Album Review: Persuasion [EP] by Blondes

Two years on from their last kaleidoscopic techno record, the absolutely astounding Swisher, Blondes, the Brooklyn duo of Sam Haar and Zach Steinman, return with a new album of sorts, split over two different releases and highlighting two different sides to their brand of oozing, languid techno. 'Rein’, a single track issued on cassette, is basically a near hour long jam from their studio - full of pulsating textures, stuttering drum machines, and swirling atmospheres. Of the pair, it's the closest you'll get to the dreamy techno sound that they've made their own, but if you're expecting another Swisher, you may be disappointed.

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Persuasion, Blondes' first proper record since 2013's Swisher LP, was preceded by Rein, a continuous 50-minute jam released as a limited cassette in late June. It was an effective primer (practically a "making of" documentary) for Persuasion, on which Blondes delved further into the dense, swirling techno that made their second album such a treat. Oddly enough, the "live" feel of their best work is even more pronounced now that Sam Haar and Zach Steinman no longer live in the same city.The title track is as deep and immersive as anything the producers have done.

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With the current mainstream status and Coachellification of American techno, it's sometimes hard to remember the origins of the genre. It was created not by pasty knob-noodlers or bros in culturally-appropriative headgear, but a multiethnic, pansexual community of revelers interested in an almost spiritual loss of self, an out-of-body escapism that could only be achieved through electronics, dancing, and the occasional hit of very potent psychedelics. Good techno, inherently, does not forget that heritage.

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We devour music at such a feverish pace that, more and more, great collections of songs fall through the cracks. Over the summer, we caught up with another punk band who’s almost as ambitious as Titus Andronicus, a critically and commercially approved R&B singer who somehow isn’t in the ….

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Behold: seven of the best slightly-under-the-radar albums released this week, from the eclectic record collection of The Horrors’ Tom Furse to the blissed-out reinvention of Colorado Springs singer-songwriter Night Beds..

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