Louisahhh & Maelstrom - May the Rage Burn a Path for Joy (2024)

their critically acclaimed debut album, ‘Sustained Resistance,’ the ferocious duo Maelstrom and Louisahhh deliver a second LP, ‘May the Rage Burn a Path for Joy (Bangers)’. Far more than a collection of remixes, this body of work explores how live performance has shaped their body of work from one centered around feelings of angst to one that is bursting with savage delight, and vice versa.

New takes on old classics like ‘Let the Night’ (an off-the-cuff mashup of Bromance-era hits ‘Let the Beat Control Your Body’ and ‘Nightclubbing’) up the ante when Louisahhh’s sultry techno recitative is replaced with guttural roaring over Maelstrom’s aggressive percussive improvisation. ‘Fan the Flame’ and ‘America’, two songs from 2023’s ‘Sustained Resistance’, get reappropriated for dance floors with a heavy four-on-the-floor kick drum shifting the mood from contemplative yearning to insistent, combative.

The LP also births original creations, including an unprecedented trilateral collaboration with Brodinski, architect of their convergence in 2013. 'I'm a Whip' pulsates as a perverse club anthem, a testament to their individual prowess unified for the first time on one song. 'Hate Machine' delves into the toxic human-technology entanglement, evoking a darker take on the electroclash legacy of Chicks on Speed and The Soft Pink Truth.

Additionally, ‘May the Rage…’ features a collection of stellar remixes from luminaries such as Flore, Cate Hortl, and Mickey Nox.

Deeply inspired by Soulwax’s seminal ‘Nite Versions’, Maelstrom and Louisahhh present a collection of their own work reimagined and deconstructed for the darkest, sweatiest parts of the night. Meanwhile, the duo maintains their steadfast stance that club spaces are political, and holding the banner ‘PLUR’ requires unflinchingly speaking truth to power.

‘May the Rage Burn a Path for Joy’ is a body of work examining the radically transformative possibilities of collective effervescence, or what happens when bodies dance together in the dark.