The producer known as ACTRESS and his r&b concrète

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missingNO: your mentioning of the "slightly unhinged, unpredictable approach to drum programming [&] wildly unquantized percussion patterns on top of straight 4x4 kicks" brings to mind how psyched I was to have learned about Terrence Dixon back in late '08 through Cunningham himself referring to him (along w/ a bunch of other better-known Detroiters, whose approaches I don't hear quite as strongly in Actress' work) as an influence on the 1-sheet blurb for "Hazyville".

Most of the T. Dixon/Population One stuff released on Metroplex and elsewhere that I've heard (from the mid-'90s to recent) has rhythmically really reminded me of Actress, in terms of the funky misalignments, etc.

(Anybody here into Downliners Sekt? A similar-enough aesthetic to warrant asking...)
http://boomkat.com/downloads/317164-downliners-sekt-hello-lonely-hold-the-nation
http://boomkat.com/downloads/367254-downliners-sekt-we-make-hits-not-the-public

Don't Make Me A Burrito (Craig D.), Thursday, 30 December 2010 14:50 (thirteen years ago) link

Good to see Moonship's list there.

puff pastry hangman (admrl), Friday, 31 December 2010 19:48 (thirteen years ago) link

what's better

this - FWIW also **BUBBLING** just just outside the top 10, possibly nudging out dbridge or shackleton, FWIW also r&b concréte

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIPQqf4O9j8

or this - is this r&b concréte

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1fDsDsJsQg

moonship journey to baja, Friday, 31 December 2010 23:40 (thirteen years ago) link

downliners sekt have the right sound but the beats are chopped up a little OTT for my taste.

moonship journey to baja, Friday, 31 December 2010 23:56 (thirteen years ago) link

actress' 2010 top ten features steve poindexter @ #1
http://www.boomkat.com/charts.cfm?id=576&gID=11

sisilafami, Sunday, 2 January 2011 23:42 (thirteen years ago) link

one month passes...

Listening to this now. Not sure I get it - any of it. Tracks have been popping up on random for a while now and they've just sounded like awkward repeating patterns with little structure or development. So I've decided to listen to it as a whole. Don't hear any r'n'b whatsoever. I guess I will have to give it a couple of goes.

chandelier falling through a bar in a batman costume (dog latin), Thursday, 17 February 2011 00:41 (thirteen years ago) link

what's there to get? it's house music, man. we're hardly talking fucking xenakis here

missingNO, Thursday, 17 February 2011 02:59 (thirteen years ago) link

I would call Actress neither house music nor easy to get to be honest.

EDB, Thursday, 17 February 2011 03:20 (thirteen years ago) link

yeah i dont really get it either, i thought it would be a grower...

just sayin, Thursday, 17 February 2011 09:52 (thirteen years ago) link

It doesn't really become house music until at least the fourth track, and even then it's pretty abstract. Some tracks, that Bubble Butts one in particular, is just plain annoying. Again, I'll def give it another shot, because I've a feeling it's the kind of thing that clicks once heard in context and from then on you can't do without.

chandelier falling through a bar in a batman costume (dog latin), Thursday, 17 February 2011 10:07 (thirteen years ago) link

i particularly enjoy the stretch from "maze" through "let's fly," songs that fans of this type of thing never seem to mention.

― contenderizer, Wednesday, 29 December 2010 05:42 (1 month ago)

THIS, massively. Had forgotten how good 'Maze' is until putting it on again at the weekend.

I see he's on a bill with Demdike Stare and others in Bristol soon, that's hella tempting if I had any money at all.

the worst dong of the last ten years (Craigo Boingo), Thursday, 17 February 2011 10:47 (thirteen years ago) link

I've been slowly getting into the Splazsh album. Works well on headphones.

sam500, Thursday, 17 February 2011 11:32 (thirteen years ago) link

Hazyville is good too, if a lot less evolved.

seminal fuiud (NickB), Thursday, 17 February 2011 11:33 (thirteen years ago) link

Yeah, I heard and liked 'Hazyville' - relatively passively - when it came out, 'Splazsh' was a big evolution though. And it does keep rewarding. Both a grower and with some moments of great immediacy.

the worst dong of the last ten years (Craigo Boingo), Thursday, 17 February 2011 11:38 (thirteen years ago) link

I'm gonna go to that Bristol show on Saturday I think

Jari Litmandem (DJ Mencap), Thursday, 17 February 2011 12:01 (thirteen years ago) link

i like that he uses bits of cut up youtube vids or w/e, presumably just the audio but if u play mpeg videos in winamp 2.xx u get some chill ass noise so who knows

nulty dread (nakhchivan), Thursday, 17 February 2011 12:09 (thirteen years ago) link

this is awful.

gr8080, Friday, 18 February 2011 00:02 (thirteen years ago) link

people don't know how to troll anymore

☠ (roxymuzak), Friday, 18 February 2011 00:08 (thirteen years ago) link

whither phil paterson

☠ (roxymuzak), Friday, 18 February 2011 00:09 (thirteen years ago) link

this album is kind of infuriating but a few times listening to it it was the best, i don't know if i would recommend repeatedly trying it too many times -- try drugs maybe?

flopson, Friday, 18 February 2011 00:30 (thirteen years ago) link

yeah i was gonna say, were u hi?

☠ (roxymuzak), Friday, 18 February 2011 00:30 (thirteen years ago) link

i hadn't even heard the album when i made this thread, just the first two or three tracks

i don't like it as much as i did over xmas, but this and his recent singles are p good

roy stride or die (nakhchivan), Friday, 18 February 2011 00:34 (thirteen years ago) link

one month passes...

I really like this

corey, Monday, 21 March 2011 12:33 (thirteen years ago) link

New 12" is excellent too

the worst dong of the last ten years (Craigo Boingo), Monday, 21 March 2011 12:35 (thirteen years ago) link

I dunno if the musique concrète comparisons are apt — it just seems like soulful house-influenced electronic with a fastidious approach to sounds. wonder what kind of soft/hardware he used

corey, Monday, 21 March 2011 12:35 (thirteen years ago) link

also thankful this doesn't have that annoying cod 90s R&B filtered-synth squiggle that you hear on like everything that gets called dubstep or post-ds

corey, Monday, 21 March 2011 12:56 (thirteen years ago) link

tho thankfully this isn't dubstep or post-dubstep

kid 606: the nultness (nakhchivan), Monday, 21 March 2011 19:11 (thirteen years ago) link

Apparently Actress samples Youtube in his beats, tons of tightly edited low bitrate samples stacked layer upon layer.

It definitely seems like a reasonable comparison to the original Musique Concrete guys.

― sistern, Wednesday, 29 December 2010 08:01 (2 months ago)

this, p much

kid 606: the nultness (nakhchivan), Monday, 21 March 2011 19:13 (thirteen years ago) link

Hubble has a very strange effect on my brain if I listen to it all the way through. It puts me in a sinister dreamlike trance that I can't quite describe, but have rarely experienced in music

farielan chosder bout a chagh an i ballme trantuming (dog latin), Monday, 21 March 2011 19:42 (thirteen years ago) link

Bubble Butts and Equations has been sticking in my head this week.

mh, Monday, 21 March 2011 20:23 (thirteen years ago) link

tho thankfully this isn't dubstep or post-dubstep

I didn't say it was!

corey, Monday, 21 March 2011 21:41 (thirteen years ago) link

and i didn't say you said it was!

kid 606: the nultness (nakhchivan), Monday, 21 March 2011 21:43 (thirteen years ago) link

i've stopped playing this so much but it definitely caught me for a while

i find a lot of his tracks fastidious....in a good way! they are uhm 'well architected'

kid 606: the nultness (nakhchivan), Monday, 21 March 2011 21:45 (thirteen years ago) link

was surprised my friend who's an autechre fiend thought this was "meh", it seems to me like Ae fans would appresh this

corey, Monday, 21 March 2011 21:50 (thirteen years ago) link

i like this stuff a lot

adult music person (Jordan), Monday, 21 March 2011 22:03 (thirteen years ago) link

someone post your favorite one or two things of his that are on youtube cause i listened to this last year and thought it was awful but am willing to re-asses

gr8080, Monday, 21 March 2011 22:05 (thirteen years ago) link

dont know too much about your taste & there is a p wide range of stuff on the album ito danceability, experimentalness, minimalism. i like these tho

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcnRT-m9MYo&feature=BF&playnext=1&list=QL&index=1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivvzgXdf83w&feature=related
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3r7blGL1F8I&feature=related

flopson, Monday, 21 March 2011 22:38 (thirteen years ago) link

I liked that last one better than the other two but this shit just isn't for me I guess.

I like his logo/cover art tho!

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x18/gr8080/41b7a5f8.jpg

gr8080, Tuesday, 22 March 2011 06:00 (thirteen years ago) link

Hubble has a very strange effect on my brain if I listen to it all the way through. It puts me in a sinister dreamlike trance that I can't quite describe, but have rarely experienced in music

― farielan chosder bout a chagh an i ballme trantuming (dog latin), Monday, March 21, 2011 2:42 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

it makes me sleepy

adult music person (Jordan), Tuesday, 22 March 2011 14:25 (thirteen years ago) link

MAZE is what i wished the TR2N soundtrack sounded like

diamonddave85, Tuesday, 22 March 2011 14:43 (thirteen years ago) link

senorita has become my ipod rep from this album. so simple, but kind of addictive (and actually pretty!)

Dominique, Tuesday, 22 March 2011 14:55 (thirteen years ago) link

Jordan - yeah sleepy, but I think it once made me have an inverse parasomniac moment where I kinda fell asleep while walking around with headphones and started tripping out. It was heavy man.

farielan chosder bout a chagh an i ballme trantuming (dog latin), Tuesday, 22 March 2011 15:05 (thirteen years ago) link

the b side of the new single is great

kid 606: the nultness (nakhchivan), Tuesday, 22 March 2011 15:10 (thirteen years ago) link

Senorita contains an Aaliyah sample, right? Hubble is one of those songs that I can listen to on repeat for 2 hours. Shigeto's album Full Circle is a good companion to Splazsh. He also plays live drums in his sets which took me by surprise (Shigeto, not Actress).

Call on me (Spinspin Sugah), Saturday, 26 March 2011 21:41 (thirteen years ago) link

If you love Actress like me then check out "Plastic World" by BNJMN on Rush Hour. It's like a lush, less austere Splazsh. http://phs.abstractdynamics.org/2011/03/two_albums_morphosis_bnjmn.html

Professor Respect, Sunday, 27 March 2011 18:26 (thirteen years ago) link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9_BO9Kr-zc

The Geirogeirgegege (nakhchivan), Wednesday, 6 April 2011 16:24 (thirteen years ago) link

Agreed on the BNJMN comparison. In some ways they're very different; BNJMN has a much housier feel, closer to FaltyDL maybe, and definitely a good fit for Rush Hour. But the textural quality of their sound and their approach to compression definitely share some similarities.

Also, Andy Stott's forthcoming 2x12 on Modern Love has a very Actressy vibe, maybe crossed with Dettinger... Amazing stuff.

pshrbrn, Wednesday, 6 April 2011 17:21 (thirteen years ago) link

three months pass...

this is as good as anything's he's done

http://www.sendspace.com/file/1ky4su

MY WEEDS STRONG BLUD.mp3 (nakhchivan), Sunday, 17 July 2011 11:29 (twelve years ago) link

three weeks pass...

some of this sounds cool on an actress tip

http://soundcloud.com/lukid/preview-of-spitting-bile-ep

back in a .gif ;) (flopson), Saturday, 13 August 2011 17:47 (twelve years ago) link

Sounds good--nice turning-the dial/soundbite preview segues. I recall Lukid's "Boxing Club" 12" from last year sounding particularly great, too.

As far as Actress + Lukid = Thriller goes, I'm enjoying their brand-new Radiohead remix (v. similar to Actress' "Surfer's Hymn" Panda Bear remix from earlier this year):

http://soundcloud.com/radiohead/radiohead-give-up-the-ghost

Went whole career w/o collabo, yo (Craig D.), Saturday, 13 August 2011 18:14 (twelve years ago) link


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