The tip of the needle at the end of the arm of 20jazzfunkgreats’ hard-working turntable works, when interfaced with a slab of vinyl, as a time machine. It is oft the case that the instructions embedded on such medium project us into scenarios yet to come, a solar system eschaton and overt dialogues with alien civilisations, man-machine symbiosis and cosmic conflagrations.

But it also works the other way around- Cambric chases across primeval forests and audiences with steam-age polymaths have been known to occur. This time, your ageing 20jazzfunkgreats disco dancer finds solace in the blurred spot where genealogical lines of funk converge, nocturnal detonations of solar energy set ablaze a dark jungle of shaking bodies.

It’s that time of the year.

With Malvoeaux’ (alas, no webhome) stunning ‘Targets’ we leap across the time-line of modern dance music like a hedonistic Jesus strutting jauntily across Galilean waters-it’s all contained in the bouncy force of nature which is this song: power funk loops and proto-high energy Arthur Russell quotes, user-driven Chicago tribalism and discerning Parisian homage.

Slip it on, close your eyes and step into a hub of interconnected throbbing zones populated by the ghosts of dancers past, they do that thing with their shoulders, they do that thing with their hips, clicking in perfect synch like an unselfconscious metronome, discharge of pheromones and sweat that kinesthetically become shadows of sound boosting up the levels, the best club that ever existed explodes inside your head.

The song finishes but its rumbling still echoes, a dormant pulse indicating your affiliation to a secret army, forever seeking the next collective high.

Malvoeaux- Targets

Included in the Targets 12 out in Confused House.

If above we stared into the face of the dance deity and were blinded by its searing eyes, now we descend into a basement where slow motion strobes of peach and steel reveal a zoetrope of gorgeous bodies frozen in statuesque poses of worship, longing and abstraction.

Beautiful Swimmers’ ‘Big Coast’ is the code after which this exhibition was curated- an armature of old-skool Afrocyborg paraphernalia accurately punctuated by channel hopping handclaps, the twist lies in the tempo: where one would have expected electroid induction, it is Jamaican rocking that ensues. Physical blur segues into sonic echo, our evasive dance across a ivory spiderweb reaches fever pitch within codeine parameters, capture and sacrifice to the voodoo loa whose symbols decorate the walls is unavoidable, and wilfully embraced.

Beautiful Swimmers- Big Coast

Big Coast is included in Beautiful Swimmer’s new 12, out in Future Times. We will be regaling you with a mixtape they have prepared this Saturday or the next. Watch this space.

Epilogue -
This post is tagged with Cosmic