MUSIC RECOMMENDATION

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VARIOUS ARTISTS

“What’s your biggest weakness? – I am a perfectionist.” … We all know this common answer, so often given in job interviews that you can’t use it anymore (no, really, don’t…). We also know Ultimae Records‘ unrivalled perfectionism, but this is another kind of beast: not the one that hides “in the detail”, but rather “in the aesthetic”. It’s an “artistic daemon”, visible in the label’s ambitious ramifications, from its cutting-edge mastering studio to its chic record shop, and in the sound itself, often available at hi-res 24bit, designed with lots of care and illustrated by constant stunning artworks. The creature is ambient, almost by definition, and successful, but this is reductive to say: it’s a hard worker, crafting immense contemplative journeys. Take the compilations for instance: the artists, top class always, are invited to follow specific topics to make the works sound like consistent albums. Less than half of the tracks are approved: only those which serve the overall journey, no best of. That’s how Ultimae’s resident DJ Samsara sculpted the present VA, and in a certain predictable way, it’s “perfection”.

EXPERIMENTAL

“Body Of Water”, which we missed last month, is worth rehabilitation for being a superb piece of art, with its creative percussions and beautiful drones. Based in Florence, Sublunar evolves in the hypnotic experimental realm, somewhat recalling the school of Napoli (retina.it) but yet darker: at least, also deep, innovative, with an expertise on the broken beats. Behind UNKNOT are label owner Sciahri and electroacoustic musician Emanuele Porcinai, both known for their indisputable talent.

DANCEFLOOR-ORIENTED

Didn’t we just mention Sciahri in the previous release? Doing some research on the present EP is actually how we found “Body Of Water”, but let’s fake some magical time travel to announce that he’s already back, now with Desroi. The latter is also a brilliant producer, who totally blew our mind in his memorable album “Floating In Empty” on Semantica back in 2019. Both artists bring their know-how to Psyk’s imprint Non Series, by delivering a punchy EP with a complex sonic architecture; in one word: “dope”.

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Reading the first name in this four-tracker compilation hits the face. The second name hits the face a second time, the third one a third time and the fourth one a fourth time. We would like to thank Aleja Sanchez for reshaping the listener’s face with such great determination… It’s in fact a pleasure to hear from her label Northallsen again, which has been pretty silent for more than one year. The last time we lived such a blast, it was precisely for the label’s previous release, featuring also Mike Parker. Besides the music that can only be good, let’s outline the spectacular artwork also, as well as the amazing mastering, by Gio AKA “Best sound engineer on the planet”. Since RVO’s entry into the label, and of course thanks to Sanchez’s dedication, Northallsen became an unquestionable trademark of excellence.

ATMOSPHERIC TECHNO

In the USA, the schism between the underground and the mainstream cultures is not as pronounced as in Europe. In the country of freedom, people are totally at ease saying out loud that they love – say – Porter Robinson, as much as a local unknown artist. Meet Ryft, a fun personage from Salt Lake City, who used to display video games music and EDM in his Soundcloud and who produces music in various genres, from tech house to dub techno to industrial techno to drum’n’bass. He’s what you call “an enthusiast explorer”, who maybe needs to channel out a few of his energies: that’s exactly what he just did with “Sýn”, taking the very best out of his roots and merging them together to design a very original and subtle EP, while staying true to himself (the housey hi-hat in “Frumefni” for instance can be found in most of his past tracks).

VARIOUS ARTISTS

“Reflections III” is a wonderful representative of what we love the most in the underground electronic music culture: witnessing the high talent of unknown artists, as an important reminder that the quality of music and fame are not linked. We however hope for these artists to become big at one point, not to nourish any form of ego, but firstly because it would be a pity for techno lovers worldwide to miss the musical culture that our artists are building, and secondly because if they can live from their art, we could have more music from them (yes, we are very calculative^^). Chilean label Dosis Records can be proud of its discography: “this is underground at its greatest floor babe”.

DANCEFLOOR-ORIENTED

Motion Symmetry is an artist that we follow closely, firstly because he’s the owner of the interesting project NFEREE, and secondly because his extremely high technical skills make us see a high potential in him. His tracks are always rich and well-designed, following a classical yet updated hypnotic techno structure, repetitive and without break, that we highly appreciate. We sense that the Welsh artist delivered a particularly special work for Crescent London, something we are happy for, firstly because Crescent London is a fantastic, deserving label, and secondly because we feel that Motion Symmetry reached a new level in this EP, enriched by his “musical soul” and the creativity of the talented remixers.

ATMOSPHERIC TECHNO

Since his last – massive – album on NFEREE, Georgian artists Petit Astronaute is developing a certain intensity in his music which contributes to growing his charisma. His new work, the present EP, “stays at home” this time, so to speak, as it is released on the Georgian label “UNHEARD”. The EP is in line with what the owners, RTNH and S.V.R.A, have announced in their last VA: a more “aggressive orientation” for the label’s sound signature. They also wrote that the authors of the VA would become important figures of the project: they meet their promise with this first release and we can also expect works from talented artists such as The Alchemical Theory and Doctrina Nature on the label in a near future.