Atlanta’s awesome EDM and synth wave label DKA Records will release VALIS‘ long awaited LP The Demolished Man on September 28th, and today the label packaged the tracks “Schadenfreude“, “Humidity” and “Flight Response” into this SoundCloud embed! Earlier this summer we previewed the shticky and elegant melancholy of “Humidity“, a track on which Chicago producers Jeremiah Meece and J.A. Foxx “combine their flare for vintage synth-pop with a slinky and filtered R&B”, while adding “just the right amount of tongue-in-cheek humor” to their leather daddy vibe.
Likewise, “Schadenfreude” sure tortures those shy boys with it’s erotic funk. The track opens to the hard stroking of a close-fisted guitar chord, with the cut’s use of reverb lending the perfect basement-dungeon feel, here. Muffled cries of pain and delight seem to echo out from behind unseen doors, while the pair settles into it’s idiosyncratic take on 80’s-era synth pop. Like “Humidity”, “Schadenfreude” finds the boys with some serious tongue in their cheek, as the pair seems to opt for a heavy helping of irony, as they mine their Tom of Finland nostalgia.
“Flight Response” initially revs things up, getting the heart thumping with some vein popping, muscular techno, before it’s breathless, Bronski Beat demeanor reveals itself. Relying less on schtick allows this track to carry more emotional weight, and it’s redolent air of sonic nostalgia only adds to “Flight Response”‘s downhearted ambience.
