Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past year-plus, you’ve been hearing tracks from Reykjavik’s resident rave meister, Bjarki, on dancefloors far-and-wide. The Icelandic producer has already made a strong impression with his terrific tracks coming out on Nina Kraviz’s Trip imprint, but thought that it was time to make an even bigger impact. So instead of putting out just a regular 10-12 track album, he set out to do something a bit more ambitious – release a 41-track triple-LP – offering a snapshot of his archive. No big deal, really.
The first part of this three-piece debut LP is entitled Б, which not only is the Russian letter for “B” (just a heads-up – it’s pronounced “beh”) but also an emblematic reference to Bjarki himself, as the 13 tracks on this piece of the LP puzzle are more of an ode to the cinematic, sensuous and ambiguous nature of ‘90s rave. One of the standouts from this release is a track that is thunderous, mysterious and constantly keeps the listener in the dark until it damn well pleases; and that track is “Here It Comes Can You Feel It 92 Hoover 2” – our premiere pick for today.
A true reminder that rave is momentous and all-encompassing, Bjarki keeps the essence of peak-time warehouse intimacy with subtle immediacy and rollicking kick drums to keep the intensity solvent from beginning-to-end with little time to breathe. Sounds like we’ll be playing this on repeat for a while in the office; you should too.
- Read our review of Bjarki “Arthur And Intergalactic Whales” on Inverted Audio.
Bjarki’s “Б” is out on ᴛрип on 17th June 2016, order a copy from Juno.
TRACKLIST
A1 Marsian Raver
A2 Opalocka Acid Groove 12 Bit Mix
B1 Here It Comes Can You Feel It 92 Hoover 2
B2 Planet Earth Q94 [Live Edit]
C1 Son Of A Son
C2 T4it 3
C3 Travel In Space
D1 Bbbbbbbbbbb render 2
D2 As You Remember
E1 Can A Man
E2 It’s My Thing
F1 The Lover That You Are
F2 Midi 14-Aug-2