Tag: techno

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Over the past five or six months, I’ve managed to spill quite a bit of virtual ink covering the rising French electronic music artist, producer and JOVM mainstay LutchamaK. Now, as you may recall, the rising French artist grew up as a voracious music listener and fan, who has had long eclectic and wide-ranging tastes that includes hip-hop, rock, techno and others. And while his work is deeply influenced from and draws from techno, it also reflects a lifelong devotion to a eclecticism: his first two EPs, which he managed to create during lunch breaks at his day job featured material that meshed elements of techno, house and EDM among others.

The French JOVM mainstay has developed a reputation for being remarkably prolific, frequently releasing new material with a number of EPs, including one of his most recent EPs Kodama. “Music Box,” Kodama EP‘s latest single is centered around tweeter and woofer rocking low end, thumping beats, explosive blast of rimshot and hi-hat, relentless synth stabs, a looped sample of a kalimba, which manages to sound much like a music box and a vocal sample that simply says “We are the weapons.” While being a mid-tempo techno track the track manages to sound as though it were inspired by Tour De France-era Kraftwerk and Boys Noize — forward-thinking yet accessible and dance floor friendly.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Over the past handful of months, I’ve written a bit about the emerging and mysterious French electronic music artist and producer LutchamaK. The French artist and producer grew up as an voracious music fan and listener, who listened to — and loved — an eclectic array of music, including hip-hop, dub, classical, rock, techno and others. LutchmaK’s work is deeply influenced by techno but with a devotion to lifelong eclecticism: his first two EPs, which he managed to create during lunch breaks at his job, featured material that seamlessly synthesized techno, house and EDM among others.

LutchamaK is gearing up to release his full-length debut Invisible Realm and the album’s first single “Tribute 2 Mad Mike” continues in a similar retro-futuristic vein as “Later On.” Centered around a minimalist-leaning production, the track features shimmering synth arpeggios, tweeter and woofer rocking beats, vocodered vocals and an enormous hook, “Tribute 2 Mad Mike” brings Computer World and Tour de France-era Kraftwerk, JOVM mainstay Boys Noize, ’90s house music and techno to mind. Simply put, it’s a thumping club banger.

“I wanted to make it as danceable as possible,” LutchamaK wrote to me in an email. “It’s a salute to Mad Mike, one of the founders of Detroit’s Underground Resistance. I tried to get a ’90s techno vibe, hoping the result won’t be seen as plagiarism.”

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Late last year, I wrote about the somewhat mysterious yet emerging French electronic music artist and producer LutchamaK. Like countless others, the emerging French artist grew up as an avid and passionate music fan, who listened to — and loved — an eclectic array of music, including hip-hop, dub, classical, rock, techno and others. Interestingly enough, the mysterious French artist’s work is deeply influenced by techno — but while nodding at other styles and genres: his first two EPs featured, which he managed to create during such breaks at his day job, featured material that effortlessly meshed techno, house and EDM.

“9th Forest” off the Goth in the Shell EP was a slickly produced, propulsive house-leaning techno track centered around tweeter and woofer rocking beats and arpeggiated synths that recalled JOVM mainstay Boys Noize and Octo Octa, but with a self-assured swagger. LutchamaK begins 2020 continuing a run of slickly produced, swaggering, club friendly house music with his latest single “Later On.” Much like its predecessor, the track is centered around tweeter and woofer rocking beats, shimmering synth arpeggios and a sample of a seductive female vocal — but “Later On” features a decidedly minimalist production reminiscent of Kraftwerk‘s Tour de France.

“I guess the purpose for me is always the same, to make the best song I can,” the emerging French producer and electronic music artist wrote to me in an email. “It  has to move me somehow, to please me so much that I want to share with everybody else. [I’m] hoping this track would get big smiles and make heads and feet move. :)”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

LutchamaK is a somewhat mysterious yet emerging French electronic music artist and producer, who manages a growing music career with a full-time career as an IT guy for a large French corporation. Like countless others, the emerging French artist grew up as an avid and passionate music fan, who listened to — and loved — an eclectic array of music, including hip-hop, dub, classical, rock, techno and others.

The mysterious French artist’s work is deeply influenced by techno — but while nodding at other styles and genres. Interestingly enough, LutchamaK managed to create his first two EPs, which featured material that effortlessly meshed techno, house and EDM during lunch breaks house. “9th K’s Forest,” the latest single off his Goth in the Shell EP is slickly produced propulsive house-leaning techno track centered around tweeter and woofer rocking beats, arpeggiated synths — and while recalling JOVM mainstay Boys Noize and Octo Octa, but with a self-assured swagger.

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Perhaps best known as a member of heralded electronic act Sandwell District and the head of underground electronic music label Jealous God, Juan Mendez is an renowned Los Angeles-based electronic music producer, DJ and art director, known for aggressively pushing techno’s sound and aesthetic forward at least twice in his career, with his solo recording project Silent Servant; in fact, Mendez’s solo debut Negative Fascination is largely considered a game-changing modern classic.

Slated for a December 7, 2018 release through Hospital Productions, Mendez’s Silent Servant forthcoming sophomore effort Shadows of Death and Desire reportedly finds Mendez’s sound evolving towards a much more raw, aggressive and abrasive sound; in fact, album single “Damage” walks a careful tightrope between the chilly atmospherics of John Carpenter soundtracks and the tense, harrowing, industrial clang and clatter of Blanck Mass, as the track is centered around layers of arpeggiated synths and thumping beats, but while being dance floor friendly.

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

 

 

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Tense, Paranoid Visuals and Sounds of Boys Noize’s “Mayday”

The album’s latest single, album title track “Mayday” has the internationally renowned producer pairing layers of glitchy and stuttering cascading towards the listener, industrial clang and clatter, enormous tweeter and woofer rocking, boom bap beats, wobbling and tumbling low end and a wild array of vocal samples in a swaggering, club banger that feels tense and paranoid, as though its creator was aware of the fact that he’s being monitored every single moment of his life, whether he noticed or wanted it. Interestingly, along with scoring the soundtrack to Oliver Stone’s latest major motion picture Snowden, about the controversial Edward Snowden, who revealed a complicated and invasive governmental surveillance, “Mayday” is featured in the movie and the recently released video, which was created by collaborators LIL INTERNET and Susboy combines footage from Snowden with public global surveillance camera footage and some sobering facts about the NSA and their surveillance program. It should frighten the shit out of you.

New Audio by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: El Dusty’s Anthemic and Club Banging, Cinco De Mayo-Inspired, New Single

Corpus Christi, TX-based producer, DJ and electronic music artist, Horacio Olivera, best known as  El Dusty has a long-held reputation as the pioneer of a revolutionary, new subgenre that he’s dubbed “nu-cumbia” as it possesses elements of […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Tale Of Us is a Berlin-based production and electronic music artist duo comprised of Carmine Conte and Matteo Milleri. And over the course of the past five years, the duo of Conte and Milleri have developed an internationally recognized reputation for material that possesses an exacting precision (they’ve been known to discard hundreds of tracks in their search for the perfect beat, the perfect sound) and for techno that’s deeply emotive.

“North Star,” the the first single off their double A side “North Star”/”Silent Space” consists of layers of shimmering and undulating synths, tweeter and woofer rocking low end, skittering percussion to craft a song that’s reminiscent of both Snap!‘s “Rhythm Is A Dancer” and Octo Octa‘s “Please Don’t Leave” in the sense that all three songs are atmospheric yet carefully composed club bangers in which, notes are never wasted.

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Born in Alabama and based in Brooklyn, Aman Ellis is an electronic music artist and producer who writes, records and performs under the moniker of AIMES. Ellis’ work frequently possesses elements of psychedelia with nods […]

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We Are The Brave formed when singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jess Chalker began to collaborate with underground hip-hop producer  and multi-instrumentalist Ox Why. The duo bonded over their shared love of 70s soft rock, 80s pop, 90s […]

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

Electronic music artist and producer Marc Cutler, performs, writes and produces under the moniker of Lone, and as Lone he’s developed a reputation for a production style that bears an analogy to impressionistic painting – […]

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

As Tessela, Ed Russell has developed a reputation for crafting electronic dance music that’s equal parts, techno, rave, and jungle while incorporating old school break beats. “Horizon” is the first single from his soon-to-be released […]

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

A Q&A with Sensual Harassment’s Todd Harassment

With the release of their latest effort, the Escape from Alpha Draconis EP, the Brooklyn-based duo of Sensual Harassment have managed to win the praise of several of my respected colleagues, including My Old Kentucky Blog, […]

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

Electronic music can trace it’s origin back to the Germany and Italy of the early 70s. And two of the genre’s earliest (and most beloved) champions were Kraftwerk and Giorio Moroder. In fact, their influence […]