Ambient Sunday is pretty in pink with: Tokyo Bedroom Orchestra – Sakura

•November 19, 2023 • Leave a Comment

Ambient Sunday is off to Japan to marvel at the cherry tree (Sakura) blossoms with Tokyo Bedroom Orchestra.

Tokyo Bedroom Orchestra (TyBO/Hiro Nakamura) is from Japan and says he’s an “Ambient explorer crafting sonic tales with analog synths, cassettes, and pedals. Each note ventures into the unknown.” Not sure about unknown as new track Sakura has a reassuring familiarity but therein lies its charm.

Sakura is a mix of ambient electronics and some chilled lofi hip hop. TBO explains that “It encapsulates the serene beauty of cherry blossoms. The ambient sounds evoke the gentle arrival of spring, while the Lofi beats provide a soothing, rhythmic backdrop. Together, they create a musical journey through the enchanting and contemplative moments of the cherry blossom season.”

Sonically, it opens with a bit of slack jawed wonder and a simple wood block accompaniment. This sets a dreamy perspective that the track never quite loses.

And a bit of found sound to go alongside, which curiously seems to be from Southern rail company in the UK. A reference to Brighton I think in there. But it’s chopped and washed with lofi beats. All the while the dreamy vibe floats on giving a hazy, pastel effect. Lovely.

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Warming sounds on wet day from: Chad Nathan – Warmth #StudyBeats

•November 18, 2023 • Leave a Comment

It’s been a dismal, damp day here in the U.K. I want something to warm these cold bones, so let’s break out Warmth from Chad Nathan.

Chad Nathan is an artist and producer from South Carolina from the USA, returning to these parts after a brief gap. His work tends to be late night and lofi electronica. Here’s new release Warmth.

Warmth is the best sort of electronic easy listening that Study Beats can deliver. Everything is a bit hushed. The sounds are warming and even the beats manage a washed sound, rather than the brittle edge of lofi.

There’s an almost trumpet lead but blended heavily into the lush melodies. Nothing stands out and everything stands still. This track wants to wrap its arms around you.

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Fluttering breaks with: Sesh Juan – Butterflies

•November 17, 2023 • Leave a Comment

I want to end the week on an upbeat note. Uncharacteristic I know. But in these days perhaps all that one can wish for. Here’s Sesh Juan with some lovely optimistic breaks on Butterflies.

Sesh Juan is DJ & producer from Brixton in south London. He draws his influences from House, Funk, Garage, Motown, Old School Hip Hop & Electronica. New single Butterflies draws on old school house but mostly uplifting breaks, even if the inspiration is heart rending.

Butterflies opens with some epic but lightly melancholic synths before some deep bass and breaks come to stomp restlessly over everything.

There’s a bit of wordless ethereal epiphany but mostly it’s the ever onward parping synths with glittering ripples that drives this track brilliantly forward. There are wave your hands in the air pauses in all the natural places. And there’s something utterly uplifting.

I said the inspiration for the track was heart rending. Sesh Juan explains that “Butterflies was something good which came from something tough – when my mum was ill I used to go on long walks to clear my head and as sad as things were, I always watched the butterflies dancing around and catching the breeze. Now, butterflies always remind me of my mum, because she loved to sing and danced around – so this song is about positivity shining through tough times which is why it almost starts morosely to then finish on a massive high.”

If you want a massive lift, then this track is for you. If you want a reason to carry on, then this track is for you. If you want to remember why electronic music matters, then this track is for you.

There’s a longer version on this EP

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Experimental electronica with: Periode – Contigummi

•November 16, 2023 • Leave a Comment

A pre-Friday deserves something a little more challenging than usual. Here’s Periode to offer you some experimental electronica with a post-rock edge.

Periode are Thomas Winkler and Andreas Reihse. Reihse is a Berlin-based musician, known as a founding member of Kreidler. Winkler is a Berlin based artist and musician who provides the guitar work here. The duo started working together in 2016.

Contigummi (probably based on the Latin root for contiguous in English) is not one for the faint hearted. There’s some great beats and electronics but also some sharp edged guitar shards. There’s more than a little resemblance to people like To Rococo Rot and Pole.

The track has that uneasy anticipatory feel. Beats come and go. Guitar fragments appear, blend into electronics and then fade away. The bass and beats have more than a little moody slouching.

It’s like being lost in a dark pine forest. An unseen enemy is out there somewhere, always threatening but never quite arriving. Dare you listen?

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Beats go boom with: 2 SiiK – Silver Surfer

•November 14, 2023 • Leave a Comment

West Coast drum and bass from 2 SiiK.

2 SiiK is a drum and bass DJ and producer from California. His work has a bass heaviness and an explosive party sound. Here’s new track Silver Surfer.

Silver Surfer is pitched as a drum and bass track. But it doesn’t quite have the dnb beats we’d be used to in the UK. This is a bit more Freeform and owes as much to US dubstep as anything else. This is an unashamedly upbeat, bouncy party anthem. Not subtle and it simply doesn’t care.

You want lift off in a club, you want this. Opening with an upbeat keyboard line and bouncing beats this offers a glittery almost xylophone break. It moves seamlessly into something that gets closer to Big Beat mixed with dubstep bass.

This just never lets up. You’re caught in its bass driven world, pummelled by beats and carried by the endless hooks.

Silver Surfer wreaking bass havoc across the universe.

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Ambient Sunday takes a lunar path with: Philippe Deschamps – Under 92 Moons

•November 12, 2023 • Leave a Comment

Ambient Sunday is on a lunar exploration with France’s Philippe Deschamps.

Philippe Deschamps is a Paris based film music composer, electronic producer and multi-instrumentalist. He’s got a classical background and has written film scores. If you want a sort of mission statement his biog says “Ambient music is for him a genre that questions the listener, by inventing unheard of sounds, by creating unreal spaces and temporalities. He seeks to create moments of deep listening conducive to sound meditation, contemplation and dreams.”

You’re in for a bit of an orchestral meditation on Under 92 Moons. It’s a beautiful dreamy weightless piece of neo classical ambient. The single is taken from the compilation album Imaginary North Transmission 006.

Under 92 Moons has a melancholy, slightly dark, air. There are lots of deep tones with melodies few and far between. It has an air of all electronic production, despite the lightly classical arrangement. But the blurb claims it was “recorded exclusively on electric guitar”, which I find hard to believe.

There’s a gentle beauty at work and a delightful sense of awe in the face of majesty that really lifts this up as a beautifully wrought piece of art.

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Sucking on lemons? Try to chill with: Kyle Quentin & The Kyles – Lemonade Daydreams

•November 11, 2023 • Leave a Comment

London has been a tense place today between the far right and Palestine protestor marches. Time to chill therefore with some Swiss hip hop from Kyle Quentin & The Kyles.

Despite the name, Kyle Quentin & The Kyles is just one person as far as I can work out. He produces instrumental-only music and is the creative outlet of a former DJ and current designer from Switzerland. He wears a Venetian mask and a trench coat. Whatever.

Here’s the single Lemonade Daydreams. And it’s a fab piece of chill hop of which he says “Walk down to the beach with your vodka lemon in hand and enjoy the view.” Plus the lifecoach vision of “Just relax, and if life gives you lemons, slice them into your drink and think about the good times.”

Musically, this is more sophisticated than the studied quirkiness might imply. A lovely beach guitar hook is allied to phat hip hop beats and a smidge of glitch. This is the feel of the sand between your toes, the waves on the shore and the gently setting some.

Quite fabulous with a G&T – plus a large slice of lemon. Obvs.

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Friday is melodic techno with: Technovisi.on – Satellites

•November 10, 2023 • Leave a Comment

It’s been a week of largely techno tunes here at AcidTed. So, let’s end it with some melodic / progressive techno from Technovisi.on.

Dunno much about Technovisi.on other than the artist(s) may be from Ingolstadt, Germany. But here’s new single Satellites. This is a dark driving techno tune that allows a bit of melodic and prog elements in to lighten the otherwise gloomy tone.

Eschewing the usual kick drum to open, Satellites starts with a buzzing, dank bass line to set things off in a gothic vein. The title gets repeated in a butch basso profundo. But the proper beats when they arrive also get a bit of higher end melody to avoid the usual dark techno cliches.

And it’s this use of light and dark that lifts this track up from the run of the mill pounding techno into something standout on the dance floor. This sends you on a club journey to the stars.

Even in the dark, Satellites glitters with lustre and iridescent promise.

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Even more banging techno with: Maike Depas – Midnight Ride #DanceFloorDestroyer

•November 9, 2023 • Leave a Comment

It’s clearly techno week at AcidTed. After yesterday’s trance influenced techno here’s Maike Depas with some hard techno leavened with a bit of Detroit and breaks.

Maike Depas is from Milan, Italy and specialises in Hard Techno tracks. Here’s Midnight Ride his new single which adds some Detroit type techno breaks to the mix to quite spectacular effect. The accompanying blurb talks about it being a mix of Ken Ishii and Joey Beltram. This didn’t quite have Ishii’s precision and simplicity for me. But it certainly has the explosiveness of something like Energy Flash.

Midnight Ride opens with the kick drum rush of hard techno beats but adds a breaks type sub bass. And just when you think it’s going to get heavier, it get lighter with an almost Lionrock type brassy blast of synths. This gives you the full on hands in the air epiphany.

It’s not that there’s anything unique here. But it’s like the best bits of all sorts of pounding techno and breaks tracks welded together into one glorious, adrenaline fuelled whole. Like a distillation of the best bits from Fast And Furious before things got all silly.

This totally delivers on Maike Depas’ promise that “I really tried to give this sensation of driving through a storm on an autobahn 250 km/h.”

Dance floor Destroyer. Deserves to be HUGE.

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Banging techno with: Steven Flynn – Modular Resistance (Nickon Faith remix)

•November 8, 2023 • Leave a Comment

A midweek attack of acid techno today. This comes in the form of a Nickon Faith remix of Steven Flynn.

Steven Flynn is a long standing DJ and artist from Inverness, Scotland. His new release is Modular Resistance. It’s a hardcore, almost suffocating piece of techno. But I’m featuring the remix from Nickon Faith, a Manchester raised and based artist. His work has a sense of trance and melodic techno and this allows the remix to have a bit more space and bounce. See also his Circumambient album which I’ve included below.

The Modular Resistance remix from Faith is not for the faint hearted. This piles on the beats and the acid lines from the outset. But it also offers a spaced background that owes much to trance styles. This makes for a more psychedelic experience.

The remix isn’t afraid to cut back the pummelling for a bit of a breather before cranking things up again with an ethereal spin. Gives the track a lovely sense of variation without losing its focus on the dance floor.

Irresistible dance floor acid techno.

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