Browsing Tag

Breakbeat

Synthetix – Ominous Data: Meet the Master of Electronica Futurology

Posted on 12 April 2024

Synthetix looked far beyond the binary with the cybernetically harbingering title single from his latest bass-heavy electro LP, Ominous Data. The San Francisco-residing breakbeat producer and live artist Shea Steinbacher founded Synthetix and started cutting his teeth in the rave and nightclub scene in 1999, the same year The Matrix hit the big screen, which may or may not be coincidental, but one thing is for sure, Synthetix has become a moniker synonymous with the futurology of electronica.

As dark, heavy, and brooding as Ominous Data may be, nothing about the polished mix feels oppressive. The reverberating glitchy waves wash over you, allowing your rhythmic pulses to ebb and flow with the syncopated momentum that speaks volumes of the producer’s experience and expertise which has lent itself to 13 LPs and EPs on labels including Anti-Matter Records and Black Magic Records.

Currently operating under his own independent label, ZerosAndOnes Records, the innovative originator is ensuring that if we do have a future to look forward to where our autonomy doesn’t atrophy, he’s going to hold dominion over the breakbeat scene with his kinetic rhythms and synths that carve through the atmosphere with the reverberations of a full-scale invasion.

Ominous Data was inputted into the airwaves on April 5th; stream the track on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

SEN COV smashes electronic archetypes in his latest cinematic breakbeat single, Kotor

Posted on 2 March 2022

Sound designer, artist, composer, and Strange Planet Label founder, SEN COV, has taken his aural mixology skills to the next level with his electronic-archetype-smashing mix, Kotor.

The cold grimey house beats fed through breakbeat progressions welcome you to the dark underbelly of house as SEN COV experiments with electro drill energy and polishes his sound in cinematically dystopic gravitas. We’ve more than had our electronic fill at A&R Factory, but no artist came quite as close as SEN COV came close to sating our hunger for original flair.

After Kotor, SEN COV will be unleashing fortnightly mixes. If you appreciate genre-transcending Drum n Bass breakbeat style, save a space on your radar.

Kotor is now available to stream on SoundCloud. You can keep up to date with all of the artist’s latest releases via Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

SPACEYY HAS RELEASED HIS NEW ALTERNATIVE HIP-HOP SINGLE ‘SLOWPOKE’

Posted on 26 April 2020

SpaceyY has released his new track ‘Slowpoke’, an incredible stream of alternative hip-hop.

At a first go, it made me loosely think about Cannibal Ox’s wide lyrical structure. As I was listening, I realized that SpaceyY has a highly unique feel that transcends your typical rap track, and paused 20 seconds in to dive into the rhythmic lines of the rap and better appreciate the slo-fi textures.

There’s much more to it than expected: halfway in, the track opens up to a party-like drum & bass segment that speeds up to a breakbeat pace before reprising its original tempo. A brilliant twist!

It’s all very hip-hop, the kind of hip-hop that sounds ‘80’s’ but still resonates ahead of its time. You can tell SpaceyY is definitely not a slowpoke.

Go check out Slowpoke on Spotify.

Review by Jim Esposito.

Awl – Hold Back: Glacially Entrancing Electronica

Posted on 1 March 2020
https://soundcloud.com/toddawl/awl-hold-back-1

Until up and coming Electronica artist Awl dropped their latest mix “Hold Back” Breakbeat Electronica had never felt quite so glacial.

But instead of allowing the cold tones in Hold Back to create a bleak and drab soundscape, Awl was inventive with the ethereal layers of reverb he ran through the mix giving the instrumentals a uniquely nuanced transcendent entrancing vibe.

The London-based artist perceptibly hasn’t failed in stamping down their signature sound through Hold Back which is just one of the tracks which you will find on their 2020 4-track EP “Endless”. We really wish it was endless – there are very few soundscapes which are as easy to siphon the ambient catharsis from as the tracks you will find on Endless.

You can check out Hold Back for yourselves by heading over to SoundCloud now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Arswain – Pleasure: Pensively Raw Progressive House

Posted on 19 November 2019
https://arswain.bandcamp.com/track/pleasure

Ahead of their forthcoming album LA artist Arswain has provided the perfect aural teaser with their pensively raw single “Pleasure”.

It’s not all too often I’ll hear vocals in Progressive House which captivate me. But through a mix of strikingly evocative lyrics and bitingly convictive vocals, Pleasure was a track which didn’t fail to let the melancholy it was born from resonate.

While the constant evolutions in the soundscape play a heavy hand in ensuring that you’re as arrested by the prelude as you are in the outro, ultimately, Pleasure finds its distinction in its ability to spill emotion from caustic and futuristic tones. Even though Pleasure is seamlessly melodic, there’s still a stormy sense of chaos within the soundscape which stays with you long after it has faded out.

You can stream and download Arswain’s latest single by heading over to Bandcamp now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast