Beautiful, easing ambient, IDM, and some very soft techno. Think Moderat but with more chill.
Gidge – New Light
Machinedrum – A View of U
I just finished the 2020 long player of Sub Focus and decided not to put it up here when this record followed and I thought, so this is the one that was meant to be. The same kind of accessible, easy to listen drum and bass electronic dance music but with just a little bit more sophistication and less sugarcoat. Although it’s still fluffy and light like a smokey Saturday afternoon. I feel so good that this is released by Ninja Tune: I could also say this is drum and bass through the Ninja’s lens, as in that being quality assurance.
JASSS – Whities 027
Two very distinct tracks on this record. The liner notes are pretty accurate for Turbo Olé: “fucking rocket fuel” with “giddy jibber-jaw trance lead”, “electro breaks” and “a ‘90s cyber-trance riff”. Correct, it’s a rave scene in a sci-fi movie. The B side starts off as an IDM rhythmic noise piece but also ends up in with some broken beat trance vibe. Wow. My current favorite music for reading the setting book for the new Cyberpunk Red RPG.
Stenny – Upsurge
Starts off as an IDM thing, then at some point turns into a drum and bass thing.
Squarepusher – Nervelevers
Acid IDM glitch-core. Took a good ten listens to be able to stop at first encounter. Pretty pretty looking forward to the new album.
Plaid – Polymer
This is a wonderful record. My love for Plaid was strong in the late ’90s and early ’00s, in the era of their classics and when everything was abount IDM. The journey they took after had interesting moments but it was different. And different is good, at least they didn’t try to repeat themselves and either fail or succeed but in a boring way. But now, this album is like the thing I’ve been waiting for: it has everything I love about them and still sounds new and fresh. This is my favorite kind of nostalgia experience: something that feels like what I remember but actually being a totally refurbished and improved version of that memory. Right now this is my favorite Plaid album, and it feels so great to think that. Random note: wrapping up this list of tracks with Praze gives me goosebumps.
RX-101 - Dopamine
I like that they call this braindance.
Throwing Snow – Mosaic
After last year’s Loma I am traveling backwards in the Throwing Snow discography, and it’s a great trip. At this album I’m stuck for a while now, I keep re-listening it and it just doesn’t clear from my Listen Next playlist. It gives me the goosebumps at certain points, has magical moods, it’s like electronic music with a soul. It’s like Apparat with a more firm grip on the beats, little more weight on sounds, doesn’t take so much care to take all steps with a soft feet. I imagine a creature sliding on ice; it runs to gain impetus, starts off with a quick and light slide, then jumps to feet ending in metal hoofs and slams it on the ice, carving a streak but still moving forward like it was unstoppable.
The Black Dog – Post-Truth
Supposedly the uptempo twin brother of Black Daisy Wheel with often melodic but mostly beat focused techno, house and IDM instead of the ambient landscapes. In 2015 these guys totally surprised me with my own reaction of how much I loved their record of the time, and now I feel the same. Lucky that I didn’t create any top lists last year because this one would be missing from there.
CUTS – A Gradual Decline
Melancholic, part wondering, part sharp and penetrating, electronic with a shoegaze attitude. And a powerful concept: “addresses the planet’s current fragility using actual field recordings of ice collapsing from glaciers.”