Bread Handed

A key to a great track is its ability to create a self-contained universe; when things start rolling, you immediately feel what you’re wearing, what you’re looking at, and where you’re going from nothing but particular tones. Listening to “THE PHARMACY”, you can feel the wind blowing through your hair, but you’re not drifting down a highway or back road; rather, time barely seems to move, but you couldn’t care less. “THE PHARMACY” creates an atmosphere that invites repeated visits, a welcome respite from the world. You can hear all of Viibryd’s latest, Welcome to Villa Zodone Rx, on Bandcamp; as always, enjoy.

One of the best parts of listening to remixes is comparing them back-to-back with the original. What really stood out about “Endless Existance & Majesty” is that it’s essentially a two-for-one; Matsuchi is able to combine here Infinity Frequencies’ “Endless Existence” with “Majesty”, spread across several years and separate releases. The beauty here is that the unshakable groove of “Endless Existence” pairs perfectly with the dreamy, surreal statements of “Majesty”. Matsuchi decides to take things a step further; by slowing up “Endless Existence” but twisting “Majesty” into a propulsive beast, both feel right at home next to each other. Needless to say, it’s quite the accomplishment to pull this off in just over two minutes. You can here more from Matsuchi on Bandcamp; as always, enjoy.

Pushed forward by a cold, unemotional pondering of existentialism, “Driving Through the Rain with the Radio Down Low and the Lights Pass Like Ghosts (Cassette 8)” sticks with you, making such musings seemingly tossed off, casual, and mundane. The gentle hum of the track keeps the listener just engaged enough to stick around; the passing rain and nostalgic twinkles keep the listener coming back. You can hear more from Lost on Bandcamp; as always, enjoy.

With “Chamomile”, Lotus Bloom pulls off an impressive sleight-of-hand; first recalling the spirit of an oscillating ballerina, we then pivot to harder, buried sounds. The beauty of “Chamomile” is that both sounds find a way to meet in the middle; instead of being at odds with each other, they decide to melt together until the end comes. Props to Lotus Bloom for deciding that turnkey twinkling and slamming underground doors belong together; “Chamomile” is a truly singular experience. All of Tea Leaves goes at a different taste with a focused but twisted angle; pick your favorite flavor and as always, enjoy.

While SVNSET WAVES is famous around these parts for releasing one outstanding compilation after another, it doesn’t mean they can’t drop killer albums either, which brings us to TSUKI’s Severance Package. Reliably unpredictable, you can spend one minute buried in heavy footwork (“Kill Me”) and the next drifting through a wonky ukulele-led ballad (“Boy”) before falling into the lyrical depths of a soulful rumination stuck in traffic (“It’s Just Like You’re Dead”). As such, it’s fitting that we start off with “Pareidolia”, otherwise known as looking for patterns and familiarity where none exists. Every time you think you’ve got a handle on “Pareidolia”, something unexpected happens, and you have to start over anew. Give Severance Package a chance, and sit back and wait for the possibilities to begin to express themselves. Enjoy.

The years have led Stumbleine to quite the interesting creative headspace. The question becomes, after so many stellar releases and having a complete handle on your sound, where can you go? The answer lies along the margins of a track like “Crestfallen”; while having elements that are instantly recognizable, the truth is, this sounds like nothing that this artist has done before. The proceedings are often muted and out of tune; the beat shuffles under the floorboards, hard to pin down while making its presence known. You could easily mistake “Crestfallen” as a downtempo remix of a previous Stumbleine track, but there is something so assured about these four minutes that it soon becomes clear who is pulling the strings. Off new release Static Bloom, “Crestfallen” hints at an exciting new direction; if we choose to ride along, we may end up in even more incredible places. Enjoy.

One of the mandates of a solid future funk track is to understand there’s no time to waste; every second is a second worth grooving to, so anything extraneous needs to be left on the sidelines. “The Only One” understands this in spades, completely in control of its tempo and scope right from the onset. Fibre knows exactly what they’re doing with “The Only One”, which is an often underrated but essential component of a great track. You can hear more like “The Only One” over on Future Society’s Bandcamp; as always, enjoy.

sleepyhaze tracks have a tendency to lull the listener into a false sense of security; most start off seemingly simple, but it doesn’t take long to realize how many layers are still there to be peeled back. It’s that same deceptive simplicity tracks like “ridin round flip” possess that really allows the listener to sink in, submerging themselves in a familiar but dream-like state, wondering if they should come back up or hang around for just a moment longer. As is the case with “ridin round flip”, there’s always a sample floating around that you may have heard before, but never like this. sleepyhaze drops material pretty frequently; catch up over on their Bandcamp and as always, enjoy.

Andy Leech’s music always carries with it an expert grasp on space, able to make the smallest moments seem infinite, while never forgetting that there’s a reason we’re still on the ground. “Skylight” is both propulsive and contemplative; the vocals never overstep their boundaries, the beats never disrupting the gentle atmosphere. Leech accomplishes all of this so effortlessly that it can be easy to take for granted; once you allow yourself to sink in, however, you start to see how everything works together in amazingly fine-tuned lockstep. You can here more on their Bandcamp; as always, enjoy.

While listening to “Void”, several lines began to stick and repeat over and over in my head; boerd makes excellent use of the sparse, haunting vocals that revolve around the edges of the track. Starting with “places where I hide/reaches so far inside”, we are lead to “find the void in the center”, then left with “I want to share my deception”. All three work together to paint a picture being comfortably lonely, recognizing it can be terrifying going it alone, but enjoying the space you’ve managed to create for yourself. Enormous in scope and gyroscopic in nature, “Void” needs to be heard to be believed. Keep an eye out for more from this talented artist on Cascade Records, and as always, enjoy.

As we dive head first into another year, it’s comforting to know we have another wondrous Fog Lake album to carry along with us. If there’s any song on dragonchaser that is most indicative of the current mindset, it has to be the morose waltz of “tolerance”; mentally steeling yourself for anything the world might throw at us is unfortunate in theory but undoubtedly necessary in practice. We’ll never have all the answers, and in a weird way, that’s okay; we become better people through learning the hard way, and as long as there’s something like dragonchaser to have along for the ride, all the better. You can stream dragonchaser over on Bandcamp, but I strongly encourage you to donate anything you can; Fog Lake has produced understated beauty for years and has never asked for as much as a dime for it. As always, enjoy.

arrange’s ability to meld emotionally raw, spellbinding lyrics and excellent production values makes them stand a cut above the rest, and when I heard “Hunters” for the first time, it only amplified that few artists out there possess such a combination. “Hunters” takes it a step further, ever so slightly manipulating the vocals enough that it adds an extra layer to the proceedings, but still allowing the sheer force of emotion on display here to shine. Creating a world of losing control, “Hunters” packs quite the punch in just three minutes. You can hear all of The Body EP on Bandcamp; as always, enjoy.

The beautiful thing about Chimera’s “Set Free” is that it creates space for several genres to coexist while still keeping the track’s vision in sight. There’s elements of ambient, synthwave, downtempo and dubstep all around “Set Free”, but each is used judiciously, feeding off one another’s energy. Just consider how easily the vocal samples could have been put front and center; by doing so, it would have squeezed some of the other elements out of the picture. Chimera’s approach of having them dance around the edges of the track gives each influence its proper due. You can stream more on Sekai’s Bandcamp page; as always, enjoy.

sip is quite the apt title for che’s newest release, but not because it lacks in substance; that couldn’t be further from the truth. Rather, sip feels like just the tip of the iceberg, that these four forward-thinking, mind-bending tracks only scratch the surface for what the future may hold for this emerging artist. “absorb” perfectly encapsulates what makes sip so intoxicating; it gives the listener something to hold onto, but the organized chaos is just around the corner. I strongly encourage you to support this release, as all proceeds go to Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. As always, enjoy. 

Year after year, SVNSET WAVES continues to offer the best that rising electronic musicians have to offer. What separates this Amarillo-based label from the pack is how perfectly curated its compilations are; their SVMMER SVN collections evoke all the excitement and intensity that the warmest season brings, their RISING TIDES gather little-known artists that should command your attention. However, my favorite is easily the WINTER WINDS series, as they strike an impeccable balance between the soul-searching and small beauties located within the coldest months. ĦILLS’ “Beautiful” starts off rather distant, a faint clap as if heard from around the corner. Everything soon comes into focus, however, and that’s when “Beautiful” really hits. You can hear more on SVNSET WAVES Bandcamp; as always, enjoy.

The opening march of casualdreams’ “M I D N I G H T” seems to suggest that the next three and a half minutes will prove to be an aggressive, propulsive cluster, and while that drive never really lets up, it take a couple listens to get a handle on what’s the actual focus here. The track’s trap mind at first seems to be at odds with its ambient heart, but as things turn and twist around one another, “M I D N I G H T” and its purpose become clear. You could skip ahead thirty seconds to any part of  “M I D N I G H T” and it wouldn’t even sound like the same track; the fact that casualdreams gets everything to hang together perfectly is quite impressive. Check out more great tracks like this via Sekai’s Bandcamp; as always, enjoy.

With “Aegis”, Waller pulls off the rare trick of having a track with no push-pull mechanics still come across as engaging and beautifully involving. There’s no time to waste in the world of “Aegis”; keep climbing that mountain, keep fighting the good fight, keep moving forward, always forward. Then, right at the end, “Aegis” lets go, allowing the listener to truly understand how far they’ve come and how far they may be willing to go. You can hear more from Waller on their SoundCloud and grab “Aegis” via Insight Music’s Bandcamp page; as always, enjoy.