HAAI, the thrumming techno alias of Australian Teniel Throssell, has just dropped another video for a track from her excellent latest EP for Mute, Put Your Head Above The Parakeets.
The video’s for “Bon Viveur”, which you can watch below, was created by Sensory Works uses elements of HAAi’s recently launched Instagram filter.
She explains: “I worked with [them] on the video for ‘Bon Viveur’ after being a fan of their previous work.
“We agreed that it should be nostalgic, yet modern and vibrant, whilst remaining slightly tongue in cheek.
“I also wanted to incorporate some videos I had been sent from the Instagram filter we created, so people at home felt a part of the process.”
The Put Your Head Above The Parakeets EP is split into two distinct parts: Side A written in response to the collective lockdown, Side B reminiscent of times spent immersed in a dancefloor. “Bon Viveur” is wholeheartedly and deeply from the flip: when we reviewed the EP ten days ago, we noted it as possessing “… discorporeal shushing and other once-human vocal textures; the bottom end and the mid-paced breaks roll recall nothing less than prime, “Rings Of Saturn”/“Two Swords Technique”-era Photek. When he took drum and bass and slowed it down, explored the intelligent menace it might hold.
“It breaks out deeper into banging old-skool hardcore. There can be absolutely no doubt in your mind what it wants from you. Best obey.” (You can read our full review here.)
The video begins with a clip of erstwhile EastEnders actress Patsy Palmer talking about being a DJ; there’s implicit and wry comment on the nature of ‘sleb’ Djing here, I’m sure – especially from a woman who really knows how to work a floor.
Teneil’s recent online sets include an hour-long show alongside her boss at Mute label, Daniel Miller, for a Love Record Stores Event; and a show from her flat in East London for Boiler Room’s Streaming from Isolation series.
HAAi’s Put Your Head Above The Parakeets is out now on Mute on digital and limited green vinyl formats. You can secure your copy at Mutebank, here. It’s a siren song: she lures you in with sweet texture, fixes her gaze; flip the vinyl and your musculoskeletal presence is absolutely at her beck. It shifts from IDM into drum and bass and right on back to hardcore, step by step. Vive la dancefloor.
