Dekmantel Podcast 342 - Loraine James
London's @lorainejames is as experimental as electronic artists get. She doesn't just make hard to categorise music, she makes music for which there are often no words. Depending on your mood, her sounds can suit either full-on dance floor workouts or reflective home listens. That has been the case across two standout albums on Hyperdub, both of which explore vulnerability and identity across tracks that fizz with ideas and energy. The most recent, Reflection back in June, came with snippets of interior monologue. They lay bare James's most intimate feelings while the beats around her continue to act as something of a safety blanket. This week's rule-breaking mix features a number of Loraine's tunes including the unnamed and exclusive opener, plus a flurry of beats from peers like FaltyDL, object blue, Squarepusher and Djrum. They make for a full body workout that twitches your every synapse one minute then sink you into a deeply seductive club sound the next. The transitions from hyper-polished and futuristic rhythms to live jazz drums, or icy dub to glitchy IDM, would seem impossible on paper, but in practice, they are executed perfectly.