Staff Picks - 2017

Our collective has an insatiable appetite for new music. We compulsively sift through the depths of the web for tunes we can share with each other and ultimately with you. The sheer volume of music released on a daily basis can be overwhelming. We wouldn’t have it any other way, but after all is said and done there's so much music we never have an opportunity to spotlight. So for a moment we are looking back on 2017 to remind ourselves and our readers of the best drops that went unmentioned in our publication. Each staff member has chosen to share one album, EP, or compilation. Maybe you'll discover something new, or end up reflecting on a favorite of your own from 2017.  

Thanks for staying chooned with us.

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YISHAI | DUFFREY - THE WORLD THAT YOU KNOW (3/1)

Woody Klann’s mindbending adventure through irrepressible dub and stretching tempos was a huge career move for the Bay Area artist. Rarely does a psychedelic LP get dropped on the electronic dance scene, with so many gems that have been playing out for years. Duffrey struggled searching for a label to release his material to a wider audience. To see him release on Shanti Planti is a joy I experienced as fan and friend. Finally, the artist I love was exposed to the world; go check him out!

FOLLOW Duffrey:   Soundcloud   /   Bandcamp   /   Facebook

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MALAKAI | LUSINE - SENSORIMOTOR (3/3)

Lusine has been a longtime favorite of mine since discovering the Ghostly Internationalrecord label a number of years ago. His music really satisfies something that I don’t find in many other places. It has a sort of elegance, simplicity and spaciousness to it while still maintaining a strong, driving energy that is no small feat of balance. Sensorimotor is a masterfully crafted sonic journey that walks that line flawlessly, taking you from the dance floor into the clouds and back again. Composition aside, the sound design and production on Sensorimotor is some of the more evocative, articulate and engaging work I have heard in a long time. It truly lives up to its title, offering a fully immersive sensory and motor experience through sound.

FOLLOW Lusine:   Soundcloud   /   Bandcamp   /   Facebook

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PASQUALE | ALFA MIST - ANTIPHON (3/3)

My foray into the world of jazz music is a long-standing passion and musical influence that I've chased after for about four or five years now. Sometimes, in the course of listening through countless LPs, EPs, and singles, you stumble across that one particular record that forces you to take a step back, re-engage, and find yourself completely immersed in an aural headspace. Antiphon by Alfa Mist is one such record, and really solidified my current approach to and appreciation for avant-garde directions in jazz and other instrumental music. It is a conscientious mosaic of tonal relationships and organic rhythms. Each track on the album takes on a unique and effervescent form, and feels like the culmination of decades of jazz theory and stylistic development; it is distinctly jazz in the 21st century.

FOLLOW Alfa Mist:   Soundcloud   /   Bandcamp   /   Facebook

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KATIN | THE BUG VS. EARTH - CONCRETE DESERT (3/24)

I am a huge fan of droned out guitar riffs and dubstep. That’s why I thought the collaboration between Earth and The Bug was too good to be true. Instead, Concrete Desert makes a statement, and the two styles coalesce to form more than the sum of their parts. Dark and heavy bass music is lifted up with melodic ambience and distorted guitars. The music has a theme that could place you on the American frontier, or appear as the soundtrack to an eerie thriller movie. It is the duo’s debut LP, and follows the Boa/Cold EP that put these two on the map, excellent in its own right.

Two icons, both Earth (Dylan Carlson) and The Bug have each pursued their sounds for more than twenty years. It is to our luck that they saw the potential of forming this collaborative project. It's not for the faint of heart, but certainly is for those keen on the organic meeting the technological in music.

FOLLOW Earth:   Soundcloud   /   Bandcamp   /   Facebook

FOLLOW The Bug:   Soundcloud   /   Bandcamp   /   Facebook

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WYLER | ISZLAI - ROTUNDA (5/27)

Little can be found about Jozsef Iszlai, aside from his Romanian origin and hometown of Csikszereda. He currently resides in Cluj Napoca, the de facto capitol of Romania’s Transylvania region. I managed to gather that he plays guitar left-handed, and has since his mother brought one home when Jozsef was nine. One thing that really stood out is that he produces music for television and film, and is even currently scoring for theater. 

“Rotunda” was released in May of 2017, and is Iszlai’s first full-length release. The album fuses elements of trip-hop, idm, ambient music and deep house whilst also weaving in gorgeously succinct stringwork and organic percussion. A minor eastern influence is also present throughout the release, with interplay between Iszlai’s guitar and alluring asian string melodies. In the past, Iszlai has used foley sound from the city of Cluj Napoca in his music. I’m not sure if that method was integrated into the creation of “Rotunda,” but the slight industrial influence and texturing leads me to believe it was. “Round-up,” my favorite tune from the release, includes what sounds like a Subway car careening along it’s track - an instantly captivating element for a New York City native. The careful rocking of the train is almost soothing in it’s off-kilter cadence and seamless incorporation. 

Each track is narrative-based, with a melodious dialogue between elements that tells a tale of mystery and paradox. Ultimately, “Rotunda” is an impressive first release from a young, dextrous artist with a massive range and a penchant for creating emotionally charged music. I eagerly await a future release.

FOLLOW Iszlai:   Soundcloud   /   Bandcamp   /   Facebook

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FRANCESCO | FOUR TET - NEW ENERGY (9/29)

Kieran Hebden aka Four Tet recently released his ninth studio album, New Energy. New Energy explores a rich combination of acoustic melodies blended with tranquil yet forward moving beats. I instantly fell in love with this album's ability to simultaneously soothe and stimulate the mind. When listening, I find myself in deep contemplation, but with a sense of acceptance.

FOLLOW Four Tet:   Soundcloud   /   Bandcamp   /   Facebook

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MAX | KURSA - YOU CAN EAT WHATEVER YOU WANT FOR BREAKFAST PT. 3 (THE FINAL COURSE) (12/5)

You Can Eat Whatever You Want For Breakfast Part 3 (Final Course) is the final album from Kursa’s recent breakfast-themed trilogy. As one of the pioneers of Neurohop, the Bristol bass legend has gained significant attention in the USA with launch of label SLUGWIFE along with his collaborative project K.L.O. Y.C.E.W.Y.W.F.B. PT. 3 starts off spoon feeding the listener a dose of distortion, glazed with metallic foley sounds, and organized around an assortment of heavily swung '90s boom-bap drum patterns, halftime, and traditional drum and bass breaks.

With a seven-minute “Introduction”, Kursa brings us into a dissonant abyss of thick, watery textures and glistening high ends. Heard in songs “Flabby Fries”, “CANYATHO” and “Green Steal Spork” he uses chopped, distorted, and interwoven bass sounds to carry the melodies of his tracks, turning off-kilter glitch noises into harmonic trip-hop collages. The album tansitions into a sixth track “Wifey” which uses sonic elements similar to “Introduction” to create a cohesive intermission from the hardcore elements of the album. As the record progresses, Kursa's drum and bass roots seamlessly emerge from songs “Dustika” “Coldest Blue” and “Itago” while he continues to interweave the spicy neuro elements that define his style. Although Kursa's breakfast regimine remains highly classified, it is safe to assume that like this record, it is extra chunky, nutrient rich, and uninhibited by societal norms.

FOLLOW Kursa:   Soundcloud   /   Bandcamp   /   Facebook

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MARK | MICKMAN - MENDING THE RIVEN (12/6)

Mending the Riven is the third LP overall, and the second of 2017, from the elusive Illinois-based glitch wizard Cameron Ingraham aka Mickman. This release, Mickman’s longest to date, delves deep into downtempo and traverses time signatures with abandon on songs like “The Human” and “Entelechy” (this unfamiliar word means “the realization of potential”). Mickman’s straightforward and intelligent psychedelia is given fresh room to breathe on “Mending the Riven” with relaxed, low-bpm atmospheres. The record escalates in intensity, however, as it rolls along, with Mickman opening the filters and finally letting one rip on the last song, “Contact”. This progression, the thematic song titles, and a consistency of sound design make “Mending the Riven” extraordinarily cohesive. Despite words appearing in just one track, “Now Exist”, a story undergirds the album. These twelve tracks are an effort to sew together the riven, meaning “that which has been split or torn violently”. But what, exactly, is it that’s been split apart as to need mending? That is for the listener to interpret. 

FOLLOW Mickman:   Soundcloud   /   Bandcamp   /   Facebook 

Lo-Fi Sundays 022 - saib.

Highly-cultivated beats continue to spring from the mind of a young Moroccan man named Hamza aka saib. Saib. instrumentals are distinguished by their elite musicality, a reflection of Hamza’s proclivity with the guitar and natural feel for melody and rhythm. His extraordinary output ranges from dusty, compressed lo-fi cuts to jazz, swing and bossanova. We’ve tried humbly to capture this diversity, focusing heavily on those hypnotic head-nodding tunes perfect for a lazy Sunday. Skip around a bit to hear blues- and jazz-influenced guitar playing, and stay through the end for a pair of tributes to the two great beatmakers.

Saib. admits owing inspiration to Nujabes and other musicians who compose for anime, this according to a 2017 interview Hamza gave to StereoFox. The cut “Sakura Trees” beautifully borrows the same sample heard in Nujabes’ “Brothel Love” from the famous anime Samurai Champloo, and “Butterfly Lovers” has an unmistakeable East Asian feel. “I used to play blues, fingerstyle music and progressive rock and I ended up focusing on improvisation, bossa-nova and jazz,” Hamza tells Stereofox. “Three years ago my brother introduced me to music production and suggested to start recording music on the laptop, I really wanted to make sounds like Nujabes (my phone had the full Nujabes discography and I was really into Japanese Hip-hop at the time), so I started messing around with Ableton and here we are now!”

Leading beat labels Chillhop Music and Hip Dozer frequently feature saib. on their compilations. “West Lake” from Chillhop’s 2017 Fall Essentials is simply sublime, and one of the producer’s most enduring tunes. Its delicate string melody evokes ripples spreading across reflective water on a chilly morning. The title likely alludes to West Lake in China’s Hangzhou province, where Hamza has been studying mandarin and computer science. Much saib. music has the intention and the ability to evoke different landscapes. His Buena Vista EP from Hip Dozer indulges bossanova and South American musical tropes. “Palm Trees” plucks a familiar jazz melody in a tropical style. “Groovy Blues” brings to mind a southern United States speakeasy, and “Funk It” sounds like a sunny city sidewalk glazed with the smell of marijuana. 

Saib. may have an EP or two on the horizon in 2018. He has dedication, talent and a prodigious capacity for music making, so EP or not, staying chooned to his channels will yield only positive results and perpetual vibes. Saib. is entertaining to be sure, but beyond the tunes he evinces something greater - a glimpse of the boundless potential behind this beats music.

FOLLOW saib.:   Soundcloud   /   Spotify   /   Bandcamp   /   Instagram

Craftal - Boxed In EP

A clog in the creative canal can constrict many musicians. Any artist, for that matter, must navigate boulders and board ups that would block the path to expression. In this context, the title of Craftal's latest release - Boxed In - may be misleading. Boxed In reaches out and embraces the broadest universe of patterns, textures, arrangements and sound designs to date. Anything but restricted, Craftal’s creativity darts out in dozens of directions across four glitch hop and halftime tracks.

This comes courtesy of Aquatic Collective - it being their lucky 13th release. This group of artists, originally inspired by the fact of the ocean is 95% unexplored, probes more terrestrial territory with Craftal. His music is grainy, in your face, and less, well, aqueous than their usual offering. The spirit of artistic exploration between two matches up one-to-one, though. 

Precise, mechanized sound design is Craftal’s forte, and he flexes it over kinetic hip-hop and halftime beats. He first began sharing tunes four years ago, releasing a stream of singles, one EP, and a mix for Wormcast since. A series of exciting sounds appeared on “Coming Down the Hatch”, a quick spin of works-in-progress released almost one year ago. Surprisingly only one of those WIPs made the cut for Boxed In. This almost certainly signals that someone is sitting on a stash of unreleased songs. But what about the tunes that were released? 

“Oscillopathic” and “Best Intentions” stand out, while “Alpha Bitsy” and the title track lay, not for lack of luster, in the cut. Our modus operandi is to always offer something diverse in sound design, but the sheer amount of differentiation in Craftal’s music sets it apart. One-off spectacular sounds that amaze then appear never again are common across the EP. The word and song “Alpha Bitsy” is applicable here, as Craftal’s grooves generally grow by stringing together many small bits and pieces of extraterrestrial sound. 

“Boxed In” and “Oscillopathic” tread heavily through the low end as these bits traipse in the higher registers. The swamp pervading “Oscillopathic” is particularly moist and filthy. A high point arrives fifty-five seconds in when a scaly synthesizer syncopates for just a moment with the halftime drums and unlocks a mighty sway. But it's too brief. Maintaining this movement throughout the track could have made for a more addictive listen, but it’s a mighty and mind-blowing moment nonetheless. 

Craftal, who hails from Boulder, Colorado, has ability on the oscillators that's difficult to deny. However, he’s only begun being booked to perform. Solasta Festival, Stilldream Festival and stops at Denver's Cervantes Other Side and Black Box form the bulk of his gigging resume. Intuition suggests this resume may grow in 2018 to the benefit of crowds everywhere that seek the squelch. In addition to a potentially unreleased trove, Craftal now has four more heaters from Boxed In to let rip when he does begin taking the stage more frequently. Stay chooned for that. 

FOLLOW Craftal:   Soundcloud   /   Facebook   /   Instagram

FOLLOW Aquatic Collective:   Bandcamp   /   Soundcloud   /   Facebook

Wonk#ay Records - Pull Up EP

Something about the United Kingdom foments the growth of dark, twisted bass music so properly, and our friends at Wonk#ay Records serve up the latest example of this well established relationship with Pull Up. This ambitious release showcases the talents of Objcts, Dystopik, Rupta, Zimbu, and includes an absolutely smashing collaboration from neuro heavy-weights Kursa and Seppa. All six producers come correct with their signature idiosyncrasies and sound design exploits.

In October of 2017, Wonk#ay Records had heads spinning with their compilation Feed the Contagious. This collection of tunes was a mutagenic foray into the most aggressive corners of contemporary low end production, and received an explosive response from fans and fellow producers alike. This time around, Wonk#ay presents a more compressed package (pun intended), and while they scaled down the size, the impact is no less visceral.

Objcts has perhaps the most melodious approach on the EP with “Here’s One I Prepared Earlier” graciously combining the stark, staccato textures of neuro-hop with the occasional stab and fading of delicious chimes and lead tones in the upper registers. With a constant beat in the backdrop, and a few well placed rhythmic breaks, the head-nod is strong with this aural serving.

Dystopik’s “Running Away” opens with ambient rumblings and distorted pads washing tones over the track. Quick incoming is a soft sing-song melody occasionally giving way to a voluptuous snare on the downbeat. Over the course of 90 seconds the whole track destabilizes into a maelstrom of down-sampled synthesis and rugged glitch textures that reinforce the experimental arrangement and tonal design.

Rupta wastes no time jumping right into the action with “Repochushions”; 12 seconds in and the track has already descended into a combination of shredded textures over a drumstep rhythm. The entire track is a solid thwack of choked-up bass tones and wild frequency shifts, a thick harmony of constant evolution and 100% pure beef.

While both devilishly impressive on their own terms, Kursa and Seppa often come together to produce some of the most aggressive, far-out, boisterous songs in rotation within the wider bass music community. “Pris” a bold and demonstrably vicious addition to the Pull Up EP, with brain-melting bass lines that crunch, fold, warp, and stutter-step their way through the entire composition. By the time the second half of the song comes into focus, this machine-gun-laser-annihilation takes a turn for the stretched-out and wobbly. Even more deranged bass movements envelope everything from 0-300hz in a firebrand strike of uncouth synthesis.

Zumbu closes out the compilation with his contribution “Higher”, and spares no effort in flexing straight bass weight right onto the listener’s head. With an almost slapstick percussion arrangement carrying on for the entire track, every phrase and refrain is particularly unique and programmed with a multitude of synthesis dialogue and asymmetrical audio manipulation.  

With the content of each successive release becoming more high-octane than the last, Wonk#Ay Records has set before themselves a formula that brings success to their labelmates and collaborative partners. Curating such niche catalogs while maintaining well-flavored artist pairing is no easy task, and somehow they rise to the occasion every time. Be contienscious in the months ahead, as Wonkay is certainly far from finished with their arsenal of releases for 2018.

FOLLOW Wonka#y Records:   Soundcloud   /   Bandcamp   /   Website

FOLLOW The Artists:

Objcts:   Soundcloud   

Dystopik:   Soundcloud   

Rupta:   Soundcloud

Kursa:   Soundcloud

Seppa:   Soundcloud

Zimbu:   Soundcloud

Lo-Fi Sundays 021 - Dweeb

Dweeb beats have all the smooth and sweet flavors one could obtain after a run to the local convenient store. Spindly piano loops and pocket drum patterns are his bread and butter. He delicately manipulates these essential lo-fi hip hop elements, and generates such a wide variety of material from their interaction. In between the kick thuds and snare pops, dusty tones stretch out and create a soft pillow for the mind to rest and vibe upon. 

This accomplished "beet farmer" splits his time between Minneapolis, Minnesota and Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. His clever nickname, evoking a yeoman harvesting his yield, accurately reflects the consistency in Dweeb's catalog. Down at the beat farmer's market, one can reliably assume whatever Dweeb is offering, it's a high-caliber bump. Some of his tunes are whimsical and fun, others are aloof and reflective, most are named after food. His wide body of work includes a raft of singles and collaborations, at least three beat tapes, and a juicy cut on Kush Gong Vinyl's recent Bits 2 compilation. Projects like his "Cream Soda" beat tape and his Neapolitan singles, or cuts like "Caramel" and "Tootsie" from his Treats tape are as indulgent as their names would imply. Dweeb also popped up on the STZZZY Youtube feed just this week with his frequent collaborator of comparable talents, too ugly. If you relish the relaxation that comes from a smooth, jazzy instrumental, stay chooned in to Dweeb the beet farmer. 

FOLLOW Dweeb:   Soundcloud   /   Bandcamp   /   Spotify   /   Facebook   /   Instagram   /   Twitter

Elements Lakewood Music & Arts Festival - Zoo Logic Warmup Mix

Presenting the second promo-mix in anticipation of Elements Lakewood this summer, Zoo Logic has provided a well-crafted smorgasbord of melodious interplay, evolving sound design, and excellent cuts between tracks. The mix features a majority of original Zoo Logic tracks alongside a few choice remixes and selectors, and is sure to whet a multitude of palettes with its varying stylistic directions.

Zoo Logic is the brain child of Austin Rogers and Jeff Blair, who have carved out a following for themselves through their intuitive combination of high-polished production and beefy bass tones. If you’re itching to catch them up close and personal, then make sure you find your way to Elements Lakewood in Pennsylvania this summer. The get-down is scheduled for May 25-27, and features a host of like-minded producers and DJs ready to serve up something extra hot for Memorial Day weekend.

FOLLOW Zoo Logic:   Soundcloud   /   Facebook   /   Spotify

FOLLOW Elements Music & Arts Festival:   Elements Lakewood   /   Elements NYC   /   Facebook   /   Instagram

Lo-Fi Sundays 020 - Elijah Nang

Elijah Nang is a storyteller. With a brush of boom-bap he depicts landscapes and narrates travels, mostly across Japan’s countryside and through its teeming cities. Nang loves anime and maintains an obsessive enthusiasm for the Land of the Rising Sun that shines with brilliance in his beats. Others before him have spliced Western hip-hop with Eastern anime, most notably Nujabes, to whom Nang pays tribute with multiple songs including “Yuki Pt.II 降雪” and “Sunburst 太陽”. Nang picked up where the others left off, and continues to elevate the Eastern beats aesthetic to transcendent heights. 

Nang’s sonic journeys correspond to his actual travels. He communicates his experiences through songs like “Shibuya Lights 渋谷” in which rippling percussion and piano samples create a glistening night skyline, or “Kyoto Evening [To Be Continued]” in which Koto samples and a jostling low-pass filter depict a city’s bustling but reserved nightlife. The Koto is a traditional Japanese string instrument and its appears across Nang’s body of work, including a delightfully subtle introduction at the end of “Bonsai 盆栽”. Sampling this native instrument is one way by which Nang evokes the East, similar to hand drums conjuring images of the Indian subcontinent, or certain orchestral melodies evoking the Balkans. 

A worldly fellow, Nang hails from London, has Nigerian heritage, attended high-school in Missouri (if Facebook can be trusted), and psychologically occupies Japan. He's been producing since 2006. He’s made music for rappers and used to rap himself, but now he's all about the instrumentals. This decade plus of experience in the breaks is reflected in the consistently high quality of his production. Nothing Nang produces is substandard. His beats could be construed as overly formulaic, as certain patterns are repeated across his catalog. The formula’s ingredients, however, are so delicious and fulfilling. Anyway, it’s this very repetition that can hypnotize a listener, allowing him or her to sink so deeply into the grooves.

Nang’s most recent release, Lost in Japan II, was released in January of 2018 and is available for download on the artist’s Bandcamp. Singles from this enchanting LP dropped months ahead of its release, including the cathartic “Haru” which was included on Chillhop Music’s 2017 Spring Essentials compilation. Past releases include Lost in Japan, Travel EP, and the Imagination EP from three years ago in which the foundation of Nang’s current sound can be heard. We sincerely look forward to more music from this prolific producer, when perhaps he will be lost in Cambodia, or Korea, or elsewhere. Until then, beats for days are available on Nang’s Soundcloud. We've lined up 20 favorites for this lazy lo-fi Sunday.

FOLLOW Elijah Nang:   Soundcloud   /   Bandcamp   /   Facebook   /   Tumblr

Afterdub - Mad Zach [Profile]

Mad Zach is one of the most interesting personages in contemporary electronic music. He is one of the world’s foremost experts in controllerism, which is the practice of using software controllers (MIDI, Open Sound Control, joystick) to create and perform music. He’s been finger drumming for almost a decade and his skills are masterclass. Mad Zach’s music is pure innovation, so much so that Aphex Twin rinsed one of his tunes live last year. Mad Zach essentially embodies the concept of the electronic musician, and his ocean of knowledge about production is channeled with ferocity into one-of-a-kind dynamic live performances. 

Mad Zach came up in the Bay Area electronic music scene, and his sound is rooted in hip-hop and West Coast bass. He’s collaborated with fellow Bay Area native G Jones so many times that the two are virtual partners in crime. As trap, dubstep, and future bass have evolved globally in the past five to ten years, those sounds have entered the Mad Zach laboratory where they’ve been reconfigured. His sound eludes classification, but in a phrase it's a hybrid of hip-hop, dubstep and trap. However the influences interacting in his music are more numerous than the buttons on his midi-pads. His most recent release, “The Visitor”, demonstrates how chimeric Mad Zach music has become. Having moved to Berlin, Germany a few years back, his sound has assumed a bit of the darkness so ubiquitous in that city’s techno scene. That’s not to say Mad Zach was peaches and cream to begin with; his work has always involved a bit of eyes down business. 

Many were first introduced to Mad Zach in 2015 through the Ableton Push video, where Zach skills what was then the new Ableton Push controller as only he can. This, or any of the countless videos on his Youtube channel, illustrate the performance style that Mad Zach brings to his live sets. “When I perform, I’m typically rocking a couple midi fighters and a twister for mixing and effects,” Zach told Ariel Hawk of Smoothie Tunes in a 2015 interview. A Mad Zach performance is as live as live gets in electronic music. It’s freeform, groovy, and supremely dynamic. Zach’s music is not beholden to any semblance of the build-drop format. It’s instead a mercurial, evolving groove highlighted by anticlimax and subtle interplay between provocative note arrangements, and subdued but dazzling soundscape. 

On March 8 Mad Zach will roll into Brooklyn, New York laden with gear and keen on expanding and potentially blowing minds at Brooklyn Bazaar. Billed as an Afterdubevening and presented by Good Looks Collective and Sermon, the show includes support from the steady-handed audio surgeon SubDocta and the DMV-area dub deviant ChoppyOppy. Catching a Mad Zach set is an opportunity not to be overlooked. The performer was originally part of the recent G Jones & EPROM tour, but he had to drop off and ended up playing only a couple dates. The soundman's return to the road is thus all the more exciting. 

Familiarize yourself with Mad Zach music on any platform, scoop tickets to his Afterdub performance, and gird your loins. 

FOLLOW Mad Zach:   Official   /   Soundcloud  /   Bandcamp   /   Spotify   /   Youtube   /   Facebook   /   Twitter

Lo-Fi Sundays 019 - Kuranes

Europe is a consistent hub for lo-fi music. The next stop on the global map of producers takes us to Italy and the beat-server Kuranes. His compositions scatter in many musical directions, but always maintain the familiar thematic timbre of low-fidelity production. “MΔRS” is an expedition through extraplanetary synthesis and persistent, complimentary percussion. “~” is a classic hip-hop progression, with detuned piano lines waning in the background to hold the mood. “Ex oblivione” takes on a jazzy flair, gracefully developing around cascading melodies and disembodied hymns. “lord of sleep” creeps its way from start to finish with melancholy, dissonant chords and scales, riding a constant headnod that bounces on thick, muffled snares.

Only having popped up in the last 2 years, Kuranes has released an impressive amount of music. He has nine official releases to his name between ep’s, albums, and beattapes not to mention singles, his latest a collaboration with saiko. His most recent work, “Ukiyo”, was pressed onto  30 limited vinyl records alongside the standard digital distribution. Standard logic dictates that a close eye should be kept on such a weaver of rhythms. His talents are fresh and finely tuned, so there's sure to be even tastier beats to come in the near future.

FOLLOW Kuranes:   Soundcloud   /   Bandcamp   /   Facebook

Lo-Fi Sundays 018 - Wisdom

Instrumental hip-hop a not a style of music which draws listeners with its technical virtuosity. Yes, producers and highly cultivated fans can and do appreciate the technical aspects of a tune; the cleanliness of the sample chop, the compression of the kick drum, the dynamic of the note relationships, or the deft use of white noise. But the main attraction of instrumentals is the vibe they create and the feeling they evoke. Even the most base musical elements can offer a profound listening experience once they’ve been transfigured through a tasteful arrangement by the beatmaker. 

Instrumental hip-hop offers more space for this transfiguration than most musical styles. There sometimes appears to be a tacit challenge for producers; “do the most with the least”. What great rapture or simple relaxation can you provoke with your small handful of musical elements? In this context, the depth and color of the feeling provoked by a beat determines how valuable that beat becomes for a listener. 

WISDOM beats stone you. The face flushes and a tingle rinses down the spine. Cool and familiar, ripples of energy move out through the arms to the fingertips, raising goosebumps as they go. Undiluted calm envelopes the mind. A single note initiates a rush of clarity and throws the listener into a meditative state. WISDOM entertains and keeps the head moving. But plunge under the sublime surface vibe and the technical skill to the great beneath; the sound, a vibe, a sum greater than its parts, an understanding transmuted through syncopated drums and melody.

Exposure hasn’t fallen heavily yet on WISDOM aka Alec who resides somewhere in the Lone Star State. His work has been featured on a thorough compilation from San Francisco beats and lyrics label Fuzzoscope, and a tape from the steadfast lo-fi curators of Bandcamp, lofi.hiphop. His only at-length drop to date is “DINGE”, a 30-minute tape released on February 7, 2018, the unofficial world beats day. Before it appeared there were only a few short beats available from WISDOM on the Cloud, but quantity is not significant before quality. It may not come for a minute, but stay chooned for the next drop from this wise beatmaker whose momentum builds with each kick and snare. 

FOLLOW WISDOM:   Soundcloud   /   Bandcamp   /   Spotify   /   Twitter   /   Instagram   /   Facebook

Lapa - Spirit Vessel

A major part of the allure of electronic music as an overarching genre is the niche that it provides to artists who find themselves existing between the defined lines of musical schemas. Ilya Goldberg, known by his moniker of Lapa, is a veritable branch of the growing stylistic tree that contains countless other producers, musicians, and audio engineers whose product is an amalgamation of influences, instrumentation, and performance execution. A violinist, producer, and all-around versatile musician by trade, Ilya himself was a progenitor of the influential rise of combining state of the art live sampling technology and live instrumentation. Having joined Emancipator both on the stage and in the studio from 2011 on, the harmonious interplay of his violin coupled with the composition and brevity of the produced track underneath would go on to captivate tens of thousands across the United States touring and festival circuit. Of course, being the virtuoso that he is, Ilya would eventually go on to flesh out his personal musical vision through the creation of the Lapa project.

2015 saw the first Lapa studio release titled “Meeting of the Waters”. A creamy concoction of downtempo and ambient soundscapes, the album is riddled with the back and forth conversations of brilliant string movements and tonally smooth synthesis. Having set the standard for his musical output, Lapa has now released a second full-length album, “Spirit Vessel”. It is a vibrant blend of organic and digital timbres, with a strong emphasis on instrumentation. The album instantly stands out as an artifact of venerable significance, an archetype for the hybridization of musical styles.

“Back to Africa” begins with a wondrous major melody, and becomes a musical allusion to the sensation of weightlessness once the staccato hi-hats are introduced. As the beat breaks down to the ever familiar boom-bap shuffle, filtered arpeggios dance in and out of the mix, gently following the key of various melody tones trading the lead line around the aural space. Passing the halfway point of the track, those familiar, floaty tones reemerge, bursting into existence in and around a climactic bridge of percussion and sustained monophonic note-play.

“Stoika”, a collaborative effort with Random Rab, starts off with high-treble strings producing triplet arpeggios, followed shortly thereafter by the percussive cushion that props up the melody. The song is almost entirely organic tones until midway, when psychedelic synth lines float in and out existence through smooth filters and choice touches of reverb. The cumulative blend of repetitious textures create an ongoing head-nod hypnosis that begs to be rinsed through over and over again.

The album concludes with “Empty Space”, a 13-minute musical narrative that summons imagery of damp rainforests adorned with vaporous clouds that rests just atop the canopy. Background tones gradually rise and fall on chromatic scales while vivacious refrains introduce new melodies at a constant rate. It feels so expertly produced for fidelity, and simultaneously feels so far from the synthetic overtures of so many similar musical endeavors. The track comes to a beautifully amorphous conclusion, transitioning from a rhythmic composition to an ambient adventure, and settles on a harmony fit for the horns of welcoming angels.

Beyond just the brilliance of the studio album itself, the Lapa live performance is a treat all its own. With drummer Brandon Warren and multi-instrumentalist Nickles D’Onofrio, Lapa is a fully functioning live act that combines Ableton Live and its powerful looping, sequencing, and sampling capabilities with the rooting tones of drums, bass guitar, and violin. Playing on DJ tropes and theories concerning transitions and mixing tracks, the performance is a seamless start to finish ballet of the auditory minds atop the stage. If good fortune comes to pass, hopefully Lapa and his outfit will be gracing ears live and in action sooner rather than later. With his newest album available across most major distribution and streaming platforms, there is no excuse for being out of the loop when it comes to this virtuoso of his craft.

FOLLOW Lapa:   Soundcloud   /   Bandcamp   /   Facebook

DeeZ - Strange Matter

Forces exist that we cannot see. “Strange" matter, for example, is a strain of matter made of quarks, and thought to occur at extremely high temperatures in the core of neutron stars. Within this “liquid” substance the familiar structure of matter is disrupted. 

The composition space of Andy Widdecomb aka DeeZ is rumored to produce extremely high temperatures, and today strange matter is flowing from that space in the form of an extended-play bass music release. The four-track Strange Matter EP represents the more experimental side of DeeZ music, complete with 'delic vibes and a taste of live instrumentation. This of course doesn’t preclude the presence of DeeZ’s characteristic curdling sound design. Rather, Strange Matter finds the Boston-based producer covering new ground by couching that aggressive sound design in subdued downtempo atmospheres.

The off-kilter “Hootenanny” has a unique drum arrangement that sidelines the traditional kick-snare go-to. Resonant, thumping tom drums parlay with a set of snaps, bells and other high-end percussive pattering to create a rich tribal stomp. Strange matter enters the fray in the form of a bass synthesizer with great girth and dimension, engulfing the listener as it drops into and out of the mix. The complex cut “Tangent” lets 808 drum chops and vague vocal samples echo through open space beneath a whirling low-frequency oscillator (LFO). The listener is warned that such a combination could be “hazardous to the average”, but persevere and you will be rewarded with a barrage of samurai sword sound design. While it strikes hard, this impressive synth display does not consume, but sinks into, the mellow and closefisted vibe of the song.

“Mullen’s Bog” featuring Smigonaut offers the most meditative moment on Strange Matter, “meditative” being an adjective we could scarcely conceive using to describe DeeZ music until now. The melody is metronomic, and the notes reverberate against the outer edges of the stereo spread, surrounding the listener in a breathable atmosphere. Glitches that splatter like running water or chirp like birds give the soundscape a life-like character. Subtle sub-bass wafts across this atmosphere, playing the background for a squelchy synthesizer that is abrupt but not overwhelming. Plucked guitar strings appear from the ether. These are Smigonaut’s surprising contribution to the track, multi-instrumentalist that he is. The guitar's melody is delicate, but at its melodic climax DeeZ thrusts it forward with prominence into his otherwise aqueous mix. It’s a powerful moment, and reminiscent of Lux & Indivisible Inc., a group that offers early examples of the enchanting sonic spaces created when glitch and guitar overlap. 

The wide but widely unknown world of physics sparked Andy's imagination as he produced this new set of tunes. “The idea of these obscure areas of physics that we don't really understand is inspiring for me,” he says. “There's this unknown layer to existence that we have yet to uncover.” Similarly there are layers of the electronic music spectrum yet to be uncovered. Fortunately, DeeZ and other daring scientific minds can continue to lead us, and themselves, into the unknown. Stay chooned. 

FOLLOW DeeZ:   Bandcamp  /  Soundcloud   /   Facebook   /   Instagram

Ovoid - Yea Boi EP

Adam Westover aka Ovoid is vaulting into 2018 with two EPs to follow his full-length debut last year. The downtempo LP Life was a passion project that revealed his artistic persona. His next release Abstraction teased a transition to an uptempo style that now has free reign on the Yea Boi EP, his latest release through Addictech Records. At a clipping pace, Ovoid is demonstrating the breadth of his artistic capacity while cleaving close to his influences and developing his core sound.

Yea Boi is just two tracks, the first an irreverent tune called “Ranch” with a stoner metal vibe and a tight, close-to-the-vest acoustic guitar. Adam has been quite enamored with the guitar since youth, even joining a stoner metal band in high school. The influence of this early project is felt most strongly in the song’s final third, when the harsh twangs of the reverb-laden guitar counter the formerly dominant dampened plucks. The sound of rock drums to finish measures in this section also contributes to the metal taste, and is a breath of fresh air in a largely squelchy and farty track. This opener lacks a storyline progression, but manages to be interesting and weird enough to stand on its own.

The second track is the main dish. Grounded once again in the guitar, Ovoid transitions to a more engaging mood, giving us a longer buildup of sound design moments and pitch-bent sampling. With a nod to early psychedelic rock via tanpura (the subtle droning string support to the sitar), we find the track spin into a metallic breakdown full of gnarled strings heavy with the weight of rock n' roll; this pairs quite well with the squeals of the highs. While Yea Boi could be seen as old-vs-new – from the beginning we see the guitar compete with the synthesizers for ear time – it is in the welter and waste of artful distortion and reverb that the combo truly thrives. While “Ranch” gets to this space jocularly, “Yea Boi” is more revelatory, showcasing the true power of psychedelic metal in a dance music context.

With this latest release, Ovoid is more firmly established as a glitch aesthete with guitar chops and a penchant for heavy waves of steel vibration. His earlier music stands as a testament to the emotional depth that his talents can express, while his new releases demonstrate that he can knock out dancefloor bangers with a vengeance. With another two tracks out for him to stand behind, Ovoid has more skin in the game and continues to add to an evolving story of interlocking influences unfolding before our very ears.

You can purchase the music through Addictech Records. 

FOLLOW Ovoid:   Soundcloud   /   Facebook   /   Bandcamp   /   Instagram   /   Spotify

Lo-Fi Sundays 017 - KarmawiN

Rise, shine, and rub the sleep out of your eyes because the multi-lateral conductor for this Sunday's musical overtures demands a fresh spring in each step today. Standing tall in his home of Lyon, France, KarmawiN has been steadily releasing an ever-growing catalog of top-notch lo-fi beats and other hip-hop treats. Sometimes vibrant, sometimes melancholy, and always with an attitude, his tracks tackle a multitude of sub-genres, tempos, moods, and instrumentation. 

"Like a Ninja" creeps its way from start to finish following a harmonic minor scale that brings out the Samurai Champloo in all of us. Gated reverb on the snares keeps the upper registers of the frequency spectrum bright, with just enough space in between to let the hi-hats and sparing brass samples breath and flourish. Choice vinyl cuts surrounding samples referring to a Ninja's duties certainly help to keep the mental picture in focus. "Yōkai" follows the far eastern motif, utilizing samples distributed by fellow beatsmith Soul Maker. "Diggaz" fleshes out a familiar jazzy flair, with harmonious piano samples cutting and crossing one another underneath the canopy of brass flutterings and staple hip-hop vocal cuts. 

E1K, a recently formed beat-tape distribution label based out of Germany, put out KarmawiN's first official tape release, Noir, back in January. The beat-tape features 11 masterly crafted tracks that bring out a plethora of hues and tones that are so vital to lo-fi specifically, and hip-hop in general. Alongside the digital release, a physical tape is available for purchase by those who prefer to have a hands-on medium with which to collect their favorite music. If all of this tickles your fancy, then sit tight for some new music assuredly on the horizon from this young upstart.

FOLLOW KarmawiN:   Souncloud   

Check out "Noir" here:   Bandcamp 

Seppa - Thick Pits EP

So far February has seen a plethora of producers, both artisan and hobbyist, release a treasure trove of EP's and LP's in an effort to start off 2018 with their best work yet. Naturally, our slimy gastropod friends over at Slug Wife have been busy stirring up anticipation for new music and a US tour from across the pond, and Seppa is spearheading their dive into 2018 with the neck-breaking EP Thick Pits.

Gaining considerable rapport with the western hemisphere's electronic music community in the last few years, Seppa, who formerly produced under the moniker Duskky, is a card-carrying member of a new generation of broken beat producers who are simultaneously redefining soundscapes and raising the bar for fidelity in bass music. Together alongside production powerhouse Kursa, the duo operates the Slug Wife label, a creative smorgasbord of unique and eclectic producers that specialize in all things low-frequency. 2017 saw the birth, inception, and rapid propagation of the label, and the community response has been massive through and through, with fans of both the duo and the label at large eagerly awaiting the day when Slug Wife squirms and wiggles its way into US bookings.

 Thick Pits is a headfirst plunge into a visceral torrent of low-end blitzkrieg and deranged instrument sample play. Each track is a closed system of unique synthesis textures, extreme compression, sub-oscillator movement, and left field musical stylings. 

"Thick Pits" opens the EP with a playful, trickling melody that is quickly crushed under the weight of high-octane bass lines. High-hat shuffles and popping kick drums carry the beat in and out of instrumental interplay that is eventually and deliberately overpowered by saw-toothed synthesizers that explode from speaker cones like a punch from Bruce Lee.

"Mostly" begins with a jazzy brass line that morphs at the 26-second mark into a descending scale, harmonized with just the right counter tones to keep the track as bright as it is spooky. As it progresses, plucky sub bass is introduced to start holding down the low end, and is in constant musical dialog with the same maddening melody being spoken by a revolving door of far-out tonalities.

"Represent" is perhaps the most melody-driven track on the EP. The lead line floats around a full octave while occasionally dropping down in scale, bringing the listener straight down the aural rabbit hole. Vocal cuts come in and out focus, highlighting the wispy bass tones underneath the mix that carry the weight of the track. 

"Sh-t Slinger" follows the motif of the first track, beginning with a fluttery melody warping in and out of the mix through filter sweeps and a dash of reverb. Once the 20-second mark is hit, any semblance of this vivacious opening is overpowered by full force baritone synthesis, with each note marching to the back and forth beat of the kick and snare, demonstrating a rhythmic juggle that keeps this track stuck in the front of the mind long after it has finished.

With the release of this EP, and the announcement of an upcoming Slug Wife US takeover, it can be surmised that Seppa will be making landfall on our shores just in time to rinse these tunes through and through. Stay tuned for more goodies fast incoming from the UK's resident mollusks at the top of the food chain.

FOLLOW Seppa :   Soundcloud   /   Facebook   /   Bandcamp 

FOLLOW Slug Wife:   Soundcloud   /   Facebook   /   Bandcamp   /   Twitter 

Lo-Fi Sundays 016 - Lunchbag

What could be more unassuming than a lunch bag; brown, paper, one size, mom wrote your name on it. But what’s this? Inside is an unexpected cornucopia of flavor, treats of all colors from a fat Italian sandwich and fresh fruits to candies and a bag of your favorite chips. This is the experience of discovering lunchbag, an adept producer based in Stuttgart, Germany. 

There’s a broad range of lo-fi flavors in the producer’s lexicon, from straightforward Wu-Tang head-nod re-fixes, to 1970s jazz cut ups. “2chordhosen”  showcases lunchbag’s ability to tease out a vibe from minimal musical material. It’s built on two simple chords and spiced with some delightful ivory doodling, but still carries a great emotional weight. “c h e s s b o x i n” and “Figaro” among others demonstrate the producer’s fondness for classic American hip-hop, and his ability to remodel it with refreshed essence. “2face” and “column” seem to spin a raw lo-fi jazz thread, a creative counterbalance to the traditional hip-hop tunes. His tracks have been picked up by the Berlin and London-based Complex Channel Records and Estugarda, a hip-hop collective from lunchbag’s hometown of Stuttgart. The latter's ambitious compilation "Lava" also features a lunchbag cut called "Crossing Fingers". 

“Apertif” is a recent drop, and one of two lunchbag tapes available on Soundcloud. An aperitif is an alcoholic drink taken before a meal to stimulate the appetite. This tape typifies lunchbag’s laid-back style, and at times highlights the producer's aptitude with a synthesizer, as does an older tune of his called "Burn the Plastic". This tape will certainly whet one's appetite for more of lunchbag's beats. They aren’t exceptionally thick, compressed, or trashy. They’re not overly distorted or dark with that attractive lo-fi loneliness, but they strike the nerves just right. There’s great familiarity with the boom bap, that bedrock tool of the hip-hop trade, and little reluctance to dabble in jazz samples and reap the melodious profit. With this subtle blend of jazz and hip-hop that’s not too hot and not too cold, it’s easy to kick back and relax with lunchbag beats. 

FOLLOW lunchbag:   Soundcloud   

Lo-Fi Sundays 015 - Senoy

Senoy stuck out to us while listening to the Homegrown compilation released on Friday by Inner Ocean Records and STZZZY. Based out of Berlin, Germany, he is the curator of a modest catalog that pushes in a range of stylistic directions. A multifaceted producer and composer, he worked closely with the artist Parra for Cuva to craft the album Darwis, a melody-driven collection of instrumental electronica. His first solo album, Shine, was released through Inner Oceans Records in September of 2017, and falls more in line with the lo-fi aural aesthetic.

Shine is a vivacious journey through the various affectionate moods of lo-fi music, dipping its fingers in hip-hop and ambient tones and arrangements. Comprised of a large amount of original instrumentation and a light pinch of synthesis, the album has an ebb and flow that bares the musics' direction with crystal-clear fluidity. 

سغىيْ is a particularly wild track, with a heavy synthesizer presence and many of the staple trappings of more electronic-focused music. Warped and distorted string samples drone from start to finish, occasionally becoming drowned out by the slight wobble of deranged melodies and glitchy brass lines.

K36. F L Y is entirely in line with traditional lo-fi hip-hop music, bringing into the headspace images of pollen falling onto suburban streets in the early spring. The kick is pushed to the center of the mix with strong, hard-lined compression, and fills the low-end of the frequency spectrum with a rhythmic thud. Various key chops are blended effortlessly into re-pitched vocal samples that seem to respond in kind to the piano's siren call.

All of his available music can be found throughout his own soundcloud, and his album is available for purchase through the Inner Ocean Records bandcamp. Throw a few dollars in his direction to support the project, and you'll be instantly satisfied with the fidelity of the results.

FOLLOW Senoy:   Soundcloud   /   Bandcamp   /   Facebook

STZZZY & Inner Ocean Records - Homegrown

Homegrown is a collaborative compilation between Inner Ocean Records and STZZZY (aka Steezyasfuck) created to honor the home producer. Released by Inner Ocean and pressed onto delicious cotton candy-colored vinyl, Homegrown features a dream team of artists from the broad universe of beats music. With heavyweights like Axian, Eevee, and Borealism, and newer names like Kazumi Kaneda, RudeManners and Senoy, this tape will dazzle fans of STZZZY and Inner Ocean, as well as anyone not yet familiar with these two juggernauts of chill.

According to its Soundcloud description, STZZZY is a collective that aims “to showcase the unique core sound and artistic values from producers such as J-Dilla, Nujabes, Ta-Ku, MF Doom, Uyama Hiroto, and many more.” This is what we talk about when we talk about beats music. These two collectives have been elevating this sound for years; STZZZY with more than 370,000 Youtube subscribers, and Inner Ocean whose founder claims to have hand-pressed “at least 10,000” cassette tapes in his life. Much of the best work on their channels comes from home producers or “bedroom producers”; the often unsigned, sometimes unknown but always unrelenting creators who put forth exceptional music from their own homes with modest technological means.  

“Home producers aren’t anything new, but I think that in many ways their prominence in modern music scenes is really strong,” says Cory Giordano, the founder of Inner Ocean Records whom we introduced you to on Cassette Store Day. This phenomenon is buoyed both by easy access to compositional technology (SP-404, Ableton), and the plethora of platforms where producers can self-release (Soundcloud, Spotify). “Really great music can come from anywhere in any living situation with just a few tools on hand,” Cory continues. Beat music thrives online, as STZZZY’s substantial following attests to. Yet even the greatest new sounds can often dissolve into the ether of the internet. Inner Ocean is particularly proud of this vinyl press because it takes those sounds and “stamps them into history”.

Homegrown includes producers from at least six countries and three continents, but the vibe across the compilation is consistent. It’s a blend of two sub-genera of beat music; jazzy, soulful grooves and more spacey, ambient sounds. The latter is typified by Eevee of the Netherlands. With “Wonderland”, she continues to expand a dense discography containing over eight full-length beat tapes, and a raft of singles and EPs. “Wonderland” begins exactly how it ends. The rhythm is ubiquitous for the duration of the 4½ minute track, and can only be described as hypnotic. Chords slowly change note and scale as they are stretched and pitched with a laissez-faire intent, adding to the intoxicating dance of melody and percussion.

Finding his home in New York City and standing atop an impressive discography that includes close to two dozen LPs, EPs, and singles, RudeManners offers an irresistible jazz flair with his song “Flow”. The producer lets his samples shine through the mix with an organic timbre. The saxophone carries the track effortlessly and keeps the ears chasing after it like the warmth in the throat that chases a sip of whiskey. Groovy keys, classic snares and steady closed hi-hats follow the lush brass melody and bring the track together with a particularly musical cohesion.

On the tape’s tail end Senoy caught our ear. Hailing from Berlin, his debut record Shine was released through Inner Ocean. He previously produced and performed as part of a duo called Parra for Cuva that features a stronger electronic undercurrent than Senoy’s latest musical endeavors, though his contribution “Tibet” is still more akin to electronica than any other song on Homegrown. True to its name, assorted samples of Tibetan chants breathe life into the track. The chord structures fall over each other with an aqueous attitude tailing right behind bright foley samples on the 2s and 4s of each measure. The beat is constant, save for a few well-placed rhythmic turnarounds, and helps solidify the song into a lullaby.

Pervading this project is the niche sound and aesthetic that has endeared STZZZY and Inner Ocean to so many faceless but feeling online listeners through the years. This project finds both curating entities at their best. Instead of being chosen from a pool of track submissions, each artist was hand-selected for the tape, creating an embarrassment of riches to the benefit of you, the audience. An extremely timely tribute to the home producer, Homegrown is as well a testament to the unbound potential for collaboration and curation in the expanding world of beats, sweet beats.

Limited vinyl copies of Homegrown are available for pre-order on Inner Ocean's website. 

TRACKLIST:

Side A

1. Keem the Cipher - (The I in We)

2. Eevee - Wonderland

3. Seneca B - Ethic

4. RudeManners - Flow

5. Soho - Cenario

6. Kazumi Kaneda - Steep Cliff

Side B

1. Axian - Daydream

2. Idealism - Evenings

3. Arbour - Bump This

4. Knowmadic - Roam

5. Oatmello - Juice

6. Dominic Pierce - Energy Stream

7. Borealism - HXMEGRXWN

8. Kawfee - Satin

9. Senoy - Tibet

FOLLOW STZZZY:   Youtube   /   Soundcloud

FOLLOW Inner Ocean Records:   Soundcloud   /   Facebook   /   Spotify   /   Instagram

Co-Written by Pasquale Zina & Mark McNulty

Time Resonance Music - Eclecta I

Eclecta I is the first compilation from Time Resonance Music, a label curated and created by Russian producer Slava Mindex. As its name suggests, it’s an eclectic mix that shifts between more laid-back tunes from artists such as Supertask, Primate and 5AM to some heavier sounds from Hullabalo0 and Spirit Tech. But despite the variation in energy, there is a clean, deeply organic quality consistent throughout the compilation.

The 17-track project opens with a lush downtempo track from Dillard featuring sultry guitar riffs wandering through hazy pads and long-tailed, misty reverbs. From here the music moves through a multitude of micro-genres. Although how one chooses to label these genres is both up for interpretation and somewhat of a moot point, it can be helpful to throw tiny descriptions on to the music and see what sticks. “Downtempo” describes most of the tracks on Eclecta I, but this ranges from breakbeat to melodic IDM, to hip-hop.

This complexity sets Time Resonance apart from many labels, and a single track might traverse multiple genres. Take for example the collaboration between Mindex and Supertask, “Butterfly FX”. It floats seamlessly between sing-song melodies and alien sound design. Although arranged and harmonized much like a lullaby, the song unfolds to reveal a heavy, growling bass, twisting and unfurling itself beneath bells and tender flutes, oozing throughout the stereo space. The simple, sensual tastes of Supertask blend nicely with Mindex’s colorful and curious imagination, opening up a psychedelic space within the compilation that is a defining quality of the Time Resonance label. A surprisingly chill kLL sMTH tune follows suit with open, deceptively simple melodies steeped in bubbly sound design. The energy begins to escalate with 5AM’s sunny mid-tempo track “Multiplex”, leading into some heavier sounds to follow and be dispersed throughout the compilation. Mindex and Zenturion’s “CBD”, Spirit Tech’s “Astral Bodies” and especially Hullabalo0’s “Abeba” share the bulk of the heavier psy bass within the compilation.

From aqueous samples, to background vocals, to crunchy percussive textures, there is some element of nature and life to be found in each track on “Eclecta”. Although Mindex himself is probably best known for his mind-bending, spine-tingling neuro-bass sound design, this should not come as a surprise. The sounds alone do not create the powerful effect imparted on to the listener. It is the way in which the sounds interact with each other, the way in which he weaves them together, that bring them to life. When this occurs, a piece of music begins to speak its own language, one that we intuitively understand. This is emblematic of patterns and symbiotic relationships that occur throughout nature, and further defined by the literal sonic representations of natural elements such as grass, trees, water, and human voices present throughout this compilation.

Only through a deep love, fascination and dedication to the pure physics of sound and music can one truly tap into this language. Slava and his like-minded friends on this compilation speak this language fluently, and with Eclecta they’ve graciously invited us into their conversation.

FOLLOW Time Resonance Music:   Soundcloud   /   Facebook   /   Bandcamp

FOLLOW Mindex:   Soundcloud   /   Facebook   /   Bandcamp   /   Spotify

Lo-Fi Sundays 014 - Folridomi

Floridomi is a consummate professional when it comes to the beats. Based in the home of hip-hop, the New York City producer's reverence for beats - their past, present and future - is abundantly clear. He releases work on Dust Era  and has participated in their “Selects” series, where the critical Las Vegas lo-fi label taps producers to curate some of their favorite selects. Domi’s contribution from January, 2016 included cuts from Madlib and J Dilla among dozens of others. Our floridomi selects highlight the producer’s diverse capabilities, from jazz and boom bap to the pure lo-fi grain and the slightly psychedelic. 

His Flowers tape showcases many styles, punctuated by braggadocio vocal samples and chuckling radio skits. There’s “Alpinia” which flips a Brazilian samba into a head-nodding boom-bap beat, “Etlingera” which weaves sultry piano samples through open space, and “Constantia” with rustic Spanish guitar samples. His ability to walk tall through different styles finds floridomi constantly collaborating. Included here is one cut with flavors, one with wūf, and an absolutely spellbinding beat with the magician borealism called “Pachinko” that was reworked by Danish producer iamalex on his track “Together”. 

“Rich palace” delivers an expected but healthy dosage of synth bass. “Spliff Politix” is a delightful, bouncing boom-bap ode to the cypher that takes us into the producer’s oddities tape. This hilarious and engaging tape highlights “the weirder side of my beats” according to domi. Tracks on this tape get so low-key and left-field that they’ll find you sinking into your couch with your head in the clouds. According to the producer there’s a “spiritual successor” to this tape in the works, so stay chooned for that. 

The low-key vibe keeps riding with “smoke signals” and “risky business” which offer supreme examples of the sauntering basslines that are a hallmark of floridomi’s sound. 

A number of his albums are available for purchase on Bandcamp or streaming on Spotify. Beats continue to flow regularly from his Soundcloud. The caliber of their production only continues to rise, and the attention to detail never slackens. If you enjoy beats, dig deep into floridomi. 

FOLLOW floridomi:   Soundcloud   /   Bandcamp   /   Twitter   /   Spotify