Browsing Tag

electronica

TARISH blew the roof off house music with ‘blurry’

Posted on 20 May 2023

The Iraq-born, Sweden-hailing songwriter and producer, TARISH, blew the roof off the house genre with his stormer of a floor-filler, blurry.

With similar uninhibitedly high-energy to the hit, Filthy/Gorgeous by Scissor Sisters, read through the funky bass-dripping beats and the galvanizingly high vocal notes, blurry is an adrenaline-fuelled slice of euphoria which stores an endless supply of dopamine.

TARISH also audibly wears his Swedish House Mafia influence on his music producer sleeve, but never to the detriment of the originality of his resounding sound, which is currently criminally underrated. If you enjoy discovering underground artists before they break onto the mainstream, your time is running out to discover the electrifying visionary before everyone else.

Blurry hit the airwaves on April 21; hear it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

CONT4MIN4TED – This is the Way: An Alt-Electronica Journey for the Mind, Body, Soul, and Rhythmic Pulses

Posted on 16 May 2023
https://soundcloud.com/cont4min4ted/sets/this-is-the-way/s-lYo30PwNNHK?ref=clipboard&p=a&c=1&si=67a3e5c169854d6d9ec28a67dcadf4b6&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

After aurally relinquishing their emotional baggage via their debut LP, the Gainesville, GA alt-electronica producer, CONT4MIN4TED, went even further leftfield with their sophomore album, This is the Way, which will take you on a journey of the mind, body, soul and rhythmic pulses.

I could dissect each of the 16 singles that were intuitively curated to orchestrate the ultimate sonic experience, but perceptibly, the greatest achievement of this LP is the cinematic journey it will take you on straight from track one, Stuck, before the stagnation lifts in the fervidly exhilarating soundtrack, Drifting.

Even with the chillier tones and ethereal vocal lines in the cinematic slices of synthesised soul, you won’t fail to find the impassioned warmth in the emotion and experience-driven soundtracks to vignettes that are universally shared. The album is enough to make you forgo your usual vibe-out electronica playlists; it is a smorgasbord of constantly in-flux electronica ingenuity. For your sanity’s sake, sink your teeth into the catharsis.

Stream This is the Way from April 28 on SoundCloud, Spotify and YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Classical strings meet IDM in Momento’s transcendental orchestration, Sindalah

Posted on 14 May 2023

After their intense classical upbringing, the award-winning Canadian musicians, Jonathan Chan and Jan Bislin, combined their virtuosic forces to forge the genre-fluid outfit, Momento, to unleash a brand-new wave of IDM onto the airwaves.

The electric violins against the entrancingly rhythmic loops and synthesisers in their latest single, Sindalah, will indoctrinate you into a brand-new world of aural pleasure which you will want to visit time and time again for the fantasia created between the upbeat percussive flair and the Eastern strings which carve their way through the transcendent atmosphere.

In addition to touring the globe as a violin duo supporting the likes of John Legend, James Blunt, and Tim Minchin, Momento has also shone in the ever-prevalent digital arena; so far in this phase of their career, they have amassed almost one million streams on YouTube, and counting.

Sindalah is now available to stream via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Relinquish control and uphold the unknown with Laura Brehm’s latest electronica single, Wonder, featuring Nikonn.

Posted on 27 April 2023

Portishead and PJ Harvey can scarcely hold a candle to the electronica songstress Laura Brehm after the release of her latest single Wonder, featuring Nikonn. Ethereal yet tangibly resounding in equal measure, the track is scintillated through the domineeringly demure vocal lines to sonically prove how sweet life is if you maintain an innocent sense of wonder. All too often, we’re caught up in the obsession of seeing the full picture and understanding every stroke that created it; Wonder, in all its artful ingenuity, gives you permission to relinquish all-encompassing knowledge and softly uphold the unknown.

In addition to creating her own music, Brehm has released almost 100 collaborations on labels including Universal, Electronic Bird Records and NCS; the innovatively sophisticated writer, singer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist has turned her hand to swathes of different genres, but whatever she touches always turns to philosophical gold.

Check out the official music video for Wonder on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Trekkah & Nuzu Deep took us on an afro house journey of self-reflection with the IC remix of Voices

Posted on 26 April 2023

The ascent of the rising UK afro house label, WeAreiDyll, is unstoppable on the basis of the latest production, Voices, by DJ and producer Trekkah and the South African vocalist, Nuzu Deep.

Innovation gravitates around the luxe production that was reworked by the London-based producer and DJ, IC; as the vocals bring the ethereally warm soul, the fervent percussion provides the transcendent beats and breaks, which are as sultry as they are rhythmically arresting. The only real complaint is that the duration of Voices isn’t longer. But two minutes was all the originators needed to take the listener on an immersive journey of self-reflection. We can’t wait to hear what WeAreiDyll has locked, loaded, and ready to drop in the afro house pipeline.

Stream voices on SoundCloud now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Gaze into the entropy abyss with the catharsis in Static Null’s latest downtempo release, Void

Posted on 25 April 2023

The prolifically playlisted alt-electronica artist Static Null drenched the airwaves in downtempo catharsis with their latest scintillatingly textured instrumental soundscape, Void.

Voids typically are synonymous with abyss-like phenomena, but there’s plenty of sonic salvation to be found in the artfully composed single, which allows the darker proponents to cast a shadow over the splinters of light to reflect the complexity of the human experience.

If we never acknowledged the redeeming qualities of our mortal coil, we would never mourn their absence while caught in voids, which mostly happen to be of our own making. Static Null’s latest synthesised orchestration is a demonstration of all that and more. Losing yourself within it’s tender warmth is wholly recommended.

Void was officially released on March 23. Hear it on Spotify.

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

dark passenger_ powers in with the compelling electronica track Together (we’re Alone)

Posted on 10 April 2023

Pulsating all of our senses with a rather thrilling sound which might take many back in time, dark passenger_ has dropped a forcefully exuberant soundtrack to thrill all moods back to the better on Together (we’re Alone).

dark passenger_ is a new Lewis Mander-powered indie industrial electronica artist and music producer who has recently started on a new creative journey.

”New to this genre, Lewis has spent the majority of his music career playing guitar, with one album and one ep to date. However, with an ever-present passion for djing lurking in the shadows, over the past three years an almost uncontrollable urge has prompted Lewis to turn his hand at producing electronic music. Whilst there is no question that this is new territory for Lewis, a life-long passion for electronic music has culminated in what we now know as dark passenger_.” ~ dark passenger_

Edgy throughout and delighting many listeners on the way to evolving through these misty days, dark passenger_ has taken us all into a massively reflective planet. This is action-packed stuff that The Rock would probably enjoy and seems to inspirit each sinew of our imagination.

Together (we’re Alone) from Manchester, UK-based indie industrial electronica artist and music producer dark passenger_ is a rather explosive performance from a massively talented creative who has decided to flow onto a new path. Showing his supreme aptitude and fondness for taking his music into a new universe, this is a powerful performance for those who love dark beats with meaning.

Listen up to this intense song on SoundCloud.

Reviewed by Llewelyn Screen

Angry and Depressed: Silverhours puts the weapons down on Doldrums

Posted on 10 April 2023

Released from the debut LP named Madeleine Moment, Silverhours attempts to soothe all worries away as the burnout days loom larger on the must-listen melodic wonder that is Doldrums.

Silverhours is a London, UK-based alternative musician who is comprehensively inspired by the dark sounds of the Scottish electronic duo, Boards of Canada.

”His artistry features an eclectic mix of sounds, influenced by both jazz and electronica, intricate arrangements and catchy melodies.” ~ Silverhours

Class personified and swimming deeper within our own reflection, Silverhours guides us towards where the steel-forged tenderness really is. Delighting our frayed speakers and showing us the power of time and reflection, this is a rather splendid track and Doldrums might change the view for many.

Doldrums from London, UK-based alternative musician Silverhours is an augmented reality-avoiding single made with maximum skill and quality. There are ear-splitting breaks and so much to swim inside, on a track with vocally enlightening melodies that shall enrich all listeners due to its rather marvellously constructed core.

Avoiding the dark light within is the mission we all face during these weird times.

Listen closer on Spotify.

Reviewed by Llewelyn Screen

Berlin electro-acoustic originators klanglomerat created a cathartically seductive Jazz IDM amalgam with ‘Fünf’

Posted on 7 April 2023

The Berlin electro-acoustic outfit, klanglomerat, created a beguiling symbiotic relationship between Jazz and IDM in their fifth evocatively ambient single, Fünf. How they succeeded in soaking the instrumentals in so much pensive emotion is just a fraction of the alchemy that will cathartically seduce you; the gentle yet purposeful melodicism knows just what direction to pull your senses in so that you drift with the sweeping bass lines and are cradled within the ardently accordant drum fills.

Artfulness is often associated with inaccessibility but slipping into Fünf is easier than breathing; the progressive single gently rises with the tides from the quiescent intro into the vortex of swirling piano motifs, which ring with a touch of neo-classical flair, while the nuanced electronica synthetics douse the soundscape with a sense of modernism that will aid klanglomerat well as they define the future of ambience in the Berlin scene and beyond.

Immerse yourself in Fünf from April 7 by heading over to YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast