Favorite Releases from February 2022
Close your eyes,
Fall In Love,
Stay there
-Rumi
February brings chocolates, love notes, a wave of passion, and exciting new releases, albums, and remixes to help to get us through the end of the winter.
We have compiled a list of 10 favorite tracks featuring such fervent artists as Carmen Villain, John Roberts, Forest Drive West, Uanamani, Saphileaum, Agonis, Alfred Czital, Jamida, Deadbeat, Sa Pa, Claudio PRC, Francis Harris, Estrato Aurora, and Siarem.
Carmen Villain
Gestures (with Arve Henriksen)
Smalltown Supersound
Carmen Villain returns to Smalltown Supersound with a new record. "Only Love From Now On", the fourth album from the Norwegian-Mexican artist, teeters between slow drifting calm and fluidity of instrumentation focusing on dub, ambient and elements of jazz through soundscapes and field recordings complimented by beautiful contributions of guests Arve Henriksen (trumpet, electronics) and Johanna Scheie Orellana (flutes). Lifted from the press release: "Only Love From Now On is fueled by the sense of scale in feeling small in the face of things so large, the contemplation of how the most significant impact we can have is in the people close to us, the attempt to make sure that impact is a positive one, and the choice to try to focus on love instead of fear. "
The opening track "Gestures" gradually blossoms into a tapestry of soft trumpet peals and delicate orchestration of overlapping rhythms held together by wavering strands of harmony.
Forest Drive West
Anchor
Echocord
After appearing on Livity Sounds, Delsin, Midgar, R & S Records, Appian Sounds, AD93, Hidden Hawaii, among others, Forest Drive West makes a welcome comeback to Echocord with a new collaborative record, "Recursion" EP. The latest release features a new solo track "Anchor" and two collaborations with DB1 and Localhost.
Fusing delicate textures of explorative ambiance with dark undertones, the closing track "Anchor" channels stillness on a meditative, deep percussive rhythm and distant dubby chords in the background.
John Roberts
Crash
Brunette Editions
New York-based electronic music artist John Roberts released another outstanding album through his creative outlet, Brunette Editions. "Wrecked Exotics" sees John Roberts exploring the multi granular shapes of post-classical and modern electronics through his love of acoustic instrumentation and experimentalism. The eight-track record follows his album "Can Thought Exist Without a Body," which John Roberts released in 2019 via his own imprint.
Crafted with eerie textures, "Crash" focuses on experimental ambient techno darkness through soundscapes, drones, piano strokes, and loops.
Uanamani
Sexto Sentido
On Board Music
Laura BCR's On Board music welcomes Madrid-based duo Uanamani with a deep and reflective EP. "Over the six distinctive tracks on Forbidden Islands, Madrid duo Uanamani define their broad and multi-faceted vision of techno and ambient," the label describes. "The two genres become one in Derk & Iterbio's hands. Propulsive rhythms surge forward, peak, and disintegrate into plumes of heady fog. Float with the weightless two openers, drill deep into dubwise territory with "Punatori," soar with club cut "Poveglia," then ride out the smooth descent."
"Sexto Sentido" is a mesmerizing sonic painting crafted by artists with exquisite attention to detail. We had the pleasure to premiere this track via Delayed. Read the review by Slava Malkin
Saphileaum
Ahur (Agonis Remix)
Intervision
Georgian producer Andro Gogibedashvili, known as Saphileaum, revealed his new EP via French imprint Intervision. "Hiberian Central "is an excursion through meditative sonic dimensions and tribal-ambient landscapes previously heard on the albums "The Traveler," "Uninhibited Kingdom," "Imaginary Treasure Mountain," "Eternal Love, Eternal Life," and more. The four-track package features remixes from BLNDR and Agonis.
Agonis adds a new psychedelic twist to "Ahur" emphasizing endless layers, slowly shifting spheres of sound, creating complex breakbeat rhythms with an impressive variety of percussive and synth-driven rhythmic patterns.
Alfred Czital & Jamida
Hermannstraße 176
Harmony Rec.
February marks the release of Alfred Czital's new album, "Reality Check." Hailing from the Czech Republic, the music producer and co-founder of the Prague-based imprint Harmony Rec. brings eight deep and atmospheric techno tracks with ambient influences.
"Hermannstraße 176" was produced in partnership with the Berlin-based producer Jamaica. Here is how Zach Huenink described this collaborative musical journey:
"Much like gazing down at the surface of a watery pool, Alfred Czital & Jamida's collaboration Hermannstraße 176 evokes a sense of aural depth and serenity. Breath-like pads swell and subside in the background, as bright textures snap in and out of existence. Creating a shimmering sonic backdrop as if the sun were dancing across a thousand small waves."
Estrato Aurora & Siarem
Teleonomia
HC Records
Estrato Auroral and Siarem have joined forces for a mighty "Immaterial" EP. "Great Minds Think Alike, would be a good argument to define the merger of the two minds behind Immaterial, the eleventh release by HC Records, signed by Siarem, a producer from Albacete who previously starred in the label's third release, and Estrato Aurora, legendary Valencian musician former member of Lontano, Pajaro Dune and Mini Service. Both have found a complicity and joint impulse that have brought their creative character together in this fruitful union.
Navigating the dunes of the planet Arrakis has never been so delightful since Peace, the track with which the record begins takes us to dreamlike landscapes of infinite horizons in which a deep intimacy develops along the way. A warm broken rhythm, relying on a hypnotic and thick bass, leads the development while being wrapped in multiple sound layers in which velvety pads, melancholic synths and pulsating keys caress our ears like raindrops, thus recreating a mysterious atmosphere typical of unexplored universes, advancing towards the last half of the song, where a second group of harmonies answer and complement the main ones generating a genuine electronic ode."
Francis Harris
New Pastoral
Scissors and Thread
Brooklyn-based producer and head of the Kingdoms and Scissor & Thread record labels Francis Harris delivers his Sixth studio album. Entitled "Thresholds," the album is "inspired by the ecological and political upheavals of the present and the role of speculative thought as an avenue of global transformation Thresholds is the work of a mature artist fully in control of his powers." The twelve-track record of intricate live instrumentation and beautiful vocals takes the listener on a mesmerizing sonic voyage, strolling across an atmospheric and jazzy landscape of various tempos but always exhibiting superb musicianship and production. The album features guest collaborators such as vocalist Eliana Glassand and musicians Darkside's Dave Harrington, Will Shore, Mark Nelson, Greg Paulus, and Gareth Quinn Redmon.
Living up to its title, "New Pastoral" cadences tranquility with a tonal fragility augmented by hypnotic rhythm and synth melodies that breathe in and out to create a fluctuating and soothing effect.
Claudio PRC
The Darkest Hour
Northern Electronics
As a direct response to Russia's diabolic invasion of Ukraine, Northern Electronics assembles a sonic charity collection to help raise funds for UNICEF, helping the children and families who are suffering under the rage of their occupier. All proceeds will go to UNICEF Ukraine.
Titled after Maria Prymachenko's 1982 painting "A Dove Has Spread Her Wings And Asks for Peace," a diverse and extensive compilation features a wide variety of artists selected by the Northern Electronics founders Anthony Linell and Jonas Rönnberg.
One of the compilation's stand-out tracks comes from the Berlin-based producer Claudio PRC. His contribution "The Darkest Hour" is a brooding exploration of abstract sonic intricacies, techno rhythms, and deep melancholic acid tones imbuing the music with emotional resonance.
Deadbeat and Sa Pa
Forbidden City
BLKRTZ
Deadbeat and Sa Pa are pleased to present their first collaborative album on the anniversary of BLKRTZ's 50th release and defer to Albert Camus to describe the "Whys" and "Whats" of it:
"I leave Sisyphus at the foot of the mountain. One always finds one's burden again. But Sisyphus teaches the higher fidelity that negates the gods and raises rocks. He too concludes that all is well. This universe henceforth without a master seems to him neither sterile nor futile. Each atom of that stone, each mineral flake of that night-filled mountain, in itself, forms a world. The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy."
Across eleven tracks, "The Mountain" fuses elements of dub to craft an elegant house and techno with enigmatic simplicity.
The opening track "Forbidden City" sets the album's tone with a dub groove layered with vocoder and trippy effects.