- A buzzing tribute to the Shanghai club scene that Osheyack and SVBKVLT helped to foster.
- A musician once told me that their creative process was like a conversation: you have an idea, you pursue it a bit, listen back to the results, then decide where to take it next. You have to go where the idea's telling you to go. American producer Eli Osheyack's second album, Intimate Publics, (which is more the length of an EP), looks to capture and celebrate the path of creativity he went down during his decade living in Shanghai, when he was engrossed in—and helping drive—its thriving underground music scene.
One of the hubs of this scene is the nightclub All, which replaced an infamous underground bunker called Shelter. There was a time when Shelter was dominated by expats until, "almost out of nowhere, these younger [local] kids took over," Osheyack said to Bandcamp Daily last month. "New DJs and promoters were taking bits and pieces of stuff from all over the world, and reassembling it to make it make sense for Shanghai." As an expat himself, and not wanting to impose, Osheyack quietly produced and shared music with the friends he made through Shelter and All (and the two clubs' accompanying label, SVBKVLT, which he has become a core part of). Now, despite returning to the states, his heady take on club music remains an integral part of the community around All, and Intimate Publics is an homage to the vibrant scene he left behind.
"Edging" and "Thrall" are Osheyack’s bread and butter: hardcore, urgent, between-genres club music. For "Being Online" and "Usually Never" he pushes the boat out towards a more unsettled place. Ticking t's countdown on "Being Online," while katana-like swipes momentarily pause "Usually Never," offering a welcome contrast to its crowded helter-skelter of horns and percussion. "Piecemeal" is almost patient in comparison. Instead of pummelling kicks, long groans of sub-bass and a bouncy beat yo-yo between stirring soundtrack music and UK garage.
A few years ago, before he left Shanghai, Osheyack said that while cities like Berlin and New York already have a long history and tradition of nightlife, Shanghai has only just started writing the story of its electronic music counterculture. Intimate Publics captures that unfolding. Samples of whispers and mumblings in the background of "Reification" and "Piecemeal" allude to the anticipation around these floating ideas, but they're only whispers, reflecting something of an embryonic state. As an American, perhaps Osheyack doesn't feel that's for him to decide. But it's still exciting, and the record giddy pace captures the nervy, uncertain but always forward-thinking energy of Shanghai's nightlife, whatever its future may be.
Tracklist01. Edging
02. Thrall
03. Being Online
04. Still
05. Piecemeal
06. Pratfall
07. Usually Never
08. Reification