bad loop – Fragments

Another entry from the Soft Phase netlabel, badloop captures the eardrums with six tracks of smooth electronica with a dream-like quality. Track 1 – Sinner – starts out with a serene pad movement that gradually evolves into a slow beat and big bassline before finally picking up the pace and slamming the end of the track home. Track 2 – Nth – is full of robotic melodies and glitchy elements that move all over the place, each doing their own thing yet remaining coherent as a whole. Track 3 – Sometimes – starts out with a Tron-like pluck sound and quickly gets to the point with a simple bass riff and pleasant synth work. Track 4 – Pinta – is introduced with a sort of old-school radio tuning sound that progresses into a throbbing pad and dub bassline, eventually building into the perfect mix. Track 5 – En Sure Sina – leads out with a  mellow, yet dissonant synth that is just on the edge of grating, and then along come the electro beat and acid style synth to create an almost blippatronic track until the final fadeout. (For those of you who know what blippatronics refers to, I say: Much respect!) Track 6 is a remix of Nth by the artist Planet Boelex. All in all, this is a great electro release, and it’s been a long while since I featured this sort of music (too long!) Check it out, as well as the other Soft Phase artists who are all outstanding in their own way.

bad loop – Fragments

Deto & Gleam – Kisses & Tears EP

Only two tracks, but a total of almost thirty four minutes of music. The first track, Kisses, clocks in at 9:25 and the second super-long track will occupy over 23 minutes of your own personal history. The music is basic techno, and sets a nice mood to back your daily tasks around the house or as a soundtrack to your party. Great for listening to in any situation.

Deto & Gleam – Kisses & Tears EP.

Farbo – Far Beyond

Farbo is an artist through and through. His paintings and digital designs are colorful and psychedelic, and this carries over into his music as well. Starting out with a delightfully ethereal and haunting track called Insanity Arise, the release picks up the pace with the second track and takes you on a psychedelic electro journey that gets your heart pumping, but then slows you back down on the final track to let you off easy. I classify this release as progressive-electro.

Farbo – Far Beyond

gradient – seashore

Well, finally after two days of trying, I’ve managed to post this. Seems WordPress puked and died on me a few days ago, so I decided to go ahead and upgrade to the latest version but it required the database to be at 4.1 or higher and of course – it was at 4.0. Gotta love it.

So here is gradient, with a release titled seashore. Four tracks, totalling 23:15, of awesome deep house vibes. This release is so smooth, so calm and relaxing. If you liked cie – bonbon then this is another for your collection.

gradient – seashore

Hypnagog – Dreaming In Pieces EP

Hypnagog gives us a sweet little EP featuring four tracks of glitched out something or other that I can’t quite classify, but believe me – it scratches the techno itch like you wouldn’t believe. The first track, Still Dreaming, will have you bouncing all over the place with its sine-y synth work and dBlue style glitchy drums, followed by Funkdiddle, a house track with a soul that delivers funk straight into your brain. Track three, Tiny Little Pieces goes into a speculation on what its all about with a nice and airy, relaxing tune. I love Hypnagogs use of sinewaves, jumpy but calming at the same time. Track four, Reflections No. 2, starts out as a cinematic, orchestral audio experience that slowly introduces a great bassline and those awesome sinewaves again and almost giving off an 80’s industrial pop vibe. This EP is a great release for starting off the new year, check it out.

Hypnagog – Dreaming In Pieces EP.

Kilowatts – Six Silicates

Kilowatts - Six SilicatesThis ‘jewel’ of an EP features a funky and upbeat set of six tracks. The first three tracks move you with staccato melodies that mix together to form a grandiose result of sound. At track four, it mellows out into a beautiful mesh of popping, clicking, almost glitch like rhythmic air. Track five picks the pace back up with a sort of electro / distorted guitar sound, but without disturbing the overall ambience of the entire work. The EP finishes up with a dark, mysterious track named Kyanite, a sweet house tune that goes all over the map and has an almost cinematic quality to it. This is a definite fave for the year, don’t miss it.

Kilowatts – Six Silicates

Phvsr – Bassment

Phvsr - BassmentPhvsr offers us four tracks of well produced house music. Clocking in at just under half an hour, this release does what house music should do – get you moving. Good synth work, big fat square basses and grooving drum patterns all fit together snugly. I’m a big fan of beat drop outs and drop ins and syncopated basslines, and Phvsr definitely delivers with this release.

Phvsr – Bassment

Cie – Bonbon E.P.

BonbonA house ep that doesn’t disappoint.  Clocking in at just under thirty minutes, this is a release that pushes all the right buttons, and scratches that techno itch in just the right spot. Track number five has got to be my favorite techno track so far this year, if for no other reason than the wobbly synth that goes crazy at about 3:40, jumping back out of the way just in time for the relentless beat to come back in.

Cie – Bonbon E.P.

Mikael Fyrek – A Thousand Years and One

Mikael Fyrek - A Thousand Years And OneFrom the Kahvi Collective, probably the most prolific outlet of quality artists on the internet for the last decade, comes Mikael Fyrek with his icy set of five tracks. Captivating, glitched drums and thoughtful melodies are the centerpiece of this release. Ambient sounds are integrated with long drawn out themes, funky bass sounds supporting it all. This is one of the best from Kahvi yet.

Mikael Fyrek – A Thousand Years And One