| Needledrop | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 6 March 2020 (2020-03-06) | |||
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| Length | 36:34 | |||
| Label | Night Time Stories | |||
| Producer | Session Victim | |||
| Session Victim chronology | ||||
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Needledrop is the fourth studio album by the German house music duo Session Victim, released by Night Time Stories on 6 March 2020.[1][2]
Session Victim conceived and started recording Needledrop in the basement studio of one of their friends in Sydney.[3][4] They also moved around Hamburg and San Francisco while recording it.[3]
Needledrop is mostly a downtempo album inspired by the likes of Nightmares on Wax, DJ Shadow and Portishead.[1] It also features genres such as soul, jazz, funk, and house.[2] For this album, Session Victim relied more on live instrumentation than on sampling, using drums, guitar, percussion, piano, flute and saxophone, among others.[2][1] Electronic instruments the band used in Needledrop include synthesizers Korg Trident and Korg Minilogue, and drum machines Roland R-8 and LinnDrum.[3] The album features Beth Hirsch on "Made Me Fly".[1][3]
Needledrop received favorable reviews. Ryan Keeling of Resident Advisor wrote that the album "arrives in fresh home-listening forms. [...] Freer and Reiling create a musical environment in which the tone and timbre of many different instruments fit comfortably. [...] They continue to bring a sense of style and musicality that's uncommon among similar house music acts. Transposing the essence of what they do to a range of new tempos and rhythms is admirable. For this reason alone, Needledrop should be considered a success."[1] Ryan Middleton of Magnetic Magazine wrote that Needledrop "feels organic and complex, as [Session Victim] bring together live instruments, drums, guitars, percussion, vocals and more, into a record that bridges various genre gaps."[2] Sam Willings of MusicTech wrote, "If some of [Session Victim's] previous works are designed for the night, Needledrop is surely a soundtrack for the sunset", and "Needledrop expertly balances organic and synthetic sounds in a downbeat fashion".[3] Harold Heath of International DJ wrote, "Needledrop performs that rare trick of glowing with nostalgia while simultaneously sounding completely contemporary."[4]
