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Alt Electronica

Jazz meets chiptune in Samuel Weaver’s latest score, Saviour Complex

Posted on 28 August 2023

With touches of House of Fun by the Madness grooving through the polyphonic funk of the jazz & chiptune amalgam, the UK-based artist Samuel Weaver concocted a superfluously ingenuity-driven score for the standout single in his debut album, Telechora!

Hitting play on Saviour Complex may be moderately akin to an acid trip due to the artist’s tendency to delve into sonic novelty despite his discernible composition and instrumental talents, but the euphoria-instilled vibrancy of the soundscape will lift you higher than any tab of acid ever could.

Given that intellectualism oozes from every progression, especially when the dissonance of sufferers with saviour complexes starts to manifest in the funk, at 17 years old, the composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist has the music industry at his prodigal feet.

Saviour Complex charged in on its white knight syndrome on August 19th; hear it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Manchester-based producer Tao Mitsu liberated his listeners with his transcendent mix, Just Let Go.

Posted on 20 August 2023

With textures and melodic progressions that go beyond immersive to offer aural escapism, when you’re enmeshed with the pulsating rhythms in the latest instrumental mix, Just Let Go, from the Manchester-based producer Tao Mitsu, space and time may as well cease to exist.

By starting with emotional impulses and constructing musical landscapes around them, each creation of Tao Mitsu is an evocative trip tinged with the full spectrum of human emotion rather than just riding euphoric waves. The fragments of melancholy within the groove and bass-driven ambient techno beats in Just Let Go capture the bittersweetness of loneliness, encompassing the primal pain of heartbreak and the first teasings of hope that appear on the periphery.

Just Let Go may not carry the definitive Manchester sound, but with the cover art depicting one of the cosy corners of the iconic Night & Day Café, Tao Mitsu succeeded in paying homage to the vibrant and eclectic music scene via his nostalgia-driven, transcendently liberating leftfield electronica anthem.

Just Let Go reached the airwaves on August 13th; stream it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

PonyArt has unveiled his Avant-Garde IDM installation of sonic maleficence, Novum Stutter Sd

Posted on 14 August 2023

The artwork for PonyArt’s debut LP, Redundancy, which landed on August 3rd, is creepier than any scene in The Last of Us; when you open the sonic door to it by delving into the first single, Novum Stutter Sd, you’ll instantly note the sound designer and composer’s ability to sonically visualise the macabre into maleficent melodic soundscapes.

While I never thought I would use Otto Von Schirach and Glenn Branca references in the same review, PonyArt necessitated it with his Avant-Garde installation of IDM, which came into fruition when the composer, who day walks by the name of Joe Sheldrick, decided to orchestrate an expression of pure creative freedom and escapism from genres or expectations.

While there are visceral moments of phantasmally cacophonous etherealism, the LP, which was put out through Dachshund Records, is underpinned by melodic accessibility.

Stream the Redundancy LP on Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Kid of the Star System is in orbit again with her darkwave pop-rock-trap amalgam, Sleepwalking

Posted on 12 August 2023
Kid of the Star System

Kid of the Star System is back in orbit once again with her latest single, Sleepwalking, and we couldn’t be more stoked about the interstellar return of the London-based visionary who switches between dimensions and genres to deliver atmospherically electrifying sci-fi enhanced vignettes of our grittily dystopic times.

The trap beat in the intro quickly evolves into a hook-rife platform of darkwave electro-pop that Kid of the Star System uses to implant her domineeringly smooth vocal lines that carry the exhilarating seduction of the entire Deftones discography. You won’t be short on emotions to feel when listening to the gospel of Kid of the Star System’s ethereal space odyssey, which could rival a black hole in the darkness it contains.

With the sole aim of bringing as much fun and chaos to her music as possible, the genre-melding artist is one for the radar if you always look to music for inspiration and empowerment. Especially as her sophomore LP, Luminous, which promises to challenge her listeners and push them past their limitations, is on the periphery.

Check out Sleepwalking on Spotify when it drops.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Feel the temperature drop to Absolute Magnitude’s artfully monochrome Drum and Bass single, Cold in November

Posted on 7 August 2023

Sonically signifying that even though the globe is hotting up our modern era of dystopia is growing ever colder in terms of connection, Absolute Magnitude’s latest cinematically monochrome Drum and bass hit, Cold in November, is an arresting sign of the ostracised times.

The magnetic resonance of the release is only matched by the disjointed glitchwavey artfulness of the release that traverses themes of all-encompassing loss that create wormhole-esque voids in our lives. With heartbreak underpinning the futuristic release, Cold in November reaches the pinnacle of visceral vulnerability.

Cold in November is just one of the tracks found on the forthcoming LP, Main Sequence, which is due for release on September 29; it efficaciously sets the tone for the emotionally and intellectually elevated singles that are set to follow in the footsteps of Bjork’s Army of Me Remix.

As you eagerly await the drop of the LP, stream the official music video for Cold in November on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Hemlock for Socrates put purgatory on a higher plateau with ‘Iridescent – Come Over Here Variant’

Posted on 4 August 2023

Doom-disco, Industrial blues, math-wave, call it what you will, but words can scarcely capture the alchemic aural experience of the latest installation of experimentalism, Iridescent – Come Over Here Variant, by Hemlock for Socrates.

With vocal lines so phantasmal in their arcane magnetism they put Bjork in the same league as Dua Lipa and a soundscore that allows the cinematic alt-electronica progressions to carve out a cage of tormented motifs, the sonics plunge you to the murky depths of despair to bring you back up from it, using resonance and the frenetic polyphonic keys in the outro as an inexplicably ingenious knotted rope ladder.

Even with the dramatic touches to the score, nothing about Iridescent – Come Over Here Variant feels theatrical. Instead, Hemlock for Socrates turned the fabric of reality inside out to put purgatory on a higher plateau.

Iridescent – Come Over Here Variant will officially be released on August 4th. Hear it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

Sean Grant & The Wolfgang synthesised dystopia in AI (Nothing Rests Everything Moves)

Posted on 3 August 2023

The age of the artist is playing its swan song, and it hums to the tune of the latest single, AI (Nothing Rests Everything Moves), by Sean Grant & The Wolfgang.

The diaphanous vocal lines cascading into the cinematically dystopic darkwave atmosphere constructed by clamorous industrial tones created an evocative juxtaposition that paints the vulnerability of sentience in contrast to the inexorable existential threat of artificial intelligence.

Sean Grant & The Wolfgang have metamorphosed a myriad of times since they introduced themselves on the airwaves with their critically acclaimed EP, 7 Deadly 7, in 2016; each evolution in their always sonorously synthesised sound lends itself effortlessly well to the discontent in the collective psyche.

As a complete antithesis to Grimes’ latest single, I Wanna Be Software, through which she willingly volunteers herself to a dark future of transhumanism, which still probably isn’t as cold as getting into bed with Elon Musk, this latest installation of transcendently discordant soul taps into the powerlessness of the average human as exponential technological progression threatens to tear away our purpose and replace it with inadequacy.

Admittedly, Sean Grant & The Wolfgang didn’t appear on my radar until I saw they were venturing into Manchester to perform with The Battery Farm and SOURDOUGH; all it took was one hit of AI to convince me to grab a ticket and get down the front for the live rendition of the obsession-worthy single released via their label, Vandalism Begins at Home.

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Stream the latest single from Sean Grant & The Wolfgang on Spotify and give them a follow on Instagram and Facebook.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Strange World Music held dominion over the future of electronic pop rock with their latest single, I’m on Fire

Posted on 2 August 2023

Strange World Music blew techno-pop-rock smoke onto the airwaves with their latest endlessly progressive single, I’m on Fire. The Sussex, England-based songwriter made a mockery of the comparatively stagnant evolution of post-rock with the anthemically eclectic future-ready hit, which starts with a histrionically cinematic prelude before slamming you right into a techno-pop verse.

Along the way, around the lyricism that compels you to stoke the fires of self-empowerment and subsequently socio-political justice, the literally and metaphorically red-hot hit picks up riotous rock licks that turn up the temperature and the momentum in the liberating EDM anthem that leaves the contemporary curve safely in the rearview mirror.

I’m on Fire dropped on July 17th; stream it on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Grab a Seat: Elevated Focusion embraced the future of fusionism with his alt-electro hit, Tabla Tea Party

Posted on 22 July 2023
https://on.soundcloud.com/KERbZ3gaPJ9vjupF8

The Queens, NY electronica pioneer Elevated Focusion, AKA Johnny Rhythms, caused a solid eight on the Richter scale by dropping his ground-breaking fusionist LP, featuring the standout single, Tabla Tea Party.

The rocksteady release became the ultimate celebration of the vibrant culture in NY by stitching a tapestry of contrasting facets of counterculture against each other to create a galvanic forcefield of friction your rhythmic pulses won’t want to resist.

With East Coast hip-hop and afrobeat bringing the danceable rhythm and the vocal lines breaking the monocultural mould while lavishing the soundscape with rock n roll attitude and soul, every new progression in Tabla Tea Party is a sonic revelation.

By putting mixing and mastering in the hands of Chris Conway, who worked on every LP that inspired the Elevated Focusion project, the East Coast flavour packs a mouth-watering punch; grab your seat at the Tabla Tea Party while the hype is hot.

Stream Tabla Tea Party with the rest of Elevated Focusion’s eponymous LP on SoundCloud now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Break the day the right way with SnoZ’s tranquillity transcending electronica score, Morning

Posted on 10 July 2023

Finding the perfect balance between tranquillity and enlivening energy, SnoZ scored the ultimate playlist staple to spin when you want to break the day the right way; your morning commutes will never be the same again.

The transcendent tones and ambient textures elevate the vibrantly strident tempo in ‘Morning’, which features on the three-track single, Day, allowing the instrumental soundscape to unravel as the ultimate soundtrack to your transition from exploring your subconscious to embracing waking reality.

The innovation in the chiptune/house crossover in the mix is the ultimate testament to SnoZ’s originality. It’s only a matter of time before his tracks are at the front and centre of editorial electronica playlists.

Morning is available to stream on Spotify. For more ways to listen, visit the artist’s official website.

Review by Amelia Vandergast