Favorite Releases from April 2021
Spring is now moving into its fullest expression, delighting us with its diversity and abundance of flourishing new albums, releases, and remixes. This month features Forest Drive West, Lord Of The Isles, Andy Stott, Facta, Perdu, Hamatsuki, Shek O, Agonis, and Comit, released through Livity Sound, Dusk Delay, Modern Love, Wisdom Teeth, Life At Robert Johnson, Mind Control Rectifier, Lapsus Records, A Strangely Isolated Place, and Round Robin Recordings.
Forest Drive West
New Day
Livity Sound
Forest Drive West steps up for the next release on the Bristol imprint Livity Sound. After releasing music on, Delsin, Echocord, Rapture London, Hidden Hawaii, Midgar, AD93 (former Whities), R & S Records, Livity Sound, and Appian Sounds, the UK producer returns to Bristol-based Livity Sound with his new "Dualism" EP. Painting with his essential palette of deep and dubby techno sounds, Forest Drive West continues exploring percussive rhythms with an all-encompassing psychedelic feel.
Tinged with deep and atmospheric techno rhythms, the second track, "New Day," oozes with careful attention paid to the opulent pads and shape-shifting textures.
Andy Stott
The Beginning
Modern Love
Manchester-based producer and musician Andy Stott brings listeners his eighth solo album and taps into a broad spectrum of dreamy and atmospheric sounds with vibes that have drawn comparisons with the likes of Chromatics or Cocteau Twins. Entitled "Never The Right Time," the nine-track record follows his 2019's "It Should Be Us" and features Andy Stott's frequent collaborator Alison Skidmore on vocals. The fully immersive album is filled with washed-out soundscapes, exquisitely orchestrated synth, guitar, and piano elements saturated in a daze of dream-pop nostalgia.
With a sophisticated elegance, "The Beginning" is a gorgeous display of a sonically cohesive blend of hazy, shoegaze-Esque melodies saturated in drifting, carelessly sounds, and balmy Alison Skidmore's vocals, leaving listeners enchanted by her soulful coolness.
Lord Of The Isles
Reduct
Dusk Delay
Scottish producer Lord Of The Isles inaugurates his new record label Dusk Delay with his "Geoglyph" EP. "Inspired by the long summer nights of the northern hemisphere. Known as the 'Gloamin' in old Scots language. When the edges blur and colors become a white pink haze, the possibilities can seem endless. Melancholic thoughts of the past inspire optimism for the future. The unexpected is expected between sunset and the fall of night," the label reveals.
The five-track EP is an artistic fusion of dub techno and retro-futuristic ambient soundscapes presented on Lord Of The Isle's earlier work.
With subdued watercolor hues and distinctive musical modulations wrapped in endless tape delays, the second track, "Reduct," is beautifully forming a meditative abstract impression.
Facta
Brushes
Wisdom Teeth
The Bristol-based producer Facta draws contemporary UK electronic music into his own orbit with a sophisticated approach to sound on the debut LP "Blush" released through Wisdom Teeth, the record label he runs in partnership with K-Lone. The radiant album hosts eight tracks that blur the edge between ambient, classical, sun-drenched Balearic, and downtempo electronica.
"Recorded unusually quickly over a short stint in early 2020, the record is the product of a period of refreshed and unfussy creativity. It's an innovative and distinctly contemporary album that moves a good few steps beyond the artist's work to date - loosely rooted in UK dance music but taking added influence from ambient, modern classical, dreampop, Balearic, folk music, and beyond," the label describes. "The result is a lush, ornate record populated by aqueous pads, bleeping arps wandering melodies, and sparse broken rhythms; acoustic instruments that play out alongside FM synths, all processed with a pristine UV sheen inherited from modern pop music."
One of the standout tracks on the album "Brushes" is cloaked in brooding poeticism, an atmosphere that embodies leftfield rhythmic structures, delicate melodies, and richly embroidered with nuances textures.
Perdu
Retrograde Mercury
Live At Robert Johnson
The latest release on Live At River Johnson comes courtesy of the Amsterdam-based DJ and producer Alain van der Born, aka Perdu. After numerous releases on DGTL Records, Heist, Let's Play House, Perdu debuts on the label with a new EP, paying homage to 80s sound with a modern twist. The four-track "Soaring Flights" EP is vibrant and refreshing with hints of Italo Disco and a euphoric vibe.
The second track, "Retrograde Mercury," is a bright burst of luscious harmonies, intriguing analog injected baselines, and colorful melodies layered with kaleidoscopic, acid-drenched rhythms.
Hamatsuki
Peels
Mind Control Rectifier
Hamatsuki is a project by Mamuka Tskhadaia, the resident DJ of HOROOM room and queer party series Horoom Nights. He is the latest addition to the Tbilisi-based Mind Control Rectifier rooster delivering a beautifully diverse album of eleven tracks full of utopian soundscapes, reflective textures, and experimental tendencies.
Intricate and reflective, "Peels" glides on percussive rhythms and ambient floating textures, which propel the track forwards as lush and airy pads lull the listener into a state of mesmerizing tranquility.
Shek O
With Giants
Lapsus Records
London-based musician and producer Matt Scowcroft, better known as Shek-O, presents "Bancha," his debut album arising from improvisations and superb exploration of the modular sounds. Musically diverse, the 10-track album "operates in essentially ambient terrains, incorporating elements of IDM, glitch, deconstructed dub-techno, and psychedelic, experimental electronica," the label explains.
The album opens with 'With Giants', a beautifully composed track that carries a melancholy feel, captivating melodies, and glitch-inspired atmospherics. Its mallet-driven rhythmic pattern seems in equilibrium with reflective pads and soundscapes rich in textural elements.
Comit
Through The Haze
A Strangely Isolated Place
Comit is one of many monikers employed by San Diego-based UK electronic music producer James Clements. He is an incredibly prolific artist consistently releasing quality music under the ASC, Intex Systems, Unknown Path, Comit, Mindspan, or Nereid monikers. James Clements's fruitful collection of aliases is a striking example of a dynamic and broad approach to electronic music.
After releasing his 2019's debut album "Remote Viewing" as Comit through A Strangely Isolated Place, James Clements brings the eight-track collection of IDM-inspired rhythms, twinkling synth, and broken beats infused with the new age futurism.
The album's fifth track, "Through The Haze," is a genuinely touching melancholic introspection weaving together vivid soundscapes. Evocative moods of deep reflection conjured through analog synthesizers, elements of IDM, and electronica embellished with intricate textures, glitches, and bleeps.
Agonis
Cherry Disposition
Amenthia
The Basel-based producer and Amenthia record label co-founder Agonis returns to his own imprint with a debut LP. The first long-player, "Neutropia" is a melting pot of various musical genres exhibited by Agonis in his previous work, including leftfield techno, drum 'n' bass, downtempo and ambient.
Here is what the label intended to say about the release:
"On "Neutropia", Agonis' first full-length effort, the artist devotes his attention to the outer rim, shedding all earthbound notions in the process. Listeners are presented with 50 minutes of lysergic experimentation, effortlessly gliding between cerebral rhythms and more forceful frequencies."
Beautifully melodic and flowing, the closing track "Cherry Disposition" is a sonically infused trippy collage of dreamy trip-hop soundscapes, metallic textures, and subtle downtempo electronics.
Shervaan Bergsteedt
Thantophobia
Round Robin Recordings
South African producer Shervaan Bergsteedt steps up to Round Robin Recordings with a new EP. Entitled "Cockaigne," the three-track mesmerizing record creates a genuine appreciation for a poetic beauty that is reflective and dreamy.
We had the pleasure of premiering the closing track from the release. Read a full review here