Herb Sundays 132: urika's bedroom
A pitch-perfect Herb mix of "anti-algorithm nonlinearity" from the enigmatic avant-pop artist.
Herb Sundays 132: urika’s bedroom
Playlist: Apple Music, Spotify
Art by Michael Cina
I think sometimes when making a mix things get a little over-constructed… for this playlist I tried to tap into things that I actually listen to, all the time. There is an element of anti-algorithm nonlinearity that mirrors my IRL listening and experience of music that can be exciting. Why make an aesthetic box? There’s many, many worlds out there. - urika’s bedroom
By design, there is scarce info on the urika’s bedroom (ub as they like to say in print) project out there. On his timeline, people are calling him Tchad, and while they represent Los Angeles, I was told he was from Michigan by someone a while back, which maybe made me lock in a bit. Their new album, Big Smile, Black Mire, was released on the classic True Panther label this past week, and it’s an enjoyable ride, an emotive charge held in amber behind bric-à-brac guitars and pert pipecleaner noise.
Self-produced but with a tasteful choice of a post-production team including Sonny Dipierri and Chris Coady, it’s a real sonic marvel, finding a contemporary place style-wise and playing shows with groups like Chanel Beads, untitled (halo), and Nourished By Time, a 20’s equivalent to some of the spectral edges touched by ‘00s/’10 breakout acts like TV On The Radio or various Dean Blunt productions.
When I first heard the breaks on “XTC” and dustbinned microphone work, I knew I was a fan. The shredded spoken word of “bsbm” sits in a similar memory palace room as Chloe Wise’s bars on Varg2™’s epochal“Forever 21/Valium” with a deeply sensual but disconnected erotic charge. Maybe I’m just enjoying sonic creature comforts with these big stacky breaks, but when there’s texture this good, that’s enough for me often. I am almost grateful for the lack of narrative, the desire to be supine in the sound, or as the art-damaged bio would say, “longing, alienation, and multivalent emotional experiences powered by an avant-garde creative direction.” Sure thing.
The playlist perfectly fits the album’s high-def/lo-fi consideration, a concise syllabus of influence from ket-ambient grizzle by shinetiac/Ben Bondy/Pingstar (on Ian Kim Judd’s (Herb 124) label) to soaring Juliana Hatfield scuzz and Herb King Sam Prekop’s placable The Sea and Cake project, as well as of course the forever gods, Blonde Redhead (Herb 95) as a heavy brass bookend. It’s crispy like fall leaves; sadness can be romantic and happy, too.
Bonus Beats (Three The Hard Way):
My old friend
, now back in Amsterdam, has a new photobook out, his Substack is a lot of fun too if you are into photography.- () shared a cut from The Era Footwerk Crew for my midyear round-up and I’ve remained a fan, being a Teklife enthusiast, so was happy too see a new album too which is wonderful (h/t / ).
I slept on
’ (Herb 32) new book of essays, Futuromania: Electronic Dreams, Desiring Machines, and Tomorrow's Music Today, but like the dutiful lapdog I am, I’m right back on my bullshit and fully engrossed. I’ve read some of these before including the great NPR Kraftwerk one written after Florian Schneider’s passing in 2020 (the part where Reynolds cries makes ME cry), but put together they form a more concise guide to Electronic Music history maybe more than any other book and when paired with his compete bibliography, we just might have the complete Britannica of electronic sound minus a few chapters yet unwritten. Check his ace interview with ’ podcast too.
