A music blog dedicated to my ever-expanding tastes. A musical journey with endless pitstops along the way. Bringing you the best of what I see and hear.
When Scottish multi-instrumentalist/producer Makeness released "Loud Patterns", the first single from what would eventually be announced as his debut full length, I remarked that the harsher elements of it signaled a change-up of sorts from the dance-pop fair that defined a lot of his earlier releases. While Makeness' Kyle Molleson has always embraced a more experimental approach to electronic dance music, "Loud Patterns" leaned further into less electronic approach through its more prominent incorporation of live instrumentation and angular rock vibes. It was a delicate balancing act of electronic rock and more typical dance pop and "Loud Patterns" succeeded in its effortless tightrope walk between the two.
And yet, previous Loud Patterns single "Day Old Death" and his latest one "Stepping Out of Sync", find Makeness essentially seesawing towards the familiar. "Stepping Out of Sync" is Makeness at his most unabashedly dance-y. Although it doesn't necessarily start out that way. Molleson takes his time building an impressive track. Beginning with just out-of-focus guitar, the track gradually introduces instrument after instrument and Molleson's vocals before quickly establishing its groove. Molleson's experimental edge is on the subtler side: consisting mostly on his use of effects and production techniques as the track casual slides in and out of view without losing any of its swaggering confidence despite the track title.
The music video, directed Felix Silvestris and Josha Eiffel, essentially a bit of light on the seeming misnomer as it follows a duo's adventures through a night in London. The two essentially exist in a world all their own turning their city's streets into a dance club while Eiffel and Silvestris' camera gives the sense of an altered reality. The two exist in a world of their own, laughing and going over dance moves before the video's climax which sees the twosome fully realizing the choreography they've been steadily learning over the course of the video and it's a wonderful encapsulation of just how disconnected from the rest of the world; how time can slip away from you when you're in the right company.
Loud Patterns, the debut full length from Makeness is out April 6th on Secretly Canadian. Pre-order is available now.
While I was first introduced to Scottish multi-instrumentalist/producer Makeness through his collaboration/affiliation with former Leeds flatmates Adult Jazz, diving in his own music has been interesting enough in its own right. Releasing his Temple Works EP earlier this year, Makeness has provided an experimental take on dance music that ensure his songs are aural journeys not just hook-laden floor-fillers.
"Loud Patterns", his first new single since Temple Works in June and his first on the Secretly Canadian roster, already shows Makeness' Kyle Molleson moving forward in terms of sound. While other artists might root around in a particular sound for multiple releases if not their entire career, Molleson's got his own ideas and those seem aligned with creating the type of music that is interesting for him to create. Maybe that's because he already has an outlet for his more pop-centric works through his work with Glad Hand. Whatever the case, there's no denying Makeness is not creating your run of the mill dance-pop.
"Loud Patterns" doesn't eschew danceability outright, it's still very in line with the beat-heavy that Molleson's been pursuing since his Acid Dad 7" but it pushes his sound forward in a way that's not necessarily supposed to be pleasant to the ear. With crunchy guitar riffs, cacophonous cymbal hits, and an effect or two thrown in for good measure, the track is at times abrasive and others seeks to soothe. Molleson's plays around with the balance on "Loud Patterns" to essentially see what he can get away with and short of 5 minutes of harsh noise, he walks that line confidently. He also throws his vocals into the mix to add to the pop appeal that the song occasionally tries to upend.
Listen to "Loud Patterns":
Makeness is going on a North American tour with Jungle later this year, dates available here.
One of the greatest thing to come out of Leeds outfit Adult Jazz (aside from their distinct brand of expansive, lush art-pop) is the fact that they have very talented friends whom they constantly try to uplift. It's probably the closest an outside listener halfway across the globe can get a sense of what kind of music scene Adult Jazz are a part of. While fans may have been introduced to Kyle Molleson's project Makeness not only through his place of several mixes but also through his collaboration with Adult Jazz's Harry Burgess "Other Life" last year, London foursome Glad Hand are another band worthy of knowing. Fellow school companions (and featuring Kyle Molleson of Makeness in their roster), Glad Hand make a sort of ephemeral, texture rich experimental pop that's not too far away from what fans of Adult Jazz are sure to be looking for. But Glad Hand are more than mere Adult Jazz soundalikes. While not quite as rooted in dance as bassist Molleson's Makeness, Glad Hand songs are prodded along their wide, cavernous expanses by interlocked grooves and singer/songwriter Declan Pleydell-Pearce's sinewy vocals give the songs much of its mutable character.
Their debut album Be Kind, released earlier this year, contains a collection of songs made up of intriguing sounds and timbres and percussion to create a sort of captivating mirage pop. Songs like "Been One Thing" or "Shape Your Fever Close" which brush right up against their pop sensibilities recall early Wild Beasts while tracks like album opener "Undone" is much more characteristic of the band and the album in its sumptuous slow burn. The album is made up of these incredible moments of quiet tension and release. There's dynamic musical peaks but each songs manages to be engaging in its own right and hold your attention even when there's not an obvious amount of things going on instrumentally that ultimately makes album ender "Eavesdropper" with its sparse, almost a capella opening feel well and truly earned.
One of Glad Hand's strengths is not only its synthesis of ideas but also the sum of their individual talents: Dan Jacobs' jazz percussion, effortlessly subtle production, and the elasticity of Pleydell-Pearce's enrapturing vocals. The most surprising thing about Glad Hand is not its subtlety but that they manage to create all these pockets of silence or open sound that draw you further in. Glad Hand are minimalists and considering their standard rock band setup the could easily fill all the space but they don't. The spaces, the silence, the slow unfurling of their songs and the lack of musical drama are what set them apart from other outfits like Wild Beasts. For Glad Hand not only is less more but it can be an obsessive and rewarding focus: like how a snare rolls can form the backbone of an entire song. Be Kind is a multi-layered album that reveals more and more of itself with each listen. It's a record that draws from progressive genres like jazz, prog rock, and occasionally contemporary classical to translate its lyrical subjects of the phantom self, unreciprocated love, and self-doubt musically into a swirling miasma of disorienting effects and sounds.
Glad Hand's debut album Be Kind is out now as a pay-what-you-want download via their Bandcamp. A physical 12" featuring "Shape Your Fever Close" and "Been One Thing" as well as remixes from Glad Hand's Dan Jacobs and Makeness is also available from Handsome Dad Records.
I was introduced to electronic project Makeness through fellow UK band Adult Jazz. First merely because Adult Jazz mentioned Makeness as a sort of related project worth checking out on their blog and then when due to their collaboration together. Makeness' Kyle Wolleson makes dance music very much from an instrumentalist's perspective. Unsurprising considering his background as a member of several bands before embarking on this project. Former flatmate and bandmate with Adult Jazz's Harry Burgess, the collaboration essentially finds a wonderful middle ground between the two projects - Burgess offering live vocals to Wolleson's normal sample based vocals and Makeness pushing Burgess towards making a much more straightforward pop song than he's otherwise known for. It's a collaboration that pulls the best out of each artist and the video based on an idea from mutual friend/collaborator Sam Travis and directed by Burgess and Nicholas Pomeroy is another testament to the pair's friendship and connections: able to flush out Travis' idea into a music video that let's them have fun without distracting from the greatness of the track. The band consisting of 2/3rds of the Makeness live band and Burgess essentially infiltrating the introspective moments of various characters with their infectious pop tune and dancing to varying degrees of consternation from the characters.
Watch the video for Makeness & Adult Jazz' collaboration "Other Life":
The single is available on 12" vinyl on Meno Records. You can order it here.
