Bloody Mary - Decadence

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  • On last year's Black Pearl, the debut album of French-born producer Marjorie Migliaccio, AKA Berlin DJ Bloody Mary, the music was marked as much by pitch-black empty spaces as it was by Mary's way with smoky timbres and distant lighthouse keyboard hooks. Black Pearl was keyed to Baudelaire, and she calls her new DJ-mix CD Decadence—taking as a starting point a Charles Dickens quote, "Classicism is the subordination of the parts to the whole; decadence is the subordination of the whole to the parts." I put it on anticipating more of that same kind of inky precision, full of delicious deviousness. Instead, Mary's done a 180. Decadence is an utter joy: bumping, bubbly, outgoing and juicy. Every play of Black Pearl revealed much the same stuff as the previous one—minimalism as something more than simple (or lazy) severity, an abundance of gorgeous detail thrown into relief by all that mustiness. Well, someone slipped an E into the absinthe here. There may be debauchery happening in Decadence's corners, but it's a romping, vibrant party mix. Daniel Steinberg's "Rush Me" kicks things off with a squelch, a heavily filtered keyboard bridge offsetting simple, teasing bass and cut-up vocal ("I know you—just can't wait—for, for, for tonight") and trumpet. It sets a playful tone that every selection approaches from a slightly different angle. Jamie Jones' Shower Curtain mix of Deniz Kurtel's bare, throwback house anthem "Yeah" refracts it like a disco ball, rendering it as a series of bright digital flashes. Mary's own "Dandies" even turns away from the dark, if playful, tone of her debut for something more anthemic. At mix's end, Mary throws in a track from techno veteran Dan Curtin, remixed by DJ Madskillz. From almost any other Berlin DJ it would seem par for the course, a nod to tradition. That's not how it sounds, and not just because the smeared sax sample that runs through it is so clearly of a piece with the tracks that came before it. Between her love of literature, her Goth tendencies and her clear sense of roots, Bloody Mary cuts one of the strongest figures in the music, in every sense.
  • Tracklist
      01. Daniel Steinberg - Rush Me 02. Deniz Kurtel feat. Guest of Nature - Yeah (Jamie Jones Shower Curtain mix) 03. Michal Ho - No Time 04. Argenis Brito - Indoors 05. James Blonde & Lonya - Ciao Bella 06. Quenum - Lotus 07. Mihai Popoviciu - Hango N 08. Marco Resmann feat. Mz Sunday Luv - I Will Love (Acumen remix) 09. Sierra Sam - Perpendicular 10. Nima Gorji - Forbidden Ritual 11. Bloody Mary - Dandies 12. As Brain - La Playa y Sus Murallas 13. Mendo - Aventuras 14. Oscar Barila - Gitano (Vicente remix) 15. Arado & Marco Faraone - Hard Time to Travel 16. Dan Curtin - Mr. Bean Do An E (Dj Madskillz remix)
RA