Sophie: 10 of the greatest tracks by a genius of pop's expressive power

From productions for Charli XCX and Gaika to Sophie’s emotionally shattering solo works, we celebrate a truly singular artist who has died aged 34

This was the track that brought Sophie, the Scottish producer who has died aged 34 following an accidental fall, to wider attention, and how could it not. The opening sounds like an alert announcing a malfunction on a clown car assembly line, all sproings and sirens; these polished, corporate sonics would become a hallmark of the producer’s early work, revelling in the kitsch of the smartphone age. But unlike producers with similar satiric intentions like James Ferraro and Oneohtrix Point Never, you could dance to Sophie – and Bipp is so deliriously danceable.

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by Ben Beaumont-Thomas via Electronic music | The Guardian

Sophie, acclaimed avant-pop producer, dies aged 34

Glasgow-born Grammy nominee had worked with Madonna, Charli XCX and more

Sophie, the Grammy-nominated Scottish musician whose high-intensity electronic productions pushed the boundaries of 21st-century pop, has died aged 34.

Sophie’s management confirmed to the Guardian that the artist died around 4am at home in Athens, “following a sudden accident. At this time respect and privacy for the family is our priority. We would also ask for respect for her fanbase, and to treat the private nature of this news with sensitivity.”

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by Ben Beaumont-Thomas via Electronic music | The Guardian

Steven Wilson: The Future Bites review – prog-popper probes the future

(Caroline International)
The former Porcupine Tree frontman moves further from his past as he packages up digital-age musings into bite-size pop

Much to the chagrin of hardcore elements of his fanbase, the one-time “king of progressive rock” is exploring dance, electronica and contemporary pop these days. Wilson has rebuffed their cries that it’s “not prog” by emphasising an artist’s prerogative to develop and challenge audience expectations. The 51-year old’s sixth solo album is the one-time guitar virtuoso’s least guitar-oriented collection yet. A general theme of “how the human brain has evolved in the internet era” has led him to reflect on consumerism, algorithms, web-era shopping and a general discourse on how technology and marketing have transformed modern life.

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by Dave Simpson via Electronic music | The Guardian

Triple J's Hottest 100: Heat Waves by Glass Animals tops annual Australian song poll

The English group hit No 1 on a predominantly local chart that even features Victorian premier Daniel Andrews

The UK band Glass Animals have taken top spot in the Triple J Hottest 100 with their song Heat Waves.

The pop group edged out a number of hotly tipped local artists to hit No 1 in Australia’s biggest song poll, which was broadcast on Triple J on Saturday. Heat Waves was one of three tracks from the group to place in this year’s countdown.

Related: Billie Eilish becomes first solo female artist to win Triple J Hottest 100

Happy @triplej #hottest100 day to every artist who released music in a year of zero touring and limited social interaction. You’re all winners!

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by Katie Cunningham via Electronic music | The Guardian

Madlib: Sound Ancestors review – hip-hop visionary tells wondrous stories in sound

(Madlib Invasion)
Arranged by Four Tet, the producer’s stunning album is poignant and sincere, combining beats, jazz, reggae toasts and vocal snippets into a kind of folklore

There are more ways to fall in love with Madlib’s myriad music projects than not. For many it’ll be his charismatic beats for the late, great MF Doom, his collaborations with fellow sampling pioneer J Dilla or more recently, his sleek instrumentals for rapper Freddie Gibbs. Then there’s his remixes of the Blue Note Records archive, his one-man-jazz-band Yesterdays New Quintet, and Lord Quas – his satirical, pitched-up alter ego MC. Madlib’s ability to speak a universal language through so many modes is hip-hop in technique but something much broader in essence. On Sound Ancestors, his creations are arranged by producer, DJ and longtime friend Four Tet. It’s through the idiosyncrasies of this collaboration (such as an abnormally clean mix with uncharacteristically prominent drums) that Sound Ancestors achieves its mission to deliver a no-guest vocalists, start-to-finish-listen Madlib album experience.

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by Tayyab Amin via Electronic music | The Guardian

Composer Ryuichi Sakamoto diagnosed with bowel cancer

Oscar-winning Japanese musician says he is undergoing treatment and ‘hoping to make music for a little while longer’

Oscar-winning Japanese composer and pop musician Ryuichi Sakamoto has been diagnosed with bowel cancer.

In a message on his website, the former Yellow Magic Orchestra member said “the news was disheartening, but thanks to the excellent doctors I met, the surgery I underwent was a success. I am now undergoing treatment.”

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by Ben Beaumont-Thomas via Electronic music | The Guardian

Bicep: Isles review | Alexis Petridis's album of the week

(Ninja Tune)
The Northern Irish bloggers-turned-DJs-turned-producers kick over the dinner-party table with an album that matches the scope and ambition of 90s dance artists

The progression from record collector to DJ to artist is a common one in dance music: the difference with Northern Irish duo Bicep is they have done it all in public. They first emerged 12 years ago among a plethora of late-noughties bloggers devoted to digging up musical obscurities of varying hues and presenting them to the public. Their Feel My Bicep blog began as a means of keeping in touch with record-collecting friends from Belfast who’d gone off to university. Within a couple of years, it was attracting 100,000 visitors a month, and begat a DJing career, a Rinse FM radio show, a record label, a succession of remixes and productions and, ultimately, a deal with Ninja Tune, the venerable dance label run by Coldcut, who presumably recognised kindred spirits.

The early posts on their blog are long gone, but you get a flavour of its eclecticism from a mammoth 67-hour-long Bicep playlist on Spotify, where Angie Stone rubs shoulders with Aphex Twin and Odyssey, and the Ohio Players coexist with 90s house, punishing Basic Channel techno, drum’n’bass and the new wave of jazz. It doesn’t feel a million miles removed from the kind of eclectic musical connections Coldcut made on their celebrated 70 Minutes of Madness mix album and Solid Steel radio show in the mid-90s.

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by Alexis Petridis via Electronic music | The Guardian

Four Tet: 871/Parallel review – chaotic ambition with bells on

(Bandcamp/Text)
Veering from squalling howls to symphonic loveliness, Keiran Hebden’s two new albums are equally rewarding

In recent weeks, producer Kieran Hebden’s Four Tet has released two new songs with Thom Yorke and Burial, alongside these two new albums. Each track on 871 and Parallel is prosaically numbered in sequence, which hints these are end-of-year data dumps. The horrendous, squalling howls of 871’s opener 0000 871 0001 do little to dissuade this impression. At a time when every cough is a gunshot, you may prefer more felicitous sounds than Hebden scouring his hard drive clean with a metal mop.

Thankfully, most of 871 is rewarding, if occasionally derivative. Its music mostly dates back to 1996, and you can hear the teenaged Hebden essaying plangent shoegaze, ambient techno and trip-hop with varying success and an awful lot of bells. Twenty-five years on, its chaotic ambition sounds comfortingly nostalgic. Parallel is leaner, more purely melodic, and has the advantage of Parallel 1, a glorious 27-minute indulgence which begins unexceptionally then gently wears you down with its symphonic loveliness.

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by Damien Morris via Electronic music | The Guardian

Yvette Janine Jackson: Freedom review | John Lewis's contemporary album of the month

(Phantom Limb Music)
The composer’s two new works, exploring slavery and homophobia, are like immersive non-visual films

On paper, the latest album by electro-acoustic composer and installation artist Yvette Janine Jackson isn’t the most inviting of propositions for these miserable days. It features two lengthy soundscapes: the 23-minute Destination Freedom is a sonic representation of a slave ship crossing the Atlantic; the 20-minute Invisible People is an aural collage that confronts homophobia within African American communities.

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by John Lewis via Electronic music | The Guardian

Farhot: Kabul Fire Volume 2 review – gut-shaking sonic collage | Ammar Kalia's global album of the month

(Kabul Fire Records)
The Afghan-born producer skilfully explores his heritage with an unruly collage of vocal samples blended with diasporic sounds

For producer Farhot, the cut-and-paste method of sampling in hip-hop serves as an apt symbol for the assembly of his immigrant identity – he sought asylum in Germany from his native Afghanistan in the 1980s and has not returned since. He first made his name with productions for the likes of Talib Kweli, Isaiah Rashad and Nneka that echoed the melodically driven US rap of the early 2000s and particularly the work of DJ Premier and Pete Rock. His first solo release, Kabul Fire Vol 1 (2013), was a scattershot mixtape homage to his childhood home, weaving in dub influences, rattling drum machine loops, Afghani folk samples and features from Kano, Ms Dynamite and Talbi Kweli.

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by Ammar Kalia via Electronic music | The Guardian

The KLF reissue music for first time since 1992

Singles compilation Solid State Logik 1 appears on streaming services and YouTube years after being deleted, with further reissues anticipated soon

Rave-pop iconoclasts the KLF have released their greatest hits on to streaming services and YouTube for the first time, and have hinted at further music to follow later this year.

An eight-track collection entitled Solid State Logik 1 has been released today, including 1988 No 1 novelty single Doctorin’ the Tardis, 1991 UK No 1 dance anthem 3am Eternal, and the Top 5 hits Last Train to Trancentral and America: What Time is Love? also released that year.

Related: Return of the KLF: ‘They were agents of chaos. Now the world they anticipated is here’

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by Ben Beaumont-Thomas via Electronic music | The Guardian