Category: electronic music

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Tomorrow’s Child is a High Wycombe, UK-born, Cornwall, UK-based multi-instrumentalist and electronic music producer, whose work draws from a broad spectrum of music, surroundings and experiences — in particular, the ugly concrete buildings and garages of his hometown, the sense of failed potential and lost futures it all evoked, and the dystopian themes of a number of 1980s films and TV shows. 

His full-length debut, Beach Ghosts thematically touches upon the death of his father in 2015 and his relocation to Cornwall. Going on to study popular music, Tomorrow’s Child evolved from a singer/songwriter and guitarist to electronic music, which provided a much-needed outlet for him to express his grief and to process the major life changes he just went through. 

Last month, I wrote about the album’s first single, the cinematic and brooding “Great Western Railway.” Informed by his father, who was a stream-train enthusiast, who grew up with the Great Western Railway trains passing his classroom windows, “Great Western Railway” simultaneously brought John Carpenter soundtracks and Trans Europe Express-era Kraftwerk to mind: Thumping, industrial clang and clatter paired with train whistle-like synth lines help to evoke a train roaring down the tracks to an unknown destination.

Beach Ghosts‘ latest single “Ruination” is an haunting and ambient composition that brings Brian Eno and Autobahn-era Kraftwerk to mind as its centered around atmospheric synths and skittering beats before closing out in a slow fadeout. According to the British multi-instrumentalist and producer the composition reflects “the journey of Cornish mines from once thriving places of industry to ghostly monuments to the past haunting the landscape.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Poltergeist is a young, mysterious French producer, who quickly emerged into the French electronic and industrial scenes with his debut single “Ich bin ein Kämpfer.” 

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The emerging French producers full-length debut is slated for release next month — and if you’ve been frequenting this site throughout this past month, you may recall that I wrote about the Depeche Mode — or a goth take on Kraftwerk-like “La Grand Dame,” an infectious banger that captures a deep-seated existential terror.

“Der Nachtvogel,” the woozy, latest single from the French producer’s full-length debut is centered around thumping kick drum, skittering beats, dense layers of arpeggiated synths paired with the French producer’s insouciantly delivered lyrics, and continues another run of club friendly, goth/industrial bangers seemingly indebted to early Depeche Mode.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: French Producer Poltergeist Shares a New Club Friendly Banger

Poltergeist is a young, mysterious French producer, who quickly emerged into the French electronic and industrial scenes with his debut single “Ich bin ein Kämpfer.”

The emerging French producers full-length debut is slated for release next month — and to build buzz for it, he recently released the album’s second and incredibly trance-inducing single “La Grand Dame.” Centered around tweeter and woofer rocking thump, oscillating synths and wobbling synth arpeggios pared with the French producer’s insouciant delivery and a forceful motorik groove.

While sounding a bit like Depeche Mode — or a goth take on Kraftwerk, the song thematically is about a deep, existential terror — the terror of humanity being punished for having betrayed and mistreated Mother Nature.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Tomorrow’s Child is an emerging, High Wycombe, UK-born, Cornwall, UK-based multi-instrumentalist and electronic music producer, whose work draws from a broad spectrum of music, surroundings and experiences — in particular, the ugly concrete buildings and garages of his hometown and the ones of failed potential and lost futures it all evoked, as well as the dystopian themes of a number of 1980s films and TV shows.

His full-length debut, Beach Ghosts thematically touches upon the death of his father in 2015 and his relocation to Cornwall. Going on to study popular music, Tomorrow’s Child evolved from a singer/songwriter and guitarist to electronic music, which provided a much-needed outlet for him to express his grief and to process the major life changes he just went through.

“Great Western Railway” is a cinematic and brooding track that simultaneously recalls John Carpenter soundtracks and Trans Europe Express-era Kraftwerk: Thumping industrial clang and clatter are paired with train whistle-like synth lines manage to evoke a train roaring down the tracks to some unknown destination.

The composition is influenced and informed by his father: His father was a steam-train enthusiast, who grew up waking the Great Western Railway rains pass by his classroom windows. The decline of steam powered trains is metaphorical framework to explore loss (of a person, and a way of life) and familiar connections and traditions.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Quentin Salomon is a French saxophonist, electronic music producer and creative mastermind behind the emerging solo recording project Human Pattern. Solomon can trace the origins of Human Pattern back to 2016: While on a trip to Berlin, Salomon fell in love with German minimalist techno. He challenged himself to replicate the songs and textures of samplers and synthesizers solely with the saxophone.

While living in Annecy, France, he quickly earned the support of local concert hall and rehearsal studio Le Brise Glace and Feeling and Sound Production, and eventually was signed by indie label Alpine Records. He released his debut EP Rebirth to critical praise from Tsugi Magazine and the local press — and he supported the effort with opening slots for Black Strobe‘s Arnaud Rebotini, Acid Arab, and Cyril Atef.

In 2019, he moved to Villeurbanne, France to share his vision of electronic music with saxophone with the Lyon electronic music scene, to further Human Pattern — and to explore other musical horizons.

His latest single “Stress” off his recently released Animal Instinct EP is a club banger featuring skittering hi-hat and thumping beats, looped and chopped up saxophone bleats and squeaks for the song’s infectious hook paired with a modal saxophone melody. Mixing organic instrumentation and arrangements with electronic production isn’t exactly a new thing — but it adds a human element to the proceedings: It’s a reminder that a living, breathing, feeling human created the song.

Salomon explains that the EP is inspired by and informed by human evolution, and the fact that we have gradually lost connection with our animal instincts. He goes on to say that “Stress” is informed by the emotions and emotional responses we’ve inherited as part of our survival instinct.

Throwback by William Ruben Helms

Back in 2013, Red Bull Music Academy invited the legendary electronic music artist ad producer Giorgio Moroder to speak in front of a small group of music students about music, his creative process and more — and to what was then-billed as his first ever live DJ set at the now-defunct Williamsburg, Brooklyn nightclub Output.

Along with his long-time collaborator and musical director Chris Cox, the electronic music legend played a 75 minute set of re-arranged and exclusive remixes of some of his massive hits, medleys of other big songs, an exclusive song commissioned by Google — and famously, his collaboration with Daft Punk, “Giorgio by Moroder,” which appeared on the French electronic outfit’s last album, Random Access Memories.

Moroder’s DJ set is an encompassing and thoughtful primer on his pioneering work and sound, as well as roughly 50 years of disco and electronic music. Importantly, the set is a bold and swaggering reminder that along with Kraftwerk and a handful of others, Moroder is part of a Mount Rushmore of electronic music, who helped create an enduring “sound of the future” while popularizing the use of synthesizers in just about anything and everything since.

Personally, Moroder’s Red Bull Music Academy set brings back fond and very dear memories during the most formative periods of my life: I can vividly picture myself as a small boy and watching my mother cleaning and singing along — incredibly off key, I should add! — to Donna Summer‘s “Bad Girls,” “I Feel Love” “Hot Stuff,’ and “Love to Love You, Baby” as though it were yesterday.

Moroder turns 82 today and we should give the legendary man, his flowers because his work is that important — for all of us. Happy birthday, Giorgio! May there many, many more!

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

3VTR is a mysterious French producer, who can trace the origins of his career to looking for beats for hip-hop — and wound up discovering sound design: The French producer wound up taking an M.A.O. course, where he learned electronic music composition and production.

Starting with a musical diary that captures the moods of a young boy, the French producer gradually began working on original material that he only released sporadically years later– with his first official release in 2011. Since then, his work has been inspired by his travels and an experimental bent, in which he tried out and adapted several different styles.

2018 was a busy year for 3VTR, between releasing melodic techno, chilled out electronica and movie soundtracks, his released his full-length debut, 128, Deep Chill Street, which was influenced by Worakls, Paul Kalkbrenner, Ennio Morricone, and Hans Zimmer.

The following year, the mysterious French producer released the hybrid EP/album CHILDHOOD, which saw him further cement his own take on techno. Interestingly, last year, 3VTR released The Good, The Bag & Ugly trilogy. Written during pandemic-related lockdowns, the album’s 55 tracks sees the mysterious exploring every corner of electronic music without any limit. While different in style, each release tells a story and releases the artist’s many sides.

The first part of the trilogy, the six-track The Good was released last February and features melodic and cosmic techno. The Good‘s first single “Les Lacs de Mercure (Introduction)” is a cinematic yet cosmic take on techno centered around glistening and melodic synths, skittering beats and an expansive song structure. And yet, at its core the song is an escapist fantasy with an introspective and placid quality.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Seleminga is a Berlin-based, Senegalese-French singer/songwriter and producer. The Berlin-based artist’s latest EP Curvas Peligrosas was released earlier this year — and the EP’s material was inspired by a trip that she had taken to Cuba last March, just as the pandemic was about to strike the rest of the world. As Seleminga explains the album’s title simultaneously references the infection curve, which has been a part of our lives since last March — and the danger of being a woman, walking alone at night by herself.

“Nińa,” Curvas Peligrosa‘s second single is a brooding dance floor friendly track featuring glistening synths, tweeter and woofer rattling, skittering beats and a dreamy and layered vocal arrangement, originally written by the Bee Gees paired with lyrics that describe a lonely walk in the city at night. The end result is a brooding and uneasy song that pairs the synthetic and organic, while evoking the dark, lurking things in your subconscious — and right behind you.

“PERLE” is the first track of the upcoming EP “CURVAS PELIGROSAS” inspired by Seleminga’s travel to Cuba in March 2020. A word about the EP: “In this transitional period I wanted to express first the dangerous curve we were about to take while jumping in this pandemic. Second the danger of having curves in todays society, in other words the burden a woman endures by simply walking alone in the streets.”
“CURVAS PELIGROSAS” will be out in 2021.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Ani Even is a mysterious self-described, Danish “electro cave/rave/chantcore artist.” Even’s latest single, “The Nearest Star” is a slow-burning yet euphoric ode to the solstice, centered around sampled layers of Benedictine monk-like chants, indigenous-like throat singing, Even’s plaintive vocals, thumping club friendly beats and glistening synths. The end result is a mind-bending mix of rave music, drum ‘n’ bass, shoegaze and spiritual music — that sounds as though it should be played at Stonehenge.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Emerging Swedish Producer AWQA Teams up with Visiteur’s Sir Boyfriend on Menacing “Boiling Cuts”

AWQA is a mysterious and emerging Stockholm-based electronic music producer. Although he’s a newcomer in the Swedish electronic scene, he has a background in rock.

The emerging Swedish producer’s fourth and latest single “Boiling Cuts” features Visituer‘s Sir Boyfriend. The collaboration’s origins can be traced back some time ago: AWQA met Sir Boyfriend, when the Visituer frontman was filling in on drums for Lynx Rufus, an indie rock/indie pop outfit. Coincidentally, while AWQA emerged as an electronic music producer, Sir Boyfriend has stepped out into the limelight as a solo artist.

Centered around an uneasy and menacing production featuring glistening synth arpeggios, skittering tweeter and woofer rattling beats paired with Sir Boyfriend’s falsetto crooning, “Boiling Cuts” may remind some listeners of The Knife and of ADULT. — but with a subtle yet noticeable alt-pop sensibility. Thematically, the song discusses isolation in a very visceral fashion.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Mount Kimbie Releases a Brooding Visual for Previously Unreleased Single “Black Stone”

Currently split between Los Angeles and London, the acclaimed electronic music duo Mount Kimbie — Brighton-born, Los Angeles-based Dom Maker and Cornwall-born, London-based Kai Campos — burst into the international scene with their first three critically applauded full-length albums: 2010’s Crooks & Lovers, 2013’s Cold Spring Fault Less Youth and 2017’s Love What Survives.

Since the release of Love What Survives, the members of Mount Kimbie have been rather busy: they’ve produced tracks by an eclectic array of acclaimed artists including James Blake, Travis Scott, Slowthai, Jay-Z, King Krule and a growing list of others. In the past year, Mount Kimbie have produced and featured on tracks on Slowthai’s #1 album Tryon, and have designed and cerated music for Undercurrent, an immersive, interactive multimedia installation that address the climate crisis, that also features contributions from Grimes, Bon Iver and The 1975. They also provided production work on Dave’s critically acclaimed We’re All Alone In This Together and James Blake’s “Say What You Will.” Additionally, Mount Kimbie’s Dom Maker has contributed to the soundtrack of Oscar-winning short film Two Distant Stangers, co-producing with James Blake, the closing track, which features Travis Scott and Westside Gunn.

The acclaimed duo mark the fourth anniversary of the release of Love What Survives with the release of two previously unreleased and unheard tracks from the Love What Survives sessions — “Black Stone” and “Blue Liquid” as a free download by signing up through email and for pre-order on white label 12 inch vinyl. “Black Stone,” is an instrumental track centered around layers of reverb-drenched, twinkling synth arpeggios and a chugging post punk influenced groove.

Frank Lebon, a longtime Mount Kimbie friend, collaborator and art director recruited up-and-coming artist Peter Eason Daniels to direct, the recently released video for “Black Stone.” Shot in a grainy, security footage-like black and white in London, the video captures people waiting for trains or buses, getting on trains or buses and waiting on a train or bus. “The video is about waiting, moving and stopping. Collective moments of solitude experienced between one place and another,” Daniels says. 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Travel into Outer Space with Aussie Act The Sticks

With the release of their full-length debut, 2015’s self-titled album, the Sydney, Australia-based electronic trio The Sticks — Alon Ilsar (drums, percussion), Josh Ahearn (bass) and Daniel Pliner (keys) — quickly developed an innovative sound and approach that revolves around the AirSticks, a gestural electronic and “invisible” drum kit invented by the band’s Ilsar, who also contributes live drums.

During strict pandemic-related lockdowns last year, the trio spent their time mixing and editing music recorded on the Hawkesbury River back in 2019. And the first release from those sessions “EXMEN” is a trippy, intergalactic slow-burn, centered around Pliner’s shimmering and reverb-drenched keys, Ilson’s densely layered and textured rhythmic patterns and Ahearn’s slow-jam like groove. The song is remarkably cinematic and sounding as though it could be part of the 2001: A Space Odyssey while evoking weightlessness.

Edited by Evan McGregor, the recently released accompanying video features stock footage from the space age — from technicians, engineers and scientists looking at data, pictures and developing satellites, space phenomenon like sunspots and rockets taking off into space. It’s appropriately trippy journey into the galactic realm.

Continuing their reputation for being innovative, the band released a gestural musical iPhone app, where fans and listeners can reimagine the track through shaking and changing their phone’s orientation. It’s available on the Apple App Store: https://apps.apple.com/au/app/exmen/id1566489848

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Vancouver Sleep Clinic Releases a Gorgeous Acoustic Meditation on Perseverance

The Brisbane, Australia-born and-based singer/songwriter, electronic music producer and ambient electronic music artist Tim Bettinson is the creative mastermind behind the Brisbane-based recording project Vancouver Sleep Clinic. When Bettinson was just 17-year-old, he rose to international acclaim with the release of his debut EP Winter in 2014. After spending several years of major label purgatory and a concerted effort on his part to reclaim his music for himself, Bettison will be releasing his highly-anticipated sophomore Vancouver Sleep Clinic album Onward to Zion on October 18, 2019. 

Written in Bali, during a period of isolation last fall, Onward to Zion’s material is a decided and purposeful departure from the electronic driven sound and song construction — with Bettison writing much of the album on a $100 nylon guitar bought at one of Bali’s only music stores. “I’d started getting used to making three-and-half-minute songs with a beat and a hook-but the thing is that I don’t really come from making beats,” Bettinson explains in press notes. “I used to busk: that’s where I came from. The whole direction of this album changed for me once I realized I wanted to put the focus back on guitar again.”

Despite the seemingly simplicity of its origins, Bettinson’s sophomore Vancouver Sleep Clinic album is centered around a distinctly collagic sonic palette, encompassing a wide variety of things including ethereal atmospherics, psychedelic synth tones and hazy samples of 60s jazz-pop records. Along with that, the material represents a deliberate tonal shift from last year’s Therapy 1 EP and Therapy 2 EP.  “The Therapy songs mostly came from a place of frustration-just me complaining about the situation I was in back then,” says Bettinson. “When I sat down to think about the new album, I realized I don’t want my discography to reflect bitterness: I want to put something positive into the world. So even though it’s got some darkness, and it’s a bit of an emotional rollercoaster at times, the album is very much coming from a place of love. I’d love for it to leave people feeling re-energized, and ready to just keep pressing on in their own lives.”

“Fever,” Onward to Zion’s third and final single is a gorgeous yet contemplative track centered around shimmering, strummed guitar and Bettinson’s sweetly plaintive vocals. While bearing a bit of a sonic resemblance to Parachutes-era Coldplay, the new single is a decidedly upbeat song focusing on perseverance and survival, ultimately saying that it’s okay to rely on others in your times of need. 

“‘Fever’ is the last song I wrote for Onwards to Zion and the final single to come out,” Bettinson says in press notes. “The timing feels special because ‘Fever’ really embodies the theme of perseverance from across the album and is written for the amazing people in my life that have inspired me and continue to help me press on in this journey.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Mike Simonetti is a New Jersey-born and-based electronic music artist, producer, DJ and record label head, who’s perhaps known for a seven year stint as the owner of renowned indie electronic label Italians Do It Better Records — and that period may arguably have been one of the most prolific periods of his creative life, as his music was featured in several films, TV commercials and fashion shows, along with the release of an album or two. Since leaving Italians Do It Better, Simonetti has started another cult-favorite label 2MR and a critically acclaimed synth pop duo Pale Blue; however, his forthcoming album Solipsism (Collected Works 2006 – 2013), which is slated for a September 18, 2018 release through his own 2MR Records, finds the New Jersey-born and-based electronic music artist, producer and label head looking band on his work, which at the time was influenced by AC/DC, Judas Priest, Rockets, Supermax and underground Italian producer Piero Umiliani among others — although the album’s first single “Illusions” sounds as though it were influenced by John Carpenter soundtracks and Giorgio Moroder, complete with arpeggiated analog synths and moodily cinematic vibes.