It’s a pubic holiday here. Need to get the Christmas lethargy out of your bones? Check out Adam Helder’s new track Aura and give yourself a virtuous glow.
Aura is pitched as tech house and I guess it is a bit, especially in its opening phases. But there’s way too much melody in here for that to last. It ends up a lovely parping bundle of melodic techno joy. It has that uncanny ability to reference back to classics of days gone by but sound fresh and perky. A real dance floor filler with those ascending chords. More excellent quality from Adam Helder.
Of all of techno’s many and varied flavours Detroit techno has always been my favourite. A bit subtler than some but with power and precision. Here’s Blu Leopard with the aptly named Detroit.
Blu Leopard is from Middlesbrough in the UK but otherwise elusive. Detroit is the lead track from and EP of the same name on Shanghaied Records. It’s a perfect piece of Detroit techno. It has a delicacy and an electro background. The beats are firm and crisp. The synths are laser tooled. It grooves around. It works equally well at home as in a club. It’s all exactly as it should be. The essence of 20 years of techno reduced into three minutes that leaves you wanting more. Much more.
I hope you had a good Christmas. However, you’re spending your Boxing Day take a moment to reflect with RINZ.
RINZ is Berlin-raised but Amsterdam-based. His work is about the interplay of chilled sounds and balance. Static Second is no exception. Perhaps inevitably it’s a response to this strange year. He explains that, “Before 2020, there was so much movement around me that I would forget to stand still and take a moment to breathe. This past year has been a giant breather from my dynamic life. I made this song to reflect on this new slow-moving, long-lasting stillness.”
The track is essentially the interplay between some low and slow guitar licks and the beats that drawl along behind. It’s dragging you back into your chair for a moment. It’s a track about pondering what has been and what will be. It’s all about mood and magic. The guitar tickles the synapses just as the beats slow the heart rate. Two minutes to stop and stare. And then on with your day. But the better for the experience. Quietly uplifting.
As we near Christmas let’s stop off at Cape of Needles for some warming downtempo.
Cape of Needles comes from Fe.Arts aka Francesco from Italy. He explains the strange choice of title was inspired by, “Rounding the southern coast of Africa in the 1480s, Portuguese navigators discovered this point of Africa where magnetic north and true north were virtually identical, and after that they went through the lands, discovering South Africa and all its beauties.” The track is a lovely shimmer of electronica topped off by some flute sounds. It has an otherworldly feel but skirts around identifying exactly where. It’s all warning and relaxing. The beats offer is little pitter-patter of momentum but without dampening the unhurried vibes. Delightful.
Bristol is such a great city for the sound it produces. Massive Attack, The Moonflowers. And now The MoonRakers. They produced a squelchy bobbly psytrance dub. It’s as messy and glorious as that description implies.
The MoonRakers are two brothers from Wiltshire who blend live instruments with psychedelic sound FX and digital basslines. Neurotrition (VIP Mix) is the opening track to their album It is Psychedelic but it’s Not Trance. The track is is mix of trance sounds plus some big bass, a dollop of dub and bucolic strangeness. In many ways it is the grandchild of The Moonflowers’ track Get Higher (Rather Large In The Bristol Area) which I’ve included at the foot of this post. But The MoonRakers go for a much more electronic, dubbed and chilled air. It’s all bonged out of your head. And the better for it. Who needs reality when you can open your mind and have psydub?
Here’s some beautiful music for unlovely days of grey skies and rain that is ever near from Murakamo.
Murakamo is Luuc O from Groningen, Netherlands. He is one half of former IDM/Glitch duo Ludique. Murakumo is a solo project with a more reflective and downtempo soul. The featured track is Walk In The Park. It’s taken from the Identical Days EP.
Luuc says that the EP contains songs “salvaged from an old rusty USB stick.” We should all rejoice at them being saved. Walk In The Park is an exceptional piece of downtempo. It manages to be completely electronic and yet suffused with emotion. There are synthetic strings, a bobbly lead synth that carries the ear along. The beats have that IDM tinge but without ever needing to shout about it. Gives the whole thing a heartfelt yet quirky appeal. A truly delightful tune. Available on Bandcamp (€4).
As the joys of Tier 4 lockdown start to properly sink in let’s have some techno from MIRØ.
MIRØ is from Italy and was originally a guitarist before moving into electronic sounds. This track may have been written from a previous lockdown but is just right to escape to in this one.
Sanity is taken from the Lockdown EP. It’s a track that sits somewhere on the intersection between electro, techno, and progressive house. There’s a tension between the more Spartan techno and electro sounds and a sense that the progressive house melodies want to break free. It’s an eight minute journey of escape. The rhythms have a hypnotic quality that release the bounds of the earthly chains. It’s a long dark drive of the soul.
A trio of chilled track for this Ambient Sunday as the rosy fingers of dawn creep into the sky with Shea Betts, Under Islands, and December Roses.
Shea Betts is a New York based artist who is “Exploring the possibilities of generative, evolving soundscapes.” Not quite sure what that means. But on Vapour Trails, taken from the album Sea / Sky ($7 on Bandcamp), you get an experimental drone that offers eight minutes of ‘pause.’ It’s a wonderfully reflective piece of the type I don’t usually enjoy. But here while the drone occupies the foreground, out back there is a subtly changing set of symphonic melodies that provide the humanity and emotion. It’s a delightfully delicate and evocative track.
Under Islands takes us to the other side of the world. It is the project of Josh Marx from Australia. He says that he, “draws inspiration from the sounds and feelings of being in nature to create compositions with mellow, organic and soothing qualities.”
The track is Steady from the A Number Less EP. It was produced, “during a hazy period of lockdown consisting mostly of bushwalks and music. The intent was to capture and express feelings of awe, sadness, beauty and solitude.” Steady has elements of neo-classical through the strings and piano motifs. But it’s been slightly scuffed so it ends as electronic as it does real instrument. Everything hangs in a teetering balance. Emotions come in waves. They threaten to overwhelm but never quite sweep things away. In the end, all is calm.
December Roses are an Atlanta-based ensemble. This could just as easily appear on one of my more hip hop focused posts. But the air of space and the use of the synths makes Daylight equally adept on Ambient Sunday. There’s some surface noise, some background chatter and in the foreground a lonely keyboard plies its trade. Beats come but lately. They augment, rather than take over. Everything remains dreamy and perfect for daydreaming or late night reverie. Beautiful music to watch clouds go by.
Johan Agebjörn returns to these parts after a substantial absence. He’s from Lund, Sweden and was part of Sally Shapiro. His heart is in ambient and disco. And it’s disco that gets the free rein on this remix premiering on AcidTedblog.
Alongside Mikael Ögren he’s remixed the Pet Shop Boys from what for me was their peak period. Although seen as a classic 80s band I preferred their early 90s work that took their disco template and added wit to house structures. This peaked with Very/Very Relentless albums in 1993 with the extraordinary ‘bubble’ cover. And it’s that album from which comes The Man Who Has Everything (Johan Agebjörn & Mikael Ögren Re-edit).
I’ve included the original below but Johan and Mikael’s re-edit is taking all that’s good in the original and turning it all up to 11. It’s 30 secs longer for extra drama. The disco is pushed further back to let the natural dramatic house to the fore, It seems to have absorbed the essence of peak time old school house and sculpted it in the PSB blender. Peaks shoot off in all directions. Dig out the glitterball for tonight, you dance.
If you enjoyed that check out this rather fine mixtape from earlier this year. It contains lots of great 90s techno.
