Favorite Releases from June 2022
"Silence is beauty
A gentle absence that cools a fevered mind
Silence is hope
A quiet place where thoughts become dreams
Silence is strength
A sweet breath that fortifies resolve."
June brings sunny summer vibes to the underground electronic music world with dazzling releases from Frank and Tony, Mary Yalex, Tammo Hesselink, Levon Vincent, DJ Python, Kangding Ray, Edmondson, RDS, Anthony Naples, Skee Mask, and Jacques Greene.
Frank and Tony
Dream Vibration
Scissor and Thread
After almost five years of hiatus, Francis Harris and Anthony Collins are back with a new "Dream Vibration" EP following their gorgeous "Odes" EP.
Deep, atmospheric, and melancholic, the record fits between locked-in dancefloor wooziness, lo-fi-influenced haziness, and minimalist rhythmic structures. The package contains three tracks featuring a vocal contribution from Eliana Glass on Frank and Tony's original version of "Stretch Out Like The World" and two remixes from Timmy Regisford.
Here is how the label describes the title track: "Dream Vibration" kicks off with a lazy breakbeat, floating, barely-there chord washes and eventually and slowly reveals a thick, low kick and deep sub to drive things along."
Mary Yalex
Exploding Sun
Muzan Editions
Mary Yalex crafts a reflective and immersive new album, "Ohra," released through Japanese imprint Muzan Editions. With the discography growing gradually over almost a decade, the Leipzig-based artist constantly breathes new energy into her music by masterfully incorporating a wide range of organic elements influenced by her upbringing near the Thuringian forest in Erefurt to her current home base in the historically industrial Leipzig.
Across ten tracks, Mary Yalex slowly unveils a sonic panorama of elegant melodies and vividly atmospheric orchestral arrangements blossoming in wondrous beauty. One of the stand-out tracks on the album "Exploding Sun" entrances the listener with infinite layers of reflective synth passages and ambient soundscapes.
Tammo Hesselink
Lifted
Mantis
Matching microscopic detail and stark minimalism with a pervading warmth and open, natural flow, Tammo Hesselink shows up on Mantis with four refined and distinctive techno variations. Tammo operated under several different guises before debuting as The Invariants via a self-steered series in 2014 before scattering a tangled web of projects across Nous'klaer Audio. On Mantis 07, he takes a granular approach to techno, using space as a vital ingredient to expose the fine detail in each rhythmic impression and passing texture.
The third track, "Lifted," traverses grainy tones and textures across spacious soundscapes, punctuating deep techno rhythms with subtle background nuances.
Levon Vincent
Sunset
Novel Sound
Levon Vincent returns with his fourth full-length studio album, Silent Cities, a striking departure from his previous records. This is his first release experimenting with the cassette format. Silent Cities is a kind of mixtape with more private moods and personal pitches.
Programming the record during the empty cityscape of Berlin lockdowns, this is the first time Levon's created an album for the home stereo or headphone listening while navigating through a city. A mixtape specialist in his youth, he always wanted to play with the cassette format. The results will surely delight any listener, with the ever-present ambient, krautrock, shoegaze, hip-hop, and electro influences coming to the foreground of this work.
"I was expanding further along the lines of a surprise favorite from my previous LP, a song called She Likes To Wave To Passing Boats, which was not a four-to-the-floor piece to play in clubs but a more impressionistic piece of music that I wrote to expound some emotions one day," says Levon. "It was a song written using just intonation. I really love how warm the pure 4ths sound, so when working on the new LP Silent Cities, I decided to use my own tunings".
Luis
or anyone said this
AD93
DJ Python revives his cult alias, Luis, with a reflective ode to his best friend. The five tracks represent the inscrutable mix of detachment and contentment that made DJ Python's Mas Amable a modern touchstone. Still, the 057 (Schwyn) EP also possesses the heartfelt '90s sheen that is Luis's sonic signature. Idiosyncratic rhythms and twinkling ambiance build patiently before arriving at the blissed breakbeat closer.
"or anyone said this" gradually draws listeners into a world of endless tranquility with dreamy floating soundscapes and breakbeat rhythms infused with gentle winds of melancholia.
Kangding Ray
Pearls and Lichens
ara
David Letellier, the mastermind behind the Kangding Ray project, presents his eighth LP, "ULTRACHROMA," the first full-length album release through his label, ara. Ten tracks of the album are named after and associated with a color, emphasizing the moodiness, rhythms, and emotional melodicism. When talking to Resident Advisor, the Berlin-based artist described the album as "to be an oblique take on a possible psychedelic future: hyper-digital, intricate, nervous, but also colorful and ultimately really beautiful. It's the result of three years of sonic research into finding new directions to develop my music."
The balance between rhythmic power and elegant melodies is beautifully captured in "Pearls and Lichens." Abstract and vividly expressive, the track weaves a vibrant world filled with bright synth-driven melodies and alluring flickering sonic textures.
Edmondson
Y2K ( Glow Mix)
Lissoms
Newcastle-based DJ and producer Edmondson comes back in full force after two years of absence with a new EP via his own imprint, Lissoms. Entitled "New Forest Mysticism," the four-track package is nurturing his signature sound infused with groovy breakbeat-driven rhythms, sampled jazzy elements, and funky baselines.
We were pleased to premiere the glow mix version of "Y2K". Read a full article here
Anthony Naples & DJ Python
Entouré
Air Texture
Brooklyn-based producers Anthony Naples & DJ Python co-curate the eighth compilation on New York's record label, Air Texture. Across 18 tracks, the "Air Textures VIII" combines experimental ideas, dense atmospheres, and sonic collages featuring a diverse collection of tracks from Huerco S, Aurora Halal, Beta Librae, rrao, Nick León, downstairs J, Meitei, Organ Tapes, Parris, Mr. Curtains, and others.
The compilation sound curators combine forces to contribute two tracks, "Entouré" and "Final Speaking." Overflowing with energy, "Entouré "is a vibrant and dynamically rich journey through upbeat rhythms and endless dreamy synths enveloping a listener in the warmth of a crescendo that brings a sense of blissful serenity.
RDS
RDS Theme
De Lichting
June brings the release of a new solo "RDS Theme" EP from RDS. The Amsterdam producer and member of De Lichting collective Rein De Sauvage stepped up to his imprint with six tracks dipped into the warmth of the house, vocoder-tinged electro, and techno rhythms. In the artist's own words:
"I feel honored to present my first EP on de Lichting finally. All tracks except A1 were made during my COVID-19 quarantine between 8th-19th July 2021 on an EMU E64 and KORG MS2000. With the EP, I tried to cover most of the sounds that I regularly play during my DJ sets. Side A starts with two house cuts, 'CAL01' and 'Emspacer,' inspired by some of my favorite house records, and ends with the electro title track 'RDS THEME .'Side B starts with the minimal-ish 'Substance,' followed by two Ambient Techno/IDM cuts, ' Trapswet' and 'Cwejfx .'Personally, I feel that the tracklist reflects the process of being isolated, which on the one hand, enabled me to (finally) work on music without being distracted, and on the other hand, got me into a melancholy mood over time.
Jacques Greene
Relay (Skee Mask Remix)
Lucky Me
Jacques Greene revisits his "The Fantasy "EP with a remix package of the album's stand-out track "Relay." After the great success of an outstanding "The Fantasy" EP released in the early year, the Canadian producer takes one step further by breathing a new life into the beautiful record with an extended edit and powerful remix from Skee Mask.
The Munich producer Bryan Müller, known by his alias Skee Mask, imbues the breakbeat-driven "Relay" with an avant-garde edge created by atmospheric textures and polyrhythmic structures bolstered by IDM and techno.