Album: Quarantine
Artist: Laurel Halo
Born: Ann Arbor, Michigan
Released: May 2012
Genre: Electronic
Hyperdub owes much of its reputation as the home of cutting edge electronic music to the success of Burial's Untrue, but the label is far more than a one-trick pony. Founded by Glaswegian-born Steve Goodman (aka Kode9), Hyperdub has released music by King Midas Sound (aka The Bug), dubstep pioneer Joker, Flying Lotus and Cooly G, and has the uncanny ability of unearthing new music with that elusive sense of "future rush". In fact, Hyperdub released a Five Years of Hyperdub compilation album in 2009, partly just to underline how it was much more than just "Burial's label". In 2014, Hyperdub has continued to release innovative records, from Fatima Al Qadiri's Asiatisch to Cooly G's Wait Til' Night. One of their most successful coups though was signing Brooklyn-based producer Laurel Halo, on the strength of demos and her 2011 EP, Hour Logic. In Laurel's own words, her first LP Quarantine "connects with the Hyperdub aesthetic in that it’s timbrally off-kilter and bass plays a central role". It has that wonkiness associated with other modern electronic music pioneers like Rustie (whose Glass Swords was released on Warp Records in 2011), blurring the boundaries between hip hop, techno, dubstep, house, drone and psychedelia. There's also that distinctive mix of analogue equipment, such as synths, and intricate digital post-production that stitches together various fragments and warped rhythms to create a sense of dystopia and unease.
Hyperdub owes much of its reputation as the home of cutting edge electronic music to the success of Burial's Untrue, but the label is far more than a one-trick pony. Founded by Glaswegian-born Steve Goodman (aka Kode9), Hyperdub has released music by King Midas Sound (aka The Bug), dubstep pioneer Joker, Flying Lotus and Cooly G, and has the uncanny ability of unearthing new music with that elusive sense of "future rush". In fact, Hyperdub released a Five Years of Hyperdub compilation album in 2009, partly just to underline how it was much more than just "Burial's label". In 2014, Hyperdub has continued to release innovative records, from Fatima Al Qadiri's Asiatisch to Cooly G's Wait Til' Night. One of their most successful coups though was signing Brooklyn-based producer Laurel Halo, on the strength of demos and her 2011 EP, Hour Logic. In Laurel's own words, her first LP Quarantine "connects with the Hyperdub aesthetic in that it’s timbrally off-kilter and bass plays a central role". It has that wonkiness associated with other modern electronic music pioneers like Rustie (whose Glass Swords was released on Warp Records in 2011), blurring the boundaries between hip hop, techno, dubstep, house, drone and psychedelia. There's also that distinctive mix of analogue equipment, such as synths, and intricate digital post-production that stitches together various fragments and warped rhythms to create a sense of dystopia and unease.
Unlike Hour Logic or Laurel Halo's follow-up 2013 LP, A Chance of Rain, Quarantine features vocals, often at the heart of many of the arrangements. Amid the swirls of guitar, synth, trumpet and Wurlitzer organ, Laurel's atonal singing often cuts through the mix and generates its own sense of rhythm. The vocals are not always pretty, and often hard to interpret, but they definitely create a compelling contrast with the heavy bass and beats. On my first few listens to Quarantine, I found it all a bit abstract and disorientating, but this is definitely an album that reveals its depths on repeated listens. Some of my favourite tracks are Carcass, which starts out with some seriously heavy bass and then drifts into a dreamy haze of krautrock sequencer sounds, and the raw Years, on which Laurel sings "You're mad because I will not leave you alone" to unsettling effect. I also love Morcom and album closer Light + Space, a ballad that is as close as Laurel gets to pop, which in its spare sound and emotional finale is reminiscent of Japan's groundbreaking track, Ghosts, from Tin Drum. What I really like about Laurel Halo is her ability to mash up a wide array of musical styles and create something compelling and new, a trait she shares with other modern electronic music wizards like Flying Lotus. Her remix of Grimes track, Heartbeats, is also worth checking out, as is Grimes' Visions (2012) album. The music's so unusual and innovative it makes your head spin.
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