Browsing Tag

electronica producer

UK producer, James Urquhart, delivered a transcendent EDM anthem with Fire on the Track

Posted on 23 August 2023
James Urquhart

While some artists and producers need an entire discography to demonstrate their versatility, the Chichester, UK-based electronica chameleon James Urquhart only needed one blazingly high-octane dance hit, Fire on the Track.

With grime and pop vocals adrenalizing the mix and enhancing the eclecticism of the EDM earworm that defies the laws of gravity with the transcendence it provides, you only need one hit of Fire on the Track before you’re obsessed with the progressively exhilarating groove-oriented mix that would make even the most rational crowd lose their mind on the dance floor.

Even though it has been a while since James Urquhart delivered his latest mix, as he has focused on honing his talents, he’s released on labels including Duffnote, Let There Be House, INK, and Soulful Evolution. He has also worked with everyone from Amanda Wilson to Amy Pearson to Everette Peters to Meshach Broderik. If Fire on the Track is anything to go by, his hard-hitting house production skills have been well and truly honed.

Fire on the Track hasn’t hit the airwaves yet; follow James Urquhart on SoundCloud and Instagram to be the first to know when it drops.

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

Numbsoul welcomes you into unfamiliarly inviting territory with his downtempo trip-hop hit, Break Free

Posted on 13 August 2023

With syncopated beats brushing up against ambient electronic melodies that allow you to trip into an unfamiliarly inviting gritty urban territory, the latest single, Break Free, from the singer-songwriter, producer, audio engineer and sound designer, Numbsoul is a short and sweet slice of sonic transcendence.

The NYC-raised artist, who goes by the name Dashaun Riley away from the mixing desk, started self-teaching and performing in the arts at age seven; he’s had plenty of time to hone his multi-faceted crafts since finding inspiration from the likes of Kanye, Timbaland and G-Unit.

At age 15, he stepped up his creativity by evolving from a music composer and screenwriter into a music producer. His sounds can be heard reverberating through the NYC underground and within the mainstream after featuring on one of Universal Music Group’s official Spotify playlists and signing a deal with Sony. If you’re waiting to see the rise of the latest NYC luminary, watch this space; Numbsoul is sure to dominate it with his culturally-balling beats.

Stream Break Free via SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Sensitive Golgoth’s ambient deep house cut, Aie confiance !, went right down to the bone

Posted on 3 August 2023

Life science researcher by day and electronic producer by night, Sensitive Golgoth poured just as much intellect into their latest single, Aie confiance ! as they injects into their research on how digital worlds may help humans empathise with other lifeforms.

The ambient deep house soundscape is an extension of their empirical work, which can be quantifiably noted through the blurred boundaries between the material and synthesised worlds. The groove-driven beats mellifluously cruise through the cathartically elemental atmosphere of the release that uses naturalism as a soundboard.

The transcendentally resonant bliss is a bubble that you never want to burst once the melodies get into intrinsically organic motion. Short of stepping out into nature and forest bathing, there’s no better way to connect with the universe than delving into Aie confiance !

Stream Aie confiance ! by heading over to SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Embark on an oceanic odyssey with Specie11’s latest single, Jellypus

Posted on 10 June 2023

After cutting their teeth in the music industry in metal bands, the one-man powerhouse behind the moniker Specie11 embraced the limitless opportunities for expression which lie within electronica production.

Their recent single, Jellypus, starts with a pacifically placid exploration of downtempo electronica and jazz before the soaring electronic guitars riff some rock elements into the ambiently epic single, which is just as cinematic as War of the Worlds, with a smorgasbord more tranquillity and beguile. Typically, I hate the phrase ‘it’s a vibe’, but there are few better ways to allude to the mood-driven atmosphere contained within this creatively euphonic emotional journey.

With an air of the 80s oscillating through the mellow instrumental track, the sense of nostalgia becomes a grounding centre of gravity in the intrinsically experimental release, which will be your tour guide on an oceanic odyssey.

Jellypus is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Erick Diaz has launched his seduction-drenched house anthem, Into Me

Posted on 26 May 2023

You can practically taste the ecstasy in the air of the latest single, Into Me, from the artist, poet, author, and music philosopher Erick Diaz.

His definitively distinctive take on house anthems enabled the single released via NOS to unravel as a progressively steamy anthem of debauchery that any producer would be hard-pressed to assimilate. The massive sound resounds around the ingenuity written into every inexplicitly deft drop and build.

The harsh kicks, bass-swathed beats, and monolithic drops all become that little bit more salaciously transcendent through the reprising whispers that drench the dance hit with seduction. I’ve never written this in a music review before, but he’s a massive tease.

Into Me will hit the airwaves on May 26; hear it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Ride the electromagnetic waves in Us or Aliens’ latest industrial pop-rock call into the void, Black Hole

Posted on 22 May 2023

Giving us all the dark industrial rock energy of Celldweller and Zeromancer, with a few sharp pop hooks for impaling measure, Us or Aliens’ latest cry into the void, Black Hole, is an existential tour de force.

While the hollow find it hard to find fulfilment in a disenfranchising reality where ennui is as escapable as the cosmic phenomenon which became the metaphorical focus of the single, the pensive will more than get their resonant fill from Black Hole.

Us or Aliens is the solo project from Shawn Kirkpatrick, who has been writing, composing, recording and producing for himself and other artists for the past two decades. In his impressive by any measure career, he has performed in over 500 venues and found the time to become an accomplished guitar teacher and TV composer.

Delve into Black Hole by heading over to SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

CONT4MIN4TED – This is the Way: An Alt-Electronica Journey for the Mind, Body, Soul, and Rhythmic Pulses

Posted on 16 May 2023
https://soundcloud.com/cont4min4ted/sets/this-is-the-way/s-lYo30PwNNHK?ref=clipboard&p=a&c=1&si=67a3e5c169854d6d9ec28a67dcadf4b6&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

After aurally relinquishing their emotional baggage via their debut LP, the Gainesville, GA alt-electronica producer, CONT4MIN4TED, went even further leftfield with their sophomore album, This is the Way, which will take you on a journey of the mind, body, soul and rhythmic pulses.

I could dissect each of the 16 singles that were intuitively curated to orchestrate the ultimate sonic experience, but perceptibly, the greatest achievement of this LP is the cinematic journey it will take you on straight from track one, Stuck, before the stagnation lifts in the fervidly exhilarating soundtrack, Drifting.

Even with the chillier tones and ethereal vocal lines in the cinematic slices of synthesised soul, you won’t fail to find the impassioned warmth in the emotion and experience-driven soundtracks to vignettes that are universally shared. The album is enough to make you forgo your usual vibe-out electronica playlists; it is a smorgasbord of constantly in-flux electronica ingenuity. For your sanity’s sake, sink your teeth into the catharsis.

Stream This is the Way from April 28 on SoundCloud, Spotify and YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Gaze into the entropy abyss with the catharsis in Static Null’s latest downtempo release, Void

Posted on 25 April 2023

The prolifically playlisted alt-electronica artist Static Null drenched the airwaves in downtempo catharsis with their latest scintillatingly textured instrumental soundscape, Void.

Voids typically are synonymous with abyss-like phenomena, but there’s plenty of sonic salvation to be found in the artfully composed single, which allows the darker proponents to cast a shadow over the splinters of light to reflect the complexity of the human experience.

If we never acknowledged the redeeming qualities of our mortal coil, we would never mourn their absence while caught in voids, which mostly happen to be of our own making. Static Null’s latest synthesised orchestration is a demonstration of all that and more. Losing yourself within it’s tender warmth is wholly recommended.

Void was officially released on March 23. Hear it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Slender Dan orchestrated a superlative existential meditation with ‘Time is Running Out’

Posted on 2 March 2023

With vocals as ethereally magnetic as Cigarettes After Sex atop cinematically intricate Aphex Twin-ESQUE beats and apocalypse-centred lyricism, the latest single, Time is Running Out, by Slender Dan, is the ultimate existential meditation.

With chilling vocal samples alluding to how our child-like proclivities are the main reason behind our destructive tendencies that have led the earth to the point of collapse, there’s no exaggerating the sombreness of the dream-like Avant-Garde score. Yet, Slender Dan simultaneously succeeded in creating a tranquil feat of electronic ambience that will quell your end-of-days fears.

The striking mindfulness within the layers of lush reverb allows the tonally transcendent single to unravel as one of the superlative feats of post-modernism you could add to your playlists.

The Nashville-residing duo comprising Heather Dickinson (vox, keys, guitar, bass), and Patrick Ahern (drums, production, vox) debuted their first EP on KEXP in 2021 and has had its fair share of successes since. Time is Running Out is just one of the singles to feature on the forthcoming LP, GESTALT. In their own words, here is what it traverses:

“GESTALT is a 1 hour long, 19 track, avant-garde electronic album. With 13 songs and 6 interludes, Slender Dan presents a sobering critique of modern Orwellian forces- commenting on such topics as propaganda, censorship, the lack of consensus on truth, and the attempt to remain sane in the midst of insane times.”

Time is Running Out will officially release on March 2nd. Hear the official audio on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast