Dub, triphop, soft IDM. Mood exactly like the album cover.
Burning Pyre – Imago
Four Tet – Three +
It’s mellow, soulful, cute, cozy—all those Four Tet words in my mind. Full of those tracks that I’d put on a mixtape I make for someone I love.
nthng – There Is A Place For Me
Peaceful downtempo electronics. Music to work by.
VC-118A – Spiritual Machines
A blend of ambient and IDM with down-to-mid-tempo beats. First I registered this as some strange combination of psy chill atmosphere and glitchy sounds, then I figured there’s quite a bit of cyberpunk mood to it. I could imagine this to be a soundtrack of a neo-noir RPG game. Then I looked at the album title again… Riiiiight.
Alex Banks – Beneath The Surface
Intimate electronic music (think Moderat) with down to mid tempo and glitchy broken beats. Not the kind of intimate that makes you turn inside and feel blue, but the one that gives a push and inspires.
Kruder & Dorfmeister – 1995
Exactly what it says on the cover: the best downtempo, nu jazz, chill out sound from the golden days of the genre. Supposedly these are some old recordings found and dusted from the G-Stone studio. Sounds like time travel, smooth as ever.
Long Arm – Silent Opera
This is a quintessential trip hop record. Hip hop beats with blue moods and jazzy instruments. Lamentation on life withouth words.
Thievery Corporation – Symphonik
It was just recently that I revisited some memories of nu jazz and Thievery Corporation is definitely of the same era. This album is essentially a best of record for them with orchestral rearrangements. Honestly, this is not a big deal, the reworks are not earth shattering, but the tracks are classics anyway and it’s a nice throwback.
The Orb – Abolition of the Royal Familia
Ambient house, straight-up ambient, and dub-fused chill-out music, exactly something like made by The Orb. All sounds are coming from a happy place, it’s light-hearted, easy to listen, and high on delight, it just makes me happy. It’s hard to pick favorite tracks but right now I love the long soothing soundscape of Shape Shifters best with its city ambience and trumpet notes. Although I changed favorites quite a bit since this is my go-to record to listen to whenever I don’t have time or need to think twice for the past two monhts right from its very release. I’m quite amazed how Paterson can deliver such a great album after 30 years steady in the business.
It’s a bitch that sometimes I can least elaborate about my favorite music. There are certain stuff that you just have to listen to and feels mundane to write words. This is one of those.
Tornado Wallace – Midnight Mania
It’s electronic music with tribal and psychedelic sounds. I could call it quirky downtempo, so I guess that’s what we have leftfield for. Interestingly it reminds me of the time when I discovered the Afro-Caribbean scene even if the stylistic expression is different.