Under their female counterpart / aliases of Millie & Andrea, the pairing of Miles Whittaker and Andy Stott have just now produced some of their finest work to date. In addition to mostly new tracks they’ve also included revisits to past releases for a cracking LP. Not sure if I was in the wrong frame of mind when those sporadic 12″ releases came in front of me the first time, but for whatever reason they didn’t leave a lasting impression, as proven by the fact that only Retail Juke (a solo Andrea release) seems to have made it in to my collection.
This time around I’m blown away, can’t fault a single thing on the ten-track album. It’s possible that the reversionings are that different, but more likely my tastes have gotten better; after all it’s been four years since their last release together, though only six since the project’s inception. Between them they released six plates exclusively on Modern Love’s Daphne imprint, of which only four tracks came to be done together. The weight of expectation on the project, and specifically this debut album Drop The Vowels, stems from how perfect this collaboration appears on paper.
Stott and Whittaker need no introduction to the electronic music scene, being at the forefront of leftfield techno and underground music for time now, the former as solo producer and live performer and the latter as a member of Demdike Stare. The Andy Stott signature bass-and-hi sound hit you like bullet to the eardrum every time, with many trying to imitate the mid-less vibes but none able to properly replicate. For Whittaker’s own part, and Demdike’s gradual move from hauntological electronics to raw floor burning techno, his techniques in composition come together flawlessly with the brutal kicks and tribal techniques of Stott, all thrown in a mixing pot that sees Mark Fell’s SND project referenced alongside grime synths and Chicago footwork, all in an industrial landscape.
The opening track starts with native drums, and the closing kick is a peaking sub-bass affair. In the middle is a journey across London bass, warehouse house and techno sound systems. You’re not going to be disappointed by this one, officially out end of the month though Boomkat managed to shift a few last week.
Some chaps put a couple of rips on youtube, two of which you can check out below, just underneath the press release.
via Modern Love
Millie & Andrea are Miles Whittaker and Andy Stott, fellow labelmates at Modern Love who collaborated on an occasional series of 12″ releases of jungle, garage and techno hybrids between 2008 and 2010. It’s been four years since we last heard from them but they now return with “Drop The Vowels”, their debut album. Produced fast and loose through late 2013 / early 2014, it’s an album that recalls the strict and stripped funk of Anthony Shakir as much as it does Leila’s incredible debut ‘Like Weather’ and A Guy Called Gerald’s ‘Black Secret Technology’, eschewing the dark aesthetic both producers are best known for in favour of something much more visceral. Opener GIF RIFF brings to life a Gamelan edit stripped bare before the over-compressed ‘Stay Ugly’ breaks out with a tumbling, broken arrangement situated somewhere between Richard D James and Jai Paul. “Temper Tantrum” and “Spectral Source” follow, tracks originally released on the second and third Daphne EP’s respectively, the former a rugged rave anthem tempered by blue strings, the latter a proper dancefloor destroyer recalling Shake’s mighty ‘Madmen’. ‘Corrosive’ flits between a fillibrating, arpeggiated steppers rhythm and a brutal jungle breakdown, while ‘Drop The Vowels’ further explores and strips bare bass & drums before the slow but jacking warehouse killer “Back Down” provides pure percussive abandon. Quay ends the set with something quieter, a sublime coda made entirely from field recordings. It brings to a close an album borne from a love of both pop and club music, made to evoke an adrenalised, hedonistic, as well as an emotional response.