Flatland Frequencies
T/Error may be known previously for his music on the electro heavyweight Bass Agenda. This is the Rome based producers 4th album. Classic modern electro sci-fi sounds but with enough originality and atmosphere to keep it interesting. New label LDI Records (Lloyd’s Dark Imperium) looks like it is already setting itself up as one to watch. Listen to audio previews here.
Tracklist:
Aura Minimum – Fragment I (Strange Key)
Krisz Deak – Playa (ODrex Music)
Mathimidori – Maiia (Echocord)
Heavenchord – H.C.R.D.3 (Insectorama)
Gradient – Changes (Thinner)
El Choop – Insane Seeds (Echocord)
Occult – Axum (Cold Tear)
Gradient – Cloud One (Ranges)
Shulz Audio – The Gathering (Self-released)
Lux – Data (Deepchord)
Phantom Network – Deuterium (Odrex Music)
| Track | Artist | Label |
| Frost Patrol (Ambience) | Aura Minimum | Modern Nature |
| Mystical Dynamics | Mr. Cloudy | ODrex Music |
| Hordes Descent | Fluxion | SubWax |
| Starlight (Echospace Unreleased Mix) | Model 500 | Echospace |
| Waterfool | Narson Nelson | Insectorama |
| While In Lockdown | Jon Dixon / minor INVENTION | 4EVR 4WRD |
| Optimal Power Flow | Rob StrobE | Motech |
| Mijote | C HH ICK | Insectorama |
| Ela Konta Mou | Jor-G | Greyscale |
| *** | *** | *** |
The goal of this album was to capture the feeling of being in awe of nature. I think we can say that, especially when accompanied with the visual work above, this goal is achieved. Minimal soundscapes, and at times discordant tones, give an impression of vast space and power. The album is also available with a custom printed book of photographs. You can find out more here. And if you’d like to know more about the label Silent Season check this excellent video by Dub Monitor.
Digital reproduction and distribution freed music from the confines of physicality, possessing a piece of music no longer required the possession of a black or silver disk. But this evolution had its downside, music no longer developed in localized and unique scenes, and in an endless stream of new releases advantage is given to those with the largest PR budgets. More music ends up meaning less diversity and more sameyness, special hidden gems becoming instantly duplicated and downloaded on the click of a mobile phone.
Thankfully the culture of the finite but ultra-special lives on. Using modern technology which can cut music straight to vinyl, rather than to old-school acetate which wears out after only a few plays, a hardcore of enthusiast music producers and lathe trolls is keeping the secret world of the ultra-limited alive.
So who is Vanity Gamble? A newcomer or old hand under a new alias? Those that know, know. And this music is strictly for those that know. 25 copies, no digital, no PR and no Spotify. Get it from Japhy.
Despite being the year that the dancefloors were closed, 2020 continues to be a good year for dancefloor music, this being the fourth release this year from Plant43 on the same-named label. Cold chords and deep melodic lines combine with driving beats to make something that is good for both listening and (home-based) dancing.
It takes talent and skills to produce an album where all the tracks are top quality. Chris Roman aka 214 has done just that. 8 tracks on vinyl or 12 on the digital, all of the premium quality.
From cold hauntological tones of ‘Alpenglow’ and ‘Break Before Dark’, to the minimally funky groove of ‘Quick Start’ the whole album remains an interesting and driving listen.
Inspiration for the album came from living in North Bend, Washington State, where David Lynch’s masterpiece ‘Twin peaks’ was filmed, an eerie sense of otherworldliness pervades all the tracks. One of the best albums of the year, top tip.
New York gallery space The Issue Room hosted this visual and audio event featuring a montage of images from A. Qadim Haqq, author of The Book Of Drexciya, and audio soundscapes from Dopplereffekt. The theme grows on the concept originated by the late James Stinson and Gerald Donald (of Dopplereffekt), an underwater world inhabited by the water breathing descendants of slaves thrown overboard during the Atlantic slave trade.
After the presentation, techno musician and cultural theorist DeForrest Brown, Jr. talks with A Qadim Haqq about the legacy of Drexciya and techno as black futurism.
