Reviewed in The Wire Magazine 488 | October 2024

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Nice Music Label presents ‘THRASH’ - an incendiary new collaborative recording from indefinable, incomparable modern giant of electronic music Actress (Darren Cunningham) and NM’s own label head, capricious sound artist Simon J Karis.

Actress and SJK stir up their intertwining trademark elements into a clandestine symmetrical arc over three tracks - each of them bestowing their own edit of ‘THRASH’, with Karis’ urgent acid thumper as a centerpiece. Both drastically remapping their razored hardware collision, staunchly gnawing their respective sounds into oblivion and back again.

Incongruously, Karis drags the duo into his world of “noise” treatments and hifi harshness, all parping distortion and compressed hypercolours, yet Cunningham threads his instantly recognisable swoops of synth graffiti, 8-bit fx throttle and percussive errata in a perfect symbiosis of their palettes.

‘Darren edit’ breathes more and jogs along sparsely enough to deny any requirements of progression from the tenets of electro concepts hinted at, surfing through knackered programming and a circuitous routine of synthetic howls and ragged blipscapes. ‘Simon edit’ actively seeks progression, folding in on itself over its 5+ minutes before reaching its zenith of aquatic riffage and elevated melodic bombast. Karis’ solo track ‘night glaze smashed chalice.alp’ is artfully imposed right in between the two edits of ‘THRASH’ - a muscular 4/4 acid burner, hissing abjectly with refracted room sound and textural horror. Hard as nails. 

released July 25, 2024

nicemusic058
16 minutes
Nice Music 2024

Actress, Simon J Karis 'Thrash' [Darren edit]

Meshell Ndegeocello performs live at Le Guess Who? 2024, curated by Arooj Aftab, following the release of ‘No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin’.

About
Meshell Ndegeocello is a true multitalented and multifaceted artist: singer-songwriter, rapper, bassist, collaborator, GRAMMY-winner, neo-soul movement igniter. Yet, even when sinking seamlessly into each one of her many roles, she has always worn her artistry and identity as a proud Black queer woman on her sleeve. 

Her latest album, ‘No More Water’, released via Blue Note, is inspired by the work and legacy of writer and activist James Baldwin.  “All I want from the listening of this record is that maybe you go pick up one of his books,” she says. “It’s a win-win for me. I just want you to have the experience I had and maybe just change a kernel of yourself.”

Captured at TivoliVredenburg's Ronda on Sunday, 10 November 2024.

Meshell Ndegeocello – bass guitar, vocals
Abe Rounds – drums, vocals
Kyle Miles – bass guitar
Jebin Bruni – keyboards
Chris Bruce – guitar
Jake Sherman – organ
Justin Hicks – vocals 

Audio recording by Philip ten Brink; mix by Marc Broer
Photography by Lisanne Lentink

Meshell Ndegeocello - Intro / What Did I Do?

A Celebration of Sound in Utrecht, Netherlands.

"Le Guess Who? proves: music & art can bring us together into a more hopeful future" – The Line of Best Fit

www.leguesswho.com