The 7th Floor
There Are No Flowers

You might have heard of Brixton producer Bokah and his twin projects, The Tropical Kids (a duo with Anohni) and The 7th Floor. But there are few labels that have been as thoroughly embraced by the UK electronic music community, or even as deeply identified with that genre as The Tropical Kids. The vast majority of artists who have made the leap from dancefloor to club or club culture are either from the UK (Kamasi Washington, The Vibes) or have come out of the UK (Nite Jewel, Auto-Tune). This is a place where the distinct sound of dancehall is alive and well, and the genre at large is still in its infancy.

The 10 tracks on Here "There Are Flowers" are a sampling of what the label has been doing, and this audio collage is a great showcase. The sounds are laden with British EDM tones but there's also a bit of what might be called trance-like experimentation going on. The first track “Kathmandu” is a dark, drone-like loop, followed by a gridded drum machine, and then a playful synth arpeggio that sounds like a rave turning down to the low end of the basement. “Ciao” is a – no, really – belly dance of sorts, with both a soothing bassline and a partially distorted guitar line. “Hammered” is a loop of a few seconds of a partially regurgitated drum pattern, with the introduction of a voice that sounds like it’s saying “Yes” and “No”. “Connect”, on the other hand, is a long, squeaking cello line, a shabby touchstone for The 7th Floor.

There’s more than a little inconsistency to the production here, but the sound is still full of a certain charm. “Nouvelle Rachet” is a cloud of static that gradually dissipates, while “L’Automne” is a miasma of aural and spatial glitches. “Piedmonté” is a piece with a pale, whispered cello line and a voice that seems to be saying “I’m coming”. “Kaisernstadt” is a half-kiloton pulse that somehow manages to sound both chilled and giddy all at once. “Holz" is called “Palace of Broken Glass” by an artist who seems to be taking cues from a number of dancehall music scenes, and while it’s certainly danceable it’s also a bit too noisy for my taste. There ’s a fine line between the two. “Music for MP3 players only” is a genre I’m not particularly fond of, and I’m sure there’s plenty of room for more danceable, less noisy music like “Melt” or “Weißen”.

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