Artista di Merda – Stay Cool
Utterly bizarre and fascinating collection of loose-limbed rock experimentation, Plunderphonic sample manipulation and noise-adjacent soundscape. One minute, we’re running weird spoken word samples thru increasingly wild manipulations, the next playing something that’s almost standard rock and roll, only it’s got a weird digital lo-fi vibe and takes unexpected turns every minute or so.
What else? How about doomy electro industrial, laconic New Age, and maybe a few complete mindfuck covers to round things out? Despite the wide range of influences and styles, there’s a clear and compelling aesthetic vision at work here. Unsettling, subversively enticing and deeply weird, this is a delightful trip thru a demented musical mind. Don’t miss it!
(Listened to the entire album)
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Voidscan – The Rubicon Saga
High-energy electronica that incorporates elements of Big Beat, drum and bass, synthwave, progressive house, trance, electro, industrial and more into a cinematic concept album. Basically, if you like the dramatic, big-screen side of any electronic genre, you’re probably going to dig this. The beats are intense, the leads scream, the pretty elements are gorgeous and the breakdowns are epic.
It’s not the electronic album for when you’re needing some subtlety and quiet depth, but if you need a soundtrack for running from the cops in a brutalist city lit by neon, this is going to treat you right.
(Listened to the entire album)
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Adventsong – Verdancy
Warm, relaxed electronica that calls back to some of the classics to weave an inviting, bucolic musical tapestry. My ears hear traces of early Orbital and Future Sound of London in there –yours will probably pick out your own favorites from that era. Lots of warm synth timbres, pretty melodies, and pleasing harmonic movement abound.
Some tracks lean into the beat a little more than others, but the overall energy level stays even keeled and laid back. Ambient, chillout, IDM and ambient house/techno techniques all get put into service and the results are relentlessly pleasant and delightfully relaxed.
(Listened to the entire album)
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JENDERMAD – .afterparty
Experimental vaporwave album that takes the core techniques of the genre and applies them widely to great results. Ever wondered what vaporwave chiptunes would sound like? Or classic Kraftwerk-style electro? Minimalist post rock? Well, this is your chance to find out.
The tracks share a gorgeous, faded aesthetic that leans into the lo-fi aspects of vaporwave, and there are plenty of the dopamine-triggering keys of the genre – slowed-down samples, excessive reverb, wobbly instruments – on offer in each track. Overall, an inspiring look into the wider possibilities of vaporwave that should excite adventurous fans of the genre.
(Listened to the entire album)
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stupidPilled – Komputer WIzard
A concept album about, well, computer wizards that fuses core elements of dungeon synth and IDM to tell its story. The overall aesthetic leans lo-fi with some tunes leaning more into one of the genres than the other, and some attempting to make some kind of deeper fusion into a new, third thing.
It’s those tracks that are the most interesting, and the moments where they successfully synthesize the fuzzy low-rent D&Disms of dungeon synth with richer timbres and compositional tricks from IDM are golden. All told, it’s an intriguing meetup of genres that yields equally intriguing results.
(Listened to the entire album)
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