Hello music lovers! My oh my, has it been a while. Time passes like water under a bridge, as they say. But who are they, anyway?
Anyway! Welcome to the Fresh Batch – an exhaustive list of underground sounds from the past fort-month. There’s something for everyone in the Fresh Batch – so don’t hesitate to have a click around! We’ve tried to make discovering interesting and satisfying new music as easy as possible for you with this quick list.
Music for Magnolia Trees is a compilation of downtempo and ambient electronic music, curated and presented by TRIP FM and Triplicate Records.
This 15-track project is a pleasant journey, peppered with peaks and valleys of mood and energy. Pinging back and forth between ethereal ambience and chill-out beats, the diversity of the artists work is spread out like a fine mixed-berry jam over crispy toast.
While you could not say this is a purely ambient release, the whole track list exudes an ambiance of warmth and comfort, even when the grooves are hitting. The resulting listen is wholesome and enjoyable, whether passively as background music, or actively, perhaps as soundtrack to an afternoon bike ride.
Several of the tracks stand-out in their splendor and composition – such as ‘I’ll See You When The Rains Come‘ by Johnny Fallout, which travels between heartwarming classic ambient and late 90’s IDM sounds, making for quite the electronica odyssey. ‘Different Vibrations‘ by Cathode Ray Tube is another highlight, packed with deeply satisfying percussion delays and textural synth-work.
‘Gone Without A Trace‘ is a personal favorite, swirling together all sorts of instruments and inspirations to create a head-boppingtrip-hop track that would not be out of place in a Thievery Corporation DJ set.
There’s a definite old-school electronica energy to the project, and it would likely sit well with fans of Boards of Canada, Squarepusher and Casino versus Japan.
Between the bliss and the beats – there’s a lot to enjoy in Music for Magnolia Trees. Nearly an hour of lovely electronic music, created and curated by talented folks. Hopefully you can make some time to give it a listen – which can be done via the labels Bandcamp page, or streaming on all the popular platforms.
Colorless Blood is an abstract and contemplative experimental electronic album from Ukrainian producer Lost Phosphor, self released on May 17th 2023.
The 7 track project has a unique tone to it – unbridled creativity nested in avant-garde structure with a healthy sprinkle of dissonance.
Much of the project feels refreshingly free-form, with a distinct absence of grooves in favor of surprisingly pleasant rigidity. Percussion, strings and pianos plink and plonk steadily along the timeline, evoking luminescent patches of wilderness and soggy villages in the dead of night.
Though mostly instrumental, the final track Resurrection takes the steam built up from the previous tracks and channels it into a dubby-techno jam complete with vocals and hard hitting drums.
Cradle is a 2-track ambient/downtempo EP from San Francisco’s Solarein, self-released on May 13th, 2023.
The project is tight and lush, with atmospherics and textures taking center stage, surrounded by chilled beats and slowly-evolving synths. Speaking of textures, the sonic feeling of this record is pretty phenomenal, with lots of room in the mix for clicks and pops to fly around in between the more melodic and utilitarian sounds.
Both tracks borrow themes from one-another, from the progression to the vibe, like two sides of the same coin. Heavy yet hopeful. The songs return to motifs seamlessly, looping back around on themselves and their melodies. Some of my favorite moments were when guitar blissfully swept its way into the mix, soaring above the established structure and injecting heavy emotional energy with its distorted riffs.
For fans of downtempo electronics like Boards of Canada, Casino Vs Japan and Kiln – Cradle is likely to put a smile on the listeners face, if only for 15 minutes.
Welcome back to the Fresh Batch, music lovers! We return with our monthly new-music column absolutely packed with phenomenal sounds.
With summer coming fast and furious (stay cool out there, folks!), we’ve rounded up a selection of lovely summertime releases. Dig in, swim around and enjoy…
Blame it on the algorithm, but when I switched over from Apple Music to Tidal a few months ago, I couldn’t listen to an album or playlist of anything remotely downtempo without being recommended Kiefer, the soulful hip-hop influenced pianist and producer. A cursory glance at his credits reveals piano work on Drake’s Certified Lover Boy, as well as producer or songwriter credits for another dozen or so artists.
It’s easy to see why this young man’s popularity has blossomed as of late; judging by his recent long player ‘When There’s Love Around’, Kiefer’s vibrant style of downtempo jazz is eminently listenable and chill without devolving completely into uber-smooth cocktail jazz (although I’d probably still be a fan of that). A few synths pepper the landscape, either as melody instruments like on ‘crybaby’, or as mood-setting soundscapes like on ‘loving hands.’
The whole album plays like a greatest hits of town and village theme songs from a lost ‘Final Fantasy’ game circa the PS2 era. There’s just something about the twinkling piano melodies, downtempo grooves, and melodic phrasing that brings to mind the shores of Besaid Island. I can practically hear the menu screen click sound effects in the background.
In an eerie case of foreshadowing, ‘When There’s Love Around’ comes pressed in a vibrant blue and yellow, the colors of the Ukrainian flag. Its release predated the current conflict by many months.
Thomas Jacob Jr is a Producer, Composer, Singer-Songwriter, Music Educator and Digital Artist currently based in Arizona – Bringing us rare and interesting selections from his extensive Vinyl collection! For more content follow his vinyl-dedicated Instagram account
Flying in the Sky is an experimental post-vaporwave album by BROKEN KIDZ (aka VDMR) presented by the good folks over at Engram Recordings.
The album is a beautiful swirl of psychedelic downtempo beats lathered in vaporwave inspiration. Thick with reverberation – Flying in the Sky takes the listener on a hazy, blissed-out journey – complete with in flight cocktails and complimentary entertainment!
Spanning 12 tracks, the album is a nice long listen with lots of creativity to get lost in. BROKEN KIDZ does a great job of meditating on each tracks nuances, allowing room for lots of riffs and concepts to breath. Tracks like Cross Faded are a magnificent shoegaze expedition in a gigantic geode encrusted cavern. The sound is a lovely balance between popular vaporwave tropes and experimental electronic influences, with flavors of harsh noise and grunge peeking through the layers. The droning vocals add a distinct touch to the style, injecting sensations of post-rock and drugged up punkers.
All in all it’s a nice release, definitely worth a listen or three. For fans of the more experimental side of vaporwave. You can listen and download now via Engram Recordings bandcamp page!
We are incredibly proud and excited to announce a brand new compilation series in collaboration with our label branch WEBELOTRAX RECORDS – we present to you TreeTrax Volume One!
18 Producers and Artists gathered together to create and experiment for this project. We encouraged all participants to not worry about genre but to focus on exploring their own creative essence. The result is broad, bold and impressive to say the least.
The track list explores the more gritty and eclectic side of underground electronic music – pinballing between floating ambience to distorted groove in a most satisfying way.
We hope this collection of songs is inspiring, perhaps a little challenging, because that’s how the underground flourishes. Please explore and support all the participating artists directly!
Snow day ep by hyacinth is a relaxed downtempo trip-hop project with a touch of post-vaporwave lofi looping vibes.
Rooted in experimental bedroom beat-making energy, the 9 track ep swirls through samples, riffs and grooves with an effortless sense of style. The dusty boom-bap percussion layered with warped jazzy samples take me back to 2008, evoking feelings of Madlib and Boards of Canada.
This little beat tape packs a lot of heart and creative energy into its relatively short playtime – it won my heart over and I found myself playing it on repeat. Perfect for mellow mornings with a warm cup of coffee.
You can support the artist and pick up the release for ONLY 2 BUCKS via their self operated label peradam tapes.
Brought to us by Submarine Broadcasting Company – Clear Muted Sine Recovery is quite an interesting project, and a fun listen!
Following the mission statement of “the intention of being played quietly“, the sounds have a unique wholesomeness to them. Almost how music created for old video games can instill a sense of claustrophobia – the mix focusing on cramming sounds densely onto a tiny cartridge, only to be looped as background music to a greater adventure.
Within the soft tones and wandering song structure lies some brilliant lo-fi psychedelic sounds. Simply put, it’s non-jazz noodling in the best possible way.
I adore electronic music when it sheds all semblance of structure – shifting the spotlight onto other aspects of the sound. This album accomplishes this and THEN SOME. I found myself doing the opposite of the suggestion advice of listening quietly, instead opting to crank up the sounds in my nicest pair of headphones – soaking in each individual tone and synth patch.
Clear Muted Sine Recovery is an excellent exploration in outsider ambient and experimental electronics – focusing on a soft yet unique palette of sounds. The resulting listening experience is quite thoughtful and sometimes meditative. Dark enough to encourage wandering thoughts, but not enough to feel brooding or manic.
Eternity Tree 