KOAN Sound Levels Up in Potency on Intervals Above EP

Nine months ago, KOAN Sound emerged from a three year release hiatus with their genre-bending album Polychrome. It was a fresh dive into the melody-driven side of KOAN Sound’s music, and showcased a bevy of new production skills and sound design techniques that the pair developed during their respite from the public eye. While they have always been at the forefront of underground neuro music and production, Polychrome was a long form reminder that they are still kicking just as fiercely now as they were during their original foray into the world. 

With the summer coming to an end, and a series of long-awaited KOAN Sound tour dates locked in throughout the fall, the pair have unleashed a veritable surprise for their fans; Intervals Above, a five track EP filled with audacious fidelity and production nuance. It builds on the production developments found within Polychrome, but channels the classic KOAN timbres with a focus on intensity and raw power. Each track feels sparser in the composition, leaving room for the development of every tone and motif. Intervals Above is a direct, high-impact delivery of KOAN Sound’s elaborate soundscapes and favored musical modes. 

“Strident” opens the EP with washed-out synths and a vivacious, glitch-out acoustic string line. It sets the mood like only KOAN Sound can, channeling groove and melody long before the true rhythm of the song is in full motion. The arrangement follows a practical, texture-rich bass line that envelopes bright pads and gentle melodies from end to end. By the conclusion of the track, foley and synthesis meld into a series of cascading waves ebbing and flowing within the stereo space.

Chalky White, a Bristol-based guitarist with a penchant for accentuating bass music, received a healthy dose of fanfare over his chops in “Chalk It Out” on KOAN Sound’s last album. He reprises his role across the entirety of Intervals Above, most notably on the track “Vibrant”. It begins with a blend of synthesis and sultry string lines that fold into a melodious, staccato breakdown. The song combines salient sound design with a torrent of transient percussion and fluttering arpeggios. The lead synthesis lines meet each guitar chop squarely on cadence, fusing the airiness and presence within the track into an organic, evolving composition.

“Vivid” brings the EP to a gentle close, eschewing intensity in favor of pure flavor. For much of the songs runtime, it is an ambient and reverberant journey into the musicality of the KOANs. Serene, ephemeral chords stack atop short burst of hums and hymns, charging the stereo space with powerful bursts of emotion. At the height of climax, the minute-long flash of percussion fades into the background, and the song falls back into a cushion of synthetic textures and resounding chord phrases.

After years of relative quiet from the duo, it has been an especially auspicious year for KOAN Sound fans. Between Polychrome and Intervals Above, the KOANs touched upon every facet of their musicianship. To make matters even more exciting, they have announced their first set of major tour dates in the last several years, and they are currently slated to appear across the US from September to November. It seems like 2019 is the year of the KOAN, and we’re looking forward to a serious reunion on the dance floor.

FOLLOW KOAN Sound: Facebook / Soundcloud / Spotify / Official

Chalky - Blooe EP

Rounding back into the public spotlight for his sophomore release, Chalky doubles down on his particular brand of nu jazz in the Blooe EP. His debut album, Second Beach, saw him meander through various jazz modalities via intuitive instrumentalism and keen composition. The Blooe EP is a refined and tonally conversational next step in the Chalky catalog.

Much like his previous releases, this EP is both instrumentally verbose and compositionally airtight. Every track features organic pauses, refrains, and swells of emotion, like the natural moments spent gathering and debating thoughts within a dialogue. If the music is a conversation, “Bluebird” is the whimsical first “hello”, replete with a steady rhythmic pulse and succinct harmonies across the duration of the track. The composition gradually ramps up into further harmonies and chord progressions while simultaneously maintaining a smooth sonic profile. The everpresent smoothness in Chalky’s growing discography is very much his calling card, with his songwriting and music production skills being firstly responsible for the cohesion and fidelity felt throughout his music.

Most good conversations exude a mutual feeling of finality after exchanging goodbyes and farewells. The Blooe EP makes peace with its ending moments through a latinate serenade of the senses; “Blooe Bossa” is a stereophonic vacation, sultry in the ears and tropical on the palette. The wholesome blend of brass, strings, percussion, and foley alliterate the composition, bringing to life the totality of the EP’s musical strengths. From start to finish, the Blooe EP rides inside the rhythmic pocket, slowly rolling from each track into the next without the slightest dissonance. Chalky’s focus on harmony and instrumental dialogue delivers grander compositions with each successive release, and it should come as no surprise that this EP is a fortuitous step ahead in his career.

The current musical climate in the UK is undergoing a sort of new jazz Renaissance. Acts like Yussef Dayes, Kamaal Williams, Mo Kolours and others have been reinventing the modern jazz wheel, injecting a massive dose of acid flavoring and off-kilter song writing into the genre's blood stream. Chalky maintains his musical intrigue through his aural approachability; for the picky and critically minded, this EP is ripe with compositional nuance and emotive phrasing. For the easy listeners, it is just as laid back and digestible as it is tonally full. Regardless of whatever kind of listener you happen to be, it's in your best interest to power up your nearest sound system, grab a few rolling papers, and prepare to take flight with the ever personable Captain Chalky.

FOLLOW Chalky: Soundcloud / Bandcamp / Facebook

Simiah & The Phantom Ensemble - Connections

England is currently in the midst of a full-blown jazz renaissance, and the talent pouring out of this cultural eruption has a knack for bridging the gap between different strains of broken-beat music. Simiah & The Phantom Ensemble is an open-ended jazz ensemble that folds together live sampling, keys, saxophone, and a bevy of guest instrumentalists in the live sphere. On February 15th, they unveiled their debut LP Connections, establishing their particular fluidity in the studio format. The blend of sampled percussion and zoned-in conventional tones creates a smoke-screened aesthetic behind the eyes, gently touching on the senses.

Simiah is the boom-bap trooper with a vigilant duty to break the beat any way he can. Utilizing a classic MPC to channel drum lines and percussive jaunts, his control of the stereo space throughout the album is entangling, just as alive as the purebred instrumentation that rests atop it. The finger-drummed mechanics of velocity and tension are ever present, ebbing the soul of the tracks back and forth from organic to mechanic. Manning the keys with ever the careful touch, Dan Somers fleshes out vibes in every direction imaginable, blending like butter into the arrangement and mixdown of every song. Without so much as a stutter, his dexterity and precision note-to-note forms the veritable glue of the record.

Craig Crofton does justice on a moment-by-moment basis, rocking the saxophone with a sensuality that bleeds through the open space in the mix. A touch here, and riff there, all washed with a careful balance of spatial effects that soak into the tone of the brass. Altogether, this trio absolutely smashes all expectations and standards with their vibrant compositions and time-tested musicianship.

Prior to the release of Connections, the Phantom Ensembles embraced the addition of two new instrumentalists; Harriet Riley, a vibraphonist and percussionist, and the Bristol-based guitarist Chalky White, a Rust fan favorite. Upgrading the Ensemble to a five-piece was a bold endeavor, surely changing the fundamental chemistry of the band. By all accounts, especially the response to their recent live performances, these additions have been like perfect ingredients spicing this already sultry dish.

FOLLOW Simiah & The Phantom Ensemble:   Bandcamp / SoundCloud / Facebook

Chalky - Second Beach

Replete with all the flair, shine, and cinematic attitude of jazz music’s ballroom past, Chalky lays down an incredibly delicious interpretation of nu jazz with grandiose compositional strength in his debut album Second Beach. Based out of Bristol, a city currently making tremendous strides in various musical directions, Chalky White is a multi-instrumentalist steeped in a lifetime of aural immersion and experimentation. Earlier this year, he released Bright Spots, a collaborative album with fellow Bristol bandit Sandy Finlayson, otherwise known as Seppa. That collection of tunes was the first full serving of Chalky’s considerable virtuosity, and the production value acted like an industrial adhesive for the bevy of tones featured on each track, thanks to Seppa’s engineering prowess.

Doubling down on lush instrumental dialogue and hardcore jazz motifs, Chalky takes the compositional direction entirely into his own hands in Second Beach. The arrangement of each track mirrors the overall flow of the album; strings, brass, keys, accordion, omnichord, and buttery vocals rest in the pocket of noire-flavored drums and voluptuous low-end. Opening the album with a dash of splendor and a high vibe, “Me and You” easily slides from a flashy, orchestral introduction into a sensual groove befitting a red-light mood. Entire scales are crossed and rehashed through a constant revolution with each texture gracefully overtaking the last. As the song comes to it's resounding back-end, perfunctory synthesis fills the upper frequency spectrum, while earthy sub-weight carries each phrase to it's natural cadence. Combining dextrous arpeggios with call-and-response chord progressions, “Distant Victory” is the natural resting point of the album, aptly squared away in the middle of the tracklist. With ease and tremendous attitude, major and minor phrasing is tossed back and forth like a firebrand tango between your brain's left and right hemispheres.

Capitalizing on what is clearly a fluency in harmony, Chalky fails to waste a good moment for unexpected, playful turnarounds on each refrain, gradually spinning his songs into sublime hip-hop rhythms. Bringing the album to a close amidst a mist of vivacious soundscapes, “Lore” channels an aqueous and asymmetrical aesthetic. Combining jazz licks, pitted percussion, and tone-bending synthesis, the wash of reverb and dialed-in delay create a stereo width that crosses sensory borders, becoming an especially physical experience.

For Chalky White, Second Beach is an ode to a musical heritage and familial upbringing within his hometown of Looe, Cornwall. It is the sound of youthful wanderlust tempered by an intuitive understanding of sonic effluence. Having already demonstrated the ability and willingness to work well with musicians and producers in various directions, it is extremely exciting to watch an artist blossom into their own aural identity in real time. With all the exceptional music coming from Bristol and elsewhere in the UK, do not make the mistake of letting Chalky sail under your radar.

FOLLOW Chalky: SoundCloud / Bandcamp / Facebook

Seppa & Chalky - Bright Spots

It’s no secret that this publication has a bit of a crush on Slug Wife, but it might have just exploded into full-blown infatuation as the label takes a 180-degree turn away from their business as usual like massive bass lines and shredded synthesis. The lead gastropod Seppa has collaborated with a previously-unsung instrumentalist to whip up a bonafide jazz production, Bright Spots, that will leave any set of ears in a fit of ecstacy. The collaborative partner in question here goes by the moniker of Chalky, and is a local musician of repute over in Slug territory, the United Kingdom. Bunched together with Seppa, who apparently has more than a knack for shredding a saxophone in his free time, they’ve produced a record that’s worth its weight in musical gold.

When fans think of Slug Wife, they probably don't envision a jazz composition. That is the half the beauty of this record; it smashes the assumed M.O. of the entire label releasing it. Yet even in tossing away the presumed conventions of a Seppa production, it retains a certain veneer that is all the same typical of his releases. The percussion is incredibly bright and biting, crunching through the mix with the same major compression that’s usually fit for more visceral interpretations of music. Melodiously, it’s nothing short of rich in its texture and arrangement. The instrumental dialogue is presented with a fluid mastery as each tone dances in tandem with the harmonies and rhythmic pulses around it. Chalky lays down most of the instrumentation, and melds vivacious guitar chops with Seppa’s high-octane saxophone lines throughout the record. The entire 13-track album avoids musical ramblings and run-on phrasing, instead honing in on the finer details of each auditory climax and point of tension.

The composition of each song is fine-tuned to the slightest detail, as in “The Fiddler”, with complimentary string lines bouncing along the semitones in between harmonized slices of brass. “Slowdow” takes on minor scales and modal shifts, rocking between the ominous and the noire and climaxing into a pure mood potion that swims in the head long after the song has ended. Tapping into the power of staccato movement, “Time To Kill Again” keeps it short and sweet with bouncing pockets of rhythm sliding into smooth musings and tactile chord phrasing. Overall, the entire album is best characterized by its opening track, “Boss Rat Jam Man”, which exudes the exact attitude its name projects. Exceptionally delicious instrumental interactions bring to the mind granular images of red-carpet ballrooms and the posh aesthetic of modern jazz’s flashier epochs. While it appears to have been designed to be enjoyed top to bottom in one shot, the record plays out as a tonally brimming and well-meshed experience regardless of starting position or track order.

The first glimpse of Slug Wife’s bold step at shedding its usual veneer began with their Wack Lack series, which showcases “battlewax” more befitting of scratch DJs and vocalists. Bright Spots is an ambitious dive into territory that is yet another step away from the public sonic associations made with such titans of unconventional bass music. For all of Seppa’s production prowess and musical affluence, the real spotlight here is on Chalky, who by the admission of his production partner should be unveiling even more aural butter in the months following this first major release. As always, those Anglican slugs are never found resting on their laurels, instead constantly pushing the envelope of their total musical explorations and output. Bright Spots is a stellar edition to an already explosive release catalog, and is surely indicative of further left-field developments in the world of Slug Wife.

FOLLOW Seppa:  Bandcamp  /  Soundcloud  /  Facebook

FOLLOW Chalky:  Soundcloud  /  Bandcamp  /  Facebook