For a dance music producer, Anthony Naples has at all times made albums with unusually broad attraction—the type that even your coworker who went to a 4 Tet present as soon as may respect. Every LP has some type of unifying theme or inspiration, like ’90s downtempo on Orbs, nighttime radio on Fog FM, or the stunning inclusion of dwell devices on Chameleon, an experiment in writing music, relatively than producing it. Scanners stands out for its lack of context or backstory. Even the accompanying observe on Bandcamp merely says that it options “ten new songs.” The New York artist’s sixth album is his most simple but: ten new songs certainly, exploring a refined and spacious tackle dance music with polished surfaces and simply the correct amount of melody. No experiments, no interludes, no left turns, but it really works from entrance to again practically in addition to any of his extra artsy information.
It’s instructive that Naples makes use of the phrases “songs” relatively than “tracks.” Scanners is uniform—every observe has the identical construction and is available in at a median of round six minutes—however Naples approaches all of them with a songwriterly contact, as on the pumping “Night time.” On the floor, “Night time” is nearly tribal home, that the majority useful of subgenres, with a pots-and-pans drum sample that strikes horizontally like a crab scuttling throughout the sand. However there’s a lot extra happening beneath, together with a uneven melody that weaves round dramatic chord stabs, and a liberal software of results that makes the tracks really feel dwell. A texture is at all times altering, the filter envelope is at all times on the transfer. A sound hardly ever stays the identical for various bars in Naples’ music.
Relating to sound, Scanners is certainly one of Naples’ supplest information. The tracks really feel unusually roomy; the massive kick drums are EQ’d approach down, in order that they largely occupy the bottom frequencies. That leaves the midrange open for squelchy acid-style basslines and clay-putty chords on “Ampere,” or fuzzed-out leads on “Mushy”—which lands someplace between trance and electroclash—or jaunty keyboards on the cutesy “Any individual.” That one jogs my memory of outdated tracks like “Mad Disrespect” or “Abrazo,” however with a newfound humorousness. There’s a stage of exaggeration in the best way the piano twinkles, stretches, and wobbles that jogs my memory of artists on the basic minimal label Perlon (say, Markus Nikolai).
The hulking rhythm part, which is Scanners’ most fashionable contact, betrays what is definitely among the most intricate materials in Naples’ discography. There’s an consideration to element and stylish sound design that feels very late ’00s—once more, Perlon. The opening title observe sounds lots like Huerco S.’s incredible 2024 mnml throwback LP underneath the alias Loidis—smooth and vaguely iridescent, with a sound that resembles nothing in the true world but brings to thoughts snatches of luxurious. Suppose a cocktail bar, or a darkish, neon-lit lounge, a portal to the dance music universe of the previous when cool, globally influential events occurred on Monday nights within the Meatpacking District as an alternative of warehouses in Maspeth and Ridgewood. From the quirky piano on “Any individual” to the punchy, minimalist home of “Compact,” this music will both learn as timeless or retro, relying on how lengthy you’ve been within the sport. Both approach, it hits.
