OPM: New Year, New Music

Opus Vivaldi – Antología Siglo XXI 

Buckle up, shit’s about to get W E I R D on this adventurous and eclectic album, a veritable audio bazaar of shambolic noise rock jams, MIDIfied jazz freakouts, audio collage, barely recognizable covers and autotuned spoken word. 

It’s all in a day’s work and barely scratching its surface. Bizarre, a bit unhinged and not for the faint of heart, but deeply rewarding for those looking to step (far) off the beaten path.

(Listened to the entire album)

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Cosmic Babies Productions – “Q009”

Absolutely minimal, slow-burning groove of a track that lands somewhere in the realm of progressive house and minimal techno. Mostly drums and minimal percussion, with a few tribal drum flourishes as occasional decoration, the first melodic element doesn’t enter until 5:30 in. 

Even that’s barely more than a synthetic gurgle, and the first recognizable melody doesn’t hit until the 9 minute mark. Feels in many ways like a tools track for late night DJs of any persuasion.

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Audio RX – “NINE”

This track somehow manages to compress a good chunk of the history of the harder side of ’90s/’00s dance music into just 4 and a half minutes. From lush, symphonic drum and bass to the jaw-clenching intensity of gabber, all produced with a modern sheen and a deep, abiding love for the history. Created as an anniversary celebration of their label, it makes for one hell of a fascinating intro! 

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j. bell – “All to Say”

Extremely polished pop/rock with some tasty guitar, a catchy chorus and excellent production. Rooted in pop Americana, but not so rootsy it’s rustic nor so poppy it’s saccharine. Influences seem pretty wide ranging but definitely include a lot of the singer-songwriter all-stars – hard to say which ones, specifically; maybe all of them! (More music videos at the artist’s website.) 

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C. Circo – “D​!​5R_PT​|​|​0_S (Mangled Mix)”

Make a Venn diagram of the darkest ambient, heaviest techno and most experimental industrial you can find; the overlap is this track. Heavy, brutal and strangely beautiful, the track is a mashup of a previous full-length album into ten minutes of dark beauty. Impressive and immersive, this is a stellar advertisement for the full album.

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A parting note: Running this blog/newsletter takes a tremendous amount of time and energy, and a fair bit of money (my hosting is ~$13.50/month). I don’t intend to charge for it ever, but it would be great if those of you who appreciate it would consider the occasional donation/tip. If you can spare a few dollars, maybe hit my Ko-Fi page and show your appreciation? Alternately, you could always buy some of my music…