#esc.rec

Jeroen Diepenmaat - Frayed Air (Esc.Rec) For his work Joroen Diepenmaat works with vinyl, but unlike most other turntablists he starts with blank vinyl LP's which he during his performances slowly scratches, mutilates and creating grooves. With each scratch he creates new loops and this slowly builds-up to new works. On Esc.Rec 3 of these performances have now been releases as one of a kind LP's. All limited to an edition of 1. And of course one stream (not available as download, sadly enough). The music on these slabs of vinyl consists of slowly evolving scratches as you might have guessed. Though other than expected this doesn't turn into loud noise structures. Instead it stays all very quiet with some sort of meditative state. The limited to one LP's are available through Esc.Rec here: http://www.escrec.com/5997. You can stream one of the LP's here:

Virtual Proximity - Observations EP

Virtual Proximity are a musical-visual outfit based in Melbourne, Australia. Their live show is entirely improvised, with live instrumentation, digital looping and spontaneous drum programming. Abstract melodies are fused with broken beats and atmospheric textures, while the interactive visuals add an extra dimension of colour and movement, complementing the music with strange and wonderful imagery.

artist: jorg title:Esc.rec.36 cat: esc.rec.36 keywords: electronica, fieldrecordings, ambient, label: esc.rec. www.escrec.com

Jorg is a producer, DJ and the end boss of the Lomechanik label. As like an exchange project, friendly label Esc.Rec. Just released his latest album. Where Lomechanic goes to release more beat orientated electronic works, this release is focusing more on the finer things than bombastic drums and hyper rhythms.

It all starts with a track called ‘earwax’ and is like pulling our ears into a different zone. Let’s call it Planet Jorg. It takes some Arabic sounds to open up the portal, but a warm voice welcomes us quickly.

Soon our ears are standing in the magical world, where small electronic soft noises and low humming sounds are forming a warm loving soundtrack.

With ‘Name Of’ we actually hear some kind of beat that functions as a wonky heartbeat. Together with other nice sounding rhythms from electronic origin, Jorg introduces us into sample heaven. We hear some kind of singing from old times, beautiful synthesizer sounds that seems to form a slow motion movement, and almost an open ending. It feels like a story, although I’m not sure what the content of this story is, perhaps it is poetry for the mind?

One of my personal favorite tracks on this record is ‘you’. Here the story seems to be love, and my ears love every second of this track. Think lots of warmth, a female voice repeating ‘you’ in a hypnotizing loop and sunny sounds filled with (did I already mention this?) lots of love.

After this beauty we hear the ‘home boy walk’ which is a almost steady kind of track, that corresponds greatly with its title. A beat and sounds to swag your legs while walking home with your homey for some brotherly no nonsense conversation.

Jorg adds some humor and a touch of comedy to the record with his ‘home from work’ track. We hear the artist (or girlfriend, I’m not totally sure..) getting a fresh beer from the fridge, ready to chill out from a loopy day on the work floor. Even though this track is very short, it is funny enough one of the more memorable tunes on the record. Catchy as well if I may add, everyone know this story and everyone can sing along with ‘I came home from work..’

With ‘emptiness’ Jorg takes our ears on a spacious journey where we could fly freely into a wonderful world between the stars. Lovely synth work in combination of a stretched out beat will levitate the listener to the world of emptiness. Pretty old-school, and liking it!

Michael Jackson’s voice appears on Jorg’s ‘Tell Ya”. It is a short confession, waved on a soft short track.

After this we hear a filler called ‘what’, I hope that this is an introduction to the following track, otherwise ‘what the fuck’ was the reason for this? But I can’t complain too much, after all it is just 12 seconds long. What?

Jorg makes everything perfect again with his tune ‘crap TV’, funky old school bleebs, chopped samples, nice electronics, some handclaps and a basic funny groove with tickers that are pushing the vibes. Definitely worth to get to practice your funny dance on!

‘unsafe’ starts with a message from a media outlet that music isn’t safe. After this Jorg isn’t proving the commentators wrong by delivering the coolest stuff you would hear on this record. Even though the beat is kind of laid back, the beginning background noises have the same effect as metal guitars doing their thing to indulge danger. The melody is cold and cool and might be considered very unsafe, but very enjoyable.

After commentaries little break in the release ‘soup cloud’ appears. It sounds like the title, spacious and friendly, light weight melodies that float through each other like soft audio clouds do.

“room, featuring jellephant” is probably where the idea for the cover of this release comes from. Is that donkey body spotting an elephant head, jellephant? The music is beautiful, very open with a deep base, an ambience of piano notes that feels like soft rain drops in an auditorium.

The last track is ‘Sketchbook’ and seems to evolve around manipulated fieldrecordings from some kind of alien subway system. Hold on tight, we are traveling back to planet earth again in a rapid speed. Some classical vocals greeting us in the station. Are we back in planet earth, or is this the next stop? a combination of hell and heaven? The ending is luckily a happy one as we arrive back among humans in a lively city center!

artist: Salt Supply title: A Lighter Weight, A Stronger Back cat: esc.rec.32 keywords: post-rock, alternative format: CD-R (in digipak) / paid download label: Esc.Rec. http://www.escrec.com

After all the hectic moments of our busy lives its good to have music to chill out too. Personally I am not a big listener of acoustic made music, but sometimes I come across something that interest me enough to fill up my ears. ‘A Lighter Weight, A Stronger Back’ is one of these recent discoveries. It is released by the always thrilling esc.rec label and comes with artwork that smells of rosemary. The band is called ‘Salt Supply’ and consists of multiple members and some guests that donate their backing vocals and horns to the record.

As I normally dribble in experimental electronic music, soundscapes or even shit noise it is definitely a challenge to review this album. But the beautiful tracks that you will find here are absolutely worth your time to swim in. Salt Supply creates a world of warm post modern rock music that reminds us at times of radiohead but in a complete different form, life and attitude.  Perhaps it sounds more sophisticated with its subtitle sound productions and interesting programming abilities. Personal highlights are Scarborough, and Lake Toba as they really feed my hunger for something original.

This album contains smooth transitions from one track to the other, which makes it into an excellent listening experience. As the tunes flow by like a calm river of music I will try to jump in my non existing kayak and tell you what to expect.

‘A Day To Order’ is a loving warm song that welcomes the listener in the world of Salt Supply. A wonderful sound production that creates a atmosphere of a summer day in the park.

‘Tommorow’s Final Cat’ is perhaps the track that sounds a bit too close to radiohead, but in a different key. I personally wouldn’t place it on the second place of a 14 tracks album as there is so much more original music out there. But I don’t want to complain to much as this tune is very beautiful and warm and will lift the listener up to a place where the rain will clean all the sorrow away.

We enjoy a nice swinging mood in ‘Battle fight’. It combines wonderful music that simply waves into each other like only a perfect match of musicians can do. A nice rolling beat that makes the head automatically bounce along locks in with the acoustic guitar, the warmth of a sweet horn and piano on the dressing of a perfect played bass. This is really high out there in a excellent blend of hopelessly romantic music for dramatic lovers.

I already mentioned my love for ‘Scarborough’ but as this song playes I would probably write some more nice words about it. It takes of where the previous track had left us and salt supply adds definitely more drama to the music. The synth gives the extra needed punch while the placing of some sound recordings really made this into an exciting piece.

with ‘Observatory’ we hear a short moody ballad that will make you fall in love with the voice of this band, before sinking in yet another personal favorite of mine.

‘Lake Tobs’ is where I am talking about. It is fun, animalistic and adventurous. Think of a tuba that recreates the effect of a drunken elephant, together with a magnificent choir of cute music. The ding dong melodies could have been from a gamelan orchestra which gives this track a wonderful tropical feeling of being in the jungle somewhere in Asia.

The seventh track is a tune called ‘Walk Me Down Slowly’ which is a nice song where Salt Supply are wandering how to come back to the place of their memories. Probably they want to go back to see the elephant they had met in the previous track. Jokes aside, this is a nice song that feels sincere as well as made by the heart and not taken lightly.

‘If You’ve Lived, You’ve Had One’ is the mind-blowing title of a strange track on this album. The title probably got to do something with the sample that pops up half way, and doesn’t really give us an answer of what to think where it’s all about. Personally it sounds perhaps a bit like a bad trip.

Lucky for the listener Salt Supply brings us some sunshine with ‘Mile Beach’. It feels like a magical night in the dawn while walking down the lone beach. We had a cocktail, we hear some jungle creatures in the night that sing their beautiful songs and wander around in euphoric state of content.

In the trend of weirdness we hear a somehow creepy song called ‘Master Says’ I am not 100 percent certain where this is about but it is probably the darkest track you can find on this album. The singing and background vocals of angels are made for a heavy mindset.

‘Last Post’ starts of slowly with low bass sounding sounds that gives me the feeling of being stranded on the beach. Probably waking up after a long night of too many tropical drinks. The sun rises slowly and slowly Salt Supply wakes us up in a state of confusion. Where are we and where did the elephant go?

Surprise! Salt Supply have found us in the middle of the jungle and sings a wonderful warm song on a nice piece of music. The listener will follow Salt Supply wherever it brings its musical delight. When ‘Plus And Minus Meet’ you have to safe yourself is their warm welcoming advice, and until that time the music fills our ears with joy.

‘Sybold’ brings us a nice wave of music vs song, it is more stripped down than the previous heard tracks, but that is definitely not a bad thing. A nice  acoustic guitar brings warmth on a wickedly played bass, while a rolling uptight beat makes us simply hop along.

For the end of this adventure Salt Supply ends up with delivering us a good mood with the excellent warm track of goodness called ‘The Great Reset’. It is short but so well needed and with this we are ready to return to our own bizarre lives.

My overall conclusion of this album is that it’s a lot of fun to listen to. It swings in diversity of moods without losing its main elements. The music is simply a brilliant piece of work by well skilled musicians that obviously had a great time recording. A nice album to listen to and enjoy with friends and family as it contains for everybody something, Everybody can use some Salt Supply!

Artist: Various title: New 7.0 (2012) format: free mp3 netrelease keywords: Alienating trip hop, heavy techno, old school house, future garage label: Esc.rec www.escrec.com

New 7.0 is a compilation of talented electronica producers from  East Netherlands. Every year there will be a new compilation popping up, showcasing a great selection of young talent in the electronica field. This and more important info about how, why and when this production came to life can be found on the official release page: New007. Not that I don’t care about the concept and the welcoming good thoughts behind this release, but I rather dive into the music. Want to hop along?

The first track is by Sam A La Bamalot and delivers a mind blowing track called Subtle Growth. The whole production sounds strangely warm and above all very wonky. Controlled wonkiness that is, as we can hear that every second of this track is cherished and taken care of. This work is an excellent opening and a great teaser for what will happen on this sweet compilation.

Badencourtrecords is a strange name but fits totally with its musical output, as we can hear it here with his ‘The One’ tune. It is of a light kind that feels a bit like a pop record without the pop. It feels perhaps a bit midi-ish in sound production, but got a lovely feel good vibe that will make you smile regardless. Feel good music is what Badencourtrecords has baked for you. Be sure to enjoy your tasty meal!

Next up is something that grabs my attention more than the previous producers in the name that I feel this very good. Producer Youri creates a hilariously named track ‘Oh Crap’ that definitely doesn’t sound so crap at all!  This piece of minimal electronic music with its good choice of synthetic sound wobbles directly in the pleasure centers of the mind. A great track that even in its 3 minutes length convinced me that this would be a great tune to light up too. Excellent!

Lopende Paddo is another producer that captured the heart in a cute way. His track ‘communication’ consists of chopped up electric click beats and some kind of strangled tuba.  This may sound strange perhaps but Lopende Paddo creates a whole audio orgasm out of it. Lots of stoner fun!

The fifth tune is made by Sonurber that introduces more crispery sound clicking beats. On top of this Sonurber adds a lovely layer of feel good warmth that feels like an electric sun that shines in our hearts. This is a lovely piece of work and indeed delicious for audiophiles.  A layer with a simple but lovely melody keeps it all together and makes this track into some kind of summer hit. Or perhaps not a hit, but something you would like to hear on the beach for sure! Sweet like sugar!

Addicted White Guy brings in a dance groove that brings us back to the house days. The nice sparkly sounds, in combination of a wicked bass transform this work in a dance track of higher states. A perfect track that would do very well on the dance floor full of other addicted white guys and girls. put on your dancing shoes and let the music make you high!

Here we go! What follow is a track by ‘The House Arts’ and this brings us back in time to the early house scene. This nice club record reminds me half way through that the drugs in East Netherlands must be pretty good.   Although you don’t need to use anything to enjoy this track as this track simply is a drug on its own. The buildups in this track are extremely nice and enjoyable and the pounding rhythm gets me dancing.

Near Earth Object is next with its tune ‘Red Moon’. It is a lot of fun I can tell you and this one I personally give it all my thumbs up! This is an original funny dance track that makes you want to shake your booty . This swings and makes you laugh at the same time, crazy shit that is probably the nicest thing I heard on this compilation. A lovely break in the middle to show the producer its skills and then we go back to eternal madness! A lovely baseline that drops and this track kidnaps us to outer space! Perfect and very enjoyable!

Suddenly angelic choirs are singing in the headphones? What is this? Grimm Limbo brings its electronic angels to deliver a fun shambolic dance track that is heavy on the bass. A nice track that rolls nicely into a fine groove that keeps on surprising. A weird melody waved in with a sampled male voice can be heard in the middle before it transforms more into a space kind of track. The change of melodies works very well although the track is not able to stay in the head. Nice work though!

LevingtQuatre comes up next with a tasty work of brilliant craziness. Think a dramatic chiptune melody versus electronica and a church choir singing inside a blender. It is definitely weird and to my big surprise it works very well. The melody and heavy baseline and the other ingredients I already mentioned,  creates a locked smooth and above all sick track! It turns out very trippy with its quality mixing and catchy cuteness, and I would definitely want to hear more of this artist. Sweet!

Nobody less than ‘Knarsetand’ is up next with a delicious tune called ‘Min La Vita. It contains a blend of perfect warmth that is a feast for the ears and the heart.  The lovely cute melody goes hand in hand with a heavy low baseline and sits in a delicious steady beat. It feels like a perfect goodbye track, as it shines through a complete positive vibe. Very nice stuff.

Last but not least the encore by ‘Taprikk Sweeze’ with the track  ‘Glimm (Radion Remix). This is a sweet tune that is of a different kind than all the previous tracks as it feels like a electrified pop track. The singing in this track is as warm as the synthetic pads, which is of course a good thing! I imagine a monkey in the chorus part, but hey who doesn’t like monkeys? With this nice tune that has its special charm, this fun compilation has come to an end