Electronic – Page 2

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.

Point – [2019] Human Music

Slick abstract trance, located somewhere between deadmau5 and Moderat. Genuinely trance-inducing.

Netlabel Digital Diamonds has stayed one of the more active netlabels. As such, it comes up more and more often when fishing for recent releases in the younger parts of the Internet Archive’s audio section. This release is a particularly brilliant gem of cerebral dance music. Doing well both as fancy coding backdrop as well as late night club furniture, its polished soundscapes hide lots of work that must have gone into their effort betraying shiny finish.

Tornfly – [2012] Solar System Federation

Relaxingly spacious, almost ambient trance. Airy synth lines above sparce percussion.

Definitely not easy listening, this trance-y instrumental space music makes for some intriguing hours of re-listening to its 8 varied entries. Every song starts differently and develops independently from the others. Common are the synth sounds, drum kits and sawtooth bass lines.

Various Artists – [2008] Breathe 02

Essential listen for downtempo enthusiasts. Different artists cover wide range of styles.

Breathe Compilations is a (former?) Mexican netlabel that – surprise – specialises in releasing compilations, active between 2008 and 2018 (as of 2020). Although the label’s back catalogue (92 releases) has not seen an addition for almost 2 years, its Soundcloud profile buzzes with activity. So I don’t fully call off any hope for a comeback. But in the meantime, I could as well review one of its earliest releases:

Gridline – [2014] Videogame

Pure synths (no samples) and drums lead to an instrumental or melodic techno album. Made not for dancing, but for attentive walking.

Gridline is the music project by Serbian artist Predrag Grujic. Starting in 2012, he released several albums and EPs on the two-sided Japanese label Bump Foot (Bump for techno et al., Foot for ambient, IDM, …). This is his first Bump release, and quite quiet at that. Melody lines and only subtle beats make this more (artsy) pop than dance music. Its liberal use of cold sound textures and reverb occasionally remind me of a church organ.

Aleckat And Hynamo – [2020] Apollo EP

Stratospheric sounds hit grounded beats. Solid progressive techno with psy trance influences. Headphones strongly recommended.

Imagine the fat production value of Monstercat, the astro-inspired sound of space backdrops, and the routine of a club music DJ, all at the same time. The result is an EP whose use of Armstrong’s iconic footprint is fully justified. Long, stretched-out bass lines are monotonous, but never boring. But judge for yourself whether this is your cup of trance:

Sharema – [2019] Uranus Berlin

Quintessential drone music. Perfect for recreational relaxation, not for busy workouts.

Not much can be found online about netlabel 1834. It curates a collection of long form ambient drone recordings. Most probably stem from live performances. I bring you here catalogue no. ET-047. The vibrant and colourful cover art already prepares you correctly what you can expect sonically from this release:

My Heart Your Thunder – [2019] My Heart Your Thunder

Timeless electro goodness with edgy synth sounds.

My Heart, Your Thunder (MHYT) has approached me to review one or some of his tracks; some e-mails later, and here we have a special mini-compilation; he even was so generous to offer the lossless sources. So more than ever: if you like what you hear, visit the artist’s original profile (here: Bandcamp) and get some more music there. To stick to my rule, here are the obligatory 2 (out of 6) hand-picked tracks:

Niteffect [2019] – The Wage Of Forgetting

Relaxing trip hop flirting with IDM. Limited cassette version (still) available (?).

Kreislauf is boutique electronica netlabel specialising in cold and steely sounds, similar to its older cousin Kahvi Records. Check out release Kreislauf Extrea 020 to check whether you can still grab the physical tape edition, in case you like the sound, or crave a print of this gorgeous cover art, or want to listen to all 12 tracks with real tape wobble artefacts. But back to the music: