THE SPHERE of dance music is one of constant, healthy cross-fertilisation and contrast, of new sounds arising.
But when Warp’s leftfield hiphop and breaks reinventor Hudson Mohawke began working with Canadian electroclash hit-scorer Tiga, even the latter had to admit it looked a stretch.
He said that it “seems kind of unlikely on paper, but took nanoseconds to click once we actually met.”
They actually first collaborated on Tiga’s 2016 album No Fantasy Required, planning nightclub trips while waiting for an airport cab. They found both a musical and emotional middle ground where they both chimed, getting together when they could to record, stepping back, awaiting the other’s analysis of where they’d got to.
And the first rush of the fusion of the pair arrives in “Love Minus Zero”, the vanguard of a series of singles intended to be released across the latter half of the year.
It announces on a big, ravey, staccato-anthemic riff, layering up with 80s’ textures and electro keyboard melodies, disembodied backing vocals, breaks down; comes back on a layer of chattering sequencers and industrious percussion and the sort of bittersweet euphoric rush that New Order practically trademarked. It’s a 90s’ dancefloor hit, it’s an 80s’ alternative pop anthem, it’s a 2020s’ genre-defying pop banger.
Hudson said: “We’re building a particular kind of zone where it all fits together. A place lost in time.”
“I like the idea of bizarre, semi-random things getting thrown together,” confirmed Tiga.
Tiga And Hudson Mohawke’s “Love Minus Zero” is out now across digital providers – browse here.
