MUTEKLIVE190 - Pursuit Grooves
Pursuit Grooves (CA)
Thursday August 23, 2018 – Esplanade de la Place des Arts
Mastered by Pheek
Who: American-born, Toronto-based producer, vocalist, DJ and visual artist Vanese Smith
Style: Experimental Electronic Travels through Soul, Bass, House and Hip-Hop
Labels: Tectonic Recordings, deepblak, What Rules
More: Smith began shaping what would eventually become the Pursuit Grooves sound from a very early age: buying her first piece of gear at 14, collecting 12-inch vinyl hiphop instrumentals, and making music using analog synths and assorted four-track tools.
The sonically adventurous stylings of Pursuit Grooves oscillate between moments of jittery tension and silky release: her chopped-up basslines, woozy melodies and improvisatory funk add up to a smorgasbord of twisted house cuts. For over a decade, she has been acclimating us to her beautiful bias for balance—light and dark, fragility and toughness—by seamlessly blending deep machine soul, dismantled hip-hop instrumentals and heavy hitting, genre-bending dub.