New Electronica Adds: Fatima Al Qadiri, Tiga, CFCF

Fatima Al Qadiri - Brute: The Kuwaiti producer uses samples from the 2015 Ferguson protests in lead track 'Endzone', which is reminiscent of a more sobering version of Chino Amobi's They Don't Really Care About Us. Unfortunately, there are a couple instances in the EP where Al Qadiri's strong political message overlooks the actual content, which kinda sux because she usually manages to execute both well. I've been a diehard since her Ayshay days, female Arab producers are literally unicorns amongst a glut of generic European v-neck-wearing little shits sweating out poor-quality ketamine at Dekmantel. This cut is insane. So is this one. So let's hope Al Qadiri comes up Milhouse next time. RAZ

Recommended Tracks: Curfew, Endzone, 10-34

RIYL: Unsettlingly clean production, Fade To Mind, experimental producers who went club-friendly in 2015 but are back to doing weird shit.

Tiga - No Fantasy Required: This isn't cutting-edge club music. Tiga is Zoolander if Zoolander could use Reason. So yeah, he's a 41-year old Canadian wearing eyeliner, and yes, his sound doesn't subscribe to the minimal tech-house zeitgeist, but this is ~guaranteed~ the most playful electronic album of 2016. I mean the dude made this track with king push. Tiga harkens back to a time when electro was king, Soulwax flexed on everyone and French DJs had a stronghold on electronic music (basically 2008). Lead single 'Planet E' could be a cut straight from that electrochoc station in GTA IV. This record is perfect for reckless-ass driving around Liberty City in a sweet white Perseus suit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iwky87HPef8. RAZ

Recomended Tracks: Planet E, Bugatti, Make Me Fall In Love, Plush

RIYL: Simian Mobile Disco, insouciant French electro producers, 

CFCF - On Vacation: Electronic music sometimes seems to be thoroughly devoid of any original ideas, which it tends to supplement with "reviving" old genres to rework. It's a cheap way of pretending you're innovating but really just packaging up old ideas with a fresh coat of paint. Until now, I've been pretty happy to explore a lot of different music genres under the banner of revivalism with the excuse that I'd never heard them in their original contexts. I thought I might never say this, but revivalism has gone too far when you're reviving NEW AGE. This record is literally spa music. It is the music that plays from your TV's default channel when you first arrive at your room at a mid tier "tropical" hotel. It plays on tinny speakers when you're in a waiting room to go talk to a Feng Shui expert. It is grocery store music if everyone at the grocery store talked constantly about how they were "indigo children" as kids and wanted to show you "this cool new crystal/power object they got from an aromatherapy shop" and how it really has helped align their qi. And that's okay. CFCF is a guy whom I've kept tabs on ever since 2010: he was originally a part of a BBS board I visited occasionally, and helped the board spawn one of the first internet micro-genres: night bus (a mode of music based around the eponymous Burial track). After having made remixes of a lot of tracks in that department, he underwent a long period of trying to find his "sound", and it was always interesting to me to hear what he would come up with. On Vacation is pretty atypical of him: the record isn't something you'd hear anywhere outside of Cafe del Mar. The tracks on this record are almost designed to be forgotten, until you really start to listen closely and distinctly to each of the tracks:Sate Padang and Arto share a ton in common with city pop and are both incredibly upbeat tracks, while others like Fleurs Laisses Dans Un Taxi and In The Courtyard share more in common with lounge or library music than those previously mentioned. The record incorporates a Balearic feel to it as well, and it would seem to pretty perfectly fit by some beachside cafe there. TL;DR It's cool new-age revival stuff. If you want something that's more easy listening oriented from our catalog of adds, take a listen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Me-EZGVzt18. SEAN

Recommended Tracks: Sate Padang, Arto, In the Courtyard

RIYL: chill out, Balearic beat, sitting at a beachside cafe at twilight in the Mediterranean, DIY Reiki books, reading and attributing events in your life to your horoscope