On August 20th 1977, the Voyager 2 space probe was launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida, USA. A little over two weeks later Voyager 1 followed. Sealed in aluminium cases and attached to each device were the Golden Records: audio-visual discs containing photos of Earth and its lifeforms, scientific information, recordings of greetings in 55 different languages, and a selection of music, ranging from classical and jazz to folk and rock & roll. The discs serve as a time capsule and a message in a bottle, sharing a little bit of what it means to be human with any lifeforms that the Voyager space missions might chance upon. With All Worlds the forces of Croatian Amor and Lust For Youth have united once more to spread a little hope and joy of their own.
Those words might be a little surprising if you’ve encountered the works of either project before. Lust For Youth are mainly renowned for carving out coldwave-informed postpunk whilst Croatian Amor (the alias of Loke Rahbek) laced his gloomy electronics palette with ecstatic sparks across a subtly shifting discography. This isn’t their first collaboration. You’d have to go back to 2013’s Pomegranate double cassette on Posh Isolation for that one.
Which brings us to the label that Rahbek co-ran with Christian Stadsgaard (AKA Vanity Productions) up until last month. For over 15 years the pair released underground music that ranged from brash punk and experimental, even harsh, electronics, slowly evolving into more club-friendly sounds and transforming the label into a relatively expensive fashion brand in the process. Just prior to the announcement regarding Posh Isolation’s cessation, Vanity Productions put out a forlorn, mournful swell of ambient textures that appears to rue a loss.
All Worlds is the tonal inverse. It’s relentlessly upbeat. Deliriously chipper. Whether in the cough syrup slur of ‘Akkadian’ sliding in on a half-step blend of stomping beats and glittering chords or ‘Nowhere’, which calls to mind ML Buch’s deft fingerpicking over Burial rhythms, there’s a wide-eyed ecstasy to it as scrobbled synth lines slalom like day-glo, hyper speed skiers.
It’s as if they’ve raided Bicep’s hard drive, adding samples lifted from video games and nature documentaries to arpeggiated trance chords that tumble out of the speakers. Amidst these broken beats and neat, melancholic refrains, nostalgia glows brightly against rhythms that stack up until they drop. This is their version of the Golden Record, reaching out to forge bridges with glittering fragments of humanity.
To make something so overwhelmingly positive and optimistic in a world that seems increasingly on fire, both figuratively and literally, is admirable. This is a joyous dance record that’s complicated by a public separation. The shift in the label’s aesthetics and interests from those earlier days could be a contributing factor. Viewing the albums in parallel, it’s plain to see a difference of opinion, a difference of approach, and a difference of response. Croatian Amor is out at the club throwing shapes with Lust For Youth whilst Vanity Productions is diving into dronescapes. Like those Voyager probes, they’re off on their own paths, darting out into the future.
