Deerskin released a new EP at the beginning of December, and “Fleeting Moments” feels like a sonic awakening from the producer. With vibrant tones, the five tracks here feel warm and welcoming, and peaceful throughout. Most of the EP is in the two-minute per song range, living up to the title, but it feels much like life; sometimes there are only glimpses of beauty that you need to soak up as much as possible from. Take in “Fleeting Moments” here below:
Tag: Electronica
AUDIO: TyLuv. Featuring Elli Mac – “You Sure?”
TyLuv. knows how to create a groove, and he does so on a smooth new instrumental, “You Sure?” The track is a collaboration with Elli Mac, built on an unassuming drum loop that gets progressively funkier as the track evolves. The bass shapes the song, and in just over a minute’s time, you’re immersed in the smooth lo-fi textures of the track. “You Sure?” may be fleeting, but it feels like a short daydream in the middle of a hectic day, and you can check it out here:
AUDIO: Kodiak Arcade – “Another Summer”
Composer Graeme Cornies brings back his Kodiak Arcade project with a captivating indie electronica track that delves into the complexities of human relationships. “Another Summer” explores the depths of love and commitment, raising thought-provoking questions about whether the enchantment of a relationship can be reignited even after the initial infatuation fades. With its introspective lyrics and mesmerizing sound, “Another Summer” is a can’t miss. Check it out here:
AUDIO: Phil N. DeBlank – “I Don’t Know Who Needs to Hear This”
Producer Phil N. DeBlank is back with a new beat tape, and he weaves together a tapestry of samples on “I Don’t Know Who Needs To Hear This.” The eight-track project is very buzzy, with elements of lo-fi sprinkled in, as loop after loop come into play, with only vocal samples guiding you from one track to the next. Nothing is off limits for the sampler here, as everything from smooth jazz to Phil Collins’ “In The Air Tonight” gets pieced together into this project. The tape is something special if you can appreciate sample-heavy production, and you can hear that for yourself with the release below:
AUDIO: OnlyFerns – “Windy”
OnlyFerns is a new artist to watch. Her music incorporates flora as a core theme – “plant rock”, “budstep” and “ferncore” are just a few terms she’s used to describe what she does. With glitchy, chaotic electronica and luxuriant forest samples, her debut single “Windy” is an animated excursion through dense, endless greenery; it’s got the pace like you’re running through a vast deciduous landscape not knowing where you’re going but bitten by wonder. We hope to hear more from OnlyFerns soon!
AUDIO: Docx – “Better Days”
Experimental artist and producer Docx’s latest single is a burst of hyper electronica. It’s a track about feeling unstoppable and on top of the world, unfazed by foreseeable obstacles. Clocking in at a minute and eighteen seconds, “Better Days” is an intoxicating banger with the vitality to wake you the fuck up and get you going. Docx has been pushing the envelope with inventive, whimsical production that encompasses a vast range of textures, moods, and motions. We can’t wait to see what they do next.
AUDIO: ZONI – “Samsara”
Zoni is a new supergroup in Milwaukee consisting of Jordan Lee, Brandon Birchbauer, Old Man Malcolm, and Adam James. Their debut album is out; “Samsara” translates in Sanskrit to the concept of birth and rebirth through many cycles in life. With such context the group explores turntablism, psychedelia, trip hop, and live looping. The love for creative communication is immensely apparent as mystic sonic realms are conquered left and right. We hope to see a performance from ZONI in the near future as this exciting project comes to life.
AUDIO: Phatbrane – “7 Grams”
Producer Phatbrane has a new project out, and “7 Grams” features as many tracks as you’d expect full of chill atmospheric beats. The tracks flow seamlessly into one another, and the instrumentation here is spot on to create a spacious sonic aura. As the title might suggest, each track feels like something to roll up to, and subsequently kick back and relax with. With distorted vocal samples spliced in, it can throw off the lifted feeling, but still create just the right mood. Grab your lighters and check out “7 Grams” below:
AUDIO: Ra’miae – “7C”
With a mix of chill lo-fi beats dubbed out vocal samples, Ra’miae’s “7C” is a chill electronica must for your summer playlist. The track feels like perpetual motion, with a percussion loop that gets brought to life by the ambient feeling synths behind it. As the weather gets warmer, songs like this only conjure up thoughts of kickbacks with sunny skies and green grass. The echo chamber gets played with a bit towards the end, but this track is an example of how the right dynamics can combine to encapsulate you. Check out “7C” below:
AUDIO: Dark Psychic – “Burn”
Dark Psychic is a new indietronica duo in town, and they’re out with their debut single. It’s a song about feeling the inferno of love and having the urge to take the person of your dreams on a wild ride. Love has you feeling like a kid again with a sense of infectious wonder. Dark Psychic have begun their catalog with a magnetic electronic rock jam; we look forward to what’s next from them.
AUDIO: Goldbloc – “Thirty-Six-Ohmz-Sit-Down-Hot-Boi”
Lo-fi hip hop instrumental artist Goldbloc is out with a new collection of tracks. Ryan King’s latest obsessions grab from different electronic subgenres and collagist inspiration, marked by frequent shifts in pattern sequence. The result is a downtempo excursion ideal for some incense-tinged relaxation; “Perfect Drug” gets mechanically groovy while “PianoMan” is suspenseful techno. King has taken quarantine to focus on a lot of solo experimentation with Goldbloc and CRLSS, and this new tape finds him challenging himself with broad production horizons.
AUDIO: PHatbrane – “Phatbrane’s Bag”
After a pair of releases already this year, producer Phatbrane has a new project out, “Phatbrane’s Bag.” With seven tracks, the producer figuratively gets into his bag, with experimental, stylish instrumentals that infuse elements of ambient electronica and hip hop. It’s a beat tape with repetitive vocal parts, but contains lofted sounds that feel downright airy when played. “Phatbrane’s Bag” is the right kind of atmospheric project that you can put on and exhale, decompressing to the beats. Check out the project below:
AUDIO: Homerow – “Learning How to Sleep in the 21st Century”
Folktronica project Homerow has kicked the new year off with a fresh album. While gentle as a feather, the emotional conviction here is heavy and powerful, detailing feelings of escaping reality and sanctuary in sleep. There’s tales of hypnosis, being broken up with your former self, reconciliation, and coming to terms with the ways things are. Cloudy weather and pale peeking sun blanket the symphonic atmosphere. It’s a captivating record that feels like a rumination of the hibernating nature that came with 2020.
AUDIO: Hot Science – “TV”
While he wasn’t competing in Big Beat MKE this year, Hot Science has been in the studio, creating new tracks like rapid-fire. Part of that creative output results in “TV”, a new three song EP that came out today. The self-released collection of electronica tracks are nothing short of spastic, with a high BPM and plenty of style transitions throughout. From the harsh kicks of “Lilly” to the even more bass-heavy “Risky Bismuth”, there’s plenty of emphasis on the 808’s here, and Hot Science doesn’t disappoint with his heavily pitched synths. We know that there’s more on the way from Hot Science, and this is only a fraction of what has been in the works, so stay tuned, and check out “TV” below:
AUDIO: Martiln – “Equilibrium”
Australian producer Martiln is back with a new EP, and it features four tracks of electronica perfection. “Equilibrium” is clean, crisp synths with ever-building beats behind them. With a mix of tropical house, pop, and synthwave, this EP feels tailor-made for summer, with a certain style about it that feels just right for warmer nights and hotter parties. The title track captures that style more than most, and is offset by a darker track, “Discovery” that features an unreal snare that sounds like water crashing on a beach. If you’re looking for something to get the blood pumping, “Equilibrium” is just that. Check it out below:
Post Death Soundtrack Springs to Life with New Album It Will Come Out of Nowhere
By Deuce
There’s a lot to be said for Post Death Soundtrack, the Vancouver-based duo of Steve Moore and Jon Ireson. These are, after all, men who wear black (but not suits). They take their tracks hard, heavy, holistically, perhaps. They can scream just as well as sing, if not better. Albums, promotional photos, almost all of their artwork is dark, foreboding, challenging, even. Naturally, then, so is their music…
There’s very little to prepare you for their latest release, the long player It Will Come Out of Nowhere—except, of course, their first album, 2008’s Music as Weaponry. Also, the group’s follow-up, 2016’s The Unlearning Curve, might help the uninitiated for the raw dose of deliberate pathos and caustic social commentary scattered throughout It Will Come Out of Nowhere. But there’s little else to be of any help because, as the album title implies, this one definitely catches you when you’re not looking, or ready for anything else quite like it.
Take the music video for the LP’s first single, “Chosen Sons”, for example. You’ve got the double or triple time high hats, reminiscent of contemporary rap, a ponderous drum track straight from the 90’s boom bap, and the sort of dragging bass line that would do Bushwick Bill or any of the Geto Boys justice. All of this is interspersed with…what, exactly? Discomfortingly close close-ups of skeletons? Statues? Gargoyles? The remains of pteranodons?
Then there’s the vocals, steeped with deliberately desultory lyrics, brooding, lamenting something maybe, yet somehow still reveling or taking pleasure in it. “The perfect place for hope to hide”, Moore offers, and boy is he convincing. The track is typical of so much of the rest of the album in its sense of despair, yet ability to find a point in the pointlessness of much that takes place each and every day.
However, the pair strikes gold on “Crumbs” with a haunting piano melody, although it functions more like a bass, that’s infectious, kinetic, and almost makes the anguished vocals irrelevant in its sheer hardness. Interestingly enough there’s little rapping on this album, although many of the tracks are rugged enough for some of the more compelling music in this genre.
Perhaps Post Death Soundtrack’s greatest accomplishment is to take slapping beats and compose a platform for some of the strongest heavy metal outbursts with programmed tracks, as opposed to those of live bands. Then again, perhaps not. Either way, the group’s music is authentic, and much needed at this particular juncture in time and space.
VIDEO: NVDES – “On My Magic”
Get ready to turn things up to eleven. The latest from LA-based artist NVDES is the over the top track and video for “On My Magic”, a single from his debut album, “Vibe City Utah”. The track, much like the album, is a genre-free dance party. The way that NVDES constructs tracks, however, is unlike many artists, as he takes sections from jam sections, and amalgamates them into party-ready songs like “On My Magic” becomes. The video is visually just as over the top, with the character NVDES named “Molly Milk”, who has a mundane life that gets altered by something new coming to her out of the closet of her room. It’s limitless, wild, party music, and you won’t be able to get enough of it once you initially hear it. Check out the video “On My Magic” below:
AUDIO: Jayne Joyce & Strehlow – “Venus”
Since joining the House of Renji, Jayne Joyce has really come into her own as a solo artist. In addition to putting out her debut EP, “Jayne” earlier this year, she’s also appeared on tracks with Shle Berry, Joe Quinto and more, and today continues to push forward with “Venus” a collaboration with producer Strehlow. With his signature electro-laced beats, Strehlow sets up a perfect canvas for Jayne’s soulful, booming voice to shine on this track. It’s another strong showing for a talent that is quickly making her way to the forefront of the local music scene as we head into the end of the year. Check out “Venus” below:
AUDIO: Spacecrime – “Night of the Beats”
Arthaus Bando as a collective is doing a great job of blurring the lines between hip hop and electronica. The latest release from Bando member Spacecrime, “Night Of The Beats”, continues in that fashion. Beyond a beat tape, this is a full on project of it’s own, with 20 tracks topping out at over 45 minutes total running time. With a glitchy take on trap, and just a little bit of synth glaze added to it, this is in a lane all it’s own. Many of the tracks are smooth, laid back tracks, with just enough electro influence to give you a jolt of energy when you need it. It feels as though the Arthaus Bando model of blending EDM and hip hop is akin to getting peanut butter in your chocolate, giving you the best of both worlds. Check out “Night Of The Beats” below:
AUDIO: Hot Science – “Mini Moves”
Small synth, small project, big sound. That’s the theme of Hot Science’s new EP, “Mini Moves”. Made entirely on a Teenage Engineering PO-33 K.O. synth, which is about the size of a small calculator, the Nice FM artist manages to make as big of a sound as possible. All of the tracks have emojis for titles, so it’s up to you to determine what they’re actually called, but the sound ranges from hip hop to house with a myriad of genres touched in between. It’s pretty amazing what can be done with just one small piece of equipment. Check out “Mini Moves” below:
AUDIO: Blax – “In Search of Armstrong Ransome”
It’s one thing to handle business on the microphone, but another completely different world to produce, as well. If you’re Milwaukee artist Blax, you’re able to do both with ease, and he demonstrates that with his new beat tape, “In Search of Armstrong Ransome”. While donning the alter-ego, we get 11 beats in total, ranging from the smoothed out tracks like “Body Language” to the spastic “Dick Gregory Gave No Fux”. It’s a showcase for another dimension of an emcee, and something truly creative and different from what we’re accustomed to by Blax. Check out “In Search of Armstrong Ransome” below:
AUDIO: Trellmatic – “Fruischine”
A great group is generally made up of great components, and such is the case for AUTOMatic. The duo work well together, but as APRIME proved on his “3099” project, he can hold his own solo, as well. Not one to disappoint either, Trellmatic gives us a showcase of what he can do on his own, too, with the release of “Fruischine”, an hour long beat tape presented in the classic format of an actual tape, no skips allowed. Over the course of an hour, Trellmatic gives you plenty to nod along to, with a relaxed blend of tracks that could be AUTOMatic jams in their own right. Coast your way into the weekend with “Fruischine” below:
AUDIO: Hot Science – “Slow Dance Vol. 1” (Premiere)
Milwaukee’s electronic music scene is definitely pulsating as of late, and the music being made in the process is nothing short of stellar. Today we get to premiere the latest from Hot Science, a beat tape entitled “Slow Dance Vol. 1”. The tape is a solid mix of electronica, with a heavy dose of vaporwave moving through the mix. The Nice FM artist that has also managed to cross over into hip hop recently, collaborating with members of Hiii Tribe to create the new Arthaus Bando collective in the process. It’s a very good time to be an electronic artist in Milwaukee, and drops like this one are another glowing piece to the bigger picture. Check out the premiere of “Slow Dance Vol. 1” below:
AUDIO: Plaga – “Coming To, Lisa” (Premiere)
For those that didn’t know, there’s a flurry of talented producers in Milwaukee, in addition to the multitude of hip hop artists in the city. Among them is Plaga, who today releases a new beat tape for the world in “Coming To, Lisa!”. This is a concept tape from the producer and member of indie alternative group TableForFour, based on the character of Lisa from the movie Coming To America. The tape comes from her perspective, giving the beats an interesting dynamic to them. As he’s done for several years, Plaga absolutely brings his best on the production, with hard hitting percussion and catchy pieces woven into the tracks on the tape. Simply put, this is a fun one to vibe out to. Check out “Coming To, Lisa!” below:
AUDIO: Sylvan Esso – “Kick Jump Twist” & “Radio” (Demo Taped Remixes)
Sylvan Esso are no strangers to collaboration. The duo that infamously met one another at Cactus Club have two new releases today, a pair of remixes from Atlanta producer Demo Taped. Both “Kick Jump Twist” and single “Radio”‘s remixes bring flourishes of glitchy, bouncy synths and give the tracks a new life altogether. If you like tracks with a lot of texture to them, this is what you’re waiting for. Sylvan Esso’s sophomore album, “What Now” is available April 28th, but you can check out both new Demo Taped remixes below:
