Take 5 with Pretty Pretty Good

Sheffield has always been a thriving hub of excellent new electronic music, and in recent years, it has been partly due to Pretty Pretty Good that these acts are getting the crowd they deserve. Coming from humble beginnings in 2015, this Sheffield night has grown exponentially.

With nights springing up in Leeds, Bristol, London and Manchester, PPG has been able to back local names as well as play host to some of the biggest and most exciting names in the game; in the past year alone, they’ve managed to book acts like Objekt, Joy Orbison, Roman Flügel and Or:la in venues up and down the country.

We set five members of the PPG crew the task of coming up with one track each that means a lot to them. Here’s what they came up with.

1. Identified Patient & Sophie du Palais - Nothing Happened (Pinkman Broken Dreams)

Recommended by George Whitehead (Coe): The pairing of Identified Patient's heavy production with the smooth and disorientating vocals of Sophie Du Palais on the Aborting Your Dreams EP (part of the Pinkman Broken Dreams white label series) results in a perfect matrimony of murky drum patterns, acrid bass-lines, impactful synth riffs and commanding vocal overlays. "Nothing Happened" is actually a digital bonus track and wasn’t featured on the 12”, but it's my favourite of the release by far. A peak time EBM slammer, you can feel the sweat dripping off the walls with this one.

2. X_1 - Tangente à l (Beat X Changers)

Recommended by Adam Stevenson (Adam S): "Tangente à l'Ouest" is a song I first listened to during the time I was getting into a lot of the electronic music I now love. From its more tender and gentle moments right up to its euphoric crescendos, I've always been really intrigued by the way the song manufactures so effectively that feeling of travelling somewhere. I'm always listening to it when on long coach or train journeys, and often a few times! It's a very carefully crafted tune with gorgeously soft synths, a warm yet punchy dance floor ready bass-line and a really unique 'hazy' texture to the whole thing. For me it's a song for use in a very particular moment in a club and one that I'm still waiting for eagerly.

3. HAAi - Growing Up With Muscle Cars (Coconut Beats)

Recommended by Stevie Cox (Stevie Cox): "Growing Up With Muscle Cars" is my favourite release of 2018 so far, and I can't see anything else topping it. It's really unique; bass-heavy breaks accompanied by a ridiculously tasty psych-rock guitar riff. I get completely submerged into this tune when I listen to it - time dissolves, and the 10 minutes just fly by. I've not actually played it out yet, but I can't wait to do so.

4. Djrum - Blue Violet (R&S Records)

Recommended by Monika Taneska (Monika Taneska): I've been a huge fan of Djrum for a while now and "Blue Violet" is one of my absolute favourite tracks from him - every time I listen to it I'm captivated from start to finish. The emotional instrumental leading the three-minute long intro is so beautiful and I love how he's composed the slow build up which keeps you waiting for the inevitable bass line to kick in: when it does, it doesn't disappoint - a proper Djrum track!

5. I:Cube - Un Dimanche Sans Fin (Versatile Records)

Recommended by Dan Sumner (Kudan): I've somehow only quite recently discovered Gilb'R and his outstanding Versatile Records imprint (shout out to Alyssa for that one) but it's been an absolute joy exploring the labels output. There are a few releases that have really stood out but a front runner for my favourite is I:Cube's Falling EP. All three tracks are absolute gold for me, but the A2, "Un Dimanche Sans Fin", is an real beast of a peak-time tension builder that I can't stop listening to at the minute. Simple but incredibly effective, if has a mood and a feeling totally of its own but is entirely open ended too; it makes whatever comes next sound better than it would otherwise for all the right reasons.

1. Identified Patient & Sophie du Palais - Nothing Happened (Pinkman Broken Dreams)

2. X_1 - Tangente à l (Beat X Changers)

3. HAAi - Growing Up With Muscle Cars (Coconut Beats)

4. Djrum - Blue Violet (R&S Records)

5. I:Cube - Un Dimanche Sans Fin (Versatile Records)

You may also like