Ambient Sunday with C O N T X T and Hviledag #Ambient #Electronic #Drone

•September 6, 2020 • Leave a Comment

Cornwall meets Copenhagen this Ambient Sunday with tracks from C O N T X T and Hvildag.

C O N T X T is originally from Falmouth, Cornwall and is unsurprisingly influenced by Aphex Twin. But there’s more than that in here. There’s a bit of Burial dubstep clickiness and some almost post-rock sounds. Nature Walk doesn’t feel very organic or natural. It’s all machine made but it does have a lovely leftfield IDM feel that takes its place in anywhere from early 80s electronica through to 90s IDM. Music from the fringes that deserves to be centre stage.

Hvildag is from Denmark and The track is under from his new Over Mellem Under album. It’s a deliberate attempt to bring electronics closer together with classical tropes. I normally steer well clear of such things. But on under Hvildag creates a space in which they can co-exist. It’s a strong mood piece filled with contrasting piano and electronic angularity. It’s filled with tones that arrive in a slow sequence. But this isn’t a restful piece. There’s a snarling squalling violin that intermittently interrupts the reverie to remind us that the path of existence is never smooth. A great composition.

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Lunar lazing with: Mark Natale – I Fainted on The Moon #Chill #Downtempo

•September 5, 2020 • Leave a Comment

There’s some late September sun today and I’m not in the mood for anything too energetic. So, you can have this lovely chilled track from Mark Natale.

Mark is from Dunellen, New Jersey, USA and says he grew up in “a small train town.” His work often has a nostalgic quality. And there’s an elegiac quality to I Fainted On The Moon with its moon landing samples that are fast receding into history and beyond so many people’s lived experience.

The tune uses a strummed guitar with an almost country feel. In so doing it manages to link Wild West to Outer Space. But it’s also in awe of everything. It’s hardly a surprise that Mark says that, “this song was inspired by a dream I had.” It has a woozy take on everything. It’s all a bit hazy and just a touch out of focus. But things and sounds drift by just beautifully. Why don’t you join in?

Spotify

Mark’s track is part of this chilled playlist

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Chill your Friday with: Nogymx – Kodama #HipHop #Downtempo #Chill

•September 4, 2020 • Leave a Comment

I don’t know about you but I’m so ready for the weekend. Need something to help me get over the Friday finishing line. Here’s Nogymx with the chilled hip hop of Kodama.

NOGYMX (pronounced no-gimmicks), is an artist from Galway, Ireland but currently living in South Korea. Of his work he says “I try to paint auditory paintings through my music.” If that’s the case what we have here in Kodama is the musical equivalent of one of those Japanese calligraphy pieces where the sweep of the brushstrokes create the beauty that resonates through the words. This is chilled Japanese influenced hip hop. There’s a bunch of surface noise for that ‘authentic’ feel and some guitar but that is eventually delicately set aside in favour of the crisp crunch of beats. And ultimately it’s the ehru (Japanese violin) that takes centre stage here with a sad lament. It’s a beautiful experience. Enjoy.

Kodama

Track taken from Ghosts Of The Pines EP (Bandcamp)

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Ancient and modern with: Andrew Rothschild – Lokta #Electronica #Downtempo #Chill

•September 2, 2020 • Leave a Comment

The rather wonderful Andrew Rothschild is back with a new beautiful downtempo track, Lotka.

Andrew Rothschild is starting to rival Bonobo for the quality of his downtempo. He mixes electronics with folk and traditional instruments, as well as a dash of neo-classical. It’s a heady concoction. Lotka is, I think, a reference to Lotka paper made in Nepal and used by monasteries and the government for important texts. It is prized for its attractive texture, the durability and strength of its fibre and its resistance to insects.

This track manages to mix sacred and secular, old and new. There’s a timeless quality to the sounds. It mixes a slightly folktronica approach with wind chimes and what might be a kalimba. This is carefully pitched into the mix with electronic elements and slow moving beats to produce a heady yet meditative sound. The weight of the past offering solace to the present. Delightful downtempo track.

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Groove and growl with: Hoopla – Synchronicity #House #Techno #IndieDance

•September 1, 2020 • Leave a Comment

It may be Tuesday but it’s the start of the working week after the public holiday yesterday. And I’m lumbering round the kitchen like a bear with a sore head. I want to grumble, growl and groove. Here’s Australia’s Hoopla with something suitable.

Synchronicity is the tune. The accompanying blurb says, “Hoopla sits on a foundation of fat, dirty bass sequences, and garage-grunge techno beats.” And that just about hits the spot for this track. It’s built around a wonderfully dirty bass alongside some pacey percussion. Gives the track a real propulsive quality. There’s bits of disembodied vocal but who cares about that? This is all about the sleazy sinuous groove that’s created. I’m no less grumbly as a result but I am throwing kitchen shapes.

Spotify

Soundcloud

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Brunch chill with: Shuhandz – Tell Me (Good Lee Instrumental Remix) #Chill #Downtempo

•August 31, 2020 • Leave a Comment

If you’re in the UK this should be a public holiday for you. And even if you’re working or not in the UK find a few minutes to chill with this gem from Shuhandz. It’s the instrumental version of Tell Me remixed by Good Lee.

The original vocal version of Tell Me was out a month or so back. But I’ve been waiting for this instrumental version to be released. It’s a real downtempo classic in the making. There’s a proper dreamy sense to this track. It’s full of nature, dappled woodland and birds. There’s a lovely bank of synths that provide the heart of the track. Beats are soft and slow and the melody flutters in the treetops. It’s all totally idyllic and just about perfect.

Soundcloud

Spotify

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Triple chilling with: Neology, Stereo Fear and Widespread Noise #HipHop #Instrumental #Chill #Dub

•August 31, 2020 • Leave a Comment

A triple chilled treat of largely instrumental hip hop from Neology, Stereo Fear, and Widespread Noise. Prepare to be relaxed.

Neology is probably from Indonesia and offers the helpful bio of “uhhh yeah we make tunes.” Which is a relief as if they made jam you’d have nothing to listen to. You Have To Leave is a superb example of the chill-hop genre. It’s super-relaxed on the beats and lets some gentle guitar make the pace of the track. This is allied with a rather saucy sample at the start which says “Let’s just go home, even make love… and then you have to leave.” No idea what film it’s from. But it adds a suitably languid sultry air to the track. Fabulous.

Stereo Fear is from the USA and chooses a jazzy path on Around The Block. The track is taken from the album All The Time. The tune is gentle hip hop beats with a jazz trumpet taking most of the melodic strain. There’s a nice shuffly percussion accompaniment and even a bit of scratching. It’s all totally peaceful. This block is taking a well-earned rest before the merry-go-round starts again. Jump onboard.

Around The Block

All This Time LP

And so to the return of Widespread Noise. This is a project from Noah Peterson but involving other collaborators. The featured track is The Boomerang Nebula. It is taken from the Elements of Nature album. This is a spacey, slightly dubby, track. This is chilled beats which have a bit of a hip hop essence but without being constrained by it. There’s a deep resonating bass and dub chords among the pinging whooshing sounds of electronic space. This is the vastness of space but revelling in it rather than fearing being so far from home. A deeply reassuring track.

The Boomerang Nebula

Elements of Nature

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Ambient Sunday with: Dyb, and John Hayes & Maxy Dutcher #Ambient #Drone #House #Electronic

•August 30, 2020 • Leave a Comment

A couple of ambient tracks from America North and South in the form of Dyb, and John Hayes & Maxy Dutcher.

Dyb (Diego Masarotti) is a musician from Argentina. The track is Entre Luces Y Sombras (tr. Between light and shadow). It’s a gently chiming track that carelessly hides an experimental edge. The electronics almost remind you of guitar strums in a Spanish style. But there’s also a childlike lullaby quality to the tinkling tones. It’s soothing and slightly edgy at the same time with its hissy background. A really lovely meditative ambient piece.

This track is part of the second compilation from Templo Animal Records, a collective and netlabel that showcases experimental electronic musicians from Latin America. It’s available on Spotify and Bandcamp (name your price).

Next, from the USA comes John Hayes & Maxy Dutcher with Arch Dance. This combines pianist / producer John Hayes and electronic musician Maxy Dutcher.

The phrase neo-classical is bandied around rather too much. And too much of it unsuccessfully tries to stick beats and electronics on piano and strings. This is one of those rare successes. Arch Dance is a really beautiful fusion of beautiful delicate piano chords with electronics that click and clatter and reverb around in harmony and sympathy. Gives the track a quality that surpasses neo-classical and ends up somewhere much more profound and lovely. A track of iridescent beauty.

From the album Borealis (out of 25 September).

 

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Deep house dreamer returns: Tim Engelhardt First Contact (Mentat Remix) #DeepHouse #MelodicTechno

•August 29, 2020 • Leave a Comment

Hard to believe that it’s over three years since I featured some Tim Engelhardt. And even more surprising that he was first featured here in 2012 when he was only 14. How time flies and how they grow. I’ve always lovely his warm organic deep house tracks. But today I’m featuring a remix of his work by Mentat.

The original of First Contact is a classic Tim Engelhardt production. It’s a leisurely eight minutes of deep house with a techno twist. It operates in a dreamy, spacey kind of techno way. It has an inner complexity that belies the surface smoothness.

The track was the subject of a remix comp. UK producer Mentat remixed this track for Poker Flat as part of their 20 year celebrations remix contest, winning a release on the label. His version is almost as long as the original but the beats have been tightened so it sounds pacier. It’s more a techno track and has lost a bit of deep house softness. But what’s not been lost is that spaced out sense of the track. Despite that the track feels simultaneously taut and a bit edgy. Super techno stuff.

Original

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Gloriously strange electronics with: Orbitfold – Potential #IDM #Electronic #Garage #Breakbeat

•August 28, 2020 • Leave a Comment

Before we head into the weekend, which is a long one here in the UK, let’s stop and stare at Orbitfold. For Potential is one of those tracks that doesn’t sit easily in genre terms. In fact, it revels in sprawling ungainly across a number. Oh, and a bit NSFW language as well.

Orbitfold is Vytautas Jancauskas from Munich, Germany. He’s been making music for 20 years, mostly post rave experiments. But I know no more than that. And, in a way, that’s great because we’re free to focus on the tune. Potential is a glorious mess of a track but filled to the sprawling brim with messy distain for convention and a joyous approach, including ‘that’ sample (from The End Of The F***ing World).

He claims Potential as garage. But I’ve no idea why. It’s a big banging future house track. Beats are lo-fi but forward in the mix. A bit breakbeat in places. Synth chime away in riotous chords. Things fizz around, pots are banged, Barriers crumble, empires fall, The Karmadrome’s inside us all. Just brilliant.

 

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