FRIDAY MAR 11, 2022
TAYLOR ALXNDR
"Rising Atlanta-based artist TAYLOR ALXNDR is gearing up to release her debut EP, NOISE, which will premiere July 7 through Futurehood, the queer label behind underground stars Mister Wallace and KC Ortiz. A self-proclaimed "DIY pop priestess," ALXNDR leads her breakout project with "Nightwork," a dense, autotune-heavy track about the oft overlooked hustle of drag culture—especially as a trans person of color. "I would like to somehow know my worth," ALXNDR coos wistfully, but with a clear sense of self. "Cause I been putting in the nightwork." ALXNDR's "Nightwork" video, produced by ACAPULPO, was captured during an Atlanta show she performed at this December. With shots of the singer getting into gig, the visual showcases the behind-the-scenes process of a drag performance—all the gritty hard work that goes into a single night of glamour. "Sometimes you leave the show feeling empty, even with a purse full of tips," she says, describing how the song unpacks the tug-and-pull relationship of life as a drag queen. Though dreamy and transcendent, the work is also labor-filled and exhausting. "NOISE is a soundtrack to the experiences of my life," ALXNDR says of her debut. "As a queer and trans person of color trying to live and thrive in this world, you get used to the 'noise' or dissonance that comes with existing. From the noise of being a drag queen to the noise of being a part of the Black Trans Lives Matter movement, this EP captures the struggle and the success of my living. It's a love letter to the communities I'm a part of that, despite the powers that be, still thrive." -Out.com
"Rising Atlanta-based artist TAYLOR ALXNDR is gearing up to release her debut EP, NOISE, which will premiere July 7 through Futurehood, the queer label behind underground stars Mister Wallace and KC Ortiz. A self-proclaimed "DIY pop priestess," ALXNDR leads her breakout project with "Nightwork," a dense, autotune-heavy track about the oft overlooked hustle of drag culture—especially as a trans person of color. "I would like to somehow know my worth," ALXNDR coos wistfully, but with a clear sense of self. "Cause I been putting in the nightwork." ALXNDR's "Nightwork" video, produced by ACAPULPO, was captured during an Atlanta show she performed at this December. With shots of the singer getting into gig, the visual showcases the behind-the-scenes process of a drag performance—all the gritty hard work that goes into a single night of glamour. "Sometimes you leave the show feeling empty, even with a purse full of tips," she says, describing how the song unpacks the tug-and-pull relationship of life as a drag queen. Though dreamy and transcendent, the work is also labor-filled and exhausting. "NOISE is a soundtrack to the experiences of my life," ALXNDR says of her debut. "As a queer and trans person of color trying to live and thrive in this world, you get used to the 'noise' or dissonance that comes with existing. From the noise of being a drag queen to the noise of being a part of the Black Trans Lives Matter movement, this EP captures the struggle and the success of my living. It's a love letter to the communities I'm a part of that, despite the powers that be, still thrive." -Out.com
Jamee Cornelia
TWINS / That Which Is Not Said
That Which Is Not Said is an album about learning to accept oneself within, and accept the reality of all that comes from without. It’s an eponymous abstract exposition on navigating the realms of intimacy that the living world inevitably unveils and their equally inevitable fallout, the panic of abandonment and the loss of desire, and dragging oneself back up the hill once the lonely valleys lose their allure. Written and recorded over the course of two years in TWINS home studio in Atlanta with various synths, samplers, drum machines, and his very own flesh-and-muscle vocals, That Which Is Not Said is the result of countless studio sessions and experiments that were refined and distilled into the songs presented here, rigorously worked out through live performances and repeated critical overhaul. The material was all conceived more or less the same way: a mood or feeling would be channeled through whatever machines were plugged in at the time and eventually a foundation would be developed upon which a loose structure would be improvised. Experimenting and throwing around vocals came next, making up phrases and lyrics on the fly until something clicked and a pathway cleared through the fog and mist. TWINS (the acronym from which the album derives its title, if one’s curious about the order of origin) is the mutant machine-pop project of Atlantan producer, label operator, and all-around aesthete-visionary Matt Weiner. Having spent the better part of a decade reveling in a moody murk that intersects seductive synth-pop with Featureless Ghost and grotesque industrial-dance grooves in his own right as TWINS, Weiner has more than proved his sincerely sinister and auspiciously artful finesse of synth-based music. Operating from his home studio, arrayed with various tools of the trade, Weiner tempers his subtle scourges of sound with an unending sense of bold exploration, processing tracks of pulse-heavy aural catharsis. When performing these songs live, he brings an array of hardware to back up his flooring vocal performances, using his entire being to work the audience into a frenzied trance. When not making music as TWINS, Weiner also runs the CGI Records label and co-runs the DKA label, between the two releasing music from Boy Harsher, Profligate, Alex Falk, High-Functioning Flesh, VALIS, Scott Fraser, Beau Wanzer, Featureless Ghost, Golden Donna, and more. Weiner also performs in the duo Pyramid Club with Chris Daresta, and produces music in the studio with Stefan Ringer as SM42 and with the esteemed CH Rom as Wo.
That Which Is Not Said is an album about learning to accept oneself within, and accept the reality of all that comes from without. It’s an eponymous abstract exposition on navigating the realms of intimacy that the living world inevitably unveils and their equally inevitable fallout, the panic of abandonment and the loss of desire, and dragging oneself back up the hill once the lonely valleys lose their allure. Written and recorded over the course of two years in TWINS home studio in Atlanta with various synths, samplers, drum machines, and his very own flesh-and-muscle vocals, That Which Is Not Said is the result of countless studio sessions and experiments that were refined and distilled into the songs presented here, rigorously worked out through live performances and repeated critical overhaul. The material was all conceived more or less the same way: a mood or feeling would be channeled through whatever machines were plugged in at the time and eventually a foundation would be developed upon which a loose structure would be improvised. Experimenting and throwing around vocals came next, making up phrases and lyrics on the fly until something clicked and a pathway cleared through the fog and mist. TWINS (the acronym from which the album derives its title, if one’s curious about the order of origin) is the mutant machine-pop project of Atlantan producer, label operator, and all-around aesthete-visionary Matt Weiner. Having spent the better part of a decade reveling in a moody murk that intersects seductive synth-pop with Featureless Ghost and grotesque industrial-dance grooves in his own right as TWINS, Weiner has more than proved his sincerely sinister and auspiciously artful finesse of synth-based music. Operating from his home studio, arrayed with various tools of the trade, Weiner tempers his subtle scourges of sound with an unending sense of bold exploration, processing tracks of pulse-heavy aural catharsis. When performing these songs live, he brings an array of hardware to back up his flooring vocal performances, using his entire being to work the audience into a frenzied trance. When not making music as TWINS, Weiner also runs the CGI Records label and co-runs the DKA label, between the two releasing music from Boy Harsher, Profligate, Alex Falk, High-Functioning Flesh, VALIS, Scott Fraser, Beau Wanzer, Featureless Ghost, Golden Donna, and more. Weiner also performs in the duo Pyramid Club with Chris Daresta, and produces music in the studio with Stefan Ringer as SM42 and with the esteemed CH Rom as Wo.
Abby Dear
Abby Dear is an Atlanta-based producer and DJ who makes experimental dance music. She got her musical start DJing as a child and quickly found a knack for it which she continues to refine to this day. Later, in her early 20’s, she began releasing original music covering a wide range of genres under the name “Deku” and produced records for herself as well as the Atlanta band, Waking Astronomer (as well as a flurry of remixes for friends and others). A renowned performer, she has also had the honor of playing alongside Dabrye, Shigeto, Samiyam, MONO/POLY, MNDSGN, James Blake, Astronautica, Martyn, Lord Raja, Daedelus, Prefuse 73, Big Gipp, Taylor McFerrin, Young Fathers, Blue Sky Black Death, Com Truise, Deantoni Parks, Richard Divine, LSDXOXO and Free the Robots (among others). She is a resident member of the VLSC Records crew and affiliate of several other renowned dance crews in the South and abroad
Affirmations, the debut album by Abby Dear (fka Deku) arrives 4 years after the last, and the first since her alias change. It is an ode to affirmations of all kinds.
Abby Dear is an Atlanta-based producer and DJ who makes experimental dance music. She got her musical start DJing as a child and quickly found a knack for it which she continues to refine to this day. Later, in her early 20’s, she began releasing original music covering a wide range of genres under the name “Deku” and produced records for herself as well as the Atlanta band, Waking Astronomer (as well as a flurry of remixes for friends and others). A renowned performer, she has also had the honor of playing alongside Dabrye, Shigeto, Samiyam, MONO/POLY, MNDSGN, James Blake, Astronautica, Martyn, Lord Raja, Daedelus, Prefuse 73, Big Gipp, Taylor McFerrin, Young Fathers, Blue Sky Black Death, Com Truise, Deantoni Parks, Richard Divine, LSDXOXO and Free the Robots (among others). She is a resident member of the VLSC Records crew and affiliate of several other renowned dance crews in the South and abroad
Affirmations, the debut album by Abby Dear (fka Deku) arrives 4 years after the last, and the first since her alias change. It is an ode to affirmations of all kinds.