Dance Roundup Week of 8/4
Y’all may be familiar with our Metal Roundup series where we dish out the best metal that came out this week. Well, it just so happens we also got a LOT of great electronic/dance music this week, so welcome to DANCE ROUNDUP! Here’s what you need to know:
Cascades by Grievous Bodily Calm
Hailing from Perth WA, Grievous Bodily Calm has released glittery, enticing beat tape IDM with their EP Cascades. The project features experimental electronics with a little jazz improv sprinkled in at just the right places, blending synth solos and brass together over an ever-steady beat.
For our reviews of heavier music, we often use the metaphor of descending into darkness as an album builds in intensity or deconstructs over the course of the project. Meanwhile, Cascades feels like an ascent upwards into some exciting dancey dream. Instead of ending at the lowest of the low, the album gently floats away with crystalline piano chimes.
DJs Di Guetto by DJs Di Guetto
DJs Di Guetto makes a reappearance with a refined compilation of subversive Afro-Portuguese dancehall bangers from the outskirts of Lisbon. We typically avoid covering re-releases, live albums, compilations etc. but these bangers remain just as true and impactful as they were almost 20 years ago. Djs Di Getto features relentless speedy percussion, unique sampling, and synths that are able to keep up with the nonstop pace. Once you start to unpack the record, it becomes unexpectedly minimal, syncopating simple elements to create something greater than the sum of its parts in the name of unity and dance.
Burning Bridges by Tactical Disorder
Up next is the Burning Bridges EP by Italian producer Tactical Disorder, a gritty foray into minimalist industrial EBM. Through its entire run the project remains driving and raw, drawing you in with hypnotic, meditative rhythms. Some electronic albums are good for dancing and dancing only, but I feel like Burning Bridges can be used for dancing, studying, hot girl walks, whatever. I just know this would go hard in some concrete warehouse party in Belluno.
Hey˃˃˃its Been a While by Vulpis
If you’re unfamiliar with Russian furry dnb fear not, Vulpis is here to give you an education. Their album Hey˃˃˃its Been a While is a proud display of modern EDM with strong dnb influence and also features some wild breakcore drops. Though the project slows in speed as it goes on, it remains endlessly interesting with dense layering, cool vocal samples, and crunchy glitch breaks that help disrupt the sometimes repetitive beats.
