#area 3

I have only written about the music of Khotin once on The Sun Lounge, having covered the artist’s tripped out Aloe Drink 12” back in 2018. I find this somewhat strange because many of Khotin’s long players…albums such as New Tab, Beautiful You, and Finds You Well, which evolve a hypnagogic, nostalgic, and dreamlike soundworld of hazy ambient techno and lofi chillout bliss…are some of my most adored and played cassettes, and all happen to coincide timewise with a period when I was writing actively (I sincerely enjoy Release Spirit as well, it just came out when I was no longer dropping many reviews).

Whatever the reason for missing out on covering these works, I can begin to make up for it now by deep diving into Khotin’s newest release, the meditative View cassette released by Area 3, which is the artist’s more ambient and new age focused project. Area 3 has released two prior tapes which I also missed writing about…a self-titled in 2020 and Amb in 2021…and this newest release continues in a similar mold, while also gently expanding the project's sound. The result is an exploration of serene sonics, environmental atmospherics, soft sample psychedelics, temple tones, mystical zones, and drifting droning dream environments, with everything feeling slightly more spiritual, naturalistic, and sedating than what might be found on a Khotin tape (though sometimes the lines seem to blur a bit, and both projects have this bleary eyed and wistful feel…a sort of deteriorated VHS and analog tape effect that stirs feelings of memory and longing in a way that is similar to the works of Boards of Canada). 

Area 3 - View (Kohtin Industries, 2025) “Forest Science Department” begins the tape with lofi mallet mutations morphing across the spectrum and sounding like dripping cave liquids, the sounds surrounding barely there spoken samples and chirping birds. Purling pools of pad warmth and murmurations of mermaid magic swell behind it all, and serene chillout sequences emerge further into the flow…the entire mix warbling wildly at points, with additional textures of hiss and hum panning back and forth. The field recordings of running water in “P-plunky” have a spirit cleansing effect, and bell tones melt into an etheric mist. Sci-fi soundscapes of bleep and soft sequential laser swoosh join reversing percussive abstractions under delay, strange moaning tones carry across the mix, and lullaby washes of melody descend, bringing with them a mysterious feeling of melancholia. The last track on the A-side is “Deep Seek,” which features vaporous chords swimming in the sky, and quivering sub bass splendour underlying a floatatious drift. Popping squelch and psychedelic space fx dazzle in the distance, and it all comes together as a rural ambient hypo-groove of beautiful and nearly beatless new age kosmische enters, giving vibes of Cluster, especially as chords continue their billowing dreamland glide across a pastoral paradise of flower fields, blue skies, and white sand beaches (the latter landscape accentuated by a coda of crashing waves).

“Grass Turns to Sponge” is an album highlight, and begins the B-side with sputtering, crackling, and filtering atmospherics, as angel voices from an astral ocean paradise enchant the mind. Underwater fantasy loops move through further textural fx cascades…these pops, hisses, and static breaths that carry through reverberant echo chains...and sunlight filters down in the form of golden chime strands. Then, at some point, a wood flute plays spiritual temple melodies, which pushes the track into an elevated zone of new age bliss. “Newcomer Map” comes next with its reflective sonics shimmering in bright colorations as more of the extreme tape warble effects induce a strange sense of delirium. A liquid metalloid drone study develops with percussive pitter patter delays and growing star-trails of technoid arpeggiation…the resonance and filter manipulations inducing mental hallucinations amidst the the almost alien tonalities of sonic stasis surrounding everything, and the wavering drones that seem to evoke Tibetan singling bowls. Album closer “Loss Day” continues on with granular echo fx covering over early Aphex-esque sequencing that takes a turn towards aqueous ambient dub as hypnotic electro-percussion moves into a soft balearic bounce. Catchy bleep bloop melodies filter and psychotropic static and noise fx crawl across the surface of the mind while tropical pads hover like a humid heatwave haze. I get a futuristic seaside vibe…like an ambi-balearic chillout drift on some faraway alien landscape...the whole thing evoking feelings of watching some beautiful and strange sunset of impossible twilight colors.

Area 3 - "Deep Seek"

Area 3 - Area 3 (Self-Released)

released March 20, 2020

RIYL: Khotin, Akasha System, Leif, Project Pablo

“Six ambient + modular synth sketches, outtakes, and meditations” from Dylan James Khotin-Foote aka Khotin.

Calming new age ambient pieces from Khotin. Whimsical atmospheres gravitate towards heavier spaces as the album plays on. Beautiful movements.