MUSIC RECOMMENDATION

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Mers (“Seas” in French) is not “just another VA”, this is “The VA”, an artistic experience with vital power to transform energies, rolling a smooth wave for “enlightenment”.

Contrary to common belief, “enlightenment” is not “an achievement”, a mountain to climb, a peak to reach: “Enlightenment” has more to do with a calm sea: it’s a homecoming, a return to nature, to water, to simplicity. If you ask a killer whale “What is darkness?” It’d whisper: “Such a metaphysical question is maybe important for you my friend, but I’m personally more interested in living the moment, and eventually throwing that seal in the air…” 

From your own personal cliff, jump into “Mers” with a free mind and experience the peace of it…

ATMOSPHERIC TECHNO

Einstein: “Everything in Life is Vibration”. The hippies: “It’s all about vibrations man!”. Where there is a vibration, there has to be a sound… So it is eventually relevant, at least poetic, to see your whole existence as “a piece of sound”. If we all know people who are – say – “noisier” than others, what matters under the light is how you listen, interpret and communicate “your sound”. After “An Unexpected Day“, Italian artist Vidění has chosen “Mental Landscape” to share it, in a very subtle, beautiful and inspiring way…

We’re not sure that all of you speak Swedish, so we’ve translated the titles for you, ‘just in case’ 💙💛

ATMOSPHERIC TECHNO

Varg2 and Anthony Linell are what you call “good old friends”: Varg2 partly owes Linell his reconversion from Pagan metal to IDM (which btw marked the update from “Varg” to “Varg2”, that we interpret as “version 2.0 of Varg”), and Linell owes the very first release of his label Northern Electronics to Varg2, as well as the well-inspired ones from him that followed.

Now, before hitting play, you’re invited to read and understand the titles first, because Varg2’s creative process usually consists of writing them before translating them musically. Without reading them, you will enjoy a great cinematic release yet miss the profundity of the approach. When getting them, you will realise how the topics of mourning and sorrow echo the complex rhythms, illustrating the confused mind, and the cathedral-like lyrical musings, expressing melancholia. 

Varg2, vulnerable, authentic, belongs to a family of tortured souls, using art as a salvatory outlet, expressing moods through tattoos, graffiti and music. He somewhat reminds us of Presha from Samurai Music: their dark storytelling is poetry to our ears, yet if “shock”, “sorrow”, “anger” and “forgiveness” are the four main mourning stages, we hope that Varg2 has reached the last one…

^{Anthony Linell and Varg, together as “Ulwhednar”}

Also known as Synus0006…

EXPERIMENTAL

The deep, smokey, sometimes jazzy sound of Free Sequence seems to emerge from the wilds of New York’s late nights, yet it doesn’t: we are in Hungary, the land of exploratory labels supporting mainly local artists, such as Farbwechsel, Deafness Records and of course NNULLZ, owned by Lacidrax. All these projects have in common a certain fascination for deep acid drones and atmospheres, while Free Sequence turns more and more minimal since Encoder’s EP. This won’t disappoint Lacidrax who defends the motto “Less is more” atop 20 years of production, as sensed in the present EP, which brilliantly “says the most with the least.”

Enthralling interview with Uun on Dub Monitor:

DUB TECHNO

Hello dear Detroit, it’s been a long time since we’ve been talking about you, about your inspiring post-industrial factories, seen by some as “Modern Cathedrals“…

We still remember how the “second wave” of local artists created minimal techno, de facto hypnotic from its stripped-down repetition, as a reaction against the gabber, too rich, too meaningless.

Three decades after, we’re back between your brown brick walls, in the company of veteran Uun and label founder Altstadt Echo, you know, “the Dub Monitor guy”…

“Aspect of Obliteration” can make Detroit proud, even with the claps, “forgiven” for being somewhat in character with the city’s original 909-based techno…

VARIOUS ARTISTS

In our community, there is an old adage initiated a while back by our dear Katerina Maragou, saying “In Blazej We Trust”. If it reveals more or less obviously her unconditional love for the artist’s talent, it also speaks a certain truth: Malinowski designs solid crystal-clear tracks with an outrageous consistency, whether it is on 012, Semantica or on his own imprint Inner Tension. He also earned a high reputation as a DJ, for his impeccable mixes and hot events.

Then, being a family man, he’s for sure “overwhelmed” yet not “alone”, having also reunited a bunch of talented friends on the present top-class EP, supervised by genius Gio from Artefacts Mastering. 

SPIRALS

It’s time to shake the booty on Mary Yuzovskaya’s vinyl-only label, in the company of Italian swinger Hoedus (also known as OWL), label co-owner of Anekoic Records. Dark and acid, “Monoceros” is a loyal fitting sequel to the author’s previous releases, usually centred on a stabbing bassline, showcased “like a black pearl in its lush setting”. Spanish artist Orbe, whom we know from his work on Token, joined the party with a remix tainted with Mike Parker’s influences. Ten days before, he also released a dope EP that we recommend to check out, on his own imprint Orb Records.