Shanti Celeste - Being

Label: Future Times

The town of Bristol on the UK’s south-west coast has always had an influence on the electronic scene that belies its size. Following its reggae roots and the birth of trip hop, recent years have seen the establishment of some of the UK’s most essential imprints in Bristol such as Livity Sound and Idle Hands, founded on the fertile tectonic boundary of soundsystem culture and 4/4 dance. A result of this unique intersection of ideas is the central concern with bass found in a lot of the city’s dance music. Bristol’s producers seek to exploit the low frequencies so that they provide more than just added muscle.

It’s not just the old guard who keeps Bristol’s music scene so vibrant. A slew of new labels such as Hotline and BRSTL have been keeping the city’s output fresh and the quality control very high, and local producer Shanti Celeste has had a big part to play in this. While grounded in Bristol’s house sound, her productions have always set their sights beyond, taking in a range of influences and styles from beyond the coastal city.

It is somewhat fitting then that what is probably Celeste’s best record to date has come out on a US imprint, Max D’s reliable stable for new age house experimentations, Future Times. Having contributed one of the highlights on last year’s Vibes 3 compilation, now Celeste brings out her first solo record for the label, Being.

The title track could be a religious rave anthem, its sharp church organ stabs and punchy rhythm all wrapped in an elastic bassline that keeps up a constant pressure and highlights the glittering synthwork. The quality of these melodies comes to the fore on the Ambient Mix as they shimmer through thick reverb, standing strong even without a rhythmic backbone. B-side Good Spirits taps into Celeste’s growing interest in electro, all staccato claps and subtle clicks, where a dramatic intro gives way to a taut snap and searing scifi melodies.

Celeste’s output becomes more assured and impressive with each successive release, as she alights on a personal sound born of, but not limited to, the rich musical history of her surroundings.

8/10

Guest Mix: Moth - Night Sketches

We've got a darker-than-black guest mix for you today from Moth with some of our favourite recent techno and electro tunes. This one's for late-night skanking, and we've got the tracklist exclusively here on White Noise.

Tracklist:

Kasra V – Last Order

Dan White – Death Flutes

Khotin – Sorry Sequence

Hodge – I Don’t Recognise You Lately

Surfing – Surfing

Aschof Mal – Untitled

Olerton – Nolact

Basic House – Cones

Asusu – Serra

Pev & Kowton – Raw Code

Luca Lozano – End of Line

Aurora Halal – Just Tell Me

Dopplereffekt - Tetrahymena

Label: Leisure System

Few Detroit producers can be said to have created a sound as singular as Gerald Donald. An electro pioneer who has experimented relentlessly over his 18 years on the scene, Donald was instrumental in developing the frosty funk which now informs the electro and techno worlds; both under his own aliases such as Arpanet, Japanese Telecom and Z Therapy (to name a few), and in mysterious collaborative projects, notably with the late James Stinson as the scene-defining, auto-mythologising duo Drexciya.

Though little can match the powerful influence of the deep-sea dwellers, Donald’s shadowy Dopplereffekt project has yielded consistently challenging results over the years, most recently on the bleak Calubi Mau Space LP on Warp. That was six years ago, and after a half-decade out in the cold, Donald has brought Dopplereffekt seething back into motion on Berlin's Leisure System imprint. The least surprising thing about this release is how forward-thinking it still sounds, how dangerous and sensual Donald's sounds can feel at their very best. The results are unanimous, Tetrahymena provides some of the strongest electroid mutations you’re likely to hear all year.

Tetrahymena

Over three short tracks Dopplereffekt announce their return with savage bite, returning to the dancefloor with a suite of evocative retro-futurism, effortlessly blending notes of sacred technology with frosty, immersive dystopian atmospheres. The title track is upfront, its cool synth textures fed out over ricocheting drum patterns and insectoid chattering. The seething melodics turn the choral samples profane, adding thematic nuance to an otherwise hammering slice of blank-faced momentum. Next the ominously-titled Gene Silencing is more patiently paced, yet in terms of atmospheric power it can’t be beat. Here driving bass hits are chrome-plated with regular scifi clicks, punctuating the glistening arpeggio which runs the track’s course.

Closer Zygote is a subtler beast, as threatening futurist textures simmer under a bank of sounds drawn from the interior workings of some great machine. In this landscape the human is but a ghostly presence, traced by the disembodied vocals that punctuate the soundscape. It’s stirring material, bringing a stunning EP to a close which not only boasts Donald’s sonic mastery, but also his impressive aptitude for narrative flair.

8/10