カルト的なエディット作品で知られるTalking Drumsが、世界各地の環境音と16ビット調シンセを融合させ、バレアリックなチルアウト空間やディープなダブ音響を追求した初のオリジナル楽曲集『Pier Pressure』 カルト的な人気を誇るエディット・シリーズやリミックスの制作で知られるTalking Drums。名門International Feelから登場した本作は、従来のフロア向けエディットから離れ、全編オリジナル楽曲で構成された5曲入り12インチ・ヴァイナル。 80年代的なリズムマシンの質感やデジタル・チャイム、声風のシンセ音を用い、無国籍なトロピカル・サウンドやダブ、アンビエントを融合。シチリアやフランスの農村、日本、シンガポールで採取されたフィールドレコーディングの音素材を取り入れ、各トラックがシームレスに繋がる立体的な音響空間を構築している。 澄んだシンセと波音が揺らめくバレアリック・トラック「Fashionable Whale」、スローなテンポに煌めくシークエンスが乗る「Salmon Hats」、セミの声や波の音にパーカッションが溶け込む静謐なアンビエント「Mangrove」、ポリリズムを効かせたパーカッシブな「Flutti Di Mare」、デジタル・ダブの低音とエフェクト処理が冴える「Squid Dub」まで、豊かな情景を描き出す一作。 A1. Fashionable WhaleA2. Salmon HatsB1. MangroveB2. Flutti di MareB3. Squid Dub After finding their feet with a couple of remixes for Before I Die, Talking Drums ditch their sea legs and swap the pirate booty of their cult edit series for a five-track EP of original productions, each swimming in LinnDrums, digital chimes and synth-vox sunshine. Summer sounds abound as the crew refract house, disco, ambient and dub through shimmering sea glass, bringing the beach to the bar, club, garden or grotto. Inspired equally by tropical Sceneries (but Not Songs), Ecco the Dolphin and Echoes of Wally, as well as a few tall tales about trendy whales, this 16-bit caper makes a splash from wave top to bikini bottom. Written and produced as a cohesive EP over three sun-baked weeks in 2025, and stitched together with field recordings and found sounds from Sicily, rural France, Japan and Singapore, Pier Pressure sees each track flow into the next: distinct seas that make up one larger ocean. Opener ‘Fashionable Whale’ surfaces with mystic motifs and dreamy pads arcing above the spray before a purring low end and drum-box shuffle plunge us into Balearic house depths. A rippling breakdown, bookended by insistent arps, provides respite from the rhythm before the low-tempo pulse returns to take us home. Sticking with Zone 2 cardio, ‘Salmon Hats’ serves wonky disco at Valium pace, its beatific vox and glittering sequences underpinned by a hip-swivelling bassline and topped with a future-primitive melody. After drifting into dream house for a sunset lull, it’s back to the beat and the enduring question of how best to dance on a lilo. ‘Mangrove’ offers an intertidal intermission as tuned percussion finds a place among the cicadas and lapping waves, gently unfolding into an RPGambient ode to humid languor. Refreshed, albeit ailed by a sunstroke haze, we’re back on the dance floor with the optimistic motifs and jolly polyrhythms of ‘Flutti Di Mare’, an uptempo, Afro-adjacent house workout designed to inspire mile-wide smiles. Then the EP sails off into the sunset with the fathoms-deep delight of ‘Squid Dub’, a Cousteau-coded cod-reggae stepper with digi-dub bass, pound-shop marimba and all manner of THCtinged FX. Don’t be deceived by the loose and limber opening: a solid sequencer emerging at the midpoint sees the Squid squeeze every bit of bump out of the finale. Forget ATOL protection - Talking Drums deliver your summer holiday directly to your stereo.
