Browsing Tag

LA producer

Def Ember synthesised the future into retro melodies in their expansively fusionistic track, Quiddity

Posted on 27 February 2024

Def Ember’s latest seminal release, ‘Quiddity‘, from their double A-side single established the aural alchemist as a forerunner of genre-obliterating innovation. Released on January 26th, this track is a bold venture into unchartered melodic waters. Known for their genre-fluid approach, the Los Angeles-based artist ensured ‘Quiddity’ stands out with its warm meandering rhythms that guide listeners through a serenely dynamic soundscape.

The track skillfully balances a solid, kicking backbeat with mellifluous synth lines and soulfully arresting guitar licks, creating a mesmerising contrast that you can lose yourself in time after time without any of the magic in the polished production getting lost. While the synths bring a touch of nostalgia, the other layers in this smorgasbord of style push the release into the future.

The layered synthetics add depth and complexity without overwhelming the rhythmic pulses, thanks to the track’s meticulous construction and sci-fi-esque ambience. It’s a track that doesn’t just play to the ears but engages the soul, marking an exciting chapter in the artist’s evolving musical journey.

Stream the latest release from Def Ember on Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

IDN synthesised an electrifying electronica hybrid in his sophomore LP, Voyager

Posted on 21 January 2024

IDN’s LP “Voyager” is an electrifying escapade into a realm where electronica melds with a kaleidoscope of genres. Each of the 14 tracks on this LP is a crucial fragment of an intricate cosmic voyage, transcending the norms of conventional electronica with audacious flair.

IDN, an LA-based queer Iranian-American polymath, infuses his diverse inspirations – from video games to sci-fi and psychedelia – into a groundbreaking sound. This LP is a unified interstellar journey, which pulses with life, intertwining industrial, dub, and psytrance into a hybrid tapestry of sound.

The genius of “Voyager” lies in its seamless blend of hi-fi sophistication and lo-fi rawness. This juxtaposition creates a soundscape that feels both futuristic and deeply rooted. With glitchy breakbeats and dub-infused electronic twists leading the listener through a labyrinth of auditory discovery, you will want to grab your passport to the 5th dimension before delving in.

The Voyager LP landed on January 12; embark on it via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Revel in the petrichor of Shaun Cruda’s electro-soul synthesis, Ashville Rain

Posted on 1 October 2023

Shaun Cruda’s 20k monthly Spotify listeners got a brand-new stylistic soundscape to savour when the LA producer delivered his latest sensuously cathartic single, Ashville Rain, on September 22.

As the dark days creep in, the sanctuary of ethereal luxe atmosphere in Ashville Rain will only become more inviting. By borrowing a few trip-hop elements from the pioneers and modernising them in his synthesis of electro-soul, there are few better singles to revel in the petrichor with.

The instrumentals resound beyond their minimalist quiescence to deliver the ultimate playlist staple for nocturnal introspection while the vocals breed a beguiling sense of intimacy as they harmonise the lyricism that narrates a spectral love letter. Familiar, yet far beyond the bars set by his contemporaries, the single is a testament to the multi-faceted talents of the artist who can pen a track as well as he can polish it and move a dancefloor from behind a DJ booth.

Stream Ashville Rain on Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Dig your way into a dystopic landscape with the dark hazy beats in Snakes of Russia’s single, Tunnel

Posted on 17 April 2023

Taken from the original soundtrack from the film, A Brush with Violence, the reworked iteration of Tunnel by the alt-electro producer, Snakes of Russia, is a harbingering descent through droningly dark synth lines and dystopically hazy laments, fed through the unpredictably rhythmic downtempo percussion.

Ambient and arrestingly alluring – to those who find comfort in the obscure – in equal measure, Tunnel is an ambient Avant-Garde work that you will want to burrow into time and time again for the way it paints light tones to cast shadows on the progressions. After all, no tale of horror can be told without holding a candle to humanity and the collective fears that show how precious our mortality is despite our nihilistic inclinations.

Stream Tunnel on Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Skinny G Radio reached the pinnacle of existential humour with his alt-electro hit, Unplug Me!

Posted on 17 January 2023

Unplug Me! is just one of the eccentrically disarming alt-electronica singles found on Skinny G Radio’s funky 8-Bit album, The Heightening. The tongue-in-cheek exposition on the perils of social media in the age when fear and hate are relentlessly pushed to keep us transfixed to platforms is an all too efficacious reminder that we should consume media not the other way around.

Instead of letting the doom and gloom from the lyrical messaging control the track, the LA artist and producer utilises his on-brand sense of existential humour to give back some of the serotonin stripped by doom-scrolling. The playful polyphonic synth sequences make delving back in for repeat listens all too tempting. Can someone protect Skinny G Radio at all costs, please? He’s ingeniously precious.

Unplug Me! is now available to stream on Spotify.

Connect with Skinny G Radio on Twitter & Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

David Deutsch has unlocked the gateway to visceral repose, Free Shavocado

Posted on 16 January 2023

LA independent artist and composer David Deutsch has scored original music for films, TV, video games and VR interactive programs. Most notably, he scored for the film Last Survivors and contributed to The Suicide Squad, The Invisible Man, The Kingsman, and the Emmy-nominated series, Hostile Planet.

Now, he’s here with his serenely explorative release, Free Shavocado. The evocative work shimmers with sonic beguile as it leads you through the gentle yet dramatic orchestral crescendos and synth sequencing your rhythmic pulses won’t be able to resist enmeshing with.

With the Gospel-esque non-lexical vocals sporadically appearing to swathe the soundscape with surges of heart-quickening soul, Free Shavocado is a transcendental corridor to serenity and visceral repose.

Free Shavocado, taken from David Deutsch’s EP, Prism, is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Thomas Eggensberger explores the ‘Forgotten Universe’ in his latest cinematic score.

Posted on 26 June 2021

LA-based German composer, orchestrator and songwriter Thomas Eggensberger has composed for film, television, concert music and collaborative art; his accolades are endless and his latest score, ‘Forgotten Universe’, is sure to earn him plenty more.

Forgotten Universe exhibits all of the hallmarks of talent that you would expect from an artist that has toured globally and worked with high-profile names, including Wayne Sharp, Tom Howe and plenty more. But the emotion that bleeds from the wavering orchestral strings in the cinematically profound instrumental score is anything but predictable. The composer made light work of ensuring that by the time you reach the end of this bitter-sweet serenade, your rhythmic pulses will feel at a loss with the silence that follows.

Forgotten Universe is now available to stream via YouTube.

Connect with Thomas Eggensberger via Facebook and Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

pb – Atlantis: progressively ambient art-rock

Posted on 2 March 2021

It’s always refreshing to hear a new approach to ambience, with their captivatingly cinematic production style, LA artist, pb, offered just that with his latest album, ‘In Parallels’.

Part progressive art-rock, part avant-garde electronica, part retro indie-pop, the first single, ‘Atlantis’ is the perfect introduction to the artist’s talent when it comes to blending textures to build what has never been constructed before. The best part? The catharsis contained in Atlantis is unhindered by pb’s tendency to let their experimentalism run rampant through their intricate grooves.

Evocatively, Atlantis is just as intense as Porcupine Tree’s acclaimed album ‘Fear of a Blank Planet’. Which feels strange to say about such a low-tempo mellifluous soundscape, but the sentiment still stands.

pb’s 2021 album is now available to stream via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast