Soundscapes of Synthesis: Varsity Star's Sonic Odyssey

"Every Single Time Vol. 1" by Brooklyn's Varsity Star is a sonic odyssey through the uncharted territories of music. This album boldly combines the emotive songwriting of American indie rock with the deep experimentation and big beats of European IDM. From the first notes of the lead single "Ski Patrol," listeners are transported to a world where 80's neon synths dance with nimble beat programming, creating a track that's both experimental and danceable. It's a testament to Varsity Star's ability to push the boundaries of what music can be, and this theme continues throughout the LP.

What makes this record truly exceptional is its eclectic nature. From highly technical tracks like "Pizza Parlor" to the gritty DnB programming of "Yes Mikey" and the ambient and lo-fi textures of "Intermission" and "Cabin," Varsity Star proves that genre boundaries are meant to be shattered. Yet, despite this diversity, there's a unifying thread that ties it all together—an unwavering commitment to meticulous production and haunting melodies that haunt your thoughts long after the music stops.

"Every Single Time Vol. 1" is more than just an album; it's a musical adventure that takes you through a wide array of emotions and sonic landscapes. Varsity Star's journey from Boston suburbs to Berlin, and back to Brooklyn, is mirrored in the album's multifaceted sound. With each track, he invites you to explore a different facet of his musical universe. Whether you're a fan of electronic music or simply someone who appreciates boundary-pushing artistry, this LP deserves a place on your playlist. It's a testament to the boundless creativity of Varsity Star and a reminder that music knows no limits.
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Mindsight's "Proof of Concept": A Sonic Journey of Exploration and Emotion

Mindsight's latest EP, "Proof of Concept," is a compelling exploration of the artist's evolution in the electronic music landscape. Joshua Neumann, the creative force behind Mindsight, is a Munich-based producer and visual artist known for his boundary-pushing approach to music. With a career marked by sonic experimentation and a penchant for blending genres, Mindsight has carved a distinctive niche in the electronic music scene.

Neumann's artistic journey is marked by a diverse discography that showcases his versatility. From ethereal soundscapes to intricate beats, Mindsight has consistently defied genre conventions. With tracks that range from the dreamy atmospheres of "Trojan Matter" to the energetic and introspective "W___," Mindsight's previous works have been a captivating sonic odyssey.

"Proof of Concept" continues this sonic exploration, presenting a four-track EP that delves into themes of isolation, fears, and societal questioning. The EP's standout tracks like "WDW" and "Lost Time" weave together intricate electronic elements with emotive melodies. Mindsight's use of German lyrics in "WDW" adds an intimate layer to the EP, inviting listeners to contemplate the human experience. "Proof of Concept" is a testament to Mindsight's artistic growth and willingness to push the boundaries of electronic music, making it a must-listen for fans of experimental and genre-blurring soundscapes.

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RYECROFT’s Latest Album is an Experiment with Layers of Found Noise

The guitarist-turned-electronic musician continues to display his versatile capabilities

RYECROFT is the solo project of Yuki Hongo, a multi-faceted musician from Fukuoka, Japan. With years of experience as a guitarist living in Tokyo, Hongo ventured into the electronic music scene and genre in 2016, a move that brought his practice to Toronto, Canada. Hongo continues to perform in Japan and produces abstract sound installations, and his latest album Beautiful Variant, released this year, shows the next step on his electronic music path.

Debuting his electronic career in 2018 with the album Abstract Gene, RYECROFT’s tracks showed a distinct versatility and multi-angled approach to electronics. The first song on the album ‘To die a little’ is a more tranquil sound, and is followed by ‘Cut,’ which features piercing intensities and a command over electronic production. In 2020, his album Melt, featured ‘Defend us from Nation,’ which opened the album with an orchestral sounding, classical music-electro twist full of dystopian themes. His 2020 EP ‘Psychological Portrait’ featured this epic narrative sound with an existential tilt, plus found clips of water running. More recently, in his EP ‘Give’ in 2021, he returned to his guitar practice.

Beautiful Variant came out this year and is composed of 10 tracks that give a found sound feel and feature static effects, trance like beats, and more. The variability of intensities and rhythms throughout bring a shift of mood, moments of calm, and the manipulation of strong, clashing, and abrasive sounds through a multi-level experience of beeps, clashes, and scraping.

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Caleb Peinado releases ‘Renoise 2’ as a follow-up to his debut album from 2021

Bringing listeners more of his jazzy-electronic experiments, the artist presents three new songs

Caleb Peinado is a debut artist from Olympia, Washington in the United States. After releasing his first album in 2021, he became known for his experimental electronic sounds with jazz twists. This April, he released his second album, Renoise 2 which incorporates his signature blending of genres. Bringing together motifs from leftfield, IDM, and jazz, his work spans across ambient themes and pays homage to UK label, Warp. As a label known for their work with Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, Richard Devine, and Boards of Canada, Warp’s influence is evident in Peinado’s songs where you can hear clear traces of music trackers and music making methods that are often left behind in modern electronic music.

Acting as a sequel to his debut track by name, but also by album artwork, Renoise 2 uses meticulous sound-production processes to capture the detailed layers of the three tracks

Renoise 1 was Peinado’s debut album which released in 2021 and featured five different paced tracks which spanned the slower, more ominous themes of ‘Renoise Cmaj,’ all the way to the hyper-paced sound of the special effects in ‘Renoise Fmin.’ His experimental range shows an investment in the play and creation of electronic music, incorporating speed and urgency in his sound.

Acting as a sequel to his debut track by name, but also by album artwork, Renoise 2 uses meticulous sound-production processes to capture the detailed layers of the three tracks. ‘Nighttime’ takes on a particularly jazzy feel, whereas the bouncy and orchestral juxtaposition of ‘Bunny’ makes a pop-funk sound. Finally, the trilogy closes out with ‘Aqua Finale’ which merges the tones set by the first two tracks.

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Thanks for Understanding and Fermi Lekunde come together for a debut collaboration

Two new tracks by these Toronto-based artists produce innovative sound

‘Donovan Birds’ is the first collaboration between Toronto-based musicians Thanks for Understanding and Fermi Lekunde. The former is the alias Ali Awah who brings an indie sound to the two-track collaboration. The latter, Fermi Lekunde, brings the other dimension to the sound; he was classically trained in piano before turning to experiment with electronic music beginning with FM synthesis, deconstructed analog beats, and Space FX. His inspiration comes from the emerging Toronto techno scene that he saw growing up, including Jeremy Greenspan, Ciel, and Daphni.

Thanks for Understanding released Year of Uncertain Gods in 2021—his second album after Kevin Nishri Tape from 2020. Additionally, he has released singles including ‘Milk’ in 2019, and ’Kulish Helu’ in 2020. A live set from 2020 featuring Thanks for Understanding can also be replayed via Biblioteka Records. Fermi Lekunde has released two EPs in collaboration with Toronto-based label Doubt & Uncertainty: Hydra in 2020, and The Once and Future in 2019. Prior to that, he released the EP Comess in 2019.

Thanks for Understanding brings his self-described androgynous and genre-less sound to Donovan Birds. He adds the elements of real-life-sound, voice, and bubbly disorientation. Mixed with Fermi Lekunde’s warm techno feel that combine ambient sound textures, glitches, and rhythmic beats, the collaboration arrives at an unpredictable set of jazzy, techno, acoustic music that leaves the listener in an auditory cliff hanger.

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Thanks for Understanding
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Fermi Lekunde
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Gimmik enters a new era with “Carters Final Transmission”

The official video for Carters Last Transmission by Gimmik. Taken from his album Cloudwalker [April 23 / n5MD]https://n5.md/295bSources:Long Distance : Audio...

With a new album in the near future, Gimmik has made his way back into contemporary electronica

Martin Haidinger has been absent from the electronica scene. The artist behind projects including Num Num and Low Profile Society faded away from producing over a decade ago, citing an over formulated environment focused on micro details.

In the last few years however Haidinger has quietly been making a return under his moniker of “Gimmik”, starting with an intimate two track EP released in 2019 titled “Entre Les Chambres”, which ventures back into tones of ambient and drone. This tentative experimental energy carried across to the more recent EP Deux Novelles announced in 2021, as did the meditative quality of sound.

Late March saw a much more conspicuous release from the Austrian artist, in the form of the “Who is Num Num?” album, and eight track release that began to rekindle Gimmik’s characteristic IDM and glitch influenced style. Light and innovative in its delivery the LP represents something of a new milestone for Gimmik, as he transitions from a returning artist to a contemporary one.

Now Gimmik is on at the point of dropping album of this new period, a collection of melodic electronica which keeps alive the appreciation for narrative present in his earlier work. Set April 23rd, the “Cloudwalker” LP is preceded by our featured track “Carters Final Transmission”.

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Subtle explorations of experimental, from Taut

After a trail of engaging IDM tracks, Taut releases his debut LP ‘Sincerity’

Adopting the moniker of Taut, Jacob Bergson has been conducting his own experiments with electronic sounds for more than a decade, all while carving out a place for himself in the competitive New York City music scene. Though Taut finds time to connect with and draw inspiration from other producers who share an interest in exploring fresh avenues of sound, it’s clear that his own unique personality is enough to bring vibrant character to his work.

Taut is the first solo project to come from this artist, but the quality of his singles released late last year have already been helping to establish his growing discography. Now the US based artist has made to the move to extended releases, finally dropping his first LP, a 10 track collection which wanders across genre boundaries.

Titled ‘Sincerity’, the album leans away from organic sound, and instead makes full use of synthesiser and modular textures. That’s not to say Taut disregards physical sound entirely, but appearances of muted drums and orchestral progressions arrive already having been altered to exist within the artist’s meticulously cultivated soundscape.

Within Sincerity you’ll find elements of glitch and IDM blending together with flowing synth, but the elaborate attention to detail is what finalises this LP. 

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Amoa floats vocals upon idm, in solo album ‘You’

Combining organic beauty with impactful electronic beats, Amoa’s debut collection evokes tranquillity and far horizons

Since 2019 Swiss singer and composer Andrea Thoma has been releasing a trail of singles under the name of Amoa, creating soft chillwave laced with idm electronica. Her discography so far hums with warm vocals, and an appreciation for how subtle organic samples can elevate the quality of flowing synth.

Now Amoa steps towards a more focused route, as she draws those singles together and releases a fresh wave of work to release her debut album ‘You’. Into her sound falls production support from Roland Vollenweider and Jonathan Nage, as well as guitar from Simon Boss.

The electronic aspect in Amoa’s work is more present than might be expected of a project able to deliver so strongly from a vocal standpoint. There’s the smooth atmospheric vibe of chillwave but also the heavier pulse of glitch. Space is left for Amoa’s impressive voice but other samples move in between the synthetic soundscape to add to the organic quality of the tracks.

‘You’ was recently released on the Radicalis label, and achieves a balance of synthetic power and delicate harmony. Each individual track forms a small oasis, carrying peaceful melodies which float skywards to form an ethereal canopy.

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Propulse take risks with new collection ‘Digiform’

The small town project gets off the ground with an experimental balance between glitch and idm

Propulse is a collaborative project, a joint venture into idm and experimental by brothers Kyle and Jon Wall. The pair are based in out in small town Ontario, working together to spread their sound out to other artists and listeners. Their connection with the Canadian label ‘A Person Disguised As People’ is serving as a way for them to do just that, with an EP already released last year and a more extensive five track collection dropping later this month.

Though the sound explored by Propulse in their earlier work with ‘A Person Disguised As People’ back in 2020 was structured around muted snare beats and a soft bass undercurrent, their upcoming release ‘Digiform’ moves into a more accentuated style of idm.

In tracks like ‘Glitterbroke 74’ and ‘Cloud 9 People’ the brothers lean more heavily on glitch, which a touch of acid house squelch. There’s a smoother quality to other inclusions on the EP though, with the inclusion of synth waves helping to blur the boundaries between the decidedly synthetic beats.

Our featured track ‘Digiform’ balances these somewhat contrasting tones, even moving to include organic, natural samples, as well as pads. Playing together with the glitch, Digiform is an experiment that pays off.

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