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Live Review: Soak up Sortagoth's fizzy new single, 'Soggy'

30 November 2017 | 11:19 am | Camilla Patini

Sydney DJ, producer and queen of SidechainsSORTAGOTH, has just released a fresh new track called 'Soggy’. Like her previous releases, it’s an experimental, hyperactive number, featuring manic, high-pitched sounds and plasticised foley effects. On 'Soggy', these are paired expertly with some seriously deep drum and bass.

Although a mix of influences, 'Soggy' leans heavily on the PC Music aesthetic of artists such as SOPHIE. Mixed by homegrown Mikudx7, it bears some resemblance to her collab with Melty in their new, collaborative project, Rhythm Heaven. Nonetheless, you can hear Sortagoth continuing to cement her own unique sound with this track.

In what is perhaps a nod to older PC MUSIC material and her stated interest in the textural feel of sound, Sortagoth's ‘Soggy’ features rubbery, watery sound effects. It even opens with the same (different but similar) fizzying as SOPHIE’s ‘Lemonade’. The song's interest in textures and slick surfaces is complemented by the track’s cover art: what listeners can assume is Sortagoth's hand wearing a bright orange rubber glove, set against a stark, white background.

Like a lot of music off the Sidechains label, ‘Soggy’ glitches, lurches and hiccups all the way through, bursting with hyperactivity, crazy rhythms and chopped up vocals. ‘Soggy’ begins with fizzy bubbles and synths so sharp-edged they could carve holes into thin air. From the weirdly textural opening, a dark beat emerges, coupled with the song’s vocal iteration, ‘Soggy’. From then onward the song speeds up, with sounds spinning and rollercoaster-ing out of control. Arcade sound effects whiz up and down, creating a really catchy rhythm, with ‘soaking wet’ getting repeated ad infinitum, bringing to mind the vocal madness of GFOTY. There are hardly any human sounds in this song, with the robotic vocal also becoming distorted beyond recognition in the track’s closing bars.

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Sortagoth has nailed this track. 'Soggy' is a fun, high-energy song which I'd love to hear at the club.

Photo: Supplied

Words by CAMILLA PATINI

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