This week Miles selects the Staff Pick, Sad City’s latest 10″ on Emotional Response / Meda Fury, Forma.
Miles Russell is the newest member of staff. When he is not processing new records here at Phonica, he keeps himself busy running the South London party Spirit Level.
For this week’s Staff Pick he has chosen Sad City‘s latest 10″, Forma, an ambient and abstract electronica composition on another joint venture between Emotional Response and Meda Fury. This is what Miles has to say:
I am extremely happy to own this 10″. This week at around 7pm on Wednesday Nick played ‘Music Removed’ through the system at Phonica and the shop was filled with sound. I was captivated, my attention was completely taken away from the end of day filing and I had to find out more.
The three tracks on this 10″ are being released for the first time on vinyl. Initially they were included as bonus tracks on the digital version of Sad City’s album ‘Shapes in Formation’. The 10″, as with the album, is released as a joint effort between Emotional Rescue and Meda Fury.
In terms of a genre, I find it very difficult to pin down. This is refreshing and I feel like it lets me listen to it from a position of impartiality. There aren’t as many assumptions about taste when you are unsure what category something falls under. A1 ‘Music Removed’ is a perfect example of this. It starts off with a mesmerising loop reminiscent of an 80s synth/drum machine tape workout. Raw and heavy. Within a few bars an accappella-style R&B vocal rides over the top of the texture, joined shortly by shimmering and mildly jarring chords. The disjointed elements give this track a psychedelic and meandering feel.
In the meantime the off-kilter kick has dissipated, unawares. Before long it returns and the momentum of the track is given a sudden boost. The kick, along with the shaking highs are what I think give this track its dancefloor appeal. Chugging and immersive, I look forward to dropping this one mid-set and seeing a few minds melt. Side A closes with ‘Patterns’, a distant and whispering track reminiscent of a wave organ. Very spiritual. Turn the record over and ‘Vexellations’ fills the whole side. High-pitched phasing synthesiser melodies play over breathy chords and creaking masts and rigging. This is meditative music at its most beautiful. It is busy yet peaceful.
