Browsing Tag

Alt Electronica

WHITING proves that optimism and euphoria are still in trend with their progressive DnB mix ‘Cyan Nights’

Posted on 6 March 2021

To tease their forthcoming EP, Bristol-based alchemist of electronically-crafted euphoria, WHITING, has released their progressive drum n bass record, ‘Cyan Nights’.

After a moody ambient prelude, Cyan Nights transitions from artfully intricate to a bass-drenched danceable feat of future-pop with a few alt-rock inclinations thrown in for good measure.

‘High vibe’ music may not be in short supply in 2021, but WHITING has a unique way of conjuring organically optimistic imagery and energy within their sound. You can’t help but fall into the infectious grooves, especially when the soaring 80s-style guitar hooks sink their teeth in.

Cyan Nights is now available to stream on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Explord Leaves Us Wanting ‘More’

Posted on 26 February 2021

Busting out of Missouri, the US Midwest isn’t perhaps the first place you think of as the home of kicking glitchhop, but here with ‘More’ presaging his new EP ‘Exposure’, composer/producer Logan S – a.k.a. Explord – has pretty much knocked it out of the park.

Dubsteppy, dark in places yet chilled and laid-back, ‘More’s sparsely instrumented with an excellent repeated female vocal motif and reverb-soaked drums punctuating the sequenced electronica. It sounds in moments like an old-school chiptune piece, or maybe incidental music from 90’s arcade games; think Ridge Racer or Outrun, rain-soaked streets and night-time neon mixed with the Glitch Mob, Pegboard Lights, or KOAN Sound.

You can check out ‘More’, and Explord’s new EP, on Spotify, or follow on Facebook and Instagram.

Review by Alex Holmes

Alt Electronica artist Daughter of Dawn has released her debut album ‘Crushed into Dust by the Weight of the World’.

Posted on 18 February 2021

The captivatingly melodic guitar tones in the first single ‘Juniper Boughs Collide Upon My Shores’ perfectly sets the tone for Daughter of Dawn’s debut alt-electronica album ‘Crushed into Dust by the Weight of the World’. It is an existentialist’s playlist staple.

The dark electronica release comes with a cavernously cathartic feel, you can’t help but be pulled into the trippy progressions which glitch their way through lashings of reverb and laceratingly efficacious guitar hooks. Daughter of Dawn may play with the cold and chillier colours on the tonal palate, but there’s still a soulful empyreal air to the atmospheric sound.

Daughter of Dawn is the latest project by Minnesota-based trans artist, artist and producer, Emma Goldman Grey, a semi-professional musician who has toured the world in punk, metal and hardcore bands such as Hive, Contentious and Malachi. With her solo career, she takes inspiration from the likes of Chelsea Wolfe and other artists who experiment with evocative and ethereally dark elements to construct entrancing soundscapes with the capacity to heal.

Crushed into Dust by the Weight of the world is now available to stream via Spotify.

Connect with Daughter of Dawn via Facebook & Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

George Sarpola has released their short, sweet and subversively psychotropic release ‘Kids Are Calling It…’

Posted on 17 February 2021
Beat Laboratory Experiments by George Sarpola

New York-residing drummer and composer, George Sarpola’s latest release, ‘Kids Are Calling It…’ will allow you to imagine what it would sound like if Frank Zappa still walked amongst us and found a penchant for avant-garde ambient electronica.

The short, sweet and subversively psychotropic release utilises vintage drum machines and newsreel samples which tease the dread of realism while George Sarpola stays well and truly in surrealist realms. His production style will undoubtedly be a hit with fans of artists as unapologetically eccentric as Otto von Schirach.

Kids Are Calling It… was released on January 17th, it is now available via Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Borealis – ‘Nichtclubbing’: Not a typo, but a dystopian trip through a hypothetical Germany

Posted on 7 February 2021
Siemensdream by Borealis

Ok, kids, grab some dayglo clothing, a glowstick, and a tub of Vicks, and dive into ‘Nichtclubbing’, the new single from Brazilian ambient afficionado Borealis.  A one-man ‘noisy electronica’ project from Rio de Janiero, orchestrated by Marco Barbosa, since 2015 Borealis have released four albums, two EPs, and a separate single; now, released as part of the ‘Siemensdream’ album – a conceptual electronic ride through a theoretical Germany – ‘Nichtclubbing’ is a proper, old-skool lapgaze slice of sparse, echoey Krautrock, all bleeps, swooshes, and reverb-heavy beats. If the Berlin Wall itself released an album, mixed at Oktoberfest, and played loud from the back of Trabants at Checkpoint Charlie, then ‘Nichtclubbing’ is what it would sound like.

Hear ‘Nichtclubbing’ on Bandcamp; check out Borealis on Facebook and Instagram.

Review by Alex Holmes

Hit play on Cayetano’s infectious electro mix ‘Get Back (To Real)’ and Resume Reality

Posted on 3 February 2021

Cayetano’s latest feat of alt-electronica, ‘Get Back (To Real)’, kicks off with an instantaneously entrancing hook. From there on out, you’re dragged along by the euphoria-dripping glitchy funk-drunk tides. Any fans of Big Black Delta are going to want to delve into the intensely-packed mix which features collaborative artist, Georges Perin.

Get Back may remind you that dancefloors across the globe are accruing dust instead of being a platform for sweet hedonistic memories, but you’ll struggle to feel morose with this track which breaks the monocultural mould. Cayetano’s international lifestyle is stamped down in his passport as much as it is in his sound. There really is no room to wonder how he manages to hold so much acclaim on such a global scale.

You can check out the official video to Get Back which premiered on January 8th by heading over to YouTube now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

beatsage – Kings Will Rise featuring Waywell

Posted on 28 January 2021

‘Kings Will Rise’ is the sensually meditative latest soundscape from LA-based electronica artist and producer, beatsage (AKA Chad Taylor), with the reverb-drenched woozy guitar from featuring artist, Waywell, beatsage’s sound became more luminary than ever.

In the absence of lyrics and vocals, the onus is on the electronic progressions and the lofty mellifluous guitar notes with their hypnotic bends to make Kings Will Rise an evocative experience; beatsage discernibly didn’t fail. From start to finish, the monolithic 7:54-minute mix, will lock you into the alchemy which so easily breathes between the two artists. As the track gears up to reach its climax, elements of funk wind their way into the mix as the electronic elements are stripped back and Waywell’s rhythmic prowess dominates the lush shimmering soundscape.

Kings Will Rise is now available to stream via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

SEBASTIAN MĀRCUS broke the monocultural mould with their reverb-drenched genre-defying single ‘PCG’

Posted on 21 January 2021
SEBASTIAN MĀRCUS

SEBASTIAN MĀRCUS took his experimentalism to ethereal new heights with the release of their single ‘PCG’; a reverb-drenched genre-defying feat of electronica which breaks the monocultural mould.

From bilingual sensually phantasmal harmonies to effect-laden ominous non-lexical vocals, SEBASTIAN MĀRCUS well and truly demonstrated their chill-inducing talents in PCG which melds elements of trap, dream pop and ambient electronica to hypnotic effect. It’s well worth putting a sweater on for; you can expect the entirety of your consciousness to be consumed as you listen to the paradoxically chilling and simultaneously lush track.

You’ll have to wait a little longer before you can check out PCG for yourselves. In the meantime, head over to SEBASTIAN MĀRCUS ’SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

apatternimperfect – Entrance: Disqueitly Ambient Alt Eltronica

Posted on 14 January 2021

Give your Portishead records a rest and delve into the ethereal tones in Alt Electronic Rock artist, apatternimperfect’s, standout single ‘Entrance’.

With a Post-Punk style prelude, Entrance starts to unravel to the tune of cavernously haunted vocals and trepidation-laden beats. The deftly-placed static amplifies the disquiet energy of the release as it builds to a climax of jarring buzzsaw riffs to mesmerisingly hypnotic effect.

apatternimperfect is the latest creative project by English producer, composer and songwriter, Rob Wacey. After honing-in on his talent in a myriad of successful bands, he put his accumulated talent to work, orchestrating deeply emotional tracks which offer a cathartic formula of ambience, pulsating rhythms and haunting vocals.

You can check out apatternimperfect’s single Entrance for yourselves by heading over to YouTube.

 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Zachary James & Rene Orth – Jabberwocky: A Harsh Electronica Sci-Fi Serenade

Posted on 14 January 2021

Electronica artists generally fall into two categories, the assimilators, and those who throw their authentic expression into their projects to create mind-blowing feats of indulgent insanity, ‘Jabberwocky’ from Zachary James’ 2020 album ‘Call Out’, definitely falls into the latter camp.

‘Jabberwocky’ is a theatrically enticing Sci-Fi laden hit which Zachary James created in collaboration with Rene Orth and Lewis Carroll. The progressive track runs through teasing melodic increments before crashing into tremulously bass-drenched Industrial electronica. It doesn’t matter which extreme the tempo is sitting at; you’ll be transfixed from start to finish in the mix which gives Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds a run for its money.

The multitalented artist’s experience as a Broadway actor discernibly fed into the monumental 7-minute visual single which becomes so much more than a soundscape as you embrace the chaos, imagination and cinematic style.

Jabberwocky is available to stream with the rest of the epic 25-tracker album via Spotify.

 

Review by Amelia Vandergast