The trend of tons of releases this year continues, with the man from my neck of the woods Abbrev. dropping a sneaky album on bandcamp. It opens with Geraldo I posted not too long ago so I feel pretty confident going in.
The trend of him being crazy good at genre flexibility continues here, and is reflected in the tags over on bandcamp. In the first 3 tracks alone we go from pusedo-Acid to pounding 4/4 techno to a chilled out IDM influenced number. That might turn some of you off, but I do enjoy hearing the approach on each, granted not everyone's a hit but there's still plenty out there for you to get stuck into.
He's got quite a few releases under his belt already so be sure to check out his bandcamp for more!
Back home after my brief absence, and in a change of pace from recently I actually had some songs lined up before I posted this time so that's alright. Tracks and words as usual after the art as per u.
Robert Del Naja - Patriot (2013)
After a recent sale on steam I've since come into even more Simon Viklund. Taken from the B-Sides compilation of trailer songs and other teasers he composed, naturally most of the songs are pretty short. This isn't a problem mind, and neither is the departure from his standard electronic style for something a little more atmospheric. The slow build to eventual crescendo format here is clearly taken a few pointers from Post-Rock but honestly I would love to see Simon tackle some Trip-Hop style stuff in future if it sounds anything like this.
Shamefully, I don't actually have this in my collection. But it more than deserves to be there (I just have other stuff I'm prioritising). First caught this one in Hotline Miami when I was itching for Kavinsky's album to come out, luckily it was full of songs like this to tide me over and even now it still more than lives up to that rep.
Taking it to a darker note again, I dug out Dummy once again after coming off Massive and UNKLE. There's not much I can say about it that hasn't been said. One of the finest debuts ever, and absolutely essential Trip Hop. Not as easy an introduction to the style as Massive Attack IMO, but if you like what you hear you'll pretty much dig everything Trip Hop.
Upgraded my stuff again, now with a shiny new case, PSU and GPU combo I am ready to waste time at a glorious 60FPS+ so that's petty nice. And the subtle blue glow from my LEDs has me in the mood again for that special breed of sound that tickles my techy buttons. So let's see what I can serve you today.
Atelier Olschinsky - A.D. 2099 - 2311 (04)
Ghost In The Shell continues to be a mainstay, though this time not featuring Yoko Kanno. Nope, this one here comes from the soundtrack to the PS1 game that came out around the same time as the film. And while the film OST was practically all a mixture of ambient and dark ambient, the soundtrack to the PS1 game is all mid-90's techno stuff. Not all of it's a winner, but there's more than a few solid tracks in there, bob this one on next time you go piloting a walking tank.
Of course you can't have me mentioning things like that without an honourary shoutout to Aphex under one of his many aliases. The entire Analord series is a fantastic return to form which saw AFX pick up the analogue gear once again after a ten year hiatus using only digital. It's pretty much a more refined and expanded version of Classics, the compilation of his early acid stuff. Oh and of course because AFX likes to take the piss, a good number of the tracks are named after viruses and malware, have fun with that!
And recently I was made aware of a game called Grip on kickstarter, which is basically a modern reboot of the Rollcage games of way back to the point where they've even reuinted some of the Moving Shadow crew to do soundtrack duties once again. Rollcage, Ape Escape and GTA III were my intro to Drum & Bass back when, but sadly I didn't see Omni Trio on the list, which is a shame because he has always been a constant favourite of mine,especially the album Even Angels Cast Shadows. Have a taste of it here:
Droppignby with another rundown of my feed, this time a more downtempo contributions than previous. Starting out once again with recent pals Mississippi Jones heading it up with more stuff from their forthcoming release, this time much more sedate than anything I've shared of theirs previously. Way back when I mentioned I couldn't see the Portishead comparisons being drawn with their work but it turns out I wasn't looking deep enough. Mississippi is almost a slightly less moody Beth Gibbons here.
Speaking of flexibility, Abbrev. is back with a flurry of new tracks in a variety of styles, a highlight of this being this psuedo-acid house number. Around halfway through there's an unexpected change in sound from the bleepy not-quite-acid to the kind of sugary sweet synths you'd hear from Rustie slowly come up from the background, and it changes to be a more housey number and it's so nice.
And finally, some more reposted goodness from Celadon City. I'm always game for more stuff that is like his, and of course his reposts are a solid source for this. I know I've said it a bunch about him before, but this sound is pretty much a modern Plone which was a gap in my library for a long time. I almost want the vocals to be vocoded like on Plone's Plock, but frankly I'm fine with it as is.
It's not secret to all of you now that my nerd buttons get pushed something hardcore when it comes to Cyberpunk. You should also know I adore electronic concept albums such as The KLF's Chill Out and Felix Da Housecat's Kittenz & Thee Glitz. Where is this heading you may ask? Well a recemt twitter follow alerted me to Hide & Sequence, where both these things are combined. Here's the passage to go along with this release:
"Snow wakes up abruptly, the immense noise of grinding machinery fills her ears. As her eyes struggle to focus, her heart begins to pound. The pin holes of light in the night sky are suddenly blocked out by a ominous shadow moving towards her. As the giant teeth swing into view she lets out a scream, but there is only silence.
Snow rolls and hastily scrambles out of the way, just as she stands up the metal claws of the crane smash into the earth where she just lay, uncovering the twisted metal and debris surrounding her. As she turns around, the junkyard landscape becomes clear.
Heading towards the perimeter, Snow squeezes herself through a large breach in the crumbling wall and heads towards the open field. Off in the distance, she spies the glowing skyline of the city. The only place she's ever known.
Crouching in the tall grass, staring at the horizon, Snow has only one question... Where is Jax?"
The album itself is chock full of Cyberpunk genres from punchy EBM to bleepy techno and even my other not so secret weakness, vocoders. The intro is particularly lush and absolutley cements the atmosphere going in, but even the more upbeat tracks are on point, and give a nice break to the usual moody ambient I look for to go with my Cyberpunk. Most certainly looking forward to the other installments of the series, should make for some fun listening (and a a story to boot!).
Oh and before I go, I was going to practice some freelance after effects stuff using the audio, only to find he'd already got that covered. And to a much higher stndard than I can do currently. Seriosuly, this is the type of stuff I WANT to be making, must get in touch with them and see if I can' scoop some tips.
Apologies for the lack of posts, I keep not doing them because me and Adam are working on something to hopefully get both of us more consistent, and something that we think will spice up the blog a lil'. As my apologetic gift have this album that came up in my feed thanks to my man Celadon. As you'd expect, the sounds he digs are equally as lush as the ones he makes, and this one is a full albums worth. So get stuck in and I hope it tides you over until we figure out this super secret project very soon!
Remember how I just said that people I've been following recently have been destroying it with releases this year? Well, time to add another to the list heres recent but long time bud Celadon City with his latest EP.
As we've come to expect its chock full of lovely sounds to get you feelin' all fuzzy inside, the first track on this list is giving me serious Flashbulb vibes, but with less IDM going on. The smoothness of track 3, pictureperfect is also a highlight,. Celadon consistently kills it with lush sounds and this one is no different. I'm loving those arpeggios too.
If you like it be sure to pick it up on his bandcamp, and you can always find more stuff on Soundcloud, as well as keep up to speed with what he's up to on Twitter or Facebook, but until then I'll keep hanging on for more sweet tunes.
-Claude Van Foxbat
Hello all I am back after my birthday. Didn't do a birthday post this year because I just couldn't find enough stock to put in it. How ever my main man Stench has my back, unintentionally dropping a new Philestine EP on me birthday. Les get stuck in.
It's pretty much all I want from a Philestine EP, there's more of that trademark Oizo-esque wonkiness that I fell in love to begin with, but again with more of a focus on housey productions now he's free from his Stenchman alias. Pretty sure some of these have been up in preview form on his soundcloud before, but now they're out in full. At the minute I am in love with the bouncy bass meets twinkly synths combo on Just Clicked It, collaboration with his long time dubstep pal Suspect also under a new alias.
I'll have to toss him a few quid one day for all the tunes of his I love, Can't at the minute because of the whole turning 21 thing meaning I'm a bit skint but no matter, I'll enjoy the streams for now, and hope you do too!
Hello again I am back with more soundcloud goodness, after getting off my bot and going diggin' instead of waiting for my feed to update like a blog scrub. So lets 'ave a lil look shall we?
Starting off with even more from our new Seattle buds the Jones', not too long off the heels of their last release and already we have more for our plates. Once again demoing their remarkable flexibility when it comes to production, compared the indie electronic vibes of the last release we covered, this one comes out swinging with the pounding 4/4's. Truth be told it reminds me of A:xus' Suite Disappointment, and that's perfect for me.
Simon Viklund's had plenty of his soundtrack work put here by me, but he also has a tiny soundcloud with a few tunes on it. While I do wish he'd use it more there is still quality stuff on it like this. The original The Mark could have been at home as much on the dancefloor as much as it was for heistin' to but Simon went ahead and made it even better anyway. It might not ever be finished, but it's tasty in its current state anyway.
Keeping with the Vidya theme, I've been meaning to delve into the world of Carpenter Brut thanks to the Hotline. And I've found a fresh take on the whole retrowave/synthwave/outrun or whatever they're calling it this week. It takes me back to when I first found Kavinsky a long time ago, Carpenter's breed of 80's meets Electro House combo is still exciting to me, 46 seconds in on this one never fails to get me every time.
Slight lapse in posts b/c I was gone for the weekend but no matter, my good pal Celadon City was nice enough to break the soundcloud feed drought I've been suffering from for a good time now. And I couldn't think of a better compilation for him to appear on than this one, given the title.
And of course he again knocks it out of the park with the brand of dreamy electronic goodness we've come to expect from the man. And I must say I am totally in love with those quivering synths towards the end. Hope this one'll tide you over for the start o' the week, and I'll see y'all again soon!
