Onstage, Right Now… by viA fAntAsticA #Downtempo #Quirky

•March 9, 2021 • Leave a Comment

Going to keep it short this morning. Here’s something by viA fAntAsticA which is one of those strange and almost uncategorizable tracks. A cut and paste downtempo track with the perky quirk of Lemon Jelly or Coldcut.

According to their blurb, “viA fAntAsticA is J.T. and Gaia de Voxx on a DIY synth pop journey. J.T. is Justin Toland, erstwhile purveyor of loops and found sound on Recordiau Peski and self-released cassettes under the name Location Baked. Gaia de Voxx is his droid vocalist.” They’re from Cardiff in Wales if that helps at all.

Onstage, Right Now.. is a track that simply makes you smile. It opens with marching drums that pelt along before being joined by organs in a sixties kind of vein. And then the title sample comes along to give it all a psychedelic disorientating spin. But it’s all enormously uplifting and positive. A lovely bit of cut and past with an irreverent rave aesthetic. The track is taken from their 2 any 1 album which, “began as an imaginary soundtrack to a 21st century kitchen sink drama set in the faded seaside resort of Porthcawl.”

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From the vaults: Muthafunka (Innersphere dub) by The Soup Dragons and Bootsy Collins #Dub #House #Techno

•March 8, 2021 • Leave a Comment

Here’s a blast from the past in the shape of a previously unreleased Innersphere remix for The Soup Dragons from 1994. It’s a lovely dub track.

The Soup Dragons were a Scottish indie band that found dance in the early 90s. They had a huge hit I’m Free (included below in its Boys Own remix version) but were all over effectively by 1994. This track comes from that latter period when the band was Sean Dickson and session musicians. The track is explained thus, “In 1994 The Soup Dragons took a trip to Cincinnati and recorded with Bootsy Collins the track ‘Muthafunka‘ London DJ/ producers ‘Innersphere’ did a live dub version at the time that was unreleased until recently discovered on a 12” acetate.” Innersphere on the other hand were a minimal techno duo led by David Hedger.

I’d heard an Innersphere remix of Muthafunker before on the Mutherfunker Meets Innersphere Downtown version released at the time. This was a vocal heavy Stonesy blast of sleaze rock with some electronic intervention. Actually, a bit disappointing because Innersphere were always so inventive. Judge for your self below. I was therefore thrilled to see this new version (why not on vinyl?).

And it’s this new version that which should have been released at the time. The vocal is stripped out and it takes an almost Weatherall on Loaded approach to things by deconstructing and reassembling the track. But this isn’t an ecstasy fuelled epiphany. This is a late night smokers dub. It’s all laid back and paranoid. The dub is sweet and the strings sweeter still. Fabulous.

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Sunday Supplement: Larry Jefferson – Let Go #House #Acid #Techno

•March 7, 2021 • Leave a Comment

I’m absolutely delighted to welcome back to the blog, Larry Jefferson. After over two years away he’s back with his trademark acid blended with a classic house vocal to deliver full on hands in the air experience for your Sunday evening.

I asked him about the gap and he said, “I have been honest about this in the past. I was ill, I lost my mind for a while and it all unfolded in my old studio space. Once I got better I could no longer work in there as it reminded me of the period when I lost it. So I have moved and I start again. However the 303 is sounding lush, it must be enjoying it’s new home.” And in a year when physical and mental health have been to the fore it’s great to hear that and have a new track.

Much of Larry’s previous work has had a mournful or downbeat edge. Not so, Let Go. This is a classic uplifting house vocal welded onto his trademark burbling Detroit techno acid sounds. The track has a defiant, wave your hands in the air quality. It brooks no objections in an adrenalin rush of passion. More please, Larry.

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Ambient Sunday with: Lb Burton, and Nctrnm #Ambient #Minimal #Drone @nctrnm

•March 7, 2021 • Leave a Comment

Ambient Sunday is a game of two halves this morning. In the first half we have Lb Burton with some dreamy ambient, followed by Nctrnm with something minimal but earthy.

Lb Burton is from Valdivia in Southern Chile. His work is mainly ambient but with an experimental edge. “Lb Burton es un artista electrónico, radicado en la ciudad de Valdivia (Sur de Chile), que experimenta con elementos de la música  Ambient, utilizando texturas oscuras, difusas y minimalistas.”

And that experimental edge is apparent on featured track Fly Away. This is a beatless tune with lots of whooshing synths and an almost bit of Whale song element for that 90s throwback feel. All very dreamy and drifting stuff. But everything is also just that bit off-kilter, bent subtly out of shape to give it a slightly unsettling experimental edge. Cracking stuff.

Nctrnm (Matthew McGilvery) is an electronic producer from Ontario, California. I never knew there was an Ontario n the USA as well as Canada. Nctrnm’s work focused on a rather minimal aesthetic.

The featured track is Past from new album NOVA. Nctrnm says of it that, “Past is an ambient song in C# major at the tempo of 119 beats per minute.” And yet it really doesn’t sound anywhere near that fast. It has a minimal, slowly turning style focused on a thrumming bass line that rumbles its way through the track. Over the top comes a lo-fi and almost primitive sounding synth line to give a whisp of melody and an IDM air. And that’s basically your lot. This pared down style gives it a focused ambient feel that delivers on the intent to deliver an, “aural escape from the tumult of 2020.” Strangely grounded and meditative.

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Let’s get positive with: OITU – Dancing All Life Long #House #Synthwave #Chillwave @OITUmusic

•March 6, 2021 • Leave a Comment

You know me. Never knowingly positive. Hell in a handcart kind of thing. And mostly right on that count. Ever so often something absurdly positive gets through. Today’s one of those days thanks to America’s OITU.

OITU stands for Out Into The Universe. It’s a phrase taken from a lyric in Coldplay’s song Champion of the World. And that’s important. Because this, in essence, is what Coldplay would sound like as an electronic act. Bear with me on this. Dancing All Life Long is the track which sets out its stall pretty early. There’s a bunch of choppy piano, some happy beats and uplifting synths and guitar. The strives for epic – and gets there. It’s all flag waving positivity. Smart phones with the flashlight on. It’s a riot of bright colours and sensations. It could sound crass in other hands but OITU really goes for it and commits all the way through, such that you can’t help but be swept along. If you haven’t had the vaccine yet get yourself a dose of this to guard against the blues.

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Catching downtempo hip hop worms with: Biiig Stretch – Early Birds #Chill #HipHop #StudyBeats @BiiigStretch

•March 5, 2021 • Leave a Comment

There are weeks hen I spring happily into the weekend. And then there are weeks when I limp there before collapsing in a heap. This is one of the latter. And the chilled twittering warmth of Biiig Stretch’s Early Birds is just perfect for that.

Biiig Stretch (Johnnie Young) is from Moreno Valley, California. Of Early Birds he says, “I made this about the birds on my balcony 🙂 (I sampled those same birds).” It opens with acoustic guitar that made me think of the opening to Stairway to Heaven. It has that slightly folky quality. There are some nice punchy beats to stop it all getting too whimsical. And, yes, birds twitter and call. As the track develops the guitar gets a bit more of a Spanish flavour but never raises itself above relaxed. This is very much hammock music where getting up is just too much trouble. Watch the world go by. Let the birds do all the work fluttering about. Proper summer chill.

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Cool calm chill with: Ice Cream Cult – Wallflower #Chill #StudyBeats #LoFi #HipHop

•March 4, 2021 • Leave a Comment

Back at pre-Friday and as we push on towards the seemingly far off weekend let’s wrap ourselves in something warming from the otherwise chilly Ice Cream Cult.

Ice Cream Cult is from Seattle and offers, “I ate some weird ice cream and it forces me to produce music.”

Whatever the background here we have Wallflower from the Swish EP. It’s a lovely Lo-Fi beats track. It comes with rolling military hip hop beats that have a purposeful thump of bass and the message, “to those who resist the urge to fall into emotion when it is not necessary, keep on keeping on and know that it is appreciated that you are humble and respectful.” That almost reflective motto is in keeping with a track that has a slightly undemonstrative air. The melody is provided by a delightful yet shy keyboard refrain that tickles gently but deep inside. This is where introverts go to recover from the day. Delightful.

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Midweek Techno with: BRUVS – Perseus #Acid #Techno #Dub

•March 3, 2021 • Leave a Comment

Let’s hit the middle of the week hard. It deserves to have some powerful techno with a bit of dub and dollop of acid. BRUVS are the chaps to provide it.

BRUVS are from who knows where*. But we have Perseus from their EP of the same name as the featured track. As you will recall from your no doubt classically influenced education, Perseus was the legendary founder of Mycenae and of the Perseid dynasty. He was one of the great Greek heroes and slayer of monsters. Probably most remembered for beheading the Gorgon Medusa.

As a track Perseus is definitely in the heroic vein. It’s a big techno track, with a bit of a dub techno sheen. Similar to some of Bandulu’s work in the 90s. Opening with some acid squelchy beats and some epic, straining strings this builds itself up onto righteous fury befitting a hero. This is confident enough to stretch itself out beyond six minutes. And it’s clever enough not to seek to batter you into submission but to entice you into its world. It hisses with sibilant IDM sounds and the clash of swords. Techno for the age of heroes.

Whole EP

*

* Los Angeles, apparently.

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Light lunar drum and bass with: Lunebord – Moonlight Sensitivity #HipHop #DrumAndBass

•March 2, 2021 • Leave a Comment

Let’s get a bit modern with France’s Lunebord.

His track Moonlight Sensitivity is somewhere between drum and bass and contemporary hip hop. It has that high end jittery sound atop the beats. And even some pitched vocal element. But it also has a lovely wandering way with the synths. This gives it that watery, silvery quality of pale moonlight. It’s a bit spectral, a bit fragile, and a sense that it will soon disappear behind clouds.

Treasure it while it’s here for soon it will be morning again.

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PREMIERE: Melouie – Eyes Closed #Techno #IDM #Melodic

•March 1, 2021 • Leave a Comment

Here’s a just released track from Melouie that flirts with a blend of melodic organic techno and IDM.

Melouie is from Berlin, Germany and he produces melodic techno, IDM, and downtempo. And you get all of that on Eyes Closed. He says “My music is a mixture between real recorded instruments and analog electronics.” And you get that too.

Eyes Closed opens with a soundscape of IDM creaks and crackles with a bit of melodic parping. It’s all very anticipatory until it settles down into a more conventional melodic techno structure but still with some creaking in the background to add that machine sense to all the warming organic sounds. The track has an optimistic sense of growth with a lovely break half way through. It’s one of those build and build track that ends really rather epic. Lovely way to start the week.

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