Browsing Tag

Downtempo Electronica

Ennoverse – OOT: Electrifyingly Eclectic Dub-Heavy Downtempo

Posted on 22 October 2024

In his debut single ‘OOT‘, the up-and-coming Aotearoa, New Zealand-raised artist and producer Ennoverse stitched his eclectic past into the very fabric of the entrancing instrumental while embracing his unique sonic identity.

OOT pays ode to the electronic pulses of Ratatat and Pitch Black, the disco grooves of Lindstrom, the classical arcs of Rossini and the raw hip-hop energy of The Beatnuts and Cypress Hill. Fusionism fuels the downtempo, dub-heavy beats of ‘OOT’, a track that nods to the pulsating aesthetics of the ’90s rave scenes and innovates with a modern twist.

His use of phasers, strobing synths, and reverberant basslines crafts a space where the listener is compelled to engage their rhythmic pulses and reflect in equal measure. Each element is ingeniously constructed, resulting in an instrumental that drips with funk and electrifies the senses.

While ‘OOT’ is just the beginning, it’s a powerful glimpse into what might come from Ennoverse.

OOT was officially released on October 11; stream the single on SoundCloud now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

avOva arrested in their emotionally expansive downtempo electronica track, Indigo ft Nalarié

Posted on 18 June 2024

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNTrdFWtiBY/

Let lush etherealism envelop your soul with the arcanely textured track, Indigo, from avOva, featuring Nalarié which transcends transcendence, reaching the epitome of tonal bliss and creating the perfect addition to your summer playlists.

Dream pop coalesces with trip-hopped downtempo beach house & sublime slices of pensively hued soul to orchestrate the ultimate soundscape for your bitter-sweet reflections; capturing the wistfully poignant side of nostalgia.

The single is a solace for anyone who has ever loved and lost…themselves in the process. It’s a stunning score, which will undoubtedly resonate with anyone looking for oceanic depths in electronica; Indigo couldn’t be more emotively expansive.

avOva, the electronic/downtempo outfit from Bristol, UK, set the bar high with their dreamily atmospheric debut soundscape. The haunting vocals perfectly complement avOva’s intricate production, adding scores of striking depth to the single that doesn’t just scratch at the surface of the human experience when capturing the essence of love, loss, and self-discovery.

Indigo will be available to stream on all major streaming platforms from June 21. If you can’t wait that long, head over to YouTube and stream the official music video for the full ethereal experience now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Timothy and the Apocalypse’s Love in Stereo Remix will leave you in a euphonic utopia

Posted on 23 August 2023

Timothy and the Apocalypse’s most popular single to date, Love in Stereo, which has racked up a quarter of a million streams on Spotify to date and worked its way into seminal chillwave, deep house delight and electronic chillout playlists, has been masterfully reworked by the electronica phenomenon in his own right, Erik Buschmann.

With the dark and nuancedly despondent glitchy elements dialled back to make way for the more transcendently deep textures (it’s a paradox, we know), the new reworking delivers a dreamy new universe of depth that will leave you as high as the ever-ascending melodies.

If it weren’t the ethereally reprising whispers of ‘our love is in stereo’ bringing you back down to amorous earth, you’d be forgiven for thinking you’d ventured into a celestial videogame with a cathartically directive soundtrack when you hit play.

The Erik Buschmann Remix hit the airwaves on the 18^th of August; stream it on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Numbsoul welcomes you into unfamiliarly inviting territory with his downtempo trip-hop hit, Break Free

Posted on 13 August 2023

With syncopated beats brushing up against ambient electronic melodies that allow you to trip into an unfamiliarly inviting gritty urban territory, the latest single, Break Free, from the singer-songwriter, producer, audio engineer and sound designer, Numbsoul is a short and sweet slice of sonic transcendence.

The NYC-raised artist, who goes by the name Dashaun Riley away from the mixing desk, started self-teaching and performing in the arts at age seven; he’s had plenty of time to hone his multi-faceted crafts since finding inspiration from the likes of Kanye, Timbaland and G-Unit.

At age 15, he stepped up his creativity by evolving from a music composer and screenwriter into a music producer. His sounds can be heard reverberating through the NYC underground and within the mainstream after featuring on one of Universal Music Group’s official Spotify playlists and signing a deal with Sony. If you’re waiting to see the rise of the latest NYC luminary, watch this space; Numbsoul is sure to dominate it with his culturally-balling beats.

Stream Break Free via SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Make your perspective as luminary as abstract.ortiz’s latest single, Lighten Up

Posted on 21 April 2023

Even the sky won’t be blue if it is lucky enough to be exposed to the soul in abstract.ortiz’s latest single, Lighten Up. The alt-electronica downtempo manifestation of euphoria enmeshes you with its colourfully-hazy tones before the artist and producer prises you away from ennui with his sticky-sweet vocal lines that will be all too efficacious on fans of Grandaddy.

Bringing his art into this era, there is a trappy feel to the release through the cadence of the vocal melodies and how the harmonies bleed into the synthetics of the soundscape that ensure that by the time the single reaches the prelude your perspective will be as luminary as this release.

Lighten Up was officially released on March 14. Hear it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Spotlight Feature: Pinwheel Valley transcendentally reflects in his accessible Avant-Garde ambient EP, What If I

Posted on 3 February 2023

On February 3rd, the superlatively talented songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Pinwheel Valley will unveil his most experimental EP to date, What If I, as a departure from his indie-psych hits. Bar spoken word philosophical verses in the title single, the instrumental EP allows the dynamic instrumentals to set the tone, atmosphere, and sonic ideology.

The opening single, R.E.M. State, reaches the pinnacle of tranquillity as the lush reverb counters the visceralism of the trip-hop-y backbeats. Before track two, Honey Ripples, gives you an oceanic opportunity to slip away from the fray and enter a subaqueous paradise.

The concluding title single is a disarmingly poignant invitation into the psyche of Pinwheel Valley. The spoken word verses compel you into matching the deep state of reflection while the experimentalism of the Avant-Garde rhythmically complex arrangement provides a serene atmosphere you will want to visit time and time again. The soulfully accommodating release is inexplicably unparalleled from what any other artist is putting into the ether.

The alchemic feat of audio engineering definitively proves Pinwheel Valley’ ability to take phenomenological fragments and create sonically serene worlds from them. If I could permanently exist within them, I would take up perpetual residence in their artistic confines.

Pinwheel Valley Said:

“R.E.M. State is inspired by the absorbingly rejuvenating instrumentals in KAYTRANADA’s single, Bus Ride. I wanted to leave a mark on the canvas of mankind’s universe by flowing into rhythmically complex territory without becoming inaccessible to my audience.

Honey Ripples was written on a rainy day, envisioning how water droplets collide with the body of a lake before reflecting the impact through the warm and creamy honey texture of the Rhodes piano, also experimenting with dolphin samples to create an underwater soundscape haven.

What If I traverses themes of revival. The instrumental track with spoken vocals speaks from the dark abyss of mortal defeat. The protagonist weighs up letting his soul disintegrate or summoning an unforeseen strength to claw out of his pit to bring about his soul’s resuscitation.”

What If I will officially release on February 3rd. Check it out on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

David Deutsch has unlocked the gateway to visceral repose, Free Shavocado

Posted on 16 January 2023

LA independent artist and composer David Deutsch has scored original music for films, TV, video games and VR interactive programs. Most notably, he scored for the film Last Survivors and contributed to The Suicide Squad, The Invisible Man, The Kingsman, and the Emmy-nominated series, Hostile Planet.

Now, he’s here with his serenely explorative release, Free Shavocado. The evocative work shimmers with sonic beguile as it leads you through the gentle yet dramatic orchestral crescendos and synth sequencing your rhythmic pulses won’t be able to resist enmeshing with.

With the Gospel-esque non-lexical vocals sporadically appearing to swathe the soundscape with surges of heart-quickening soul, Free Shavocado is a transcendental corridor to serenity and visceral repose.

Free Shavocado, taken from David Deutsch’s EP, Prism, is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

SnoZ – Night: The Superlative Twilight Trap Lullaby

Posted on 8 January 2023

Like a twisted lullaby, the concluding single, Night, on the 3-track single from electronica artist and producer, SnoZ, which also melodically flows through Morning and Afternoon, is a trappy instrumental feat of beguile that deserves residence on your ambient and downtempo playlists. If any track is going to enter the sandman, it is Night. Sorry, Metallica.

SnoZ has been involved with the music industry since the early 2000s, experimenting with various genres along the way. In 2016, he exclusively got into bed with instrumental electronica production, and it’s easy to see why after listening to Night. They know just how to set a scintillating tone and capture emotion with their beats.

Night is available to stream on Spotify. For more info on SnoZ, check out their website.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Timothy and the Apocalypse set up a new installation of downtempo disenchanted catharsis with his latest trip-hop single, Shadows of the Lost

Posted on 22 December 2022

Watching the Sydney, Australia producer Timothy and the Apocalypse as he becomes a rare 21st-century success story with his cinematic indie beats that are shifting him ever closer to the million streams mark with his discography has been a sense of contentment in itself.

With soundscapes crafted for the end of the world, which effortlessly gel with your own despondence, the tranquillity within his downtempo trip-hop tracks offers a breeze of disenchanted catharsis. His latest single, Shadows of the Lost, is no exception. The wavy psychedelic aesthetic of Shadows of the Lost touches on the phenomenon of disconnection which is as steady as the beats in severing connections in our isolated age.

As the synthetic vocals drift in at the mid-point mark, as though they have appeared from a black-and-white film, they remind us that the control we believe we have over our lives is nothing but an illusion. Tony Robins may not agree, but given that he’s probably responsible for the clinical burnout and appeal of pyramid schemes for his fans, we’d like to hear him argue with this compellingly chilling exposition of the end days.

Shadows of the Lost will officially release on December 22nd. Pre-save it here.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Meet The Future of Electronica: Geoffrey Toussaint – Sun & Stars

Posted on 5 May 2022

After spending the last few years trying to find his sound, the 22-year-old indie electronica artist, Geoffrey Toussaint now has a sonic signature well-worth flaunting. Especially if his trip hoppy alchemically modernist track, Sun & Stars, is anything to go by.

The Washington DC-based artist takes inspiration from Porter Robinson, SOPHIE and Ramzoid, but with the robustness of new wave hip hop and the visceral gravity that flows through his hyper-pop proclivities, Sun & Stars is anything but a feat of assimilation. Through the oscillating reverb laced around the robust percussion and deep throbbing basslines, it is as cathartic as it is innately exhilarating.

Sun & Stars will officially release on May 20th; you can check it out for yourselves here.

Keep up to date with new releases from Geoffrey Toussaint via Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

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