🐣 UAH — AFTER WORDS

⌾ LISTEN TO UAH, AFTER WORDS⌾

The piano in 'After Words' explodes on a heavy, storm-summoning chord, and continues dramatic and grounded in the impending trauma at the heart of it. It's the feeling of having tenderness turned on its head, sinking sadly on the sofa; a warm and homely environment where ghosts seep in through the walls and cling to your skin.

High notes tumble and ache, like thoughts on stilts wading through the heaviness of your head - the fine, disturbed lines of London musicmaker uah's dim washed canvas. That fogged feel is nudged along by the gradual gale of phasing ambience that settles into the track, soon made the tormented dominance of it all, piano - all semblance of mindful control fading.

"I wrote 'After Words' when I was trying to make sense of the difficult times a friend was facing," uah types. "I didn't know whether to be stoic or sad or just be true to the trepidation I felt inside. Recording it helped me decide to be all of those, and more."

Starting low and crawling beneath the surface of the detached mist, trails of synth slowly crack the surface, pushed up with the aid of analogue crushing sub, bubbles glooping from the depths. Unsteadily the trails begin, like something reanimated trying to find its feet, until the treble hits a crescendo; the synth gallops in streams, cutting, the phasing surge of ambience like a heavy cloud getting lower.

As 'After Words' fades, the camera focused on the warmly lit room zooms out in time, showing the window, other windows, the building - night.

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• 🔔
• 🔔 This lovely little track is taken from uah's Not Dreaming Anymore EP, a collision of antique piano and curling analogue synths. Listen to it over on SoundCloud. And if you like you can purchase it from Bandcamp.

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📠
☟ uah Internet Presence ☟
soundcloud ⚘ bandcamp ⚘ twitter ⚘ instagram ⚘ spotify ⚘ itunes

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🐣 DOWNSTATE — HOW TO FIX AN IBM FAX MACHINE INSTRUCTIONAL GUIDE 1996

This one is a scenic soundscape, a canvas painted with old tools, vintage equipment employed in the creation of something new and something beautiful, something that summons an elsewhere. In the description of the track on SoundCloud musicmaker and creator of this particular track – the descriptively titled 'how to fix an IBM fax machine instructional guide 1996' – downstate wrote: "I made this with the drum sounds from a dying roland jv30 and the korg M1 digital synthesizer." At points it's like breakcore made with an old drum machine, which in fact might be exactly what it is, with the percussive clacks and metallic zings zipping and trilling with glitch intensity and wheezing retro quality.

There is that newness to it, painted with old brushes and old paint. But then there is this golden-age sound to it, and it probably has a lot to do with the warmth of this, the analogue warmth in the thick chords that bubble in their slow singular refrains, as much as it has to do with the quite literally gleaming melodies that ache and twinkle zither-like above. And in this classic sound is perhaps an inherent leaning towards cinematic, scene-setting, VGM-style (thinking Earthbound, Streets of Rage, for instance), the expansive, exploratory feel of it. downstate also mentions that they probably "could have cut the hiss from the broken keyboard but i like it sounding like shit its authentic." But that hiss, that decayed grey noise hovering throughout, does indeed add to it, does add authenticity, gives it the swathing static of ages gone by as a backdrop.

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• 🔔 You can download all and any of Downstate's tracks from this Wordpress that they've set up as an archive.

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📠
☟ Downstate Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ soundcloud ⚘ bandcamp ⚘ traktrain

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🐣 ANNA OF THE NORTH — SOMEONE

In a hypnotising swirl of '80s flavours, a wash of mind-cleansing synth that spreads like nocturnal mist or faux fog from a smoke machine at a retro disco, Norwegian-New Zealand duo Anna of the North spin an expansive track in the form of 'Someone', exuding a sense of hopefulness, a filmic reverie whose soft focus scenes of neon-pink-and-green-on-black flash in your mind, a balance of feel-good fun and melancholy romance swinging to the rhythm of the thumping electro drums. "It’s about how easy it is to break your promises when you’ve had a couple of drinks," the band explains in a press release.

"Going deeper," it continues, "the song is about accepting that you’re only human and to learn how to forgive yourself for your own mistakes and accepting that sometimes we need someone to save us from repeating any old habits." You can definitely, definitely feel the drama of that explanation imbued in the track, something highly emotive at work as Anna literally sings asking for someone to come and save her. The wide, vast synths of this track suggest a newness, a discovery, a revelation, the feeling of having been closed up now cast aside in light of new acceptance, something about the cold light of day blaring bright as the glistening sheen of synth sparkles atop the juddering electro bass, sobriety and honesty set sail in a vessel of retro pop.

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• 🔔 'Someone' is taken from Anna of the North's debut album Lovers, which is getting released on 8th September via, for some reason, three labels (Different Recordings / Honeymoon / +1 Records). You can pre-order it variously via this link.

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📠
☟ Anna of the North Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ soundcloud ⚘ twitter ⚘ instagram ⚘ myspace

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Y/N GUEST MIX 016 :: USHUA X NA RADHI

It's that time again. Someone donates a hefty portion of their time in order to create a nice little mix for anybody who wants to hear it. There is no exclusivity here, no whatever, we just asked whether Ushua would wanna make a mix for YES/NO or not and he said yes. Here we are. Recently this LA-based producer remixed a track by Jaust called 'Feel The Smoke Rise' with some seriously pugilistic footwork zing. Other than that, there's not much else to say.

With the mix he was gonna put together, he said he wanted to represent or at least showcase his collective, Na Radhi (like Ulzzang Pistol did with his mix a couple of months back). I learnt that "Na radhi" means "with pleasure" in Swahili; "We like to take that thought into our production and just make music we enjoy listening to ourselves," explains Ushua. "Our goal as a collective is to release as much good content as possible and grow." Alongside fellow member, Lo Key Dst, they want to connect with other likeminded musicmakers, release their creations and collaborate with them.

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We have studios set up where we live so it's our goal to create as much as possible. Bedroom producers as most would say.

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A recent discovery will also be the debut release for the collective-slash-label: "Forthcoming on Na Radhi our debut will feature DJ Unlimited Breadsticks' Grissinni Ghost EP," Ushua tells me. "We met him over the internet and he wanted to put out a release, and Lo Key and I remixed a track also." It's this combo of connectivity and communication that seems to be at the heart of this collective – it is rooted wholly in the internet: a tool for deep, wide searches on SoundCloud for new & unique music, and a way to share these and other things. "Lo Key and I bounce ideas off each other with different aspects of our production. We help each other grow as artists which is a really good thing," says Ushua. "Having similar influences in beats and other types of music, always good to trade files with someone who has a good iTunes..."

His mix is a testament to all things big and beautiful in a world built with bricks of trap and footwork, from the quasi-religious experience of Fatima Al Qadiri's track 'Szechuan', where traditional Chinese sounds meet a kind of mystical grime from under the ground in some desert somewhere, to the synth-soaked breakbeats-in-space of Lockah and Eloq's coproduction, 'Jupiter', and everything in between – Young Triforce Cat Baron's heartbreaking 'Usagi Sadness' and the clever electronic chill of the actually brilliant 'Dayum' by cln.

Ushua talks about it. "The mix is a wide variety of styles from halftime to footwork/cinematic and everything in between, much like Na Radhi there is a nice variety spanning all types of influences and genres," he says. "There are [also] a couple unreleased bootlegs/reworks and a recent release from Na Radhi's Old Ransom for ILoveMakonnen."

But I think you've probably read enough for now. Big thanks to Ushua. Please enjoy the mix.

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• T R A C K L I S T •

1. Ringatone - I'm Sprung (Joey Edit)
2. Vybz Kartel - My Crew
3. Ushua – SeanDaWhite (Demo)
4. dd elle – Kind 2 U (Demo)
5. Mr. Carmack - Extra
6. Young Triforce Cat Baron – Usagi Sadness
7. Ba-kuura – Dream Sim
8. ILoveMakonnen – I Mix My (Ushua Adn Edit)
9. Fatima Al Qadiri – Szechuan
10. Arnold – IDC
11. cln – Dayum
12. DJ Paypal X Ticklish – Worst Behavior
13. DJ Unlimited Breadsticks – ??? (Ushua X Lo Key Dst Remix) Forthcoming on Na Radhi
14. Lockah & Eloq – Jupiter
15. Ryan Hemsworth – Weird Life (Druid Cloak Remix)
16. Jagged Edge – He Can't Love You (Ticklish Reboot)
17. T-Pain – Drankin' Patna (Ushua Remix)
18. ILoveMakonnen – Club Going Up on a Tuesday (Old Ransom Bootleg)

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☟ Ushua Social Media Presence ☟
Facebook • SoundCloud • Twitter • Na Radhi

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