BLiss 700 - Spa 700 EP

Bliss 700
Spa 700 EP
2018
Spotify

There comes a time almost every year where since I have been doing this project where it feels like abit too much and I've scrapped the bottom of every single barrel to find something new to listen to. After exhuasting every playlist, diving through every website I can think of I wind up at a place where I need to google "best albums of..." (insert year). That search lead me to this album Spa 700, an EP from Bliss 700 that is absolutely fucking out there. The first track has you believing it is dance for a brief moment, but that quickly gives way to this spoken word, experimental and absolute wild form a music that is really different from anything you've heard before. Often experimental artists realy on emotionally charged lyrics that dive deep into human existence. Bliss 700 does that to but with a ferocious rap delivery that turns everything on it's head. It feels almost like Arca, but with rap which somehow totally works. There is this sinister sense to the music, with a blaring horn in the background of "Cosmic Slop" but it can also take on sweet sounds like the tribal inspired "Ring the Alarm". Spa 700 feels DIY in it's production, especially in the vocal recordings, but the music is so expansive and diverse it almost transcends the idea of a home studio. The songs are rather short in their run times when considering how long most experimental songs run, but these tracks cover so much ground you feel miles from the place they started when the song eventually ends. Moor Mother who provides all the vocals for DJ Haram's beats here adds such a feminine and delicate energy to these really heavy topics and beats, it makes the record so much more dynamic.

Moor Mother calls for revolution with a whisper on "Scully" which gives it even more impact. Often with albums like this, politically charged and experimental, the artist can spiral into total nihilism. The dark aspects of experimental music always tend to take over, but you never get that on Spa 700. The noise they use and the caged fury is so subtle but so fucking intense. You feel like you have really been through the ringer at the end of this record in the very best way. Bliss 700 as a duo have always been more concerned with improvisation and singular moments so putting out an album may seem like an odd choice, but they manage to infuse these songs with that same spirit of creativity. When Moor Mother finally screams on, well their version of a scream anyway, "Basic" it feels like such a welcome release, like all that pent up aggression was desperate for a place to go. Truly something new and truly something exciting Spa 700 is not a record to be missed if you are looking for something wild. Strap in and let Bliss 700 take you into their world, an experimental deep dive.

8.9 out of 10