Starcadian – HE^RT

I came across this while on reddit.com. Some posted that they had made a music video with a donated cockpit and $200. I was absolutely blown away by the mood that the video conveys. The slowness of it – the music, whats happening in the video, combine to create a mellow, subdued atmosphere that is perfect.

To begin with, the video has a “VHS” effect applied to it that takes me right back to 1986, when my family would stop by a brand new store in town called “Adventure Land Video” and rent a VCR and a couple of movies for the weekend. Back to the Future, Explorers, Tron, The Black Hole, they all filled my Friday nights around that time. It was nothing short of miraculous to be able to watch a movie whenever you wanted, to be able to rewind and watch it again.

The video is set in a cockpit, in space, with a pilot on some sort of mission involving a 3 1/4″ floppy disk. Whats on the disk? Coordinates, autopilot instructions? Some secret of the universe? The disk seems to be mystical somehow, you’ll see why at the end. Nothing much really happens in the video though, but this is not a bad thing. It’s a couple of minutes of the stars reflecting in the pilots visor, some interior shots of the cockpit, and a computer generated face somwhere (possibly on some exterior part of the ship?) which is singing the lyrics to the song. The end of the video features some slight 2001-esque action, with the pilot flying into some sort of fantastic light field.

Now, normally I link you to a free album. This time I’m linking you to a video and telling you to go buy the album. It is on spotify and the rest of the entire album is just as perfect as this one particular song. I would describe Starcadian’s music as a sort of modernized, subdued and mellow Jamiroquai.

Starcadian – HE^RT on vimeo

Starcadian – Sunset Blood, full album on spotify

Mark Meino – The Techno

Dark, mechanical, minimal and at times, creepy. Thats how I describe this set of six tracks of pure techno. Russian techno artist Dmitry Chusov, alias Mark Meino, offers listeners this throwback to classic techno with a numberswiki.com

minimal aspect to it. Driving beats along with Marks excellent synth work (no loops, he records all his tracks) and an occasional vocal sample layered on top make The Techno an excellent find. It’s perfect music for listening to while driving.

Mark_Meino_-_The_Techno

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

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.

Audiokonstrukte – Smart Echoes For Sensitive Ears

Audiokonstrukte creates jazzy, noisy electro awash with dub reggae influences. Beautiful deep synth sounds and bouncy, tight drum beats combine with funky square basslines, with some glitched out echoes and bleeps and blips thrown in for good measure. There are also a lot of simulated natural sounds Рby which I mean sounds you would expect to hear in your backyard just before the sun touches the horizon. The careful listener will be rewarded by noticing these sounds. Audiokonstrukte sounds similar to R̦yksopp. Enjoy!

Audiokonstrukte – Smart Echoes For Sensitive Ears

one bit wonder – Audiokonstrukte’s net-label.