This week in dance music: Tokimonsta announced the cancellation of her fall tour and postponement of her new album, Charli XCX and Troye Sivan hit NYC with their Sweat tour, Massive Attack announced a new series of climate action gigs, artists including SG Lewis and Mary Droppinz were announced as players in the electronic industry charity soccer tournament Copa del Rave, Barry Can’t Swim released his blazing hot “Still Riding,” the posthumous Sophie album was surprise-released weeks before it was scheduled to drop, Dom Dolla scored six ARIA award nominations, Kylie Minogue talked about the bananas success of “Padam Padam” then released another dancefloor banger, we premiered a performance with DJ Mita Gami and a 37-person orchestra that happened at Burning Man last month, FORM Arcosanti dropped the set times for its upcoming fest and we spoke with the founder of an annual dance show for charity that happens on the Vanderbilt University campus in Nashville.
Beyond that, so many albums! These are the best new dance projects of the week.
Eli & Fur, Dreamscapes
The London-born, Los Angeles-based duo release their second album, Dreamscapes, with the project sounding as hypnotic and ethereal as its name suggests. The pair maintain a depth and delicacy throughout, even when they dial up the bass lines and BPM. Altogether it’s a sleek, sophisticated, no-skips effort, with a song for each phase of the night — from getting yourself ready, to falling in love on that dancefloor to the moment of sunrise that’s as much a feeling as a naturally occurring daily event. The pair play a tight trio of shows in Los Angeles, New York City and London starting Oct. 12.
Lane 8, Childish
Earlier this month it became clear something was happening, or about to happen, in the Lane 8 universe when the artist wiped his Instagram account. Not long after, an assemblage of footage of the producer as a child — playing the piano, dressed up for Halloween, pulling his sister in a wagon — was posted. Three days later, on Sept. 16, he announced his fifth studio album, Childish. There would be no singles, just a complete album, out today. The artist himself summarizes the project’s ethos best, writing that as he’s watched his own children become more creative, “I understand now how important creating has always been for my own mental well being, and my sense of pride and worth. I remember such vivid feelings of infinite possibility while creating as a kid.
“Thinking about all of this made me realize that my own approach to art has changed a lot over the years,” he continues. “When you make a living off your art, people need to like what you make for the whole thing to work. A pressure to please others starts to creep into the creative process, whether you want it to or not. It was only by watching our kids create that I fully appreciated how much my own process had changed. It hurt to admit it at first, but what followed was a new sense of liberation and motivation, because i knew it didn’t have to be that way.”
The 10-track project, which features collaborations with Kasablanca, Sultan + Shepherd and more, is out on Lane 8’s own This Never Happened label.
Ben Böhmer, Bloom
The inimitable Ben Böhmer returns with his third studio album, Bloom, a nine-track demonstration of all the depth, lushness and absolute feeling the German producer is a master of. Out on Ninja Tune, the project finds him collaborating with luminaries like Lykke Li, Oh Wonder and Enfant Sauvage, the producer who’s also one half of The Blaze. Together this latter artist and Böhmer absolutely send it one of the album’s centerpieces, “Evermore,” a cinematic showstopper that balances an exquisite string arrangement, a shimmering bridge and production with serious muscle. Böhmer plays this weekend at Portola in San Francisco.
TSHA, Sad Girl
Almost exactly two years after the release of her debut album, Capricorn Sun, TSHA returns with its followup, Sad Girl. The album, out on Ninja Tune, opens with a spoken word collab with London-based poet Dan Whitlam, who proclaims the album’s thesis statement, “sometimes the sad feels better than feeling good, and that’s okay.” And in a music scene that’s perpetually pushing ideas of dancing! and fun! and that any given night at the club just might be the greatest night of your life!, TSHA here acknowledges that life sometimes the world and the dancefloor get awful blue, too — expressing the idea over a dozen tracks, and for the first time putting her own vocals on a few of them. The punchy, swirly “Take” is a standout, and the album closes with the equally tough and stylish “Fight.”
Justice, “Neverender (Kaytranada Remix)”
“Neverender,” a single and standout from Justice’s April album Hyperdrama gets an edit from fellow master Kaytranada, who strips the song or much of its heft, trading out the punchy layers of the original and swapping them for echo-ey drums, strings and a lot of chimes. Kaytra’s airy take comes alongside another warm edit from Rampa of Keinemusic. In addition to all that, Justice has released a new video for the original “Neverender,” which bathes the eyes in vintage anime. Justice plays Portola in San Francisco this weekend and will make their Hollywood Bowl debut on October 4.
Lszee, Lszee
After months of hype, French bass titan CloZee and the proudly heady producer Lsdream release their collaborative self-titled album. Playing like ear salve for anyone who enjoys camping festivals, bass music and tie-dye (preferably all at the same time), the album melds each producer’s celestially-leaning, world music influenced and thoroughly pummeling styles into a groovy, deep, totally fun 13-track collection. The spacey “Wook Whistle” is a sly nod to the fact that these two know exactly in which realm their hardcore fans exist, with the pair headlining the genre nexus of Red Rock Amphitheatre on Oct. 5-6 before headlining the Brooklyn Mirage October 12.
