ISSUE #33
Circuit
by Antonio Rafael
Los Angeles-based house music producer, Antonio Rafael, has officially released his first single, Circuit, and it's making us miss the club real bad. Released via the independent label, Good Luck Penny Records in San Diego, Circuit is eight minutes of unrelenting minimal tech house. Staying true to his underground house music roots, this single exists first and foremost to infiltrate the human body. Its driving rhythms and pulsating beats creep in through your pores and detaches you from the physical world. It hurls you into a dark, clandestine dance floor where fellow body-snatched beings coalesce and move in chaotic synchronicity. I'm sweating just thinking about it.
Check out the rest of Antonio Rafael's music and mixes here. His Circuit single (including a remix by Rivka M) is available for purchase here.
Future Ruins
By TOM And His Computer
Copenhagen-based synth-pop artist, TOM And His Computer, has released his single, Future Ruins, ahead of the expected release of his first LP in Fall 2020 via Trentemøller's label In My Room. Future Ruins is a dreamy, melancholic moment on a bright and sunny afternoon. Combining cinematic synths, post-punkish beats, and the icy-cold vocals of Roxy Jules, this single is meant to make you sway, and make you feel. The second track off the single (which we consider a gift), The Darkness Within, carries a similar vibe. It replaces the aforementioned synths and beats with something more reminiscent to shoegaze as opposed to post-punk. While its track name conjures up feelings of negativity, the track follows suit-- but at the same time, there's something hopeful to the track. Maybe it's Roxy Jule's poppy vocals, or the guitar melodies sprinkled throughout like flecks of glitter on a murky pond. However you feel it, it's there, and we love it. Check out the single here, and keep an eye out for more TOM And His Computer as the days go by.
Ritorno
By ANDREA
Italian IDM producer, ANDREA, is an atmospheric manipulator. His latest LP, Ritorno, proves it. Ritorno is 12 tracks and 58 minutes of ambience, elegance, and ofttimes brutal music that flows together in a satisfying cohesiveness. The opening track, Attimo, for example, is a soothing piece of ethereal ambient electronic music that cushions you as you fly through wispy clouds. But then you have tracks like the bass-heavy, hip-hop inspired Reinf or the breakbeats of LG_Amb, that exist perfectly on their own dense clouds within the effervescence of the rest of the album. All things in life need polarity; equilibrium. And this album has it. Check out Ritorno on Bandcamp or Spotify here!
OPAQUE
By Hablot Brown
Relatively new on the LA scene but dripping with potential, Neo-soul / R&B trio Hablot Brown released a 6-song EP this week that laces sunshine and honey together with broken heartstrings and sends the whole bundle skyward with ascendant vocal harmonies. OPAQUE lives in the pocket, relying heavily on minimal grooves and smooth production to set the stage for smoldering acoustic guitar solos and buttery vox layered with vintage mellotrons and synths. The end result is a warm, kinetic ride that dips into sensual shadows and distracts regularly with delightful sonic landmarks in the distance.
Follow Hablot Brown here, and keep your eyes peeled for more greatness.
Favorite tracks: GO, SOLDIER, HEAVEN
Red Echoes
By Arbour, imagiro
I’m delighted to highlight a brand new single from a brand new favorite of mine, Seattle based chillhop producers Arbour. I discovered the standout 2018 LP Sights and Sounds recently and spent a sun-dappled afternoon in my headphones, sending the album to everyone I could think who might enjoy it - which is pretty much everyone. Arbour crafts dreamy instrumental soundscapes punctuated with odd percussion that could be the gears of a bicycle or clacking machinery. Red Echoes is somber and somnambulant, full of ocean-tide reverb and subtle shifts in the sonic atmosphere that bespeak a talented hand making minuscule tweaks to keep the production engaging.
Judge Judy
By Hannibal Buress, Chrome Sparks, Ron Lamont
A desperately needed dose of levity has arrived this week, injected straight into our veins courtesy of comedian, rapper and longtime cohost of The Eric Andre show Hannibal Buress, with production by synth wizard Chrome Sparks and producer Ron Lamont. Judge Judy is a real-life telling of Buress’ appearance on a 2003 episode of the eponymous daytime TV show that also chronicles the legendary courtroom celebrity’s many strengths. The beat sounds like a retro wave version of Lose Yourself, channeling pure majesty and an insatiable hunger for justice, creating the perfect backdrop for lines like this:
They all look up to you, financially
But they cannot get on the floor
Cuz even if they are double digit millionaires
Compared to Judge Judy
They're poor
(Aaaaahhhhhhhhh)
