Trip hop is hard to get right. Baraka manages it on Return to the Foundation, with crunchy hip hop beats and a little bit of electronic wonder. The surprise here is that the various vocal elements add to, rather than detract from, the overall experience. This gives just the right amount of head nodding feel.
I Don’t Drink Coffee. Now, we know that’s a lie. All posts are accompanied by coffee. Today, something rather nice from Cameroon. But this heinous proposition is the title of a track from Camp North. Given he’s from the USA I can only assume this makes him a green tea, tree hugging, dangerous liberal. #fakenews #snowflake #shame
The track is a delight. It’s a cheeky piece of deep house, with a chilled edge and a sense of fun. Offers rippled guitar intros, a bit of Jack Nicholson (from The Shining I think) and leftfield house / deep house sounds. Loving this lofi approach.
A techno tune for Monday from Monophona.
Monophona is a first. Not sure we’ve had anyone from Luxembourg on here before. The track is I Will Be Wrong. A growling, growing piece of techno that avoids completely baring its teeth. Has a sense of restraint that stops it being too aggressive, which is supplemented by a female vocal. There’s something of Sasha’s Xpander here. Available as a free download.
Download: www.xlr8r.com/mp3/2017/10/monoph…a-i-will-be-wrong/
Next, Radiating Circles.
A great bit of liquid drum and bass from Voorhees on Never Leave My Side. Voorhees is fom LA and this is a really nice and chilled tune but with a lovely skippy beat.Perfect for a Sunday that’s relaxed but not completely trashed from the night before. Has a bit of piano for that freshly ground coffee feeling. And it’s a free download.
Been a long week and I want something relaxing, so here’s Algorhythms from Wisemind. Turns out an algorhythm is an unambiguous specification of how to solve a class of problems – a self-contained step-by-step set of operations to be performed. I’m not sure what the class of problem to be solved here is but it’s solved my need to rleax. Everything’s laid back and unhurried in a manner that sits somewhere inbetween ambient and trip hop. Think semi-horizontal.
A couple of contrasts for your Saturday morning from Nick Shades and Woochia. Both downtempo but delivering contrasting emotions.
Nick Shades first. Endless Abyss is as dark as the title implies. It’s a treacle dark struggle in ambient molasses. All manner of shades of black and very dark grey do nothing to light your way. A brilliantly emotive stripped ambient tune. But don’t play this late at might after a few too many depressive drinks.
Download for free on The Artist Union: theartistunion.com/tracks/4dcc5e
After all that bleakness, Woochia’s Train comes as a welcome relief. A little guitar ripples around like an updated mix of Pink Floyd and Four Tet. A delight in the light, with a hint of (whisper it softly) country at its steel heart. Like the heavy at at in the picture, it can see through the dark of the train tunnel to the light. Woochia says “composed in trains and buses, while traveling between London and Paris during the last months of 2016.”
Two contemplative space bound tracks for a Friday from Bido Ben and Naut. Bido offers something supposedly deep house but in actuality more leftfield and offbeat than that. Naut some yummy chill.
Bido Ben’s AM In Jupiter is a beautiful thing. Has a chilledness but the vocal and chiming synth hook reminded me of nothing so much as New FADs Big but more skulking at the bar than on the dance floor. It’s wonderful but frustratingly short at a little over 3 minutes. This needs a big fat sprawling dub remix lasting for at least 15 minutes.
Naut delivers some space opera sounds on Spaceagelove. A chiming, IDM fest of synths and squiggles. This could be a soundtrack to a Clangers film. That’s not meant in any way as damning with faint praise. The track has an offbeat charm that makes you smile, whilst disguising an underlying toughness. Clever stuff. Track taken from the new EP I Hardly Know You, I Barely Know Myself available now on Sunbird Records.
iTunes – itunes.apple.com/gb/album/i-hardl…-ep/id1221446121
