Scissor and Thread's Essential Tracks

DAS KOMPLEX - POWER

Toto Colonia

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More about the world has changed than not in the decade since dance production dyad Frank & Tony released their last full-length record, 2014’s You Go Girl. Despite, or perhaps in spite of, this shifting landscape, house music has managed to stay fundamentally reliable (either a bug or its greatest feature, depending on who you ask). Where previously, Frank & Tony have been celebrated for their contemplative, studious approach to the genre, with 2024’s Ethos, the Brooklyn/Biarritz-based duo return amidst metastatic cultural upheaval to prove out those scholarly credentials — with an album that serves to remind listeners why dancefloors and liberatory politics consistently share the language of movements and revolutions. 
"House music has always been an expression of political desire as it often was the only safe space for communities to come together in ways that society at large disallowed,” Harris enthuses. “The same energy in the ‘90s could be found in parts of the punk & hardcore scene. Countercultures exist to create temporary autonomous zones of desire outside of dominant narratives that are roadblocks to creation. We have always been inspired by these countercultural movements and the Frank & Tony project is deeply influenced by it."
Though the project originates from the relationship between house legends Francis Harris and Anthony Collins, the titular Frank & Tony were born of a fictional, happenstance meeting inspired by Harris’s experiences in the more liminal, amorphous dance and punk scenes of the late ‘90s/early 2000s (as exemplified in the early works of photographer Anouk Schneider, whose photographs feature on the duo’s first releases). In a world beyond dialectic, where bodies are simultaneously revered and decentered, Frank & Tony connect for one night on an imaginary dancefloor, vowing to make work together in the future; however, having exchanged no information, and with classic club kid garb obscuring any common identifying characteristics, they turn to the internet in hopes of reconnecting for a collaboration.
This origin myth hones in on the crucial history of the dancefloor as a stage whereupon individuals, regardless of background, enact political and socioeconomic desire to scale, highlighting such locations as the tertiary factor present in intimate relationships of all kinds, brought about when two individuals unite and produce that mysterious third thing that was never really possible without blurring the lines of identity so that collaborative creation can happen. 

In practice, it sounds like the record needed by fans of the genre, full of the lightness and space in rooms full of fellow revelators. “We’re only able to make house music because of the vast legacy of producers from New York, Detroit and Chicago who laid the foundation for what we do today,” Collins divulges. “In many ways it can never really live up to that legacy as our art is born out of privilege rather than necessity to create spaces of political desire in the face of marginalization. So what does this mean? We take that legacy very seriously and we want our stamp on this history to resonate with current and future generations as a bridge to the real history behind it."

Undoubtedly, Ethos is tremendously influenced by the multitude of projects originating from, and supported by, the duo and their label in the decade since You Go Girl– releasing records from a vast diversity of artists (including Nadia Khan, Gry, Villete, Darand Land, Alex Albrecht, Dj Sprinkles and CCL), and Harris becoming curatorial voice of Brooklyn’s premiere venue for audiophiles, Public Records, where he continues to amplify work across a global diaspora (and where the duo maintain a residency of wide praise).

Ethos

Ethos (with DaRand Land)

Frank & Tony - Ethos (with DaRand Land)

Alex Albrecht returns with Aurora - a pristine followup to his Blue Caves transmission via Scissor and Thread in 2018. 

The Melbourne based composer and sound designer Albrecht has leans into his predilection for woozy, affecting melodies intertwined with skittering drums and snaking grooves, and Aurora brings that to the fore with six tracks of shimmering beauty. 

Spring Orchard opens the record, effortlessly merging deeply buried keys with washes of dreamlike synths, and dubby effects. 
Wildflower Walk is a melancholic affair, underpinned with a restless groove. 
The title track Aurora treads a similar path, but with a more driving approach, while an interplay between piano, guitar, and synths drenched in reverb offer a warm, enveloping atmosphere. 


Aurora is also shared here as a remix by Roza Terenzi, who entirely reworks the track with her signature club ready grooves . 

Kennett River exhibits a kind of smudged, cinematic hip hop feel, while closing track Morning Piazza showcases Albrecht’s sense of drama and pacing, producing a sublime ending to this deeply affecting collection.

Aurora

Alex Albrecht - Aurora

https://soundcloud.com/soelaela
www.linktr.ee/scissorandthread

Soela releases the first single from her upcoming album Dark Portrait on Scissor & Thread - Even If I Ask You Stay. 

Russian born Berlin based Elina Shorokhova has made a transition from pianist and vocalist into electronic music, balancing her ear for melody and musicality.

With this single, we get to see a very vulnerable side of Soela; "Even If I Ask You To Stay has several meanings for me. The most direct one is about an abusive relationship where you're already openly asking the person to leave, but are so attached that you want them to stay. The second meaning is with my struggle with depression. My experience is that it takes a lot of inner strength to heal from depression, and sometimes you're still powerless against the disease. So it stays with you again and again”.
 
The track itself merges a skittering rhythm, gorgeously melancholic piano and string sections with Soela's vocals that cut deep - resulting in a beautifully realized and powerful composition

Even If I Ask You To Stay

Soela - Even If I Ask You To Stay

Artist: @soelaela
Stream/Buy: www.linktr.ee/scissorandthread

Soela is the DJ and production alias of Elina Shorokhova, a Russia-born Berlin-based experienced pianist and vocalist who has made a hugely impactful transition into electronic music.

Having released material on such labels as Kompakt, Dial, Shall Not Fade, Lost Palms, E-Beamz, Red Ember Records, Sushitech, and others, Soela joins the ranks of Scissor & Thread for this exquisite album - Dark Portrait. 

The album opens in a typically understated manner with Unsuitable - a melancholic trip-hop adjacent track that sets the tone for the next 8 pieces. As Soela explains, “I was dealing with some very complex feelings, so I came up with this album, which helped me not to despair, to work on myself, to grow internally, and to start listening to myself. It helped me to keep sane when my country invaded Ukraine with a full scale war. It absolutely broke my heart, and music was one of my main salvations.” 

This complex mix of emotions plays out across the album with tracks that utilize her beautiful musicality (Through the Windows feat. Francis Harris and Philipp Priebe, Drowning feat. Module One) and ear for details with skittering beats, ambient soundscapes (Spirits, Lost In The Fog) and lose-yourself dancefloor moments such as the collaboration with Lawrence on February Is Not Going To Be Forever. The title track Dark Portrait combines dubby elements with affecting pads and melodic touches, while the lead single Even If I Ask You Stay delves into multiple feelings around escaping toxic situations, and battling depression. It features a powerful vocal from Soela supported by a deeply affecting arrangement. The closing track The Darkest Hour Before Sunrise brings a sense of hope and light, balancing subdued keys and strings with ethereal tones and atmospheres

Dark Portrait

Soela - Unsuitable

Stream/Vinyl: www.linktr.ee/scissorandthread

DaRand Land, who hails from the post industrial confines of Buffalo, NY was one of the leading figures of Deep4Life, a cult label known for submersible oriented, yet dancefloor-friendly productions. With ambient synth-driven tones and heavy funk basslines being at the center of his sound, DaRand Land’s music often evokes an introspective quality, without losing its groove fundamental.

Following on from a number of releases on Pulp, Downbeat, Urban Imagery and the “Discover You” EP on Scissor & Thread, here is Nature Of Reality, the single taken from DaRand Land’s second album Wander Being, released on Scissor & Thread in late November 2024. 





“In particular, the single, The Nature of Reality”, says DaRand, “was written to convey a sense of what it feels like to be in a state of suspended animation. There is a natural tension introduced via the organic, swirling pad progression juxtaposed against endless vocal echoes and the low-end groove of the bassline. Thematically, I wanted to carry this forward through the entirety of the album.”

The Nature Of Reality

Stream/Vinyl

DaRand Land - The Nature Of Reality

A - The Glass City - MH008

fka boursin is a DJ and producer out of Bristol, UK. 
Previously known as DJ Boursin, he is recognized for his deep, ambient-infused house music that explores political dimensions of clubs and identity politics.

Welcomed into the Scissor & Thread fold, fka boursin shares two cuts of deep and introspective electronic music. 

The original Listless Intertext is a hazy trip through ambient soundscapes, shuffling rhythms and half-caught conversations, drifting across a 12 minute run time that slowly evolves and shifts with time.  

"Listless Intertext is a track centred around the "failed" employment of cheap vocoder software that attempted to process explicit words and phrases across 11 minutes." says fka boursin. "Instead, the vocoder output made any words indecipherable and I was left with thematic vagueness. The final text of the track is simply a submission to its own limitations with some french thrown in."

When label bosses Frank & Tony step up for their Housebeat Dub, they keep the essential mood but introduce a thick, fat groove that works just as well in conveying the mood. 

"Our remix is a strictly dancefloor approach," says Frank, "an extended psychedelic beat rework perfect for late night, early morning vibes".


Listless Intertext (Frank & Tony's Housebeat Dub)

"Prepárate para explorar nuevos sonidos. Ivankstek presenta 'Other Worlds', un EP de música electrónica que te llevará a dimensiones desconocidas. Descubre nuevos ritmos y texturas sonoras. ¡Escúchalo ahora!"

Plutón

Elpierro - Shitennoji (Original)

Strength is developed with a quiet grace, rooted in quiet conviction rather than strength. Light runs through every surface, giving shape to weightless presence. It is the type of power that breathes, that protects, that simply is: constant, luminous and alive.

Frank & Tony - Ethos (with DaRand Land)

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