So I’m sure there is already a sea of chatter about ‘s newest, Ambivalence Avenue.  That becomes a very fitting title, almost in anticipation of the reception it would get, ambivalence is described as “having simultaneous conflicting feelings toward a person or thing.”  Maybe this was intentional, to take a markedly bolder step forward, to mix things up considerably, inevitably moving away from Stephen Wilkinson’s older sound.  I personally doubt this, this release sounds a little too free-spirited to come off as being caught up in what anyone thinks.  I’m sure there’s a large portion of Bibio listeners who will remain partial to that older sound, perhaps rightfully so, but I can say that without a doubt I prefer this new sound, even if I’m left with somewhat mixed feelings after listening to the whole thing.

Here’s a track that is something like 4 years old now, but still remains pertinent and fresh, I’m starting to get a hold of tracks and sounds that I think I’d still be hearing late night at some Brooklyn party, but which came out a few years ago.  I first heard specifically on a mixed by DJ Koze, but I have been aware of the label this track was released on, Swiss-based Cadenza, since earlier this year when my friend Ryan turned me on to what Chilean producer, DJ and label boss Luciano was up to.  Gotta respect the solid, deep minimal house coming from Sudamerica.

Here’s a track I know will be a hidden treasure for the next couple years, I heard it on the latest Freerange Podcast, from a small Belgian imprint called We Play House.  This track is from , whose DJ performance preportedly sparked the creation of the label.  Good luck trying to pronounce it, it’s called Het Zwarte Kanon, which appears to be Dutch for “The Black Gun.”  It’s stringier than frickin’ string cheese, but I care not, I love that stuff, and it appears that We Play House cares not about pushing envelopes or re-inventing the House wheel, it’s just about making good, classic house tunes.  This small imprint, with only 3 releases under its belt is more honest with itself than many of the bigger players out there, let’s hope they stay true to this virtue and keep putting out such great material.

Finally, Ryan Cavanagh, whom you may know as , one-half of Worst Friends, has been making music and spinning records as , gettin’ down with the Wolf + Lamb crew, gradually building up a case for his style: sultry late-night tailored tunes that incorporate samples from live instruments (he is a trained guitarist), and weave influences from the likes of Sade.  He appears in WLM’s mix section with a session from More or Less in Baltimore, and more recently in an exclusive mix posted yesterday on ISO50.  This tune, which has been getting play both on blogs and within a lot of mixes, is versatile, yet it captures a sense of yearning only a singer like Sade could convey.  And yet the guitar sample that seems to govern the track echoes that feeling, it has a sense to it like you’re waiting to tell someone how you feel, you know they feel the same way, and yet there’s this sense of romantic anxiety keeping both mouths shut.  The photo above is a press photo I took for Ryan last fall while on the Moodgadget tour.

Bibio – Lovers’ Carvings

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NSI – Clara Ghavami (Extended Mix)

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San Soda – Het Zwarte Kanon

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Slow Hands – Fast Tongue

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Posted in Music and Photography Posted by Alex on Jun 24 2009 12:00 pm

Tags: Bibio, Cadenza, Deep House, Indie Folk, NSI, Sade, San Soda, Slow Hands, Wolf + Lamb