Friday’s breakbeat party with: Lux Galore – ｓｅｌｌｉｎｇｔｈｅｄｒｅａｍ 家から遠い

•December 8, 2023 • Leave a Comment

Friday is getting down with Lux Galore and some light breakbeats.

Lux Galore is an artist from Copenhagen, Denmark specialising in vapourware and breakbeats. Here’s his new singleｓｅｌｌｉｎｇｔｈｅｄｒｅａｍ 家から遠い which features some nifty guitar work from RJ Pasin.

ｓｅｌｌｉｎｇｔｈｅｄｒｅａｍ 家から遠い is a delicious blend of a fabulous light guitar riff from Pasin, some pitched vocal, and breakbeats. It’s a heady concoction.

The central guitar riff is memorable and uplifting despite its brevity. That’s a classic but hard thing to deliver. No surprise that Lux Galore says “When I heard the RJ Pasin-sample, I instantly knew that I had to make something out of it! Guitars have been a huge part of my journey, and I never miss a good chance to use them.” And the breakbeats / drum and bass beats jump around giving the track a real uplifting party atmosphere.

I could live without the pitched vocal element but that’s a personal bugbear, since I have to do admit they do earn their place here. Lux Galore says they’re from a “mysterious, yet-to-be-announced project.” What’s harder to manage is that the track is so short when it’s so good and just ends in mid air.

Please, Mr Galore, could we have a longer version. Many thanks. AcidTed.

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More warming study beats for cold days from: Wing Vilma, and Mindless Meditation

•December 7, 2023 • Leave a Comment

I’m still in the mood for tunes to warm the cockles of your heart. Here’s Wing Vilma, and Mindless Meditation with two more warming but chilled tracks.

Wing Vilma (Milly Coleman) has been around since 2017. Her work uses electronics with field recordings giving everything an organic feel. She’s just released Snack Basket, a collection of synth-driven tracks. From this release enjoy Orchid Forest.

Wing Vilma says Orchid Forest “was written as a kind of meditation on finding joy at the last second of the final golden light of the day.” This is lofi synths offering joy, if not meditation. This is too perky for that.

Synths bobble around as children play in the background. This is consciously naive offering a sense of simple pleasures. But it’s not a simple track. There’s a lovely use of dark sounds in the bass and an almost trumpet melody line.

The track really benefits from that dark and light interplay. All very yin and yang. But also using ascending sounds to deliver that element of joyousness. Clever stuff that veers from usual study beat templates into something much more akin to IDM.

Germany’s Mindless Meditation from Munich returns here after almost a year to offer Mansion By The Beach from the Beach Manifestation EP. Mindless Meditation claims to be a psychologist, saying “As a psychologist I know: most people would benefit from more closeness to themselves, awareness and relaxation.” 

And Mansion By The Beach is definitely one for relaxation, harking back to an old school chill vibe. However, it does so with a fair old whack of hip hop beats that offer a solid reassuring thump alongside a sax/clarinet jazzy lead.

Everything goes with a swing but not so much as to upset your cocktail. This is one cool beach to sit on. Kick back and allow yourself to be transported. Meditiation recommended but not required.

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Warming study beats for cold days with: Fla.andrei – Fireflies

•December 6, 2023 • Leave a Comment

London is cold and dank. Grey skies and drizzling rain omnipresent. Need to be coddled so here’s some lovely warming study beats from Fla.andrei.

Fla.andrei (Flávio De Andreis) is a music producer, sound designer and multi-instrumentalist from Italy. Based in Rome, his work is mainly chill out and here’s new track Fireflies.

Fireflies is a beautifully delicate creature. Some supple acoustic guitar and suitably gossamer surround. Some cicadas chirrup and woodland rustles. It’s all terribly bucolic and it’s hard to separate organic from electronic. All the sounds are subtly blended but distinct.

This delivers marvellously on the mission statement to “transport you to a forest at dusk, full of fireflies.” Settle back and enjoy.

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Ambient Sunday with: Einf​ü​hrung in die Phänomenologie – I

•December 3, 2023 • Leave a Comment

Ambient Sunday is delving into the nature of appearances rather than reality. Our guide is Einf​ü​hrung in die Ph​ä​nomenologie with the spooky drone of I.

Einf​ü​hrung in die Ph​ä​nomenologie (Introduction to Phenomenology) is perhaps from Ukraine but who knows. It may be Paul Jordan, who focuses on digitally manipulated field recordings that become striking electronic songs that feel eerie and surreal. As for Phenomenology, Wiki explains “Phenomenology does not ask if what we are seeing is actually there: for example it is not where we see an object (whether in real life, a dream or a hallucination) that is important, but it is the significance of the object that is important to the phenomenologist.” All clear? Me neither.

I is the opening track from Einf​ü​hrung in die Ph​ä​nomenologie‘s self-titled album. It’s a dark and melancholic ambient universe with more than a little eeriness about it.

Sounds wash around in vast unimaginable swathes. Echoes go on for an eternity. It’s a bit of a drone track at some level but with enough form and movement to avoid the blankness of traditional drone tracks.

The sounds are austere but also feel important, though with no idea why. Like the sound of a secret to which you’re not party. But one so important it will affect your life. This gives the sounds a strange unsettling power.

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Bad Robot is back with a remix of Aero III, and new track Catalyst

•December 1, 2023 • Leave a Comment

As a reminder, Bad Robot (Michael Ricker) is from the USA but by way of biog offers only “I make that beep boop ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)”.

Last time we had Aero III of which I said “takes glory period Daft Punk Synths and cybernetically attaches them to a Deadmau5 undercarriage of prog techno beats.” A first remix for Bad Robot sees this seminal track being recast by Max Blücher.

Max discards some of the Daft Punk synths in favour of something more spiral, spacey and verging on IDM. But he also amps up the Deadmau5 style trance elements of the original. This is a restrained track in some ways since it doesn’t try to dominate but nonetheless comes with big, big widescreen intent.

An understatedly intense epic sound. Super remix.

Not to be outdone we have a new original track from Bad Robot that moves musically in a different direction. This is darker and altogether grittier.

Catalyst is focused around a deeply evil bass line that buzzes away sullenly in the background. In the foreground synths come out to play but the lurking sense of menace is never far away.

Structurally it’s a curious track. A first half that tries to dominate you is followed by a relatively long quiet section before the track winds itself back up.

The second half of the track is altogether more optimistic and the battle between bass and synths is won by the synths, though it’s a close run thing. This gives the track a thrilling momentum. Not quite reaching the heights of Aero III but fine work nonetheless.

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Bringing progressive house back to life with: Fractal Architect – Resurrection

•November 29, 2023 • Leave a Comment

Fractal Architect is on a roll. After a gap of only a month he returns with a new three track EP from which we have the title track Resurrection. This is a delicious light progressive house sound.

As a reminder, Fractal Architect is DJ and producer Dan Watts from Bristol, UK who has been around the electronic music scene since the late 80s. His work has a strong taste of Ambient and this infuses Resurrection.

From the opening there’s nothing too hard or harsh here. This is light and smooth. Keyboard chords open with beats light, slightly muffled and left as background. This allows the space for synth melodies to romp around free from competition.

Although there’s the slightly inevitable ethereal vocal element this is happily offset but a bit of gritty clatter that shows a bit of IDM techno edges that stops this slipping into run of the mill. It takes techno technique to deliver the gentlest of profound peaks.

Lovely skilled track from a master of sound.

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Let’s go kosmische Muzik with: Telepathic Nomads – Decaf Assassin

•November 28, 2023 • Leave a Comment

I’m not usually one for kosmische Muzik or Motorik. It all sounded a bit too frazzled hippy music to me. But occasionally that repetitive drone hits home. Here’s one care of Telepathic Nomads.

Telepathic Nomads are from Australia and describe themselves as “Washed up on the far south coast of NSW (Tathra).” Seems mainly to be the vehicle for Peter Veliks, from Sydney, Australia, working with a changing cast of collaborators.

Here’s Decaf Assassin from the album Music For Trains That Never Arrive. For such a Motorik track there’s something joyous about it.

The track drones and thrums as this sort of thing ought to do. That gives the track the requisite drive and bottom end. But it also has a bit of synths that lean away from the 70s roots and towards something a bit more 80s rave. However, what lifts this above the crowd is the use of an accordion as the lead instrument.

This should so not work. And yet it’s a stroke of genius. Sounds so absolutely as if it belongs. Puts a smile on even the most churlish goateed face. The accordion spirals heavenward and its utterly ace.


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Downtempo dub with: Wil Bolton – Patina

•November 27, 2023 • Leave a Comment

Let’s start the week quietly. Here’s Wil Bolton with the downtempo dubbed charms of Patina.

Wil Bolton is a composer, musician and artist based in East London. If that all sounds a bit arty that’s because it is. Wil’s sound and video works have been exhibited at ICA (UK), Sheffield Institute of Art and Design Gallery (UK), University of the Pacific Conservatory of Music (USA), Bath Spa University (UK) and others. And Patina has a sheen of soundscape installation about it.

Patina takes a slow thump of beats and some dubbed keyboards as its centrepiece. The accompanying blurb says “Minimal beats are constructed from thuds, clicks and crackles sampled from a vintage 7” record of heart sounds.” And when you know that you can sense the organic throb of sound.

Melodies are scattered on top with trickles of electronic sound. It’s dreamy but warmly otherworldly. For a quiet track it’s best listened to loud to allow the sound to properly occupy the space (or use headphones).

Make your Monday mellow with Wil Bolton. Nothing superficial here, just an entrance to another world.

Patina is taken from the album Null Point, out in February 2024.

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Ambient Sunday with: Jimmi King – Stormfront

•November 26, 2023 • Leave a Comment

Ambient Sunday does the double. It’s a twice in a month appearance for Jimmi King. Not sure that’s ever happened before.

Londoner Jimmi is back with new track Stormfront. This is pipe and slippers ambient. More relaxing than a cup of hot cocoa. Add an extra blanket and settle down for a listen.

Stormfront contains nothing stormy. This is all about hushed chords, some gentle strings and a bunch of ahhing. It’s an all enveloping sound full of multi-tracked, delayed and reverbed gorgeousness.

Jimmi says “wheels touch the runway; the clouds looks really big, or maybe just really close.”

He delivers and reamy lush sound that almost has a texture. Like watching cumulus from far off and wanting to reach out and touch. A cotton wool sound that wraps itself around you.

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Giving it the old school hip hop sound: YFGP – The City

•November 25, 2023 • Leave a Comment

The kitteh in the citteh needs some beats. Here’s YFGP giving it some old school boom bap on The City.

YFGP (Your Favourite Ghost Producer) is Manu, a Music Producer and SFX Artist from Sibiu, Romania. His new track The City takes crackles and scratches and sends me back in time to a mix of Coldcut’s sampladelic days mixed with some soulfulness of Aim (who never got the recognition he deserved, despite Cold Water Music being a classic 90s album).

The City is soulful samples, some proper scratching and surface noise. There’s a decent thud of old school hip hop beats and brass samples. Everything is laid back and head nodding is compulsory.

A bit of Wah Wah guitar and vocal samples crowd in alongside angelic keyboards. This is super fly era urban sound. Perfect dive bar cocktail music. Let the sirens wail and take a walk on the cool side.

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