Underground, Dance and Electronica with Chris Honnery

Kieran Hebden, AKA Four Tet, is set to release his new album, Beautiful Rewind, ‘soon’. On July 22, Hebden announced the news in a series of tweets: “the album is all done and just getting some copies made and then will get it into the shops for you. LP, CD and internet versions. deluxe sendspace edition with art print and unique numbered download code. no pre order, no youtube trailers, no itunes stream, no spotify, no amazon deal, no charts, no bit coin deal, no last minute rick rubin.” Glancing through the tracklist, Beautiful Rewind appears to becomprised of all new material, making it the ‘proper’ follow-up to Hebden’s exceptional 2010 album, There Is Love In You.(Last year’s album 0181, released free on SoundCloud, was comprised of material produced by Hebden between 1997 and 2001.) There’s no word yet on the official release date, though if Hebden’s low-key PR approach for 0181 is any indication, Beautiful Rewind will arrive suddenly, without the all-round hyperbolic hullabaloo that envelops actions of music label reps. Hebden has instead shown a preference for relying on more authentic bells and whistles, those of the common listener resounding through social media. It’s all about the power of the Internet (the P.O.I, mister).

The countdown to the 2013 Subsonic Music Festival, slotted for the weekend of December 6-8, will begin in earnest with a massive festival launch party at The Burdekin on Saturday August 3. Spanning three floors of the Surry Hills venue, the party lineup boasts a surfeit of DJ talent, including Phil Smart, Marcotix and AU Underground main man Dylan Griffin, along with the promise of a “special super secret guest or two”. The official festival kick-off will also feature prizes and merchandise giveaways, with special discount festival tickets available on the night. “But we don’t know who’s playing yet,” I hear jilted readers muse while they gesture with dismay towards this very page, which sits open on their knee now covered in rum from their overflowing glasses. Steady on chaps, the first round lineup announcement of artists featuring at this year’s festival will be unveiled at the launch. Get to the Burdekin early, you’ll get in for a measly $10 if you arrive before 11pm.

Glaswegian minimal don Alex Menzies, who makes music under the nom de plume of Alex Smoke, will follow up from his recent Wraetlic (derived from “Wraith-like”) album with a new single entitled ‘Dust’. The track marks a continuation of Menzies’ experimentation with the brooding atmospheres and warped vocals that imbued Wraetlic, sustaining his surge in productivity following a period of hibernation that came as part of the producer’s convalescence. “The last couple of years have been annoyingly marred by health issues,” Menzies divulged when Wraetlic was released late last year. “I couldn’t work nearly as much as I’d normally like… When I could work again I suddenly felt a new lease of life, a feeling which I hadn’t had since my early days. I think the time away from working probably did me good in hindsight.” UK producer Tessela offers up a remix of ‘Dust’ on Menzies’ EP, due to drop on the first day of September. In tantalising news, I have it on good authority that Alex Smoke will be returning to Australia for a series of shows before the year is out.

Austrian producer Clara Moto (christened Clara Prettenhofer), will release a five-track EP next month entitled Joy Departed, due for release on the Infine label, the same stable through which Moto dropped her debut LP Polyamour in 2010. Moto released her first 12”, ‘Glove Affair’ (which was included on Polyamour) way back in ’07, slowly establishing herself with soulful, ‘intelligent’ microhouse cuts and spinning at revered nightclub venues such as Paris’ Rex Club and Berlin’s Panoramabar, also opening for Cobblestone Jazz in Montreal. Polyamour was an intelligent and sophisticated outing that opened with the track ‘Emory Bortz’, a rather obscure reference to Thomas Pynchon’s ‘classic’ postmodern novel The Crying of Lot 49 (which completely washed over me, despite my attempts to like it). Her forthcoming release merges fragile house with evocative downtempo grooves, even offering a cover of Chris Isaak’s classic, ‘Wicked Game’. Polyamour is but the appetiser for Moto’s second album Blue Distance, ready for release in November.

LOOKING DEEPER

Saturday August 3

Strange Fruit feat. &ME + Deepchild

The Abercrombie

Subsonic Launch Party

The Burdekin

Saturday August 10

Function

Chinese Laundry

DJ Sprinkles

The Abercrombie

Deep Impressions: electronica manifesto and occasional club brand. Contact through [email protected].

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