OSA7029 – “OSA15” “Osa15” creates channels wherein acoustic instrumentation like the flute and trumpet flow into droning ambient passages with minimal effort and maximum listener satisfaction. It’s hard not to get totally swept into the undertow of this gorgeous track as these instruments cross currents into and through each other. Orchestral by Osa7029 SKAI LOUNGE …
PEAKS OF VALLEYS – “FRONT” Sounding out like a bell across a clear night, the slow unfolding of piano and percussion into electronic shadings, sparse guitar patterns and clarion drones and ambient tonal bends. “Front” travels like sound across open water or signals through space – waves upon waves of sound that arc and then …
ESBIE FONTE – “VEINS” “Veins” from Esbie Fonte is one of those songs that would sound equally at home bursting through a stadium PA or being pushed through shitty laptop speakers. There is this undeniable roar and thrust when this song reaches its peak: after the mask has been ripped off and self-acceptance is greeted …
TRISTAN WELCH – “MONDAY” Tristan Welch is a Washington, D.C. based guitarist and experimental musician who has been on my radar for some time. On His latest anti-work, anti-capitalist manifesto, Welch combs through ever-ascending guitar lines asking us to consider the usefulness of spending most of our lives dedicated to something we try desperately to …
RALPH HEIDEL // HOMO LUDENS – “SWEET DARK MOVES” Ralph Heidel is quickly becoming a notable force in conservatory-trained classical and jazz musicians embracing the embryotic potential of combining the romantic appeal of neo-classical composition with improvisational elements of electronic music, ambient modes and drone. “Sweet Dark Moves” marries these two worlds through roaring low-end …
HYNTA – “SIGNAL” Creating cavernous distances between deep percussive hits and her pitch-shifted vocals, “Signal” eventually picks up a steady beat and anxious bass line creating a linear canvas to fold in deep synth lines, crystalline sketches and late-night/early-am chopped-and-screwed vocals that communicate a push-and-pull between surrender to existential dread and the plunge into the …
HIDDEN LAND – “TRINITY” Trinity” the lead single from Hidden Land’s Perspectives, mirrors a deep conversation between two creative partners communicating across vast distances. The interplay between strings and piano contain eliding passages, doubling back on melodies, exploratory punctuation and confident moves forward into new terrain. The duo is split between U.S.’s west coast and Sweden, but …
MMBLR – “THAT BREEZE” MMBLR is the solo project of Snowmine drummer Alex Breckmann. For MMBLR Breckmann filters his obviously well-tuned ear for pop hooks through blown-out, ambient-adjacent sound palate – constructed through subtle layering of guitars in various stages of processing, vintage synths, dismantled drum kits and household objects. “That Breeze” sounds perfectly cloistered in a self-contained …
HARK MADLEY – “EMPATHY” Madley layers waves of vocal drone and crystalline synths gently atop a slowly pulsating percussive core on the single edit of “empathy” leaving gossamer tracers or reverb and the human voice in its wake. On “empathy” Madley deftly leaves enough space between each layer of sound and calls attention to each …
MASAKATSU TAKAGI – “MARGINALIA #22” Marginalia #22” is taken from an album comprised of similar sketches. Windows flung open to the Japanese countryside, sounds of insects and birds filtering in and first-thought, best-thought improvisation on the piano without any overdubbing or pre-conceived notion before fingers touched the keys. It is quite the beautiful experience to …