K-LONE Has Better Taste Than I Do

First Floor is in many ways a one-person operation, but on most Wednesdays, the newsletter fully cedes the spotlight to an artist, writer or other figure from the music world, inviting them to recommend a piece of music.

Today’s recommendation comes from K-LONE, who over the course of the past decade has quietly established himself as one of the UK’s brightest electronic talents. Though he’s often saddled with the “bass music” tag, his work long ago transcended genre boundaries, to a point where a K-LONE record might reasonably dip into various strains of house, techno, garage, minimal, ambient, IDM or something else entirely. His upcoming Have a few days off EP promises “vivid, 4K club music that seeks out precious moments of release in an increasingly restless world,” but his catalog also includes standouts like sorry i thought you were someone else—a gentle techno excursion he made in the aftermath of his father’s death—and Cape Cira, a bubbly trek full of FM synths and fourth-world sonics. If there’s one current that runs through all of K-LONE’s music, it’s his clear affinity for light and color, which lends his productions a certain effervescence, regardless of the tempo or drum patterns he’s employing at any given moment.

Alongside his pal Facta, K-LONE also spends a good chunk of his time steering Wisdom Teeth, a label that not only consistently puts out incredible music, but has built on the legacy of outposts like Hessle Audio and Timedance, broadening the sphere of UK dance music beyond the often dreary confines of the hardcore continuum. That exploratory spirit can be felt in Wisdom Teeth releases from the likes of like Salamanda, Yushh, Tristan Arp, Will Hofbauer, Piezo and a litany of other boundary-blurring artists, but it’s even more evident in the label’s absolutely crucial compilations, such as 2024’s minimal-minded Pattern Gardening and this year’s nagoyaka na kaze / 和やかな風 (quiet wind), which put a spotlight on the diverse offerings coming out of the Japanese city of Nagoya.

Running a busy label like Wisdom Teeth would be more than enough for most artists, but K-LONE also oversees two other imprints on his own: Wych, which was conceived an outpost for sounds that hover and 140 bpm, and Sweet N Tasty, which is currently dormant but has previously issued a good amount of candy-colored UK garage and carefree club edits. Add in a busy touring schedule and K-LONE is clearly a busy guy, but he’s carved out some time to share one of his recent favorites, an album that not only connects to his love of the Nagoya scene, but shares some thematic similarities with his own work.

I’ve picked something that only recently came out and potentially doesn’t reflect my usual listening habits, which generally sway more toward somber indie / electronic and more functional dance music.

The main reason for picking HIKATIGASASHIKOMU is that it captures a feeling I’ve been trying to experiment with on my next record, Have a few days off. I was quite taken aback, but probably not surprised, that another record just came out that was also trying to express the disorienting feelings of modern times.

As Kode9 described the album on his Instagram: “somehow captures something of my own inner experience of total distraction, 500 plates spinning simultaneously, trying to stop them all from crashing and smashing, constantly interrupted thought processes”

HIKATIGASASHIKOMU feels like a stream of consciousness, both completely random but at the same time meticulously put together. These days it’s rare that you find something that feels “new,” but apparently for me it’s an album that sounds like the someone having a fight with their MIDI keyboard.

There is still balance to the record, with moments of comparative serenity in “Omoi” and the end of “Kabe” and “Kokizami.” The rhythmic elements and sound palette still have that Hyperdub swagger to them, while the vocals, despite their constantly out-of-tune shifting, feel like the glue that holds everything together; it’s like a strange R&B vocal over a cartoonish, deconstructed Timbaland beat.

Modern life often feels like a barrage of information, and this record handles it in an amazing, upfront way. While this is probably not an album I’ll be popping on at a dinner party anytime soon, it’s amazing to have music that so effectively represents that feeling.