RIP. A weekly roundup of releases on Bandcamp and Soundcloud selected and delivered by Aidan
Lots of music. Everything from smudged electronica to strange pond music to digital whispers and crunchy house. The usual I guess?
Dublin by Dublin. Not mysterious at all is it. This release comes on the consistently excellent wherethetimegoes label. Almost Visible Cloaks-y? Husky reeds and strings, digital ephemera, rain sticks and strange, breathy synth sounds. Feels like it’s 2014 all over again, for some reason.
Lalén Ríos Luna - To Cut Time, To Fold Time
Time is a flat circle. Been saying that since 2014. Everything changes, everything stays the same. Crunch, whir, wibbles and snarks. I don’t know what those words mean but every now and then they come to mind, no less here than anywhere else.
Here’s a cover of 1981’s ‘Sharevari’ by A Number Of Names, provided by Sling and Samo DJ and largely sung/rapped in Swedish (I think). No idea what the new lyrics are but hey.
Utterly dreamy stuff from PJS. I first listened to it during a particularly challenging weekend and it really did make me feel a lot better. It’s more than just mood music, of course, but it really sounded nice in my ears at that moment in time.
The Rosen Corporation - Morphic Resonance 2 - Livestream 15.01.22 (Excerpt)
About a third of an overall performance, like drifting into space. Names with the word corporation in them always attempt to bring sci-fi to mind and it works here, with imagined journeys and new locales created in an instant.
Sounds like BoC. Nuff said.
I’m never sure how to write about this kind of music. I believe luxury elite belongs to the overall vaporwave world, but this is lacking what I understand to be the more vaporish tendencies of that genre. This basically sounds like the soundtrack to an 80s movie like Big Business or something. And that is entirely a good thing.
“I wish it was longer, but it’s not.”
MonoLogue has previously featured in Bandcloud as Marie Rose Sarri. This release for wabi-sabi tapes sees her adopt a new title, and the sounds are like a kind of strange ritual in a cave pond. Eerie and haunting throughout, it conjures up images of trances and worship. Or not. Just weird.
DMX Krew - Dejected Ambient Twerp
Someone (Dublin’s Platinum Ray) shared this on Twitter because of its title and I had a listen and it’s quite good. That’s all.
Now this is a dance music “album”. Every track is different yet feels the same. Crusty at points, it offers danceable moments as well as pensive interludes.
Au Vol - The Garden of Forking Paths
Found sound and delicately blistered computer music traded through the internet, inspired by Borges. Wistful and wispy.
When was the last time you listened to an ambient/jazz/experimental album inspired by a character from a US police procedural? Even if you can say “last week”, I doubt it will have been as fascinating and fantastic as For McCoy, the latest work from Japanese artist Eiko Ishibashi. The first track, ‘I can feel guilty about anything - Part 1’, feels like a study in motion, with new ideas being introduced underneath certain themes, elements lingering before the journey moves along. It’s a curious and delightful example of musical layering. ‘Part 2’ is more segmented, and finally ‘Ask me how I sleep at night’ doesn’t quite feel like the Law & Order theme music but it’s in the same universe. It’s definitely not what you might expect after listening to the previous 36 minutes of music.
KATYA + MATES: BIRTHDAY SPECIAL
London-based DJ Katya celebrated her birthday with six hours of b2b sets on the Kindred radio station. Plenty of garage, electro and techno to get through as she goes up against/alongside Jake Walker, Rxxce, Riz La Teef, Papa Nugs, Bluetoof and Mixtress. Plenty to be getting on with, as we say.
EMA (Woozy Irl) @ The Lot Radio 01 - 14 - 2022
Speaking of radio, shoutout my pal EMA for her show on The Lot in New York. Plenty of wubby dubby dark sounds.
P. J. Swerve - Down with the Underground
Ending with this bit o’fun. Huey Mnemonic adopts his P.J. Swerve moniker to share this bouncy and irrepressible take on 2Pac and Digital Underground’s ‘I Get Around’. Not much to say other than that it bangs.