous’ output centres around alluring atmospheres, wryly romantic lyrics and heavy washes of reverb. While Aldous has an LP and various mixtapes out, his prolific Soundcloud also offers a refreshingly unpolished and broadly experimental selection of his music; making it easy to keep uncovering new gems.

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O Sunshine Distributers 1 Homeshake / Connan Mockasin aldousrobinson.bandcamp. com

O It’s Getting Better 1 Erlend Øye / TOPS : olivierheim.com

O Track 1 File Next To : Website

Top by American Apparel

Kehlani: Built To Last Authenticity is part of the fabric of RnB. From Lauryn Hill and Aaliyah through to elusive luminaries like Frank Ocean and Janet Jackson, realness has long qualified as a unit of measurement. Maybe that’s because it’s the hardest thing to get right.

Realness involves juggling any number of musical and personal characteristics – it’s about not compromising your integrity as an entertainer, learning from your experiences but not turning your back on your past; never forgetting where you come from. Kehlani Parrish understands this. “Anything that happened to me when I was younger only made me a smarter, wiser young adult,” she tells me. She talks directly, her words falling with conviction.

Last year, the 20-yearold artist’s profile grew significantly with the release of her second mixtape You Should Be Here. Through tender autobiographical musings and crystalline pop ballads, the songs outlined Kehlani’s defiant nature, striking a balance between vulnerability and robust determination. It’s this identity – a down-to-earth dominance – that makes her fearless RnB even more captivating. “I was fortunate in life to go through the things that I’ve been through,” she argues. “I have enough life experience to make music and the right to tell other people about it.”

“I come from a very authentic city and a very real situation. That’s the way I was raised”

Words: Duncan Harrison Photography: Alex de Mora Styling: Luci Ellis Make-up: Theresa Davies using Bobby Brown

If cutting edge RnB has recently been defined by a certain mistiness – swampy production and delicately ethereal vocals – then in terms of vocal melody, Kehlani is the closest thing you’ll find to a 90s classicist. “Without Aaliyah I wouldn’t know how to be a young woman,” she says, reflecting on the records she grew up on. “The song I’m Pretty by

Issue 61 | crackmagazine.net

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TLC taught me a lot too – big songs that had a story that people could listen to for generations.” Just like the guiding voices she looked up to, Kehlani has a message for her listeners (“I know every man has a fear of a strong-minded woman / But I say she’s a keeper if she got it on her own and keeps it runnin’,” she sang on You Should Be Here track Runnin’). She credits this – in part – to the town that raised her. “I come from a very authentic city and a very real situation. It’s the way I was raised.”

Born in Berkeley, California in April 1995, Kehlani’s father passed away roughly a year after her birth – losing his battle with drug addiction. Following this, her mother – also an addict – was sent back to prison around the time Kehlani went into foster care, and she has been in and out of Kehlani’s life ever since. With her father gone and her mother incarcerated, Kehlani grew up in an apartment complex in Oakland in the Bay area of San Francisco.

The journey of Kehlani’s music career started when she was 14, after she was selected to front a local teen pop group called Poplyf.

Despite touring extensively and coming fourth in 2011‘s America’s Got Talent, the group soon disbanded. But even after winning the support of Got Talent host Nick Cannon, who’d put her on in LA and New York with early recording sessions, Kehlani’s true hustle had just begun. When Cannon reached out to Kehlani some years after the show in an effort to kickstart her career, she was back in Oakland, where she was couch-surfing and shoplifting to make ends meet. “He gave me a foundation when I didn’t have one,” she tells me. “A lot of people talk about guardian angels but I truly believe that he was mine. He provided me with everything I needed to get where I am right now – he’ll always be that father figure... He just got a Tsunami tattoo which is really cool. He literally just texted me a picture of it.”

Top by Monki

Jacket by Topshop Top by Monki

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The tattoo is a reference to Kehlani’s loyal army of followers, the Tsunami Mob. Their name is adapted from ‘Lani Tsunami’ – a nickname the singer earned in recognition of her laid-back and ‘wavy’ character, and according to Kehlani, there’s a sense of community among the Mob that unites them.

“Even when fans see me out, they come and hug me rather than just stare at me from far away,” she says, “It’s just great that my music is bringing people together like that.”

This relationship is built, in part, on a shared journey. Collectively, the Tsunami Mob have watched Lani grow into the artist she is today. “My fans got to go through all kinds of ups and downs with me,” she explains.

“Whether that was relationships, family problems, me getting older, or graduating high school — they’ve seen everything so we have a very personal relationship.” Throughout our conversation it’s the Tsunami Mob that has Kehlani enthusing the most. Despite everything she’s achieved in the last 12 months – sold out shows, Billboard charting mixtapes, the Grammys and global critical acclaim – she sounds proudest when talking about the supportive nature of the following she’s built.

Kehlani has also constructed a strong team around her, a small circle of friends who share in every win. “It gives me a real aspect of being able to feel myself, you know what I’m saying? I feel like a lot of people can’t get to a certain level because the people around them didn’t know them from the beginning or didn’t care enough... My best friend from seventh grade is my assistant, so I’m consistently reminded of how life used to be.”

As she looks forward to her debut retail album, which will see a joint release between her own label and Atlantic – Kehlani’s mission is simple: “It’s really possible to make big records that are still personal, big records that still tell a story and connect to you.” By staying so grounded, the messages conveyed in her songs contain a weight of legitimacy that simply couldn’t be faked. On Bright – a flickering, blues-inspired ballad from You Should Be Here – she reels off stories of misinformed young men and women uncomfortable in their own skin because of images that have been fed to them by the media. With her multi-ethnicities (African American, Caucasian, Native American, Spanish, and Filipino to be precise), two full sleeves of tattoos and a septum piercing, Kehlani has learnt that judgements are made based on appearance. “It’s already rough being a girl, it’s rough enough, but being a girl in this industry is next level,” she says. “I feel like the expectation of what a woman is supposed to look like is so high. It’s so unnatural and I feel like the women in these pictures know. They understand it took six hours in the makeup chair. I love that look sometimes but I feel for the girls.”

Kehlani has also spoken openly about her fluid sexuality – the gender pronouns she uses to address the objects of her affection alternate from track to track. Her definition of love is one that transcends categorisation, and her call for liberation is inspiring. Earlier this year she posted an Instagram photo to her 1.5 million followers with the caption, “Ladies you have every right to be as sexually expressive as you want, or don’t want to.

Neither is wrong. Neither is unacceptable”.

While her viewpoint fits right into a broader

“Without Aaliyah I wouldn’t know how to be a young woman”

conversation about female sexuality within the paradigms of pop music, it’s essentially a comment on self-confidence – an attitude she tidily summarises on Bright’s timeless chorus – “Can’t nobody love somebody that do not love themselves”.

Back in December, I attended the first of Kehlani’s two sold out London shows. It looked like any other Kehlani gig – queues round the block, ticket touts reeling off figures you wouldn’t believe and hordes of fans in Tsunami Mob sweatshirts. Except this night was a little different. “Today was probably the most ridiculous day of my life,” she told the crowd, “I got nominated for a Grammy. My mixtape got nominated for a Grammy.” She’d only discovered herself a few hours prior.

“I was just really shocked. I couldn’t stop crying,” she tells me a few weeks later over the phone. “I guess I was just grateful. It means that I’m on the right path – it’s the verification that what I’m doing is working.”

The Grammy nomination, you could argue, reflects a wider shift in the industry, proving that the age of the ‘mindie’ star (a major label signee with all the credentials of an independent artist) is upon us. Arrangements like this are relatively new – setups where labels are prepared to bankroll an artist without any intrusion purely based on the promise they’ve shown on their own. At

Issue 61 | crackmagazine.net

20, Kehlani’s a Grammy nominated artist heralding a new age for popstars. She’s an RnB singer breathing new life into the pantheon of open-book sincerity.

It’s a story of resilience that’s still in its early chapters. “I don’t think I’ll ever feel like my mission’s complete. I don’t think any true artist does. Every day is a step towards what I want to accomplish.” The obstacles Kehlani’s faced might have fuelled her musical pursuit, but she’s not about to let them define it.

“Every year’s gonna be Tsunami Season,” she declares with unwavering confidence. “Forget it.”

Kehlani’s debut album will be released later this year via TSNMI / Atlantic

Jacket by Fyodor Golan Top by American Apparel

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“When I started, I didn’t know if I was composing or not. But I was painting with sound, making something out of nothing”

Issue 61 | crackmagazine.net

29

Words: Francis Blagburm Photography: Nate Walton

William Basinski: Celestial Frequencies

‘We’re suffering from brain fade. We need an occasional catastrophe to break up the incessant bombardment of information…

The flow is constant. Words, pictures, numbers, facts, graphics, statistics, specks, waves, particles, motes. Only a catastrophe gets our attention.’

This passage from Don DeLillo’s 1985 novel White Noise occurs to me from time to time when I listen to William Basinski’s music. Spoken by the character Alfonse Stompanato, a sure-minded New York professor, the quote explains the still prevalent idea that a constant barrage of information technology, both visible and invisible, wears down human intelligence, reducing people to shadows of their natural selves.

Basinski’s music fits neatly into this sketch of 20th Century reality. His early work is awash with specks, waves, particles and motes, the fragmented crackles and sparkles of spectral soundwaves. It’s music borne out of the world of moon landings and airborne toxic events, a world where technology felt so new and pregnant with danger. Through his use of bygone synthesisers and more notably decaying tape loops, he’s able to capture this ominous mystery and crystallise it in musical stasis, morphing the arcana of

the late 20th Century soundscape – the bleeps, bloops and crackles of radio frequencies and tape loop malfunctions – into something altogether more tranquil.

His ambient, post-classical compositions like Cascade/The Deluge, The River and Watermusic act as meditative experiments, deliberately evocative of open, natural space, designed to reconnect the listener to a reality exterior to the blaring televisions and endless newsfeeds of everyday life.

It’s the last sentence of Alfonso’s rant that really stands out though. “Only a catastrophe gets our attention.” Indeed, for years, Basinski’s work was a labour of love, carried out without the recognition it deserved. His music was too slow, too esoteric, for critical or commercial acclaim, and it wasn’t until the tragedy of 9/11 occurred that the world slowed down enough to listen.

During the latter half of 2001, Basinski had been digitising a bank of his old recording experiments from the 1980s, and had noticed that the magnetic coating on the strips of plastic tape would slowly degrade as they played. When the tragic events of 11 September occurred, he could literally see the smoke filling the sky, and so he set up a camera on his Brooklyn apartment roof to film it through the twilight. The next day,

setting the video to the music of one of his decaying loops, a sort of alchemical magic happened and The Disintegration Loops was born. It was to become, you could argue, the definitive avant-garde expression of post-9/11 grief, and it earned Basinski a global audience in the process.

Nearly fifteen years have passed since the The Disintegration Loops were released when we speak, and Basinski’s voice carries the weight of his years. He’s comfortable in silence, and contemplative, yet precise and economical with words.

I detect a slither of severity in his tone, and picture an imposing capital-c Composer, but after a short while warmth blossoms in his voice and he starts to speak with infectious energy. Not wishing to focus unduly on a single work in his decades-spanning career, I forego The Disintegration Loops and take the opportunity to ask him how it all began.

“I really started in the late 70s in San Francisco,” he tells me. “I was just getting some old tape decks and used tape at the Cancer shop dirt cheap, and seeing things like the Frippertronics illustration on the back of [Brian Eno’s ambient record] Discreet Music, showing two tape decks and the tape delay running into one and taking up on the other. I started making

30

tape loops and I was getting results really quickly and so I thought ‘Wow! This is cool!’ and just kept going. I didn’t know then if I was composing or not, but I was playing around, painting with sound, making something out of nothing.”

As Basinski’s early experiments grew in scale, so did the scope of the source material they fed off. We discuss the radio, a place from which he gathered so many of his early recordings, and he appears as concerned with the form of the soundwaves as he is with the content of the sounds themselves. “In 1980, the most powerful station in New York was coming from the Empire State Building,” he remembers. “It was playing ‘1001 Strings’ versions of the popular American songbook with no lyrics and the syncopation smoothed out, and it was powerful. I could hear the mixes even if it wasn’t turned on; it just got picked up.”

What’s most interesting, according to Basinski, is that the spaces in between the music were of equal importance to the music itself. “You were hearing actual particle showers coming down from space in between the stations”, he says with a sense of wonder. “All that sparkly, static-y sound that’s in The River, that stuff is coming from other worlds.”

Basinski grew up in a planned utopian subdivision near a NASA site, watching flickering broadcasts of rocket launches on a black and white TV. His father worked on the lunar module for a NASA contractor in Florida, and from there he spent balmy evenings watching rockets blast into space from his back garden. Clearly the wonder of these early experiences left an imprint on his mind: the vernacular of space travel and science fiction bleeds into his memories as he recounts them, just as it feeds into his process of composition.

“I had just pulled out my old Voyetra 8 synthesiser which had been in storage for seven or so years,” he says, piecing together the process of composing his new piece Shadow in Time. “I pulled it out, plugged it in, and fired it up. It was like finding an old dirty starship enterprise abandoned on a planet with the keys in it.

You’re like: ‘Woah!’”

On another occasion, he refers to The River as “my ‘music of the spheres’”. It’s a reference to musica universalis, the ancient philosophical idea that the movement of the celestial bodies such as the sun and moon create a sort of music together, not literally audible, but harmonic and mathematical. It’s an interesting peep-hole into his holistic understanding of what music can be, combining as it does the structural vocabulary of science with the impressionistic beauty of art.

As cosmic as our conversation gets, however, Basinski’s always able to pull it down to earth. He begins telling me about a new piece he’s produced. “Last night there was an opening at a little gallery here in Los Angeles and I was asked to put in a little sound piece. I was trying to find some loops and kept digging deeper until I found these old bits of tape that had been chewed up by my roommate’s cat in New York, this big fat motherfucker. But I cut a couple of them together and immediately - Oh my God! - I knew this was exactly where I wanted to go.”

He mashed these loops together with some saxophone experiments from the 80s - “a really cool, weird loop like something from the B side of Heroes, [which worked] as we going through our mourning for the genius David Bowie”. The new track, titled For David Robert Jones, had come together.

The Bowie-inspired piece, Basinski tells me, will be performed alongside Shadow in Time at Basinski’s forthcoming Union Chapel show in London. “It’s a new drone experiment,” he explains of Shadow In Time, “dedicated to a young friend in China who didn’t make it, who committed suicide, it’s very sad; it’s a discreet piece... I’m really looking forward to this show, to resonate the church in the way it was meant to be

Issue 61 | crackmagazine.net

31

resonated, with sound. That’s the thing that’s so mystical about these big stone churches, they really are crystalline.”

And after this tour?

“I’m sort of playing the saxophone again and synths and…” stopping himself. ‘We’ll see. It’s a very different kind of side project coming out of here later in the year. It’s fun, it’s not commenting on the world, I mean, God, how can you comment on this crazy bullshit? The Disintegration Loops said it all. So, it’s about loving and dancing and lounging. We’ll see!”

Whether the project goes ahead or not, what’s telling is the way William Basinski discusses it. From listening to his majestic compositions, not many people would have him down as the loving, dancing and lounging type, but in person he’s warm and open, buoyed by wonder with the universe, refreshingly sincere and free-spirited.

While the bulk of us are staring at screens, suffering from brain fade, Basinski’s music invites us to share in something timeless and transcendental, and it shouldn’t take a catastrophe to make us pay attention.

William Basinski will premiere Shadow In Time at Union Chapel, London, 23 February

32 row t n e fro re just h t y’ en e h h w t ng is us, and ls” i h t pa est cks to r i b e e “Th heir ba th th i w t cing n have a d

33

Gold en T Par t eacher : y Pe ople

Words: Katie Hawthorne Photography: Tine Bek

“Charlie put the tracks up for free download straight away, without asking anybody.

They weren’t even mixed. We were like, ‘WHY? Why have you done that?’,” Golden Teacher’s Ollie Pitt laughs. “Then two days later… ‘Oh, Optimo want to release it? Cool.

Thanks Charlie.”

For Golden Teacher, improvisation comes naturally. When I meet three of the six-piece Glaswegian collective – Richard McMaster, and brothers Laurie and Ollie Pitt – their words scramble over each other, competing to describe just how unplanned their emergence really was. As Ollie recalls, “We didn’t even have a name…”

“…We weren’t a band,” Richard interrupts.

“…And the record went into production before we even knew what it was called,” Laurie continues.

Their account might feel part fairy-tale, part panic attack, but maybe it’s simply a matter of right place, right time. The band’s spontaneous ethos began at Glasgow’s tiny community recording studio, The Green Door. Operating through arts funding, and providing courses for young musicians who aren’t in employment or education, the studio has become a catalyst for genrepushing, irreverent music-makers.

Ollie, Richard and singer Cassie Oji met during a studio exercise at The Green Door.

“You need to make something to record… and that’s just how it started,” Richard explains. They drafted in Ollie’s brother Laurie, who they jokingly describe as The Green Door’s “badly paid session drummer,” as well as Sam Bellacosa and Charles Lavenac – acquaintances from the Glasgow School of Art, and Glasgow’s gig circuit, respectively.

The session in question – later titled Bells from the Deep End – soon fell into the hands of Optimo’s JD Twitch (aka Keith McIvor). The Optimo name, under which McIvor and Jonnie Wilkes release music and hold infamous club nights, is a Glasgow institution. Golden Teacher couldn’t have asked for more appropriate fairy godfathers.

Revered for their anarchic, eclectic tastes, fearsome booking power and unwavering independent ethos, when Optimo offer to put out your debut EP, you say yes.

Since 2013, five releases have followed, as well as a compilation – each drawn by the same pattern. A hundred and one adjectives have since been applied – largely unsuccessfully – to Golden Teacher’s warm-hearted, disco-dub-punk concoctions.

But the band seem more interested in the sounds that come out when they fuck up, and take an unexpected tumble down a rabbit hole. “All the songs, we make them up on the spot,” Richard describes. “They’re all done in one take. The song got made the time it got recorded.”

Turning this process into a live show has its own difficulties. Ollie sighs, “we had to work out what we’d improvised. What instrument is that? Is that a synth, or…?”

“We had to re-make our mistakes – literally,” Richard adds.

“Because often the mistakes would be the most interesting bits,” Ollie explains. “So when we’re playing live, we try and add as many random elements as possible. If you’re cruising along with a song you know, and then somebody, often Sam, makes an incredibly strange noise… and you’re not really sure if it’s the air conditioning falling down? Afterwards it’s like; well, that was the best bit.”

Golden Teacher make music to lose yourself in; polyrhythmic, commanding and intensely physical. Live, the band give out as much energy as they hope to receive. Duelling vocalists Cassie and Charles’ moves are a sight to behold – but they’d rather you concentrated on your own dancefloor.

“The best thing is when the front row of people have their backs to us, and they’re just dancing with their pals,” enthuses Ollie.

“Sometimes we ask for there to be no lights on us, so everyone can just do their own thing. Maybe we should just get a massive mirror, and hold it up?”

Laurie understands the importance of keeping a set fluid. “We try not to stop, to keep people dancing. Ideally we’d just play club nights but it’s a lot more effort for them to host a six-piece live band.” Faced with

space limitations – or gig curfews – Golden Teacher have taken matters into their own hands.

“We’re into DIY,” Ollie says. “We get offered to play club nights, and it’s stuff that we like… but we just feel that we can do it ourselves… It’s easier! You know what’s up, and you can keep it simple.”

Motivated by keeping parties simple – and cheap ­– the band host semi-regular events at Glasgow favourite, Stereo. The bar/ venue offers a left-field performance space, prioritising inclusivity and open-mindedness; a perfect platform for Golden Teacher’s relaxed attitude. “The last one we did was with this amazing DJ from Amsterdam, DJ Marcelle? She’s a collective band favourite,” explains Laurie. “She’s AMAZING,” Richard adds. “She’s done a weekly radio show for twenty five years!”

Golden Teacher aside, the six have been putting on parties “under a number of different guises” for years. The night before we meet, Laurie ran a free club night at Nice N Sleazy, one of Glasgow’s Sauchiehall Street legends, and his flat’s chilly, highceilinged living-room – where we settle in for this interview, cradling mugs of tea – has been host to numerous gigs over the years, as well as providing the band with a rehearsal space.

Richard, Laurie and Ollie are keen to stress that Golden Teacher is far from their primary focus, saying, “everything feeds into everything.” The three rattle off a list of other musical ventures. Cassie’s in a two-piece band called LAPS (“ladies as pimps”); Laurie and Ollie started a project that might be called Dick 50; Rich works under the moniker General Ludd; Laurie and Ollie run a label titled Akashic Records, soon to release “a weird compilation covers album” of the strange tracks dreamt up by Green Door pupils; and the list continues.

“It’s basically disparate circles of lots of stuff.

Golden Teacher is one of many, many things

and it’s really important to remember that,” explains Richard.

A project that has taken some kind of prevalence is The Green Door-run Youth Stand Up! An ongoing cultural exchange between youth drumming groups in Glasgow, Ghana and Belize, it provides recording equipment and training for young musicians, with the three communities creating a joint record in the process. “In a way, it was a kind of similar approach to the way we work with Golden Teacher – there’s no plan, it’s all improvised, and the end result – the music – is not the most important thing. It’s the learning to do it, and having fun,” Ollie says.

Their most recent unexpected turn saw Golden Teacher release a 12” single, Divine / Raveinstigator, limited to an edition of 300 through selective imprint Sounds of the Universe. Ollie painstakingly hand-painted each individual record, and laughs as he describes the process. “It’s weird how long it took to make, edit, paint… and it all sold out in an hour. Then we just had an onslaught of angry emails.”

Luckily, in typically spirited fashion, the band sweet-talked the label into breaking protocol and re-pressing the record. Laurie shakes his head, “we’re just not into exclusive records.” Ollie fires back, “we should just make shitter records. Then we’ll have loads that no-one wants.” Contrary to a point, Golden Teacher refuse to be precious or perfectionist. As Richard concludes, “basically, there’s no pressure. There’s no idea of ‘trying to make it’. There’s just a freedom to explore.”

Divine/Raveinstigator is out now via Sounds of the Universe

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Words: Adam Quarshie Photography: Stephanie Elizabeth Third

Islam Chipsy & EEK: Cairo's Power Trio

It’s not every day you see crowd-surfing in an art gallery.

Islam Chipsy & EEK, the Cairo-based group whose roots are in open-air wedding celebrations and raucous street parties, have been gaining a reputation as one of the most intense live bands on the planet.

During a show at Bristol’s Arnolfini, Islam Chipsy smiles with wild-eyed excitement as he pounds his keyboard with the palms of his hands. Meanwhile, drummers Khaled Mando and Mahmoud Refat discharge relentless volleys of rhythm, creating an effect that verges on sensory overload. The crowd react accordingly, hurling themselves around the room and up into the air.

Before the pandemonium ensues, I meet with the band backstage. Refat, who is the founder of 100 Copies, a recording studio and experimental music label in Cairo, is translating for the other two members. When I ask them to describe the scene they are a part of, they talk about music in an elemental

sense, as though it emerged from the soil “like food, like water, like sun”, going on to describe it as “the most important thing where we come from”.

When the members of the band met seven years ago, Chipsy had already been playing keyboards in the streets for years. His meeting with Khaled Mando, and Islam Ta’ta, who Refat later replaced, inspired him to form a trio who could forge a large, exhilarating sound, and their growth as a band was fuelled by Cairo’s ascendant electro-chaabi scene. Chaabi, with its roots in Algerian folk music, became popular throughout North Africa in the 1970s, and has its own variants in Egypt and Morocco, providing an outlet for an increasingly urbanised population.

Electro-chaabi is a digital take on this sound, developed by young producers and DJs in working-class districts like Salam City, outside of Cairo, and played at open-air raves in the street.

For Islam Chipsy and EEK though, the

electro-chaabi phenomenon is influenced as much by global developments as by local ones. “It’s like anywhere in the world now, you can produce a whole record on a laptop if you like,” Refat says, explaining that the electro-chaabi movement was built around “cracked software, very cheaply cut samples, and very roughly edited mixes”. Internet cafes were crucial: spaces where young producers could engage in “really crazy file distribution”, swapping ideas and using the cheapest available technology to build their tracks. Due to his innovational spirit, Islam Chipsy aims to evolve and deviate from the genre, rather than abide to its rules.

While last year’s Kahraba album (released via Algerian/Egyptian label Nashazphone) successfully captured their beautiful intensity, their live sets, which see them telepathically lock into a rapid groove, have to be seen to be believed. “We play a lot,” Chipsy explains.

“I don’t want to exaggerate and say every day, but it’s almost like, 25 days a month we are playing. If not in Europe it’s at home. If not at

home, we’re recording a track in the studio.

The development is happening all the time.”

Having found a meeting point between the DIY chaabi of their peers and classical traditions of their forebears, Islam Chipsy and EEK have forged a truly distinctive sound, but where do they go from here? “For the past four months we’ve been trying to find new ideas,” Refat says, “and take in to account everything we’ve learned from of all the concerts and all the things that happened accidentally. We talk a lot about what we should do. It’s very strange because everyone is expecting a certain sound of this band.”

Stylistically, Islam Chipsy and EEK may be too restless to stay still, but for the time being, their growing fanbase continues to marvel at the exhilarating sound of Cairo’s streets.

Kahraba is out now via Nashazphone

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36

Dilly Dally: Growing Pains

Dilly Dally are blinking in slow motion.

Physical exhaustion. The excruciating din of equipment wheeling and whistling over shredded floorboards flushes over the band’s blood-sapped faces.

On a January afternoon at Dalston’s Victoria pub, guitarist and vocalist Katie Monks points out a threadbare chesterfield sofa. Behind her is drummer Benjamin Reinhartz, who speeds towards the cushioned seat. Bassist Jimmy Tony and lead guitarist Liz Ball stroke their feet along the boards before reclining in the empty spaces. With squinted eyes, Katie smiles and looks to her friends, “I was trying to fall asleep last night and I was just reminding myself that I really have to take care of my body this year.” Everyone whispers in agreement. “Came up with that idea about ten hours ago. Since then, all I’ve done is sleep, eat food and brush my teeth. So it seems like it’s going pretty good so far.”

Such is the physical demand for a small band experiencing first album hype. In October last year, the Toronto quartet finally released their excellent debut album, Sore. In compliance with the bespoke punk aesthetic of their labels, Toronto’s Buzz and New York’s

Words: Tom Watson Photography: Mike Massaro

Partisan, the record is a candied glossing of emotive grunge pop that’s rattled by Katie’s intense, coarsely-textured screams.

Technically speaking, Sore was over six years in the making, with Katie and Liz working together as Dilly Dally’s songwriting nucleus, flitting from one band line-up to the next before resting with Benjamin and Jimmy in 2013.

Lyrically, Sore explores the social awkwardness of growing, and the general grubbiness of youth. So where does Katie’s social disquiet stem from? “It’s really scary,” she starts. “When I was younger, I used to be blown away by some of the things that would come out of my mouth. I would think ‘Fucking duh. Who is this person? This isn’t me. I’m not this wise’. It’s like I was telling myself what I needed to hear. I’m like my own guardian in some way, which sounds really intense.”

Today, Dilly Dally are resuscitating themselves before purging their bodies of energy onstage. “We don’t talk about the chaos,” Liz vouches for the others. Her and Katie exchange cordial glances as if reading each other’s minds.

“Yeah, that would make all of this real,” Katie concedes. “When we speak about the chaos of the future, it’s more fantasy that reality. It’s a very distant dreamworld full of aspirations as opposed to seeing a totally uncontrollable darkness. We’re more involved with how the record is being perceived – how the message is coming across. I’m more afraid of the future. I don’t want anything in the future to change what our fantasies are and what we’re striving for.”

Right now, the chaos of reality is colliding with Dilly Dally’s adolescent fantasies of touring as a band. Benjamin alludes to not having enough time for reflection as Jimmy highlights that everyone still has to worry about paying rent when you’re on the road.

Liz admits that the cost of being in a band in 2016 is harder than it used to be; “You just hear how labels used to throw money in to making these one-hit wonder acts and make millions. It’s so different now.”

“Totally,” Katie concurs. “It also feels like between 2005 and 2010 there was this huge middle class of musicians capable of making a decent living on their music. But now, it feels like there’s way more of a class divide.”

She argues that the current state of the music industry is about ‘key players,’ critically acclaimed pop icons who monopolise almost every platform available. “It just seems tougher now to get to the top” she sighs, “But I think the vision for Dilly Dally has always been our integrity. That’s why it took us so long to finally get this record out. We’re trying to perfect ourselves in whatever way that means for us. It’s our life mission.”

For now, Dilly Dally are directing their attention to their upcoming tour dates – they’ve got two UK tours booked for the same month. Beyond that is the total unknown. An impulsive ‘fantasy future’ as they call it. “There’s no ceiling to this work,” Monks closes, stretching her arms upwards and yawning. “Just exponential possibilities.”

Dilly Dally appear on the Crack Magazine stage at The Great Escape, Brighton, 19-21 May

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Words: Jake Hall Photography: Jack Johnstone

Christopher Shannon: Passion before Profit

Hailed on more than one occasion as menswear’s “working class hero”, Christopher Shannon’s CV reads like a dream.

Shannon studied a BA which was followed up with an MA at the illustrious Central Saint Martins. After graduating, Shannon established an eponymous menswear brand in 2008 which was launched and sustained with the support of the MAN and NEWGEN schemes. Years later, his designs are stocked in the likes of Harvey Nichols and Opening Ceremony, and his collections have earned him critical acclaim as well as a wealth of industry supporters.

On top of all this, the Liverpudlian designer is a brilliant interviewee. He comes across as intelligent, thoughtful and, above all else, likeable. No topic is left uncovered – from unisex fashion weeks (“I tried it but felt like it diluted the message of both collections, but sometimes it’s just a business decision and you need the images”) to the pace of the industry (“Raf Simons [who left his creative director role at Dior] had, I guess, the dream job in fashion and even he didn’t want to do it with all that support and financial gain”), Shannon offers a well-considered point of view .

Perhaps the best example of this is his AW16 collection, shown in January at the biannual

London Collections: Men. Eschewing the traditional runway format, Shannon instead created a static presentation in the Alison Jacques Gallery. “Presentations are maybe more efficient,” he says of his decision, “you can say more in a way. You can curate the space and the clothes can be viewed closeup; it’s somewhere between catwalk and a retail environment, which I think helps buyers understand your vision.”

Entitled The Comfort and the Horror, the collection itself was a sartorial exploration of British suburbia. His work is often labelled as a commentary on class – tracksuits are reworked and updated, teamed with zipup jackets featuring collars branded with “SHANNON”. Also in the same collection were PVC coats in shades of charcoal and inky blue as well as gingham shorts and gold coin earrings – a variety which is commonplace in Shannon’s collections.

Asked if he designs with a message in mind, he’s quick to reinforce that his work is not deliberately ‘conceptual’. “I think when people decide to be ‘conceptual’ that’s when the work looks pretentious and cold – although I think there is a big market for that. I always had ideas so I don’t think I have ever formed a concept; for me it’s an ongoing narrative, there’s no stop point. It’s a dialogue between my personality and interests, and making clothing I think people will find desirable

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whilst affording myself a lifestyle and access to other creative experiences.”

You could argue that Shannon represents a breed of designer that prizes creativity ahead of commerce, deliberately ignoring outdated notions of ‘luxury’ to make clothing which is desirable but also functional. He points out the homogeneity that still reigns supreme in the realm of commercial high fashion – “if you take a quick glimpse at the mens’ shows internationally, it’s still all mostly about tailoring and trench coats. I just don’t relate to that way of dressing or find anything sexy about it. A simple, well-cut suit, yes. But any sort of dandyness I find really tragic and pretentious.

But I’m glad that other people supply that and I don’t have to think about it.”

“I think the biggest shift in fashion is the lack of desire for so-called luxury. I find that really inspiring”

Shannon's work is the antithesis of massproduced luxury and, if anything, his success is testament to the fact that a new generation is redefining desirability in fashion – a new kind of man more likely to fall in love with a high-end tracksuit than a Savile Row creation.

“I think the biggest shift is the lack of desire for so-called luxury,” he argues. “I find that really refreshing, especially when the ‘luxury’ on offer is so standardised and uninspiring.

Nobody needs more monogrammed bags – or they need a break from that at least. It’s time for something else.”

Maybe this is why the tracksuit is experiencing such a ‘moment’ – it used to be intrinsically linked to the working class and was, in many ways, the antithesis of luxury, but now designers like Shannon are elevating its status and redefining its place in society. In Shannon’s own words, he “has always used the tracksuit as a vehicle to explore different ideas”; considering its social perception, even the initial act of showing a tracksuit on a runway was, in some ways, subversive in its own right.

Issue 61 | crackmagazine.net

This straightforward, honest tone has become characteristic of Shannon. “I still don’t really think of myself as a fashion designer,” he says. “I do like clothes though, and I like making images. And I like drawing.”

Shannon’s uncorrupted passion for the creative process is evident in the originality of his individual designs, a far cry from the side of the industry which he explains “copies other garments and gets stylists to copy references, mashing them up into something that looks like fashion – hardly inspiring, is it?”

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As well as using the tracksuit as a vehicle for exploration, Shannon has previously used slogans to communicate his message – more specifically in his AW15 show, which featured jumpers emblazoned with “Thanks 4 Nothing” and “Broke”. Although Shannon clarifies that the designs weren’t some overblown political statement, he does acknowledge that “you’d have to be totally mindless to notice that things aren’t great… I live in Hackney, you can’t live somewhere like that and not be faced with the reality of London. It’s a hard place and fashion is a really difficult industry.”

On a more personal level, the collection also came at a turbulent time where the designer had recently come out of a seven-year relationship and been awarded with the BFC/ GQ Designer Menswear Fund. “I had all this cash while so many designers I knew were closing down. It wasn’t a great feeling… I suppose how I was feeling came out in the work more than I realised.”

With regards to finance, Shannon is quick to acknowledge that his own successes would never have been possible without a series of grants throughout his education, as well a scholarship from the late, great Louise Wilson which supported him throughout his MA. Following the recent abolition of government grants, Shannon’s story and his sartorial explorations of the working class seem even more essential.

“I had to do unpaid internships, so did my friends,” he explains. “It’s easier if you have family in London and don’t have to rent, I know designers now who still live with their parents and are nearly 30 years old. I never had that option.” His honesty regarding his own upbringing makes his work both more authentic – this isn’t a rich kid appropriating a working class aesthetic – and more crucial in a country where class prejudice is shockingly prominent.

Something of an anomaly in an industry obsessed with profit, right now Christopher Shannon’s refreshing outlook is making anything seem possible.

For more information about Christopher Shannon’s latest collection, visit christophershannon.co.uk

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Aesthetic: GAIKA

“Art before artist.”

Photography: Elliot Kennedy Styling: Luci Ellis Words: Akash Chohan

It’s an ethos that South London’s sonic artist GAIKA repeats no less than four times during our conversation at Crack’s shoot in Bethnal Green. A few months prior to our meeting, GAIKA released his debut mixtape MACHINE, which has paved the way towards a forthcoming collaboration with Mykki Blanco. The mixtape’s cover art shows a mouth covered by mesh and what appears to be the heel of a Nike AirMax 90, accompanying music that floods the brain in biodiesel, with snares sharp enough to crack a Segway clean in two; wires stripped bare and sparks still spitting.

The word GAIKA itself has origins dating back to 1846-47, referencing one of the tribes known collectively as part of the Xhosa, who fought the imperial British in the seventh Xhosa War, which took place in what is now known as South Africa. The Xhosa had, by that point, replaced their traditional weapons with firearms. “I knew the name had that meaning, and it was the name of those people that had been resistant,” he explains. Along with having a nod to his father’s technical work, this also what inspired him to choose the title MACHINE. “To me, it’s not about horror. It’s about gothic in the true sense of the word,” GAIKA tells me, referring to the aesthetic that pervades his work. “Like the architecture and the style, as opposed to how people have taken that to mean something terrifying because it’s not to me.

I don’t sit at home thinking about ravens.”

He continues on, telling us he will happily admit to making ‘soundtrack music’ as he’s also a visual artist, citing Masamune Shirow’s masterpiece Ghost In The Shell as one of his major influences.

Branching out on a global scale, GAIKA’s track Chrome recently featured on African music collective NON’s Worldwide Compilation. Founded by Cape Town

producer Angle-Ho, Virginia’s Chino Amobi and London's Nkisi, the intercontinental collective are “committed to exploring the realities of Pan-African identity in the twenty-first century.” Their work has struck a chord with GAIKA. “I’ve never met any of these people but I feel super privileged because I feel what they do is really important,” he tells us. “It’s one thing having that ideology; it’s another having that ideology and execution. A lot of people who have something to say don’t execute art at the level it needs to be at. All the records that come out on NON, irrespective of what people have to say politically, are dope.”

GAIKA’s music has often been described as ‘weird’, ‘alien’ and has been associated with grime in the past – labels which he frequently resists. “I’m never gonna be like, ‘I agree with you’,” he says. “Who are those people to define what ‘weird’ is for black music? The black people who make the music get to define what it is.”

Stream and download MACHINE at gaika.co

Top By Liam Hodges Bottoms By Lifes A Beach Shoes By Native

Cloak By Tuesday Night Band Practise

Top By Tuesday Night Band Practise Bottoms By Stone Island Hat By Astrid Anderson Grill By Bobby Abbley

Waistcoat By Bedwin & The Heartbreakers Top By Nosomnia Bottoms By Asger Juel Larsen Shoes By Metalgienchi

Top By Xander Zhou Bottom By Xander Zhou Shoes By Native

Words: Augustin Macellari

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High Jinks: Ivars Gravlejs’ Photography Offers Mischief as a Lifeline

The devil, they say, makes work for idle hands. Most people’s records of boredom probably don’t extend much beyond a few doodles in the margins of notebooks, the odd eccentrically esoteric playlist. My own personal legacy of boredom is a facility for drawing detailed dicks and an embarrassingly competent knack for rolling elegant zoots.

Boredom and disruption make easy bedfellows; where spikes in unemployment are matched by corresponding spikes in crime, it takes a kind of naivety to think that income is the only correlation.

Boredom often seems externally imposed. At school, boredom is mandated by teachers and curriculums; compounded by institutional architecture and shitty playgrounds. It’s weighty and numbing, implacable and threatening. It highlights a feeling of powerlessness within the system – the threat is implicit, you’re bored because you have to do what you’re told; what you’re told to do is boring. In this context, disruption becomes a kind of protest.

As an adult, boredom is imposed by a different agent: boss not teacher. Classroom strip lights are replaced with office strip lights and there’s no playground, but there’s a pub round the corner for Fridays. Boredom is still externally mandated though, and reflects an internal conflict with a system that requires you to participate, but whose methods for participation are, for whatever reason, boring.

The point being that institutional boredom, which represents an intrusion on the self, is distinct from being bored, and the response to it is often destructive because feeling powerless or frustrated can provoke resentment or anger.

Enter Ivars Gravlejs, conceptual photographer. His book Early Works, released in 2015 by Mack books, contains choice cuts from the Latvian artist’s archive of schoolyard experiments in photography.

The images, as presented here, are records of explorations in art – the book is divided into sections such as: ‘pop art’, ‘actions’, ‘conceptual’ and ‘performance.’

The pictures illustrate a gleeful, puerile mischief – a response to boredom. “The only way to survive school,” Gravlejs writes in the book’s explanatory note, “was to do something creative.” Here, creative acts range from orthodox (experiments in multiple exposures and composition) to wildly unconventional (footage of controlled fires being started on teachers’ desks, a classroom’s chairs being hurled around.

Photographs of fights).

The non-conformist energy, the kick against boredom, reappears in his series My Newspaper, which he made while working as a staff photojournalist at a daily Czech publication. The photos he took are simultaneously banal and deeply subversive; each image, as it appeared in the newspaper, was photoshopped. In some, the additions

are inconsequential – extra buttons on a man’s shirt, extra light switches on a wall. In others, they’re macabre – a dancer with a bone added to her t-shirt. Yet more explicitly reflect the gleeful, puckish vulgarity of his early works: “cunt” discreetly added to a brick wall, “death” written on another t-shirt, the artist’s “message to police.”

Obviously, by the standards of any newspaper this is totally unacceptable. The fact-checking process is exposed as sloppy, journalistic integrity is compromised. At the same time, in an art context, the action opens up an interesting dialogue around the sanctity of the image and its potential for exploitation.

This dialogue is something investigated at great length by post-internet artist Oliver Laric, whose ongoing research project Versions extensively probes the possibilities and implications of photo-manipulation. Laric takes the betrayal of photojournalistic integrity that caused a media scandal in the late 00s (a photograph depicting Iran’s controversial missile tests was used on the cover of countless major newspapers around the globe before later being exposed as having been digitally altered) as a starting point to explore his fascination with what we can do with the image – with image hierarchies and digital realities and serious things. Gravlejs, on the other hand, is really showing us what he did when he was bored at work. As with surviving at school, this project was a creative response to frustration.

“Just to keep doing the job in the newspaper, I had to find something I could have fun with,” Gravlejs tells me. “If there is something I don’t enjoy, I try to compensate – to make something more out of it than just doing what other people expect.”

Across his body of work there’s a similar insolence in tone, whether it be the caption accompanying his early photo-montage of a female schoolmate’s head stuck on the body of a glamour model (“I attached this image on the wall next to the time table… After that, most of the girls in my class hated me”) or an annotation on one of his photoshopped newspaper photos - “I made more blue circles in the background… to have more chance to have it published on the first page, and it was there.”

It’s almost punk, and certainly his work finds more parallels in art-activist collectives like Voina (progenitor of Pussy Riot) than anything in the UK. But he resists the term activist.

“I think if you do politics, you do politics and not art,” he argues. “You go and make speeches, and you go into politics and you change something. All these artists and curators who are defined ‘political art’ – it’s just decorative.” But, I suggest, disruption as a response to confinement – whether that be a school, office or state – is political. “Maybe I’m really a latent activist,” he offers.

Š Ivars Gravlejs 2015 courtesy MACK My hand Black and White photograph, 1996 "I put my hand into the developer and then on exposed photo paper"

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Fight Black and White photographs, 1992-1993 "On account of my camera I received great attention from my classmates.

In front of the camera everybody started to act out. Often the stronger boys started to torture the weaker ones. But also the reverse occurred – the weaker ones suddenly attacked the stronger ones, just for the few seconds of the photograph. It was like a fight game. They were all aware of photography’s importance and they wanted their expressions of physical power to be documented"

© Ivars Gravlejs 2015 courtesy MACK

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© Ivars Gravlejs 2015 courtesy MACK

Beyond the photojournalism job, the schoolboy-boredom-induced-middlefinger starts to waver. With the absence of confinement it becomes difficult to understand what Gravlejs is taking aim at – which direction the middle finger is facing.

The work remains subversive, vicious and deeply humorous, but with no clear system in place, what is his target? “Target? Quite often I work within the local context,” he explains, “and some things are not understandable for the wider audience. It’s only universal if you use it as an example for other things. I think it’s more like showing your position, it’s more like a gesture.”

This gesture works as a highlighter and a valve. Gravlejs uses it to underline the absurdity he sees in situations, or to vent frustration. In conversation he refers to survival more than once – the idea of humour and wilfulness as the antidote to an otherwise unbearable situation. “Maybe life is absurd in a way itself, anyway,” he says. “And because I see things from this perspective, I try to make the time I spend enjoyable.”

It’s a pretty bleak view, but real humour is as close to pathos as it is to comedy. With his creative roots in acting out, a practice founded in kicking against boredom through puerile insults and pranks, it follows that as a clear hierarchy to reject dematerialises, ennui steps right in to take its place.

In There Will be Dicks, by Michal Novotný, a text on the artist’s website, the writer says, “Whether 11-year-old Ivars Gravlejs only documents the brutality of every day life… or he reacts with a direct creative act, his position is always one of subversion – the attempt to gain at least a little temporary freedom and space in a situation with no escape.”

At each subsequent stage, life’s arbiter of boredom – and the object of Ivars Gravlejs’ “latent activism” – becomes more abstract.

From school, with teachers and classmates, to work, with bosses and colleague, to life as an artist, with audiences, curators and institutions, Gravlejs responds with the same humour and vulgar energy.

This “attempt to gain at least a little temporary freedom and space” expresses both an aspirational optimism, and a huge bummer of a truth. The whole thing is out of our control and actually, puerile as it is, Gravlejs’ “way to survive” might be the best.

Early Works by Ivars Gravlejs is published by MACK Books

© Ivars Gravlejs 2015 courtesy MACK

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57 On the railroad Black and white photograph, 1989 "My attempt to commit a terror act by switching directions of the railroad"

Words: Anna Tehabsim

COMUNITE 13-14 January Villa Pescadores, Tulum

At the beginning of each year, Tulum is bustling with parties. A coastal paradise in the Yucatán Peninsula, across January the Mexican city’s network of picturesque beaches, eco-friendly hotels, open-air bars and glistening lagoons evolves into a teeming ecosystem of raves. From the outside, well-known events like BPM and Damian Lazarus’s Day Zero seem to dominate proceedings here but in reality you’re not hard pressed to find a party anywhere along the coast during the season.

Tulum’s popularity in this period is an example of an ever-expanding festival season, now taking over large swathes of the year. One downside to this is that, although music festivals can often be beneficial for local economies, they create a lot of mess. As such, reducing the environmental impact of festivals is increasingly on the agenda.

Comunite built this concern into its mission statement. A new dancecentric event in Tulum, it included a screening of Cowspiracy, the documentary highlighting the destructive effects of factory farming,

and an entirely vegan menu. Hoping to give back to the area, it also announced plans to donate a portion of the revenue to provide portable water for eight families by installing rain catching systems in the local community.

This approach positions Comunite as a rebuke to much of the festival circuit in Tulum, favouring social and environmental responsibility over theatrics, and placing emphasis on subtler sounds setting it apart from the season’s more commercial schedule. The line-up featured a healthy representation of Latin American producers, too, favouring those with a penchant for sleek minimal sounds, like the thick churning house of Ecuadorian Nicola Cruz, the percussive hypnotism of Chilean band Matanza, and the subtle, emotive synth work of Uchi.

Taking place on the beach of the Villa Pescadores hotel, Comunite played out across two small stages. Though its programme was relatively niche, the festival had attracted a great deal of attention online due to a late addition to the line-up – the event was set to start

with an eagerly anticipated appearance from Traumprinz, the Giegling label's cult favourite. Also known as Prince of Denmark, and billed here as Traumprinz b2b DJ Metatron, public appearances from the elusive producer are rare. This legacy continues for now, as it transpired he was simply debuting his new album from his laptop, streamed live on Boiler Room. As disappointing as this may have been for those hopeful to catch the introvert in the flesh, the album sounded overwhelmingly lovely, with delicate swashes of melancholy splashed across its unabashedly emotive haze.

Comunite was besieged by bad weather for most of the daytime schedule. This was unfortunate for everyone involved, with the organisers hastily rescheduling the programme and artists battling against the invasive wind. Arguably the biggest acts on the bill, Moodymann and Andrés, played hours after their scheduled slot, with Andrés’ dusty sample-driven house and disco getting bodies moving in a downpour, and Moodymann’s soaring, intoxicating grooves proving a highlight.

A rare moment of peace from the

wind arose in time for Giegling duo Kettenkarussell. The first act to draw significant numbers up from lounging in the sand, their live show was a fitting soundtrack to sunset, nudging away the overhanging black clouds into darkness as their elegant swirls of dub techno unfurled over the crowd. After a rich and absorbing couple of hours, they were followed by Edward, who, while struggling with wind, coaxed adventurous, skeletal rhythms from his hardware.

The latter half of the event was defined by more driving sounds, with Dasha Redkina, Barac, Petre Inspirescu and Rhadoo keeping attendees going well into the early hours. The party then rolled over into Casa Malca, a vast complex initially built by Pablo Escobar. Centred around a bar and the grounds of the main house – a white-walled labyrinth of rooms embellished with garish art – a dancefloor soon emerged around the pool, with DJs casually taking turns to play to the small but committed crowd. In the hours that followed, attendees were draped casually across the complex, some setting up speakers

by a pool that snaked underneath the main one, while others giddily explored the grounds’ various nooks and crannies, or climbed the lookout posts that revealed the stretch of jungle below.

The event was relaxing for the artists too. Konstantin dutifully provided the soundtrack for over six hours, peppering softly grooving sounds with the odd vocal track, smiling and dancing throughout and joined sporadically by Edward and Smallville’s Lawrence. Dasha Redkina drew the party to a close in the early evening, with Giegling artists and extended crew slung lazily over sofas, soaking up the last moments.

Offsetting the familiar feeling of an intimate afterhours with the absurdity of partying in a drug kingpin’s former mansion, Comunite certainly offered a unique experience. By making excellent use of its surroundings, but also giving back to them, Comunite could prove itself a peerless addition to Tulum’s busy calendar in the years to come.

BLITZEN TRAPPER MON 8 FEB T SOLD OU THE LEXINGTON

GIRLS NAMES FRI 19 FEB THE LEXINGTON

MARTHA FFION THURS 25 FEB SERVANT JAZZ QUARTERS

ROYCE WOOD JUNIOR WED 10 FEB OSLO HACKNEY

LNZNDRF FRI 19 FEB OSLO HACKNEY

ROSIE LOWE THURS 25SOFEB LD OUT OSLO HACKNEY

OKAY KAYA THURS 11 FEB ST PANCRAS OLD CHURCH

THE GOOD LIFE SAT 20 FEB BORDERLINE

FROKEDAL THURS 25 FEB THE ISLINGTON

MONEY MON 22 FEB VILLAGE UNDERGROUND

GIRL BAND MON 29 FEB T SOLD OU VILLAGE UNDERGROUND

CAR SEAT HEADREST TUES 23 FEB DALSTON VICTORIA

ONLY GIRL TUES 1 MARCH ELECTROWERKZ

MOTHERS WED 24 FEB SERVANT JAZZ QUARTERS

FORCED RANDOM TUES 1 MARCH SERVANT JAZZ QUARTERS

RYANN THURS 11 FEB THE WAITING ROOM THE BLACK TAMBOURINES THURS 18 FEB SEBRIGHT ARMS HINDS THURS 18 FEB KOKO

HABITATS THURS 3 MARCH HOXTON SQUARE BAR & KITCHEN

CROOX WED 16 MARCH ELECTROWERKZ

GET WELL SOON WED 13 APRIL THE LEXINGTON

JOAN SHELLEY TUES 3 MARCH THE ISLINGTON

ROBYN SHERWELL WED 23 MARCH HOXTON SQUARE BAR & KITCHEN

BEATY HEART WED 13 APRIL ELECTROWERKZ

THE FAT WHITE FAMILY WED 9 MARCH THE CORONET

ANNA MEREDITH TUES 29 MARCH ICA

WOLF PARADE TUES 14 & WED 15 JUNE SCALA

KELLY LEE OWENS THURS 10 MARCH SERVANT JAZZ QUARTERS

ELIZA SHADDAD TUES 31 MARCH SEBRIGHT ARMS

FLOWERS FRI 11 MARCH SEBRIGHT ARMS

THE KVB TUES 5 APRIL MOTH CLUB

LA FEMME THURS 17 NOV O2 SHEPHERD’S BUSH EMPIRE

THE ALTERED HOURS WED 16 MARCH THE SHACKLEWELL ARMS

COVES WED 6 APRIL DALSTON VICTORIA PARALLELLINESPROMOTIONS.COM

D SOLUT O

D SOLUT O

D SOLUT O

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Live

NEW YE AR / NEW NOISE Arnolfini, Bristol 17 January

LOCRIAN Black Heart, London 15 January Locrian is a band that defies definition.

Originating from Chicago and active in the underground US black metal/drone scene since 2005, founding members Terence Hannum and Andre Foisey (percussionist Steven Hess joined for 2010’s The Crystal World) have long occupied the outer reaches of even those esoteric, vehemently anti-populist fields.

This is exemplified in tonight’s excellent sold out gig, at Camden’s sweatpit of the moment, the Black Heart. Following the wonderfully named Necro Deathmort’s acidinflected doom-drone, Locrian crawl through an hour-long set that largely comprises of material from new album Infinite Dissolution, and more cathartic workouts in sheet distortion and solid waves of keyboard.

Musically, they’re faultless.

Hess is a perfunctory but powerful drummer, all martial tom-thuds and spare, muscular punctuation; Foisey a slightly more virtuosic guitarist, though one still primarily concerned with texture than histrionics; and Hannum an engaging frontman, imbuing his buried screaming and washes of synth with a fist-pumping energy.

Heavy Water, a track from the 2013 album Return To Annihilation, is a highlight. It’s one of the slightest songs in Locrian’s catalogue: effectively a threechord key pattern bought to climax via a consistent, simplistic rhythm, a celestial smattering of guitar, and more of Hannum’s tortured vocals.

Breathtaking in person, it’s testament to Locrian’s ability to locate the transcendental in the most abject of voids. ! Thomas Howells

The beauty behind Howling Owl’s annual new music showcase has always been the element of surprise – even though you might think you know what to expect, the DIY label always ensure that you’ll be unable to control a gaping jaw at some point in the evening.

We entered the all-black cube of the Arnolfini's lecture hall to the sound of cyclical beats and undulating synths. Chrononautz were smashing out analogue techno on a set-up that looked like the set of a 1960s science fiction series, and their visuals hinted at similar themes. Space-like horizons twirled frenetically behind vaguely scientific words that initially felt cheap, but somehow seemed completely apt by the end of their set.

Next up in the main room was Rhain, an Isle of Wight resident with a wicked sense of humour and a vocal register that could probably shatter a coffee mug. As her wandering voice propelled musings on love, witty observations on family life and a well-timed Pavlova simile around the room, we left feeling sultry, stoned and surrounded by whispered Björk comparisons.

In contrast, London’s Blood Music swung a truncheon of power electronics, spoken word and harrowing, distorted beats. Having recently released on Powell’s everreliable Diagonal imprint Blood Music was an intriguing concept from the get go and the pair proved their worth both artistically and technically.

Rounding off the night, Bristolbased Spectres managed to completely swallow the room in a headache inducing swell of pandemonium. Playing songs from their critically acclaimed album Dying against a backdrop of haunting visuals, their homecoming bewitched the audience and left us dizzy and strangely cleansed.

There are simply not enough nights like New Year/New Noise.

N

! Billy Black Mustafa Mirreh

50 WE APONS FINALE Berghain, Berlin 21 January Just under 10 years on from the label’s first release, and the 50Weapons manifesto has met its conclusion.

On this, Modeselektor’s second label and subsidiary to MonkeyTown, there were only ever meant to be 50 single releases encapsulating the spirit of bootleg culture. And so, with the release of the Berlin duo’s own Trees single in December last year, the final nail was hammered into the coffin: those 50 singles have now been delivered in full, along with box sets and a solid catalogue of LPs from the label’s stalwarts.

The label’s funeral – a tour beginning last November and finishing this February – has seen much of the roster appearing together across the world. One of the last dates of the farewell tour, the Berlin party kicks off in Berghain at midnight with a thunderous three hour power house set from Rene Pawlowitz, aka Shed. The following hour is filled with a live set from Phon.o, with his trademark dirty techno compelling what looks like most of the Berghain crowd to move towards the floor before the ever-progressive hardware fiends FJAAK take over with a moody DJ set.

The stage is then set for Modeselektor, who career through a fist-pumping, raw and typically varied two hours, with the crowd showing them the respect they deserve as the label’s bosses.

Swansea’s Benjamin Damage – whose 2015 LP Obsidian was 50 Weapons’ final full length release – proves to be a late highlight, with his two hour live set kicking off at 8am and re-energising the crowd. The farewell party is then crowned with a fun and frantic set from Bambounou, who embraces his midday finish and keeps the party in full swing until after the lights are up. All good labels have to say goodbye at some point, and following 50Weapons’ curtain call, the bar has been been raised significantly. ! Jack Bolter

FUTURE O2 Academy Brixton, London 8 January Having achieved huge commercial success with his mumbled style, his influential triplet flow and lyrics of self-loathing that subvert clichéd rap braggadocio, Future has become one of hip-hop’s most significant innovators, upsetting many older rap fans who’ve struggled to adjust in the process.

Tonight, almost 5000 fans wait eagerly for the Atlanta star at London’s Brixton Academy for this sold out show, and the atmosphere spikes skywards when Future creeps from the side stage, mic in hand, in a fur-hooded parka, which he eventually peels off to reveal a sweat-soaked t-shirt.

The set eschews his comparatively lighter singles like Honest and Turn On The Lights to focus on his hard-hitting 2015 material, which seems to be exactly what the crowd here wants. The show’s an impressive exercise in charisma – Future, DJ Esco and regular producer Metro Boomin pounce across the stage with agility, UK duo Krept and Konan make a well-received cameo – but by throwing away Dirty Sprite 2 tracks like I Serve The Base and Freak Hoes after a few bars, Future sometimes underestimates the attention span of his fans.

The highlight of the set is March Madness – a 56 Nights track that’s widely considered to be among Future’s best material. With the track played out in full and the venue’s lights dimmed, the crowd illuminate the Academy with thousands of iPhone screens, and the song itself is a strange blend of heartache and bravado. For those lucky enough to get a ticket, this was an opportunity to witness an artist who’s unlike anyone who came before him. ! Davy Reed N Ashley Verse

The Insatiable , Inflatable Candylion The SSE SWALEC Stadium, Cardiff 23 December

Drenched in neon and soundtracked by multi-language indie-pop, Gruff Rhys’ The Insatiable, Inflatable Candylion was a beautiful, psychedelic dream for kids (and adults, too).

In his latest theatrical venture, Gruff Rhys put together a modern fable that paints a sad scene from the start. The colourful animals of Pixel Valley (Polar Pear, Sledgehog, Cheffyl and the rest) are excluding the smallest inhabitant of the valley, Candylion, from their most important annual event: the harvest. When Candylion isn’t allowed to join in, she kicks off – big time. In enforcing a capitalist regime on Pixel Valley (including the introduction of armed militia and a bribed spy), she drives away the one that loves her most, Caruin.

Can he make it back in time to save Candylion from herself?

Well, yes, but that doesn’t mean getting there is no fun. Gruff appears alongside a stageful of Welsh musical talents who double up as actors and the songs of 2007’s Candylion are truly, if madly, brought to life (Gyrru Gyrru Gyrru soundtracks a Conga line led by Gruff driving a tiny car, for example). The props are stunning, the cast expressive and multitalented – we just wish we’d got a small person to tag along so we could bask in the full, unashamedly child-friendly, effect.

N

! Sammy Jones Farrows Creative / National Theatre Wales

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FUTURE Purple Reign Freebandz

DIIV Is the Is Are Captured Tracks

The following that Future has spawned since 2015’s 56 Nights mixtape is remarkable. Once he’d stopped trying to infiltrate the pop world and got lost in a swell of his own vices, an army of loyal fans began to rally around him. When Purple Reign dropped early this year, fanatics spammed the social accounts of his ex-fiancé Ciara and her new partner, American football quarterback Russell Wilson, with an Emoji of a purple umbrella in the rain. Outside of the internet, Russell was tackled

by Carolina Panthers’ Tre Boston, who celebrated by impersonating DJ Esco’s iconic dance from a Future music video from last year.

These gestures of allegiance to the #FutureHive are far from admirable of course, but they indicate how huge Future’s become by pursuing a relatively uncommerical sound.

Musically and thematically, Purple Reign is similar to Future’s 2015 run. Wicked is a brilliantly oddball song where Future’s slurred flow spills across MetroBoomin and Southside’s fizzy instrumental. On Never Forget, Future laments missing an auntie’s funeral before admitting to selling another aunt drugs in the next verse. Inside The Mattress and Perkys Calling are among some of the best songs in Future’s catalogue – with the former showcasing his knack of turning a boast into a cry for help: “Hit another city and another city, I'm just groovin' / I was tryna tell you I was losin', I was gon' tell you I'm improvin'”.

What Future lacks in reinvention on Purple Reign, he makes up for in focus. It’s hard to tell whether this tape is a continuation of the Future of 2015, or the starting shot for a brand new year. But just like the protagonist’s worldview, it all blurs into one.

There’ll be a lot of questions asked about DIIV’s second album. For one, why did it take four years to arrive? For another, why is it a double album? In the case of the former, the Brooklyn band have been on the brink of collapse: drummer Colby Hewitt left the band due to his rumoured struggles with addiction, and frontman Zachary Cole Smith was arrested alongside girlfriend Sky Ferreira in late 2013 and charged with heroin possession. To make matters even worse, there was the ugly scandal of bassist Devin Ruben Perez making highly problematic comments on a 4Chan message board.

The second question, concerning the album’s length, isn’t nearly as easy to answer. Certainly the 63 minutes of music spread across 17 tracks do little to justify such self-indulgence. What’s really frustrating though is that the opening four-track salvo belies the rest of the album’s weakness. Out of Mind possesses all the pretty indie pop charm of debut album Oshin. Under the Sun aches of longing, pairing scorching guitars with a melancholic bassline and Smith’s lovelorn sighs. Lead single Dopamine is great too. Pretty soon though, Is the Is Are succumbs to the perennial undoing of most double albums – too much filler. The album is padded out with many throwaway tracks, and considering DIIV’s raucous movement on stage and Smith’s habit of inviting comparison between himself and Kurt Cobain, it’s bizarre that DIIV’s music never quite elevates beyond the level of pleasant, but inoffensive dream pop. Too indistinct to leave a lasting mark, this muchhyped second album risks getting lost in the mire.

Rising from the murky dubstep depths of Vex’d, Roly Porter is now a revered avant-garde composer.

His vision as a producer is often transcendent, with visceral, dystopic soundscapes becoming his calling card. Following on from 2013 album Cycle Of A Massive Star, which mapped the life cycle of a star, Third Law, while still within the celestial realm, is a great deal more ominous and earth shatteringly loud. Think O Fortuna’s Carmina Burana meets Sunn O))).

On Third Law, Porter flexes his skill at sculpting sounds into cinematic experience. 4101 acts as a thunderous opener, where the hum of a contorted male choir rises and falls over whistling metallic noise.

Mass sounds like the earth being sucked into a black hole before a sub-bass bounces like a cosmic basketball. This is humanity and the world as we know it being put through a grinder.

A harsh contrast is what Porter angles in on; there is no in-between. Ethereal moments of serenity are violently besieged by unholy eruptions of noise, and each piece unravels into one treacherous journey. On closer Known Space, the roar of a harmonic human voice and a lone synth drift over ebbing drones like a sun rising across the dark side of the earth. Ultimately Third Law propels Roly Porter toward the higher echelons of sound design.

Something happened on the day Bowie died. Blackstar, which was released only days before, was relieved of all the confused drama surrounding it. Finally, we could solve Bowie’s enigma machine. For Blackstar is not just ‘a parting gift’ for fans, as longtime co-producer Tony Visconti had disclosed. Blackstar is Bowie reviewing his own existence, auditing his cultural footprint, and falling to his knees in the finality of his own death.

It’s a record of maddening scope and invention where every moment feels like the final breath is drawn before closing its eyes forever.

There’s a finite dexterity to Blackstar, one that separates itself from 2013’s wistfully sentimental The Next Day, and resuscitates the jazz-fused electronic breadth of Bowie’s Thin White Duke-era output. Saxophone has been a close companion throughout his canon of work. Here, it squawks and trills almost mockingly against Bowie’s trembling, Scott Walker-invoking warbles. In Tis A Pity She Was A Whore; a title referencing John Ford’s 17th century theatrical tragedy on death and incest, modern jazz saxophonist Donny McCaslin corrals a quartet of brass players and aggressively blurts over Bowie. At times, Bowie seemingly plays a victim, giving consent for the instruments to overstep their constrictions.

Sue (Or In A Season Of Crime) gallops with industrious cymbal snaps while simple guitar work is obscured by sheer electronic noise. Lazarus’s Bohren Und Der Club Of Gore-style dream jazz concentrates on a weepy brass that mopes between Bowie’s withering vocals.

Sonically, Blackstar ignores form. As we are boisterously schlepped between realms, from free-jazz to industrial to progressive rock, Bowie’s lyrics become a thematic arc. Here, we’re not only able to deduce the meaning behind the words but are physically forced to accept the somber reality of them. “Look up here, I’m in Heaven”, “Where the fuck did Monday go?”, “I’m trying to, I’m dying to…”, This is the morbid memorandum of an artist all too aware of his impending fate.

Through his multifarious onstage personas, Bowie had always portrayed a sense of invincibility, so listening to him welcome an infinite darkness and silence is overwhelming. When his Ziggy Stardust character bid the Hammersmith crowd farewell in 1972, many thought Bowie had retired from music for good. Four radical decades on, and we remain enamoured by the art he has gifted us with. And this, Blackstar, his ‘parting gift’, is the ghost of Bowie’s past that promises to haunt us for decades to come.

! Duncan Harrison

! James F. Thompson

! Aine Devaney

! Tom Watson

ROLY PORTER Third Law Tri Angle

ESSAIE PAS Demain Est Une Autre Nuit DFA Records DAVID BOWIE Blackstar Columbia Records

2015 ended with some notable post-punk activity: Optimo’s rarities compilation finally saw the light of day, and Maximum Joy reformed for two comeback shows.

Both of these events involved gazing longingly at the past. But this most timeless of genres is always morphing and adapting, and in the debut album of Montreal duo Essaie Pas, the post-punk spirit gets a rocket strapped to it, propelling it smack bang into the present day.

Demain Est Une Autre Nuit is equal parts pulsating, aciddrenched disco, and nonchalant new-wave strut, sounding something like Helena Hauff remixing ESG into beautiful techno oblivion. There isn’t a weak track on the album. But the seedy, voyeuristic electro-nostalgia of Retox is a standout, alongside the more overtly techno-fied Lights Out, which is every bit as good as Factory Floor’s cerebral stomps.

Depassee par le Fantasme comes over like a pitched down, darkand-dirty Etienne de Crecy, while album closer La Chute smothers everything in a slowly unfolding dream-sequence – distant and detached. If you were wondering whether DFA Records could still pull out an absolute blinder, then Essaie Pas are the answer. Stylish and sleazy, Demain Est Une Autre Nuit is a pretty much flawless exercise in electro-disco decadence.

! Adam Corner

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03 06 06 FAT WHITE FAMILY Songs for our Mothers Fat Possum / Without Consent

KERRIDGE Fatal Light Attraction Downwards Working in collaboration with Andrej Boleslavský & Mária Júdová, Samuel Kerridge presented Fatal Light Attraction at last year's Berlin Atonal festival, a work which utilised sophisticated coding to provide a visual accompaniment to the annihilated techno and vehemently razed frequencies which have become a trademark of Kerridge's sound.

Reprising his place on Karl O'Connor's venerated Downwards label, FLA heralds a return to the tattered barrages and titanic discord of A Fallen Empire. His appearance on James Ruskin's Blueprint staple, after Always Offended, Never Ashamed saw forays into riper atmospherics.

Although there's less of AONA's diverse expansiveness there's a consistently blasted feel to proceedings with a shuddering punch exacted throughout. It's as if these tracks – numbered, rather than titled – have been edified by the imagined furore of a munitions factory.

A drawback to the unrelenting constancy of FLA is that it can at times become a homogeneous drudge. Kerridge fares better when he allows deviation and counterpoint into his accepted template, as on 1 (the tracks are all simply numbered rather than titled) with its venomously sunken vocals and 2, which accommodates a judicious midway moment of dormant pause before reassuming full blooded impact, like respite amidst gunfire. Elsewhere 4 and 5 are similarly notable, dominated as they are by arresting mauls of torn fuse distortion.

Yet 3, 6 and 7 prove less memorable, adhering to more of the same devastation but proving unextraordinary as if their distinction has been drowned out, lost in the onslaught. Like the shadow projection animated by code, Kerridge's sound needs a sense of contrast to play off for full effect.

When that occurs, and it does for most of the album's duration, FLA is monumental. ! Tim Wilson

MOODYMANN DJ-Kicks !K7

Animal Collective have previously been described as sounding like 'two Beach Boys records playing at the same time’ and, as with most the discography, your perception of their latest record Painting With will depend heavily on whether you think that idea sounds like sonic bliss or a cacophonous, psychedelic hell.

Doubling up on everything that’s divisive about their music, Painting With discards the spacious arrangements and restraint of previous album Centipede Hz in favour of lightning-paced chaos.

Layered vocals dominate almost every track, harmonising at different tempos, while almost farcically tweaked-out synths war with one and other in a haze of metallic zaps, jitters and hysteria.

Opener FloriDada scrambles barbershop tropes with a buoyant, narcotic energy while Hocus Pocus centres on rubbery bass, metallic vocals and an array of wacky effects that recall the sounds of 90s platform video games. Purposefully inane lyrics such as “Bagels for everyone/ that’s the kind of thing you would have wanted” and “My feet can’t cross the parking lot/ the parking lot is way too hot” make up the majority of album’s choruses, pushing the tracks to the outer limits of palatability.

While these perverse tendencies can easily be off-putting, it’s hard not to marvel at the scale and singularity of what Animal Collective achieve. The album is shot through with moments of artfully crafted serenity; Lying in The Grass begins dissonantly but gives way to a blissfully satisfying piano hook; Bagels in Kiev introduces an equally addictive and tranquil interlude.

These elements feel like pockets of calm in the centre of a storm, and demonstrate how capable Animal Collective are of creating straight-forwardly beautiful music.

It’s the dearth of these moments that reveals how uninterested the band are in doing so.

A mythology surrounds Moodymann – one that has been knowingly cultivated over the years through rare interviews, aphoristic pronouncements, performing with his face concealed or behind a sheet, and so on.

Whatever the motivation behind his thinly veiled anonymity, this release – an open book invitation to his influences, a fleeting glimpse into his world – feels somewhat significant.

The first few tracks on his DJ-Kicks present a melancholic aspect to his ‘environment’ (his word), and it’s probably the best section of the mix. The opener of Chicago artist Yaw’s Where Will You Be is a beauty: see-sawing violins and soulful trumpets melt into a softly swung rhythm, while Yaw’s voice questions his lover’s affections. KDJ’s fellow Detroiter DopeHead appears later, his lyrics on relatives in jail or the cemetery a sobering snapshot of life in Detroit.

The pace and vibe meander gently upwards, until Jai Paul’s BTSTU. This song no longer has the effect it once did, and the selections feel a bit over-familiar until the jagged synths of Julien Dyne’s Stained Glass Fresh Frozen.

The pace picks up a little with Andrés’ excellent El Ritmo De Mi Gente. The gloopy soul of My Funny Valentine doesn’t quite fit though, and we have to wait until Disco Maniac by Tirogo for the mood to lift. Anne Clark is a smart and unexpected inclusion, allowing KDJ to reset the vibe while maintaining tempo. The later Noir & Haze track is best skipped for Marcellus Pittman’s (yep, Detroit too), a contemplative boogie that winds down to another strong section of the mix, the final three tracks.

On this mix, the risky selections pay off and the safer ones don’t. It’s a hearteningly diverse tracklist, and there are passages of greatness. More than any other Moodymann release, it feels like Kenny Dixon Jr. is allowing us a glimpse of himself beyond the Moody ‘persona’ – if that’s even what it is.

When Chilean producer Matias Aguayo released Minimal in 2008, he didn’t mince his words in denouncing the genre he’d previously championed as part of Berlin duo Closer Musik. “Got no groove, got no balls,” he half whispered in a crooning vocal. Aguayo’s aim, it seemed, was to replace the joyless, cynical sparsity that he perceived minimal to be, with a brighter, fuller and less parochial approach.

Minimal was released eight years ago, but the sentiment seems to have stuck. The other half of Closer Musik – Dirk Leyers – can now be found working with DJ Nomad, and their new release has a globe-spinning approach that hops, skips and jumps from genre to genre with playful abandon.

The only danger with the album’s boundary-defying aesthetic is that it can teeter on novelty.

With such an ambitious remit, the production at points resembles a sort of plate spinning act that draws attention to the variety itself, rather than the quality of the individual soundscapes carved out within it. The minimal, murkier territory of tracks like Nation and Ready for Something New have a steely, atmospheric air that works adequately in and of themselves, but they don’t sit well beside the ebullient trumpets and kitsch electric organs of cosmic disco jams like Crawfish Got Soul or Yes We Can’t. The album works well when the two worlds collide, especially when underscored by the percussive talents of collaborators like Eric Owusu as on the central tracks Balla Balla and Ngoni, but these moments don’t come often enough to bind the album together coherently.

While a number of tracks work excellently in isolation, it’s still too easy to discern the separately delineated voices of Leyers and Nomad on individual tracks to consider Basar a successful work of synthesis.

It’s been four years since the last Santigold album, and 99¢ wastes little time in reminding us what we’ve been missing out on – her sharp observations of modern culture and the acidity of her tongue in delivering her verdict on it. That kind of cutting, expressive lyricism is the one real constant on this third full-length which, like its predecessors, fluctuates wildly throughout in stylistic terms.

You get the impression she wouldn’t really have it any other way, and it makes 99¢ an enthralling listen one minute and a frustrating one the next. When she really taps into the kind of warped, off-kilter pop that lent her debut album and and Master of My MakeBelieve their standout moments, the results are genuinely thrilling; the marriage of a Lauryn Hill beat with a vocal that recalls M.I.A.’s more commercial moments makes Chasing Shadows a winner, and the spaced-out strut of Outside the War, with fierce looped guitar running just underneath simmering synth, is a real highlight too.

Elsewhere, though, the constant shift through the gears begins to distract; Banshee is messy, with too many ideas and not enough cohesion. The ILoveMakonnen collaboration Who Be Lovin Me doesn’t linger long in the memory, either. So while it’s fun for a couple of listens, 99¢ isn’t the great album Santigold has hinted she could make but never delivered.

Last time we saw critics espousing a band as the last great hope for rock ‘n’ roll, we were presented with a picture of squalid urban living through The Libertines. Around a decade and a half later, we’re looking at Fat White Family. The picture has its similarities, but its blemishes have been deliberately made more vulgar, perhaps in a desperate attempt to capture the attention of a more desensitised generation.

Much has been written about the band’s organic status – the genuine squalor they endure, the unpredictable mayhem of their live shows, the serious drug problems that grapple their scene, and so on. It’s a tenuous tick box on some imaginary authenticity scale. A scale which, for their fans, makes it okay for the band to call their record label Without Consent, or to make blasé comparisons between the tribulations of Auschwitz survivors and getting a blowjob.

Fat White Family’s dependency on shock value is arguably rooted in their lack of originality, and their struggle to write genuinely memorable hooks. What always arises when a band lacks ideas is a gimmick. For a brief moment Fat White Family’s sense of shock value felt like the sudden jolt that British indie needed but it’s proved to be both immediately tedious and totally unsustainable.

With its krautrock influences and experiments in eerie psychedelia, Songs For Our Mothers is slightly more interesting than the band’s debut album Champagne Holocaust. But lyrically, there’s aforementioned degradation of holocaust survivor Primo Levi alongside references to Josef Geobbels and Harold Shipman and, judging by singer Lias Saudi’s recent interview with Loud & Quiet, there’s absolutely no moral or artistic justification for doing so whatsoever.

The whole shtick leaves a foul taste, and Songs For Our Mothers is a grim reminder that while Fat White Family might like to think they represent our supposedly doomed generation, their brand of vain nihilism is probably the one thing that’s holding the rest of us back.

! Steve Mallon

! Robert Bates

! Francis Blagburn

! Joe Goggins

! Billy Black

ANIMAL COLLECTIVE Painting With Domino

AFRICAINE 808 Basar Golf Channel

SANTIGOLD 99¢ Atlantic

MEILYR JONES

ANNA MEREDITH

2013

VA R M I N T S

18th March 2016

4th March 2016

KIRAN LEONARD

TELEMAN

GRAPEFRUIT

BRILLIANT SANITY

25th March 2016

8th April 2016 @moshimoshimusic www.moshimoshimusic.com

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NZCA LINES Infinite Summer Memphis Industries

ANDREW WE ATHER ALL Convenanza Rotters Golf Club

January doesn’t seem, by any stretch of the imagination, like a shrewd time to release a record that’s a) called Infinite Summer and b) actually sounds like one.

Perhaps it's best to consider this a very early pitch for the season’s indispensible synth pop album instead, then. Londoner Michael Lovett has expanded the line-up of NZCA Lines – previously his solo project – to add ex-Ash guitarist Charlotte Hatherley as well as that of Sarah Jones, who has plenty of previous experience in the electronic top flight with Hot Chip and New Young Pony Club.

In essence, though, the core of what Lovett’s trying to do with NZCA Lines hasn’t changed.

Like his self-titled record before it, Infinite Summer displays clear cinematic ambition, opening with sampled French dialogue on Approach and going on to set the scene with the sprawling Persephone Dreams. Woozy, spiraling synth backdrops are the order of the day, and Lovett’s tentative, unobtrusive vocals nip along nicely, reminiscent of Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor or Metronomy’s Joe Mount – Lovett’s spent the time between his last record and this one as a touring member of the latter band.

Infinite Summer takes most of its cues from those types of electro pop groups, tinging their breezy melodies with the swollen reverb of chillwave here and the sunny hooks of the likes of Blood Orange there. As much as Lovett isn’t reinventing the wheel here, his ability to dip between the sweeping theatrics of How Long Does It Take and the moodier, more introspective cuts like Dark Horizon helps set him apart in a crowded musical niche, even if the convoluted narrative and concept threaten to collapse under their own weight at points. When the summer’s long evenings finally swing around, this LP will demand a revisit.

Despite 2012’s album Nocturne adding a confident splash of Let’s Dance-era Bowie influences to the Wild Nothing sound, Jack Tatum has mostly stuck to the fey, sensitive feel of 80s records by the likes of The Cure and Felt.

And so on previous releases, Tatum has kept his vocals understated and low in the mix, allowing other instruments to compete for focus. When his guitars and synths were angular, melodic and roving, this interplay was at its most effective, as if Tatum was a preternaturally calm captain steering a ship through choppy waters.

On Life of Pause, this tension is mostly lost however, and his vocals are pushed to the forefront while his arrangements – which take on a busier, more psychedlic guise – fall strangely flat. The result is wellproduced but often forgettable, and songs like Japanese Alice and Adore might be bland enough to have warranted being cut from the album altogether.

That being said, the album is also studded with captivating moments and feats of technical brilliance: qualities that have already become synonymous Wild Nothing’s music. Satisfying hooks are rife throughout and on Whenever I; the album’s effortlessly stylish and sweetly euphoric highlight, it feels like Tatum has accessed something more weightless and natural than anything he’s reached before.

While Life of Pause as a whole isn’t as strong as Tatum’s previous releases, it feels like it was a worthy creative digression to take, even if it mainly serves to highlight where his biggest strengths have always been.

Slowly but surely, Prins Thomas has become an indispensable figure in leftfield dance music.

More than a decade ago, the first ripples of the slow, Scandinavian take on ‘cosmic disco’ started making their way across Europe from Oslo. These ripples turned into a wave that never quite peaked in the way that some new sounds and genres do. Instead, the pace and aesthetic of the music plied by Prins Thomas (and a select group of others) has simply seeped into the cultural fabric, and his position as a respected tastemaker grows stronger by the year. For most artists, releasing an album of untitled, ambient ‘tributes’ to early electronic pioneers like The Orb, just months after a three-volume DJ mix playfully satirising the Paradise Garage nightclub might not be the best idea. But with Thomas’ Midas touch, it all makes sense, and the nine tracks of Principe del Norte shimmer and sashay their way through super-sideways Balaeric melodies, and spaced-out crescendos.

While the fluid structure provides plenty of space for Thomas to create in, the album is a little shapeless, and it and doesn’t quite have the effortless and enigmatic appeal of his genre-bending DJ sets. But it is an immersive and often emotive listen, the sound of squinting into the winter sun as time stands still. There are some beautifully unhurried compositions, with extended sections of Four Tet-esque twinkles, glimpses of simmering electronic house and a smattering of downbeat disco. It may prove a little tedious if listened to whole in one sitting, but overall, Principe del Norte is a hushed tour-de-force.

Savages’ debut LP Silence Yourself presented a world of sexual, visceral, trend-swerving freedom. The band, three members from London and one from France, emerged with an electrifying stage presence and an all-black aesthetic that added a compelling no-bullshit uniform to their post-punk thunderclap. All this, plus a penchant for writing manifestos meant this wasn’t just a band, this was a group of future cult leaders; and if you’re going to follow a new world order, it may as well be serious-minded and straight-talking Jehnny-Beths.

Adore Life is another statement from the edge. Adore, the album centrepiece that’s been giving live audiences goosebumps since the beginning of last year, treads Savages’ ambitious manifesto into new territory.

It starts with a fittingly savage bout of self-reflection, as the music creeps along quietly in the shadows. “Maybe I will die maybe tomorrow so I need to say: I adore life,” Beth then intones in the grandiose, almost schmaltzy chorus. “Do you adore life?” is the question Savages have been asking themselves, and Beth's answer, posed in an age when caring is anything but cool, delivers an unexpected punch for any jaded millennial. Savages have always been defiant, but this might be the ultimate statement of contempt for a capitalist society intent on destroying your sense of self-worth.

Even the release date is confrontational – January is meant to be a month of self-disgust, purging and forced change, but tracks like Evil reinforce a message of empowerment: “Don’t try to change, don’t try to change,” yelps Jehnny-Beth. “They will hurt you, they will break you down”.

Adore Life represents a more considered, nuanced Savages, and though some of the swaggering, aggressive walls of sound that characterised their first effort might have lost some of their edge as a result, their message remains the same: don’t let the fuckers get you down.

The press release for this record implies that Andrew Weatherall nonchalantly fires out music without really thinking about it. I can’t help but feel that’s slightly disingenuous. One of the first DJs to artfully merge the worlds of ‘punk’ and ‘dance’, Weatherall is savvier and cannier than most.

Convenanza is Weatherall’s first solo album since 2009. Sharing its name with the Weatherallcurated festival in Carcassonne, it’s an exposition of the kind of leftfield, funk-punk disco, and low tempo chugging weirdness (with rockabilly aesthetics) that he’s now known for.

It begins with some scratchy guitar riffage as Weatherall adopts a low pantomime-creep voice to set the scene: “I appear to have got in with the wrong crowd.” We don’t have long to think about what that means before Frankfurt Advice, reminiscent of the work he did with Primal Scream. Elsewhere, his voice is overdubbed, lending a disembodied, incantatory quality to his repeated orders – ‘spread fictitious memories’, ‘drop seditious messages’. His voice won’t appeal to everyone, but it has an appealingly unfussy authenticity, a sincerity that could even put him at risk of mockery.

Thirteenth Night is a life-affirming dream-walk, while on Ghosts Again, Weatherall seems to survey the emotional wreckage a decades-long career in music has wrought on his relationships.

There isn’t a bad song on Convenanza, but neither are there any great ones. We have the utmost respect for Weatherall, and what he’s done for music over the course of his career, it’s like a conversation with a veteran raver, who obliquely gestures to past partying, hangovers and comedowns – interesting, but not astounding.

! Joe Goggins

! Steve Mallon

! Adam Corner

! Sammy Jones

! Robert Bates

WILD NOTHING Life Of Pause Captured Tracks

PRINS THOMAS Principe del Norte Smalltown Supersound

SAVAGES Adore Life Matador

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Film

07

THE HATEFUL EIGHT dir. Quentin Tarantino Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kurt Russell Quentin Tarantino has never been one to make things easy for himself. If anyone thought the backlash and boycotts caused by 110 uses of 'the n-word' in Django Unchained was enough to change that, The Hateful Eight proves them wrong. Though littered throughout with the same offender, this time it's the frequent and graphic violence inflicted upon the sole female lead, Daisy Domergue (who’s played to perfection by Jennifer Jason Leigh) that have forced the director and key actors to speak out against accusations of misogyny.

Tarantino explains, somewhat paradoxically, that it would have been anti-feminist not to beat the shit out of Daisy given the behaviour of the male cast towards each other.

Grizzled bounty hunter John Ruth (Russell) is heading for Red Rock to trade in captive Domergue when an abrupt blizzard forces him to 'Minnie's Haberdashery' for an overnight stay, unexpected travel companions and extant cabin occupiers included. But – wait – all is not as it seems, and over three hours a convoluted tale unfolds as the occupants threaten, exhort and mercilessly butcher each other.

Shot on 70mm, and featuring an original, Oscarnominated score by Ennio Morricone, it is worth going to see for these features alone. Lower your expectations and steel your stomachs; it may not be Tarantino’s best work, but it’s a bloody good story. !

Tamsyn Aurelia-Eros Black

JOY dir: David O. Russell Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Robert DeNiro, Bradley Cooper

06

Joy would like you to believe it’s a fairy tale. Every shot sparkles with crystal snowflakes and burning studio lights, soap opera characters bleed from television screens with Cinderella messages and, despite not needing a prince, the search of Jennifer Lawrence’s titular character is resolutely one for a happily ever after.

Yet, beneath this veneer of ostensible romanticism, this is a film about commerce, industry and invention – in the case of self-made millionaire Joy, who creates the Miracle Mop. Yes, it’s about having a dream and pursuing it, but make no mistakes, that dream is profit.

It’s this push and pull, between the overtly sentimental presentation and ruthless fiscally minded subject matter that makes Joy a strange sort of success. It doesn’t always work, however. There are heavy-handed reminders that this is a morality tale of sorts, and there’s also an argument for saying that the Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro triumvirate is a lot less exciting this many turns down the line.

Certainly a tale for now, if a little lacking in invention. ! Angus Harrison

THE DANISH GIRL dir: Tom Hooper Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Alicia Vikander, Amber Heard Tom Hooper’s catalogue includes Oscar-winning films such as Les Misérables and The King’s Speech – movies with a tested formula of striking camera work, Romantic interiors and lavish costumes. But in comparison to Hooper’s previous works, The Danish Girl is his deepest and most emotionally complex to date. It tells the story of Lili Elbe, the Danish trans woman who underwent a highly-publicised process of sex reassingment surgey in 1930.

What is perhaps the most striking element of the film is the bond between Einar Andreas – Eble’s name before her transition – and her wife Gerda (Alicia Vikander), who offers her husband unconditional support. But what Hooper possibly rushes is the shift from the couple’s seemingly erotic love to something more platonic: it’s only a couple of scenes which separate Gerda being ‘the love of Einar’s life’ to Lili kissing another man. And while physical transformation from Einar to Lili is clear, the mental transformation is somewhat overlooked, making the film feel less sincere than other recent on-screen portrayals of transgender stories (Tangerine, Orange is the New Black). What cannot be denied, however, is the story’s warmth and its stunning visuals – which Hooper delivers with style. ! Gunseli Yalcinkaya

08

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS dir. J. J. Abrams Starring: Harrison Ford, Carrie Fischer, Daisy Ridley J. J. Abrams’ valiant, technically brilliant and somewhat cautious takeover of the Star Wars series was met with a sense of relief. After 11 months of global mania, fuelled by a relentless marketing campaign, curtailed by a sexist toy company and racist Chinese film poster – The Force Awakens finally landed with an opening orchestral blast and a camera tilt downwards.

Abrams was going to get shit no matter what he did. But he succeeded in taking us back. And by applying contemporary production values while staying loyal to the aesthetic of the original trilogy, there’s no doubt he captured the feel of the Star Wars universe, and so the The Force Awakens fits seamlessly in the saga’s timeline – something the prequels failed to do.

Harrison Ford’s reprisal as Han Solo adds an air of authenticity, while lead characters Finn (John Boyega) and Rey (played by the relatively unknown Daisy Ridley), share a genuine chemistry that breathes believability into a whirlwind of pastiche and expectation.

Overall, a major success. ! Tim Oxley-Smith

07

THE REVENANT dir. Alejandro G, Ińárritu Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Domhall Gleeson Come on guys. What does Leonardo DiCaprio have to do to get a bloody Oscar? Did you not see him in The Departed? The Wolf of Wall Street? Inception? Surely you've seen What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? What more could he possibly do!?

A lot, as it turns out. With its two and a half hour running time, Alejandro Iñárritu’s latest offering The Revenant acts as a sort of endless, gruelling endurance test for DiCaprio’s character Hugh Glass and viewer alike. Fortunately, it’s a rewarding experience.

As the film wears on with its steady, deliberate pace, you find yourself lost in the trance-like, revenge-focused tunnel vision of the film’s protagonist, strengthened by the resolve of a man to whom pain is nothing more than an abstract entity, a man so hell bent on revenge he’s willing to eat raw bison liver and sleep in the mutilated corpse of a horse to achieve it.

If you think about The Revenant too much, it might begin to look like a sort of absurdist caricature of the standards of stoicism men are supposed to aspire to in a patriarchal society. You might start to find the slow-motion shots of DiCaprio's long lost wife whispering inspiring, reverb-coated proverbs clichéd. You might think they could have edited it down by half an hour or so. But to treat these ideas as the main takeaways of the film would be unfair – on the whole The Revenant is a gripping, poetic, beautifully rendered vision of one man’s endurance in the wilderness. ! Francis Blagburn

MoTHErs when You walk a long dIsTance You aRe TIRed lP / cd / dl 26 / 02 / 2016

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NY Times music critic Ben Ratliff explores how our consumption of music and our understanding of genre has transformed in the digital age as geographical limitations and matters of era have shattered. Every Song Ever examines everything from exotic fascination to the demise of “the perfect moment”. A book for nerds about why there’s never been a better time to be a nerd.

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DR BANANA ZEPHYR PULLOVER drbanana.co.uk £55 Who is Dr Banana? As far as we can see, he’s into skating, Space Jam and whatever Bristol-based party collective Banoffee Pies are putting out and putting on. Probably a pretty cool guy, then.

Lanzarote

02—16 MOTH Club Valette St London E8 mothclub.co.uk

Saturday 6 February

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Thursday 11 February

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HEATERS

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The Waiting Room 175 Stoke Newington High St London N16 waitingroomn16.com

Thursday 3 March

TELEGRAM

Wednesday 9 March

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Friday 5 February

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Shacklewell Arms 71 Shacklewell Lane London E8 shacklewellarms.com Monday 1 February

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DEAD COAST (LP LAUNCH)

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Tuesday 9 February

AVANTE BLACK

Thursday 11 February

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Friday 19 February

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NATHAN GREGORY WILKINS Tuesday 1 March

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The Lock Tavern 35 Chalk Farm Rd London NW1 lock-tavern.com Thursday 4 February

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HUNG UP DJS Friday 26 February

ANTO DUST Saturday 27 February

BXCENRIC + EARL GREY Saturday 5 March

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METROPOLIS MUSIC PRESENTS

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M O N D AY 1 F E B R U A RY

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22 FEBRUARY

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19 FEBRUARY

23 FEBRUARY

CAMBRIDGE JUNCTION

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17 MARCH LONDON ROUNDHOUSE

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TUE 22 MA R OUT N OSTOTLI D NGHAM

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February 2016 Saturday 6 th February

Todd Terry Sonny Fodera • Sam Divine Riva Starr • Simon Dunmore

Saturday 13 th February

Sirus Hood Mark Radford • No Artificial Colours Adam Cotier • Carnao Beats

X Saturday 20 th February

The Magician Chris Lorenzo • TCTS Special Guest: Blonde

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UPCOMING LONDON SHOWS

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BLAENAVON

JLIN

The Lexington Thursday 04 Feb.

Corsica Studios Wednesday 10 Feb.

LE1F

THE RESIDENTS

XOYO Thursday 11 Feb.

Hackney Empire Friday 12 Feb.

POLIÇA

SUNFLOWER BEAN

Village Underground Monday 15 Feb.

The Dome Thursday 18 Feb.

ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER

THE LANGUAGE OF PLACE

The Lexington Thursday 24 Feb.

St. John on Bethnal Green Thursday 25 Feb.

BILL RYDER-JONES

FLUME

Scala Thursday 03 Mar.

Roundhouse Tuesday 16 Mar.

HANA

KIRAN LEONARD

The Waiting Room Thursday 18 Mar.

The Lexington Monday 04 Apr.

MELT YOURSELF RADIATION DOWN CIT Y Shapes Wednesday 27 Apr.

The Victoria Wednesday 04 May.

KEVIN MORBY

FATHER JOHN MIST Y

Oslo Thursday 05 May.

Roundhouse Wednesday 18 May.

FATHER JOHN MIST Y

FATHER JOHN MIST Y

Roundhouse Thursday 19 May.

Roundhouse Friday 20 May.

SONGHOY BLUES

JULIEN BAKER

Roundhouse Saturday 21 May.

St. Pancras Old Church Wednesday 25 May.

JULIEN BAKER

VISIONS FESTIVAL

The Forge Thursday 26 May.

Various, Hackney Saturday 06 Aug.

WED.03.FEB.16

WED.02.MAR.16

WED.30.MAR.16

WED.03.FEB.16

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THU.31.MAR.16

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TUE.09.FEB.16

WED.10.FEB.16

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THU.17.MAR.16 MON.25.APR.16

MON.15.FEB.16

FRI.18.MAR.16 THU.05.MAY.16

TUE.16.FEB.16

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FRI.18.MAR.16

FRI.06.MAY.16

SAT.07.MAY.16

THU.25.FEB.16 THU.24.MAR.16

FRI.22.JULY.16

SAT.27.FEB.16

THU.24.MAR.16 SAT.17.SEP.16

SAT.27.FEB.16

FRI.25.MAR.16

31 August - 04 September, Fort Punta Christo, Croatia

www.outlookfestival.com

75

Turning Points: GOLDIE

Words: Rob McCallum

“I’ve always been innovative creatively, but with business, I’ve never been the Suge Knight of this shit”

Few names from UK dance music have managed to permeate culture as broadly as Clifford Joseph Price. A seminal figure in shaping jungle into drum’n’bass in the early nineties and one of electronic music’s true trailblazers, he’s driven beyond the confines that often restricted his peers. Price set up one of drum‘n’bass’ most crucial labels, Metalheadz, and released one of the genre’s essential documents, Timeless. In the time between he’s worked with the likes of David Bowie and Noel Gallagher, but his creativity has often stepped outside the world of music. In 2016, Goldie is returning with a new album as well as ARTA, a crowdfunded project that takes him back to his creative roots of living in New York as a graffiti artist in the mid eighties.

Early years: Graffiti I wouldn’t have made the music I have without being a graffiti artist. In New York the graffiti was raw, and the art form was just ‘wow’. People talk about how important the internet is now, but it was here when guys started moving paintings around on the New York subway system. When you think about what the internet does, it moves around information for people to see. That’s what was happening there. Graffiti’s all about having an idea in your head that you make real, and when you look at that aspect and how it adds to my music, I wouldn’t make music the way I have without it.

1994: Metalheadz I’ve always been innovative creatively but from a business perspective I’ve never been the Suge Knight of this shit. We went from pressing white labels in Tottenham to blowing the fuck up; all of a sudden Metalheadz was the Motown of new music.

My mentor Gus Coral once said to me: ‘Don’t work too hard because it might just come true.’ But I always knew Metalheadz was going to be big. Between 2000-05 the label was irrelevant to a lot of people but it’s probably in the best position it’s been in for the past 15 years now. We had to allow dubstep and everything else to have its say.

The mistake a lot of subcultures make is not allowing the next to be represented. Every subculture is just part of culture anyway, so you can’t knock it.

1995: Saint Angel My record Saint Angel is without a doubt where I found the sound. At the time there was a lot of ragga jungle around and Saint Angel came out of the woods like a gorilla and just levelled everything. I remember meeting Grooverider in the West End and giving him a cassette of it. Groove got out of his car in the middle of traffic and walked over to my car shaking his head. He just said: ‘Mate. I don’t know what you’ve done.

You’ve killed it.’ We went straight to Hackney to cut it. That was the fucking tune.

2009: Performing Sine Tempore (Timeless) with the BBC Concert Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Choir Timeless being 20-years-old overshadows everything else. Drum‘n’bass is built in layers, much like graffiti; which is built in layers of colour and outline. Electronic music is the same if we treat it that way.

So I always knew the live performance of Timeless is where it was going to get to. I worked with actual musicians on the album so it translates really well because that means you can push it across an orchestra.

That real live aspect of electronic music is still in its infancy. It’s a bit like Moore’s law.

Only now are we beginning to understand the power of the computer. In the same light, we should really be looking now at how much further we can push live music.

2015: Receiving an MBE The MBE was a bit of a shocker. I wasn’t expecting it at all. In fact, I found out about it by accident. I stopped by my office and my accountant Colin [Young] asked me if I’d sign the papers. I thought I’d got a parking ticket. Then he started reading through it and congratulating me. I was just like: ‘What?

It’s an MBE? Brilliant.’ It’s great to be in the company of people like David Rodigan, Jazzie B and Norman Jay. You get the naysayers who turn their noses up at it but change happens from the inside out. If you look at people like Rudimental, drum‘n’bass music changed popular music in the same way graffiti has changed the art world. We were being chased around for graffiti 20 years ago, now it’s adorning the walls of galleries. People are finally recognising what we’ve been championing all these years.

What do you want to do, pull the canvas off the walls now that’s happened?

2016: Producing New Material I’ve got a beautiful recording studio at the house I’ve built in Thailand and after eight years I’m getting an album done. You get a different perspective being 10,000 miles away, looking back at the culture sitting in the sun. I got up this morning at 5:30am with the first light and went to the beach five minutes away. I was sitting on the beach looking out across the water thinking: ‘We did alright mate. We did OK with this.’

Goldie appears at Outlook Festival, Croatia, 2-6 September

76

The #clickbait music news rounded up by Josh Baines TECHNO BANANA BID This morning I woke up and for the first time in years I felt right. I felt real. I felt rested. I felt like myself. I felt like the me I always thought I would be but deep down never wanted to meet because if I did I'd have nothing to live for. I felt incredible.

Mysteries unravelled and unspooled in front of my eyes and for one moment, one perfect moment, I was complete. Sun streamed through my curtains and my face was warmed by its rays. Could it be? Could this be the salavation I'd dreamed of for so many years? Was this the light at the end of a terrible tunnel? It had happened. I had won Ben Klock's banana on eBay. B.O.B. DENIES SCIENCE Saturday afternoon she drove to the bakery in the shopping centre. After looking through a loose-leaf binder with photographs of cakes taped onto the pages, she ordered chocolate. The cake she chose was decorated with a spaceship and launching pad under a sprinkling of white stars, and a planet made of red frosting at the other end. A popular US hiphop artist believes that the earth is flat.

Hi Denz,

Denzil Says:

I’m doing the long-distance thing with my boyfriend and he, being into all this DIY punk stuff, has sent me an actual cassette tape in the post for Val’s Day. He’s carefully curated it with songs we’ve bonded over and made a little collage for the artwork – but I don’t own a tape player. He’s saying I’m not committed enough to the cause, or to him. Do you think he’s being slightly pretentious?

So it’s hip to own a bloody cassette player now is it?

Kids these days. Back in ’83 I bought my significant other a portable compact disc player for Valentine’s Day - the people of Basingstoke had never set eyes on one before, and it made her feel like the luckiest woman on earth. I think the reason this chap is using old technology because he's committing to the wrong “cause” Jessica.

Ever noticed how punk rockers rarely hold down a decent job?

Denzil Schniffermann

Jessica, 24, Henleaze

Valentine's Day advice from Crack’s esteemed agony uncle

Mr. Denzil,

Denz Says:

I've been seeing someone for a few weeks and, because it was going so well, we spontaneously booked a trip to Paris for the weekend that lands on Valentine’s Day. The thing is, it turns out he’s a massive Red Hot Chili Peppers fan and he doesn’t even know it’s cringe. He even sometimes does air slap bass to their songs.

I just don’t fancy him any more. Should I cancel the trip?

I’ve Googled this group I’ve found out that their idea of humour is wearing socks over their privates, that they wear baseball hats back to front and that they have a member who is 53 years old and still calls himself “The Flea”. This is man-child music. Don’t go to Paris.

DJ KHALED IS APPARENTLY HILARIOUS "You smart. You loyal." Those were the last words she said to me before she left on a train bound for Levenshulme, never to return. She never explained why.

Alex, 31, London

STONE COLD SMASHING PUMPKIN Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan has spoken out about the issue of misogyny within the professional wrestling industry.

That seems funny doesn't it? You're smirking about that. You think it's funny that someone cares about something, don't you? And you think it’s funny that a man who used to wear black long sleeve Zero t-shirts likes wrestling. Well fuck you. Fuck you for thinking that Billy Corgan's views on wrestling are funny.

@bain3z

Problems? email denzil@crackmagazine.net

Dear Denz

Denz Says:

I scored a date with this really cool girl I met on Tinder, which was going great until she lost her phone. We searched the entire bar trying to find it, and when she called it I realised I'd pocketed it by accident. We had the same model. She thought I’d tried to nick it. Now she’s not responding to my messages and, weirdly, last time I saw her, she was wearing sun block. Now I’m going to spend Valentine’s Day watching episodes of The Sopranos in my boxers.

Maybe hold off for Valentine's Day to let things cool down, but don't give up. Was she on O2? If so, then tell her about the new offers they’ve got. I took Mrs Schniffermann to see The Eagles at The O2 because they let me buy tickets before anyone else.

Wet Wet Wet are playing there in March.

Duncan, 27, London

77

Crossword Across 3. What your body goes through during puberty (7) 5. Categorically not even slightly high (3) 6. We could be these (6) 7. He’s so dreamy, he’s so cute, he’s so… (5) 9. He’s only staying until he finds his own place (6) 10. What you see with your eyes (6) 12. The existence of life here is in debate (4) 14. So this guy just came in and granted all my denim related wishes (4,5) Down 1. You might be feeling under this right now (8) 2. I wanna live forever (4) 4. Nemo’s mate (4) 8. What you hear with your ears (5) 11. A bit like that guy you met who’s made entirely out of astral bodies (7) 13. What I really, really, really want is a _____ zig ah (5) ANSWERS Across Changes, Low, Heroes, Hunky, Lodger, Vision, Mars, JeanGenie Down Pressure, Fame, Dory, Sound, Starman, Ziggy

LONDON FIELDS NEIGHBOURHOOD HANG OUT O F F E R I N G H E A LT H Y A N D H E A R T Y P L AT E S D A I LY A N D A N E X T E N S I V E C O L L I N S I N S P I R E D C O C K TA I L M E N U

13–18 SIDWORTH STREET LONDON E8 3SD wringerandmangle.com info@wringerandmangle.com 0203 457 7285

Secretsundaze All Night Long 13th February 12th March 9th April 14th May The Pickle Factory 10pm-6am 26th February 2016 Village Underground 10pm-6am Honey Dijon Amir Alexander Francis Inferno Orchestra Secretsundaze Easter Special 24th March 2016 Village Underground 10pm-6am Ryan Elliott K-Hand Jane Fitz Secretsundaze

15 Years of Secretsundaze Part 1

Summer Opening Party 30th April 2016 St John at Hackney 2pm-11pm Lil’ Louis Steffi Kornél Kovács Moxie K15 Esa Secretsundaze May Bank Holiday Day & Night Party 29th May 2016 Oval Space & The Laundry 2pm-6am Fred P Funkineven Patrice Scott Palms Trax Shanti Celeste Herny Wu Secretsundaze Off Sonar Party 19th June 2016 La Terrrazza, Barcelona Midnight-5:45am Leon Vynehall Ryan Elliott Nummer - live Secretsundaze

81

20 Questions: Katy Goodman

We liked the last couple of La Sera albums a lot, so the news that another one will be arriving in early March fell pleasantly on our ears. The band kind of started out as a side project for Vivian Girls (RIP) member Katy Goodman, but for some time it’s been a full time gig, with Goodman swapping lo-fi fuzz for sweet melody and jangly new wave guitars. Expect to reassess your opinion on The Fifth Element in this 20 Questions interview, which has been condensed significantly because Katy couldn’t understand my accent.

“ an Leo st d T nar or ob do e I w y M Di on as agu Cap Ap wo ire rio ril rki ca , Jo Fo ng me na ol at in h H ’s Da tog to ill y” eth the er

Words: Davy Reed Photography: Julia Brokaw

Who’s your favourite person to follow on Twitter? @sosadtoday What’s your signature recipe?

Vegetable, lentil, kale and sweet potato soup.

What was the last book that you read?

Well, I just started Ready Player One. It’s kind of like Harry Potter, but it’s a dystopian sci-fi.

What’s the worst hotel you’ve ever stayed in?

We stayed in an Etap hotel, in Belgium I think, and we could see that there were bed bugs crawling all over the walls and the beds. That was the longest night of my life.

Gary Oldman or Gary Numan?

Gary Oldman, because I love The Fifth Element. I was trying to make my husband watch it the other night, he wasn’t interested.

I guess it doesn’t hold up, but I view it with child-like eyes as the best movie of all time.

Do you have a number one fan?

Eric Kolke, who lives in Chicago. He’s the number one La Sera fan of all time and we love him.

Describe your worst haircut...

I cut my bangs way too short in 2007, and then I got a really bad eyebrow wax. So for a few months I had a real weird look.

Who’s the most famous person you ever met?

Leonardo DiCaprio.

Really?! How did you meet?

I was working in a store in downtown LA. Him, Jonah Hill and Toby Maguire all came in on April Fool’s Day – like a year and a half ago. They were riding round town making people feel weird, and it worked. Leonardo came to the counter and started asking me a barrage of questions that were, like, meant to make me feel flustered.

It sounds terrifying.

It was, but it was also hilarious and very good natured. But I was literally just staring at the floor and blushing. Because it’s Romeo!

Rate these actors in order of how much you like them: Danny DeVito, Danny Glover and Daniel Day-Lewis...

My favourite is Danny DeVito – solely because of his role in It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, I heard he asked if he could be on the show, which is hilarious if it’s true.

Danny Glover is number two because I really like Lethal Weapon. Daniel Day Lewis – “I drink your milkshake!” - that was weird, but he’s a good actor.

Of all the songs you’ve ever recorded, which is your least favourite?

I like all my songs!

Have you ever had a nickname?

Kickball Katy.

Of course. How did you get it?

I played kickball in college, and I had it as my AOL Instant Messenger name. Then when Vivian Girls put out our first records, we used our nicknames.

Would you go for a beer with Kanye West?

I don’t drink, but I’d sit with him while he drank a beer. But I’d probably feel really nervous. As made clear by my Leonardo DiCaprio story, I’m not great in weird social situations!

If you could pick a surrogate grandparent, who would it be?

This one is very timely: David Bowie Could you pick a favourite Bowie song?

No. But Vivian Girls would cover John, I’m Only Dancing, and Rebel Rebel was like my number one song to put on mixtapes when I was growing up.

And finally, if you could give yourself a piece of advice ten years ago, what would it be?

Nothing. I believe that all the decisions and choices have led me to this point where I’m at right now. I love my situation, so I wouldn’t change anything.

Music For Listening To is released 3 March via Polyvinyl

Photography: James Gould

Perspective: London to Tokyo In December, Butterz founders Elijah and Skilliam took up residency in Japan for a month. Their time there culminated in the Japanese Grime Allstars mix, showcasing key players in the country’s burgeoning grime scene. Here, Elijah reflects on the connection between London and Tokyo and what that suggests for the genre's culture In 2008 I started my first radio show with my partner Skilliam, a late night slot on Rinse FM broadcasting 1-3am GMT on Thursday nights / Friday mornings. For a late show we had quite an interactive relationship with our listeners that was made up of drivers, people coming back from FWD>>, students, people from random places in America and of course some crazy insomniacs who filled the Rinse MSN messenger account with all kinds of strange messages. In early 2009, I noticed a small bunch of messages and tweets coming from Japan. Over the months, the number of these messages grew and it made me really curious about how they found out about Rinse and our show and music.

We started our record label Butterz in 2010 and sold our records and merchandise direct for the first few releases with no distribution deal. Most of the sales were to people in the UK, but a significant amount was going to Japan, so we started talking to people from over there from as early as the first and second releases. It gave us a sense of potential of what we could do with our label in the future if we stuck it out. At the time there wasn’t much hype about the music, and there

were certainly no events focused on grime in the UK or abroad, so for the next two years we built those up bit by bit.

During this time we occasionally played beats made by Japanese producers, but the real spark came in 2013, when they embraced a concept here that producers had only scratched the surface on: Producers Clashing. Top UK producers were making beats aimed at mocking others, and it ended in a special show dedicated to it on Logan Sama’s Kiss Show and an event with Lord Of The Mics where artists like Rude Kid, JME, Flava D, Jammer and Footsie played beats back to back, often using each other’s signature sounds. In Japan at least 100 producers started doing the same thing via Soundcloud with the hashtag #wardubjp.

It culminated in a live event called ‘War Dub Japan Cup’. It got a massive response from the UK scene and felt like the first time Japanese grime properly got acknowledged.

I got the chance to visit Tokyo via another project I was working on in October 2014 so I asked Pakin, an MC from Japan, to bring together some of the best producers and MCs so we could do a studio set together.

As far as I know it was the first grime set with UK DJs with MCs in a different language for the whole time. It got a great response via our Soundcloud, and a few videos from the set went viral via platforms like SBTV and GRM Daily. People were shocked that there were grime MCs in another country let alone Japan, but what they don’t realise is this has

been coming together for years. There are people there playing the music in clubs all year round, there are passionate producers and followers of the music. It is small, but it is exciting, and it growing could change the music forever.

I returned in December and linked up again with Pakin in Tokyo and brought together another set off producers and MCs. It features 12 of Japans finest. Some came from across the country just for this session.

It starts off with instrumentals then has a 40-minute session with MCs towards the end.

Our club night at Unit in Tokyo joined by label mates Flava D & Swindle was as large as a venue we would play in the UK and we played alongside Hyperjuice (who DJed for Stormzy at his Tokyo show recently) and Part2Style who have been two of the biggest ambassadors of the sound there for years.

The show was great and tracks that get a massive reaction in the UK were getting more or less the same response there, which is reaffirming for us creatively. If people can get it in London, Bristol, Manchester and Sheffield and we don’t have to adapt at all to playing in Tokyo, grime must be doing something right.

It is a crazy time for this music in the UK, with artists doing massive festivals, getting into the charts and touring with no compromise. But I hope this music can still get a chance on the global stage, and Japan can safely say it

is one of the first places outside the UK and Europe to embrace and make an impact on grime culture.

Don’t be surprised if in a few years you see independent grime artists announcing new albums with world tours. Aspirations in this music will change a lot if that becomes a possibility.

Stream Japanese Grime Allstars at butterzisthelabel.tumblr.com.

Elijah & Skilliam appear at Horizon Festival, Bansko Ski Resort, Bulgaria, 12-17 March

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