Pearson Sound – REM

Label: Pearson Sound

While he was once regularly touted as the UK’s best, most forward-thinking producer, Hessle co-owner David Kennedy, aka Pearson Sound, has been fairly quiet of late. Kennedy has always had a taste for pushing sonic boundaries, whether as Pearson Sound or under his previous moniker Ramadanman, his few releases in 2012 were more experimental than ever. While sometimes this gave thrilling results, such as his surprising Joy O / Boddika collaboration Faint or the superb Untitled (both of which charted highly in our 2012 Roundup), his more substantial Clutch EP sacrificed all semblance of a groove in favour of stripped percussive minimalism, resulting in a rather demanding and difficult listen. For his first solo release of 2013 Kennedy continues to follow no-one’s path but his own, yet the result is rather more forgettable than one might like to admit.

The title track is a spare, chaotic configuration of seething synths and twitching percussion accompanied by echoing bass notes, and as with all of Kennedy’s work, it’s immaculately designed. Yet the overall listening experience proves somewhat ephemeral: there is nothing to grab onto here, and it’s hard to imagine how one might dance to this material without a heavy dose of dissociatives. Next Gridlock proves similarly slippery, a simple arrangement of increasingly syncopated drum layers and tunnelling sub-bass hits which gets busier but never feels like it truly progresses.

REM’s B-side is more rewarding, but still falls short of the quality of Kennedy’s previous output. The brief, beatless Figment proves the release’s one true joy; a nakedly beautiful combination of crystalline synths moving like liquid across a field of spare melodic details and a wordless choral accompaniment deep in the mix. Finally Crimson (Beat Ritual Mix) looks back to Kennedy’s musical past, with filtered snares and sudden melodic snatches breaking up a tinned hardcore rhythm. It’s not that Kennedy needs to put out a ‘big’ tune with every release (Quivver on the recent Nonplus Compilation shows that he still can), but the stark minimalism of his recent output often results in music that feels more sketch than fully-formed track. He will surely continue to follow his own sound regardless, but let’s hope that future sonic explorations proffer more substantial results.

5/10

Midland – Trace

Label: Aus

Up until now, the majority of Midland’s tracks have been patient, classy numbers that play on big room house tropes with the subtlety of some of the bass music set’s best. Despite killer collaborations with Ramadanman and Pariah, the UK producer never went for the banger on his solo material, preferring more restrained and delicate takes with his timeless house sound. This has been no bad thing, the producer’s Placement EP in particular was a deep and mature set of unique house tunes, so it comes as a bit of a surprise that Trace, his latest 12” for Aus, is the biggest, brashest track he’s put out to date.

This is not necessarily a bad thing. Title track Trace kills in the club, and it’s certainly be doing the rounds of the UK’s dancefloors over the past few months. The minimal combination of an intriguing pitched-down vocal, punchy bass stabs and a big-room breakdown works a treat, but it necessarily sacrifices a little of the subtlety the producer has become known for. The refined sensibilities are somewhat recaptured on B-side For (Yacht) Club Use Only, a pummelling percussive workout with insistent hi-hats keeping time to a hollow melodic pulse and searing synthwork that rears its head in the track’s latter half. It’s a polished affair, and Trace in particular is sure to attract a lot of club play, but the skeletal sound and big sounds threaten to efface the moody, detailed sound engineering that gave Midland such a unique voice in the first place.

7/10

Guest Mixes

We've got not two but three guest mixes for you today here at White Noise, so get your listening hats on.

First up is a mix courtesy of our ever-reliable resident, G More. His excellent guest mix spans 20 years of house and garage.

Bump, Flex & Shwang

 

Tracklist:

Meli'sa Morgan - Still In Love With You (Meli'sa's In The House)

NY Stomp - Can You Feel It?

Storm Queen - Look Right Through (MK Don't Talk To Me Vocal Mix)

R.B.M. - The Boy (Ralph's Hard House Mix)

Moné - We Can Make It (The Groove Mix) 

NY Stomp - The NY House Trak

R.B.M. - The Boy (Boy "More" Beats) 

Joy Orbison - Ellipsis

Somore - I Refuse (What You Want) (Industry Standard Mix) 

Terrence Dixon - Return Of The Speaker People (Kausto's Sudden Aphasia Mix) 

Brawther - Spaceman Funk (Deep Club Mix)

If you're done with that and desperate for more, we have a couple of mixes courtesy of _moth on Mixcloud. Both tracklists are excellent, there's a mix of dusty, sunny house and another darker mix for the night hours.

Summertime Mix

Tracklist:

Fatima feat. Floating Points – Cinnamon

Motor City Drum Ensemble – L.O.V.E

Andrés – Drama Around The Corner

Session Victim – Good Intentions

Pépé Bradock – Path Of Most Resistance

Omar S feat. L’Renée – SEX (CGP Remix)

October – String Theory

Claptone – Cream

Anthony Naples – Mad Disrespect

Nitetime – Teddy’s Jam

Huxley – Box Clever

West Norwood Cassette Library – Coming On Strong

Moodymann – Why Do U Feel

Night Time Mix

Tracklist

DJ Shadow – Transmission 2

John Talabot – So Will Be Now

Burial – NYC

Bo Saris – She’s On Fire (Maya Jane Coles Remix)

Dusky – Lost Highway

Maya Jane Coles – What They Say

Kahn – Like We Used To

Akkord – Back & Forth

Burial – Loner

Artifact – Deserted

Dusky – No More

Deadboy – Heartbreaker

DjRum – Turiya

Ramadanman – Don’t Change For Me

The xx – Crystallised (Dark Sky Remix)

The Drop – Looking To The Sky (DjRum Remix)

Playlist #2 - Dance Mix

Okay, so I've put together a mix of tracks that just beg to be danced to. This playlist runs through House, Dubstep, Grime, Garage, Rave, Acid House and Dancehall tracks that I've picked out (not quite in that order). I've put a lot of love into this mix and I think every track is a banger but they're all quite different so play them loud, and if you're not so keen on one I'm sure there will be a few there to love. Enjoy!

Playlist:

Altered Natives – The Bitch

Addison Groove – Footcrab

Ramadanman – Tempest

Mount Kimbie – Blind Night Errand

Deadboy – U Cheated

Becoming Real – Closer

Girl Unit – Wut

Deadboy – If U Want Me

XXXY – You Always Start It

Zomby – Float

Roland Appel – Unforgiven

The Bug – Poison Dart

Terrorist – Haters Dub