Electronic – Page 2

Tuatha – [2019] Connecting Environments

Unusual ambient techno with atmospheric synths and laid back beats, akin to Delirium.

Dark ambient sounds give way to regular beats. Dance music like made for clubbing (or rather lounging) just before dawn. Production quality is excellent. Chilean netlabel Cian Orbe specialises in various darker electronic experimental genres, for which this is a more approachable example of.

Various Artists – [2018] Netlabel Day 2018: netlabel essentials 4

Annual anthology of selected delikatessen, ranging from July 2017 to 2018.

This essential compilation is brought to you by essential netlabel and podcast outlet netwaves from Belgium, produced for essential annual free music celebration day. If you want to get all 10 tracks of this compilation in one solid mix, look for one hour long track 11, which makes for decent coding backdrop.

Daizy – [2012] Aramat

Having reviewed another release by Daizy (The Daizy Factory) back in 2018, it’s time to return this Belgium electronica artist. Their songs are clearly structured, built up from simple layers, yet gain from repeated exposure.

Various Artists – [2020] Fusion Compilation 13

New age instrumental hip hop lounge easy listening compilation. Or something like that.

One year after my review on Fusion Compilation 12, it’s time to pay another tribute to this pillar of the free music scene, specialising in trip hop and related genres. Again, all ten tracks would qualify for a mention here, weren’t it for the competition on this (virtual) disc.

Ambient Field – [2005] Visions EP

Blade Runner like ambiance with space soundscapes as backdrop. Relaxing yet distant.

The music Patrick makes strongly reminds of the music of Tangerine Dream (the godfathers of ambient) in the 70’s. Sophisticated sound-layering with dreamy melody patterns on top of it
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What else should I add?

ALONE – [2017] Beautiful Universe

Essential space ambient music with cinematic ambitions.

Space-based ambient music, calmly uplifting. Produced by artist ALONE from Saint Petersburg, this album consists mostly of long, stretched-out synth pad sounds. Bass only fades in late into a song, drums are a rare occurrence.

In Vitro – [2008] Falso Self En Androides EP

Uncompromising hard-hit tech house. Melodic, yet noisy compositions.

Tech house to me sounds like the red wine of electronic dance music. Very tasteful, yet sometimes quite dry. But once after you have gotten used to that strange feeling on your tongue resp. eardrum, you must come back to it from time to time. If you need more, the mexican artist has archived their back catalogue on Bandcamp for our listening pleasure.

Aphilas – [2003] Instrumentally Ill EP

Instrumental hip-hop and easy listening from the olden days.

How could I miss out on reviewing this album for so long? My bad, your good: prepare for an album that must be part of every anthology of CC music. Aphilas must not shy away from being compared to artists like Air or Zero 7.

Vic – [2000] One Turn 5 (Vic Remix)

Early single release from one of the forerunners of the free music scene.

Labelled as Chillout or Ballad at the time, this vocal pop remix of an even older track released at the same label still sounds fresh 20 years later.

The song features harpsichord sounds, dream pop lyrics and easy listening percussion. The radio-ready production makes it stand out from the otherwise rather experimental sound back in the days.

Psychadelic Pedestrian, Notch – [2019] Psychadelik Pedestrian v Notch Remixes

Uplifting house music, straight from the source.

Netlabel Toucan Music is my preferred stop when fishing for well-produced, mainstream sounding dance music with a Creative Commons license attached. While I typically like and review their hour-long mix releases, here I present to you a short, two tracks long EP of remixes done by two staples of the label’s roster.