Written by vocalist Shaanvir Rehal, ‘Reach’ is a conscious and dynamic display of lyricism that sidesteps the braggadocio of commercial hip-hop to arrive at something both honest and infectious. Injecting hip hop beats with a masterly display of finicky acoustic work, Shaan’s track was the spark that got percussionist Fabien Waldheim involved in the project, and together the duo explore the bleakness and banality of pop culture with a song that’s life-affirming and touchingly relatable. ‘Reach’ explores the many contradictions in the modern condition: rampant materialism is a source of anxiety to many, but the promise of a more comfortable life through it is something we all, to some extent, strive towards.
Unashamedly proud of his nerdiness, Shaan lyrically cuts something of a Gambino-esque figure, though possessed with a probing curiosity that penetrates further and lashes harder than his american peers. ‘Reach’ is a positive message. It tells us listeners that we are not alone in our thoughts, and that through expression we can find a connection with each other and the world around us that transcends our angst.
Influenced by a wide range of music from Bob Dylan to J Dilla, Only Takes A Day combines spoken word influenced rap lyrics and sung hooks with live instrumentation. Having formed at a house party jam in the summer of 2014, vocalist and guitarist Shaanvir Rehal and percussionist Fabien Waldheim cut a separate path to the americanised rap that’s homogenising commercial music right now. Their approach is uniquely their own, with Shaanvir’s lyrics often feeling like forays into his own head, while Fabien’s beats take the place of traditional sampling to provide an organic dynamism that can’t be achieved through machines.
With only one song in their repertoire back in September, the duo has expanded their setlist and their live presence in London’s music scene, headlining shows across the capital. Over the last couple of years, they’ve travelled across the UK to perform at festivals nationwide including Glastonbury, Wonderfields, Hazy Days, Subsonic and Homeless not Hopeless. Their artistic integrity remains their biggest draw, and in doing whatever they want they’ve ended up striking a chord resonant with the people they play for. Their endearing authenticity and classic musicianship feels almost radical in today’s Soundcloud rap climate, and as their art continues to expand, so too will their influence. It may not have taken a day, but rest assured their day will come.
LINKS:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtOa4nbU1k8KR9JFAopch2A
https://soundcloud.com/onlytakesaday
https://twitter.com/OnlyTakesADay
https://www.instagram.com/onlytakesaday
https://www.facebook.com/OnlyTakesADay
https://open.spotify.com/artist/18ZwiU4AXEvU5YgA1sz3hb?si=gF1sglw0S6e8TJAx8PxTUw
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connect_icut – Simonson
In his music, connect_icut (real name Samuel Macklin) aims to remove the distinctions between instinct and intellect, chaos and order, organic and synthetic, analog and digital. This work may be deemed ‘glitch’ or ‘post-digital’, but one thing is for sure – this is a mixture of melodic elements and rarefied abstraction with intense modulations that flare up between the cracks of mysterious geometrical passages.
Releasing music since 2005, some of it has met with significant success. The Wire Magazine commented that it was “always involving – and easily rewarding enough to make getting up and turning the record over an anticipatory pleasure”. Thurston Moore and Byron Coley (via Arthur Magazine) also noted this music “takes a lot of standard ‘pretty’ electronic practices and flops them over on their sides… There’s pop crafting here, but it’s subtle and allowed to evolve in its own darkly idiosyncratic way”.
connect_icut released ‘Crow & Kittiwakes Wheel and Come Again’ (2013) and ‘Small Town by the Sea’ (2014), both via Aagoo Records, to wide acclaim, followed by ‘Rage Coma’ (2017). While those albums were mostly created using computer software, this new EP is essentially a test recording for a new all-hardware set-up.
Whereas other electronic music producers making the software/hardware switch have simultaneously adopted an analog-only approach, connect_icut remains firmly rooted in the digital realm. The six extended tracks collected here delve into the granular synthesis techniques developed by computer music pioneers like Curtis Roads, Barry Truax, and Guy Reibel – only without using a computer, as such.
This music also differs from that of the aforementioned pioneers in its rawness and spontaneity. The source sounds were created with whatever was at hand, which usually turned out to be a Casio SK-1 toy sampler. The finished tracks are both proof-of-concept test runs and seat-of-the-pants improvisations. Somewhere along the line, this resulted in surprisingly beautiful music.
It anchors all manner of chaotic abstraction in a solid foundation that is fundamentally grounded in hands-on performance and spontaneous composition. Live connect_icut appearances have included support slots for a number of notable electronic artists including Oneohtrix Point Never and Loscil.
In support of this new release, connect_icut also presents the video for ‘Simonson’, emphasizing radiant pixels and glowing digital abstraction.
‘Music for Granular Synthesizer’ will be released via Aagoo Records on November 24 on triple cassette and can be ordered on Aagoo’s website and also digitally via Bandcamp.
LINKS:
http://connect-icut.com
http://twitter.com/vinylscrobbler
http://soundcloud.com/connect_icut
http://www.youtube.com/user/CSAFrecords
http://connect-icut.tumblr.com
http://csaf-records.bandcamp.com
http://open.spotify.com/artist/1GWsn2g4Fy23GGTDtj882N -
The Fell – Footprints
Newly formed alternative rock band The Fell has released the Official Music Video for their debut single, “Footprints.” The video, filmed in a bomb shelter and biological weapons test site on an active military compound in Poland, will be featured on their upcoming album, release date yet to be announced.
“The Fell is a collaboration of musicians who hail from rock’n’roll upbringings. We wrote this record with no filter, just the pure experience of playing music around the world. The four us met through rock’n’roll, and that is the language we are projecting in this project. Lyrically, we hope to inspire those in doubt and join those who reap. It’s a new world… a new fight”.
This is not typical of any of their past projects, It’s a new fresh direction, but uses their influences to create a more modern sound, with heavy guitars, powerful riffs, crushing grooves and huge vocals.
Get new music from The Fell HERE.
Photo credit John Zocco Photography.
LINKS:
http://www.thefellmusic.com
https://www.facebook.com/thefellmusic
https://twitter.com/TheFellBand
https://www.instagram.com/thefellmusic
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOQsHVeCmEQCpt5ur0BFBRA
