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LP
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CREP 086LP
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In what seems like some sort of cosmic alignment bound to happen, the ever prolific and somewhat elusive Niagara make their way into the Discrepant catalog with 1807. Compiling tracks recorded between 2014 and 2018 that appeared scattered among very limited and long out-of-print self-released CDRs, the record feels as much out of time as deeply resonant with these times with no dancefloors. Stripping away most of the beat-based approach of early Príncipe releases and Ascender EPs, these 17 vignettes presented in the classic dance maxi 12" format dabble with escapism in a manner that projects them as potential DJ tools for lockdown. Deeply idiosyncratic, the trio from Loures shows an internal coherence that while not easy to grasp given their mutating creative impulses, weaves each different path into a sonic fiction all their own. Cobbled together from countless hours of jamming on warm spectral synths, field recordings, otherworldly textures or devious drum machines 1807 paints a vivid and dreamlike escape route that goes from the hypnotic arpeggios and rarefied synths of "Esc8" through the glowing tones and fragmented melodies of "Egyptiu" and into the malfunctioning swirl of the stark "Esc 10" or the polluted 4/4 thump and funky guitar line of "Mapas". Equally disruptive and inviting. All tracks composed by Niagara between 2014-2018.
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LP
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P 024LP
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2019 repress. Apologia is a set of unique psychedelic killers from Niagara, mounting a sterling debut album for Lisbon's Príncipe five years after their first 12", Ouro Oeste (2013). Trust that they have lost none of the weirdness that's endeared them to freaks around the world ever since they emerged. If anything they're stranger, spaced-out and more porous to wild influence on the 13 tracks of Apologia. Outlining Niagara's definitive description of contemporary exotica, Apologia limns a frayed, buzzing sort of "Fourth World PLUS" sound, where the "PLUS" refers to their embrace of noise as an agent of chaos. But it's not necessarily malefic chaos, and should be taken as a smart acknowledgement of the overlooked yet crucial role that roughness of grain and construction play in contrast with so many clinically smooth and even anodyne efforts from the same, imagined arena of worldly music for a new age. In allowing for the entropy of time and the inevitable infidelity of attrition to enter their soundsphere, Niagara's organic machine music keenly reflects a natural world order without the need for algorithmic process. Their world is a fertile interplay of acoustic and electronic sources rendering hazy, fata morgana-like glimpses of musical possibility, practically triangulating the visions of like minds such as Jamal Moss/Hieroglyphic Being and Dolo Percussion with the explorative precedents of Portugal's Telectu to realize a fine expression of anachronistic modernism. Most of the tracks loosely work around three-minute timeframes, lending a zig-zagging mosaic quality to the track list in between its longer parts. Richly colorful spiritual jazz arps and raw machine grooves spring from opener "França", triggering a cascade of ideas that bends between acidic kosmiche in "6:30" to the heat-sick boogie gliss of "40" and the stark emptiness of "Senhora Do Cabo", to give up the gorgeous, extended flute and acid meditation "Siena", and mess with Vangelis-style synth majesty on "Via Garibaldi", before spending their coolest energies in the drowsy Afro-Latin swagger of "Cabo Verde". It's hard to ignore the fact that Alberto, António and Sara aka Niagara have distilled their sound to imperfection on Apologia, resulting one of 2018's most crucial lo-fi electronic albums. Artwork/hand-painted sleeves by Márcio Matos, edition of 500.
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LP
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P 010LP
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2015 release. "Niagara borrow mutant disco's tropes and proceed to bend them to their own wishes. The electric bass [on 'Abacaxi Limão'] stubbornly digs in its heels while everything else threatens to fly apart like a tool shed in a tornado." --Pitchfork
"The jammy nature gives it both a feeling of momentum and immediacy, which is almost non existent in house music. Who knew house music could be this raw, this urgent, this amazing?" --Cyclic Defrost
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LP
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P 017LP
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2016 release. Niagara started 2016 firmly committed to their own Ascender label, having released a first 12" late in 2015. A string of stellar CDRs guaranteed their relevant (and private) output became available outside their studio. The consistency is such that it was no effort selecting four additional tracks to assemble a third EP on Príncipe. Opener "Asa" is strong on keys, suggests a cool jazz walkabout where the machines and other instruments seem to be jamming together without interference. This broadens the horizon of whoever thought they are a house band; As countless other dance tracks, "IV" is built around a steady kickdrum, supporting a succession of vibes hitting left and right, obeying only the illogical architecture of Niagara's sonic world; "Amarelo" is the longest track in the set. Very physical and expansive beats, a funky guitar groove, deep bass tones and it ends just like that. A cascading drum machine holds its own, then comes a wandering flute and passing waves as jets in the sky. Trippy and brilliant, "Laranja" changes coordinates and points to a fresh destination.
"The trio's house music remains deeply eccentric, though, its sonorities bright and its rhythms ramshackle. Their third EP for the label, São João Baptista, a scrawl of clapped-out drums and spidery guitars, highlights their idiosyncrasies. Sonically, the trio have found new ways to make the analogue and the electronic sit well together; stylistically, their mutant-funk tendencies are given freer rein." --Resident Advisor
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