The last time I saw Nelson Bean perform as Black Hat, I thought his new material brought his live show to a tremendous new level. It’s hard to describe everything in a little blurb like this, but it captured my attention more than anyone else that night, including the headliner! His sound had gotten more abstract, raw, and just fucking killer than previous releases. Since then he’s moved out of Seattle, but his roots to the city’s underground electronic scene remain firmly intact.
After a brief detour into icy, Aphexian techno (the fantastic Dream Interlock, via Digitalis), Black Hat is back with Willow, his latest 12” EP for the Emerald City’s ever reliable MOTOR Records. For a city that’s recently become accustomed to winning championships in the sports world, it’s only natural that that “winning mentality” extends to other areas, especially music. Over the past two years MOTOR, an offshoot of Debacle Records, has been killing it with different strains of “psychedelic dance.” The title track to the Willow EP, streaming below, offers a dark, smoke-filled glimpse into the current trajectory of the Black Hat project. Once you jam “Willow,” you can head over to MOTOR’s bandcamp and pre-order the vinyl and digital editions.
• Black Hat: https://blackhat.bandcamp.com/
• MOTOR Records: http://www.motorcollective.com/
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