Melodic acid with: Tunnelblick 46 – Acid Dreams #Techno #Acid

•August 18, 2021 • Leave a Comment

Sticking with acid techno for today. Here’s an offering from Tunnelblick 46.

Tunnelblick 46 is Luca Blecker from Bocholt, Germany (near the Dutch border). I assume the name comes from the tunnelblick open source graphic user interface for OpenVPN. Whatever, he has a love for dark techno that pervades featured track Acid Dreams, much as it does Tunnel Systems, the EP from which it is taken.

Acid Dreams is a bit of a contrary beast for a producer that loves 130bpm+ tracks. It has that dark German synth techno heart full of electro futurism. But it also uses the acid to give an almost organic warmth and dreaminess to the track that makes it so compelling even as the peaks come and the beats start to run away.

It’s the acid which remains at the centre of the track that allows the piece to have the sense of contrasts that make this such a great listen.

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Tuesday’s techno with: Johnatron – Crosspulse #Techno #Acid

•August 17, 2021 • Leave a Comment

A bit of a blast from the past for me. Johnatron struck a chord in the recesses of my mind. And sure enough I posted one of his Daft Punk remixes all the way back in 2008. And he’s still going but has moved to something more properly techno on Crosspulse.

Johnatron is from San Jose, California. He says he’s, “had a varied career from releasing mash-ups as a teenager, to producing music for games, many official remixes, several bands, and a varied slate of 80’s and spacey leaning releases over the last decade.”

Crosspulse is a nasty acid techno track. It fizzes with sci-fi energy and yet also manages a bit of that Daft Punk type Tron melody. There’s a great bit of 50s sci-fi vocal sample which gives the track its name. The track is a constantly throbbing and twisting ball of supressed fury. Choral elements come along but nothing detracts from the acid.

Super sci-fi acid techno.

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Monday’s Melodic Techno with: UA – Wake Up #Techno #MelodicTechno @InOpenSpaceUA

•August 16, 2021 • Leave a Comment

Starting the week with some lovely melodic techno from Scotland’s UA.

UA is Euan MacKechnie from Glasgow who describes himself as, “DJ/Artist with 20 years experience playing alongside @Joey Beltram @Dave Angel, @Damon Wild and many more.” He’s releasing stuff on his own In Open Space label.

Wake Up is his latest release and it’s a mix of dark and light techno pleasures. It open with some solid rolling breaks but with a background of emotional strings. A lightly sleazy synth offers the lead line and takes the track forward. It’s a dreamy affair with all those strings offering held tones.

A beautiful piece of summer techno.

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Seaside sunshine songs with: sckdrwr, and Serapion #Chill #Samba

•August 14, 2021 • Leave a Comment

A couple of track for summer days. sckdrwr offers something chilled, whilst Serapion goes for uplifting Latin.

sckdrwr, pronounced sock drawer (obvs), is from Santa Clara, California. The track is infrequent life changes and is the title track from a forthcoming album out later in the month. It’s not the happy clappy beach life Cali sound. This is more wistful downtempo electronica.

infrequent life changes starts with some found sound Of the track, sckdrwr says it is, “my attempt to capture the brightness and the melancholy in my infrequently changing, routine-oriented life.” Not exactly life and soul of the party stuff but a gorgeous melancholic chill track nonetheless.

It starts with the sound of getting into a lift (elevator) before resolving into slow keyboards and lonely beats. It’s all very low key but lovely. The fragility of the track is held together by the dubby keyboards with a slight drone edge. This is all about the beauty in the most mundane of life’s minutiae.

Germany’s Serapion offers a more instantaneous injection of sunshine on the unashamedly upbeat Sunshine Samba. He says he offers, “Organic synth sounds mixed with real instruments and samples, refined with some extra vintage feel.” And that’s exactly what you get here.

Sunshine Samba is a mix of found sound, some organic sounding samba guitar and a load of chilled but upbeat electronic percussion. It’s a heady mix of old and new with a swinging sixties vibe. Perfect Latin beach music. Feel the sun on your back and the sand between your toes as you groove to this, cocktail in hand.

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Gimme some sunshine. Get Arkle – Ibiza Sunsets #Chill #House

•August 12, 2021 • Leave a Comment

British summertime is such a fickle creature. Lovely balmy sunny day yesterday, rain this morning and a blanket of cloud forecast for the day. I’m going to look back to look forward with Ibiza Sunsets by Arkle.

Arkle is Glasgow based electronic producer Lawrence Crawford. Being from Scotland it’s obviously raining on him as well today. But memories are clearly strong. And they shine through on this utterly sunny, warm House track.

Ibiza Sunsets opens with uplifting funk synth work before House beats come in to give it a solid 4:4 feel. The track makes excellent use of mass chanting and has a bit of the feel of Justice’s D.A.N.C.E about it, Everything is carefree, loose-limbed and organic. It’s barefoot on the sand in an almost old school way and yet totally fresh in the way the track sparkles, As Arkle says, “A sound for the summer as the sun rises and sets.”

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Drum and Bass Electronica with: Mountain Soundsystems – Oases #Electronica #DrumAndBass #DnB @mtnsoundsystems

•August 10, 2021 • Leave a Comment

Refreshing electronica mixes with Drum and Bass beats on Oases from Mountain Soundsystems.

Mountain Soundsystems is from Seattle and has been around as an artist for about five years but broke through in 2019. New release Oases is a fascinating blend of bubbling electronica and liquid drum and bass.

It opens with cool, cool synths vying with a tinkle of piano for that little shiver of iced water bathing. The drum and bass beats come in and give it a propulsive percussion. But they aren’t allowed to dominate. This is more about the wide-eyed electronica than anything else. There’s a bit of sax but it doesn’t detract. Synths continue to bubble about. It’s all very uplifting and refreshing. Dive in.

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Two to chill from: Padre Tóxico, and Thesavagegringo #Chill #HipHop #StudyBeats @PadreToxico @TheSavageGringo

•August 9, 2021 • Leave a Comment

A double bill of chill from Poland’s Padre Tóxico, and US-based Thesavagegringo.

Padre Tóxico returns with more study beats goodness in the form of new release Almighty High. As always, the beats have the heavy thud of a love of classic hip hop. But leading the way here is a set of piano chords that speak of heaven and also of purgatory. There’s a tinkling of the heavenly choir celestial but also the more earthbound bass chord that reminds one of sins committed on the earthly plane.

A track with which to contemplate eternity.

Thesavagegringo is Joel Arhelger. He’s a recording/mixing/mastering engineer and a classically trained musician. And there’s a muso’s touch in the soft rock of the guitar on Happy to be Here and the clean production values. The savagegringo say of the track, “Happy to be Here is a track which embodies the feeling of having joy even during difficult or confusing times.”

The beats are left soft and slow in the background. There simply for a bit of metronomic background. The guitar chimes away and yet never quite delivers a conventional hook but you’re sucked in. And then, suddenly, it’s over. But you must play it again for that beautifully numbed feeling.

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Ambient Sunday is saddled up with: Unknown Operative = Out West #Chill @unknownopmusic

•August 8, 2021 • Leave a Comment

After a three month gap the UK’s Unknown Operative returns shifting from the spy movies of last time to classic Spaghetti Western territory on Out West.

Unknown Operative keeps things undercover with no further personal details but of Out West says, “The Man With No Name lights up a cigarillo, puts his feet up, and kicks back.” And that’s a good description.

This is some classic lonesome guitar work for wide open spaces and rounding up cattle on the prairie. That’s pitched alongside some study beats and they follow a wandering trumpet to the dusty saloon. Line the shots up bartender. It’s gonna be a long night.

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Ashes to Ashes, Techno to Techno: Pakka – Dust to Dust (Easy Tyger Remix) #Techno

•August 7, 2021 • Leave a Comment

The weekend’s here. Let’s blast off the cares of the week with this splendidly thunderous techno track from Pakka / Easy Tyger.

Pakka is from France and remixer Easy Tyger is from the USA. They’ve collaborated on a new two track Dust To Dust EP which includes this mesmerising remix from Easy Tyger. You could call this a melodic techno track. But there’s such a lot of menacing bass and galloping beats that it becomes a bit of a misnomer.

The track opens on dark beats with a hint of scuzz. It’s all dark and gloomy – accentuated by the “ashes to ashes, dust to dust” sample. Bass lines roll around leering at you. There’s a melody that ripples in there but it’s subservient to the bass. Always.

A six minute techno thrill ride.

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Feeling contemplative? Check out: AK – Ripples #Chill #Downtempo @akliquid

•August 6, 2021 • Leave a Comment

You’ve made it to the end of the working week. You’re entitled to have a few moments of chill for which I recommend Ripples by AK.

AK is Josh (Aljosha Konstanty) from Kassel, Germany. He describes his aim as, “to take my everyday life experiences and the feelings they create to compose heartfelt music.” And there’s certainly an emotional heart-on-the-sleeve feel to his work. Ripples is no exception.

Ripples is a shimmering (and, yes, rippling) two and a half minutes of downbeat, downtempo chill music. It doesn’t quite get to ambient. The beats and pace are too prominent. But the chords do manage a heartfelt quality. AK explains that the track came of “trying to be more mindful and live in the moment rather than worrying about the past or future. I thought the rippling of waves would be a good metaphor for this approach to life.” The track teeters on the edge of melancholy but ends up offering a certain welcoming stillness.

A deliciously in the moment track of good vibes.

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