Last year, Berlin by way of Istanbul DJ and producer Nene H released her debut album and one of the most poignant techno releases in recent memory. A cenotaph to her father, Ali was a work rooted in grief but which confronted grief’s lesser seen faces. The grief Nene H approached on Ali recognises mourning as culturally specific, and often complexly communal. It’s both surprising and refreshing that from under the weight of Ali, the underground superstar should arrive equipped with satire, of all things.
Taken as the first single from her upcoming EP Trifecta, Fucken Lie is Nene H’s ode to Berlin that doubles as Nene H reading Berlin for filth, and having a ball while she’s at it. Sure, her kicks are as icy as ever, but Fucken Lie is markedly less austere than the concrete, bluewashed aesthetics of Ali. In fact, it’s quite stylish. Along with racing backbeats and polyrhythms, Nene H adds glowing chords and a snappy bassline which ends up making Fucken Lie as boppy as it is hard-edged. The whole thing is coated in a glossy sort of sass that makes it deliciously deviant. Nik Mantilla provides Fucken Lie’s crowning glory; a running commentary drawled despondently that pokes fun at the pretentiousness of the techno community. While his quips may be specific to Berlin, the shade Mantilla throws easily applies to similar scenes everywhere. You can’t help but chuckle at lines like “Is that water?”, “Do you have a lighter?”, or best of all; “I love your outfit… That was a fucken lie.”
Listen to Fucken Lie below.
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