MUSIC RECOMMENDATION

FULL REVIEW

We use this “Mystery release” series for a different reason today: not to give voice to a guest writer, but because the topic inspires us more words. Today, we bring you on a journey to Iran with our very first “politicised review”. We usually don’t do politics, but it might happen when the release is itself “politicised”, not that we want to influence anyone, but because our approach is to share exactly what we feel, in a “non-neutral” way.

ORGANIC TECHNO

Seoul’s inhabitants love to spend their holidays on Jeju Island, while on our side, we find the place heavenly just for the presence of Oslated… And when Vanoni is in charge, it’s very easy to feel the divine side of the label again…

With “K​ó​shkil”, the Argentinian artist basically signed his best production so far, from a discography that is not very big yet but which already makes us follow him closely.

With “K​ó​shkil”, he reached an incredible level of artistry and joins our “Hypnotic Banquet”, which is our “not-so-top-secret” list of favourite producers (mainly South American by the way). As if it wasn’t enough, Claudio PRC and Shoal contributed… Thank you Oslated!

ORGANIC TECHNO

Talking about our “Hypnotic Banquet”, we are lucky this week, as Zemög is back with a new beautiful release, eight months after his previous solo work which marked the birth of his label Tepuy. True fact: some days ago, Zemög and Marco Shuttle have been hiking together on the Nevado del Tolima, a Colombian volcano. Not saying that this “initiation” has anything to do with the present EP, but watch out how you play it: it is said that its powerful vibrations and subtle language of Nature could wake up the volcano… You’ve been warned.

ATMOSPHERIC TECHNO

A love letter to Laertes. “Dear maestro, dear Elettronica Romana legend, dear Italy. Your raw, hypnotic and perfect techno curves have always fascinated us, from your first masterpieces as part of Modern Heads to your last EP Titanomachia. When our heartbeats are in sync with your hot rhythms, it’s to get lost in your loops, to feel instead of think. We’ve always loved your music from the bottom of our hearts, but since “Oscure Presenze” – your own “Shaman’s Paths” shall we dare to say – we will love your music from the bottom of our belly, because the belly is bigger than the heart. Voila.”

Dschen is also a talented DJ, with his own series of mixes:

DOWNTEMPO

Release after release, we are blown away by Eafhm’s ability to constantly find and make us discover new talents through his prodigious imprint Secuencias Temporales. Take Dschen for instance, while he has obvious expertise with modular synths, he’s making his official debuts with the present LP. We repeat: it’s “his FIRST release”… From this calibre of production, take some minutes to imagine what will come next…

Dschen got it all straight from the beginning: impactful rhythms tainted with drum’n’bass flavour at the forefront of modernity, astonishing minimalism to give space to our deep thoughts, well-inspired jam approach to design sick atmospheres: it’s a top score for the German producer.

We noticed also some common points with Dycide from IO Records: they both have a background in drum’n’bass, they both play the piano, they both come from Munich, they have a similar moniker and more importantly, they both approach techno with a certain elegance, subtle for Dycide and impactful for Dschen (quickly said).

We take the opportunity to mention also a dope release by Dycide, which came out on the exact same day on Crescent London; isn’t it disturbing? 😵‍💫

“Cortices” (“Cortex”), an EP to conceptualise brain functions.

ATMOSPHERIC DRUM’N’BASS

Watch out, you are entering a high artistic zone with all the people involved in this project. On one side, we have Hesh, co-owner of Initiate with Pattrn who took care of the mixing. Hesh is known for his cutting-edge leftfield, ambient and bass music mixes. On another side, we have Oliver Si, who spent most of his career doing fat remixes in various music genres, from broken beat to dubstep to dark jazzy electronica. It is certain that the two lads perfectly match together, from the uncompromising quality of their respective works to the focus on the bass spectrum. Together, they released Initiate’s first EP in 2021, and they are back with “Cortices”, insanely dope, with a brilliant remix by Owl to close the journey. Finally, we have the Belgian label itself, Ante Rasa, which made it clear in its manifest, that it rejects the entertaining side of art in favour of the intelligent one, less accessible yet more interesting. Impressive!

Note: Pattrn also participated lately in a sick remixed EP by Aöcram, not to be missed.

ATMOSPHERIC TECHNO

In VRIL’s discography, there are mainly two poles: minimal experimental loops, smokey and hypnotic, which match his introverted nature, and deep housey breakbeat with TR-909 claps, suitable for “la playa en Ibiza”, representing his festive side. Two poles, two different audiences: an underground one, which sees him as a genius but also complains in forums about his orientation to some mainstream vibes, and an EDM audience, happy to have quality techno anthems yet not too easy to access. “Animist” is interesting for being – for us – a release that reunites at best both worlds: the production is subtle in the background and lifts the spirit in front, with beautiful basslines and atmospheres. Is it an ideal album to bring our niche sound to the masses? We let you judge…