Transcending Soundscapes: Iris Ipsum's 'Pattern Language

Iris Ipsum, the brainchild of the exceptionally talented 21-year-old Solomon Rosenthal, has quickly risen to prominence in the electronic music world, making waves in both Los Angeles and New York. Known for pushing the boundaries of sound and crafting immersive experiences, this enigmatic artist stands as a beacon of innovation in the industry. Their mastery of electronic music production and sound design has earned them a dedicated global fanbase, and they've made a mark not just as a musician but also as a Max for Live audio plugin developer, with over 3,000 units sold worldwide.

Iris Ipsum's sonic signature is a mesmerizing fusion of IDM, breakbeat, and ambient elements. Their musical journey has been punctuated by their recent release on Touched Music, a label shared with pioneers like Autechre and Plaid. This isn't their first dance with the music scene; they've also left their mark on various compilations, showcasing their adaptability and artistry across different sonic landscapes. Iris Ipsum's music is not just a collection of sounds; it's a gateway to otherworldly experiences, where complexity meets accessibility, and the listener is invited on an intellectual and emotional voyage.

This record pushes the envelope, gracefully blending IDM's intricate structures, breakbeat's pulsating rhythms, and ambient's enveloping atmospheres. It's a perfect amalgamation of intellectual stimulation and emotional resonance. Each track feels like a chapter in an intricate story, a story told not through words, but through the language of patterns. Iris Ipsum invites you to explore the boundaries of sound and then daringly transcends them. "Pattern Language" is more than an album; it's a musical manifesto, a journey, and an invitation to experience electronic music in all its glorious complexity.

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DEFSET emerges from lockdown with a 16-track masterpiece

As a newcomer to the scene, Proximity solidifies the artists’ mastery of electronic music

Proximity is the latest release by electronic musician DEFSET. An alias for artist Leo Neelands, DEFSET takes its inspiration from the electronic dance and acid house movements that defined the cultural moment of his youth. Originally known for his work as a visual effects artist, Neelands, has worked on the effects of movies including Harry Potter, Gravity, The Hobbit, and Iron Man 3. But, with a lifelong passion for music dating back to his time making music on an Atari ST, Neelands career as DEFSET has solidified his commitment to the art as he has made himself known for a creative use of modular synthesizers and onboard gear, creating immersive music with glitchy, syncopated rhythms.

As the debut album of an artist who is new to the scene, Proximity follows a series of single releases, many of which appear on the full album. In 2021, he released ‘Deadlines,’ Shira2,’ and ‘Bathtime,’ all of which are featured in the full album, as well as ‘The Edge of the World,’ ‘Shira2 (Locked Groove Remix),’ and ‘Deadlines (Perry Granville Remix).’

DEFSET used his memories of the UK rave scene as a point of inspiration for the album. Rediscovering fond memories in the process of producing the music, DEFSET points tracks such as ‘HoneySwede’ to dedicated fans of underground electronic music. Looking to return to the music making process, Neelands purchased modular gear before the COVID lockdown began and spent the duration of that period producing this album, with every sound and element created from scratch. In its entirety, the album presents an energetic feel with the opportunity for listeners to enter a trance-like-state, absorbed in the atmospheric tone that carries through each track.

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Makoto Nagata provides 'Depth' on his latest release

Japanese track-maker Makoto Nagata is a relative newcomer in the world of electronic music, having just released three singles this year before the latest collection - an eight tracker titled ‘Immersion’ in December.

Not that you would notice this by listening to his work though which spans the worlds of IDM, future garage, ambient, and downtempo - flitting between them with aplomb. Different moments on the record could quickly draw favourable comparisons with the likes of Jamie XX, Burial and Brian Eno - clearly Nagata is taking his musical cues from some top-drawer electronic icons.

There are some real sonic pleasures on display throughout, but the pièce de résistance of this offering is nestled right in the middle of the collection and goes by the apt title: “Depth”.

It’s an unashamedly bustling track, where emotive breath noises and sound design elements circulate between floating Rhodes, dance beats, and driving bass lines in an elegant sound that is reminiscent of the early dance forays of Four tet. Around the mid way point a throbbing bass synth takes centre-stage before a steady rise brings the main themes back in once more with some pitched vocal snaps that could easily have been straight out of the Kieran Hebden playbook.

It’s an enjoyable listen that shows more than a touch of personality from the producer - balancing sensory stimulus and fun, expertly crammed into a smart package of just over three minutes.

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After a two decade hiatus, vcam announces a return

Pulled back to creation, the experimental artist is reconnecting and looking to new possibilities

Vcam has been away for production for so long that he could be mistaken for a new arrival to the community, recently signed up to the Californian label n5MD. This assumption would land you far from the truth, though with after an extended hiatus of roughly twenty years it’s a mistake you could certainly be forgiven for making. In reality, James Long was developing his experimental electronica project vcam when n5MD was first starting, becoming the first artist to sign to the label and help push it towards its continued success today.

A change in scenery and the priority shifting effects of 2020 brought Long back into the headspace to return to music, and to the platform of minimal melodies he built up for himself. Vcam returned to the scene with a demonstration of the tracks he’d been tinkering together during his absence from the scene.

The first step back is set to be followed by new energy and the products of vcam’s rebuilt studio, in the form of upcoming album Arconide. The collection is expected to drop on December 4th, carrying textured melodies stirred up by manipulated alien beats. Vcam delivers a taster with lead track ‘77’, visceral sound accompanied by flowing overtones.

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Dreams of the unknowable, ‘Cassilda and Carcosa’ present ‘Cloudwaves’

With handmade tracks, the New York artist imbibes minimalism and ambience with strange fiction

The producer behind the experimental IDM project ‘Cassilda and Carcosa’ resides in Brooklyn. They take their namesake from the writings of Robert W. Chambers, a prolific author concerned with the supernatural. The science fiction of Chambers ripples through the work of Cassilda and Carcosa, igniting a desire to experiment, and bringing to life new worlds that flicker through malleable genres like ambient, new age, drone and minimalism.

Parallel to Cassilda and Carcosa is this artist’s career as a software engineer, an inevitably technological environment from which electronica can still provide an escape, if approached with the right perspective.

Circumventing a conventional digital audio workstation (DAW) entirely, Cassilda and Carcosa composed their 2020 album ‘Transformers, Transistors, and Tape’ using a host of analog mixers, hardware synthesizers, sequencers and guitar pedals, directly recorded to tape.

The eight track album released on Ingrown Records, the Virginia based imprint who welcome creators of new age psychedelia. The music contained within the album is tied to minimal but club worthy beats, which generate weird, evasive melodies. The sound is alien at times but consistently enjoyable listening, with acid squelches and electronic pulses falling in a pattern before you. The closing track ‘Cloudwaves’ leaves a more ambient taste however, with synth rolling over sonar blinks.

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Expressing the essence of connection, Piksel’s ‘Space’

Leva Vaiti has brought her talent as a classically trained violinist and creativity as an electronic artist to the UK, taking up residence in London. Already an experienced musician, she entered the electronica community inspired by the city’s underground scene and well equipped to begin claiming her own space and take on the moniker ‘Piksel’.

Her interest in music extends into scoring for visual media, an interest that led her to co-develop the Syntrex project, a multimedia collective of artists working at the point where experimental music, visual art and dance begin to coalesce. It’s through Syntrex that her latest EP began formation, originally being produced to serve as a score for a multimedia dance piece which premiered at The Place in the heart of London back in early February.

While some tracks remain exclusive to the performance, three have been selected for Piksel’s EP ‘Some Silver Burns’, including our featured track ‘Space’. The release showcases a brief view into the variety of styles Piksel is capable of bringing to life, each adding to the overall theme of connection to the natural world, expressed through lightly manipulated strings, matched with field recordings. The ambient landscape is inhabited by textured beats, mist-like synth and violin of mournful character.

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IDM and time manipulation, Daniele Sciolla’s ‘Scherzo’

music & video: Daniele Sciolla release: SYNTH CARNIVAL, May 26th 2020 http://www.danielesciolla.com

As you might expect, Daniele Sciolla’s approach to music production is influenced by his enrolment at the Turin Italian Jazz Academy, as well his studies at the Cuneo National Conservatory ‘G Ghedini’. Less obvious is that Sciolla’s recent EP ‘Synthesizer Carnival’ was inspired not by his research into music, but his degree course in Mathematics.

Sciolla has been a part of the electronic music scene long enough to pick up the Heineken Balaton Sound prize for his dj performance, as well as acclaim from the art showcase event MArtLive. The Italian artist has also found time to produce tracks for major events held by Vogue, Nitro Circus and Teton Gravity, while bringing his personal style of experimental electronica to more than 400 gigs around Europe.

His most recent release came out May 26th, and the three track ‘Synthesiser Carnival’ stands as an unimpeded dive into IDM. Quite unpredictably, Mathematical physics and research concerning time dilation inspires the risky manipulation of tempo. In particular, ‘Scherzo’ is a song whose timing seems to wander close to the brink, before Sciolla moves back the different elements of the track to restore order. The melodies are unpredictable, but far more impactful as a result.  

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New steps into new landscapes, with Fermi Lekunde

There seems to be life in Fermi Lekunde’s music that the artist didn’t put there himself. There are artists that look to echo the ambience of scenes in nature, and do so well, but Fermi Lekunde brings about unexplored synthetic ecosystems. The glitchy, quirky beats are surrounded by brittle, insect-like melodies, and there’s constant alien warmth generated by the contrast of an unfamiliar environment set against a sense of discovery.

Fermi Lekunde is the alias of Marlin Tusha, an artist based in Toronto and heavily inspired by the techno and electronic scene that exists in the region. IDM and ambient music tends to be his area, with a well measured addition of glitch to the mix.

May 15th saw the release of Lekunde’s third release, the six track EP ‘Hydra’. The characteristic creation of new space continues, with songs like ‘Another’ placing samples further out in stereo, then reflecting them back and forth. The carefully engineered beats and synths which carry each track are to be praised, but the sounds which take background roles provide a more detailed and less tangible flavour.

As with previous releases, ‘Hydra’ has been released through Doubt and Uncertainty Records, another confident step in a growing discography.

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Minor Science reshapes sounds from the Magic Drum Orchestra

Ralph Cree and Glyn Bush (aka BiggaBush) are the names behind largescale samba and percussion group, Magic Drum Orchestra. A project built on a wealth of experience, talent and creativity, the MDO has been spreading its influence and making waves since 2005.

The group has taken on the challenge of giving unique twists to iconic tracks from Snoop Dog and Benga, they’ve embraced funk rich genres including Afrobeat and Samba, thrashed out experiments with dubstep and modern dance beats, and then fused the energy together for an intense sound that leaves a lasting impression.

With the newest release, focus is turned towards those in the music community drawn to the MDO’s cocktail of electronic beats. May 8th saw the reveal of ‘100 Whites A Day’, a seven track collection of MDO remixes from artists like DJ Madd and Blood Wine or Honey, as well as by BiggaBush himself.

Minor Science is among those artists let loose on the tracks, delivering his take on ‘Two Bs One White’ and adding flavours of heavy dub and electronica wrapped in a clean and crisp mixdown. The UK born, Berlin based artist switched from music journalism to production in 2018, and has since debuted with London based label- Whities. His characteristic left-field vibes bring new life and a new perspective to a classic track.

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