Eden Burns - Big Beat Manifesto Vol. IX
The Big Beat Manifesto is an ongoing series by Melbourne-based artist Eden Burns. In this iteration, Eden collaborates with Andras, Mayurashka, and Matisa, inviting them to join his curiously left-field big-beat revolution. For those uninitiated into Eden's style, it's as though Dr. Seuss and the Mad Hatter are sharing the aux at your house party. Seemingly, anything goes from disjointed answer machine messages to unhinged dissonant melodies. Well, that is, as long as it has a big beat.
From the first track, a team-up between Andras and Eden Burns, you'll pick up on a sense of weirdness that permeates the rest of the record. The Big Beat Manifesto is all about a lot of groove, and 'Wrangler' is the perfect example. The duo deliver one of the more heady and synthetic grooves on the record, instantly recognisable by the characteristically cartoonish metallic bell the chimes just before this Lofi dissonant creeps in. 'Wrangler' is a well-put-together piece of music that leans into its incohesive essence. The duo's use of polished production acting is the foundation before adding these rather ridiculous Lofi details on top, firmly cemented in the camp of weirdo-dance camp. The wild style and cartoonish samples can come across as jarring or even out of place at times. Still, while cohesion is not quite there, it's silly, and the unserious attitude makes it stand out as a top-notch club track.
This absurdity continues with the late-night weapon, 'Calvin Klein', flexing an altogether more squat sound. Together with Matisa, they squash distorted kicks and rattling bass under similarly silly sounds. It's not often you hear an answering machine in the middle of a house track, but it injects light-hearted and quirky fun. Matisa and Eden Burn use samples more sparingly. Unlike on 'Wrangler', these samples become more supplementary and give 'Calvin Klein' much more cohesive sound palettes, allowing the very cool to come more like a surprise for the audience, especially when arranged around percussive breakdowns. 'Obsession' plays things a lot safer, but I'm not saying it is boring, far from it. Rough-riding grooves and monotone vocals scream for a much more refined club atmosphere. A haunting train sample, reminiscent of the Soul Train sounds of disco great Soundstream, jumps out as it's more horror than harmony. There's something ghoulish about how Mayurashka and Bunds use this train horn as it becomes more nightmarish, floating over the dance floor above undulating vocal chops.
The Big Beat Manifesto Vol. IX is a time capsule to dance music's heydays. It's striking with its silliness put barrels of fun. It takes me back to more informal times when you could find humans within a party because it is still a party at the end of the day. Eden Burns captures this freedom and lawlessness within production, which has been missing from many of the more pseudo-serious genres for a while now. While the Big Beat Manifesto Vol. IX isn't reinventing the wheel; it has heart and should remind us that we can have fun in the club.
Tracklist:
Andras and Eden Burns - Wrangler
Mayurashka and Eden Burns - Obsession
Matisa and Eden Burns - Calvin Klein
Label: Public Possession (2024)
Eden Burns - Big Beat Manifesto Vol. IX