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.
Category: Music
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bad loop – Fragments
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Nettless – From Beyond
Nettless has created eight tracks of beautifully flowing, ambient space music. It doesn’t get much better than this. -
Carl Sagans Ghost – Colonial Spa EP
Starting out with a beautiful and moving ambient texture, the Colonial Spa EP weaves a sonic tapestry of aural textures backed with subtle well timed beats. It’s a 25 minute walk down a road less traveled, with an occasional stop to visit an old friend along the way. -
Internet Archive: Free Download: Milhaven – Milhaven [12rec.061]
Milhaven is back with a rocking new record. Having departed from their old label, 12rec, they’ve graciously allowed their new release to be downloaded for free from the 12rec website. A little fresher, a little more grown up, they’ve honed their sound and distilled it into a purer form that rocks all the harder.Eight tracks that run for almost fifty minutes, there are plenty of droning builds and smooth transitions from clean guitar to slamming melt-your-face-off electric guitar; quiet moments that induce a feeling of elation; slow intros leading up to loud and rowdy guitar themes. Milhaven does it just right. Do not miss this – if you’re a fan of post-rock then this release is a must have.
Internet Archive: Free Download: Milhaven – Milhaven [12rec.061].
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Sleepmakeswaves / Tangled Thoughts of Leaving Split EP
You may remember sleepmakeswaves last release. If not, this is a perfect introduction to the band. From the excellent netlabel Lost Children, sleepmakeswaves teams up with fellow label-mates Tangled Thoughts Of Leaving to offer us this five track, 37 minute EP of post-rock at it’s finest. -
Chris Tenz – Forlorn Memories
A deeply touching release, that induces a feeling of quiet reflectiveness. At 36 minutes, Forlorn Memories combines ambient synths, deep bass sounds, minimal piano parts and acoustic guitar melodies to paint an audio picture of those despondent, melancholy times in our lives that for some reason we hold so dear and meditate on from time to time. -
Casimirs Blake – Ejecta Nebula
The Kahvi Collective has, for quite a number of years now, and each of their releases has a unique sound and style that can only be described as ‘Kahvi Music’. Casimirs Blake created Kahvi’s latest release, Ejecta Nebula, and it doesn’t disappoint. With the typical relaxed, Kahvi attitude inherent in each track, Blake presents a galactic soundscape that is part ambient and part breakbeat, upbeat space music infused with subtle percussion and flowing atmospheres that will melt away reality for a while and bring you back to it refreshed and recharged. -
Robert Pieculewicz – Fly Free
Robert Pieculwicz is a guitar virtuoso, like Joe Satriani or Steve Vai. He has several albums for download on Jamendo, but the one that stood out to me is Fly Free – it takes me back to the days of Surfing With The Alien or Flying In A Blue Dream. This is the finest instrumental guitar rock to come from Poland that I’ve heard of – as my friend Walter from somewhere in Poland that is impossible for me to spell would say – Jej skaÅ‚y. -
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. -
In Chains – Dead Heart Bloom
I guess you would call this folk, but it has a dreamy, ethereal quality about it that transcends genres. It’s just good, relaxing music that will make you fell a bit better about the world. The third track, Halfway Gone, really reminds me of a song by the Beatles, but I can’t put my finger on which song. They’ve somehow invented what can only be called ‘ambient funk’. At any rate, all five tracks on the EP rock. This is definitely one of the best finds so far this year (even though we’re only one month in).