Thomas Barfod / Broken Glass
Vinyl / Digital
Friends of Friends / Released March 2012
What does it sound like?
It’s clear that the producer responsible for both arrangements on the A-side here belongs to a live outfit (namely Kompakt’s WhoMadeWho). Furthermore, at least in the second outing, it’s also immediately evident that percussion is his forte.
Opening with the sublime Broken Glass, drummer Thomas Barfod proves himself to be a producer that should appeal to anyone with an appreciative ear for Kruder & Dorfmeister, Truby Trio, DNTEL and similar electronica names. It’s melodic and expansive, growing into an emotive slice of downtempo electronica complete with vocoder’d vocals and a deliciously loose, lackadaisical beat structure that’s understated but ingeniously conceived.
A2 takes the form of Beach Party, a decidedly housier outing wherein the whole percussive prowess thing becomes truly pronounced, what with the solid kicks and tight snare crunches abound, all topped with little more than a strained organ hook and a few added rhythmic noises to make it all the more compelling. In addition to the originals you also get a re-edit of the first track from Jacob Korn (of Permanent Vacation), who ups the dancefloor agenda and creates a wonderfully sombre cacophony of squelching noises, “ah ah” choruses, and deep key melodies. Finally Friends of Friends label stalwart Schlohmo comes up with a multitude of ways to use tin pan percussion and snare rolles, taking the same tune in a future-garage direction, filling it with reverberated pan pipes and distorted lyrics, sounding not unlike Burial as it reaches the subtle but strangely powerful crescendo.
What highlights can I expect to here?
Though it has been done to death the kind of sinister vibes abound in Schlohmo’s distinctly darker, and un-dancefloor friendly recut still manage to grab our attention, at once exotic and urban- in this instance sounding like walking through the Amazon en route to the Tube. In contrast the original is far more ‘traditional’, if such relatively experimental fare could be labelled as such, though the results are no less moving.
Where can I buy it?
Juno.
