Finally the latest full-lengther from Apparat has been released. It’s a satisfying collection of beautifully contemplating ambient pieces built around the pleasant voice of Mr Apparat himself, Sascha Ring.

There are three tunes here that stand out above the other for me. The first one is DAWAN, which was the first single released a couple of months ago. Then we have CARONTE where Mr Ring’s voice is heard through a harmonizer effect supported by a whole section of cellos, violins, guitars and a slightly distorted bass sound. This is also one of the tunes on the album which most reminds me of the sound of Moderat, of which Apparat of course also is a part of.

My third favorite is IN GRAVITAS, the finishing tune on the album, which is the most, I suppose, dance-ish piece on LP5. All in all a great album which I will listen to again and again in the near future.

Found some interesting releases on Spotify the last few days, like DRIFT Episode 2, the latest EP from Underworld and Radio Scarecrow, a full album release from The Black Dog.

My number one favorite so far though comes from Yorkshire based duo Worriedaboutsatan and is called Revenant. It has six great synthesizer heavy tracks loaded with beauty and dark atmosphere. Released on Burning Witches Records.

Infinity, the latest EP on Drumcode by Igor and Dan aka Pig&Dan is the perfect example of what big room techno is all about at the moment. It has that unmistakable Drumcode sound that is not afraid to borrow themes from other genres, while still staying somewhat true to the techno spirit. There are some trance influences here that isn’t allowed to take over completely but just enough to add to the overall epicness of the four tracks. And those kicks…  Oh man. Devastating!!

Four Tet is one of my favorite producers of electronica so beautiful it almost hurts listening to it. 4TLR is a short for Four Tet Live Recordings, the moniker he uses for his live gigs.

If you haven’t heard his music already the album Live at Funkhaus Berlin,10th May 2018 is a great introduction. The live versions of the tunes differs so much from the original studio recordings that they almost sound like something brand new. This is an incredible set with lots of atmosphere. You almost feel like you are there at Funkhaus dancing to the amazing music of 4TLR.

Flight Patterns is one of those albums that just makes you happy listening to it. I’ve had this on rotation for the last couple of days and I really like it. Lots of clever thoughtful melodies and laid back grooves.

Music for a less stressful life.

Here is a great release by J.C. & Kastil on Cabrera that is tricky to put a specific genre on. I would say it’s overall deep techno but there are elements of ambient and industrial noise as well. It’s a dark and edgy, almost apocalyptic world of sound we are thrust into where abstract modular mutated gurgles are backed by a punishing beat.

Best find of the week for me, though it was released over a year ago.
There exists a Part 2 of this release as well, which is more on the ambient side. You will have to head over to their Bandcamp site to listen to that as it doesn’t seem to be available on Spotify yet.

The Parallax EP by Opal Sunn is another recent Spotify find. Released on Touch From A Distance in 2018, this is beautiful progressive house music with a lot of soul. Bubbling arpeggio sounds, smooth somewhat trancey melodies and of course a steady house beat. Impressive stuff. I’m keeping close tabs on these guys.

I’m often amazed of how easy it is nowadays to discover great new music. Back in the day before the internet you would have to rely on the reviews in a weekly or monthly magazine and then get you ass down to the local record store, hoping for a miracle that they actually had the album in question. Today you are just one click away to discover something amazing. Like this album Self Zero by Yorkshire’s Thomas Ragsdale that Spotify quite correctly assumed I would like. It was released in November last year but I just found it through Spotify’s excellent recommendation engine.

Ragsdale spent his formative years making music for TV, movies and advertising companies but gradually shifted into performing live. I would describe the style on Self Zero as Cinematic Ambient Soundscapes. I like it a lot. Check it out!