Selections: Throwing Snow
In this series, Selections, we invite DJs, producers and label heads to dig into their digital crates and share the contents of their Bandcamp collections. This week, Throwing Snow celebrates rhythmic complexity, from otherworldly sound designs and face melting percussion to liquindi water drumming and masterful drumfunk
The electronic music of Throwing Snow has always run to the future, while keeping an eye firmly on the influence of the past. His new album, ‘Dragons’, released in June via Houndstooth, intends to explore “the space between science and ancestral wisdom”. Across its 10 tracks, the London producer combines modern electronic instrumentation with traditional folk percussion like the bodhrán and daf, channeling his studies in ancient music, rituals and folklore through experimental production techniques. The resulting collection touches on techno, dubstep, jungle and two-step garage, zooming out to try and understand these sounds as part of a lineage that has spanned thousands of years, and which stretches far beyond the perceptible future.
It’s an idea that Throwing Snow also manages to capture in his Selections, which sees him celebrating rhythmic complexity across a range of styles and traditions. From furious hip-hop beat tapes and breaks from Lebanon, otherworldly sound designs and coarse melodic contortions, to liquindi water drumming and ancient ritual singing from Cameroon and masterful UK drumfunk.
Check out Throwing Snow’s ‘Dragons’ here, and dig into his Selections below.
“I spent some time in Beirut helping ‘The Great Oven’ project. I heard some amazing music coming out of Lebanon, one of which was Lil Asaf (Bashar Suleiman). I love ‘Thabat’ with MFKZT and was pleased to see Sawa Sawa (meaning together together) arrive on Astral Plane Recordings. Khadije’s production is amazing but my favourite is probably ‘Mbakal’.”
“Will Lister’s Heald imprint has released some of his best work to date. ‘Close Car’ has everything I want from a track, jittering drums , odd otherworldly melodies over warm low sub. It’s well worth checking 001 and 003 as well, both the tracks and the artwork are on point.”
“I saw some clips of how Lukas Koenig made these tracks on Opal Tapes instagram, and loved the process. Scraping and bashing an upturned cymbal and processing it. He creates everything from stuttering textures and face melting sound design through to orchestral sounding drones.”
“This Sagal release came out on GD4YA, on which I was honoured to release. I’m a fan of ‘Rush’, the vocal is great and reminds me of early Fantastic Mr Fox productions. Also a big fan of Yaw Evans on the remix. HIs instagram modular jams over lockdown have been great to watch.”
“Zak is unrelentingly productive and creative, it’s a joy to hear the results. My favourite release of his is the enormous, curated mind dump, that is ‘Altered Roads Tapes’. It’s a vortex of rhythms and bass that excites most of my drumfunk sensors, even though the tempos vary hugely.”
“Another discovery from my time in Lebanon just before lockdown. Tedtedted released ‘Cama’ on Ruptured Records and it captures anger and frustration so well, you can hear it throughout the EP. Like the Etch record it touches on so many of the aspects of music I love.”
“I think I found this while researching water drumming. It’s a stunning collection of Baka women singing Yelli in the rainforest on the Cameroon-Congo border. Apart from the obvious musicality, the tracks are just straight up amazing and could make anyone want to dance.”
“William Yates’ Memotone Project has beautifully meandered through half genres and moods throughout his releases. ‘Left-Handed Capybara’ is wonderfully playful and relaxed, with a groove that settles in over the course of the track. I’m not a good enough DJ to mix this in though!”
“I recently rediscovered this track by Kayla Painter called ‘Keep Under Wraps’ from 2018. It has an unworldly, suspended feeling; as if the melodies are hanging under the bass drone that comes in at 01:45. It’s really odd and interesting, like diving above a deep sea trench.”