Live Review: Discwoman and Allergy Season team up against injustice for 'Physically Sick 2' compilation

22 March 2018 | 10:35 am | Holly O'Neill
Originally Appeared In

Hear the best "electronic protest music" by 44 acts across house, ambient and techno soundscapes with all proceeds going to the Brooklyn Community Bail Fund

ALLERGY SEASON, a label run by producer PHYSICAL THERAPY, and DISCWOMAN, the DJ collective highlighting women and non binary artists, have teamed up for a second time for their Physically Sick 2 charity compilation. After curating a group of club musicians to assemble a tape of "electronic protest music" the first time round they're at it again, bringing together 44 acts across house, ambient and techno soundscapes.

They've nabbed a fair spread of big names in the club scene as well as many fresh up-and-comers across the tape, with big names like LAUREL HALO and FATIMA AL QADIRI sitting alongside relative unknowns like SI BEGG and TOXA. With artists like YAEJI and JAYDA G on their last compilation, keep an eye on some of the "smaller acts" on this year's compilation for their impending come up too.

Standouts across the tape come from established artists and newcomers alike, with acts like PELADA flipping acid house on its head with a commanding vocal in her track 'Destado'. 'Angel Zone Freestyle, April 2014' is LE1F's hyperactive offering for the tape, with skittering percussion guiding a freestyle that highlights gentrification of location and identity. TYGAPAW's 'Black Woman Experience' is an arresting ambient track, obscuring intimate interviews with buzzing synths and whirling keys.

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All the proceeds of the compilation go directly to the Brooklyn Community Bail Fund, a cause the team obviously feels passionately about. The group assists those caught up in the American prison system, stuck in jail before trial because they cannot afford bail. In their press release they say, "Months may go by, even years, simply because someone -- who has yet to be convicted of any crime -- couldn't come up a few hundred dollars. It is a racist, backwards design that disproportionately punishes people of color and the poor."

Across the tracks there's a familiar energy of self empowerment and resistance, a power running through club communities since their inception. The diversity of the artists' sounds, backgrounds and gender identities are its strength, and something that makes the fringe club scene as a whole so resilient and unique. With Physically Sick 2, they've channeled this energy into a tangible experience for listeners and active change in the wider community.

Download Physically Sick 2 here for the price of your choice, and all proceeds go to the Brooklyn Community Bail Fund .

PHOTO BY MARY KANG

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