Hi This is Flume: A Journey into Madness

Written By: Kirk Kitson

Hi This Is Flume is the soundtrack to your wildest parties and your worst nightmares. It’s raw distillation of color in auditory form; the personification of a hot desert summer while simultaneously harboring the iciness of a brisk winter. It’s symbolic of our growing culture of ironic detachment due to our newfound need for constant entertainment and distraction, which will only grow (get worse) as technology and capitalism both continue their constant, trudging march; a fantastic argument for the importance of poptimism while also appearing to be an outright rejection of it.

Avant garde and unknown yet conventional and familiar, Hi This Is Flume has managed to create the rawest version of Flume’s signature sound, having more in common with Amnesia Scanner, Arca, and Oneohtrix Point Never than his usual forte of mainstream dance music, a space he had previously found massive success in with 2016’s Skin.

However, it’s still unmistakably Flume – every song here still carries his stadium-filling pop aesthetic, only twisted into grotesque, primal behemoths. While it could still sound at times as if it could fit in a phone commercial or at Rolling Loud, it demonstrates more of an interest towards experimentation. Moreso, along with other works such as Charli XCX’s Pop 2 and Sophie’s Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-insides, Hi This Is Flume is indicative of pop music’s clear desire to innovate and evolve beyond its expected norms while also serving as a deconstruction of itself.

Perhaps one of the most fascinating parts of Hi This Is Flume is how it constantly has one foot planted firmly in the history of electronic music. Every song here is a mosaic of electronic music’s past, present, and future; an exciting tapestry of footwork, dubstep, ambient, drum and bass, grime, trap, future bass, IDM, witch house, the list goes on. Above all that, Hi This Is Flume is maddening, unadulterated fun. Every song here is a madhouse of ideas that flow so perfectly into each other, heeding itself to repeated listens not only because it’s incredibly dense but also satisfying.

In this regard, a fair comparison would be to Playboi Carti’s Die Lit in how they both bounce around between different forms and open themselves up to unconventionality yet can still keep the listener’s attention otherwise through pure dopamine rushes. This is what Hi This Is Flume delivers in spades – from the constant trading of sleek keys and harsh horns on Ecdysis to the maddening drop on the Is It Cold In The Water remix that carries a brutal, teeth-grinding level of distortion, to Upgrade which starts with distorted 8-bit keys yet evolves into a straight up footwork track (and a damn good one at that), Hi This Is Flume proves itself to be diverse and engaging, even when not everything works.

One of the most important things to note about Hi This Is Flume is while it does nod to a history of both conventional and experimental forms of dance music, it is also very of the moment. It becomes apparent that Hi This Is Flume is intrinsically tied to our modern psyche, a project not only made in but made for 2019. From the first track being a commentary on the artistic process and the vapid nature of dumbing that down for a mainstream audience who ignore entire aesthetics of albums for instant gratification Spotify “This is” playlists to the more obvious references of various pop culture bastions like vlogging and Game of Thrones from rapper JPEGMAFIA, Hi This Is Flume is surprisingly reflective of the various changes of this last decade, however loud or subtle. It speaks to our dysfunctional relationship with technology and consumption, serving as a raucous celebration of fleeting youth and chaos. And through this, Flume has managed to create something beautiful yet freaky and avant garde, something harsh and raw yet endlessly listenable.

 

Why the Grammys’ All-Encompassing Categories Don’t Encompass Much At All

Disclaimer: I don’t watch the Grammys. I spent about 3 minutes total scrolling through the nominations for 2019. That being said, I noticed some glaring absences.

Here I’ll speak purely from the genre of my specialty—Alternative. There is one Grammy to be won: Best Alternative Album. The nominees are Arctic Monkeys, Beck, David Byrne, and St. Vincent. While I’d argue that St. Vincent’s album is more pop than alternative, a lot can fit under the umbrella of alternative. While I’m sure they are all great albums, are they really the best that have been released this year? Who are amongst these ‘350 musical experts’ that vote on the choices? It sure ain’t Anthony Fantano!

No one is expecting small or local bands to be nominated, or even considered, for an event of this caliber. We saw how the public reacted when Courtney Barnett won Best New Artist in 2016. But the thing is: others are listening. Mitski’s ‘Be the Cowboy’ won Pitchfork Album of the Year. I heard Japanese Breakfast on my way to work. I heard Frankie Cosmos in the dressing room last week. Small alternative bands are now headlining festivals. Now I wonder how long will it take for the Grammys to catch up—because I think we can do a bit better than the Arctic Monkeys.

The Electronica Underworld, and the Ventriloquists Behind the Curtains of Today’s EDM

Written By: Hudson Hoffman

When the common person hears the term “EDM” in 2018, they believe it refers to the likes of Illenium and Marshmello. In 2011, the same term would have put images of Deadmau5’s iconic helmet and Skrillex’s 3-clawed symbol into the minds of the commercial audience at the time. These names are all superstar icons which have been recognized for their significant contributions to the industry, and their influence in the shaping and evolution of what is defined as EDM. 

However, there is always a bigger fish, and if these are the big fish of the pond, who do they consider sizable? 

The answer is found in what is known as IDM – Intelligent Dance Music. You may not have heard it, but the press has labeled the scene with such a term because there is simply no other term to refer to it as. Some call it Brainwave, Acid Dance, and Glitchcore, among other buzzwords. The scene consists of artists you have probably never heard of, but those big fish in the pond? These are the artists who were essential in the nurturing of their production career. Some of the names in this realm of electronica include Boards of Canada, Aphex Twin, U-Ziq, and Squarepusher – all names prominent in the 90s dance scene of the UK and Europe – the breeding ground of dubstep and electronica as a whole. If you ask anyone behind the counter of your local record store, there’s a near-guarantee they have heard of these names, for they are credited with pioneering electronica, despite their lack of presence in the mainstream. Aphex Twin is considered the poster boy for IDM, his 1992 release “Selected Ambient Works 85-92” sending subtle yet influential shock waves through what was considered pop & dance music at the time. 

What followed was a tsunami of releases on the heels of Aphex Twin’s album. U-Ziq made himself known with his debut known as “Tango N’ Vectif” in ’93, the first ever album to incorporate the elements that established what the world now knows as “dubstep”. 1996 saw Squarepusher debut with his jazz/breakcore album “Feed Me Weird Things”, which pioneered the virtually nonexistent drum n’ bass scene and further helped with the establishment of glitch, a prominent genre of the early 00’s.

Despite the lack of mainstream exposure of these artists and their works, many mainstream artists of today label the IDM pioneers as the driving force behind their own creation. Skrillex has been very open about how Aphex Twin inspired his debut EP “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites”, and goes into detail in an interview about his interest in the Richard D. James’ discography: 

[In regards to how much he has listened to of Aphex twin’s soundcloud releases] “So much of it. I’m always on SoundCloud, in general, but the new stuff? I’ve listened to all of it. I just put it on and clean my house to it. I found my old CD book and I wanna take a photo of it because I have every [Aphex Twin] CD. Some of the actual CDs are missing but I have every release up until 2006. I know he’s released more stuff since then, but I haven’t bought a CD since 2006. But I have every single [one], like Caustic Window, Polygon Window, every Analord you can buy on CD.”  

Joel Zimmerman, better known as Deadmau5, and the pioneering force behind progressive house with his 2008 release “Random Album Title”, has claimed a love for Boards of Canada and Aphex Twin, his earlier works paying homage to themselves and the scene with tracks off his 2001-2006 production “Project 56”. One particular track on the assortment is named “Bored of Canada” referencing to Boards of Canada in both its name and style. Most, if not all, of the tracks on Project 56 derive from the IDM/Glitch/Breakcore/Ambient scene produced by Aphex Twin, U-Ziq, Squarepusher, and Boards of Canada. Another less known release of Deadmau5 was his remix of Boards of Canada’s famous “Roygbiv”. In his livestream Q&A hosted by asQme, Joel reaffirmed his admiration for Boards of Canada, Aphex Twin, and Tycho, upon being asked about his key inspirations and influences, as well as what he listens to on a daily basis, given his constant exposure to electronica. 

Other massive names both inside and outside of the electronic music scene such as Frank Ocean, Radiohead,Moby, DJ Shadow, Kraftwerk, Bjork, and Kanye West, have all claimed Aphex Twin either influenced their productions or is one of the artists in their playlists. In fact, Kanye West was called out by Aphex Twin himself for illegally sampling Aphex Twin’s piano piece “Avril 14th” in his collaboration with John Legend on “Blame Game”. Despite having been called out for it, Kanye continues to claim he wrote the instrumental. 

The musketeers are still making music today, U-Ziq having released “Challenge Me Foolish” earlier in 2018, Aphex Twin releasing his first commercial content since 2014 under the almost-mainstream “Collapse EP”, Squarepusher’s“Damogen Furies” reintroducing him to the scene in 2015, and finally Boards of Canada’s 2013 release “Tomorrow’s Harvest”, their first production since their 2005 album “The Campfire Headphase”. They seem to be thriving within their dimension of music, their fan bases loyal to an almost cult-like point.     

So in the family tree of edm subgenres, now you know where it all originated from, and not to forget where it all began in what is today an oversaturated, low-quality market that thrives off of festivals and live shows rather than the music itself. As Aphex Twin once quoted from Willy Wonka: 

“We are the music makers, and we, are the dreamers of dreams”

Vinyl On The Rise?

Written by: Audra Colliton

As a collector of vinyl for 8 years, I can easily say it’s on the rise. However, I can also attest to the fact that I am biased. I have seen an increase in people my age shopping at my record store, younger people at events like the Record Riot, and the release of cheap turntables everywhere in every color can defend that opinion.

Vinyl is on trend right now, but as a musical format, I find it to be the most tactile. As a music enthusiast, I have collected my fair share of CDs, tapes and digital downloads. CDs are often too small to fully appreciate the small booklets in the covers, tapes are even smaller, and digital is subtracted from the physical environment entirely. Vinyl is different; it’s tactile and large enough to fully appreciate. For that reason, covers are more elaborate, the inner sleeve may contain more things like posters, calendars, and even large booklets or paper stands. Zeppelin had pop up effects on Led Zeppelin III, the Rolling Stones incorporated an actual, zippable zipper on Sticky Fingers, Alice Cooper’s Love it To Death came with a calendar from 1971 with a picture of Alice being hung with a noose. There are so many additional things to vinyl in comparison to CDs it’s impressive.

Vinyl also has a different sound quality and lasts longer when cared for properly. I cannot fully describe the sound it has, but it feels more real. That might just be my bias shining through, but I’ve heard similar statements from other collectors. They also last longer in comparison to tapes, which, after several uses, will expel their tape and get worn out. CDs, after a number of years, literally rot, which is another thing to take into consideration. It’s true that vinyl can be severely damaged and can skip, but proper care is crucial.

Besides that, we have to consider how we take in music day to day in the digital, divided era that we live in. We take everything segmented, taking out the terrible and only focusing on the “good” music, or the singles of an album. CDs and tapes you can easily skip through. Skipping songs on vinyl takes some skill and when I first started I never did it in fear of damaging my albums. So, as time went by, I listened to my albums fully, taking the good with the bad. And I realized that albums are merely storytelling devices, some stories are good, some stories are bad. Sometimes the story is not linked up, sometimes the stories intertwine perfectly.

An example of an album that does this is Arthur by the Kinks. Sure, you probably know “Victoria”, however, the tracks that follow are vital to the story, and the discontent felt in the story doesn’t fully echo through “Victoria”. Discontent is felt through songs like “Some Mother’s Son” and “Shangri La” due to the sad and sarcastic nature the Kinks instill into the lyrics. Albums are a composite piece of work, and to fully grasp the art, it must be taken whole before zeroing into songs. I’ve come to find some of my favorite songs are my least favorite in comparison to the album as a whole.

Some stories are terrible, like Their Satanic Majesties Request, that tried to rival Sargent Pepper’s and horribly failed, however the album is still sought after by collectors that value the art, and can actually be worth money just because of the art.

In general, vinyl is an experience that cannot be replicated on a digital platform.