Unforgiving hard trance. Take upeat house, remove unecessary vocals, keep just the beats.
Following up on my plan to review more from Bump Foot’s catalogue, I dig through over a decade of electronic music. This release could stand up in a fight against Juno Reactor and Paul Oakenfold – if music were a competitive combat sport, that is. Continue reading “AKU – [2010] Insomnia”
Fat psy-tech compilation. Tiny speakers need not apply 😉
Netlabel Digital Diamonds celebrates its tenth birthday. The artists mainly produce psychadelic techno and trance. This celebratory compilation features 10 remixes of noteworthy tracks. Continue reading “Various Artists – [2017] Digital Decade”
Digestible microsampling. Hundreds of millisecond-long snippets, beautifully arranged, form a danceable melange.
This artists knows how to create a distinct sound, that you will be able to recognise, even after just hearing it for once. I guess that producing these arrangements, made from hundreds of tiny sound samples, must be quite laborious. But the effort pays off in a discernible, groovy end result that you certainly won’t forget. Continue reading “Ramacod – [2017] Fang”
Old-school techno meets IDM. This gem from long-standing (active since 2001 and running) netlabel Kahvi offers an interesting blend of 90’s techno sounds and 00’s more refined approach to Electro. While the beats and bass synth lines sound almost retro to my 2017 ears, melody and harmonies sound fresher. Continue reading “Dream Generator – [2007] Glazed”
Elegant monotony. Six tracks, spanning almost one hour, produced using vintage equipment, elegantly fill the air with damp synth sounds and calm beats. Be prepared for Deep House for dark moments. Continue reading “Smooth – [2015] Vintage 02”
Excellent trance mix. Toucan Music is one of the household names for well-produced electronic dance music in the Creative Commons scene. It has been releasing free music as a netlabel for more than ten years now, and its annual mixes never fail to impress. Last year’s mix contains 20 tracks. Continue reading “Various Artists – [2016] Toucan Music Presents 2016”
Frosty minimal techno. This (by online standards) antique release at the Thinner netlabel had a big part in slowly seducing me into exploring the less danceable areas of electronic music. I wonder how this album will sound to me in 30 years. It now feels quite timeless, a bit like some tracks by Kraftwerk. Continue reading “Rktic – [2003] Northern Lights LP”
Edgy techno dance music. Berlin artist Addictive is brought to us by the renowned Italian techno netlabel Sostanze Records. 7 tracks, each more than 5 minutes long, speak for themselves: endless beats and slow transitions. Continue reading “The Additive – [2010] The Additive”
Juicy techno with attitude. Triggered by the recent release of his new Teragraph EP, I looked back to my archive and found ten years of and twelve releases by Professor Kliq. Time for another review of one of his classics, one of the releases that made me a fan. It contains his smashing hit Plastic & Flashing Lights, which is such an ear-charming, head-nod-inducing, cannot-sit-still-evoking track. It appeared on many compilation and best-ofs in the following years: Continue reading “Professor Kliq – [2009] Community Service”
Crispy, kicking breakbeats is what awaits you in this single on Sostanze Records from Italy. Scuola Benassi in four versions, two of which are remixes by other artists. The song itself is a forward-thrusting floor-filling breakbeat bomb (alliteration allergy, anyone?). My two favourite versions and the obligatory download link follow below. Continue reading “Bebop – [2013] Scuola Benassi Deluxxx Edition”
