Futurism Restated

2 days ago | futurismrestated.substack.com | Philip Sherburne

When I recently reviewedJorg Kuning’s excellent new mini-album Elvers Pass for Pitchfork, I had an intense moment of deja vu—followed by an equally intense feeling of self-doubt. As I had gotten to know the album, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the minimal house of the late ’90s and early ’00s. Kuning’s record has a similarly fine-tuned sense of sound design, with lithe, blippy tones tracing curlicues against a backdrop of empty space.

1 week ago | futurismrestated.substack.com | Philip Sherburne

What is a mix for? Usually, I suppose, the answer’s pretty simple: for dancing, for clubbing, for cutting loose, for getting lost. Some of the world’s greatest mixes—some recorded, many experienced in the moment and never heard again—fall into that category. But other mixes have other aims. They might trace an idea, or advance an argument, or pose a theory of a possible music that perhaps doesn’t exist in any one song, but comes fleetingly into focus in that particular constellation of tracks.

1 week ago | futurismrestated.substack.com | Philip Sherburne

Anthony Naples’ new album, Scanners, marks a subtle but important stylistic shift: Where the New York producer’s last two albums have largely avoided the dancefloor in favor of zoned-out strains of downtempo, Scanners represents some of the most club-centric house and techno he’s produced in years—but with a twist. When I first heard the album, my immediate impression was that it seemed to hark back to key sounds from the minimal house and techno of the late ’90s and early 2000s.

2 weeks ago | futurismrestated.substack.com | Philip Sherburne

I've run a bumper crop of interviews on the newsletter over the past month—ambient lifer Stephen Vitiello on his new Balmat collab with Fugazi's Brendan Canty and Hugo Largo's Hahn Rowe; former NYT critic Ben Ratliff on his phenomenal book Run the Song, about running and listening; Norwegian composer Rebekka Karijord discussing her new album about climate grief for Simon Raymonde's Bella Union label; and, just this week, Ukrainian producer Nikolaienko on his decision to shutter his Muscut...

2 weeks ago | futurismrestated.substack.com | Philip Sherburne

Early in March, Dima Nikolaienko, the founder of Ukraine’s Muscut label, announced that the imprint was shifting to “archive mode.” They will continue to sell back catalog until it’s gone, and there remains the possibility of occasional reissues of back-catalog titles, should funding permit. But unless something changes, there will be no new releases from the label, which was founded in 2012 and is run out of Estonia, where Nikolaienko has lived since 2018. I was disappointed by the news.