Album of the month | Arriving Home Elsewhere by Makèz

Artist: Makèz
Title: Arriving Home Elsewhere
Label: No Art
Released: 10 October

Sounds like: Home is wherever Makèz lay their hats - a different one for each occasion

Album review

Eight month ago, we made ANOTR's second album On A Trip our February album of the month. Truthfully, we hadn't expected to revisit the No Art label quite so soon. Such is the quality found on Makèz's own follow-up LP, Arriving Home Elsewhere is hard to overlook.

Like label heads Jesse and Oguzhan of ANOTR fame, Makèz are a Dutch duo based out of Amsterdam. And, like ANOTR, they aren't afraid to look beyond the confines of electronic music's sometimes restrictive parameters.

The freedom and 'no rules' mentality Jazz was built on, is never far from their thoughts.

Kees and Willem from Makèz opened up for ANOTR at [UNVRS] in May

Ibiza attendees may recognise them as having supported ANOTR at both their Pacha and [UNVRS] headline dates earlier this summer.

On a first-listen, REARRANGE YOURSELF could easily be misidentified as an ANOTR track. It features the multi-talented Ben Westbeech, who is on an undeniable hot streak of his own. He is one of a dozen credited artists who form Arriving Home Elsewhere's wider ensemble cast.

The album introduces us to several new names from the world of Soul, including Liv East and douniah.

Another in form artist is frequent Makèz collaborator Life On Planets. He appears on three of the tracks, including the duo's breakthrough single DOWNSTREAM. Despite a 2023 release, it gets a welcome inclusion and provides context to Makèz's journey in the time since.

On another Life On Planets feature, the bassline from ILLUSIONS is reminiscent of that of Kanye West's Fade (which itself samples Mr. Fingers' 1985 Chicago House classic Mystery Of Love, if we needed reminding).

There's more diversity to be found. Like the easy-listenability of Fruits Of The Universe, Define Us and the lullaby chimes of Without The Sun.

Meanwhile on Vibin, it feels like you've pulled a front row seat to an improvised jam in the studio. Comparisons will surely be drawn between the delivery of featured UK lyricist SANITY and that of Cardi B. She is another unearthed newcomer whose solo work demands further attention.

The album's structure and pace is another curious case, as Makèz flit between modern House and cosmic Jazz laissez-faire. Sometimes the transition between tracks is one of harmony. At other times, there is resistance.

This dissolution of boundaries points to its architects' wider ambition: to converge different streams of their musicality. Even the album title points to Makèz's determination not to be typecast as producers of any single genre. It this understanding that you can belong to multiple worlds, whilst refusing to be restricted to only one. Admirably, they pull it off.

Modern fans of dance music are often accused of being insular - the textbook "picky eater" (more worryingly, a recent report found new audiences to be passively consuming everything the algorithm recommends, without any inclination for self-discovery).

It's part of the reason why party line-ups have stagnated and become increasingly homogenised.

Therefore, the need for artists to experiment in the studio, DJs to take risks in their track selections, labels to nurture up-and-coming talent and promoters to curate line-ups based on merit and not cronyism, has never been more important.

ANOTR incorporated live instrumentation into their 2023 No Art Ibiza showcase

No Art occupies rare territory in the current landscape, catering to all four of those areas.

Thankfully, it seems to be enjoying its moment in the sun, meaning the death knell for creativity has been put on hold for that bit longer.

Whilst well-meaning bedroom producers do their utmost to replicate Stussy's sound or rearrange the formula into something Marco Carola's researcher might pick up, Makèz go the complete opposite direction, by insisting that none of their own two tracks sound the same.

Highlights: REARRANGE YOURSELF, ILLUSIONS, LOOKS LIKE IT (SPACE TALK), SIMULATE

Arriving Home Elsewhere is out now and is available to stream and purchase on all reputable platforms.