SINGLES CRUISE 05.24.19
NO FAST FORWARD - "CULT"
Emerging from a really promising European ambient-techno scene, the Lithuanian producer relies on ever-growing arpeggios and thick ambient pads to create a piece of time-stretched beauty. Using the conceit of the cult leader as seducer of the working class, this contemplative track grows from a submerged house beat to a towering rhythmic pulse, hurtling itself through time and space.
THE WIRES - "PRAIRIE FIRE"
Evolving out of formal classical music into the big-tent world of contemporary folk and neo-classical, the violin and cello duo create an evocative and sweeping aural vista on "Prairie Fire". Quick stabs, light plucking and furious bowing narrate an all-consuming fire sweeping across the dry grass of the prairie in pain-staking detail.
Listen to "Prarie Fire"
PSETTA - "TAKING DEAD WEIGHT"
Combining the effervescent upshot of electronic-pop artists like Neon Indian or Washed Out with the overwrought post-punk tendencies of New Order, "Taking Dead Weight" is a study in youthful exuberance spilling out in all directions. These spill out from the dire chorus proclaiming the tendency to dwell on past traumas to a searingly light and upbeat synth-stab arpeggio that follows it.
SKEKZ - "SLEEPER"
"Sleeper" begins with crystalline synths that is pulled and stretched to create a lapping, swaying tonal pattern that blooms and repeats throughout the track. The NYC producer carefully folds in sharp percussion, strings and ethereal, fully present choir of voices to shape the tracks emotional center. It's a beautiful piece of work that combines ambient tones, patient pacing and dark and brooding trip-hop beats.
K-MAL - "INSANE"
the latest entry into the Ambient Zone series is the anachronistically titled "Insane" by a 19 year old Indonesian student who goes by the name K-Mal. K-Mal has crafted a beautifully light and airy electronic track that streaks huge pulls of synthesizers across, minimal percussion and siren vocals stretched, reversed and filtered through cavernous reverb. An excellent first entry from this young artist.
SOLULF - "Na da sa"
Composed around the simplicity of a minimal piano line, cello and window-left-open field recordings, the Swedish composer is able to hone in on wringing as much emotion as possible out of moments of fragmentary beauty. Those tiny sounds between notes where we hear the machinery of the piano, or the sustained tension of a cello droning on a single note. Beautiful and emotionally open work.
TRANSISTORCAKE - "FUTURE PLAN I"
The Belgian producer Transistorcake's "Future Plan 1" is a chauffeured journey through the underbelly of classic and contemporary electronic music's seedy underbelly. Culling a multitude of voices, phrasings and modes into a growing superstructure of squashed bass lines, locked-in kraut grooves and gossamer pads and synths, Transistorcake becomes a channeling device for the spirits set free from a thousand haunted synthesizers.
