Warped and destroyed acid electronica sounds from Eternity Hotline, brought to us by Sacramento’s Outer Grid Records.
I personally dove into this one not knowing what to expect. I am not familiar with Outer Grid Records, but I can say for sure that I am a fan now! Same goes for Eternity Hotline (not to be biased, but we love all things Eternity here…) – a producer I was not aware of at all, but I am deeply impressed and energized by this release, Super Glue.
I was recently introduced to Brazilian producer OLHO’s creations – I am so happy this release found it’s way into my submission inbox, because I have fallen in love.
OLHO’s body of work dances between atmospheric dub, ambient techno and experimental sounds. 1:1 itself is a 2 track study of interesting washed out energy – saturated yet delicious. OLHO manages to create an expansive and massive atmosphere with a relatively minimal palette of sounds. Utilizing soft reverberating pads together with the flickering resonance of plucking synths to create a dense and dynamic world. The limited yet tasteful use of vocal samples only increases the ethereal nature of the pieces….
Now please pardon me while I explore more of OLHO’s offerings. With most of their releases on Bandcamp being only a Track or two long, I highly recommend picking up the Discography at a little discount! Very interested to see what is next on the horizon for this producer…
The gang at Vivarium Recordings in collaboration with the self-proclaimed Brone Hivemind present us with a collection if bizarre yet satisfying drone and ambient tracks.
Brobient is a unique concept in itself – ambient and drone tracks created and constructed from love-hate realm of Bro-Step. For those not familiar with the style, it sits in between oversaturated modern dubstep and overproduced EDM. You might be thinking HEY that sounds like a weird place to trawl for ambient material – but all the producers involved in this project were quite up to the task.
The thick 11-track playlist brings the listener on a strange and wandering journey through harsh noise, atmospherics, and general deconstructed sonic sensations. Though the sounds are stretched and manipulated, the raw energy of the Bro-Step shines through, with ripping oscillations shredding through the mix. It’s all got an atmosphere of mysterious dankness, wrapped up and delivered hot-and-ready to your earholes via drone delivery.
Big recommendation on this one if you’re looking to spice up your ambient playlist – or if you need something less structured to start your day. Definitely explore Vivariums page for the album for links to all the artists, and to learn more about the Brone Hivemind…
Somewhere inbetween the tops of clouds and the beginning of the starry sky exists “Dream Mediations” – an album by Covolux released by Earthrid Records.
Beautiful ambient-drone compositions with a big emotional injection. Often such ethereal productions can lean in one direction or the other, being steeped in nostalgic melancholy or otherwise totally void of humanity opting for a more studious view – here in Dream Mediations I find a wonderful balance of the two.
With the bulk of the sounds being triumphant and compassionate, Covolux lulls the listener into a comfortable state – the perfect de-arming to swoop in and take control of our minds, steering us around the landscape and showing us personal highlights. Atmospheric turns into a too-good descriptor, as I found each composition instilling me with a sense of flight, as if I were in a waking dream – able to launch off and glide above my surroundings at any moment…
Overall the album is a very relaxing listen, and would be quite at home during a personal meditation session or calm rainy mornings. Blissful drones give way to more energy and movement in tracks such as “Acts of Kindness”, which fully embraces the orchestral instrumentation of the project and steers head-on into modern classical territory – while slightly out of place with the rest of the tracks, it’s turned into one of my favorites!
Supremely satisfying sonic experiments from xas abra – brought to us by Engram Recordings.
Surgical is a 10-track album, curiously with each track weighing in at exactly 4 minutes and 34 seconds. Is there an underlying purpose to this? Does it signal that these sounds are perhaps generated, or trimmed from larger improvisational recordings? It’s all quite curious and, in the end, it really does not matter, as the sounds themselves are deeply interesting and engaging to consume.
From fuzzy lo-fi glitches to off-kilter synthetic shredding, xas wields a sonic toolkit of extravagant diversity and force, as layer upon layer of textural waves overlap and merge again and again. With the heavy rhythmic elements added to what could have easily been a pure-drone experiment, the tracks float into “deconstructed club” territory as the warbled synths are consumed by powerful hissing percussion. Don’t underestimate this one as it’s a dense and delicious project!
Luscious atmospherics and hyperchill beats from the ever-ethereal Usagi Acid. Wandering between strange atmospheric rhythms, textural drones and stacks on stacks of dense surreal sonic imagery. Blissful and ambitious while remaining relaxed and content. So much diversity packed within 3 tracks it could almost drive you to madness! But alas, it does not – its a lush and supremely satisfying listen that has left me wanting more and more! Luckily you can explore the whole discography for a wealth of amazing creative projects.
Gorgeous assortment of selections, compiled by SV1 and Umenos for the Hong Kong Community Radio show POST APOCALXX. This particular mix is #3 in the series, and features a mind-bending variety of sounds from alternative ambient to deconstructed club, with all sorts of delicious electronic experiments in between. Nearly 2 hours of music in this one, perfect for creative mornings or late-nite productivity sessions. This is actually my first time hearing a mix in this series, I am excited to explore what episodes 1&2 have to offer!
You can stream the show for now via Soundcloud, or for when they need to make room on the SC, listen directly via the HKCR website.
Beautiful experimental vapornoise, brought to us by Vacuum Noise Records. 2 tracks drifting around melancholy dreampunk drones, slushy vocals resting ontop of plump, fuzzy and cavernous atmospherics. A brief yet satisfying study of sounds, headphone listening highly recommended! Especially getting into the second track, devolving into nearly musique concrete tonal wandering as things become stretched around the listener in 4 dimensions.
Fresh and fascinating sounds from Rei Low, brought to us by the Holojamz crew – seemingly a collection of what might be considered *B-Sides* (please correct me if I am wrong). Rei explores many different styles and genres on this release which is to be expected from such a release – however the variety lends perfectly to the chaotic raw style presented, with the tracklist jumping around to showcase influences of hip-hop and jungle with a touch of vaportrap. If these were indeed “Lost Tapes”, b-sides or tracks that didn’t make other albums – regardless, I am glad Rei Low decided to package them up and release them for us, as it’s a very nice collection of sounds and worth listen.
Delicious and thoughtful Lofi House and Experimental Techno from the mind of Anthony Pandolfino under the FROSTOWER alias. Overwhelmingly nice energy here in my opinion, with 5 tracks exploring the different sonic possibilities of deconstructed electronics, fuzzy tones and overall raw energy. In fact the very nature of the sounds are almost punk – leading this to be possibly a better representation of the what “Dreampunk” could mean as a genre and a sound. Ambient-Punk? I am sure you can come up with a hundred genres to pin on this style, but it’s pure satisfaction for me. The energy combined with the lo-fi grit, the subtle atmosphere built within each track – it’s all very hypnotic and almost addictive, as I find myself playing this one top-to-bottom on repeat. Grab the digital album now via bandcamp at name your own price – and be sure to explore the other aliases and offerings from Anthony Pandolfino via Mystic Timbre!
Eternity Tree 