In Revue- 'M3LL155X' (FKA twigs)

I'll admit before I actually heard FKA twigs' surprise EP release M3LL155X my initial reaction was one of concern. Not for anything happening in the UK singer's life or the scant few details I had read about the album. Nay nay.

My concern was for how it would be received. It can be especially hard for artists who come out of the gate with such an assured, specifically styled album as twigs' LP1 to ever capture that zeitgeist again. When an artist brings such force so early, the public expectation machine can go haywire and nothing they do in the wake will live up. See Interpol for some of the "best" proof of the past decade or so. Hell I know people that still insist Kanye West's initial soul-rap period was his best, which is sort of frightening. People cling to first impressions way too much.

Fortunately that's not something to worry about with twigs' M3LL155X (pronounced Melissa). Working with Beyoncé producer Boots, twigs has crafted an album that stands alongside LP1, not in its shadow. There's no feeling of unnecessary duplication. The pair, along with producers Cy An and Tic, take the decaying drum machines and cacophonous noise of LP1 and project them farther outward. "Figure 8" starts with a terrifying low-end burble that gives credence to twigs' exhaling "It's a miracle we're still alive." Hollow ringing tubes hail "Glass & Patron," before a swarm of static comes flying through. Everything is pulverized by drums, which are loud and wobbly enough to cause heart arrhythmia.

That's even true of "In Time," the closest M3LL155X comes to an outright love song. "I will be better and we will be stronger and you will be greater," twigs declares with an uncertain resolve. She chest puffs "You've got a goddamn nerve," but that missive sits atop unstable keys and shifting drums. Nothing feels certain. The Weeknd's own dark R&B has been a comparison point before, but nowhere is the truer than on "In Time." Both artists have a way of sounding resolute, even when everything around them signals chaos. Twigs promises "I'll be home soon" in "Mothercreep"'s swirling outro, though she previously confesses "In words I lose" and "I don't know who my mother is." Realistically there's no home to go home to, just the false ideals of one.

So much of M3LL155X lyrically chases that idea of figuring out who you are when there's no template to go off of. In the aforementioned "Figure 8" she longs to live through someone else's "vice," before acknowledging "you're more alive than what I'll ever be." The admission's doubly painful delivered in a warped vocal that makes you think she's so world-weary she can't even muster the strength to sing for herself. That fragility carries over to "I'm Your Doll" a fetid electro "sex jam" with stereo-panning moans and lines such as "Complete me, I'm here alone." There's a cliché about sex that "you lose yourself in another person," but the character twigs inhabits doesn't seem to have anything to lose.

All of this might sound weak, but there's a profound strength in twigs' naked confessionals. It takes a lot to feel comfortable saying you're alone, especially when you're surrounded by people. Asking your partner to be better is difficult no matter what the relationship is. Though twigs sounds uncertain, it's clear from her latest effort that she knows exactly what she wants. 

"minipops 67 [120.2] [source field mix]"- Aphex Twin

A major mistake I made when listening to "minipops 67 [120.2] [source field mix]," British producer Richard D. James' first new work as Aphex Twin in 13 years, was assuming the stirring vocals that end the song were lifted from some "ancient" source. They're so frail and wobbly that I just imagined James clearing them off a hard-drive labelled "Samples" from the year 2000. 

It's the only thing though from "minipops 67 [120.2] [source field mix] that feels "dated."  The layers of fluttering drum machines, watery synthesizers and stray noises are remarkably of the moment; recalling Aphex Twin disciples like shadowy post dubstep artist Burial and experimental hip hop producer Flying Lotus. James' aforementioned sighing at the song's end could be confused for a new Radiohead effort. Aphex Twin's been dormant since the maligned Drukqs in 2001, but James has clearly been paying attention to his imitators.

So much so that it sounds like he's read ahead of the class. As much as "minipops 67 [120.2] [source field mix] is of 2014, it’s simultaneously out of time. Individual ripples of synth keys are soundtracking a sci-fi flick that won't be made for another 10 years. The robotic heaves throughout the track are alien to my ears. There's no Rosetta Stone to decode the language of James' vocal manipulations. Aphex Twin is unquestionably back and already out in front of the field.




Aphex Twin's new album Syro is out Sept. 23 through Warp Records. You can find James' mangled bio accompanying the new release here and view the tracklist below.

Syro:
1. "minipops 67 [120.2] [source field mix]"
2. "XMAS_EveT10 (thanaton3 mix)"
3. "produk 29"
4. "4 bit 9d api+e+6"
5. "180db_"
6. "CIRCLONT6A (syrobonkus mix)"
7. "fz pseudotimestrech+e+3"
8. "CIRCLONT14 (shrymoming mix)"
9. "syro u473t8+e (piezoluminescence mix)"
10. "PAPAT4 (pineal mix)"
11. "s950tx16wasr10 (earth portal mix)"
12. "aisatsana"

"Self Control"- Kate Boy

Electronic pop group Kate Boy sound like they've been manufactured in a laboratory. Not because the Stockholm based trio lacks a soul, but because 2013 efforts "In Your Eyes" and "The Way We Are" sounded too perfect to be engineered by human hands. Synthesizers would slither without going off course. Drum machine strikes were massive, but not overwhelming. Kate Akhurst's hooks could be infectiously "sweet" and you wouldn't have to worry about a toothache because there was just the right amount of bitter. Ultimately that's what made Kate Boy's earliest work sound so "otherworldly," it was "just right" to the point of being unnerving; wandering around in the valley of the uncanny.

New single "Self Control" seems trapped in the quicksand of that uncanny valley. A few shades lighter and the electronic stomps pass for a rallying Katy Perry track. Backwards whooshes opening "Self Control" recall Frank Ocean's warm epic "Pyramids" more than the desolate landscape of Scandinavia. I'm certain the brief stabs underneath Akhurst's chants of "self-controool," littered countless 80s chart toppers. Everything here seems to be pointing somewhere else. That's not the case though. Mainstream pop artists rarely have the unflappable cool Akhurst does when singing about constantly getting something wrong. "In the end you'll make it right," Akhurst insists in the scaling chorus of mechanical claps. Kate Boy may not have the natural look of pop stars, but who cares when the music is this dazzling?

The "Self Control" single is available now through Fiction Records.

"Lemonade"- SOPHIE

On enigmatic producer SOPHIE's latest track "Lemonade," there's what sounds like a balloon slowly deflating throughout the song's all too brief two minutes. Considering the high-pitched double Dutch chants of "Le-le-lemonade" and "Ca-ca-candy Boys" the U.K. artist overlays, it's a fitting sound. "Lemonade" is like a kid's birthday party where nothing seems to be going right. The bouncy house has sprung a leak. The magician is running 20 minutes late. Parents are arguing in the other room. And one child just bit another one. There's unmistakable playfulness in the air, but the gloomy side of the tracks is within sight.

In the case of "Lemonade," SOPHIE's first effort since last summer's "Bipp," the sinister and sunny are wrapped up in the same chorus. His influence on the thriving PC Music crew is unmistakable, poppy fluctuations in mood come fast and furiously. "I've got something to tell you, I hope you understand, I never meant to hurt you, it wasn't in my plans," a head rushing Chipmunk voice confesses with stuttering electronics before low-end bass static interrupts. Like one of the hyperactive kids at that birthday though, the heartbreak is forgotten about in an instant and its back to Fizzy Lifting Drink hiccups and the familiar deflating sound. Falling in and out of love is much easier when you're young.

(The Souncloud link to "Lemonade" currently isn't working, but the "Lemonade"/"Hard" single is out August 5 through Numbers.)

"Attak" ft. Danny Brown- Rustie

Are we sure Detroit rapper Danny Brown and Glasgow producer Rustie aren't twins separated at birth? Never mind the age and race differences. When I hear Brown's schizoid voice doing cartwheels across Rustie's rapidly shifting electronic landscape in "Attak" my mind start's inventing JFK-sized conspiracy theories. One household could never contain so much fiendish energy, so the two were split up for the sanity of their parents. 

Developing such an outlandish theory is all I can do to explain why Brown and Rustie work so well together. Some of Old's most awe-inspiring moments came when the two were teaming up and creating addictive, MDMA-fed trap rave. But efforts like "Side B (Dope Song)" and "Break It (Go)" are relatively "sedate" when compared to the blinding speed of "Attak." The drum machine hi hats tic faster than a clock in a time travel montage. Futuristic air raid sirens swirl around the track at F-5 tornado speeds. What I can only describe as glitch-ridden noise swipes across "Attak" like an insanely judgmental person on Tinder. In short "Attak" is fast, but remarkably Brown is able to keep up. He raps "back in 2003 used to post up and roll up bag of pounds of meat, used to trap OG with E, Greyhound bus one pair of jeans," with such lightning quick detail you'd swear it happened yesterday. Brown never seems to be straining, whether he’s remembering his days of slinging or the times he had to scrap. "Knock your brain out the hat while I cop that," he nasally threatens in the second verse. If he doesn't follow through on the threat, Rustie surely will.



Rustie's sophomore album Green Language drops August 26 on Warp Records.

"Share It All"- Jessie Ware

I'm not sure if I've ever had to turn down the volume on a song that could be pegged as "seductive R&B" because the bass was too loud. Ideally, the bass should be softly exhaling. Synthesizers need to ebb and flow without overflowing. Drums (programmed or otherwise) that faintly tick are best. Any guitars in the mix fit when they have a brittle feeling. The seduction element hinges on silence.

On "Share It All," Jessie Ware's second offering from her upcoming sophomore release Tough Love, the U.K. electronic R&B artist checks off the last three while leaving the first conspicuously blank. "Share It All"'s synth moves at a glacial pace under Ware's breathy request "could you it all with me, and I'll share it all with you?" When she's navigating in a dark room with a destination in mind, drums are quietly chattering under piles of ripped off bed sheets. The song's fragile reverberated guitars conjure the xx and sure enough the London trio's guitarist Romy Madley Croft co-wrote the effort with Ware. Though previous collaborator Julio Bashmore produced "Share It All," it’s the xx's work that informs the track. The idea of cavernous bass in an alluring number wouldn't be possible without the xx's "Intro" as a template. In "Share It All," each boom isn't meant to shake you, but echo the jittery beat of a heart.

It's more than the music though that makes the xx one of Ware's closest analogues; it's her uncertain romantic insistence. "Share it all with me," she calmly demands before backing down to "if you want to." Ware's asking someone else "tell me what you want me to do;" following instead of leading. Not unlike Croft in "Angels," she knows exactly what love is, but doesn't quite know how to pursue it.




Jessie Ware's Twitter page teases August 3 as a release date for Tough Love's title track. No news yet when the album will appear on Island/Cherrytree.