Black Dice – Beaches & Canyons

It's Nostalgia Week! I haven't heard any good new stuff lately so it's time to revisit some albums from my past and see if they're still any good.

September 2002 • DFA Records

I owe this album a lot. As I mentioned way back in my Mr. Impossible review, this album was an enormous factor in my understanding of more avant-garde and unusual music. I remember listening to it for the fist time and being entranced by the realization that yes, you can make good music that doesn't involve traditional instrumentation.

It's kind of a naïve thought, looking back, but spinning this album even today is a great experience. Tribal drumming under a lush, summery soundscape of glitchy synth sounds, looped guitar samples, and shimmering noise. "Things Will Never Be the Same" is the stand-out track and the one that really sold me, with a Boredoms-esque psychedelic juxtaposition of grinding noise, melodic samples, and drumming that ramps up from subtle to engaging in a very satisfying way. It's not an album that demands attention, but when given it does make for engaging listening.

The album does have plenty of flaws and I won't say it holds up quite as well as it did for me eight years ago. There is a bit of a quality control issue, and with five long tracks it's apparent that there are many cases where they ran out of ideas of where to take the music and let something boring just kind of loop along. Trimming each song down to the actually-interesting parts would make for a fantastic album of maybe thirty-five or forty minutes. Fortunately, there's still at least something in every song that I still enjoy.

Since hearing this album for the fist time, there's so much more weird noise stuff I've heard that easily trumps this one. But as far as Black Dice go, this is still definitely the best in their catalog and one that deserves a listen by anyone. It's unfortunate that they never came close to the same quality as presented here, and after a lot more experience with this kind of music it doesn't quite hold up the same as it used to. But it's good to revisit it now and again.

Aziza + Extra Ears – Jack of Diamonds EP

October 11, 2014 • self-released

I've been vaguely aware of the tiny vaporwave scene that went on recently, but there's still so much I haven't really dug into. Jack of Diamonds doesn't go quite as far as the full-on retro-corporate-Muzak vibe, but that's the closest anchor point I'm getting when listening to this. It has more of a minimalist jazzy electronic sound, with just a few voices at a time playing some nice mellow swing rhythms and soft retro synth leads. It somehow feels old and new at the same time—which I suppose is how a lot of underground music is making its way recently.

I was kind of surprised at just how much is done with this single genre in just a half hour; each track does something a little different and interesting while still keeping the whole EP cohesive. It goes to a few extra-weird places with some dissonant noises and creepy sound effects, especially in the shorter tracks.

There may not be a whole lot of substance to this EP, but as far as something minimal and textural, it's quality stuff. The dated-yet-modern aesthetic is a trend that's probably not going to take off or ever do anything too terribly interesting, but the few releases (like this one) that I've heard have been enjoyable for what they are.

Ando Laj – Miriam Transmission

November 30, 2014 • Hacktivism Records

I love when this kind of music drops in my lap. There's just too much electronic music out there, and so many kinds, that I'm usually too overwhelmed to be good at finding something I like. Thankfully I got a hold of Ando Laj's EP Miriam Transmission and I'm hooked. It combines a kind of minimalist-IDM-slash-techno with a touch of ambient droning in a way that is just right, except for the fact that there simply isn't quite enough of it here.

On the whole, this EP has a bit of a pseudo-retro feel to it—it's not full-on vaporwave or anything, but it has a soft, floaty, atmosphere to it thanks to some dreamy synthesizers, cut-up sampling, soft static... Like twenty minutes after the rainstorm in Blade Runner clears up. I really like, for instance, the echoing industrial feel of the drums and low synth melody in "Convalescence"—very '90s throwback without actually feeling dated.

The atmospherics and texture are one of the release's strongest point. While the skittery beats and melodies are definitely great, the backing noises are exquisite. I'd probably say that my biggest complaint about this EP is that it just needs more of that delicious drone! Two- to five-minute track lengths don't feel long enough to really nail that aesthetic down and for me to get truly lost in the music. That said, it does complement the more heavy IDM stuff well, and I definitely appreciate that.

Anyway, it's obviously an EP worth listening to, and fortunately for me there's quite a bit more at the website to dig into. It looks like there's even a bit of long-form ambient stuff. Awesome.

Venetian Snares – My Love Is a Bulldozer

June 16, 2014 • Planet Mu Records

Finally, the breakcore master is back with his first new full album in four years. It may be my blind, raging adoration for Snares' music but I don't think his output has gone downhill at all like many people seem to think, and My Love Is a Bulldozer continues to keep things good.

The frantic 7/4 Amen-break chaos obviously hasn't gone anywhere, and the energy is solid as ever. Anyone who's heard a Snares album before pretty much knows what they're getting into with this one. It's not quite as dirty and raw as Filth and doesn't have the same silly aloofness that My So-Called Life showed (well, mostly, if you don't listen to the title track too closely). It's kind of a mashup of the crazy sample-heavy style of Detrimentalist with the pseudo-orchestral style of My Downfall—which is an awesome combination for me, at least.

There are a few interesting new things thrown in, such as the jazz style of "10th Circle of Winnipeg" and "Shaky Sometimes", a sort-of-dub thing in "Your Smiling Face", and the jaunty classical guitar of "8am Union Station", to name a couple examples. Still, I'm thankful for the occasional no-frills vanilla track like "She Runs" with just drums and electronics—pure Snares doing what he does best.

There's also a noticeable increase in the amount of vocals—and not just cut-up samples; I mean full-on written and performed by Funk himself for this album. Even though he's sung on his albums before, I can never really quite get used to it. With the classical and other softer stuff they're alright, if a little disconcerting (of course, that might be the idea). On the heavier breakcore tracks, they do their best to fit in with the music but it seems impossible to get them to ever click completely.

I don't know if My Love Is a Bulldozer is going to bring around anyone who has lost faith in Venetian Snares' recent output, but for me it's still an impressively good album and one definitely worth checking out. No, maybe it's not pushing any particularly new ground, and maybe it's still a bit too irreverent and a bit unfocused, but if you want something intense and surreal and maybe even a little thought-provoking, there's not much better you can do than some Snares.

Danny Spiteri – Crea Island

April 24, 2014 • Cridius Collective

I don't know if I've gotten too predictable lately or everyone I talk to is incredibly good, but either way the recommendations I've been getting lately have all been spot-on. Today's suggestion is a wonderful (and unfortunately short) trip through seven electronic / downtempo / plunderphonics tracks that have a fantastic atmosphere and surprising depth.

Crea Island is, at its core, very simple electronic music, but it has a lot attached to it to give it a great feel and experience. There is a slight vintage aesthetic to it, kind of like a cheesy soundtrack to some low-budget tape from the '80s, but without the actual cheesiness and bad production. It has those same warm synthesizers, echoing arpeggiating melodies, and Casio drums, entwined with plenty of samples and noises and textures that give it a kind of laid-back colorful tropical feel to it (which I surprisingly really enjoy) (also, is that Katamari Damacy I hear in that last track??). It's very atmospheric and ambient, with a soundscape sort of feel to it rather than distinct songs. The whole experience just has a very honest and simple and welcoming feel to it. It's so easy to just put on and totally get lost in.

It's a pretty simple premise so there's not much to elaborate on in a review like this, so all I'll say is that it's absolutely worth listening to and I'm intrigued enough to check out the rest of Danny's material. Very nice job.

Ben Frost – A U R O R A

May 26, 2014 • Bedroom Community

Ben Frost is one of those musicians that I sometimes forget about and don't really like to discuss, even though the music is definitely up my alley. It's not that this album isn't good—far from it—it's just the kind of thing that's so difficult to describe and have the description be useful, especially if the reader hasn't heard anything similar before. But it's still something very much worth experiencing.

I guess the best I can do for now is that A U R O R A falls under this kind of widely-scoped pseudogenre one might just call "soundscape"—it's vaguely electronic, vaguely industrial, vaguely ambient-drone-ish, and there's a few more traditional influences thrown around as well (a bit of rock, a bit of classical, etc.). Something like Tim Hecker's recent album comes to mind. Frost's music is much more rhythmic, though, and there are plenty of beat-based tracks with actual melodies and maybe what you could even call hooks, barely—though we are still very, very far from "traditional" music. Most of the music is structured around clanging, harsh, abstract noise, plenty of samples, and some synthesizers but it's hard to generalize since each track is pretty different from the rest. The recurring tubular bells are a very nice touch, though.

It's a bit reminiscent of a soundtrack in a few ways, having this sort of expressive imagery to it that feels very abstract but also somewhat meaningful, though any perceived meaning is of course very subjective. (Granted, Frost does do quite a few actual soundtracks, so this shouldn't be surprising.) To me, at least, it has this sort of grand and cinematic feeling without there really being that much going on under the surface—just a very carefully-composed set of sounds and occasional melodies. On the other hand, the same thing happens here that happens with a lot of albums that are very abstract: without a lot of context for the music, one can easily get lost or distracted and lose interest in what's going on. That usually happens to me about two-thirds of the way through this album (on the relatively-dull "Sola Fide").

But while I'm not sure I'm as enthralled with this album as I was by the other one by him I've heard, By the Throat, it's definitely up there in the same league. I feel like Frost is getting soundscaping down to a science and honing his style, so where By the Throat was a bit rawer and messier, this one is more refined and streamlined. Not that that's a bad thing, by any means; I'm liking A U R O R A quite a bit overall, although I think it's going to take a few more listens to fully sink in.

Solid Space – Space Museum

1982 • In Phaze Records

Solid Space is some relatively-obscure minimal wave outfit from the '80s who put out this album and then apparently disappeared. I suppose people have been discovering them lately, and I'm glad for that, because this is a fantastic album that definitely isn't getting all the appreciation it deserves.

Despite sounding very much like a generic lo-fi amateur proto-electronic Kraftwerk-wannabe record on the surface (it's almost as if first track is in there to weed out anyone who might be too dismissive), Space Museum is something more like a post-punk album that happens to often be synth-driven instead of guitar-driven. There's a bit of Joy Division and Talking Heads in there, so it will mostly sound pretty at-home for the average fan of this era of music, including the great pop-ish melodies in the vocals and chord progressions.

One of the best parts of the album is how it combines electronic and acoustic instruments in a brilliant and beautiful way, something you don't hear often in anything from this era. Things like acoustic guitars and bass, real drums, saxophone, and clarinet (O lord! that clarinet!) mesh perfectly with the sweeping oscillators and glitchy drums. It gives it a surprisingly organic feel to it, as these guys really know what instruments sound good together regardless of whether they are a traditional "fit" or not; these were some truly talented musicians.

Though this got a limited re-release a couple years ago, it is probably going to be hard to find a physical copy of; regardless, this is an album I highly recommend seeking out if it sounds even remotely interesting. Well-composed, well-executed, and worthy of attention. It's too bad they never made anything else, though.

Stamp – Stamp

February 3, 2014 • self-released

Another weird Bandcamp find today; I was trying to find some decent drum and bass to listen to and somehow I found Stamp instead. I think I got a bit more than I bargained for, as there's a lot of weird stuff going on on this album and I'm not entirely sure if I like it. I think I do, though, at least most of it.

It's an electronic-oriented album for sure, for whatever that's worth, though I think it leans a lot more towards trip hop than DnB (though there is a bit of that), but there's also quite a bit of rock influence, at least in some of the instrumental arrangements and drum patterns, and some softer jazzy-pop tracks as well. On the whole there's a plethora of interesting samples and a large array of melodic voices, including a huge amount of acoustic instruments (piano, guitar, saxophone, melodic percussion) that gives it a very organic feel, a trend in more modern electronic music that I really enjoy.

The songs don't quite find the right balance between progression vs. stale repetition, so there are more than a few places where I find myself just waiting for the current track to be over. I thought the vocals on a few tracks would help, but I don't think they really fit the music very well; they make the album seem a bit too silly (especially that stupid hook in "Desert City", which is a shame because that's otherwise one of the better tracks). Well, except for "Telluric Blaze", perhaps, a great melancholy ballad-type track.

Then again, Stamp treads a bit out of my normal comfort zone, so if it's actually a totally boring and unoriginal album I don't really know. But it does have a lot of interesting things to find hidden in it and I am pretty sure that I'm enjoying a good majority of it. It's nowhere near perfect, and there's quite a bit that's skippable, but it's still worth checking out.

Liars – Mess

March 24, 2014 • Mute Records

It was bound to happen; I never expected Liars to go back to their old noise rock roots and with Mess their slow transition through dark synth-pop on WIXIW, but at the same time I never expected them to suddenly become a full-fledged electro-house outfit. It seems appropriate though, somehow. Fortunately I think they've learned a lot from working on WIXIW and it sounds like they've worked hard to improve their sound, and it's really paid off.

When I first heard Mess I thought I was being pranked with a fake download (yeah, I didn't do my homework for this one), but it's really true. Heavy four-on-the-floor house beats, sawtooth synth bass lines, glitchy bleeps, repetitive sampling, topped off with Liars' trademark droning vocal style—the only truly familiar thing on the album. It's very bizarre to think that this is the same band I saw jamming out dense tribal noise just over a year and a half ago (but I guess a lot can change in that time, can't it?).

But I have to admit that these beats are pretty damn good. Things really start to kick in at the second track, with a great sweeping string line that forms the chorus and gives it a very dark and brooding sound while still maintaining a lot of energy and pulse. Then they really kick in with "Pro Anti Anti"'s awesome almost-industrial beat and organ (one of the sounds I was most surprised to hear, and on several tracks too—and somehow it fits in really well).

Another improvement is that there are much fewer songs that I'd call not-particularly-good; WIXIW had its fair share of dull songs but there are only a couple here, and they still aren't really that bad at all. They do enough of mixing up different sounds and styles that it's tough to be disappointed with any of it. And I guess the duller ones like "Can't Hear Well" serve well to give the listener a short break between the intensity of the other tracks, anyway.

It seems unfair to compare it to their older work since they're such a different band now (but no, it's still not as good as Drum's Not Dead), but relative to similar house and electro music I'd say that Mess absolutely holds its own. Great production, great writing; it's an album they can be proud of. And it's got the Liars aesthetic and tone that'll appeal to their fans, to boot. Score all around.

Fanu – Departure

December 2, 2013 • Lightless

Fanu has a very special place in my heart; his debut double-album Daylightless was the thing that helped electronic music finally click with me in the first place. This is his fourth "real" album, and I'm happy to say that even after listening to every one of those four albums, Departure is still as awesome and fun as Daylightless was when I first heard it.

Okay, so maybe at first it's not too different from a lot of modern drum and bass. "Drumsö Fuzz" is as standard as you can get: Amen-beat-based breaks, ambient atmosphere, dull throbbing basslines... it's nothing we haven't heard before. But the way Fanu puts his tracks together really resonates well with me. Maybe it's the slight melancholy edge from the vocal samples or occasional strings or soft keys, or the light ambient droning, but there's always something there to keep the beats very energetic and lively and interesting.

But it doesn't end there, either, for Departure isn't just drum and bass. There are a lot of new influences peeking out here and there which give the album a very unique style, and I love how it's done. You'll hear bits of instrumental hip hop, maybe a little ragga jungle or downtempo. And even with all that different stuff going on, Departure still manages to keep a lot of consistency. Okay, so "Hop And Bass" does sound pretty out-of-place with is east coast hip hop beat, as does "Ranch Dance" with its weird southern flair, but they're both cool tracks anyway, so I'll let it slide.

I'd still say Daylightless might be the superior album, but Departure definitely has a lot going for it that absolutely makes it worth listening to for anyone with even a mild inclination to drum and bass. I'm still having difficulty really getting into a lot of electronic music, but Fanu has helped immensely and this is an album I could really get into and put quite a few listens of under my belt.

Burial – Rival Dealer

December 11, 2013 • Hyperdub Records

I've been trying to ignore the hype train that shows up with every new Burial release, but with the amount of quality stuff this guy has been putting out lately, it's been kind of unavoidable. The latest in his repertoire is definitely his weirdest and most difficult to wrap my head around, but I still find myself enjoying it on some weird half-sincere, half-bewildered level.

It helps that he's obviously trying to keep his sound fresh, and it seems to be working. "Rival Dealer" takes on a more high-energy, almost disco-like breakbeat, but still with his standard depressive noir-urban atmosphere. The soundscaping on this track is just fantastic; the background noise and low distorted grinding and vocal samples all gel together perfectly. The beat seems a bit cheesy at first, but it's definitely been growing on me.

The other two tracks are even less normal as far as Burial goes, but that's not saying a whole lot. "Hiders" is essentially some kind of weird dream-pop-disco thing; "Come Down to Us" slows that down to something reminiscent of dreamy cloud rap. But even with the weirdness, it's that trademark mood that glues things together, even when the arrangements get so sprawling and abstract.

While on the whole Rival Dealer is definitely not near as engrossing as Kindred was, Burial is definitely still on a roll with these last few EPs. Definitely one to check out if you're in an especially odd mood.

(direct link if the video doesn't work)

Disasterpeace – Fez

April 20, 2012 • II

I guess it's fitting that I chose Fez to round out the week; like Thomas Was Alone and Journey, Fez's soundtrack is one that instills a sense of wonder and purpose into its game to an incredible degree. Even though I highly recommend the game, if the soundtrack is the best you can do for now it's definitely worth listening to.

The soundtrack's style is mostly based around very simple chiptunes, but the quality of the various melodies and production values take it to a completely different level. Like how the film-score stylings of Journey's soundtrack created such vivid soundscapes, a similar thing applies here; Fez is a bit like a film score with electronic music instead of classical (you could almost think '70s soundtracks, but in a good way). Each piece effectively sounds like the location in the game it's associated with, and at the same time the whole soundtrack is still very cohesive and flows well.

But to try to pin it down in so many words would be doing the music a disservice. There is so much to be explored and discovered here (it is pretty long, after all) and there is so much thrown at the listener throughout. Sometimes it's the sunniest, most cheerfully bouncing music ever; other times it's dark and mysterious, droning away low guttural sawtooths. But in most cases, the music has this wonderful ability to just hang around and be incredibly comforting. It's tough to explain exactly why or how, but whenever I listen to it I just want to sit and be in that experience.

Special mention goes to the suite of "Snyc" and "Glitch" for wrapping up Fez in the best possible way; one of the most feel-good pieces of music I've ever heard (with a fantastic, catchy beat to boot). I don't like to rank music much anymore, but if I had to, Fez would be no lower than the second-greatest video game soundtrack I've ever heard. A masterpiece in every way.

Hotline Miami

August 21, 2012 • Devolver Digital

Imagine it's the year 1989, and you're sitting outside on the south Florida beach, a half-gone pile of cocaine spread out in front of you. That's what Hotline Miami is like, some kind of blitzed-out psychedelic insanity that evokes that hot and hazy atmosphere while also being dissonant and alienating. It's a weird experience, but a good one.

"Synthwave" is the new buzzword for this kind of music—retro-inspired synth pop and house music—though I find the name a bit misleading, at least when it comes to this soundtrack. As a various-artists collection there's actually quite a number of different things going on, going from thick psych-rock to deep thumping house and techno. It's a good sampling of how wildly different genres can still provide a similar mood and aesthetic to a soundtrack (then again, maybe it's just that I already associate all these songs with the game). And it's just plain weird, too; flipping around the songs might seem kind of normal at first, but there's always something just a little off that makes them feel a bit uneasy.

Hotline Miami itself isn't really a game I'd recommend for everyone, and I don't think I actually like it all that much myself. But I do know that it did bring us a pretty good collection of tracks to go along with it. There are a few forgettable tracks here and overall it doesn't inflict me with the same sense of awe as a lot of other recent soundtracks have, but it's still worth a listen just for the weirdness.

David Housden – Thomas Was Alone

April 24, 2013 • self-released

If I had to give an award to the single most emotional and affecting video game soundtrack, Thomas Was Alone would win it by far. There's something about it that hits me with just the right mood every time, and it's a fantastic experience.

The songs' arrangements vary a bit in their complexity, but they mostly boil down to a beautiful mix of piano, strings, and some guitar with soft chiptune and glitch music. Even with the electronic elements, the music still feels organic and earthy. The digital sounds fit well with the acoustic instruments; they stick out somewhat if you're listening for them, but they still manage to fit the aesthetic very well. Perhaps it's that they aren't as harsh and sawtooth-y as most chiptune, and the way they are mixed in with the same delay and reverb helps.

But it's the way the music feels that sets it apart, naturally. Compared to most soundtracks, it's a bit of a downer. (Of course that means I'll love it.) While it's so sad it also has a very hopeful mood to it (see "Escape" and "Clear Skies"), sort of like the Sigur Rós equivalent of a game soundtrack. It's not without its darker moments as well, like "Divided We Fall", giving the album a surprising amount of depth.

Put simply, this is a masterpiece of gaming soundtracks (probably in my top ten, anyway). Every element is done exactly right, it isn't missing a thing, and there is nothing in it that shouldn't be there. This is one of the rare game soundtracks that stands well on its own without the context of the game itself, although of course I recommend the game to absolutely anyone.

Rom Di Prisco & Peter Chapman – Guacamelee!

I'm back in full force, and today I'm ramping up the second Video Game Soundtrack Week! About freakin' time!

September 4, 2013 • Drinkbox Studios

I almost always love it when game soundtracks manage to go well above and beyond a simple electronic style, and I enjoy it even more when games like Guacamelee! take that to a new level. With the game's luchador theme it's obvious that its soundtrack would include a heavy helping of Mexican music, but I never expected it to be so well-done and fit so well into the game. Not only did it add immensely to my enjoyment of the game, but it provides a great listening experience on its own.

The soundtrack presents two distinct styles, similar in style but different in functionality. One is Peter Chapman's more traditional scoring: it's based around a large ensembles with a big cinematic sound. It's used mostly for cutscenes and menus, and there it does an excellent job of establishing the mood and feel of the game. Rom Di Prisco's tracks are a bit more diverse. They're based around a smaller mariachi arrangement and have varying amounts of electronic fusion going on. Most of these tracks also have a "dark world" equivalent, which adds a thick layer of dark, despairing reverb to the otherwise jaunty tunes.

It's difficult to describe exactly what makes this soundtrack so attractive, but it does do two things very well for me. Firstly, it draws you into the game's world so incredibly well. Maybe it helps that I never really listen to Mexican music (though I should), but those folky elements—guitars, brass, upright bass (which sounds amazing, by the way)—can be really captivating and evoke the game's world so effectively. Secondly, the whole thing just jams so hard. I could listen to that boss theme or the Temple or Rain theme all day. Even the softer tracks groove along nicely when they want to.

It's a soundtrack that has (or ought to have) universal appeal, even though it seems like it combines a couple of semi-niche genres it manages to transcend each. Oh, and the game is pretty great too, I suppose.

Fuck Buttons – Slow Focus

July 22, 2013 • ATP Recordings

Fuck Buttons was a real cool band back in 2008, for sure. One of the first "good" live shows I saw, and Street Horrrsing was a noise/electronica classic in my book. I've kept up with the band only casually since then, but it's good to know that they're still putting out some quality stuff. Slow Focus is definitively their least-good so far, but that doesn't mean it isn't worth listening to.

Not much has changed for the duo since 2009 and here we have basically the same sound that we had on Tarot Sport, coupling together driving tribal rhythms and percussion with warm and atmospheric sawtooth synth layers (with some cool sound effects too, in a way that Black Dice might do if Black Dice were still good). It's a bit less intense and aggressive; the tracks don't really have the same wall-of-sound thing going on, but the dynamics we get instead are mostly well-done and work great on keeping the tracks interesting and moving forward. And every now and again it does include those brain-pounding moments, like "Stalker"'s heavy ending minutes.

It has a few minor issues that are holding it back, though. A couple of the some of the melodies and "hooks" are a bit silly, like "The Red Wing", which make it hard to take the album seriously and take away from its overall quality. There are still no vocals, disappointingly; the harsh distorted screaming was one of the more interesting elements of their older material and it looks like it's gone for good.

And like all Fuck Buttons, Slow Focus relies a lot on repetition; I can see this being a downside for some people and yeah, maybe the album isn't extremely interesting the whole way through, but there is enough attention to detail and little bits here and there that stick out and make the experience as a whole worth it. I can definitely understand people getting bored with it, though, and it doesn't have a ton of replay value. On the other hand, the song structures are definitely more well-crafted and less chaotic than they used to be, so that's a plus.

It's definitely an enjoyable album. Not the classic that Street Horrrsing was for me, but it has its merits and it will definitely have its fans. I'm honestly a bit surprised that in the last few years I don't seem to have been hearing many other artists making stuff like this... but for now I'm satisfied with what we have so far.

6

Eiffel 65 – Europop

November 30, 1999 • WEA Records

I finally decided to give this another spin now, in 2013, and it's probably been ten-plus years since I last heard any of these songs (including "Blue"). This was one of the only albums I ever listened to back when I was ten, so the nostalgia factor here is enormous—everything here reminds me of hanging out at my friend's house, building Legos, reading terrible horror novels, playing his Playstation 1 (yep, "My Console" was amazingly relevant).

Still, I can't help but feel that at least a couple of these songs are still pretty good. The album's overall tone, the spacey, ethereal, cold aesthetic, is really good. Naturally I like the more "serious" tracks like "Too Much of Heaven" or "Now Is Forever" over the cheese that is sings like "Move Your Body" or "Your Clown" (although something about "Living in a Bubble" and "Hyperlink" is strangely fascinating).

Of course, it could be that the elements of this album I still enjoy are because I listened to this so much back in the day. I'm not complaining either way.

And yeah, it's really not a good album. It's often kind of stupid and repetitive; definitely the kind of thing you put on as background music at best. But if you don't take it seriously (and you shouldn't), it's at least sort of fun.

5

Mikrokristal – Hidden Way Between Some Rains

March 18, 2013 • Cold Tear Records

Like Sending Echoes, Hidden Way Between Some Rains was another pickup from the dub techno section of Bandcamp. While this album veers way more into the ambient side of techno rather than dub, its aesthetics and presentation still make for a pretty good album.

In fact this album and Sending Echoes share quite a few similarities in sound—beats that are solid but not too heavy, warm background synths, glitchy accents, and an echoing, ethereal atmosphere. Each song has a handful of airy melodies to carry it along, and the rhythms—while simple—can easily drive the music forward in an engaging (and even catchy) way; see "Bubbles" for a good example.

But where Hidden Way shines is its larger sonic diversity than similar techno albums. It also has its share of nice relaxing ambient-oriented tracks like "Kristaliniai Sapnai" and "Pingvinai Vakar" to break up the album a bit; this (to me) is a nice advantage over albums like Sending Echoes, which had a problem with album flow and pacing. Hidden Way avoids this, for the most part. Also standing out is the more organic-sounding, uplifting track "Forest Walk", reminding me of other "acoustic-electronic" artists like Bridges Buildings combined with Floex.

It's not the be-all and end-all for ambient techno based on what I've heard so far, but it is definitely enjoyable while it's on and I am always pleased to give this album a spin. While the Cold Tear giveaway is over and these albums aren't free anymore, they're definitely worth checking out—especially this one—for those less initiated to "normal" techno, like me.

7

Liquid Delay – Noösphere EP

April 14, 2013 • Axaminer Netlabel

I found this little piece on Bandcamp in yet another attempt to broaden my knowledge of electronic music with a search for dub techno. (Yeah, I haven't branched out too far yet.) And, as I've said a million times, it's amazing what you find tucked away in those hidden corners, even with free releases. Noösphere is a solid little EP throughout, if a bit derivative, though that's hardly an issue.

It would be a little unfair to call Liquid Delay another Burial or Echospace knockoff, but unfortunately that's more or less what this EP amounts to: syncopated beats that super deep and bassy, glitchy and atmospheric echoes of synths and samples. Tones arpeggiate up and down, tumbling through some rhythmically complex and satisfying percussion, backed by pulsing industrial noises. No vocals, no gimmicks, just pure and unadulterated dub techno. (Well, there's also a not-insignificant amount of straight ambient as well, but that might just come with the dub territory. I'm not sure.)

If that description makes Noösphere sound a bit generic, know that it doesn't make it any less enjoyable. It's an incredibly well-made EP and not a moment is wasted over its half-hour runtime. The tracks have a good amount of diversity and each evolve individually over time, so it's hard to get bored. And compared to a lot of similar albums, this one feels incredibly laid-back and dreamy, which is kind of neat in its own way.

Of course, being free, I hardly need give reason to recommend it, do I?

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Audiokonstrukte – Sending Echoes

No, the blog isn't dead. I've just been very busy (and often unmotivated) lately. Hopefully things are turning around.

November 19, 2012 • Cold Tear Records

I grabbed a couple albums from Cold Tear's Bandcamp page in an attempt to expand my electronic music palette—something I've been attempting to do for some time now. Though my target was more ambient minimalistic soundscapes à la Burial or something, I still enjoyed what I got.

Sending Echoes is a bit more "normal" than Burial, anyway, as normal as minimal techno gets: sweeping background synths, warm fuzzy background noises, lighter beats, and echoing pads holding it all in place. It's a nice aesthetic, at least on parts; while listening on headphones might not be the ideal environment there are certainly some neat samples and sounds going on, especially on tracks like "Continuum" with the samples and saxophone (I'm pretty sure it's not actually saxophone, but I don't know what it actually is), or the driving groove of "Lab 31 Am Wesser". It's great background music, for sure, and there are moments where the music really does grab my attention with an interesting twist or sound.

The album does have an issue with quality control and pacing, though; since the tracks were obviously thrown together without regard for flow (I mean, come on, they're in alphabetical order!) it's a bit of a weird listen if taken all at once. The first couple of tracks are some of the most uninteresting, giving the impression that the whole thing isn't worth hearing (which almost put me off completely); only in the second quarter of the album or so do things really start to pick up. With an hour's run time and thirteen tracks to choose from, at least a couple could easily have been cut.

Regardless, it's not a bad album by any means. It's probably not something I'd recommend to the uninitiated, as it has its problems and can be difficult to get into, but for what it is, it's pretty nice. Nothing spectacular, and I probably won't be spinning it much after today, but it was worth the couple of listens.

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